Emerald Ore

Renewable	No
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	3
Hardness	Emerald Ore: 3 Deepslate Emerald Ore: 4.5
Luminant	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No

Emerald ore is a rare mineral block that generates only in mountains and windswept hills biomes. It drops emeralds when mined, or itself if mined with a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment.

Deepslate emerald ore is a variant of emerald ore that can generate in deepslate and tuff blobs.

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

Emerald ore can be mined with a pickaxe made from iron or better, otherwise it drops nothing. If mined without Silk Touch, the block drops 1 emerald (or up to 4 with Fortune).

Block	Emerald Ore	Deepslate Emerald Ore
Hardness	3	4.5
Tool
Breaking time^[A]
Default	15	22.5
Wooden	7.5	11.25
Stone	3.75	5.65
Iron	0.75	1.15
Diamond	0.6	0.85
Netherite	0.5	0.75
Golden	1.25	1.9

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

Natural generation[]

This section needs to be updated.

Please update this section to reflect recent updates or newly available information.
Reason: Deepslate emerald ore generation as of 21w16a

Emerald ore can generate in Overworld in the form of blobs. Emerald ore attempts to generate 50 times per chunk in blobs of 1, from levels -16 to 320, being most common at level 256, and becoming less common toward either end of the range. Emerald ore can be exposed to the sky, which is intended.^[1] In Bedrock Edition, emerald ore attempts to generate 100 times per chunk in all types of windswept hills or mountains biomes in blobs of 0-3 ores, from levels -16 to 320, being most common at level 256, and becoming less common toward either end of the range. Emerald ore can replace stone, andesite, granite, diorite, and deepslate. Emerald ore that replaces deepslate will become deepslate emerald ore.

Deepslate emerald ore is the rarest ore in Minecraft, rarer than normal emerald ore and ancient debris.

Usage[]

Smelting ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Emerald	Emerald Ore or Deepslate Emerald Ore + Any fuel	1

Note blocks[]

Emerald ore can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.

Sounds[]

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
None^{[sound 1]}	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.stone.fall`	None^{[sound 1]}	0.5	0.75	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
Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`block.stone.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	0.8	16
Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	`block.stone.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

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

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Emerald Ore	`emerald_ore`	Block & Item	`emerald_ores` `mineable/pickaxe` `needs_iron_tool`	`block.minecraft.emerald_ore`
Deepslate Emerald Ore	`deepslate_emerald_ore`	Block & Item	`emerald_ores` `mineable/pickaxe` `needs_iron_tool`	`block.minecraft.deepslate_emerald_ore`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID^{[i 1]}	Translation key
Emerald Ore	`emerald_ore`	`129`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.emerald_ore.name`
Deepslate Emerald Ore	`deepslate_emerald_ore`	`662`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.deepslate_emerald_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 with the block.

History[]

Java Edition
May 21, 2012					The week before the release of 12w21a, Jeb released a screenshot of himself testing the trading system.^[2] At this time, what would become emerald ore was ruby ore.^[3]
1.3.1		12w21a			Added emerald ore.
					The announced ore has been changed to an emerald ore. The texture for emerald ore has remained unchanged, as Jeb forgot to commit the new texture in the snapshot.^[4] As this item was not announced before the snapshot was released, most translations call emerald "diamond".
					Emerald ore generates in blobs of up to 10 blocks.
		12w21b			The texture of emerald ore has been corrected. The previous ruby texture remains as "ruby.png". Translations of emerald as diamond have also been corrected.
		12w21b			An analysis of a 500×500 extreme hills biome with MCEdit gives the following ore distributions: Overall ore distribution in the bottom most 32 layers. A detailed zoom to the rare ores. The graphs show that the distribution of all ores except for lapis lazuli is even in a certain range and falls off sharply at the borders. While the total amount of emerald is with 3386, even higher than the amount of diamonds (2997), the ore is spread out over double the height range, meaning that at a certain level the chance for finding an ore was just about half of the chance of finding a diamond ore, effectively making it twice as rare when tunnel mining.
		12w22a			Blob size was reduced to 1 block.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 129.
Texture Update		January 4, 2018			A new texture for emerald ore has been proposed.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
1.17		21w07a			Emerald ore now generates as a spread, generating between Y=32 and Y=320 and peaking at Y=256.
		February 18, 2021			JAPPA shows new textures of emerald ore.
		21w08a			The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
		21w10a			Added deepslate variant of emerald ore, which does not generate naturally.
					Added `emerald_ores` block tag.
					The amount of emerald ore that generates has been increased.
		21w15a			Most ore generation has been reverted back to the pre-21w07a generation and requires the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack to be seen. However, emerald ore generation was not properly reverted due to a bug.^[5]
		21w16a			Emerald ore now generates at the correct Y-levels, but it still generates more frequently than it did in 1.16.^[6]
		21w16a			Deepslate emerald ore variant now generates naturally.
		21w17a			Emerald ore can now replace granite, andesite, diorite, tuff, and deepslate upon generating.
1.17.1		Pre-release 2			The frequency of emerald ore generation has been reverted to pre-1.17 levels.
1.18		Experimental Snapshot 1			Emerald ore once again generates the way it did in the 1.17 snapshots without the use of a data pack.
		Experimental Snapshot 1			Deepslate Emerald Ore no longer generates naturally.
		experimental snapshot 2			Emerald ore now generates in meadows, groves, snowy slopes, lofty peaks, and snow capped peaks.
		21w40a			Emerald ore generates more frequently and is now able to generate down to Y=-16.
		21w40a			Deepslate Emerald Ore now generates naturally again.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0		build 1			Added emerald ore.
v0.9.0		build 1			Emerald ore can be mined with a stone pickaxe instead of an iron one.
v0.12.1		build 1			Mining emerald ore now drops experience orbs.
					Emerald ore can now be collected with Silk Touch, dropping the block itself.
					Emerald ore now drops extra emeralds with the Fortune enchantment.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Mining emerald ore now requires an iron pickaxe.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
1.16.220		beta 1.16.220.50			The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
1.16.220		beta 1.16.220.50			Emerald ore can now be found exposed and in blobs of size 0-10 on the surface of the new mountain biome variants.
1.17.0		beta 1.16.230.52			Added deepslate variant of emerald ore.
		beta 1.16.230.56			Ore generation has been changed, emerald now generates on higher altitudes in extreme hills rather than lower.
		beta 1.16.230.56			Increased blob size to contain more than a single ore.
Legacy Console Edition
TU14	CU1	1.04	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added emerald ore.
		1.90			The texture of emerald ore texture has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added emerald ore.

Issues[]

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

Trivia[]

Even though emerald ore is rarer than diamond ore, emerald ore is generally found more often in mountains biomes than diamond ore, as the emerald ore blocks are generated in a more scattered fashion.

Gallery[]

An naturally occurring blob of emerald ore.
A naturally occurring blob of emerald ore.
A blob of emerald ore found at layer 18 in a windswept hills biome.
A room with placed emerald ores, including emerald blocks and thrown emeralds.
A comparison of the occurrence of emerald ore to the occurrence of diamond ore.
Two blobs of emerald ores that generated nearly together.
A block of emerald ore found in a plains biome.
A blob of emerald ore found in a mountain biome.
Ravine with multiple ores, water and lava falls, and stronghold bridge over it.
Multiple emerald ores close together.

Ruby[]

The first image of the trading system released by Jeb. The emerald ore can be seen in the top right-hand corner with the original texture.
An enhanced version of Jeb's screenshot showing the original ore texture more clearly.
The old "ruby" texture of emerald ore.

References[]

↑ MC-237455 – resolved as "Works As Intended"
↑ https://twitter.com/jeb_/status/204619936616808451
↑ snapshot 12w21a/b lang/en_US.lang: tile.oreRuby.name=Ruby Ore
↑ https://twitter.com/jeb_/status/205641953742819328
↑ MC-223260 – "Emerald ore does not generate as intended" – resolved as "Fixed"
↑ MC-226926 – "Emerald ore generates too often" – resolved as "Fixed"

[breakingtimenote-1] Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

[bugMC-177082-3] MC-177082

[bedrock-item-id-4] ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.

[bedrock-give-available-5] Available with /give command.

[bedrock-item-form-6] The block's direct item form has the same id with the block.

[2] MC-237455 – resolved as "Works As Intended"

[7] ttps://twitter.com/jeb_/status/204619936616808451

[en_US_12w21-8] snapshot 12w21a/b lang/en_US.lang: tile.oreRuby.name=Ruby Ore

[9] ttps://twitter.com/jeb_/status/205641953742819328

[10] MC-223260 – "Emerald ore does not generate as intended" – resolved as "Fixed"

[11] MC-226926 – "Emerald ore generates too often" – resolved as "Fixed"

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