The range has a long history of mining following the original discovery in 1866. The earliest mining was around the old mining camp of Copper Basin in Long Canyon which lies 5.4 miles (8.7 km) west of the current town of Battle Mountain. The Copper Basin area was the original location of the Battle Mountain mining camp which later moved to the current location on the Humboldt as a mining support town. To the southwest about 4.2 miles (6.8 km) in Galena Canyon, the mining camps of Bannock, Copper Canyon and Galena were later developed with the Bannock camp established in 1909.
The area produced copper, gold, silver, antimony, lead, zinc, tungsten, molybdenum, arsenic, turquoise, and nickel.[7] The Marigold Gold mine is located in the north end of the range.[8]
^Measurements from Winnemucca, Nevada 30x60 USGS Quad (approximately the 1750 meter contour on west side and 1500 m contour east side (break in slope))