Ore

An ore is any uncommon rock-type block used to obtain specific resources.

Ore

Renewable	no
Stackable	Yes  (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	3 Ancient Debris: 1200
Hardness	Normal, Quartz and Nether Gold: 3 Deepslate: 4.5 Ancient Debris: 30
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No

{
    "title": "Ore",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "no",
            "label": "(link to Renewable resource article, displayed as Renewable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Yes  (64)",
            "label": "Stackable"
        },
        {
            "field": "<span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"height:32px;width:32px;--vertical-align:middle\">(link to File:SlotSprite Pickaxe Required.png article, displayed as 32x32px|link=Pickaxe|alt=SlotSprite Pickaxe Required.png: Sprite image for Pickaxe Required in Minecraft linking to Pickaxe|class=pixel-image|This block can be broken with any tool, but a pickaxe is the quickest)</span>",
            "label": "Tool"
        },
        {
            "field": "\n* 3\n* '''Ancient Debris:''' 1200(link to Category:Pages with overridden tntres article, displayed as Category:Pages with overridden tntres)",
            "label": "(link to Explosion#Blast resistance article, displayed as Blast resistance)"
        },
        {
            "field": "\n* '''Normal, Quartz and Nether Gold:''' 3\n* '''Deepslate:''' 4.5\n* '''Ancient Debris:''' 30(link to Category:Pages with overridden hardness article, displayed as Category:Pages with overridden hardness)",
            "label": "(link to Breaking#Blocks by hardness article, displayed as Hardness)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Light article, displayed as Luminous)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Opacity article, displayed as Transparent)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Flammable article, displayed as Flammable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "Catches fire from (link to lava article, displayed as lava)"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "Coal Ore",
        "Iron Ore",
        "Copper Ore",
        "Gold Ore",
        "Redstone Ore",
        "Emerald Ore",
        "Lapis Lazuli Ore",
        "Diamond Ore",
        "Deepslate Coal Ore",
        "Deepslate Iron Ore",
        "Deepslate Copper Ore",
        "Deepslate Gold Ore",
        "Deepslate Redstone Ore",
        "Deepslate Emerald Ore",
        "Deepslate Lapis Lazuli Ore",
        "Deepslate Diamond Ore",
        "Nether Gold Ore",
        "Nether Quartz Ore",
        "Ancient Debris"
    ],
    "images": []
}

Usage[edit | edit source]

Ore blocks are primarily collected for their resources, which are used for crafting items, such as tools, weapons, armor, and 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 Silk Touch pickaxe to drop themselves.

• Ores that drop 1 unit of their corresponding material:
  • Coal ore and its deepslate variant.
  • Diamond ore and its deepslate variant.
  • Emerald ore and its deepslate variant.
  • Nether quartz ore.
• Ores that drop 1 unit of their raw material:
  • Iron ore and its deepslate variant.
  • Gold ore and its deepslate variant.
• Copper ore and its deepslate variant drop 2–5 raw copper.
• Redstone ore and its deepslate variant drop 4–5 redstone dust.
• Lapis lazuli ore and its deepslate variant drop 4–9 lapis lazuli.
• Nether gold ore drops 2–6 gold nuggets instead of raw gold.

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

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

Smelting ingredient[edit | edit source]

Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Any ore + Any fuel	0.10.10.70.70.70.70.20.2110.70.711110.212
Raw Iron or Raw Copper or Raw Gold + Any fuel	0.70.71

Ores can be smelted faster using a blast furnace.

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

Note blocks[edit | edit source]

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

Distribution[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) in the Overworld and the Nether. For detailed generation, see Ore (feature).

Overworld[edit | edit source]

	Coal[a]	Copper		Lapis Lazuli	Iron	Gold		Redstone	Diamond	Emerald[b]
Stone variant
Deepslate variant[c]
Raw resource
Minimum pickaxe tier required	Wooden	Stone		Stone	Stone	Iron		Iron	Iron	Iron
Found in biome	Any	Any	Dripstone Caves[d]	Any	Any	Any	Badlands[e]	Any	Any	Meadow Cherry Grove Grove Snowy Slopes Jagged Peaks Frozen Peaks Stony Peaks Windswept Hills Windswept Gravelly Hills Windswept Forest
Abundance	Very common	Common	Very common	Rare	Common	Rare	Common	Uncommon	Very uncommon	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 layers[f]	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	15 to 320	16 to 320	-64 to -17

• 

  The figures show the ore distribution by layer in Java Edition 1.18.2

• 

  Ore distribution 1.18-1.20.2

The Nether[edit | edit source]

	Nether Quartz	Nether Gold	Ancient Debris
Ore block
Raw resource
Minimum pickaxe tier required	Wooden		Diamond
Found in biome	Any Nether biome
Abundance	Very common	Common	Very rare
Most found in layers[f]	114		16[g]
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^[1]

History[edit | edit source]

Issues[edit | edit source]

Issues relating to "Ore" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

• 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.^[4]

Gallery[edit | edit source]

• 

  All of the current overworld ores, including deepslate variants.

• 

  Naturally generated diamond ore, redstone ore and lapis lazuli ore found in a canyon. Check the image for seed and coordinates.

• 

  Multiple ores found in one cave.

• 

  Several types of ore in a ravine.

• 

  Some ore being mined.

• 

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

• 

  The pre-caves & cliffs ore textures.

• 

  Floating ores and lava.

• 

  This graph shows the actual amount of ancient debris found in a relatively small but untapped world in Java Edition 20w06a

Caves and Cliffs development[edit | edit source]

• 

  21w07a texture comparison.

• 

  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).

• 

  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.

• 

  More ore texture revisions.

• 

  More ore texture revisions.

• 

  An image showing new iron and diamond texture.

• 

  21w08a texture comparison.

• 

  21w10a texture comparison.

• 

  Ore distribution in 21w07a.

• 

  Ore distribution in 21w08a/21w08b.

• 

  Ore distribution in 21w10a.

• 

  Ore distribution in 21w18a.

References[edit | edit source]

Navigation[edit | edit source]

v t e Ore
Coal	Ore Deepslate Coal
Iron	Ore Deepslate Raw
Copper	Ore Deepslate Raw
Gold	Ore Deepslate Nether Raw Nugget
Redstone	Ore Deepslate Dust
Emerald	Ore Deepslate Emerald
Lapis Lazuli	Ore Deepslate Lapis Lazuli
Diamond	Ore Deepslate Diamond
Nether Quartz	Ore Quartz
Netherite	Ancient Debris Scrap

v t e Blocks
Structural Wood/Hypha Logs Stripped Wood Stripped Stems Stripped Hyphae Stripped Block of Bamboo Stripped Planks Bamboo Mosaic Stone-based Stone Cobblestone Mossy Smooth Stone Stone Bricks Chiseled Cracked Mossy Granite Polished Diorite Polished Andesite Polished Deepslate Cobbled Deepslate Polished Deepslate Chiseled Deepslate Bricks Cracked Deepslate Tiles Cracked Tuff Polished Tuff Chiseled Tuff Bricks Chiseled From the Overworld Bricks Packed Mud Mud Bricks Sandstone Cut Chiseled Smooth Red Sandstone Cut Chiseled Smooth Prismarine Bricks Dark From the Nether Netherrack Nether Bricks Chiseled Cracked Red Blackstone Polished Blackstone Chiseled Polished Blackstone Bricks Cracked Basalt Polished Smooth From the End End Stone End Stone Bricks Purpur Block Pillar Structural minerals Block of Quartz Bricks Chiseled Pillar Smooth Block of Copper Chiseled Cut Grate Decorative minerals Block of Amethyst Block of Coal Block of Diamond Block of Emerald Block of Gold Block of Iron Block of Lapis Lazuli Block of Netherite Block of Redstone
Ornamental Decorative Bookshelf Crying Obsidian Gilded Blackstone Honeycomb Block Reinforced Deepslate Partial blocks Chain Dirt Path Fences Wooden Nether Brick Iron Bars Slabs Cut Copper Wooden Stairs Cut Copper Wooden Walls Dyeable/Dyed Wool Carpets Terracotta Stained Glazed Concrete Powder Glass Pane Tinted Stained Glass Pane Lighting Candle Dyed End Rod Froglight Glowstone Jack o'Lantern Lantern Soul Sea Lantern Torch Soul BE & edu only Colored Torches Elements Hardened Glass Pane Hardened Stained Glass Pane
Natural Soil Clay Crimson Nylium Dirt Coarse Grass Block Mycelium Podzol Rooted Gravel Mud Sand Red Soul Sand Soul Soil Warped Nylium Decorative rock Bedrock Calcite Pointed Dripstone Block Magma Block Obsidian Ore/Mineral Amethyst Bud Cluster Budding Amethyst Ancient Debris Coal Ore Deepslate Copper Ore Deepslate Raw Block Diamond Ore Deepslate Emerald Ore Deepslate Gold Ore Deepslate Raw Block Nether Iron Ore Deepslate Raw Block Lapis Lazuli Ore Deepslate Nether Quartz Ore Redstone Ore Deepslate Plant Azalea Flowering Bamboo Shoot Beetroots Big Dripleaf Small Cactus Carrots Cave Vines Chorus Plant Flower Cocoa Dead Bush Fern Large Hanging Roots Leaves Lily Pad Mangrove Propagule Mangrove Roots Muddy Melon Stem Moss Block Carpet Pink Petals Potatoes Pumpkin Carved Stem Saplings Seagrass Tall Short Grass Tall Spore Blossom Sugar Cane Sweet Berry Bush Vines Wheat Hay Bale Flower Allium Azure Bluet Blue Orchid Cornflower Dandelion Lilac Lily of the Valley Oxeye Daisy Peony Pitcher Plant Crop Poppy Rose Bush Sunflower Torchflower Crop Tulips Wither Rose Fungus Fungi Glow Lichen Mushrooms Blocks Stem Nether Sprouts Nether Wart Nether Wart Block Warped Crimson Roots Warped Roots Shroomlight Twisting Vines Weeping Vines Fauna & algae Coral Dead Coral Blocks Dead Coral Fans Dead Kelp Dried Block Sea Pickle Fauna/Related Bee Nest Bone Block Cobweb Dragon Egg Frogspawn Infested Block Sniffer Egg Turtle Egg Sculk Sculk Sculk Catalyst Sculk Sensor Calibrated Sculk Shrieker Sculk Vein Fluid/Related Bubble Column Ice Blue Packed Lava Snow Powder Block Water Non-physical Air Cave‌[JE only] Void‌[JE only] Fire Soul
Utility Interactable Anvil Chipped Damaged Barrel Beacon Brewing Stand Cartography Table Chest Ender Crafting Table Enchanting Table Furnace Blast Smoker Grindstone Lectern Loom Shulker Box Dyed Sign Hanging Smithing Table Stonecutter Utilizable Banners Ominous Beehive Beds Bell Cake with Candle Campfire Soul Cauldron Lava Powder Snow Water Chiseled Bookshelf Composter Conduit Decorated Pot End Gateway End Portal End Portal Frame Farmland Fletching Table Flower Pot Frosted Ice Heads Skeleton Wither Skeleton Zombie Creeper Piglin Dragon Heavy Core Jukebox Ladder Lodestone Monster Spawner Nether Portal Respawn Anchor Scaffolding Sponge Wet Suspicious Gravel Suspicious Sand TNT Trial Spawner Ominous Vault Ominous Redstone/Mechanical Buttons Wooden Stone Polished Blackstone Copper Bulb Crafter Daylight Detector Dispenser Dropper Doors Copper Iron Wooden Honey Block Hopper Lever Lightning Rod Note Block Observer Piston Sticky Head Moving Pressure Plates Wooden Stone Polished Blackstone Heavy Weighted Light Weighted Rail Activator Detector Powered Redstone Lamp Redstone Wire Comparator Repeater Torch Slime Block Target Trapped Chest Trapdoors Copper Iron Wooden Fence Gates Tripwire Hook Tripwire Minecraft Education only Chalkboard BE & edu only Allow Border Compound Creator Deny Element Constructor Heat Block Item Frame Glow Lab Table Material Reducer Underwater TNT Underwater Torch
Creative or commands only All editions Barrier Command Block Chain Repeating Jigsaw Block Light Petrified Oak Slab Player Head Structure Block Void Unstable TNT BE & edu only Structure Air China Edition only mod_ore
Unused Bedrock Edition only Camera Chalkboard BE & edu only Broken Anvil Chiseled Purpur tile.client_request_placeholder_block.name Glowing Obsidian info_update info_update2 Invisible Bedrock Nether Reactor Core tile.purpur_block.smooth.name tile.reserved6.name Stonecutter (old) Unknown
Unimplemented All editions Branches Copper Button Colored Wood Planks Coral Slab Dirt Slab Empty Barrel Fish Barrel Furniture Paeonia Sculk Jaw Spike Block Wax Block
Joke features April Fools 2013 Block of Coal Etho Slab Tinted Glass Torch (Burnt-out) April Fools 2016 USB Charger Block April Fools 2020 An Ant Box of Infinite Books Cursor Funky Portal Leftover Swaggiest stairs ever April Fools 2022 How did we get here? April Fools 2023 Cheese Copper Sink Copper Spleaves Golden Chest Other Portal Packed Air Pickaxe Block Place Block April Fools 2024 Baked Potato Bricks Expired Charred Big Brain Block of Amber Block of Potato Peels Corrupted Floatater Floatato Frying Table Gravtater Pedestal Peelgrass Block Corrupted Poison Farmland Poison Path Poisonous Mashed Potato Poisonous Potato Block Compressed Double Compressed Triple Compressed Quadruple Compressed Poisonous Potato Cutter Poisonous Potato Head Block Poisonous Potato Headpiece Poisonous Potato Ore Deepslate Potato Battery Potato Bud Potato flower Potato Fruit Potato Leaves Potato Pedicule Potato Portal Potato Refinery Potato Sprouts Potato Stem Planks Slab Stairs Door Trapdoor Button Pressure Plate Sign Hanging Sign Fence Fence Gate Potone Copper Ore Diamond Ore Gold Ore Iron Ore Lapis Lazuli Ore Redstone Ore Resin Ore Powerful Potato Strong Roots Taterstone Terre de Pomme Vicious Potato Weak Roots
Removed All editions Grassless Dirt Java Edition only Cloth Dead Coral Block Gear Lava Spawner Locked chest Rose Potted Shrub Water Spawner Bedrock Edition only Blue Rose grass_carried leaves_carried Fern Fern Smooth Stone Bricks MinecraftEdu only Big Sign Border block Build allow block Build disallow block Foundation block Home Block Information block Information Sign Number Block Spawn Block Teleport Block Legacy Console Edition only Ring Block Extreme metadata variants All editions Directionless Hopper Seamless Stone Slab Six-sided Hay Bale Six-sided Piston Java Edition only Faceless Furnace Faceless Jack o'Lantern Green Shrub Potted Inaccessible "Boring" Blocks Invisible stairs Misaligned torch Redstone Nether portal post Overripe Melon Stem Attached Overripe Pumpkin Stem Attached Overgrown Cocoa Overeaten Cake Overgrown Wheat Potted non-flower block Snowy Dirt Coarse Strange buttons Bedrock Edition only Bell Stand Diorite Bell Granite Bell Polished Six-sided Bone Block Six-sided Purpur Pillar Six-sided Quartz Pillar Smokeless Campfire