MINECRAFT WIKI

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MINECRAFT WIKI

Ore
EDIT

This article is about the block. For the terrain

feature, see Blob. For the blackstone block
mistakenly called an ore, see Gilded Blackstone.
For the mineral commonly mistaken as an ore, see
Amethyst Shard. For the upcoming terrain
feature, see Ore vein.

All of the current ores as of 1.17 and 1.17.0

Ores isolated down to bedrock

This graph shows the actual amount of ores found in a relatively small
but untapped world as of Java Edition 1.12.2

This graph shows the actual amount of ancient debris found in a

relatively small but untapped world as of Java Edition 20w06a

An ore is any uncommon rock-type block used to

obtain specific resources.

Usage

Ore blocks are primarily collected for crafting

purposes, such as for tools and armor. Redstone
dust is obtained from redstone ore or deepslate
redstone ore, which can be used to create redstone
circuits. Refined ore can also be combined to create
a block of the material's type.

Most ores drop their resource when mined, and

require a Silk Touch pickaxe to drop themselves.

Coal, iron, gold, diamond, emerald, their

respective deepslate variants, and nether
quartz ores drop 1 unit of their corresponding raw
material.
Copper and deepslate copper ores drop 2-3 raw
copper.
Redstone and deepslate redstone ores drop 4–5
redstone dust.
Lapis lazuli and deepslate lapis lazuli ores drop
4–9 lapis lazuli.
Nether gold ore drops 2–6 gold nuggets.
Ancient debris is the exception; it drops itself
when mined and must be smelted to obtain
netherite scrap.
Smelting ingredient

Ingredients Smelting recipe

Any ore + Any fuel

0.1
Raw Iron or
Raw Copper or
Raw Gold +
Any fuel
0.7

Ores can be smelted faster using a blast furnace.

It is not e!cient to mine with Silk Touch and then

smelt an ore block that normally drops multiple pieces
of its resource, because smelting these ores yields
less experience and only 1 piece of the resource.
Nether Gold Ore is the only exception.

Further uses

Refined ore resources can be crafted into blocks for

bulk storage, for crafting recipes or for decoration.
Coal blocks and most mineral blocks are crafted by
putting 9 of the refined material items in a square.
Nether quartz is the only Mineral block that only
needs 4 items to be crafted.

Ingredients Crafting recipe

Any processed ore

Any raw ore

All of the above block recipes are reversible, excluding

quartz and oxidized copper.

Ingredients Crafting recipe

Most mineral blocks

9
9

Any raw ore blocks

9
9

Iron and Gold ingots can be converted into nuggets

and vice-versa.

Ingredients Crafting recipe

Metal Ingots

9
9

Ingredients Crafting recipe

Metal Nuggets

Lapis Lazuli can be crafted into a dye, or even used

as one.

Ingredients Crafting recipe

Lapis Lazuli

Netherite scraps, obtained by smelting ancient

debris, are used alongside gold ingots to create
netherite ingots. This is the only mineral used
alongside another mineral to create an alloy.

Ingredients Crafting recipe

Gold Ingot, Netherite

Scrap

Netherite ingots can be used on a smithing table to

upgrade diamond items to netherite items. Data such
as durability, enchantments, and custom names are
preserved.

Ingredients Smithing recipe

Diamond items +
Netherite Ingot
Upgrade Gea

Availability

The following is the distribution of ores according to

the altitude (layers are number of blocks above the
lowest layer of bedrock) in the Overworld and the
Nether. The highest layers that gold, redstone,
diamond, and lapis lazuli ore can be found on are
two layers lower.[1]

Overworld

For the pre-1.17 ore distribution, see Ore/Pre-1.17

distribution.
This section needs to be updated.
Please update this section to reflect recent updates
or newly available information.
Reason: Some figures are no longer true in 1.17
release or the latest C&C preview datapack.
As of Java Edition 1.17 and Bedrock Edition 1.17.0:

Coal[a] Copper Lapis

Lazuli

Ore Block

Deepslate
variant [c]

Raw resource

Refined
resource

Manufactured - -

Mineral block

Raw Mineral - -
Block

Minimal Stone
pickaxe for Wooden
drop

Found in Any
biome...

Abundance Very Common Rare Com

Common

Most found in 5-52 5-192 13- 5-5

layers... 17[d]

Commonly up 128 96 23 6
to layers...

129-131 [more 31-33 62-

Rare on
layers... information
needed]

None at or 132 193 34 6

above...

Can Replace
[e]

The second part of Caves & Cli!s will change the

distribution of ores for the expanded world
height.​[upcoming: 1.18]

Lapis
Coal[f] Copper Lazuli

Ore block

Deepslate
variant [h]

Raw resource

Refined
resource

Manufactured - -

Mineral block

Raw Mineral - -
Block

Minimal Stone
pickaxe for Wooden
drop

Ore veins - -
distinguishable Granite
block [i]

Found in Any
biome...

Abundance Very Common Uncommon

Common

Total range... 0 to 256 0 to 96 -64 to 64

Most found in
layers...

Commonly up 96 48 0
to layers...

[more information needed]

Rare on
layers...

None at or -64 to -1 63
above...

Deepslate No
variant
generates
naturally?

Can replace
[j][k]

The generation of ores in 1.18.

The Nether

Ancient
Nether Nether Debris
Quartz[l] Gold

Ore block

Raw resource -

Refined
resource

Manufactured -

Mineral block

Minimal Wooden Diamond

pickaxe for
drop

Found in Any Nether

biome...

Abundance Very Common Very Rare

Common

Most found in 10-114 15 13-17 [m]

layers...

Commonly up 120 95 23
to layers...

Rare on 123-125 96-116 22-119

layers...

None at or 128 117 120

above...

Can Replace Netherrack

Netherrack
Basalt

Blackstone

1. ↑ This refers to coal ore blocks spawned in blobs

and not as parts of fossils or mansion forges.
2. ↑ Instead of multi-block blobs, emerald ore is
placed in scattered blocks.
3. ↑ Deepslate variants only generate in deepslate
blobs between layers 0 and 16.
4. ↑ Unlike most other ores, lapis lazuli's frequency
peaks around layer 15, and slowly tapers o" above
and below.
5. ↑ Deepslate variants replace only Deepslate
and Tu!.
6. ↑ This refers to coal ore blocks spawned in blobs
and not as parts of fossils or mansion forges.
7. ↑ Instead of multi-block blobs, emerald ore is
placed in scattered blocks.
8. ↑ Deepslate variants only generate in deepslate
under layer 0. Coal, Copper and Emerald
Deepslate Ores aren't naturally generated.
9. ↑ The block which allows to distinguish its large
ore veins.
10. ↑ Deepslate variants replace only Deepslate
and Tu!.
11. ↑ While Coal, Copper and Emerald technically can
replace Deepslate and Tu!, as they do not
generate on layers under 0, they can't replace
them naturally.
12. ↑ Nether quartz spawns equally in all parts of the
Nether.
13. ↑ Unlike most other ores, ancient debris'
frequency peaks at layer 15, and quickly tapers o"
above and below.

History
Java Edition Classic
May 21, 2009
Notch shows interest in
adding ores.

0.0.14a
Added coal,
iron, and gold ores.

These ores could be

found exposed only in
amounts ranging from
roughly 10 to 30 in a
blob.

October 24, 2009

A texture change for
gold ore has been
teased by Notch.

0.26 SURVIVAL TEST

The texture of gold
ore has been changed.

Mining an ore now gives

the corresponding block
of it.

Java Edition Indev

0.31 20100129
Added diamond ore.

20100201-2
Ores can no longer be
mined without a
pickaxe.

Java Edition Infdev

Minecraft 20100320
Random ore is now
Infdev
placed randomly around
the terrain.

20100327
Ores now replace stone
upon a world reload.

20100330
The ore change of
replacing stone upon a
world reload has been
reverted.

Java Edition Alpha

v1.0.1
Added redstone
ore.

Java Edition Beta

1.2
Added lapis lazuli
ore.

Java Edition
1.0.0 Beta 1.9
Coal, lapis lazuli,
Prerelease 4
redstone, and diamond
ore now also drop as
ore blocks with Silk
Touch.

May 21, 2012

The week before the
release of 12w21a, Jeb
released a screenshot of
himself testing the
trading system.[2] At
this time, what would
become emerald ore
was ruby ore.[3]

1.3.1 12w21a
For the release of
12w21a, the block was
changed to an emerald
ore. The texture for
emerald ore remained
unchanged, as Jeb
forgot to commit the
new texture in the
snapshot.[4]

12w21b
The texture of
emerald ore has been
changed.

12w22a
All ores except iron and
gold (which give
experience when
smelted) now drop
experience points when
mined.

1.5 13w01a
Added nether
quartz ore.

Texture ?
New textures
Update
for coal ore, gold ore and
diamond ore have been
proposed.

1.14 18w43a

The textures of
all ores have been
changed.

18w50a
The texture of
nether quartz ore has
been changed.

19w08a
The texture of
diamond ore has been
changed.

1.14.1 Pre-Release 1
The texture of iron
ore has been changed.

1.16 20w06a
Added ancient
debris.

20w11a
Added nether gold
ore.

March 11, 2020

A new texture for
nether gold ore is
shown.

20w12a
Nether gold ore now
drops gold nuggets
instead of itself.

20w13a
The texture of