This page is about the ore. For the placeable dust, see Redstone (dust), and for Redstone in general, see Redstone.
Redstone ore was introduced in Minecraft Alpha, version 1.0.1_01, and requires no smelting to be used. The material is common and can often be found in tiny ores(generally, a vein of redstone contains 2-6 blocks) approximately 1-7 blocks above sources of Bedrock near the bottom of in-game maps. When struck or stepped on, redstone ore will emit light and dust particles for a few seconds.
Redstone ore drops approximately 4-5 piles of redstone dust when destroyed with Pickaxes made of Iron or Diamond. Redstone dust requires no smelting to be used.
If you click on or step on a redstone ore, it will emit light of level 9.
Note: Map areas generated before the Redstone Update was applied, will not contain Redstone.