Mining patterns

TonyRockyHorror

What do you folks use?

I start by sinking a shaft down to the level just above bedrock, then run 2 high by 3 wide tunnel out about 30 or 40 blocks. i then go back to the vertical shaft and go up and run another tunnel directly above the first one, leaving a 2-block floor/ceiling between the two main tunnels. I then run this pattern of branches off the main tunnels on either side:



Grey squares are unmined blocks, white squares are the branch tunnels, and the orange squares are the pattern of blocks not directly seen from the branches. between floors.

At first glance, it looks like there will be a lot of ores, diamonds, and such that you would miss using this pattern. But with the way resources are generally distributed by the chunk-generation algorithm and the general patterns of all the resources veins(coal generally runs in veins of 12 blocks or more, iron in veins of 6, gold in veins of 4, diamonds in at least 3, etc), you miss very little because the likelihood of at least one block of every vein of a given resource being directly observed is very high.

There are exceptions and rogue 1-block veins, but in general, this is an extremely productive pattern in terms of raw output. To put it in terms that make more sense, in about 6 hours total work, including sinking the vertical shaft with ladders every other block and running out 6 36-block long main tunnels off of it, my current mine generated

47 diamonds.

Here is the side view of the vertical shaft and the main tunnels going off one side.



So...what do you guys do?

CB

I do something similar, but I start at the ten meter mark (six meters above the top of the bedrock), since the minecraft wiki says that there are no diamonds below that point.

I often make long tunnels at one elevation which are one wide, two high, and have three meters between them.

BobbyDigi

I mine at bedrock, 3 in between with the leval above's branches shifted two over.

There is definitely diamond below level 10. Remember every ore is in all layers below its layer. Diamond layer is 10-16, but also below that. I've pulled about 20 so far mining the 5 levels above bedrock. It used to be best to mine levels 10-16 because you didn't have to worry about Lava above 10. Now lava is everywhere.

If you are in for a good read, This is where I get my mining info from.

Malpercio

I must say, reading this has been pretty helpful, because I don't really have a mining pattern... What I generally do is dig downwards for a while and place stairs behind myself so I can climb back up, and then do a horizontal tunnel that is 3 high and 2 wide every two blocks and then 6 high and 2 wide the next two blocks, and so on and so forth, if that explanation even makes sense, haha.

Snarkasm

I think you're actually mining too close, Tony. Here's mine (thanks for the pattern):



Note that since veins tend to occur in at least two-block-wide segments, there's an almost zero chance that anything will show up only in the middle segments of the areas between my paths. If you dig a shaft, leave three blocks in the middle, and dig another one, you'll end up with the walls on either side showing something of what's in between them.

Add to that that the roof is level 16, where diamonds cap out, and the floor is level 10, at which point diamonds become less frequent, and the two-level structure makes it such that you hit all of the most abundant layers with minimal chance of missing anything.

As far as how it's distributed, it's the same branch mine you're doing, one long hallway with upper and lower branches stemming off. This has generated me over 70 diamond, and far more iron and redstone than I know what to do with.

the_technocrat

Isn't this the most efficient way? This is what I use so I miss as little as possible, but still never see the same block twice as I move from tunnel to tunnel?

Grey: rock
White: tunnel
Red: missed rock I never see

edit: I also don't start at bedrock, because I'm trying to find iron more than diamonds

TonyRockyHorror

Snarkasm wrote:

I think you're actually mining too close, Tony. Here's mine (thanks for the pattern):

Note that since veins tend to occur in at least two-block-wide segments, there's an almost zero chance that anything will show up only in the middle segments of the areas between my paths. If you dig a shaft, leave three blocks in the middle, and dig another one, you'll end up with the walls on either side showing something of what's in between them.

Add to that that the roof is level 16, where diamonds cap out, and the floor is level 10, at which point diamonds become less frequent, and the two-level structure makes it such that you hit all of the most abundant layers with minimal chance of missing anything.

As far as how it's distributed, it's the same branch mine you're doing, one long hallway with upper and lower branches stemming off. This has generated me over 70 diamond, and far more iron and redstone than I know what to do with.

I might give this a try for my next mine. The idea is the same really. You put the extra buffer horizontally, and I put it vertically.

Bobby, I started with that thread as well when I finally got around to putting thought into my patterns instead of going at it willy-nilly. It's definitely a good read.

CB

Snark's illustration is what I usually end up doing, assuming I end up staying in one mine long enough to get that far. I often get bored with one location, or change projects or something after only one, maybe two levels of this mining. Then again, I think I mine further in each tunnel than most people. I'll usually go through 5 picakaxes for one tunnel (taking ten with me, so that I have enough to dig back along one of the parallels), which I suppose is about 160 meters or so, depending on how many times I stop to dig around the tunnel to retrieve located ore.

I find that this deeper tunneling method reveals more caverns than shallower, multi-tunnel methods, without sacrificing minerals.

Snarkasm

My branches are almost 500 blocks long, I think. Every once in a while I think "oh, I'll come out of this mountain soon" and then I remember the underground will never end. I'm amazed I haven't extended the map yet.

cola

I think one of your 500 block long shafts ran into my mine, I was impressed and slightly disturbed at the length when I first saw it.

Snarkasm

If I ran into something that looked explored, I tried to leave signs indicating apologies and from whom the shaft came. If I didn't, it's because I ran out of wood.

BobbyDigi

500....

/me looks down his 24 meter branches

I'm... I'm Doin it Rong?

ardichoke

I hate when I run out of wood o_O

You guys are way more organized about your mining than I am.... I just cut a stairway down a few levels and hollow out a way in each direction. Perhaps I need to start trying some of these less wasteful methods....

cola

I saw the sign, but didn't go down the tunnel, then I saw it through a glitch in the map and my jaw dropped lol. Also, my pattern is: Down to the bedrock, then go one 1X3 shaft followed by a 2X3 shaft and repeated, then shift it one over if I go for the next level above that.

BobbyDigi

ardichoke wrote:

I hate when I run out of wood o_O

You guys are way more organized about your mining than I am.... I just cut a stairway down a few levels and hollow out a way in each direction. Perhaps I need to start trying some of these less wasteful methods....

Depends on what you are mining for, if you are collecting cobble for a project, you are doing exactly as you need. If you are going for ores, read the link I posted.

Snarkasm

I'm all about efficiency. And... excavating forever in one direction. My branches are so long, when I try to return along them, there are gigantic holes bedrock to ceiling because the map unloaded and forgot to come back.

cola

ardichoke wrote:

I hate when I run out of wood o_O

I've got wood