A living cross-section of the world, drawn from the game's real worldgen odds. Drag to set your mining depth, click an ore column to inspect it.
Nether gold is uniform across Y 10 to 117; basalt deltas double the vein count if you want to farm it.
100%Any level from Y 10 to 117. Every figure on this page is read from the 26.2 worldgen files the game itself ships, so it reflects what actually generates rather than a community estimate.
Nether gold ore is a different block from Overworld gold ore. It drops gold nuggets rather than raw gold, and it generates uniformly from Y 10 to Y 117 at 10 veins per chunk, so no depth is better than another.
Basalt Deltas double the rate to 20 veins per chunk, the same pattern quartz follows. Between the two ores, deltas are the most productive Nether biome to mine in even though they are the worst to walk through.
Piglin bartering usually beats mining for gold in the Nether, but nether gold ore is worth breaking whenever you pass it, particularly while tunnelling at Y 15 for ancient debris.
Minecraft places ore in separate batches, each with its own count, height range and vein size. A discard value above zero means the game throws away veins that would touch open air, which is what decides whether caving or tunnelling is the better approach.
| Batch | Veins/chunk | Range | Vein size | Air discard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ore_gold_nether | 10 | uniform Y 10 to 117 | 10 | none |
| ore_gold_deltasbasalt deltas only, double rate | 20 | uniform Y 10 to 117 | 10 | none |
Nether gold ore yields 2 to 6 gold nuggets per block rather than raw gold. Nine nuggets make one ingot, so a full vein is worth considerably less than the Overworld equivalent.
The peak level differs for each ore, and a few of them share a band closely enough to mine on one trip. The full interactive chart is on the ore distribution hub.
| Ore | Best Y level |
|---|---|
| diamonds | Y -59 |
| netherite | Y 15 |
| iron | Y 16 underground, Y 232 in mountains |
| coal | Y 96, or anything above Y 136 |
| gold | Y -16, or anywhere in a badlands |
| redstone | Y -59 |
| lapis lazuli | Y 0 |
| copper | Y 48 |
| emeralds | Y 232, mountain biomes only |
| nether quartz | Any level from Y 10 to 117 |
| nether gold | Any level from Y 10 to 117 |
There is not one. It generates uniformly from Y 10 to Y 117, so any level in that range works equally well.
Two to six gold nuggets, increased by Fortune. It does not drop raw gold like the Overworld ore does.
Basalt Deltas, which run the batch at 20 veins per chunk instead of 10.
Bartering with piglins is generally faster for bulk gold. Mine nether gold opportunistically while you are already tunnelling.
Related ore levels:
