Founded in the 1880's by the French, Santa Rosalia was built in exchange for mining rights. They built the town, its port, and other public buildings. Later, the Iglesia Santa Barbara, designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, was erected. Copper was mined from Santa Rosalia until 1954. A copper deposit discovered in 1860 near the gulf coast of Baja California Sur was mined from the 1880s to 1954 by a French company under a concession from the Mexican government.
Copper is very soft.
Scratching the surface shows its distinctive copper-red color.