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The term efficiency is often used to describe how many blocks the player observes compared to how many they mine. This is fine if your objective is to observe every block, but it is incredibly inefficient if you want to get as much ore as possible. Because ore bodies are almost always larger than 1 block, if you go round trying to observe every block possible then you will always observe the same ore body at least twice, and this is inefficient.
So I've added a mining efficiency section to the page, under "horizontal mining" for the moment. It describes the phenomenon and includes results of a mining model. It shows unequivocally that mining efficiency is maximised when two tunnels are completely independent of each other, and this occurs (for diamonds) when tunnel spacing is about 6 blocks or more.
Although I've added it under the horizontal mining section for the moment, the principle applies to other mining methods too. I think we should consider a move towards avoiding the term "efficiency" for anything other than actual mining efficiency, where
efficiency = (ores collected / blocks mined)
in other words an efficiency of 0.017 (about the maximum for diamonds) describes 1.7% of blocks recovered being an ore.
If anyone is interested in looking at the matlab model I wrote, I can send it to them. Piesforyou 11:19, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
There is some incorrect and confusing information in this article. In multiple spots it mentioned finding veins of sand underground. I have never found ANY sand underground, and I've been playing since Beta 1.6. If someone has seen it in 1.2.5, they can change it back. Also, the absolute mining doesn't make any sense. If they mined with what it says, it would be about a 20x20 space. On y=12, since that is bigger than a chunk, you a likely to hit diamonds, a fair amount of gold, and at least half a stack of iron. It also mentions emeralds there, and didn't mention it not being released until 1.3. Also, it mentioned that you could use a lava bucket for smelting, but didn't say it would consume the bucket. If someone could add in an unconfusing way that this will be changed in 1.3, please do so. There were also many typos and other grammar mistakes.
Everything I saw wrong I changed, but I thought someone should know what it was like. 72.209.199.2 22:49, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
IMO mining a "branch" every THIRD block is the best method as then you will check all blocks between the branches.
However, most diamonds comes in 2x1 / 2x2 or 2+1 (not 2x2x2, it is so rare to find a 8-diamond ores), if you emphasized on efficiency, you will miss many diamonds. I will have to say, for other ores, use wider separation between branch. But mining for diamonds, use 2 blocks separation. (sig=?)
What's the advantages/differences compared to branch method? And why is it called "Strip mining"? Strip mining is referred to surface mining IRL. --Slider2k 01:30, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
Picture. Once multiple levels are considered, strip mining could be more efficient if you had 3-block thick walls instead of 2-block. After mining out a room, mine again below the room. This time center your mined hallways on the center of the three blocks of the first room, and mine again. The next level down, mine in your original arrangement. You'll alternate patterns with each level this way. The middle of the 3 blocks is exposed as the roof of the hallway below and the floor of the hallways above. Chris3145 09:17, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
π Image
--Stephen304 16:10, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
It looks slightly out of place with only one entry. If you have any ideas for better organization feel free to change stuff around
There is no correlation between dirt, gravel, or lava, and the frequency of ore spawning. I think that portion should be removed. NZPhoenix 07:08, 16 May 2011 (UTC)
I would like to add a 'best layer' section for finding diamonds. With regard to layer 12 mining, and utilizing the large number of exposed blocks every time you come across a magma lake. I would also like to contribute 2 mining designs of my own, but am unfamiliar with how Wiki's work and don't know if I need permission first or not. NZPhoenix 07:15, 16 May 2011 (UTC)
Anyone who has played Minecraft for at least a day knows not to dig down. But if you do the math, it might actually be a better strategy.
This only works if you have most of your items in a chest. Just take out an iron pickaxe and a couple torches,m and start mining down.
The risk of dropping into a lava pit is very small, and insignificant considering how many iron you will get while mining down.
And yes, it does give you a better yield. If you mine 1x2 shafts, you are mining 2 blocks to reveal 8. This gives you a 4:1 ratio of revealed blocks to mined blocks. If you dig 1x1's, you are revealing 5 blocks and mining 1. That's 5:1.
Also, when mining 1x1's, you can keep holding your mouse in one place. Almost no errors can happen because of your faulty mouse controlling.
One more thing : It gets you down to the bottom faster.
Because of these three things, I think 1x1's are worth the risk.
Mannon 18:50, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
When I first read this I really liked UrsaArcadeus's Strategy for both speed and efficiency, as well as not needing to figure out complicated layers of alternating patterns. It also seems quite nice for mining below the lava layer as mining 2x1 shafts down is actually quite safe if done properly and does not risk spilling lava out onto a wider area of floor as horizontal mining would.
But it strikes me that this pattern is sub-optimal. In the UrsaArcadeus's Strategy example the 6 single blocks between the top and bottom rows of shafts are viewed from two different shafts which cuts the efficiency of the shafts in those rows down to about 7 blocks revealed for every 2 mined. (It varies depending upon how long the row is starting at the normal 8:2 or 4:1 for the first shaft with each shaft added to the row only getting 7:2 efficiency thereafter.)
It seems to me that the following pattern would be more efficient since no single block is visible from more than one shaft, which means that each and every shaft dug enjoys 100% (4:1) efficiency.
I made my example the same size, though a smaller example would clearly demonstrate the simpler pattern. If merely counting the blocks in the square example UrsaArcadeus's Strategy appears to be more efficient, but this is merely because it fits better within a square boundary. In fact the example given shows 10 blocks in the pattern which are only revealed by shafts outside the example, while having only 4 blocks that would be revealed by shafts in the pattern which fall outside the borders of the example. If we instead count exactly the blocks revealed by the given shafts in the patterns I show 82 revealed for 22 blocks dug or ~2:7.45 for UrsaArcadeus's Strategy and 96:24 or exactly 4:1 for mine.
Obviously I'm not the first to come up with this pattern, I'm just wondering why it isn't mentioned while UrsaArcadeus's Strategy is? I could add it, but I'm new here and wondering if I'm missing something.
In fact it's the same pattern as above in More efficient method of strip mining, just turned 90 degrees to dig down instead of across.
Mannon 09:09, 12 July 2011 (UTC)
Indeed, this method is more efficient, and it is also applicable to horizontal mining. Good job. Mister Tesseract 10:50, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
Is this article really necessary?
Don't most people just mine until they have what they need to build cool stuff?
Who feels the need to cut say, a 16x16 shaft down to the bedrock? I bet no one actually plays like this.
I do, actually. Mister Tesseract 10:49, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
In the last section it mentions to eat food to delay your death because eating is instant. Eating is not instant anymore, so it should be changed, but I'm not sure how it could be re-written and still make sense. -Cubs197 02:27, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
Done, fixed it. User:Noobnathan Noobnathan 20:06, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
I tried to fix the diagram for UrsaArcadeus's Strategy, but it still shows up with a "Maximum number of loops have been performed" error.
[[File:Icon-KaizenNeko.png]]KaizenNeko (T|C) 11:33, 10 April 2012 (UTC) 05:14, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
A sort of mining I often do, in order to reach bedrock without bothering about lava. Should I add it?
1. Get into water that's next to land. 2. Dig in a staircase fashion downwards, while in the water. 3. Let the water carry you down as you mine. 4. If you hit lava, it will be extinguished by the water, and if the lava hits you, the water will heal you. 5. If you have a bucket, drinking some water will heal you. 6. When you reach bedrock, put down some doors to stop up the water and start mining.
Pros: Most mobs will not go down most waterslide mines properly, or they will only go down slowly. Most mobs like to bob up and down in water.
Lava is destroyed by water.
When you want to get back up, build a ladder. To reenter your mine, go for the fun water ride instead of descending into your mine with ladders.
Cons:
If you hit a cave, you will be randomly washed somewhere. Darkness spawns unkind mobs.
You can drown in water if the mine is not properly constructed.
If you hit a cave with a full inventory, some of your mined items may be washed away - maybe into a mob's or lava's hands?
OK, so that's it. - MinecraftPhotos4U 19:35, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
So anyway, the advantages of waterslide mining is that you will be carried forward while waterslide mining automatically instead of walking. The other advantages are that you can be washed down to your mine, and other mobs won't. It also means you can get water buckets easily when underground. - MinecraftPhotos4U 18:02, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
So I have this nice Cobblestone hut in a Singleplayer world, lots of everything, and then one day I decide to make a mine connecting from my house. I break open a piece of stone from the floor and there is already a pre-made hole in the ground with a ladder! I go down it and there's a HUGE walkway made of redstone ores, and at the end a RIDICULOUSLY SPACIOUS room FILLED TO THE BRIM with Gold, Diamonds, Emerald, Iron, and of course, coal. I swear I didn't make it. I was only like, 2 days into the game. And even weirder, is, there happens to be a chest hidden in the ore veins filled with DIAMOND PICKAXES! What the hell is going on? βPreceding unsigned comment was added by LovedDragons (talk β’ contribs) at 21:23, 13 July 2013β (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~
OK, all these clever patterns miss many points. First, there is no point in looking at every block. It is just an illusion to think that it matters if you accidentally pass right by a diamond. If you make branches separated by two layers of stone, you will be guaranteed to find all ores you pass by. But, the probability of a block being a diamond is lower given that the one beside it is not diamond. So, if you know that a row does not contain diamonds, looking at the row next to it gives you much less probability of exposing diamond compared to looking at a "fresh" row. Second, efficiency is not about exposing the most blocks per block you mine. No, it is about exposing the most blocks per minute, including the one you mine. It does not matter if you waste a few extra iron picks, because you will find more iron by being smart than you waste. So, an easy method will be better. For example, just mining straight ahead 2x1 is really good, because it is fast. You can hold down the mouse button all the time, only stopping to switch the iron pick and place torches if you prefer. Another advantage with the straight ahead 2x1 method is that you can easily change direction when you come to lava. This method will expose 8 blocks for every two you mine, a 4:1 "efficiency". Considering you do not need to move the mouse much or concentrate, this is good. Maybe better is this variation on the feather pattern: Mine straight ahead 2x1. Every 5 blocks, mine one 1x1 to the right and one 1x1 to the left. Five will sometimes make you miss an ore, but this method is fast and easy. You do not need to count because five is the reach of the pick. The "efficiency" of this is 4.1:1, not a lot better than the simpler straight ahead method, but you can still do it non stop without counting. And, stand on Y=10. This will give you level 12 in the roof and 9 in the floor. It could be better to be on Y=9, because you will still find many of the ores on level 12, because they are linked with ores on level 11. The problem with being on Y=9 when mining straight ahead is that you will risk being flooded with lava that is common on level 10, if you are not paying attention. βPreceding unsigned comment was added by 84.211.145.220 (talk) at 20:48, 25 July 2013 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~
There used to be a page about making a quarry. Where did we put it? βPreceding unsigned comment was added by 24.84.174.9 (talk) at 01:59, 12 April 2014 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~
First I dig down to the highest layer of bedrock. Now make sure bedrock fog is off because you won't be able to see a thing with it on. Make a bunch of chests and furnaces to smelt your ores and put your cobblestone in the chest. By storing the cobblestone in the chest you can mine for much longer periods of time. Now get the fastest pickaxe you have a efficency diomond for example. Then mine three blocks high and continue to mine a massive three block tall room. I use a fortune 111 pick and got thirty-seven diomonds in a hour. βPreceding unsigned comment was added by 98.83.125.31 (talk) at 2:39, 25 December 2014 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~ Bedrock fog doesn't exist anymore tho. And why does storing cobble in a chest allow for more time? and you can't get a fortune 111 pick in survival, without external mods, commands or hacks. 123.199.122.62 10:22, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
This page includes help on things that I wouldn't call "techniques":
71.212.10.80 22:34, 4 June 2015 (UTC)
At the bottom of the section labelled "Strip mining," there's a line or so of text saying that a branch mine at Y-12 qualifies as a strip mine. This is incorrect, as the literal definition of a strip mine is "the practice of mining a seam of mineral, by first removing a long strip of overlying soil and rock (the overburden). It is most commonly used to mine coal and lignite (brown coal). Strip mining is only practical when the ore body to be excavated is relatively near the surface." Y level 12 is not anywhere remotely near the surface, in most vanilla worlds. I request that this line or so of text be either removed, or relegated to the branch mining section where it belongs.
My source for the definition of a strip mine is http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-strip-mining.htm cross-referenced with a wikipedia article and the Encyclopaedia Britannica 69.14.105.198 02:24, 22 July 2015 (UTC)
This has silverfish mining with panda4994 did and it shows the video but wither mining is not on this. How come?Boorider7 (talk) 23:48, 18 August 2015 (UTC)
I'm too lazy to add it so why not somebody else add it? Boorider7 (talk) 15:06, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
Can someone add the tag "until 1.14" next to the "can destroy the ores you're looking for" stuff, since TNT drops everything since 1.14? I mean, sure lava can be uncovered by tnt too, but that's the same thing as accidentally mining an ore block and then the block below it, which happens to have lava below it...? 123.199.122.62 10:19, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
Since the wiki article only says "100% drop rate" and nothing else, I think it might be like all blocks that can be destroyed, and normally, explosions drop the "normal" drop, the drop when mined with a non-enchanted proper tool for the block. 123.199.122.62 10:36, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
I have the changed the layers, can anyone change the rest of this as 1.18 has changed the ore and cave generation.
I believe the explanation of efficiency in this tutorial is flawed and outdated, at least as pertains to diamond mining. As a long time player I doubt whether a tunnel spacing of 6 has ever been optimal, and there is no actual data presented to support it. It is true that there is a tradeoff between overall efficiency and "thoroughness" or what I would call compactness. Peak efficiency is reached not at infinite spacing but at spacing of 15 blocks or one tunnel per chunk, since no more than 14 blobs of diamond can ever generate per chunk but each chunk is independent of the next. In practice though, it may be better to keep tunnels closer together, making them easier to navigate and reducing the need for extra torches, etc. The best balance is debatable, but a spacing of 3 blocks will reveal the vast majority of ore blobs within the mined layers without redundancy, except in the case of exceptionally rare diamond lodes of 9+ blocks. The maximum thoroughness is reached at 2-block spacing, but because most ore blobs at lower depths are 2 blocks wide, this leads to much higher redundancy for only a little gain over 3-block spacing. I put this here rather than in the main article because I don't have data to back it up, but I think it follows from common sense and some analytical thinking. I base this on ore generation in JE 1.20.2 but I don't know of any past version where the same reasoning would not apply. If anyone has the means to test the theory I think it would be a valuable addition to the wiki, but I wouldn't know where to begin doing it myself. Rutebega (talk) 19:45, 19 January 2024 (UTC)