Since the Caves & Cliffs update, every ore has its own height range in the world. Some ores like to be high up in the mountains, others deep near the bottom. If you know the right Y level, you can find the ore you need much faster. Here is a simple list for Minecraft Bedrock Edition.
Quick list
Y levels are the middle number of your coordinates. Turn them on in your world settings, see our guide on showing coordinates.
Which pickaxe you need
- Wooden pickaxe: coal and nether quartz.
- Stone pickaxe: iron, copper and lapis lazuli.
- Iron pickaxe: gold, redstone, emerald and diamond.
- Diamond pickaxe: ancient debris (and obsidian).
If you break an ore with a pickaxe that is too weak, the block breaks and drops nothing.
Raw ores and smelting
Iron, gold and copper drop raw items. Smelt them in a furnace or a blast furnace, which is twice as fast for ores. Coal, diamond, emerald, lapis, redstone and quartz drop the finished item right away, so you do not need to smelt them.
Fortune or Silk Touch?
- Fortune gives you more drops from ores like diamond, coal, lapis, redstone, emerald and the raw ores. Use it for almost everything.
- Silk Touch mines the ore block itself. That is only useful for decoration, or if you want to carry the ore and use Fortune on it later.
The rarest ore
Emerald ore only spawns in mountain biomes, so even though one block is easy to mine, it is rarer than ancient debris in most worlds. The easiest way to get lots of emeralds is trading with villagers.
Tips for faster mining
- Use an Efficiency pickaxe and drink a potion of Haste or stand near a beacon with Haste.
- Look on cave walls, not just in tunnels. You see far more blocks at once.
- Struggling to spot ores? Texture packs that make ores glow help a lot. See texture packs for finding ores.
