I can't say that we have similar ideas of enjoyment in the game. I usually just find a tower ruin, build a temporary base there, and mine the ore that's within reasonable walking distance from it. That usually get's me plenty for what I need.

That said, it's kind of refreshing to hear someone say that mining a copper node goes by too quickly. Most seem to want to complain about how many hours it takes mining copper, and how it's the absolute worst part of the game! :-)