Ore (feature)

Not to be confused with Ore vein or Blob.

For all ore blocks in the game, see Ore.

An ore^[1][2][3] 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^{[JE only]} (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:^{[note 1]}

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

Overworld

Blocks	Spawn size	Spawn tries per chunk	Minimum height	Maximum height	Ore concentrate[note 2]	Skipped when air exposed[note 3]	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[JE only] 20‌[BE only]	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[JE only] 10‌[BE only][4]	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[BE only](Unused) Modified Badlands Plateau‌[BE only](Unused) Modified Wooded Badlands Plateau‌[BE only](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[BE only](Unused) Gravelly Mountains+‌[BE only](Unused)
Infested Stone Infested Deepslate	9‌[JE only] 8‌[BE only]	14	-64‌[JE only] 0‌[BE only]	63‌[JE only] 64‌[BE only]	Uniform	0	Windswept Hills Grove Cherry Grove Jagged Peaks Meadow Frozen Peaks Stony Peaks Windswept Forest Snowy Slopes Windswept Gravelly Hills Mountain Edge‌[BE only](Unused) Gravelly Mountains+‌[BE only](Unused)

The Nether

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

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

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

Configured feature	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	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:

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.

{
  "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

Issues

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

Gallery

Renders

• 
  A blob of iron ore

Screenshots

• 
  Multiple ores generated above an underground lava lake
• 
  A coal ore blob generated underwater
• 
  Multiple ore blobs in a cave. Diamond ore and redstone ore as well as coal ore and gold ore are visible in the distance.
• 
  Magma ores

References