Ore (feature)

Ore (feature)

Biomes	Depends
Generates in existing chunks	No
Consists of	Depends

{
    "title": "Ore (feature)",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "Depends",
            "label": "(link to Biome article, displayed as Biomes)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "Generates in<br>existing chunks"
        },
        {
            "field": "Depends",
            "label": "Consists of"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [],
    "images": [
        "Ore (feature).png"
    ]
}

An ore is a feature consisting of a natural deposit of ores or other blocks in the ground.

Generation

The ore feature has two types: ore blobs and scatter ores.

An ore blob is an ellipsoidal cluster of blocks. In the overworld, underground deposits of dirt and gravel are generated in this form, followed by the more precious ores, like coal, copper, iron, gold, redstone, diamond, emerald (in mountains biomes) and lapis lazuli. They can form only in stone, deepslate, andesite, diorite, granite and tuff‌ (also in their polished variants in Bedrock Edition, replacing parts of structures). Two or more ores can form next to each other and appear as an ore made of more than one material.

Each ore blob has a spawn size. The maximum number of generated blocks in a blob each spawn size corresponds to is shown in the table below:

Spawn size	[show]Max number of blocks
0	0
1	0
2	0
3	4
4	5
5	8
6	9
7	10
8	10
9	13
10	16
11	17
12	23
13	24
14	24
15	29
16	32
17	37
18	46
19	52
20	52
21	60
22	68
23	68
24	74
25	82
26	94
27	104
28	106
29	120
30	128
31	135
32	149
33	160
34	180
35	190
36	204
37	212
38	228
39	246
40	262
41	276
42	292
43	308
44	324
45	344
46	360
47	381
48	403
49	429
50	452
51	480
52	500
53	530
54	558
55	584
56	616
57	634
58	664
59	694
60	730
61	760
62	790
63	826
64	864

A scatter ore is a slightly dispersed cluster of blocks. Currently only ancient debris is generated in this form. Scatter ores also have a spawn size value. The maximum number of generated blocks in a scatter ore is just the spawn size.

There was also a deprecated ore type, which generates only one block in each generation attempt. It was used by emerald ore before 1.18.

List

Dimension	Block	Can replace
Overworld	Andesite Clay (Only in lush caves) Coal Ore Copper Ore Diamond Ore Diorite Dirt Emerald Ore (Only in mountains and windswept hills biomes) Gold Ore Granite Gravel Infested Stone (Only in mountains and windswept hills biomes) Iron Ore Lapis Lazuli Ore Redstone Ore Tuff	Andesite Diorite Granite Polished Andesite‌ Polished Diorite‌ Polished Granite‌ Stone
	Andesite‌ Clay‌ (Only in lush caves) Deepslate Coal Ore Deepslate Copper Ore Deepslate Diamond Ore Diorite‌ Dirt‌ Deepslate Emerald Ore (Only in mountain biomes and windswept hills biomes) Deepslate Gold Ore Granite‌ Gravel Infested Deepslate (Only in mountain biomes and windswept hills biomes) Deepslate Iron Ore Deepslate Lapis Lazuli Ore Deepslate Redstone Ore Tuff	Deepslate Tuff‌
The Nether	Ancient Debris	Basalt‌ Blackstone‌ Netherrack
	Blackstone Gravel Nether Gold Ore Nether Quartz Ore Soul Sand	Netherrack
	Magma Block	Netherrack Blackstone‌

Overworld

Blocks	Spawn size	Spawn tries per chunk	Minimum height	Maximum height	Ore concentrate	Skipped when air exposed	Biomes
Dirt	33	7	0	160	Uniform	0	All
Clay	33	46	-64	256	Uniform	0	Lush Caves
Gravel	33	14	-64	320	Uniform	0	All
Granite	64	2	0	60	Uniform	0	All
		1⁄6	64	128
Diorite	64	2	0	60	Uniform	0	All
		1⁄6	64	128
Andesite	64	2	0	60	Uniform	0	All
		1⁄6	64	128
Tuff	64	2	-64	0	Uniform	0	All
Coal Ore Deepslate Coal Ore	17	20	0	192	Triangle	0.5	All
		30	136	320	Uniform	0
		0‌ 20‌	128	156	Uniform	0	Grove Cherry Grove Jagged Peaks Meadow Frozen Peaks Stony Peaks Snowy Slopes
Iron Ore Deepslate Iron Ore	4	10	-64	72	Uniform	0	All
	9‌ 10‌	10	-24	56	Triangle	0
		90	80	384	Triangle	0
Copper Ore Deepslate Copper Ore	10	16	-16	112	Triangle	0	Other
	20						Dripstone Caves
Redstone Ore Deepslate Redstone Ore	8	4	-64	15	Uniform	0	All
		8	-64	-32	Triangle
Lapis Lazuli Ore Deepslate Lapis Lazuli Ore	7	2	-32	32	Triangle	0	All
		4	-64	64	Uniform	1
Gold Ore Deepslate Gold Ore	9	4	-64	32	Triangle	0.5	All
		1⁄2	-64	-48	Uniform	0.5	All
		50	32	256	Uniform	0	Badlands Eroded Badlands Wooded Badlands Badlands Plateau‌(Unused) Modified Badlands Plateau‌(Unused) Modified Wooded Badlands Plateau‌(Unused)
Diamond Ore Deepslate Diamond Ore	4	7	-64	16	Triangle	0.5	All
	8	4				1
	12	1⁄9				0.7
	8	2	-64	-4	Uniform	0.5
Emerald Ore Deepslate Emerald Ore	3	100	-16	480	Triangle	0	Windswept Hills Grove Cherry Grove Jagged Peaks Meadow Frozen Peaks Stony Peaks Windswept Forest Snowy Slopes Windswept Gravelly Hills Mountain Edge‌(Unused) Gravelly Mountains+‌(Unused)
Infested Stone Infested Deepslate	9‌ 8‌	14	-64‌ 0‌	63‌ 64‌	Uniform	0	Windswept Hills Grove Cherry Grove Jagged Peaks Meadow Frozen Peaks Stony Peaks Windswept Forest Snowy Slopes Windswept Gravelly Hills Mountain Edge‌(Unused) Gravelly Mountains+‌(Unused)

The Nether

Blocks	Spawn size	Spawn tries per chunk	Minimum height	Maximum height	Ore concentrate	Skipped when air exposed	Biomes
Magma Block	33‌ 28‌	4‌ 9‌	27‌ 23‌	36	Uniform	0	All
Nether Quartz Ore	14	16	10	117	Uniform	0	Others
		32‌ 16‌					Basalt Deltas
Nether Gold Ore	10	10	10	117	Uniform	0	Others
		20‌ 10‌					Basalt Deltas
Ancient Debris	3	1‌ 2‌	8	24‌ 23‌	Triangle‌ Uniform‌	1	All
	2	1‌ 3‌	8	119	Uniform
Soul Sand	12	12	0	31‌ 32‌	Uniform	0	Soul Sand Valley
Gravel	33	2	5	41‌ 36‌	Uniform	0	Nether Wastes Crimson Forest Warped Forest Soul Sand Valley
Blackstone	33	2	5	31‌ 36‌	Uniform	0	Nether Wastes Crimson Forest Warped Forest Soul Sand Valley

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Feature type	[hide]Identifier
[No displayed name]	ore
[No displayed name]	scattered_ore

Configured feature	[hide]Identifier
[No displayed name]	ore_ancient_debris_large
[No displayed name]	ore_ancient_debris_small
[No displayed name]	ore_andesite
[No displayed name]	ore_blackstone
[No displayed name]	ore_clay
[No displayed name]	ore_coal
[No displayed name]	ore_coal_buried
[No displayed name]	ore_copper_large
[No displayed name]	ore_copper_small
[No displayed name]	ore_diamond_buried
[No displayed name]	ore_diamond_large
[No displayed name]	ore_diamond_small
[No displayed name]	ore_diorite
[No displayed name]	ore_dirt
[No displayed name]	ore_emerald
[No displayed name]	ore_gold
[No displayed name]	ore_gold_buried
[No displayed name]	ore_granite
[No displayed name]	ore_gravel
[No displayed name]	ore_gravel_nether
[No displayed name]	ore_infested
[No displayed name]	ore_iron
[No displayed name]	ore_iron_small
[No displayed name]	ore_lapis
[No displayed name]	ore_lapis_buried
[No displayed name]	ore_magma
[No displayed name]	ore_nether_gold
[No displayed name]	ore_quartz
[No displayed name]	ore_redstone
[No displayed name]	ore_soul_sand
[No displayed name]	ore_tuff

Bedrock Edition:

Feature	[hide]Identifier
[No displayed name]	andesite_feature
[No displayed name]	clay_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	coal_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	coal_ore_upper_feature
[No displayed name]	copper_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	deepslate_feature
[No displayed name]	diamond_ore_buried_feature
[No displayed name]	diamond_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	diamond_ore_large_feature
[No displayed name]	diorite_feature
[No displayed name]	dirt_feature
[No displayed name]	dripstone_caves_copper_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	emerald_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	gold_ore_extra_feature
[No displayed name]	gold_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	gold_ore_lower_feature
[No displayed name]	granite_feature
[No displayed name]	gravel_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	iron_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	iron_ore_small_feature
[No displayed name]	lapis_ore_buried_feature
[No displayed name]	lapis_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	nether_soul_sand_underground_feature
[No displayed name]	redstone_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	silverfish_feature
[No displayed name]	tuff_feature
[No displayed name]	nether_gold_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	nether_gravel_underground_feature
[No displayed name]	nether_quartz_ore_feature
[No displayed name]	nether_magma_feature
[No displayed name]	blackstone_feature
[No displayed name]	nether_netherite_deep_feature
[No displayed name]	nether_netherite_tall_feature

Config

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] config
  • [Int] size Value between 0 and 64 (inclusive). Determines the size of the ore vein. Further details on the relationship between 'size' and the actual number of blocks comprising the ore vein is available here.
  • [Float] discard_chance_on_air_exposure Value between 0 and 1 (inclusive). The chance for the entire ore vein to be discarded if any constituent block is adjacent to an air block. Other non-solid blocks such as water do not count.
  • [NBT List / JSON Array] targets (required, but can be empty) A list of targets.
    • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] A target.
      • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] target Rule test. The blocks to replace.
        • A rule test see Template:Nbt inherit/rule test/template[show]
      • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] state The block to use.
        • Block state see Template:Nbt inherit/block state/template[show]

Note that ore features (if allowed to generate in air) will not generate without a solid block nearby to act as the starting point. The ore feature does not necessarily have to intersect with this point, but the required distance does seem to scale with the ore size.

An example[show]

{
  "type": "minecraft:ore",
  "config": {
    "discard_chance_on_air_exposure": 0.5,
    "size": 4,
    "targets": [
      {
        "state": {
          "Name": "minecraft:diamond_ore"
        },
        "target": {
          "predicate_type": "minecraft:tag_match",
          "tag": "minecraft:stone_ore_replaceables"
        }
      },
      {
        "state": {
          "Name": "minecraft:deepslate_diamond_ore"
        },
        "target": {
          "predicate_type": "minecraft:tag_match",
          "tag": "minecraft:deepslate_ore_replaceables"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

History

[hide]Java Edition Classic
0.0.14a							Added gold ore, iron ore, and coal ore, which generate in blobs.
[hide]Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1414							Ore blobs no longer generate.
20100320							Ore blobs now generate, but differently.
20100325-1545							Ore blobs now appear more like they do today.
20100617-1531							Added underground ores of dirt and gravel.
[hide]Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.1							Added ores of redstone ore.
[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.2							Added ores of lapis lazuli ore.
							Iron, diamond, and coal ores are now larger on average.
1.2_02							Lapis lazuli ore can now be found at bedrock level.
1.6			Test Build 3				Fixed ore density varying per quadrant from the center of the world.
1.8			Pre-release				The highest layer for some ores has been lowered by 2.
							Diamond ore has now become about 25% rarer.
[hide]Java Edition
1.3.1			12w21a				Added ores of emerald ore to Extreme Hills and Extreme Hills Edge biomes.
			12w22a				Emerald ore now generates as single blocks.
1.4.2			12w38a				Stone monster eggs now generate underground in extreme hills biomes.
1.5			13w01a				Added ores of nether quartz ore to the Nether.
1.8			14w02a				Added ores of granite, diorite, and andesite to overworld generation.
			14w17a				Added custom worlds allowing for ore customization.
			14w29a				Ore now generates faster.
1.10			16w20a				Added magma block ores to the Nether.
							Added extra gold ore ores to the mesa biome and its variants.
1.16			20w06a				Added ancient debris, which generates in the Nether in two different ore specifications.
			20w11a				Added nether gold ore to the Nether.
			20w19a				Added ores of blackstone and gravel to nether wastes, soul sand valley, crimson forest and warped forest biomes.
							Added underground soul sand ores to the soul sand valley.
							Basalt and blackstone can be replaced by nether ores, like with netherrack.
1.16.2			20w28a				No longer use 32-bit floats for generation, which used to cause a crash when using mods to generate terrain between 67,108,864 and 134,217,728 blocks.
1.17			20w45a				Added copper ore, which generates evenly between levels 0 and 63.
			21w06a				The height limit was expanded down to Y=-64. All overworld ore features except lapis lazuli ore are temporary generating from Y=-64 instead of Y=0.
			21w07a				Ore distribution has changed.
							Pockets of diorite, granite and andesite are now larger and more spherical but less common.
							Diorite, granite, gravel and dirt no longer generate below Y=0, but gravel and dirt are more common than in pre-21w06a versions.
			21w08a				Ore distribution has changed once again.
							Added deepslate variants of diamond, iron, gold, lapis lazuli, and redstone ores, which take place of ores that generate in deepslate.
							Iron ore no longer generates as often due to a bug.
							Tuff ores now generate below Y=0.
							Andesite ores no longer generate below Y=0.
			21w08b				Iron ore now generates correctly.
							Redstone ore generation is tweaked, matching the latest ore distribution chart.
			21w10a				Ore distribution has changed for a third time.
							Normal lapis ore no longer generates in deepslate.
							Added clay blob, which can now generate in the lush caves.
			21w11a				Slightly increased the frequency of diamond ore blobs.
							Any ore that replaces tuff is now the deepslate variant.
			21w13a				Deepslate blobs now generate between Y=0 and Y=16.
							Added large diamond ore blobs, generated same with the range and method of the regular one.
							Copper ore now generates uniformly between levels 0 and 63 instead of generating with a triangle distribution from 0 to 96.
			21w15a				Most ore generation has been reverted back to the pre-21w06a generation and requires the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack to enable. However, emerald ore and diamond ore generation was not properly reverted due to bugs.
							Now triangle distribution generation works correctly. Before, the base line was one blocks lower than expected, and the maximum height was two blocks lower than expected.
							Tuff ores now generate between Y=0 and Y=16 as well.
			21w16a				Emerald ore now generates at the correct Y-levels. And it now attempts to generate 6-24 times per chunk in mountains, instead of 1 time.
							Deepslate emerald ore variant now generates naturally.
							In the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack, emerald ores now generate in the form of ore blobs instead of single blocks.
			21w17a				Deepslate coal ore and deepslate copper ore now generate naturally.
							Emerald ore can now replace granite, andesite, diorite, tuff, and deepslate upon generating.
			21w18a				Ore distribution has changed again, but only if the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack is applied to a world.
							Removed deepslate blobs, but only if the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack is applied to a world.
1.17.1			Pre-release 2				Now emerald ore generates in the correct frequency.
							Now diamond ore generates at the correct Y-levels.
1.18			Experimental Snapshot 1				All previous changes to ore distribution from the prototype data pack have now been implemented into the base game.
							Ore distribution has changed for a fifth time.
			Experimental Snapshot 2				Emerald ore blobs and infested stone blobs now generate in the new mountain biomes.
			experimental snapshot 4				Large copper ores can now generate in dripstone caves.
							Increased the amount of iron ore in mountains.
							Reduced the number of diorite/andesite/granite blobs on the surface.
			21w38a				Copper ore now generates up to Y=95, and increased its amount.
							Buried lapis lazuli ore now generates in ore blobs instead of scatter ores.
			21w39a				Dirt ores no longer generate above Y=160, and becomes rarer than before. Before, the spawn attempt is 15 times per chunk.
			21w40a				Ore distribution has changed again.
							Deepslate emerald ore can now generate naturally.
			21w42a				Increased top height limit of badlands gold generation from Y=79 to Y=256, and increased the number of blobs.
			21w44a				Deepslate coal ore can now generate naturally, again.
			Release Candidate 4				Fixed an issue where coal ore at lower heights (Y=0 to Y=192) is not distributed as intended since 1.18-pre1.
1.19			22w11a				Large copper ores can now generate in deep dark.
1.19.3			Pre-release 1				Large copper ores no longer generates in deep dark.
1.20.2			23w31a				Additional diamond ore now generates in a uniform distribution between Y=-64 and Y=-4.
[hide]Bedrock Edition

Gallery

Renders

• 

  An ore of iron ore.

Screenshots

• 

  Multiple ores generated above an underground lava lake.

• 

  A coal ore generated underwater.

• 

  Multiple ore ores in a cave. Diamond ore and redstone ore as well as coal ore and gold ore are visible in the distance.

• 

  Magma ores.