Iron Ore

This article is about the ore. For the item, see Iron Ingot. For the mineral block, see Block of Iron. For the nugget, see Iron Nugget.

This article is missing information about the deepslate iron ore. 

Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.

Iron Ore

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Renewable	No
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	3
Hardness	Iron Ore: 3 Deepslate Iron Ore: 4.5
Luminant	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No

Iron ore is a mineral block found underground. It is smelted into iron ingots, which are used to make tools and armor.

Deepslate iron ore is a variant found in the deepslate layer of the world, below y=0.‌^{[upcoming: JE 1.18 & BE 1.18]}

Obtaining

Breaking

Iron ore must be mined with a stone pickaxe or higher, or else it drops nothing. Unlike most ores, iron ore always drops itself, regardless of whether the player used Silk Touch.

‌In Java Edition 1.17‌^[upcoming], iron ore will drop 1 Raw Iron. It is affected by Fortune enchantment, dropping 1-2, 1-3 or 1-4 raw iron respectively with Fortune I, II and III. When mined with Silk Touch, it will drop itself.

Block	Iron Ore	Deepslate Iron Ore
Hardness	3	4.5
Tool
Breaking time
Default	15	22.5
Wooden	7.5	11.25
Stone	1.15	1.7
Iron	0.75	1.15
Diamond	0.6	0.85
Netherite	0.5	0.75
Golden	1.25	1.9

Natural generation

Iron ore can generate in the Overworld in the form of blobs. Iron ore attempts to generate 20 times per chunk in blobs of size 0-13, from levels 0 to 63, in all biomes. On average they generate 112 ores per chunk.

‌In Java Edition 1.18‌^[upcoming], iron ore generates in three batches. The first batch attempts to generate 40 times per chunk in blobs of 0-13, from levels 128 to 320, being most common around level 255 and becoming less common towards either end of the range. The second batch attempts to generate 6 times per chunk in blobs of 0-13, from levels -24 to 54, being most common around level 15 and becoming less common towards either end of the range. The third batch attempts to generate 3 times per chunk in blobs of 0-5, evenly from levels -63 to -32. Iron ore can replace stone, granite, diorite, andesite, tuff, and deepslate. If it replaces tuff or deepslate, it will become deepslate iron ore.

‌In Java Edition 1.18‌^[upcoming], iron ore can generate as an ore vein.

‌In Bedrock Edition 1.18‌^[upcoming], iron ore also attempts to generate 40 times per chunk in blobs of size 0-10, from levels 128 to 256 within any type of mountains biome. It becomes more common as the y-level increases.

‌In Bedrock Edition 1.17‌^[upcoming], deepslate iron ore generates instead of regular iron ore in deepslate blobs.

Usage

The primary usage of iron ore is to obtain iron ingots.

Smelting ingredient

Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Iron Ore or Deepslate Iron Ore + Any fuel	0.7

Note blocks

Iron ore can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sound.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
File:Stone dig1.oggFile:Stone dig2.oggFile:Stone dig3.oggFile:Stone dig4.ogg	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.stone.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
File:Stone hit1.oggFile:Stone hit2.oggFile:Stone hit3.oggFile:Stone hit4.oggFile:Stone hit5.oggFile:Stone hit6.ogg	None	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.stone.fall	None	0.5	0.75	16
File:Stone hit1.oggFile:Stone hit2.oggFile:Stone hit3.oggFile:Stone hit4.oggFile:Stone hit5.oggFile:Stone hit6.ogg	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.stone.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
File:Stone dig1.oggFile:Stone dig2.oggFile:Stone dig3.oggFile:Stone dig4.ogg	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.stone.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
File:Stone hit1.oggFile:Stone hit2.oggFile:Stone hit3.oggFile:Stone hit4.oggFile:Stone hit5.oggFile:Stone hit6.ogg	Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	block.stone.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Volume	Pitch
File:Stone dig1.oggFile:Stone dig2.oggFile:Stone dig3.oggFile:Stone dig4.ogg	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	1.0	0.8
File:Stone hit1.oggFile:Stone hit2.oggFile:Stone hit3.oggFile:Stone hit4.oggFile:Stone hit5.oggFile:Stone hit6.ogg	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	0.4	1.0
File:Stone hit1.oggFile:Stone hit2.oggFile:Stone hit3.oggFile:Stone hit4.oggFile:Stone hit5.oggFile:Stone hit6.ogg	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	0.37	0.5
?	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	0.12	1.0
?	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	0.22	1.0
File:Stone hit1.oggFile:Stone hit2.oggFile:Stone hit3.oggFile:Stone hit4.oggFile:Stone hit5.oggFile:Stone hit6.ogg	Blocks	Walking on the block	step.stone	0.3	1.0
File:Stone dig1.oggFile:Stone dig2.oggFile:Stone dig3.oggFile:Stone dig4.ogg	Blocks	When the block is placed	use.stone	1.0	0.8

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Form	Translation key
Iron Ore	iron_ore	Block & Item	block.minecraft.iron_ore
Deepslate Iron Ore	deepslate_iron_ore	Block & Item	block.minecraft.deepslate_iron_ore

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Iron Ore	iron_ore	15	Block & Item	tile.iron_ore.name
Deepslate Iron Ore	deepslate_iron_ore	656	Block & Item	tile.deepslate_iron_ore.name

History

Java Edition Classic
May 21, 2009					Notch shows interest in adding iron ore.
May 23, 2009					Notch says he accomplished adding iron blobs in stone.
0.0.14a					32px Added iron ore.
					Iron ore spawns in huge blobs, sometimes big enough to protrude into 3 caverns, and could be as big as 167 blocks.
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST					Breaking iron ore now gives the player 1–3 blocks of iron when mined.
Java Edition Indev
0.31		?			Iron ore no longer drops blocks of iron when mined.
		20100129			Before the furnace was added, players had to smelt ore by dropping ore blocks onto fire.
					Iron ore now drops itself when mined.
		20100201-2			Iron ore now requires a stone, iron, or diamond pickaxe to be successfully obtained.
Java Edition Infdev
Minecraft Infdev		20100227-1			Iron ore no longer generates.
		20100320			Iron ore blobs now generate, but differently.
		20100325			Ore blobs now appear more like they do today.
		20100327			Iron ore now regenerates after the world is reloaded, assuming that the positions of the ore blocks were replaced by stone.
		20100330			Iron ore no longer regenerates.
Java Edition
1.3.1		12w22a			Smelting iron ore, along with other ores, blocks and items, gives the player experience orbs when taking the item out of the furnace. One stack of iron ore gives the player approximately 2 levels of experience.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 15.
1.14		?			32px A texture of iron ore has been proposed.
		18w43a			32px The texture of iron ore has been changed.
1.14.1		Pre-Release 1			32px The texture of iron ore has been changed, once again.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.17		21w07a			32px The texture of iron ore has been changed.
		February 17, 2021			32px Henrik Kniberg shows grimstone variant of iron ore.
		February 18, 2021			32px 32px JAPPA Shows updated iron ore texture and grimstone variant of iron ore.
		February 22, 2021			32px 32px JAPPA shows updated iron ore textures and grimstone variant of iron ore.
		21w08a			32px Added deepslate iron ore.
					32px The texture of iron ore has been changed again.
					Added iron_ores block tag.
					Iron ore now generates less frequently. However, a bug exists in this version where regular iron ore are generated way more infrequent.
					Iron ore can now generate in negative y-levels in smaller blobs.
		21w08b			Regular iron ore now generates more frequently than in 21w08a .
		March 2, 2021			32px JAPPA shows updated iron ore texture.
		March 4, 2021			32px JAPPA shows updated deepslate variant of iron ore texture.
		21w10a			32px 32px The textures of iron ore and deepslate iron ore was updated.
		21w14a			It now drops raw iron when broken without silk touch, instead of itself.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0					32px Added iron ore.
v0.3.0					Iron ore is now obtainable in Survival mode.
v0.3.2					Iron ore is now available in the creative inventory.
					With the addition of furnaces, iron ore is able to be smelted into iron ingots.
v0.12.1		?			Iron ore now gives experience when smelted.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			32px The texture of iron ore has been changed.
1.16.220		beta 1.16.220.50			32px The texture of iron ore has been changed.
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
1.16.230		beta 1.16.230.52			32px Added deepslate iron ore.
		beta 1.16.230.54			32px Iron ore texture was updated.
1.17.0		beta 1.17.0.50			It now drops raw iron when broken without silk touch, instead of itself.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	32px Added iron ore.
?					Smelting iron ore now gives experience.
		1.90			32px The texture of iron ore has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					32px Added iron ore.

Issues

Issues relating to "Iron Ore" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery

• GiantIronBlob.png

  A total of 20 iron ore blocks were obtained from this blob, which was most likely composed of two smaller blobs.

• IronOre.png

  Iron ore blob.