The glaring hole in this theory (which seems jammed into the prevailing consensus thinking) is the shear volume of copper mined. Where did it go?
I forget the actual number, but it was in the millions of tons of ore; the amount found to date and attributed to Indians, you could pick up in one hand.
Meanwhile, there was a flourishing Copper Age in Europe at the time. If there was an export trade and there is no reason to think otherwise, the locals mined the ore and exported it via the long established trade routes to the East Coast and then elsewhere.
Modern metallurgy can trace the origins of various metals, but so far there is no indication of this test having been done; maybe it went to Europe, or it could just as well have been to the North Africa and the ME, or elsewhere. Supposedly there are ruins off the coast of Cuba down several thousand feet which have copper roofs - but that is unproven in all aspects.
Saying that the Tribes were among the world’s first copper smiths is just pandering to the Tribes inflated egos because there is no evidence that the present day tribes even existed then.
Offering a correction - it was not millions of tons mined, but 223,215 tons of 99% pure copper. Today’s copper is 3-4% pure. Scherz, “The Sone facet Mummy Mountain”, 4.
I've always thought something like that myself. I'm beginning to think that if the 'American copper' had gone foreign that we'd have detected it by now though.
Even ancient ship wrecks with copper cargoes are void of 'American copper'.