[5] McKnight and Courcier profited greatly from the rich copper mining operation and amassed a large fortune from it.

In 1838, the 300 to 400 inhabitants of Santa Rita fled south toward the presidio at Janos, Chihuahua, 150 miles away, but the Apache killed nearly all of them en route.

After that, Santa Rita was only occasionally operational until 1873 when Apache chief Cochise signed a peace agreement with the US and the mine was reopened.

A mill to process the low-grade copper ore was established in 1911 in nearby Hurley but was replaced by a new (current) Ivanhoe concentrator facility in 1982.

Milling operations restarted in January 2004 at the Chino Concentrator after a three-year hiatus caused by low copper prices.

A smelter in Hurley was commissioned in 1939 and was modernized in 1985 to increase capacity and achieve compliance with the Clean Air Act.