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Ore

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Ore sprite preview.png

Ores are left behind after mining certain varieties of stone. Ore can be smelted to create bars of pure metal or combined to create alloys. Many ores are quite valuable as mined without being refined, and a mason or stone crafter can work them the same as any stone. However, ores fall into the economic stone category, and so must be designated for non-restricted use in the z-stone menu. Others can be combined when initially smelted into alloys, while others must first be made into bars of pure metal and then those combined to create the desired alloy - see the alloy article for details.

Most ores are fire-safe material. Some are also magma-safe.

Each normal metal ore "stone" produces four bars of refined metal when smelted. Metal ores with two possible metals listed below always produce 4 bars of the first metal, and have a chance of creating 0-4 bars of the second metal as well. Adamantine ore cannot be smelted directly; it must be processed at a craftsdwarf's workshop first. Different rules apply to creating alloys.

Note that in some cases ore value (given below) and metal value are not the same (Bismuth, Iron ores). Alloys, too, often have a higher value than the ores/metals they are made of. In most cases furniture made from the ore is as valuable as furniture made from a pure (non-alloy) metal, while requiring significantly less processing. However, furniture produced directly from ore cannot be recycled, and refining the ore will generally produce an additional metal bar.

Nearly all unmined ores are represented by the £ symbol. Exceptions are native aluminum, bismuthinite, and magnetite (which appear as ^, %, and ~, respectively), as well as cinnabar and cobaltite (which appear as £ but cannot be refined into mercury or cobalt as they would be in real life).

Appearance Ore Found in Metal created Value Metal value
Raw adamantine sprite.png / £ Adamantine, raw1 The depths Adamantine1 250 300
Ore dullgrey sprite.png / ^ Aluminum, native All Igneous Extrusive(S) Aluminum 40 40
Ore darkbrown sprite.png / % Bismuthinite Granite(S) Bismuth 1 2
Ore silvery2 sprite.png / £ Cassiterite All Alluvial(S), Granite(V) Tin 2 2
Ore copper sprite.png / £ Copper, native All Igneous Extrusive(V), Sandstone(V) Copper 2 2
Ore silvery sprite.png / £ Galena All Igneous Extrusive(V), All Metamorphic(V), Granite(V), Limestone(V) Lead, Silver (50%) 5 2 (10)
Ore bluish sprite.png / £ Garnierite Gabbro(V) Nickel 2 2
Ore gold sprite.png / £ Gold, native All Igneous(V), All Alluvial(S) Gold 30 30
Ore red sprite.png / £ Hematite All Sedimentary(V), All Igneous Extrusive(V) Iron 8 10
Ore yellow2 sprite.png / £ Horn silver Native silver(S) Silver 10 10
Ore yellow sprite.png / £ Limonite All Sedimentary(V) Iron 8 10
Ore silvery2 sprite.png / ~ Magnetite All Sedimentary(L) Iron 8 10
Ore cyan sprite.png / £ Malachite Limestone(V), Marble(V) Copper 2 2
Ore silvery sprite.png / £ Platinum, native All Alluvial(S), Olivine(V)2, Magnetite(V), Chromite(S) Platinum 40 40
Ore silvery sprite.png / £ Silver, native Granite(V), Gneiss(V) Silver 10 10
Ore magenta sprite.png / £ Sphalerite All Metamorphic(V) Zinc 2 2
Ore silvery sprite.png / £ Tetrahedrite All Stone(V) Copper, Silver (20%) 3 2 (10)
(L) - occurs in large clusters
(V) - occurs in veins
(S) - occurs in small clusters
1 - Note that raw adamantine/adamantine does not follow all the usual rules for an ore/metal in several respects - see article for full discussion.
2 - Due to a bug, native platinum actually occurs in olivine as small clusters rather than veins.

See Also:

More: GemsMetalsStones
Creature
BloodBoneCartilageCheeseChitinEggFatFeatherHair (WoolYarn) • HoofHornIchorLeatherMilkMeatNailNervous tissueOrgansParchmentPearlScaleShellSilkSkinSpitSweatTallowTearsToothWax
Plant
Fiber (PaperSlurry) • FlowerFruitLeafOil • Plant powders (DyeFlourSugar) • Seed (Press cake) • Wood
Creature/Plant
Inorganic
Hardcoded
AmberAshCoralFilthFuelGlassGrimeIceLyeMagmaMudPearlashPotashSaltUnknown substanceVomitWater
See also: Material science
Sedimentary
Igneous
Intrusive
Extrusive
Metamorphic
Ore
Economic
Other