Mining & resources · Item
Iron ore
The most common ore after coal: the iron of every tool, armor and machine.
In the game
How to get it
Small veins show in every cave wall within 48 m of the surface; bigger veins go down to 140 m; giant iron lodes lie 250 to 700 m from the start. Any pickaxe breaks it; stone or better is faster.
What it is for
Smelted in the Furnace: 16 voxels of ore and 4 coal or charcoal give an iron ingot in 12 s.
Why it exists
Iron is the metal of tools, armor and every machine: the start of the iron age.
The same text the game shows in its progress tree and on the item's sheet (I).
Iron ore is the most common metal ore of the Earth.
Where to find it
- Cave veins: within 48 m of the surface, small veins of coal and iron show in almost every cave; a visible vein every 25 m or so of gallery.
- Deep veins: from 10 m down to 140 m, every 12 m cell of rock has a good chance to hold one.
- Giant lodes: two iron lodes lie between 250 and 700 m of the world's start, and ten more around the planet. Their core is pure ore; big ore boulders on the ground above them mark them from afar.
How to use it
- Break it with a pickaxe (any; stone or better is faster).
- Put 16 voxels (one grid cell) in the Furnace with 4 coal or charcoal in its reducer slot.
- 12 seconds later: one Iron ingot.
A full iron armor takes 24 ingots: two or three iron veins.
On the progress path
T11First daysMain path
- BeforeT10 · Door and trapdoor
- This stepT11 · Iron ore
- NextT12 · Furnace