Diamond Ore

"There is one block in Minecraft that reliably quickens the breath whenever you see it (no offence, gravel, but it's definitely not you). One block that elicits a little "whoop!" of joy when you lay eyes on it, and the longest of "noooooooooooo"s when it falls into lava. Yes, you guessed it (probably by reading the title) - it's diamond ore!"

- Duncan Geere

Diamond ore is a mineral block that is one of the most valuable and elusive blocks in the game.

Obtaining
The diamond ore block itself (rather than its diamond drops) can be obtained by mining it with an iron or diamond pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment.

Natural generation
Diamond ore only appears below Y level 16, and can be found in veins of 1-10. One diamond ore vein generates per chunk; this vein or part of it may be overwritten by generated structures such as caves, leaving you without any diamonds in said chunk. Also, because of the way chunks are populated the vein "belonging" to a chunk can actually be generated in a neighboring chunk leading to some chunks with two or more veins and others with none. There is an average of about 3.7 diamond ore per chunk-sized area. The highest concentration of diamonds occurs in levels 5-12. Because of the lava lakes, there is slightly less diamond ore in the middle of that range (around layer 9).

Mining strategies


There are many strategies for finding diamonds. Dig completely around the ore to ensure that the diamonds (when dropped) will not burn up in lava.

Usage
Diamond ore drops 1 diamond and 3 to 7 experience when mined with an iron or diamond pickaxe. Mining with a Fortune enchanted pickaxe will increase possible yields by 1 per level, up to 4 diamonds per ore with level 3.

Trivia

 * In some vein formations, ores connect diagonally.
 * Diamond ore, along with other ores, appear in the background on the achievements page.
 * In reality, the rarity of diamonds is highly exaggerated. Gemstone quality diamonds, whose qualities are mirrored by the game's mechanics, need to be cut and processed very carefully, and therefore need to be found in very large pieces. Industry-grade diamonds, which are used in the manufacturing of most diamond-based tools, are relatively plentiful and much more affordable.