Coal Ore

Coal ore is a mineral block that drops coal when mined.

Deepslate coal ore is a variant of coal ore that rarely generates at the top of the deepslate layer.

Obtaining[]

Natural generation[]

Coal ore can generate in the Overworld in the form of ore blobs. It generates in two batches per chunk. The first batch attempts to generate 30 times per chunk in blobs of 0-37, evenly from levels 136 to 320. The second batch attempts to generate 20 times per chunk in blobs of 0-37, from levels 0 to 192, being most common at Y=96, and being less common as towards either end of the range. Coal ore in this second batch is also less likely to be exposed to air: 50% of ore blocks that would generate exposed do not generate. In Bedrock Edition, coal ore also has the third batches, which attempts to generate 20 times per chunk in blobs of size 0-37, evenly from levels 128 to 256, within any type of mountains biomes.

Coal ore can replace stone, andesite, diorite, granite, tuff‌^{[JE only]}, and deepslate. Deepslate coal ore generates when replacing tuff or deepslate, which is a rare occurrence due to the rarity of coal blobs below Y=8 where deepslate generates.

Coal ore is also found in small amounts alongside underground fossils.

Breaking[]

Coal ore itself can be obtained by mining it with any pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch. When mined without Silk Touch, it drops one coal. It is affected by the Fortune enchantment, dropping 1–2, 1–3, or 1–4 coal respectively with Fortune I, II, and III. It also drops 0–2 when mined without Fortune.

Block	Coal Ore	Deepslate Coal Ore
Hardness	3	4.5
Tool
Breaking time^[A]
Default	15	22.5
Wooden	2.25	3.4
Stone	1.15	1.7
Iron	0.75	1.15
Diamond	0.6	0.85
Netherite	0.5	0.75
Golden	0.4	0.6

↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Usage[]

Smelting ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Coal	Coal Ore + Any fuel	0.1

Note Blocks[]

Coal ore can be placed underneath note blocks to make a "bass drum" sound.

Sounds[]

Coal ore[]

Java Edition:

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`block.stone.break`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	0.8	16
Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`block.stone.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	0.8	16
Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`block.stone.hit`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.25	0.5	16
None^{[sound 1]}	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.stone.fall`	None^{[sound 1]}	0.5	0.75	16
Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	`block.stone.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
Blocks	Once the block has broken	`dig.stone`	1.0	0.8-1.0
Blocks	When the block is placed	`dig.stone`	1.0	0.8-1.0
Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`hit.stone`	0.37	0.5
Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.stone`	0.4	1.0
Players	Walking on the block	`step.stone`	0.3	1.0
Players	Jumping from the block	`jump.stone`	0.12	1.0
Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.stone`	0.22	1.0

Deepslate coal ore[]

Java Edition:

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`block.deepslate.break`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	0.8	16
Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`block.deepslate.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	0.8	16
Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`block.deepslate.hit`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.25	0.5	16
None^{[sound 1]}	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.deepslate.fall`	None^{[sound 1]}	0.5	0.75	16
Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	`block.deepslate.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
Blocks	Once the block has broken	`dig.deepslate`	1.0	0.8-1.0
Blocks	When the block is placed	`place.deepslate`	1.0	0.8-1.0
Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`hit.deepslate`	0.3	0.5
Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.deepslate`	0.4	1.0
Players	Walking on the block	`step.deepslate`	0.3	1.0
Players	Jumping from the block	`jump.deepslate`	0.12	1.0
Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.deepslate`	0.22	1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Coal Ore	`coal_ore`	Block & Item	`coal_ores` `mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.coal_ore`
Deepslate Coal Ore	`deepslate_coal_ore`	Block & Item	`coal_ores` `mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.deepslate_coal_ore`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID^{[i 1]}	Translation key
Coal Ore	`coal_ore`	`16`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.coal_ore.name`
Deepslate Coal Ore	`deepslate_coal_ore`	`661`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.deepslate_coal_ore.name`

↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
↑ ^a ^b Available with /give command.
↑ ^a ^b The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

History[]

Java Edition Classic
May 23, 2009					Notch says he accomplished adding coal blobs in stone.
0.0.14a					Added coal ore.
0.0.14a					Mining coal ore currently drops the ore block.
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST					Mining an ore block now drops stone slabs.
0.28					Coal ore can be obtained in the creative inventory.
Java Edition Indev
0.31		20100128			When destroyed by hand or with any tool, coal ore drops 1-3 pieces of coal.
0.31		20100201-2			Coal ore now drops 1 piece of coal when mined with a pickaxe and nothing otherwise.
Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1					Coal ore no longer generates.
20100320					Coal ore blobs now generate, but differently.
20100325					Ore blobs now appear more like they do today.
20100327					Coal ore now regenerates after the world is reloaded, assuming that the positions of the ore blocks were replaced by stone.
20100330					Coal ore no longer regenerates.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4			Coal ore can now be smelted to obtain coal.
1.3.1		12w22a			Coal ore now drops experience when mined.
1.10		16w20a			Coal ore can now be found in small amounts near fossils.
Texture Update		November 9, 2017			A new texture for coal ore has been proposed.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of coal ore has been changed.
1.17		21w06a			The height limit was expanded down to Y=-64. Coal ores are temporary generating from Y=-64 instead of Y=0.
		21w07a			The texture of coal ore has been changed.
		21w07a			Coal ore now attempts to generate twice: once, evenly between an altitude of Y=136 and Y=256; and as a triangle spread, peaking at an altitude of Y=96 and generating between an altitude of Y=0 and Y=192.
		21w08a			The texture of coal ore has been changed, again.
		21w10a			Added deepslate variant of coal ore.
					Tweaked the coal ore texture.
					Reduced air exposure for coal ore.
					Coal ore can no longer generate in fossils below Y=0.
		21w15a			All the changes to coal ore generation in the previous 1.17 snapshots have been reverted, but they can be re-enabled with the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack.
		21w17a			Deepslate coal ore variant now generates naturally.
		21w17a			Coal ore can now replace tuff and deepslate upon generating.
1.18		Experimental Snapshot 1			Coal ore once again generates the way it did in the 1.17 snapshots without the use of a data pack.
		Experimental Snapshot 1			Deepslate coal ore no longer generates naturally.
		21w44a			Deepslate coal ore can now generate naturally, again.
		Release Candidate 4			Fixed an issue where coal ore at lower heights (Y=0 to Y=192) is not distributed as intended since 1.18-pre1.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0					Added coal ore.
v0.3.0					Coal ore now drops coal when mined.
v0.3.2					Coal ore is now available in the creative inventory.
v0.12.1		build 1			Mining coal ore now drops experience orbs.
					Coal ore can now be collected with Silk Touch, dropping the block itself.
					Coal ore now drops extra coals with the Fortune enchantment.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of coal ore has been changed.
1.16.220		beta 1.16.220.50			The texture of coal ore has been changed.
1.16.220		beta 1.16.220.50			In the Caves and Cliffs experimental gameplay, 20 additional blobs of coal ore now attempt to generate in new mountain biomes between Y=128 and Y=256.
1.17.0		beta 1.16.230.52			Added deepslate variant of coal ore behind the Caves and Cliffs experimental gameplay. It generates instead of coal in deepslate blobs.
		beta 1.16.230.54			Coal ore texture was updated.
		beta 1.16.230.56			In the Caves and Cliffs experimental gameplay, coal ore generation has been changed. Coal ore blob now generates as a triangle spread generating between Y=1 and Y=191 and peaking at Y=96. Larger coal ore blobs now sometimes form. Additional blobs in mountains that was introduced in beta 1.16.220.50 still form.
		beta 1.17.0.50			Deepslate coal ore texture was changed match to Java Edition.
		beta 1.17.0.52			Now deepslate coal ore generates without the Caves and Cliffs experimental gameplay.
1.18.0		beta 1.18.0.20			Removed “Caves and Cliffs” experimental toggle. New coal ore generation are now available through normal gameplay.
					Coal ore generation has now been tweaked to be in parity with Java Edition.
					Deepslate coal ore no longer generates.
		beta 1.18.0.22			Coal ore generation height has now been tweaked to be in parity with Java Edition.
		beta 1.18.0.24			Coal ore generation has now been tweaked again to be in parity with Java Edition.
		beta 1.18.0.24			Deepslate coal ore variant once again generates naturally.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added coal ore.
		1.90			The texture of coal ore has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added coal ore.

Data history[]

Java Edition
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 16.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Coal Ore" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

The Minecraft mechanic that diamond ore replaces coal ore that generate in deepslate layers, is in accordance with the common misconception in real life that diamonds form from highly compressed coal.
- In fact, diamonds mostly form from carbon that comes from carbonate rocks,^[1] and are completely unrelated to coal which form from dead plants.