Lapis Lazuli Ore

''This article is about the Lapis Lazuli ore. For the block, see Lapis Lazuli (Block). For the dye, see Lapis Lazuli (Dye).''

Lapis Lazuli is an ore block that was added with the 1.2 update, and is used to make blue dyes and decorative blocks. Like coal, redstone, and diamond ore, the block yields the resource immediately after mining, requiring no crafting table or smelting. It drops 4-8 blue dye, which can be used to create blue wool, crafted into a Lapis Lazuli block, or mixed with other dyes.

Lapis lazuli is based on the real stone for which it is named which, historically, is a prized and rare stone used in jewelry.

Occurrence
Lapis Lazuli is best mined with a stone or better pickaxe. It is usually found at a depth of 32 and below, similar to Gold. The highest concentration of Lapis Lazuli Ore is found at level 19. At this level the concentration is about 0.05%. The concentration drops linearly from this level to 0% at level 0 and level 35. Overall, Lapis Lazuli is around 1.5 times more common than Diamond ore, but is only found in the same concentration at level 20.

Initially, it only dropped one dye per block. Jens Bergensten acknowledged that the ore was too rare and increased the drop rate to 4-8 in the 1.2_02 update. However, due to a bug SMP servers still only drop one dye.