Ores

**Ores are a useful block/mining material to help users build up Minecraft, make swords, pickaxes, shovels, and hoes! You can't live in Minecraft without ores and those tools, so this is the place where to find them! They spawn in random places, under the ground, and is useful.**

## Ore types

The types of ores in the Overworld are:

* Coal
* Iron
* Gold
* Redstone
* Diamonds
* Emeralds

Emeralds are not that useful in the game at this point. Maybe in some update Minecraft will have emerald tools!

Redstone is used to make contraptions, also as known in the physical world, electricity and energy. Coal is another useful tool. It is to smelt stuff like iron ore, and emeralds. Diamonds is a really useful tool. It has better durability, attack and can make some really good armour!

## Y-coordinates for the ores

Yes, Minecraft can have coordinates too! Right now, we are talking about the Y coordinates for the types of ores.

* Coal: Y=1-265.
* Iron: Y=2-around 45
* Gold: Y=1-31.
* Redstone: Y=1-15.
* Diamond: Y=1-15.
* Emerald: Y=4-31.

## Nether Ore

There is ore in the Nether too! But there is only one kind of ore. This ore is called Nether Quartz. Nether Quartz can be crafted into Quartz Blocks, Quartz slabs, and more!

## Information about ores

### Coal

Coal is a very common Ore that can be found underground or in rock
formations such as mountains (at y<132), in relatively large
deposits. Coal is mined from Coal Ore and can be used as Furnace fuel, or crafted with a Stick to create Torches. Coal Ore can be successfully mined using any type of Pickaxe.

### Iron

**Iron Ore** is most commonly found underground in small veins. It
can be smelted into Iron Ingots, which can be used to craft many useful
items, including Armor, Weapons, Tools and Minecarts, as well as their Rails. Iron Ore can be found at y<68. Iron can only be harvested with a Stone Pickaxe or better.

### Redstone

**Redstone Ore** is a type of Ore found at y<16. Added in the
third Secret Friday Update, Redstone Ore is more common than Coal if at
the correct layer. Redstone Ore must be mined with an Iron Pickaxe or
better. When destroyed, several piles of Redstone Dust will appear, a property unique to Redstone.

Redstone Dust is currently used in the construction of various
traps, mechanisms, and contraptions dependent on simple circuits. After
the 1.9. Pre-Release 3, Redstone Dust can be used for brewing.

If there is a block or entity update adjacent to a Redstone Ore block, this Ore will transform into a technical block called Glowing Redstone Ore, which emits 9 light level and some particle effects, similar to that of a Nether Portal, only red.

### Gold

**Gold ore** isnt really a useful ore in minecraft by the armour, tools and weapons, but good to collect! It can be smelted to make Gold Ingots
 which can make a variety of Tools and Weapons. Gold is a very soft
material, similar to in real life, and is generally considered a bad
choice for crafting due to its low durability. A Gold Tool only has the
strength of a wooden Tool. It wears out much quicker, despite mining at a
 rapid speed but not good durability.

### Lapis Lazuli

**Lapis Lazuli Ore** (sometimes called **Lapis** or **Lazuli**) is a rare Ore Block that can be found at y<34. It is common in Abandoned Mine Shafts. When harvested, it turns into four or five Lapis Lazuli dyes, which can be used to dye dog collars blue, Wool or a Sheep to turn it blue, or create a decorative Lapis Lazuli Block. For a drop, the player must mine the Ore with a Stone or better Pickaxe.

### Diamond

**Diamond Ore** is an extremely rare, valuable Ore only found very
 deep underground and in sparse veins, which can spawn diagonally. In
order to drop a Diamond, this Ore can be mined by using an Iron or better Pickaxe.

Diamonds can be used to create Diamond Tools, which have the
strongest durability and most possible uses in the game. A Diamond
Pickaxe is the only Pickaxe which can mine Obsidian.

### Emerald

**Emerald Ore** is the rarest ore to date in Minecraft, 25 times more
 so than Diamond Ore. It almost always spawns in only one-block veins.
When mined with an Iron Pickaxe or higher, it drops an Emerald; the only implemented use of Emeralds to date is for trading with Villagers. An easier way to get Emeralds is to create a Cow or Pig farm, collect the drops, and go to the nearest butcher. Butcher Villagers only accept them raw, though.

### Ruby

**Ruby Ore** was added during the 1.3 snapshots.