Untrue. Henry Hudson in 1609 saw Indians along the Hudson River wearing gold and copper arm bands. When the Indians heard that the white man would kill them to steal the copper and gold they got all the gold and copper and axeheads and hid it in caves in the mountains: Iroquois talkers, oral tradition and family stories. I was shown a Native American exposed copper mine of native copper metal veins in a mined opening only 10 miles from my house in 1952 by two Mohawks. The Mohawks always made a small “holy place” in a crevice in the approach to the mine. They would place Orange and white arrowheads in the small crevice to signify the copper nearby. The French in 1500’s also saw the same thing Montaigne and Algonkin tribes in Canada.
Cf. Hudson’s sailor accounts, Charlevoix
What’s untrue? Early North American inhabitants were using copper thousands of years ago. The Old Copper Culture in the Great Lakes region spanned a several thousand years. They would hammer out small nuggets of raw copper and make tools and a variety of other thing.
Thanks!