Talk:Tutorials/Mining

I think the article should be renamed to "Mining Techniques"

About branch mining
IMO mining a "branch" every THIRD block is the best method as then you will check all blocks between the branches.

Strip mining
What's the advantages/differences compared to branch method? And why is it called "Strip mining"? Strip mining is referred to surface mining IRL. --Slider2k 01:30, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
 * The advantage to branch method is that it reveals every block in a certain area, and a difference is that it is usually done from a single room as oppsed to from a tunnel. It is called strip mining because it 'strips' the rock so you can see every square. –The preceding unsigned comment was added by Quornslice (Talk . Please sign your posts with   !
 * Let's analyze here. Does your method reveals every block in area? As you can see it does not reveal blocks in corner areas. - So answer is no, it does not reveal every block. On contrary, a branch method lets you inspect every block in an area if you make 2 block spacing between tunnels.--Slider2k 23:07, 1 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, "strip mining" is a poor/confusing name for a technique that isn't actual strip mining. In Minecraft, the closest thing to a real stripmine is a quarry. Besides that, this just seems like a more complicated variant of a branch mine. It probably doesn't need to be here at all, and if kept should at least be renamed. Phasma Felis 01:16, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I like to make a quarry 10x10 and have strip mines around the sides. It gives lots of minerals.

More efficient method of strip mining
[[Media:ImprovedStripMine.jpg|Picture]]. Once multiple levels are considered, strip mining could be more efficient if you had 3-block thick walls instead of 2-block. After mining out a room, mine again below the room. This time center your mined hallways on the center of the three blocks of the first room, and mine again. The next level down, mine in your original arrangement. You'll alternate patterns with each level this way. The middle of the 3 blocks is exposed as the roof of the hallway below and the floor of the hallways above. Chris3145 09:17, 15 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Just to add to this, a few staircases in front of this makes for easy access to all corridors in such a set-up:


 * [[File:Mining_example.png]]


 * I'm quite sure someone else thought of this before, but at least this could form a nice example of how to set such a mine up.
 * EDIT: ladders might actually work more convenient,, I just liked the look of this.Roady1990 21:20, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Please put this in the main article - it makes the idea so much clearer that the existing diagram with the green lines! --Adje 09:29, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Adding a cosmetic mine design section
It looks slightly out of place with only one entry. If you have any ideas for better organization feel free to change stuff around
 * It needs screenshots, also it would probably be better as a series of tips on how you can make a mine look better.Roady1990 13:10, 15 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I disagree, mining techniques implies methods, tactics would be the individual points to think about when making a mine, also thanks to whoever added to it. clc02

Tips Misinformation
There is no correlation between dirt, gravel, or lava, and the frequency of ore spawning. I think that portion should be removed. NZPhoenix 07:08, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Layer Strategy
I would like to add a 'best layer' section for finding diamonds. With regard to layer 12 mining, and utilizing the large number of exposed blocks every time you come across a magma lake. I would also like to contribute 2 mining designs of my own, but am unfamiliar with how Wiki's work and don't know if I need permission first or not. NZPhoenix 07:15, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

1x1 Shafts
Anyone who has played Minecraft for at least a day knows not to dig down. But if you do the math, it might actually be a better strategy.

This only works if you have most of your items in a chest. Just take out an iron pickaxe and a couple torches,m and start mining down.

The risk of dropping into a lava pit is very small, and insignificant considering how many iron you will get while mining down.

And yes, it does give you a better yield. If you mine 1x2 shafts, you are mining 2 blocks to reveal 8. This gives you a 4:1 ratio of revealed blocks to mined blocks. If you dig 1x1's, you are revealing 5 blocks and mining 1. That's 5:1.

Also, when mining 1x1's, you can keep holding your mouse in one place. Almost no errors can happen because of your faulty mouse controlling.

One more thing : It gets you down to the bottom faster.

Because of these three things, I think 1x1's are worth the risk.

UrsaArcadeus's Strategy Efficiency
When I first read this I really liked UrsaArcadeus's Strategy for both speed and efficiency, as well as not needing to figure out complicated layers of alternating patterns. It also seems quite nice for mining below the lava layer as mining 2x1 shafts down is actually quite safe if done properly and does not risk spilling lava out onto a wider area of floor as horizontal mining would.

But it strikes me that this pattern is sub-optimal. In the UrsaArcadeus's Strategy example the 6 single blocks between the top and bottom rows of shafts are viewed from two different shafts which cuts the efficiency of the shafts in those rows down to about 7 blocks revealed for every 2 mined. (It varies depending upon how long the row is starting at the normal 8:2 or 4:1 for the first shaft with each shaft added to the row only getting 7:2 efficiency thereafter.)

It seems to me that the following pattern would be more efficient since no single block is visible from more than one shaft, which means that each and every shaft dug enjoys 100% (4:1) efficiency.

I made my example the same size, though a smaller example would clearly demonstrate the simpler pattern. If merely counting the blocks in the square example UrsaArcadeus's Strategy appears to be more efficient, but this is merely because it fits better within a square boundary. In fact the example given shows 10 blocks in the pattern which are only revealed by shafts outside the example, while having only 4 blocks that would be revealed by shafts in the pattern which fall outside the borders of the example. If we instead count exactly the blocks revealed by the given shafts in the patterns I show 82 revealed for 22 blocks dug or ~2:7.45 for UrsaArcadeus's Strategy and 96:24 or exactly 4:1 for mine.

Obviously I'm not the first to come up with this pattern, I'm just wondering why it isn't mentioned while UrsaArcadeus's Strategy is? I could add it, but I'm new here and wondering if I'm missing something.

In fact it's the same pattern as above in More efficient method of strip mining, just turned 90 degrees to dig down instead of across.

Mannon 09:09, 12 July 2011 (UTC)