[1.21.1] Trouble finding Hematite

[KrampusKid]

I've gone through 1 copper pickaxe and 2.5 bronze pickaxes searching for hematite in this area. I've been laddering down, doing a node search every ~7 blocks, and have not seen a single read out of hematite whatsoever.

I'm fully vanilla settings so the node search has a 6 block radius as far as I'm aware, and all these spots I'm laddering down have a readout above 3% for hematite.

I know 3-4% isn't huge, but this is the only area I've found any hematite thus far. Am I just wasting my time searching in this area? I've already had to call off the search once to get more ore for tools because I've found no ore at all around here.

[Echo Weaver]

Those don't look like fantastic heat map colors. What's the quality reading (i.e. High, Medium, etc)?

[KrampusKid]

All of the yellows read at Decent, but anywhere else where I've gotten a hematite reading is Very Poor to Poor, and a miniscule amount

[LadyWYT]

If you aren't having any luck in that area, I would try somewhere else. Ideally, you want a High or better reading, but it also doesn't hurt to try digging at Poor or Very Poor readings. Since iron deposits are so large, they're generally hard to miss when digging a mineshaft, so if you dug a shaft and found nothing best to try elsewhere.

[KrampusKid]

I figured as much, but I needed to hear it from somebody else to be sure 

[Poxxs]

Make sure you are starting to look at the appropriate depth at which hematite will start to spawn, and also the appropriate rock types. From the looks of your screenshot, the surface rock is granite, what is it like around Y90? Also, are you hitting any other rocks heading down to the mantle? If it's all just granite or peridot, then its just a matter of time till you find it. I've actually found most of my Iron in decent readings only; very rarely do I find anything higher than decent. 

https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Ore_Deposits

Dropped this for you if you want to check out the wiki. Lots of useful information to help you in your Splunking. 

[KrampusKid]

First it was granite, then peridotite, and then andesite at the bottom. I'd do one more node search and then stop digging once I hit andesite, since (unless I misread) the handbook says hematite can't spawn in andesite.

[Poxxs]

On 9/18/2025 at 3:30 PM, KrampusKid said:

First it was granite, then peridotite, and then andesite at the bottom. I'd do one more node search and then stop digging once I hit andesite, since (unless I misread) the handbook says hematite can't spawn in andesite.

No, it won't spawn in Andesite, but it will spawn in the two layers above... You may just have to start strip mining. It should be there just depends on what Y level it exactly spawned in. If you have the resources, I would honestly just start strip mining some shafts every 10 or so blocks on the Y axis, go for about 30 blocks each direction, and see what hits you get (If any) and do that all the way to just above the Andesite.