Introduction: How to Find Diamonds, Iron, Coal, and Stone in Minecraft! (Includes Explanations of Ores!)

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DIAMONDS!

Okay, so it's actually pretty easy, just spiral staircase downwards, all the way to the bedrock. Then go up by 12 blocks. Simply make a bunch of 15x15x3 boxes, spanning levels 10, 11, and 12. You WILL eventually find diamonds, but chances are that you won't find two veins in one mine. So dig in a straight line for a while, then do the same thing, but spanning 12, 13, and 14. Repeat until you reach the surface or just go down after a little bit, then repeat. Yes this might take FOREVER, but i got 23 diamonds out of it. It's worth it. Tedious, but worth it.

IRON!

Ok, this might sound like you already do it already, but the easiest way is to go spelunking in caves. Search for visible deposits of iron. When there isn't any more, look for coal. I found from experience that iron is almost always 2-3 blocks away from coal. So get mining! If you don't like caves, just box mine!

COAL!

Coal appears in large deposits, so a little vein goes a long way! Coal is probably the most common ore, as they appear in pockets of 10, give or take 5. Go spelunking, it's valuable if you know what you are doing. If you don't like spelunking, line mine. That means mine in a straight line until you find the ores you are looking for. Tedious, but worth it. If you are desperate, box mine.

STONE!

First, dig down 4-7 blocks. You should see some grey stuff. You need a wooden pickaxe to mine it. Once you have cobblestone, you can create a furnace to make coal, to get torches, to light the night. You need a stone pickaxe to get iron, and it's stronger than wood when used in building!

STRATEGIES!

Well, here are some strategies in mining:

1. Staircase in the side of canyons to get to the bottom. NEVER jump down.
2. If you are stuck in a deep hole, "noob pole" upwards. That means look down, jump, and when you are in the air, place a block under you.
3. This might just be common sense, but if you are mining on an island, if you dig in one direction long enough, you WILL hit water.
4. Beware of lava.
5. Freestyling is a good and reliable mining strategy, although you could get lost in that labyrinth you call a mine. Always bring a good food supply! Only eat when you need it!
6. Box mining is my favorite mining strategy! It's impossible to get lost, and it yields tons of ores! Just make sure you bring at least 5 pickaxes! Make a really long 30x10x3 box, and make sure you bring torches!
7. Ladders are luxuries! They are not necessary in mining, although they are useful.
8. dont waste iron on pickaxes you use a lot. Make a ton of stone pickaxes, they may crap out on you a lot, but note you do have a lot of useless cobblestone piling up! Only use iron pickaxes for mining diamonds, redstone, and gold!
9. Have a bed in the mine with you, it could come in handy if you get killed by fall damage or lava!
10. Bring an ender chest with you in the mine, if you find a cave, dump all your stuff into the ender chest. But you need another one at the surface though. Take a sword and a pickaxe as well as torches and food when spelunking!
11. Never dig straight down. You could fall into lava and die!
12. If you are on a single player server, always have host privileges on. It could be useful!
13. Line mining is awesome for ores!
14. Bring buckets! You never know when you might need to collect lava or water!
15. Use flint and steel to make a temporary light source. Use it for emergencies to get out of caves if you are lost! (And don't have torches.)

ORE SUMMARIES!
IRON!
iron is one thing people can't do without. Without iron, you can't get diamonds, or obsidian even! You NEED iron. It can harvest all ores and stuff except bedrock and obsidian. But you get diamonds by getting iron, and you get obsidian from getting diamonds. It can be used to make tools, some machinery, etc.

DIAMONDS!
diamonds are awesome things! When used in tools, they almost never break! I bet you already know stuff about diamonds, so I'll keep it short and simple. DIAMOND CAN MINE OBSIDIAN!!! There, that's done.

COAL!
basically worthless, except for the fact that it can be used as fuel and be used to make torches. Coal is cool. Whatever.

STONE!

Stone is by far the most common block in minecraft. Making it worthless. Need I say more?

EXPERIENCES!

Okay, I found this abandoned mineshaft, I got lost and was starving, I had three hearts left. Luckily, my dad and uncle were on the server with me and found me, bringing me food. Good news is, I found 60 iron that day!
life lesson, ALWAYS BRING FOOOOOOOD!!! YUM!!!

My new friend frodo said he fell into his mob trap. So be careful if you have one! Don't fall to your death like frodo!

ps.
please tell me things I can add! I will try to update this very frequently! WOO!
-if you read this and you don't have an account, make one! I need feedback from as many people as possible!
-I am sorry if I don't reply quickly. I keep trying to post comments and all it says is "missing comment text." That is stupid and the site needs to fix it.
-hey frodo, I think it's sad that you lost all those diamonds, but you can't give up! Don't lose hope and keep on mining!