A mineral vein is a terrain feature consisting of a natural deposit of ores or other blocks in the ground.
List
| Dimension | Block | Can replace[note 1] |
|---|---|---|
| Overworld | Andesite Coal Ore |
Andesite Diorite |
| Emerald Ore | Stone | |
| Nether | Ancient Debris[upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16.0] Nether Gold Ore[upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16.0] |
Netherrack |
The Overworld
| Block | Spawn size | Spawn tries | Minimum height | Maximum height | Biomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dirt | 33 | 10 | 0 | 255 | All |
| Gravel | 33 | 8 | 0 | 255 | All |
| Granite | 33 | 10 | 0 | 79 | All |
| Diorite | 33 | 10 | 0 | 79 | All |
| Andesite | 33 | 10 | 0 | 79 | All |
| Coal Ore | 17 | 20 | 0 | 127 | All |
| Iron Ore | 9 | 20 | 0 | 63 | All |
| Redstone Ore | 8 | 8 | 0 | 15 | All |
| Lapis Lazuli Ore | 7 | 1 | 0[note 2] | 30[note 2] | All |
| Gold Ore | 9 | 2 | 0 | 31 | All |
| Diamond Ore | 9 | 1 | 0 | 15 | All |
| Emerald Ore | 1 | 11 | 4 | 31 | Gravelly Mountains Gravelly Mountains+ Mountains Mountain Edge Wooded Mountains |
| Gold Ore[note 3] | 9 | 20 | 32 | 79 | Badlands Badlands Plateau Eroded Badlands Modified Badlands Plateau Modified Wooded Badlands Plateau Wooded Badlands Plateau |
| Infested Stone | 9 | 7 | 0 | 63 | Gravelly Mountains Gravelly Mountains+ Mountains Mountain Edge Wooded Mountains |
The Nether
| Block | Spawn size | Spawn tries | Minimum height | Maximum height | Biomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magma Block | 33 | 4 | 27 | 36 | All |
| Nether Quartz Ore | 14 | 16 | 10 | 117 | All |
| Nether Gold Ore [upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16.0] |
10 | 10 | 10 | 117 | All |
| Ancient Debris[note 4][upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16.0] | 3 | 1 | 8[note 2] | 22[note 2] | All |
| Ancient Debris[note 4][upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16.0] | 2 | 1 | 8 | 119 | All |
| Soul Sand [upcoming: BE 1.16.0] |
12 | 12 | 1 | 32 | Soul Sand Valley |
| Gravel [upcoming: BE 1.16.0] |
[more information needed] | [more information needed] | 1 | 32 | Nether Wastes |
| Blackstone [upcoming: BE 1.16.0] |
[more information needed] | [more information needed] | 1 | 32 | Nether Wastes |
- ↑ can replace the same type block, if the replaced block aren't part of the said vein.
- ↑ a b c d This distribution follows its own rules: instead of a minimum and a maximum height, it is based on a center height and a spread value. By default, these values are set to 16 and 16 for Lapis Lazuli and 8 and 16 for Ancient Debris. Meaning that Lapis Lazuli and Ancient Debris generate mostly around level 15; i.e. a periodic gaussian distribution.
- ↑ This is the extra rolls for gold ore in badlands biomes.
- ↑ a b Ancient Debris can generate in 2 different ways.
Generation
Players can come across these veins in caverns or anywhere where there is natural stone. Underground deposits of dirt and gravel are generated in this step, followed by the more precious ores: coal, iron, gold, redstone, diamond, emerald (in mountains biomes) and lapis lazuli. They can form only in stone, andesite, diorite and granite (also in their polished variants, replacing parts of structures, and do not replace each other or any other block. Note that two or more mineral veins can form next to each other and make it look like a mineral vein made of more than one material.
The generation of ore veins utilizes 32-bit floating-point numbers, rather than 64-bit. While this does not cause issues within the vanilla bounds of the game, if the player were to generate terrain between 2^26 and 2^27 blocks, generation of ore veins would lose precision in such a way that would cause millions of chunks to attempt to load, resulting in a game crash.[1]
History
Gallery
- MultipleOreVeins.png
Multiple ores generated above an underground lava lake.
A coal vein generated underwater.
- Oreveinmultiples.png
Multiple ore veins in a cave. Diamond ore and redstone ore as well as coal ore and gold ore are visible in the distance.
References

