During the EIA (7th-3rd c. BCE), the middle Trans-Urals were populated by the Itkul culture of metalworkers. Most of the Itkul sites were excavated in 1960-1980′s, and ever since then the copper smelting technology, and exploited ore sources remained limitedly understood. To provide insight into these questions, we consider the archaeological context of copper production and apply methods of OM, SEM-EDS and LA ICP-MS to analyse copper slag, technical ceramics and ores from the Itkul culture settlement of Dautovo-1 (Itkul-1). This data is considered against the analyses of ores from the EIA sites and the Gumeshevsky mine in the Polevskoy area located 35 km from Dautovo, and the formerly investigated copper slags (Stepanov et al., 2021) from the site of Irtyash-1 located 50 km apart. The obtained results confirm that secondary copper ores of the Gumeshevsky mine, long regarded as the main ore source of the Itkul culture, were smelted at the site of Dautovo-1. We also identify the plate slag as the residue attesting to the most frequently used smelting technique, which consisted of the smelting of secondary copper ores in shallow open furnaces or crucibles and under moderately reducing conditions. The smelt ended with the removal and fast-cooling of slag outside the furnace. In contrast to Dautovo-1, only slags from secondary metallurgical operations were found at the site of Irtyash-1, which aligns with the dominance of secondary copper-working remains at the latter site. The production probably was likely performed on a seasonal basis, the metalworking society was divided into smelters and copper-workers, and the copper supply was likely oriented at both domestic and external (nomadic) markets.