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 the most common mineral that can be used to make tools and armor.

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

Natural generation
Iron occurs only around from bedrock to slightly above sea level (layers 1-63). However, almost all of the iron ore will be at the lower levels. On average, there are about 77 iron ores per chunk.

Veins can vary in size, but the most common is 2×2×2. Iron always comes in veins of 4 to 10 unless dirt, gravel, a cave, or another ore overlapped into it. Each block in the vein, which otherwise would be stone, has a random chance of being iron ore instead.

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.