Ore
Ores are rare stone blocks used to obtain resources.
Contents
Usage[edit | edit source]
Ores are primarily collected for crafting purposes, such as for tools and armor. Redstone is obtained from redstone ore, which can be used to create redstone circuits. Ore can also be combined to create a block of the material's type.
Obtaining resources from ores is as simple as mining them (this is not the case for iron and gold ores, which must be smelted). Coal, diamond, emerald, and nether quartz ores drop 1 unit corresponding raw materials. Redstone ore drops 4-5 redstone dust, and lapis lazuli ore drops 4-8 lapis lazuli. Note this can be increased greatly with fortune. All ore blocks except iron and gold require a Silk Touch pickaxe to drop themselves.
As a smelting ingredient[edit | edit source]
| Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
|---|---|
| Any raw ore |
Further uses[edit | edit source]
All mineral blocks except quartz are crafted by putting 9 of the raw material items in a square. Quartz blocks are irreversibly crafted with 4 nether quartz and can be crafted in the inventory.
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|
| Any processed ore |
All raw materials except quartz can be crafted from their mineral blocks.
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|
| Most mineral blocks |
Availability[edit | edit source]
The following is the distribution of ores according to the altitude (layers are number of blocks above the lowest layer of bedrock). The highest layers that gold, redstone, diamond, and lapis lazuli can be found on are two layers lower.[1] The graph on the right shows the ore distribution.
| Ore type | Most found on... | Commonly found up to... | Rare on layers... | None at or above... | Lowest tier of pickaxe needed for drop | Found in... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coal[note 1] |
Layers 5-52 | Layer 128 | Layer 129-131 | Layer 132 | Wooden |
The Overworld |
Iron |
Layers 5-54 | Layer 64 | Layer 65-67 | Layer 68 | Stone |
The Overworld |
Lapis Lazuli |
Layers 14-16[note 2] | Layer 23 | Layer 31-33 | Layer 34 | Stone |
The Overworld |
Gold |
Layers 5-29 | Layer 29 | Layer 31-33 | Layer 34 | Iron |
The Overworld |
Gold |
Layers 32-63 | Layer 76 | Layer 77-79 | Layer 80 | Iron |
The Overworld, in mesa biomes only |
Diamond |
Layers 5-12 | Layer 12 | Layer 13-15 | Layer 16 | Iron |
The Overworld |
Redstone |
Layers 5-12 | Layer 12 | Layer 13-15 | Layer 16 | Iron |
The Overworld |
Emerald[note 3] |
Layers 5-29 | Layer 29 | Layer 30-32 | Layer 33 | Iron[Java and Console editions only]
|
The Overworld, only in the Extreme Hills biome |
Nether Quartz[note 4] |
Layers 15-120 | Layer 120 | Layer 124-125 | Layer 126 | Wooden |
The Nether |
- ↑ This refers to coal ore blocks spawned in ore veins and not as parts of fossils or mansion forges.
- ↑ Unlike other ores, lapis lazuli's frequency peaks around layer 15, and slowly tapers off above and below.
- ↑ Instead of multi-block veins, emerald ore is placed in scattered blocks.
- ↑ Quartz spawns equally in all parts of the Nether (not counting lava and bedrock.)
Redstone has the same layer and line-size statistics as Diamond, but is generated 8 times per chunk as opposed to 1.
Table[edit | edit source]
| Coal | Iron | Redstone | Gold | Lapis Lazuli | Diamond | Emerald | Nether Quartz | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ore block |  |
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| Refined resource |  |
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.png) |
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| Mineral block |  |
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Video[edit | edit source]
History[edit | edit source]
| Classic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0.14a_01 |  Added gold ore, iron ore, and coal ore. |
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| They could only be found exposed in amounts ranging from roughly 10 to 30 in a vein. | |||||
| 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST 9 | Changed the texture of gold ore. |
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| 0.27 SURVIVAL TEST 10 | Mining an ore gives the corresponding block of it. | ||||
| Indev | |||||
| 0.31 | Added diamond ore. |
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| Alpha | |||||
| 1.0.1 | Added redstone ore. |
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| Beta | |||||
| 1.2 | Added lapis lazuli ore. |
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| 1.8 | The highest layer for some ores was lowered by 2. | ||||
| Official release | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9-pre4 | Coal, diamond, redstone, and lapis lazuli can now also drop as ore blocks with Silk Touch. | |||
| 1.3.1 | 12w21a |  Added "ruby" ore, which generates in veins up to 10 blocks. |
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| 12w21b | The previously added ruby ore's texture was changed to emeralds. |
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| 12w22a | All ores except gold and iron (which give experience when smelted) drop experience points when mined. | ||||
| Emerald ore spawns by itself, instead of in veins. | |||||
| 1.5 | 13w01a | Added nether quartz ore. |
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| 1.8 | 14w29a | Ore generation is now a lot faster. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added coal, iron, redstone, gold, lapis and diamond ores. |
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| 0.3.0 | Coal ore now drops coal. | ||||
| 0.3.2 | Diamond ore now drops a diamond. | ||||
| Iron and gold ores are now smeltable into metal ingots. | |||||
| 0.4.0 | Lapis lazuli ore now drops the dye. | ||||
| 0.8.0 | Redstone ore now finally drops redstone dust. | ||||
| 0.9.0 | Added emerald ore. |
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| 0.12.1 | Added nether quartz ore. |
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| Mined ores now give experience. | |||||
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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A picture of every ore except emerald and nether quartz.
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All of the current overworld ores including emerald ore and diamond ore.
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All overworld ores in a natural cave.
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A vein of coal, and a vein of iron, both in a ravine. Ores like this can be hard to get to, due to the difficulty of climbing the ravine's wall.
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five of them.
References[edit | edit source]
