Copper King Mine

The Copper King Mine sits in the Silver Crown Mining District, Laramie County, Wyoming, near the ghost town of Hecla and Curt Gowdy State Park, west of Cheyenne. It's a genuinely historic site — developed in 1881 by the Adams Copper Mining and Reduction Company and later worked by the Hecla Mining Company — but it is not a rockhounding destination today. In 2016, U.S. Gold Corp acquired 100% of the mineral lease covering the State of Wyoming's Section 36 (which contains the old mine) plus adjacent private fee lands, and has since run an active exploration and drilling program — more than 22 miles of drilling through 2020-21 — under the name the "CK Gold Project," an open-pit gold-copper development proposal. This is currently an active industrial mineral project, not open ground.

The historic site sits in the Laramie Mountains near Hecla, west of Cheyenne, close to Curt Gowdy State Park. Given the active private/state mineral lease, this dossier deliberately does not provide turn-by-turn directions to the mine workings.

Not applicable — see access status below.

The Copper King Mine site is under an active mineral lease held by U.S. Gold Corp as part of its CK Gold Project, covering both State of Wyoming Section 36 land and adjacent private fee lands, with ongoing exploration drilling documented through 2020-21. This is functionally closed to casual public rockhounding. Remnants of the historic Hecla town and mill are visible near Curt Gowdy State Park, which is itself a separate, publicly accessible state park with its own rules — collecting inside the state park would fall under Wyoming State Parks regulations, not mine-site rules. Confirm current status directly with U.S. Gold Corp or the Wyoming State Board of Land Commissioners before assuming any part of this site is open.