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How to find Iron and craft Iron Ingots in Minecraft

You’ll need Iron Ingots in order to get better resources

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A wall of Cobblestone in Minecraft with some Iron Ore blocks speckled in Image: Microsoft via Polygon
Julia Lee (she/her) is a guides producer, writing guides for games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Genshin Impact. She helped launch the Rift Herald in 2016.

After making Wood and Stone tools, you’ll want to upgrade to Iron before starting your quest for Diamonds in Minecraft.

To find Iron, dig down from the surface and you’ll eventually make it past dirt and hit Cobblestone. Start pushing past that Cobblestone until you make your way down into your newly-created mine.

Once you get deep enough, start mining horizontally, rather than vertically. (Make sure to use torches, ladders, and signs so you can easily get out of this mine.) You should eventually strike spot some Iron Ore (pictured above). It’ll only yield Iron if you dig at it with a Stone Pickaxe or better, though. Farming it with a Wooden Pickaxe will not give you Iron.

You can save yourself some digging effort by finding some naturally-occurring caves and exploring those. Just make sure you bring plenty of torches and be careful where you step.

Once mined, the Iron needs to be put into a Furnace to be refined into Iron Ingots. You can make armor and tools with Iron Ingots. An Iron Pickaxe or better is necessary to mine Gold and Diamonds.


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