Originally posted by Storm:

This absolutely works and is a time saver. BUT, after having removed all the attachments to the ground to isolate the suspended copper ore (which may include parts of the copper ore itself), you have to then break a piece of the suspended mass and the whole thing will explode to the ground. Sometimes you may have to break more than one piece and, sometimes, the suspended ore chunk is bugged and won't explode as you wish.

There has to be some videos of players demonstrating this technique successfully. Look them up.

Agreed. I went about mining what what was left of the deposit. I broke the right piece and what was left crumbled.

Apparently there is a "keystone" chunk of the ore you must break. Or what you could call an "anchor" that the rest of the deposit relies on. If you destroy this piece the rest will crumble without support.

In this circumstance it was a piece of the deposit located on top and on the edge of the deposit.