Iron Ore

This article is missing information about the deepslate iron ore.

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Iron Ore

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

Iron ore is a mineral block found underground. It is smelted into iron ingots, which are used to make tools and armor.

Deepslate iron ore is a variant found in the deepslate layer of the world, below y=0.‌^{[upcoming: JE 1.17 & BE 1.17]}

Obtaining[edit]

Breaking[edit]

Iron ore must be mined with a stone pickaxe or higher, or else it drops nothing. Unlike most ores, iron ore always drops itself, regardless of whether the player used Silk Touch.

‌In Java Edition 1.17‌^[upcoming], iron ore will drop 1 Raw Iron. It is affected by Fortune enchantment, dropping 1-2, 1-3 or 1-4 raw iron respectively with Fortune I, II and III. When mined with Silk Touch, it will drop itself.

Block	Iron Ore	Deepslate Iron Ore
Hardness	3	4.5
Tool
Breaking time^[A]
Default	15	22.5
Wooden	7.5	11.25
Stone	1.15	1.7
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[edit]

Iron ore can generate in the Overworld in the form of mineral veins. Iron ore attempts to generate 20 times per chunk in veins of size 0-13, from levels 0 to 63, in all biomes. On average they generate 112 ores per chunk.

‌In Java Edition 1.17‌^[upcoming], iron ore generates in three batches. The first batch attempts to generate 40 times per chunk in veins of 0-13, from levels 128 to 320, being most common around level 255 and becoming less common towards either end of the range. The second batch attempts to generate 6 times per chunk in veins of 0-13, from levels -24 to 54, being most common around level 15 and becoming less common towards either end of the range. The third batch attempts to generate 3 times per chunk in veins of 0-5, evenly from levels -63 to -32. Iron ore can replace stone, granite, diorite, andesite, tuff, and deepslate. If it replaces tuff or deepslate, it will become deepslate iron ore.

‌In Bedrock Edition 1.17‌^[upcoming], iron ore also attempts to generate 40 times per chunk in veins of size 0-10, from levels 128 to 256 within any type of mountains biome. Being more common as the y-level increases.

‌In Bedrock Edition 1.17‌^[upcoming], deepslate iron ore generates instead of regular iron ore in deepslate veins.

Usage[edit]

The primary usage of iron ore is to obtain iron ingots.

Smelting ingredient[edit]

Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Iron Ore + Any fuel	0.7

Note blocks[edit]

Iron ore can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sound.

Sounds[edit]

Java Edition:

Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	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	Namespaced ID	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[edit]

ID[edit]

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Form	Translation key
Iron Ore	`iron_ore`	Block & Item	`block.minecraft.iron_ore`
Deepslate Iron Ore	`deepslate_iron_ore`	Block & Item	`block.minecraft.deepslate_iron_ore`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Iron Ore	`iron_ore`	`15`	Block & Item	`tile.iron_ore.name`
Deepslate Iron Ore	`deepslate_iron_ore`	`656`	Block & Item	`tile.deepslate_iron_ore.name`

History[edit]

Java Edition Classic
May 21, 2009					Notch shows interest in adding iron ore.
May 23, 2009					Notch says he accomplished adding iron veins in stone.
0.0.14a					Added iron ore.
0.0.14a					Iron ore spawns in huge veins, sometimes big enough to protrude into 3 caverns, and could be as big as 167 blocks.
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST					Breaking iron ore now gives the player 1–3 blocks of iron when mined.
Java Edition Indev
0.31		?			Iron ore no longer drops blocks of iron when mined.
		20100129			Before the furnace was added, players had to smelt ore by dropping ore blocks onto fire.
		20100129			Iron ore now drops itself when mined.
		20100201-2			Iron ore now requires a stone, iron, or diamond pickaxe to be successfully obtained.
Java Edition Infdev
Minecraft Infdev		20100227-1			Iron ore no longer generates.
		20100320			Iron ore veins now generate, but differently.
		20100325			Ore veins now appear more like they do today.
		20100327			Iron ore now regenerates after the world is reloaded, assuming that the positions of the ore blocks were replaced by stone.
		20100330			Iron ore no longer regenerates.
Java Edition
1.3.1		12w22a			Smelting iron ore, along with other ores, blocks and items, gives the player experience orbs when taking the item out of the furnace. One stack of iron ore gives the player approximately 2 levels of experience.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 15.
1.14		?			A texture of iron ore has been proposed.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of iron ore has been changed.
1.14.1		Pre-Release 1			The texture of iron ore has been changed, once again.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.17		21w07a			The texture of iron ore has been changed.
		February 17, 2021			Henrik Kniberg shows grimstone variant of iron ore.
		February 18, 2021			JAPPA Shows updated iron ore texture and grimstone variant of iron ore.
		February 22, 2021			JAPPA shows updated iron ore textures and grimstone variant of iron ore.
		21w08a			Added deepslate iron ore.
					The texture of iron ore has been changed again.
					Added `iron_ores` block tag.
					Iron ore now generates less frequently. However, a bug exists in this version where regular iron ore are generated way more infrequent.
					Iron ore can now generate in negative y-levels in smaller veins.
		21w08b			Regular iron ore now generates more frequently than in 21w08a ^[1].
		March 2, 2021			JAPPA shows updated iron ore texture.
		March 4, 2021			JAPPA shows updated deepslate variant of iron ore texture.
		21w10a			The textures of iron ore and deepslate iron ore was updated.
		21w14a			It now drops raw iron when broken without silk touch, instead of itself.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0					Added iron ore.
v0.3.0					Iron ore is now obtainable in Survival mode.
v0.3.2					Iron ore is now available in the creative inventory.
v0.3.2					With the addition of furnaces, iron ore is able to be smelted into iron ingots.
v0.12.1		?			Iron ore now gives experience when smelted.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of iron ore has been changed.
1.16.220		beta 1.16.220.50			The texture of iron ore has been changed.
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
1.16.230		beta 1.16.230.52			Added deepslate iron ore.
1.16.230		beta 1.16.230.54			Iron ore texture was updated.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added iron ore.
?					Smelting iron ore now gives experience.
		1.90			The texture of iron ore has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added iron ore.