Want to maximize your mining efficiency in Minecraft? This guide covers the best Y levels to find each ore including diamonds, iron, gold, emeralds, redstone, lapis lazuli, and more. Whether you're in Minecraft Java or Bedrock, 1.20 ore distributions have changed a lot — here's what you need to know to mine smarter.
Y -59 is best for diamonds in Minecraft 1.20.
Y 16 to Y 232 in mountains, but Y 16 in caves is very efficient.
Y -16 to Y -64 in badlands biome or deep caves.
Mountains (extreme hills biome) from Y 80 to Y 320.
Y -59 is ideal for redstone alongside diamonds.
Y 0 to Y 64, but mine at Y -1 using the "lapis trick" (1.8 mechanics).
Yes, it takes longer to break than stone blocks.
Yes, in tunnels below Y -16, it's great for diamonds.
Absolutely — use Fortune III on ores like diamond and lapis.
Yes, there are minor differences, especially with iron and gold.
Yes, especially below Y -53 with a 2-block high strip mine.
Yes, ancient debris spawns around Y 15.
Y -58 is ideal to avoid lava lakes and maximize diamonds.
Yes, Haste II makes mining much faster.
Badlands for gold, Mountains for emeralds, Plains for general mining.
No, they don’t. You must explore new chunks to find more.
Netherite with Efficiency V and Unbreaking III.
Efficiency, Unbreaking, and Fortune.
Y 47 is the most copper-rich level.
Depends. Caves expose more surface area, but strip mining is safer.