Ores

Ores are various types of minerals that can be found and mined throughout the world, including the underground and on the Floating Islands. All ores are mined using a pickaxe (though not all pickaxes will work on all ores) and smelted at a Furnace, Hellforge or Adamantite/Titanium Forge.

Ore spawning

Pre-hardmode

Most pre-hardmode ores will be seeded in varying amounts throughout a world when the world is first generated. The only exceptions to this rule are Meteorite Ore (which spawns when a Meteorite lands) and Obsidian (which spawns when water and lava make contact).

Ores can be found almost anywhere in the world, though some can be found in certain places more frequently than others:

• Demonite and Crimtane will be found most frequently in the Corruption and Crimson, respectively. They appear in trace amounts elsewhere.
• Gold, platinum, silver, and tungsten will be found in greater-than-normal quantities on Floating Islands.
• Hellstone spawns exclusively in The Underworld.

Hardmode

Instead, all such ores will be spawned in different ways once hardmode is activated in a given world. Small amounts of Cobalt Ore, Mythril Ore, Adamantite Ore, and their alternatives will be placed throughout a world based on how many Demon Altars or Crimson Altars are destroyed by the player. Specifically, every third altar starting from the first will spawn Cobalt or Palladium, every third altar starting from the second will spawn Mythril or Orichalcum, and every third altar starting from the third will spawn Adamantite or Titanium.

Chlorophyte Ore will slowly start to grow out of jungle grass and mud in the Underground Jungle once hardmode is activated in a world.

Ore alternatives

Copper	=	Tin
Iron	=	Lead
Silver	=	Tungsten
Gold	=	Platinum
Demonite	=	Crimtane
Cobalt	=	Palladium
Mythril	=	Orichalcum
Adamantite	=	Titanium

The only ores which will always spawn naturally in any given world are Meteorite, Obsidian, Hellstone, and Chlorophyte. All other ores are paired off so that only one out of each pair will spawn in a world. For pre-hardmode ores, this is determined at world generation; for hardmode ores, this is determined when the first, second, and third Demon Altar or Crimson Altar is destroyed. Within each pair, each member has an equal chance of spawning. Which ores are paired together are shown to the right. Only one of the hard mode ores will spawn, so multiple worlds might be necessary to get a certain ore (Adamantite for Suspicious Looking Skulls).

In all cases, equipment made from replacement ores will be statistically slightly stronger than equivalent equipment made from the original ore.

List of ores

All ores available as of v1.2.
Top: Tin, Copper, Lead, Iron, Tungsten, Silver, Platinum, Gold, Crimtane, Demonite, Meteorite, Obsidian, and Hellstone.
Bottom: Palladium, Cobalt, Orichalum, Mythril, Titanium, Adamantite, and Chlorophyte.

Pre-Hardmode Copper  Tin Iron Lead Silver Tungsten Gold Platinum Demonite Crimtane Meteorite Ore Hellstone Obsidian

Hardmode Ores Hardmode Ores become available once the Wall of Flesh is defeated in a world or when certain other bosses are defeated. To get Chlorophyte, you have to beat all 3 mech bosses. You get Luminite when the Moon Lord is defeated.  Cobalt  Palladium  Mythril  Orichalcum  Adamantite  Titanium  Chlorophyte Luminite

Notes

• The Eye of Cthulhu will always drop large quantities of Demonite or Crimtane. Likewise, the Eater of Worlds and Brain of Cthulhu will always drop large quantities of the ore corresponding to their respective evil biomes.
• When using an Extractinator to gather ores from silt or slush, it is not possible to get hardmode ores even if the player is in hardmode.
• Meteorite Ore and Hellstone both burn the player if they touch it, unless the player has an Obsidian Skull, Obsidian Horseshoe, Obsidian Shield, or Ankh Shield equipped or has the buff from the Obsidian Skin Potion active.
• Hellstone must be combined with Obsidian to produce Hellstone Bars.

Trivia

• Although Hallowed Bars, Spectre Bars and Shroomite Bars exist, they do not have any corresponding ores, due to the fact that Hallowed Bars are dropped from the mechanical bosses and Spectre Bars and Shroomite Bars are crafted from Chlorophyte Bars and one other material.