How to use the Ore Vein Finder
Large ore veins are giant ribbons of ore that snake through the deepslate and stone layers: copper veins in granite between Y 0 and 50, iron veins in tuff between Y -60 and -8. Each one holds hundreds of ore blocks and a few raw iron or raw copper blocks. The Ore Vein Finder computes them from the same noise the game uses, block by block.
- Enter your seed and pick a Java version from 1.18 to 26.3; the large vein layer is on by default.
- Zoom in: each chunk a vein passes through is tinted (orange for copper, pale for iron). Zoom further to see every ore block, with raw ore blocks highlighted.
- Click a vein to see how many ore and raw blocks that chunk holds, its Y range and a /tp command to its centre.
- Turn on regular ores too (iron, copper, diamonds…) to plan one mining trip for everything.
How large ore veins generate
Unlike normal ores, large veins are not placed by decoration: they are part of terrain generation. A “vein toggle” noise decides where veins run and whether they are copper (positive) or iron (negative), a ridged noise carves them into thin ribbons, and a gap noise breaks them up. Inside a vein, stone is replaced by the filler (granite or tuff), by ore, or rarely by a raw ore block (2% of the ore).
Veins only form inside solid terrain, so a cave crossing a vein simply cuts it. Copper veins run from Y 0 to 50 and iron veins from Y -60 to -8, getting thinner towards both ends of their range.
Mining a vein
A single iron vein can give stacks of raw iron, which makes it the best early iron source after a village. Look for tuff (iron) or granite (copper) streaks in cave walls at the right height: that is the vein's filler. Raw ore blocks drop themselves, so a Silk Touch pickaxe is not needed.
Editions and versions
| Dimension | Overworld |
|---|---|
| Java Edition | 1.18 – 26.3, exact block positions (terrain and noise caves modelled) |
| Bedrock Edition | Java only: Bedrock decorates chunks with a different random generator, so nothing is shown rather than wrong ores |
Questions
Which versions have large ore veins?
Java Edition 1.18 and every later version. Older versions had only normal ore blobs.
How accurate are the veins?
They come from the game's own vein noises for your seed. Compared with worlds generated by the official Java server, about 97% of the vein ore blocks shown are really there, and every raw ore block in the test areas was found. You can also show every normal ore on the same map.
Why does the map show only part of a vein?
Veins only exist inside solid terrain. Where caves cut through, those blocks are air, and the finder hides them.
Does it work for Bedrock?
Not yet. Bedrock generates its terrain noise differently, so the finder shows Java Edition only.
Updated · data for Minecraft Java up to 26.3