Minecraft:Ore

An ore is any uncommon rock-type Minecraft:block used to obtain specific resources. Template:Block

Usage

File:Extracted Ores.png

Ores isolated down to bedrock

Ore blocks are primarily collected for their resources, which are used for Minecraft:crafting items, such as Minecraft:tools, Minecraft:weapons, Minecraft:armor, and Minecraft:redstone circuits. The resource can also be combined to create a block of the material's type.

Most ores drop their resource when mined, and require a Minecraft:Silk Touch pickaxe to drop themselves.

• Ores that drop 1 unit of their corresponding material:
  • Minecraft:Coal ore and its deepslate variant.
  • Minecraft:Diamond ore and its deepslate variant.
  • Minecraft:Emerald ore and its deepslate variant.
  • Minecraft:Nether quartz ore.
• Ores that drop 1 unit of their raw material:
  • Minecraft:Iron ore and its deepslate variant.
  • Minecraft:Gold ore and its deepslate variant.

• Ores that drop multiple units of their corresponding material:
  • Minecraft:Copper ore and its deepslate variant drop 2–5 Minecraft:raw copper.
  • Minecraft:Redstone ore and its deepslate variant drop 4–5 Minecraft:redstone dust.
  • Minecraft:Lapis lazuli ore and its deepslate variant drop 4–9 Minecraft:lapis lazuli.
  • Minecraft:Nether gold ore drops 2–6 Minecraft:gold nuggets instead of Minecraft:raw gold.

The average yield of any of the ores in the list above can be increased by using a pickaxe with Minecraft:Fortune.

Minecraft:Ancient debris drops itself when mined and must be smelted to obtain Minecraft:netherite scrap.

Smelting ingredient

Ores can be smelted faster using a Minecraft:blast furnace.

It is not efficient to mine with Minecraft: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, as each ore block drops an average of 8.8 gold nuggets even when mined with Minecraft:Fortune III, which is less than a guaranteed gold ingot obtained from smelting the ore obtained using Silk Touch.

Note blocks

All types of ores can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.

Distribution

Template:Main The following is the distribution of ores according to the Minecraft:altitude (layers are number of blocks above the lowest layer of Minecraft:bedrock) in the Minecraft:Overworld and Minecraft:the Nether. For detailed generation, see Minecraft:Ore (feature).

Overworld

	Template:BlockLinkTemplate:Fn	Template:BlockLink		Template:BlockLink	Template:BlockLink	Template:BlockLink		Template:BlockLink	Template:BlockLinkTemplate:Fn	Template:BlockLinkTemplate:Fn
Stone variant	File:Coal Ore.png	File:Copper Ore.png		File:Lapis Lazuli Ore.png	File:Iron Ore.png	File:Gold Ore.png		File:Redstone Ore.png	File:Diamond Ore.png	File:Emerald Ore.png
Deepslate variantTemplate:Fn	File:Deepslate Coal Ore.png	File:Deepslate Copper Ore.png		File:Deepslate Lapis Lazuli Ore.png	File:Deepslate Iron Ore.png	File:Deepslate Gold Ore.png		File:Deepslate Redstone Ore.png	File:Deepslate Diamond Ore.png	File:Deepslate Emerald Ore.png
Raw resource	File:Coal.png	File:Raw Copper.png		File:Lapis Lazuli.png	File:Raw Iron.png	File:Raw Gold.png		File:Redstone Dust.png	File:Diamond.png	File:Emerald.png
Minimum pickaxe tier required	Template:ItemLink	Template:ItemLink				Template:ItemLink
Found in biome	Any		Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Fn	Any			Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Fn	Any		Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink
Abundance	Very common	Common	Very common	Rare	Common	Rare	Common	Uncommon	Very rare	Uncommon
Total range	0 to 320	-16 to 112		-64 to 64	-64 to 72 80 to 320	-64 to 32	-64 to 256	-64 to 16	-64 to 16	-16 to 320
Most found in layersTemplate:Fn	45	43		-2	14	-18	32 to 256	-59	-59	85
None at layers	-64 to -1	-64 to -17 and 113 to 320		65 to 320	73 to 79	33 to 320	257 to 320	16 to 320	16 to 320	-64 to -17

• The figures show the ore distribution by layer in Minecraft:Java Edition 1.18.2
  The figures show the ore distribution by layer in Minecraft:Java Edition 1.18.2
• Ore distribution 1.18-1.20.2
  Ore distribution 1.18-1.20.2

The Nether

	Template:BlockLink	Template:BlockLink	Template:BlockLink
Ore block	File:Nether Quartz Ore.png	File:Nether Gold Ore.png	File:Ancient Debris.png
Raw resource	File:Nether Quartz.png	File:Gold Nugget.png
Minimum pickaxe tier required	Template:ItemLink		Template:ItemLink
Found in biome	Any Minecraft:Nether biome
Abundance	Very common	Common	Very rare
Most found in layersTemplate:Fn	114		16Template:Fn
Commonly up to layers	120	95	23
Rare on layers	123-125	96-116	22-119
None at or above	128	117	120

• Nether ore distribution as of 1.20.4<ref>https://github.com/Parcival791/DistribHelperTxt</ref>
  Nether ore distribution as of 1.20.4<ref>https://github.com/Parcival791/DistribHelperTxt</ref>

History

Trivia

• Since it is exclusive to only two categories of Overworld biomes (mountains and windswept hills), emerald ore is actually rarer than ancient debris per chunk.
• The texture of ores were changed in 1.17 to make them distinct for color blind players.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>

Gallery

Screenshots

• All of the current overworld ores, including deepslate variants
  All of the current overworld ores, including deepslate variants
• Naturally generated Minecraft:diamond ore, Minecraft:redstone ore and Minecraft:lapis lazuli ore found in a Minecraft:canyon. Check the image for seed and coordinates
  Naturally generated Minecraft:diamond ore, Minecraft:redstone ore and Minecraft:lapis lazuli ore found in a Minecraft:canyon. Check the image for seed and coordinates
• Multiple ores found in one cave
  Multiple ores found in one cave
• Several types of ore in a ravine
  Several types of ore in a ravine
• Some ore being mined
  Some ore being mined
• This graph shows the actual amount of ores found in a relatively small but untapped world as of Minecraft:Java Edition 1.12.2.
  This graph shows the actual amount of ores found in a relatively small but untapped world as of Minecraft:Java Edition 1.12.2.
• The pre-Minecraft:Caves & Cliffs ore textures
  The pre-Minecraft:Caves & Cliffs ore textures
• This graph shows the actual amount of Minecraft:ancient debris found in a relatively small but untapped world in Minecraft:Java Edition 20w06a.
  This graph shows the actual amount of Minecraft:ancient debris found in a relatively small but untapped world in Minecraft:Java Edition 20w06a.

Mojang screenshots

• Floating ores and lava
  Floating ores and lava

Caves and Cliffs development

• 21w07a texture comparison
  21w07a texture comparison
• The now and soon texture comparison of the ores and their deepslate variants (before 21w08a)
  The now and soon texture comparison of the ores and their deepslate variants (before 21w08a)
• Normal ores generating within deepslate (before the addition of deepslate ores)
  Normal ores generating within deepslate (before the addition of deepslate ores)
• Early deepslate ore textures
  Early deepslate ore textures
• An image showing another texture for deepslate diamond ore which improves on blending the ore texture with the base deepslate
  An image showing another texture for deepslate diamond ore which improves on blending the ore texture with the base deepslate
• An image showing another texture for deepslate Minecraft:diamond ore which improves on blending the ore texture with the base deepslate
  An image showing another texture for deepslate Minecraft:diamond ore which improves on blending the ore texture with the base deepslate
• More ore texture revisions
  More ore texture revisions
• More ore texture revisions
  More ore texture revisions
• An image showing new iron and diamond texture
  An image showing new iron and diamond texture
• 21w08a texture comparison
  21w08a texture comparison
• 21w10a texture comparison
  21w10a texture comparison
• Ore distribution in 21w07a
  Ore distribution in 21w07a
• Ore distribution in 21w08a/21w08b
  Ore distribution in 21w08a/21w08b
• Ore distribution in 21w10a
  Ore distribution in 21w10a
• Ore distribution in 21w18a
  Ore distribution in 21w18a