Where to get rare ores in Minecraft 1.18?

The much-awaited Minecraft Caves & Cliffs update has been released after making fans wait for over a year. Now that the update is out, many players are creating new survival worlds or upgrading their old ones.

One of the most common things players will find themselves doing in a new world is mining for ores. As the world generation height has increased, ores are now generated at different heights.

---

Minecraft 1.18: Coordinates to find rare ores in Overworld and Nether

Overworld: Emerals and Diamond

Diamond ores (Image via Minecraft)

Even though emerald ores are more common now, diamond and emerald ores are still the rarest Overworld ores. In Minecraft 1.18, emerald ores generate only in the mountains and the windswept hills biome. It can generate at any level between Y -16 and 256.

Diamonds spawn in every Overworld biome but have a smaller range. Players will find diamonds between Y levels 14 and -64.

To mine both the emerald and diamond ore, players will need an iron pickaxe or better. If the player uses any other pickaxe, the ore will still break but won't drop any emeralds or diamonds.

---

Nether: Ancient Debris

Ancient debris (Image via Minecraft)

The rarest ore in Minecraft, ancient debris, is generated in the Nether. Ancient debris is used to get Netherite in the game. Players can smelt ancient debris to get Netherite scraps, which can then be combined with gold ingots to create Netherite ingots.

Ancient debris generates between Y levels 8 and 119 in every Nether biome. Most ancient debris generates at Y level 15, and to mine it, you will need a diamond or a Netherite pickaxe.

---

Efficient methods of mining rare ores in Minecraft

Strip mining has been proven to be one of the most efficient methods to mine diamond ores. In this method, the player mines in a straight line at low Y levels. Then, after some time, the player returns to the starting point and mines in the same direction, leaving a two-block gap from their last mining path.

For ancient debris mining, players can use TNT blocks or beds to blow up unnecessary blocks surrounding ancient debris at Y 15. Ancient debris has very high blast resistance, and therefore, it does not explode with the TNT or bed and can later be collected.