Mining & Ores
Overview
Mining in ReInDev 2.9_03 keeps the familiar four overworld ores (coal, iron, gold, diamond) but adds a full set of Nether ore variants, a deep-Nether top-tier metal called Augmentite, and a large family of new stone types that replace plain grey rock throughout the caves. Every ore is broken with a Pickaxe; the pickaxe's tool material determines whether it has a high enough harvest level to drop anything. Tool harvest levels are: Wood/Gold-adjacent baseline 0, Stone 1, Iron/Gold/Obsidian/Corundum 2, Diamond 3. Mining an ore below its required level yields nothing.
Overworld Ores
| Ore | Harvest level (min pickaxe) | Hardness | Drops | Smelts to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal Ore | 0 (any pickaxe) | 3.0 | Coal (Stone pickaxe drops 1–2 bonus) | Coal (furnace / blast furnace) |
| Iron Ore | 1 (Stone+) | 3.0 | Iron Ore block | Iron Ingot |
| Gold Ore | 2 (Iron+) | 3.0 | Gold Ore block | Gold Ingot |
| Diamond Ore | 2 (Iron+) | 3.0 | Diamond | Diamond |
Coal and iron veins thread through caves at almost any depth; gold and diamond concentrate near bedrock (gold and the densest diamond seams generate in the lowest chunk section, below y<2 internally). Coal Ore and Diamond Ore drop the resource directly, but a Golden Pickaxe mines them whole (the ore block itself drops, silk-touch style) thanks to gold's special handling. Iron and Gold Ore drop as raw ore blocks that must be smelted. Smelting an Iron Ingot earns the Acquire Hardware achievement; mining diamonds with iron tools earns DIAMONDS!
Smelting the Metal Ores
All four overworld ores smelt in both the ordinary Furnace and the faster Blast Furnace. Iron and Gold Ore can also be skipped entirely if mined with the late-game Molten Pickaxe, which drops the finished ingot in place of the ore block.
Nether Ore Variants
The Nether has its own ore set embedded in netherrack. They behave like the overworld ores but are tougher to blow up (blast resistance 30 vs 15) and can only be processed in a Blast Furnace — a regular furnace will not accept them.
| Ore | Harvest level | Drops / Smelts to | Where it spawns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nether Coal Ore | 0 | Coal | Large veins in the upper/mid Nether |
| Nether Iron Ore | 1 (Stone+) | Iron Ingot (blast furnace) | Common, low altitude |
| Nether Gold Ore | 2 (Iron+) | Gold Ingot (blast furnace) | Deep, near the lava sea |
| Nether Diamond Ore | 2 (Iron+) | Diamond (blast furnace) | Bottom layers, scattered |
The Nether also yields Corundum Scrap (mined with any pickaxe, hardness 2.5, but with an enormous blast resistance of 1500). It generates in the Slagheaps biome and smelts in a forge into a Corundum Plate, granting the Quite the Corundum achievement.
Augmentite — The Top Tier
Augmentite Ore is the rarest and most valuable ore in the game. It generates only in the deepest layers of the Nether (the lowest chunk sections, gated behind a 1-in-4 roll) as small clusters that glow faintly and emit purple pollen particles. The ore has hardness 5.0 and a blast resistance of 40, making it slow to break, but it carries no harvest-level requirement (harvest level 0), so any pickaxe can mine it — finding it is the real barrier, not your tool tier.
Augmentite Ore drops the Augmentite item directly, and the ore also smelts into Augmentite in a Blast Furnace. Augmentite is the keystone for end-game gear and utilities: it crafts into a Block of Augmentite (9 Augmentite, reversible back to 9), Augmentite Shades, Augmentite Pig Armor, and the teleporting Augmented Pearl. Eight Augmentite Blocks build a cross-dimension Dimensional Chest, which unlocks the Warp Zone achievement. Augmentite blocks come in decorative Brick and Pillar forms as well, all sharing the same purple emissive glow.
Caves & the New Stone Types
Caves are larger and more varied than vanilla Beta 1.7.3. Generation carves both standard tunnels and occasional big caverns (and rare lava-filled caverns near bedrock). Instead of one grey stone, the underground is built from many rock variants, several of which form natural veins or fill specific biomes. Notable stones you will tunnel through include:
- Limestone, Slate, Granite, Basalt, and Ridrock — common decorative rock, all minable with any pickaxe.
- Cloudstone and Frozestone — sky/cold variants tied to special terrain.
- Mossy Cobblestone is the default "ore rock" vein in most biomes; deserts and wastelands instead vein Hardened Clay.
- Cobblestone smelts up to Stone; Stone, Limestone, Basalt, Cloudstone and Brimstone all smelt into their polished forms in the Blast Furnace, and Cobblestone smelts into Limestone via a metadata variant.
Deep Crystal Caverns grow giant crystal formations of Citrine, Quartz, and Mythril (plus Glowstone). These crystals are decorative/craft blocks (e.g. they smelt into framed crystal glass) rather than smeltable metal ores, but they are a signature reason to explore the lower caves. Their "cobbled" stone forms — Cobbled Quartz, Citrine, Mythril, and Jet — appear as building blocks for the same theme.
Mining Tips
- Carry a Stone pickaxe for coal/iron, and upgrade to Iron before hunting gold, diamond, and the Nether metals.
- Use a Golden Pickaxe if you want to collect Coal or Diamond Ore blocks intact.
- A Blast Furnace is mandatory for Nether ores and Augmentite — build one before a serious Nether mining trip.
- Augmentite is the deepest, rarest prize: dig to the Nether's bedrock layers and watch for its purple glow.