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efth

How to find better metals like hematite?

59 posts in this topic

I've been using bronze and bismuth bronze tools for quite a while now. Finding those ores was easy since I could just go running in one direction hitting random rocks until I found a sample of something and then go underground there. But how would I go about finding metals which you cannot find on the surface, like hematite? I'm in a dacite rich area now, so there could be hematite around, but how do I find it? Should I just go digging around mindlessly prospecting randomly until I find something? If so, at what depth is it possible to find hematite?

How did you find your first "higher" metal?

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Well, I don't know if this is exactly the *best*, but what I do is I find a stone layer that could have hematite, and dig down to around y 90 - 110, and start prospecting. Once I find a good, consistent reading , I start narrowing down the ore location by using the d"dig in one direction, prospect, the other, prospect, rinse and repeat" method.

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Or use this method:

  • Find a cave or dig until you find one
  • if the cave is deep then explore it
  • if it isn't deep, it may be surrounded by hidden caves, just mine a bit of walls
  • explore the cave and start prospecting with your loyal prospector's pick

This sin't the best method, but I think that it's the funniest.

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Well, I don't know if this is exactly the *best*, but what I do is I find a stone layer that could have hematite, and dig down to around y 90 - 110, and start prospecting. Once I find a good, consistent reading , I start narrowing down the ore location by using the d"dig in one direction, prospect, the other, prospect, rinse and repeat" method.

whenever I go below y:120 or something There's just rock salt. Could I still find hematite there?

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No, you can't find hematite there, but you CAN find magnetite, another ore of iron, one that also gives a little platinum. :)

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whenever I go below y:120 or something There's just rock salt. Could I still find hematite there?

Nope. The generation of the world makes everyarea have 3 layers of rock:the bottom, the middle and the top (which is the dacite you live in). In the wiki it shows where every single ore can spawn.

Go back to the surface, find an area with a different rock layer on top (grass and sand will look different and you will get different stones when braking a loose stone. It cna take literally in game miles to find one...) And go down to y 120 again. Check what can spawn in the rock layer youare in now. You will have to do this 'till you find one that can contain iron, and then find that iron.

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Nope. The generation of the world makes everyarea have 3 layers of rock:the bottom, the middle and the top (which is the dacite you live in). In the wiki it shows where every single ore can spawn.

Go back to the surface, find an area with a different rock layer on top (grass and sand will look different and you will get different stones when braking a loose stone. It cna take literally in game miles to find one...) And go down to y 120 again. Check what can spawn in the rock layer youare in now. You will have to do this 'till you find one that can contain iron, and then find that iron.

Yaay, sounds like a blast. Thanks to everyone one who helped by sharing your wisdom
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What I'd do is find a spot, dig down to the second rock layer, and if it's sedimentary go digging for limonite!

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I suggest digging a mine to the desired rock layer. Since ore spawning is no longer based on depth, when you reach dacite, start prospecting! At least do branch mining, although I am unsure if this method is still efficient enough.

-Sda209

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--Progress update--

Right in between the rock salt and the diorite which was below my prospectors pick found traces of limonite. I've narrowed it down to an area which is at most 16 by 23 big and only a few blocks high. It seems as if limonite spawns differently than all other ores I've found so far. In the area I'm finding tons of mini veins which consist of 3-7 ores. Do any other ores spawn in a similar fashion?

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Starter ores (bismuthinite, spharelite and cassiterite) often spawn like that, though i always thought it only applied t thse particular ores...

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I tend to make my mines real deep down into the 60's - 50's making a 12x12 grid. I usually find more ores then I can every dream of actually mining when im down that deep.

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I can find iron very easily, just propick in sedimentary stone and you will definitely run into magnetite or limonite eventually.

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The other people here said all you have to know, iron fortunately is found in 3 kind of ores, magnetite, hematite and limonite, for the depth.. i can't agree that, because the bigger veins i found were below 90 and above 40-50 max.. for example yesterday i found a huge cave, and connected to it there was another one, the first already gave me a big sphalerite vein with some pretty amount of lignite, but exploring the second at a depth of 60-70 i found a such big vein of sphalerite that if i could craft metal blocks now i can really build a big fortress made up of zinc, the vein was so big that all the uncover spots cover about half of that cave, and it's not a little cave... all to say that 90-110 it's a big to high, at that depth it's seems easier to find ores but i think that iron veins at that depth are small.. and if you find a cave that run down to the bottom lava layer and form a huge cave, explore it all! find a way to propick the ceiling because you will almost certainly find more than 2 ore veins uncovered and ready to be mined without stress

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Since ore spawning is no longer based on depth

Really? Above 90 the only ores I've ever seen are cassiterite, sphalerite, bismuthinite and copper. For everything else I have to go down to at least 90.

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Really? Above 90 the only ores I've ever seen are cassiterite, sphalerite, bismuthinite and copper. For everything else I have to go down to at least 90.

I thought I heard somewhere that ore spawning is no longer based on depth?

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What's the difference between hematite and limonite anyway? As in yield, melting temperature higher/lower?

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What's the difference between hematite and limonite anyway? As in yield, melting temperature higher/lower?

Well, dunno about the yield, but Hematite only spawns in Andesite, Basalt, Dacite, and Rhyolite. But Limonite spawns in a BUNCH of stone layers.

Limonite spawns in Shalk, Chert, Claystone, Conglomerate, Dolomite, Limestone, Mudstone, Rock Salt, Shale, and Siltstone. (I used the wiki for Limonite ;) )

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Yes, I know that. I'm just curious, is hematite and limonite are different ores, or one ore really? Magnetite is also the source of platinum, but these two seems alike.

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Yes, I know that. I'm just curious, is hematite and limonite are different ores, or one ore really? Magnetite is also the source of platinum, but these two seems alike.

Oh then, I don't really know. To my knowledge, they aren't different other that which rock layers they spawn in.

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In the game there isn't much of a difference really... the ore looks and it's called different, but i think the differences end there.

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From what I can tell from digging wikipedia a bit, limonite should be easier to smelt. I don't know if that's the case in TFC.

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Personally, I dug down to the second stone layer, and mined a tunnel under an ocean until I entered a stone layer that can contain iron ores. Then I made staircases all the way to the top to send water down in to the tunnel to run through sluices to prospect around in a huge area.

Got me a massive coal+magnetite vein... I still haven't even finished mining the top of it out to get an idea of it's size.

Also, when making stairways up... watch out for cave ins. They tend to happen a lot.

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--Progress update--

Right in between the rock salt and the diorite which was below my prospectors pick found traces of limonite. I've narrowed it down to an area which is at most 16 by 23 big and only a few blocks high. It seems as if limonite spawns differently than all other ores I've found so far. In the area I'm finding tons of mini veins which consist of 3-7 ores. Do any other ores spawn in a similar fashion?

Bismuthinite, cassiterite, sphalerite and coal tend to generate in huuuge solid blobs that would probably be more than enough for entire servers. (not counting the smallish veins of t0 near the surface)

Magnetite, limonite, malachite, tetrahedrite, galena, and native silver seem to generate in sparse sprinkles in an area, and require mining a ton of stone out to get to them.

Gold is usually a few blocks near/in other other ores.

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well so far i have gone to 40 going all though 3 ravines and 2 caves and have found nothing exept a "small" amount of graphite that i jest cant locate for some reason.

also Kalix whats with the cave ins? i have never had one no matter how much i dig o.o i don't even need to bring supports to go mineing

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