Originally posted by Gidychi:

I have been bored in the game and when i was mining a copper deposit i thought to myself to dig around the copper deposit that you can see above ground and what i found underground was amazing. i haven't finished digging it all up just as of yet but when i do i will post some screen shots on my profile.
has anyone else done or seen this befor? this deposit is about 5 times maybe even bigger then what you normaly see above ground, i have been digging around the copper and uncove it all for 1 full day ( in game day ) and i am still going

Every time I find a copper node i want to harvest, I ALWAYS start by digging along one side, down to the bottom, (or as far as the game allows), and actually start mining the copper at the bottom, carving out a "room" inside / under the node.... I do this for several reasons...

Firstly, I do this for safety... I always noticed that hitting the copper node tends to attract the attention of baddies, even at a pretty fair distance.... mobs won't purposely jump into a trench like that (same idea behind why people use moats around their bases), so it allows me to harvest copper in peace even if mobs are running around like maniacs up on the surface...

Secondly, carving out a room also allows me to place some items that will greatly help in the mining process, such as; a workbench, for repairing the antler pick, and a campfire to restore my rested bonus, provide heat and light, and rapid stamina regen while I'm working. The top of the copper node also provides protection from the rain.

The same idea can be used to carve out relatively safe outposts, under boulders or copper nodes, by adding a portal as well as a place to process the copper / tin by adding kiln and smelter and even a forge...