Tutorials/Branch mining

"Branch Mining" is the name given by players to a type of technique used for finding and mining resources very deep underground, usually between 0-16 blocks below sea level. Using the method can result in a player encountering many useful and sometimes rare blocks, such as Gold and Diamond Gems.

Creating a Branch Mine
Creating a Branch Mine is simple. First, dig deep underground until 0-16 blocks above the bottom level. To keep track of this, press F3, and the Y-Axis tells the level of depth the player character is currently at. Upon reaching the desired level, begin to dig at least 20 blocks into a wall to create a shaft. Come out of the shaft, move at least 2 blocks to the left or right, and do the same again, digging 20 blocks into the wall. Each shaft made will almost always contain a resource block ranging from Coal, Iron, Redstone to even Gold and  Diamond.

There is a tradeoff between the distance chosen for each branch of your mine. A distance of 2 blocks per branch means that you will end up exposing almost every block, but at the cost of a lot of work. A distance of 5 blocks per branch will give you a wider distance covered but there is the possibility of missing some ore veins, especially Diamond or  Lapis Lazuli which usually appear in veins of 1-4 blocks.

The trade-off for distance can be minimized by making a branch mine a level above and below the branch mine that is offset. For example:

#######       #########    # - Cobblestone #.###.#       #.#####.#    . - Mineshaft #.###.#       #.#####.#  #######        #########    Side view of offset branch mine ###.###       ####.####  ###.###        ####.####  #######        #########  3 Space        5 Space Branch Mine   Branch Mine

An alternative to these two methods, is the per-chunk branch mine. This is a 2 space branch mine, but is constructed over the space of a single chunk, and is capable of ensuring that every ore deposit is found, while still only mining around 45% of the chunk's stone. The initial shaft to bedrock for this mine, is 1 block wide by 2 long, thus giving the miner a safe place to stand while the adjacent column of blocks are mined.

................   # - Stone ................   Top down view of branch mine. Branches and trunk are 2 blocks high. ................ ................ ................ ................
 * 1) ..#######   . - Dug out passages.

It is recommended to create an base near the shaft containing a Chest, Furnace and Crafting Table. An underground Tree farm can also be set up, proiding a source of wood for fuel, Tools and Torches. Here, blocks collected from a shaft can be stored or smelted, and tools can be created if one happens to break. The one chunk branch mine has a torch placed at the fourth block of each branch, as well as an initial torch at each forth block of the trunk, (although these are later removed) and the total number of torches used is 16 per chunk.