The presence of ores "in great abundance" (2 Nephi 5:15) might imply that Nephi was located in mountainous terrain. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
2 Nephi 5:15 Precious ores . . . in great abundance ([Illustration]): Economic Mineral Resources (Recursos Economicos Minerales). [Clate Mask, "And They Called the Place Nephi," unpublished]
“Iron Copper Brass Gold Silver Precious Ores in Great Abundance”
Nephi mentions the fact that in the land of Nephi, they worked with "iron . . . copper . . . brass . . . steel . . . gold . . . silver" and "precious ores, which were in great abundance" (2 Nephi 5:15). According to Ben Olsen, who has some geological experience in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, ores are associated with slowly cooling magmas, or intrusive rocks, which are common in Guatemala and Mexico. The metal-laden fluids move up cracks, fissures and faults to impregnate overlying and adjacent sedimentary or metamorphic rocks. Such is the case along the Polochic-Motagua fault system (see illustration) where many metallic mines occur, as well as in various areas of Mexico. [Ben L. Olsen, Some Earthly Treasures of the Book of Mormon, p 52, Unpublished]
2 Nephi 5:15 Iron . . . copper . . . brass . . . gold . . . silver . . . precious ores . . . in great abundance (Illustration): Southeast Mexico -- Guatemala Surface Geologic Map: Compiled from 1960 Mexican and 1970 Guatemalan geologic maps. [Ben L. Olsen, Some Earthly Treasures of the Book of Mormon, Map 5, Unpublished]
“Great Abundance”
According to John Sorenson, the word "abundant" is what anthropologists call an "emic" concept, a word whose meaning has to be construed in the culture's own terms. The statement in 1 Nephi 18:25 on discovering ores refers to a point in time when Lehi's party had just landed, and the men available to explore were very limited (perhaps ten in number). Consequently their search for and discoveries of ores would only have been cursory and local. The same caution applies to interpreting "great abundance" in 2 Nephi 5:15:
And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance. (see also "abound" in Jacob 2:12 and Jarom 1:8)
Expressions such as these reflect the viewpoint of small communities, perhaps a single village. We must not distort the record by transforming the "emic" sense of "abundance" in the minds of the first few Lehites and Nephites into "etic" (i.e., objective, geological) abundance on a scale of hundreds of miles throughout Mesoamerica. [John L. Sorenson, "Viva Zapato! Hurray for the Shoe! in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 6, Num. 1, pp. 322-323]
“And of Iron and of Copper and of Brass and of Steel”
According to John A. Tvedtnes, the Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon help persuade us that it is authentic. . . . Hebrew uses conjunctions much more frequently than English does. One clear example of this can be found in lists of items. In English, the conjunction and is normally used only before the last item in a list, such as wood, iron, copper, and brass. But Hebrew usually uses a conjunction before each item. The Book of Mormon contains many examples of this Hebrew-like usage, such as this one found in 2 Nephi 5:15: "And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance."
This kind of repetition is so prominent in the Book of Mormon that Professor Haim Rabin, President of the Hebrew Language Academy and a specialist in the history of the Hebrew language, once used a passage from the Book of Mormon in a lecture in English to illustrate this principle, because he explained, it was a better illustration than passages from the English Bible. [John Tvedtnes,"The Hebrew Background of the Book of Mormon" in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., p. 82]