Rio Tinto, Nevada

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Rio Tinto is a ghost town in Elko County, Nevada, United States. It was one of the last mining boom towns and was named after copper mines in Andalusia, Spain. The copper discovery near Rio Tinto is credited to Franklyn Hunt, who had looked for copper in the area for years and found copper a few miles from Mountain City in 1932, with backing from brothers Walt and Jack Davidson. The town grew quickly as miners arrived. It weathered World War II, but after the war copper prices fell and operations ended by 1948. The post office, opened in 1936, closed in February 1948. Today only a few houses and the old school remain, with many buildings moved after cleanup.