How to Find Gold in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

What you need

• Iron pickaxe or better
• Fortune III pickaxe recommended
• Gold armor piece for the Nether (keeps piglins friendly)

Step by step

1. Know the generation: the main batch tries 4 times per chunk (blobs of 0-13) from Y=-64 to Y=32, most likely around Y=-16, and a second batch has a 1/2 chance per chunk between Y=-64 and Y=-48.
2. Go to badlands: an extra batch tries 50 times per chunk (blobs of 0-13), uniformly from Y=32 to Y=256.
3. Mine with an iron pickaxe or better; other tools drop nothing. Fortune I, II and III drop 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4 raw gold, and Silk Touch drops the ore block.
4. Expect less gold in caves: gold ore is less likely to be exposed to air, with 50% of ore blocks next to air not generating in the main batch.
5. Smelt raw gold or the ore block into a gold ingot.
6. In the Nether, nether gold ore drops 2-6 gold nuggets with any pickaxe. Breaking it angers nearby piglins.
7. Gold that replaces tuff below Y=0 or deepslate becomes deepslate gold ore (hardness 4.5, against 3 for gold ore).

Java vs Bedrock

Gold ore blobs have 0-13 blocks. Nether gold ore Fortune III averages 8.8 nuggets, slightly less than an ingot, so Silk Touch plus smelting is slightly more efficient.

Versions: Describes the current Java and Bedrock releases. See the edition note above for differences.

Frequently asked questions

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