In Minecraft, gold is very useful for making equipment and armor. Although its benefits are not as great as other materials, gold is still reliable because of its durability. Keep reading to find out how to find it.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Searching for Gold Ore (on PC or Console)
Step 1. Have a diamond or iron pickaxe
Gold cannot be mined using other tools.
Step 2. Dig to the right level
Always dig in the direction of the corner, not straight down, so as not to fall. If passing through a cave, place a torch behind you.
Step 3. Check the coordinates of your location
Gold is only below layer 31. Check the layer you are currently in by pressing the F3 key for the computer version of Minecraft, or by checking the map in the console edition of Minecraft. The y-coordinate indicates which layer you are in at the moment. Some of the best layers you can use to search for gold include:
- The highest level is layer 28 and is usually the safest layer as a place to look for gold with the largest amount of gold.
- The best place to find gold and diamonds together is in layers 11 through 13. Don't dig below 10, as you can find a lot of lava.
Step 4. Mine for gold in the tunnel branch
Dig the main tunnel horizontally to get started. Make a branch from this main tunnel one block wide and two blocks high in search of gold. Usually gold ore appears in clusters of four to eight blocks. This means that you can find almost any gold if you keep mining in the three solid blocks between each tunnel.
To find each gold block (but at a slower rate), keep mining the two dense blocks between each tunnel
Step 5. Explore special features
While mining, you may find abandoned forts, dungeons, or mine passages with this feature. Each feature can contain chests containing gold or other more valuable items.
Method 2 of 3: Finding Gold (on Pocket Edition)
Step 1. Locate the mesa biome
A mesa biome is a place that looks like a desert with hills or red peaks that are mostly streaked. These biomes have special features which will be explained below, and these are only available in Minecraft Pocket Edition.
Step 2. Dig at any level
Gold can be found at any height in the mesa biome. This makes it the most secure and easy way to find gold in Pocket Edition. Dig branches into the hillside, or walk along the cliffs and survey them for gold ore.
Step 3. Look in the abandoned mine passage
The mesa biome also has the only mine tunnel above ground that has been abandoned. These features have mining carts filled with chests inside, and about one in four chests will be filled with gold. Watch out for spiders when you do quests.
Method 3 of 3: Using Gold Ore
Step 1. Melt your gold bullion
Just like iron ore, you have to smelt gold ore in a furnace in order to turn it into usable ingots. Unless you like how it looks, don't bother crafting gold equipment or armor, because tools made of gold are weaker than iron. Instead, use those gold bars for special items as described below.
Step 2. Make the bars into clocks
Place the redstone in the center of the crafting table, surrounded by one gold bar on each side (four in total). This will produce a clock that can show the position of the moon or sun.
Place a frame to mount the item (one shell and eight sticks) on the wall and place the clock inside to make a wall clock
Step 3. Build a rail that has power
Place one wand in the center of the crafting table, place the gold bars in the left and right columns (the total is six gold ingots), and place the redstone at the bottom. These powered rails will allow the mining cart to move on its own, if you power it with a redstone torch or powered redstone circuit.
Step 4. Make a gold pressure plate
If you want to run a redstone circuit when something falls or walks on a box, make a pressure plate using two gold bars side by side.
Step 5. Make an apple out of gold
Place an apple in the center of the crafting table and surround the apple with gold bars until the box is full (the total is nine gold bars). This will produce golden apples, which are very useful as healing and protective tools that can be eaten when you are very hungry.
You can make a more powerful "Notch apple" in most versions of Minecraft using some gold blocks (see below) instead of gold bars. This recipe has been removed in Minecraft 1.9
Step 6. Make gold blocks
Show off your wealth by placing gold bars into the crafting table to make a gold block. This bright yellow cube is mostly used for decoration.
Step 7. Break the gold into chunks
Placing a single gold ingot anywhere on the crafting table will result in a pile of gold ingots. Some of the uses of gold nugget include:
- Glittering Melon: Slices of melon completely surrounded by chunks of gold. It is used for potions.
- Golden Carrots: Carrots surrounded by gold nuggets. It is used for potions, food, and for breeding/healing horses.
- Star-Shaped Fireworks: Place any coloring material in the center and gunpowder to the left to make fireworks. You can make star-shaped fireworks by adding gold nuggets directly under the dye while the process is in progress.
