i like the pickaxe. it's fast, it's meant for mining, and sometimes if you use your shovel you don't get the ore drops.

I dig a while chunk layer by layer. But idk with the new cave systems

I recommend a pickaxe. Ideally diamond.

find large caves

Get a nice spot of land you don’t mind turning into a mine and dig a 2x2 mineshaft. One down then the block in front and down until you can make stairs with a 4 block gap above each step. Stop every 20 y blocks to mine out a moderate area for furnaces crafting tables and storage before mining in all 4 directions for 100x blocks before going down another 20. This method ensures not only a large and safe mining area that’s lit up and secure, but provides you access to different materials with a unit of measurement on a floor by floor basis. Works for me well, can’t mine any other way.

You can find iron veins in chunkbase. I’ve been looking for an iron vein in my survival world, but haven’t stumbled upon one yet. I might break out chunkbase though if I need lots of iron quickly.

Turtle helmet, iron boots and a Trident all with the best water enchantments and I go swimming/flying around above and below the water. With fortune 3 pickaxe, I can usually find several stacks within a Minecraft day.

My go to is finding a tall mountain since the spawns are better. Early on I just got to y16. ☺️

Walking around Stoney or cliffs areas, you can spot them from a mile away without going underground

To mitigate the AFK portion of the iron farm, I usually build mine within the same chunk as my primary base/resource storage vault. That way I'm not actually AFK but rather puttering around my base doing whatever I'm usually doing anyway (suiting up for next trip out, rearranging my storage, beautifying structures, building other nearby farms, growing wheat, etc) Even with an inefficient farm, the stacks generated for free do add up!

Easy. x ray texture pack

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Just go in a straight line. On your way back, go to the third block over. You don't need to widen it. If you leave 2 block space between tunnels, you aren't missing anything.

I also have a base around this y level honestly if u don’t wanna go searching for a cave and mine that way (the best way is exploring caves) then I would simply expand ur base at that -50 y level don’t expand with tunnels tho ur likely mining right past veins so simply dig 50 blocks one direction turn 1 way dig 50 blocks and dig everything between the area and do it again and again I’ve found stacks this way granted around a stack of diamonds in I got fortune somewhere in there but just expand and u find diamonds all day

Why are the tunnels 3x3? Now if the tool dug out in a 3x3 on it's own, that's different. A simple 1x2 is good enough.

I do branch mining. Make one long tunnel, then branch off that. Dig out one branch. Come back to the trunk (main) tunnel. Skip two blocks and create another branch on the third. Rinse and repeat.

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Mining in 1x2 tunnels in straight lines, spaced out by 2 or 3 blocks in between each tunnel. But going into caves is way faster than mining these days

Dig down to around Y: 11 and start strip mining.

Thanks to Fortune I get over 20 diamonds per mining trip

Deep layer branch mining. Dig a 2x2 spiral staircase until your feet are at y=12. Dig out everything within 1 block of the staircase. Then dig a 2x2 tunnel 9 blocks deep in every Cardinal direction.

Starting 2 blocks from the opening around the stairs, turn right and dig a 2x1 tunnel, leaving torches every 7 blocks, until you hit a cavern or think it's far enough. Then go back, move 2 blocks down and start again.

Do this for each branch, then go up so that the floor is 2 block thick, go 3 blocks from the stair well and start again.

This will uncover every ore in that area without requiring you dig up every Stone and dirt.

Strip minimg is the way

Get respiration fortune and aqua infinity and go mining in the ocean ravine

Go to y 11 and just mine in straight line

Crawl mining. Just place a trapdoor above your head and open it. This way you uncover 4 blocks for every block mined, while normal mining uncovers 6 blocks for every 2 blocks mined. So thats 3 blocks per mined block. So crawl mining is the most effective

Strip mining (also what version of minecraft do you have op, bedrock or java)

Efficiency 5 pick, plus haste 2 beacon.

If I am mining for diamond I make a 2 stair path until I reach around 14-16 and then mine that whole level. It has worked for me,don't know what is called.

Clear out an area at yelleven and mine in every direction

I usualy staircase to y12 then stripmine

Use a pick axe

Y12 strip mine

If you have a beacon then strip mine with haste 2 efficiency 5 pickaxe. If you dont have a beacon just branch mine

You have two views on the matter:

- Efficiency time-wise

- Efficiency block-wise.

Efficiency time-wise:

- Best way is to dig in Y11 or 12, as you're above lava and you're in premium diamond level. My personal advice is to dig a 2x2 or 3x3 main tunnel (to get your bearings and have enough space for temp storage) and then branch-mine of that main portion. You can either do the 1x2 tunnels and set yourself a number of blocks you'll travel (e.g. 50blocks each tunnel) and stick with it for as long as you want, providing the 2 block or 3 block gap between each tunnel. Poke holes are also an option, as it's less daunting on your pickaxe. If you're going for the poke holes, just dig a 2x1 tunnel and poke away (also, every 2 or 3 blocks in between holes).

- Efficiency block-wise:

- There are several theories and myth busting on this matter. The best way is with the new "diving" technique, where yo ucan fit a 1x1 hole and dig away. This way, you cover more blocks per broken block. Quick math: when you do a regular 2x1 tunnel, every TWO blocks you break, you expose 8 blocks with potential ores (2 on each side, 1 on top, 1 down and 2 in front of you). With the 1x1 tunnel, every block you break, you expose 5 potential blocks (1 on either side). With this, you can do a kind of honeycomb mine where you can fully explore every block. Take into account that you can space these 1x1 holes, 3 blocks apart, since most ore veins have a minimum of 2 or 3 ores together.

I'd show you with screenshots, but currently at work. Lemme know if you wanna see some screenshots of several mining strategies ;)

With a pickaxe

Left click.

Strip mine at y: 11 or 12

Branch mining. A lot of the comments here are either bad advice or satire. Google branch mining Minecraft and you'll find an effective way of finding diamonds.

my personal style is the 1-wide tunnel, but i go in a single direction. i don't do the "new tunnel strip every x-blocks" method that most people do. you are exposing the same number of blocks so i think they're equally effective. one drawback is that you end up further from base when you're done, although i enjoy traveling the distance because the further you travel the more you are likely to discover a mineshaft or dungeon -- or even just interesting, open cave networks.

as for "cave mining" i agree that more rocks are naturally exposed, which helps you locate and efficiently extract ore. but the drawback there (to me at least) is distraction. it takes longer to explore the cave, you have to torch it, there are monsters to deal with, sometimes lava hazards.

don't get me wrong i love the caves as much as the next guy, but when i want to focus on resource collection i stick with the 1-wide tunnels, it keeps me focused.

going caving is more efficient than strip mining because more exposed blocks = more chance for minerals

I generally do "branch/strip mining" at y=10 where I dig 2x1 tunnels spaced 3 blocks apart, although if you primarily need iron than the y-level shouldn't matter as much.

The new dive mining technique. You dig through a 1-block tight gap while permanently in the swimming animation. Always keep a bucket of water in your inventory.

Branch mining at about y=12 with a 2x1 tunnel, optionally with 2x1 tunnels off of it every 3 or 4 blocks (every 3 has 100% discovery, every 4 still has high discovery but covers more ground potentially uncovering more deposits).