Overview
- Copper appears as brown protrusions on cave walls, floors, or ceilings and can be mined with a Crude Pickaxe, then smelted at a Furnace built at a Workbench using 6 tree trunks and 6 stone with wood fuel, producing ingots over time and yielding charcoal.
- Iron shows up deeper underground at roughly 50–100 blocks below the surface as shiny gray chunks in caves or chasms, where torches help with visibility and route marking.
- Crude tools can mine both ores, though upgrading to a Copper Pickaxe speeds gathering, and early iron ingots are best spent on an Iron Pickaxe to accelerate progression.
- Base setup guidance emphasizes a Workbench and Furnace first, plentiful torches for exploration, and early utility crafts like a bedroll and tanning rack from light hides dropped by cave rats.
- Recommended hauls include about 10–15 copper per trip, at least 12 copper to unlock core tools, roughly 50 for weapons and armor, and up to around 75 ingots for broader bench upgrades, with charcoal reusable as fuel.