We have a transport server.. load up, log off and log into the transport server.. put it all down and go back to your main world and teleport home and then log off and get the stuff from the other server and bring it over...

After you kill the first boss you want to explore the Black Forest and map out copper nodes or tin spawns and then build a base near these resources - closer to the copper then tin since you need more of it.

Using the cart you do not want to put too much weight in it otherwise moving around will definitely be a pain. You can use boats if you do not have a base nearby and definitely use portals if you want to cut down travel time in half.

The best you could do really with bronze is base close to a copper deposit or several ones. What i do is get all the copper needed to make the forge, forge and workbench upgrades, a bronze axe, 5 mead barrels (because it fits perfectly on the upper floor on the back of my room and you get exactly 3 stacks of the mead you prepare every time) and bronze for a Karve. Then i move on to iron.

After exploring the continent I spawned at, I learned a couple of things which I implemented on my second map. Built a big base inland on first map, had to build a very long road from coast to HQ, transporting metals was very time consuming. Second map; built a small base right on the coast, after thoroughly exploring the starting continent, I found tons of copper and tin right on the coast. Tin can be found along creeks that empty into the sea, so easy mining and transport using sailing vessel. Copper can often be found right on the coast, especially along steep mountain terrain in Black Forest biome. This copper was the easiest to mine because the mountain side bordering ocean tends to be quite barren and enemies can be seen coming from a long ways off. The steep mountainside also makes mining under the copper deposit a simpler task. Quite often I found 2 - 3 large copper deposits very close to one another. I always look for abandoned houses or stone keeps to repair, where I can dock my boat and install a portal back to my main base, so I am no working outside at night.

Docking my boat along the coast right beside copper deposits, made transporting ore a breeze on my second playthrough. Having a base with smelters and crafting tables, on a peninsula with a somewhat barren & flat meadow, made it so I did not have to build any roads or even build a cart to transport my ore. I could dock my ship 50 feet from my base, to unload the copper & tin I mined within 50 feet of the coast. When I moved up to mining silver & iron, I followed the same strategy, always looking for ore sources close to the shoreline. Many mountains that contain silver can be found where one side of the mountain ends at the sea coast. This makes mining silver easy & safe, because mountain sides tend to have little or no enemies, and running downhill means one is not going to have to worry about stamina loss if they are being chased ...

Mods are the fastest way to transport metals. I already have to travel hundreds of kilometers just to get the metals, I don't want to do it twice like I live in world without magic.

personaly i build a tiny house near the water that i use to respawn inside. And then i build some boxes in the house. Once i have collected the metal i sail there with a big ship and also fill my pockets with ore.
I guess that is the best option if not using mods.
( in the swamp i recommend to build your little house up in a tree near the water and some fence that goes out into the water to avoid the leach that attack your ship. )
Alternative build the house and so on a bit outside of the swamp area.

I tend to build a new base in a friendly biome (I consider Black Forest "friendly") close to where I'm going to harvest/mine ore and just process it on the spot.

Mountains differ a bit from that, in that I build a base at the foot of the mountain. On the top of the mountain where the silver nodes are, I place a portal and a chest. I then proceed to mine as much silver as possible and put it in the chest. Then I take as much as I can carry and run down the mountain to my base, and jump through the portal to be back up where the chest with the goodies is. Rinse, repeat.

But then I like building and I also don't mind a lot of things that others see as "tedious", so YMMV.

Get some copper and tin back to your base make a couple of bronze ingots and make the second tier ship and just ping-pong back-and-forth using.
that that’s how I did it anyways

Other than parking to Karve next to the coastal copper nodes I have marked the cart is the best thing I found. I also dont like the "no metal allowed through the portal" thing but I guess that would make it too easy?

Or you could build a base specifically for smelting copper and tin in the black forest and the transport it back with the Karve in bulk.

Everything you need to process the metal is a short walk from where you are. Get a few surtling cubes, build a forge, and process the metal there.

I usually look for a stone tower that has several copper rocks around it and setup shop there.

Digging underneath doesn't seem like it would be worth the effort either, but I've never tried it.

Did you make a bronze pickaxe and axe? If not, you should. It makes the process go much faster.

We have a transport server.. load up, log off and log into the transport server.. put it all down and go back to your main world and teleport home and then log off and get the stuff from the other server and bring it over...

Like Faceplant8 said, in the early bronze age creating a mining camp near copper and tin nodes is the best way until you can make ships. You can find clusters of outcrops in the same relatively small area and plunk your mining camp down in the middle, fudging a bit toward the nearest shore.

Once you have ships, you can just ignore copper that isn't close to shore.

From the edge of the black forest its likely walking. Set up a work station, build a few campfires around the ore deposit will keep the graylings mostly away, and mine with your antler pickaxe. If you put a roof over the workstation you can repair your pick axe as many times as you need to before heading back home with the ore.

Its faster and easier to sprint around and trough the trees than trying to wheel a cart around trees, rocks, and saplings while you try to fend off graylings.

Just make a small outpost for your smelting needs inside a hole you dug while mining copper and connect it to your main base with a portal.

Scouting is everything when it comes to making your life easier.

Set up a bronze base by a shoreline that has four or five copper nodes close to each other. Especially when the shoreline has a lot of little creeks and inlets that dramatically increase the tin in a given area from the increased "shoreline".

That way you can be processing it as you dig it out and not have to worry about a lot of transport.

Why move the mountain to you when you can simply move to the mountain?

It doesn't take a lot of copper to set up a forge and a couple of upgrades so after that you want to look for resources near a copper node you can set up on/around.

That's how I play anyway.