Emerald Ore

Emerald ore is the rarest mineral block in the game. It drops emeralds when mined, or itself if mined with a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment.

Breaking
Emerald ore can be mined with an iron pickaxe or higher. Otherwise it drops nothing. If mined without Silk Touch, the block drops 1 emerald (or more with Fortune).

Natural generation
Emerald ore can generate in Overworld in the form of mineral veins. Emerald ore attempts to generate 11 times per chunk in veins of size 1, from altitudes (y levels) 0 to 32, within any type of mountains, or within a chunk that is at least partially occupied by such a biome. As of Java Edition 1.16.4, on average they generate 1.2 ores per chunk.

$$ 1.17, emerald ore generates from altitudes (y levels) 246 to 32, within any type of mountains, with its rarity increasing with the y level decreasing.

Note Blocks
Emerald ore can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sound.

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Trivia

 * Even though emerald ore is rarer than diamond ore, emerald ore is generally found more often in mountains biomes than diamond ore, as the emerald ore blocks are generated in a more scattered fashion.
 * Emerald ores are one of two overworld ores with a unique texture, along with lapis lazuli ore.