Minecraft Ore Distribution
Find a useful mining depth. Compare ore profiles and cave bands, switch biomes and explore each layer.
Ore generation by height
Drag to choose a depth. Select a column to inspect an ore.
Cave depth guideY −59
Compare cave-generation bands with your mining depth. Actual openings depend on the seed and terrain.
Blue line: your depth. Bars show configured ranges, not cave frequency.
Cave carvers fill excavated blocks at or below Y -56 with lava. This is a carver threshold, not the level of every lava pool.
Cave shapes, biomes & limits
Large caverns & winding tunnels. “Cheese” caverns and “spaghetti” tunnels combine with the caves shown above. They depend on terrain noise, so they have no simple height-only frequency chart.
Finding a cave biome. Look for azalea trees above lush caves; dripstone caves tend to occur inland. A cave biome can sit beneath a different surface biome. Height alone cannot identify it.
Sulfur Caves. This release adds underground sulfur and cinnabar bands, sulfur pools and spikes. Sulfur springs can mark the biome above ground. These are biome features, not an ore-density band or a seed prediction.
Reading the bands. Classic and extra tunnel bars mark where carving starts; tunnels can extend beyond them. The noodle bar shows its noise sampling window, clipped to build height. Interpolation, solid terrain and bedrock shape the final openings.
Water & lava. Aquifers have local fluid levels. Below Y 0, some contain lava; there is no universal dry-cave line.
Plan your next tunnel
Select a level to jump there.
| Ore | Useful Y | Placement range | At Y −59 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 319 | 0% of peak | ||
| −64 to 319 | 12% of peak | ||
| −16 to 112 | 0% of peak | ||
| −64 to 32 | 48% of peak | ||
| −64 to 64 | 34% of peak | ||
| −64 to 15 | 87% of peak | ||
| −64 to 16 | 95% of peak | ||
| Mountains only | - |
How to read this chart & sources
Widths combine each batch’s configured count with its integer height distribution, then scale each ore to its own peak. They show relative placement attempts, not ore blocks per chunk, a seed’s ore locations, or your chance of a successful mining trip.
*The terrain strip is illustrative. Real terrain, caves, biome boundaries, bedrock and air-exposure rules all change what actually generates. Large iron/copper veins and structures are separate systems and are not modelled here.
These presets use Java Edition data extracted from official game archives for 29 listed releases. They do not model Bedrock’s implementation or modified world generation. Select the version that generated your chunks, which may differ from the version you play now.
Diamond’s extra deep uniform batch starts in 1.20.2. Compare 1.20.1 and 1.20.2 to see the difference.
About Minecraft Ore Distribution
Use the interactive chart to compare ore placement profiles across world height. Select an ore, change the mining depth, or choose a biome preset to see how the generation settings differ. The data covers 29 Java Edition releases, spanning 1.18.2–26.2.
A generation chart, not a seed map
The chart models placement attempts from Minecraft’s configured ore batches. Every ore is scaled to its own peak, so column widths help compare depths for the same ore. They do not compare absolute ore abundance across different ores. Actual results also depend on terrain, air exposure, bedrock and biome boundaries.
Why the chunk’s version matters
Updating Minecraft does not regenerate ores in chunks you have already explored. Choose the version that originally generated the area you plan to mine. New terrain generated in 1.20.2 and later includes an extra deep diamond batch that was absent in 1.20.1.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I see where caves generate?
- The cave depth guide compares configured tunnel start heights and the noodle cave noise band with your selected Y-level. It also explains cave biomes and fluid hazards. It does not locate caves in a particular seed, predict cave frequency, or guarantee a dry route.
- What Y-level should I use for diamonds?
- Y −59 is a useful tunnel level in these Java releases: it is near the strong deep part of the diamond profile while staying above the bedrock band. The theoretical placement profile continues below that level, but bedrock limits useful mining space.
- Why does iron have two recommended levels?
- Iron has a middle-height batch peaking near Y 16 and a much stronger high-altitude batch near Y 232. The higher option needs a mountain that actually contains stone at that height.
- Does a chart value of 100% mean every block is ore?
- No. It means the selected depth reaches that ore’s peak placement rate for the chosen preset. Ore placement can still fail and most blocks will not be ore.
- Does this tool support Bedrock Edition?
- The dataset is extracted from Java Edition’s official game files. It does not claim to model Bedrock’s generation implementation or custom data packs.