Iron Ore

"I never fail to get a little bit excited when I mine into a vein of iron ore. After a while in every Minecraft world, coal isn't really worth picking up any more because it's so easy to find when you need it. But I never miss an opportunity - even when I'm being pursued by a horde of hissing creepers - to grab a bit of iron."

- Duncan Geere

Iron ore is a mineral block found underground. It is smelted into iron ingots, which are used to make tools and armor.

Mineral veins
Iron ore can generate in the Overworld in the form of mineral veins. Iron ore attempts to generate 20 times per chunk in veins of size 9, from altitudes 0 to 64, in all biomes.

Obtaining
Iron ore drops as an item if mined by a stone pickaxe or better. If mined by any other tool, it drops nothing.

Smelting ingredient
This recipe awards 0.7 experience.

Trivia

 * There's no particular beige iron ore in real life. Colors of common real life iron minerals range from black or red to gold-yellow but none of them are truly beige.
 * About 0.6 percent of a Minecraft world consists of iron ore.