No Copper spawning

[Simon Pahls]

Hey, so ive been struggling alot with finding copper... Ive been walking around for days without finding any surface copper and after painstakingly panning for enough so i can craft a prospecting tool and pickaxe i thought i could finally find some ore to mine. but after checking out a giant area and almost using up my whole prospecting tool i still cant seem to be able to find anything. my only hit was poor with 2% for native copper. Am i doing something wrong? could it be something with the biome im in? Im surrounded mostly by limestone with some limestone desert close by. Or maybe its some mods messing with something?

Im really greatful for any tips:) And maybe eaven some commands to spawn copper to at least kickstart my further search? Im really not in the mood to pan copper for another prospecting tool...

[Grummsh]

yeah man its the limestone - copper doesnt generate in limestone at all

check this:

https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Ore_Deposits#Shallow_ores

When You scroll down there a table that tells You in which rocks which or can generate and how plentifull

So yeah limestone its the only rock (apart from the very rare marble) that copper wont spawn in so Youre lucky cause youll get easy lime but for copper You need to go further away till you get different rockstrata //media.invisioncic.com/r268468/emoticons/wink.png

P.S. - although after a quick rethink there is also malachite - which also gives copper nuggets and this can spawn bountiful in limestone do maybe just a bit unlucky at that front 

Edited February 18 by Grummsh

[LadyWYT]

7 minutes ago, Grummsh said:

P.S. - although after a quick rethink there is also malachite - which also gives copper nuggets and this can spawn bountiful in limestone do maybe just a bit unlucky at that front 

I was about to say, limestone should contain copper, it'll just be called malachite instead. Bauxite, however, doesn't contain any ores at all, though that doesn't seem to a problem here.

 

53 minutes ago, Simon Pahls said:

Am i doing something wrong? could it be something with the biome im in? Im surrounded mostly by limestone with some limestone desert close by. Or maybe its some mods messing with something?

Welcome to the forums and the game! I don't think you're doing anything wrong, as much as you are just getting unlucky. Surface deposits generate fairly frequently on default settings, but for limestone specifically copper will generate as malachite and not native copper. Malachite ore will be a bright teal-greenish color instead of the typical bright orange.

I'd recommend just keeping an eye out on the ground when out and about; once you find a surface deposit, it's worth checking the territory nearby(around 25-50 block radius) since there is often more than one deposit in the general area. You might also try walking around instead of sprinting everywhere, since while sprinting covers territory quickly it also makes it quite easy to miss the telltale surface ores. It's also a good idea to search deserts and gravel fields, since the lack of vegetation can make the ore bits a little easier to see.

Also keep an eye out for cracked vessels; the ones containing ore will sometimes contain copper ore. I think commodities traders will also sell copper ore occasionally, and survival goods I think are the ones that sell tools. 

1 hour ago, Simon Pahls said:

Or maybe its some mods messing with something?

If you're using mods, it could be mod interference, but that's probably not the case here. More likely just bad luck with the current map.

[EnbyKaiju]

Just looking at that reading you've posted, Malachite is definitely spawning to some extent, which is the limestone equivalent of copper (and one of my favourite minerals). If you can find a decent Malachite reading you're in the green. A benefit is that you'll often find malachite spawining in rich/bountiful quality spawns, which should see you good for weeks.

[MKMoose]

If you do intend to look for malachite, keep in mind the quirk of the current prospecting system that malachite readings will not be higher than "decent" outside of certain edge cases, and "poor" malachite readings are absolutely good enough to start mining ("very poor" can even be great if you have a 20-thick sedimentary layer, though you're gonna have to look at permille values then - I think more than 1 permille is a good rule of thumb in this specific case, though I'd have to double-check to be sure). As with most other deposits, but especially those that only occur in sedimentary rock, you'll generally want to search in flat, low-lying plains or deserts. Loose surface chunks indicating near-surface deposits are possible and will be sufficient in the early game, but mining will generally be the primary way of finding larger quantities of malachite.

Edited February 19 by MKMoose

[EnbyKaiju]

On a server I hosted once the spawn ended up almost on top of two separate malachite deposits. Like, one was 10 blocks from spawn the other was about 20. That was enough to see us through to the bronze age comfortably. That stuff not only looks great, but dang it keeps you going!

[V1ncent]

I guess while most people are asking for limestone/bauxite in this forum, someone being troubled with too much limestone would not surprise me too much.

On topic, since native copper is hosted by most rock layers, and do not forget igneous rocks are BELOW sedimentary rock like limestone, so native copper can still spawn even if the surface rock is limestone. So I guess you are just unlucky, but I also suggest spreading your prospecting sites wide enough to cover a larger area.

Speaking of mods, most mods I have tried which do interfere with ore spawning are those adding new rock layer types like geology additions/Material Needs - Geology. You can check if those are in your mod list. 

[AngloSaxon]

I find when looking for surface copper that sand/gravel biomes make it easier to spot. Less trees and vegetation (like tall grass) with the lighter sand such as Granite making it a canvas for the orange copper bits to stand out in. 

But of course there is still no guarantee they will be some there.

(hope this helps!) 

[Zane Mordien]

7 hours ago, Huytonian said:

Less trees and vegetation (like tall grass)

When in doubt burn the forest down to help find that copper!

[Maelstrom]

On 2/19/2026 at 10:43 AM, Huytonian said:

I find when looking for surface copper that sand/gravel biomes make it easier to spot. Less trees and vegetation (like tall grass) with the lighter sand such as Granite making it a canvas for the orange copper bits to stand out in. 

With my luck, the copper is in the first layer under the gravel and mining the copper becomes very tedious with digging out 3 layers of gravel per copper ore chunk.   Add the sideways instability and it increases to a minimum of 6 blocks.

[Michael Gates]

14 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

With my luck, the copper is in the first layer under the gravel and mining the copper becomes very tedious with digging out 3 layers of gravel per copper ore chunk.   Add the sideways instability and it increases to a minimum of 6 blocks.

There's a thing to do, where you dig down through the gravel to the ore, dig out the one exposed ore block and grab it, then dig out a gravel from the bottom gravel layer NEXT to the hole you just punched in the ore layer.. one of the falling gravels lands in the hole so you only have to dig out one more to get to *that* block of ore.

It still sucks, but it sucks slightly less? 

[Maelstrom]

Sounds like mining quite a few extra blocks.   I usually just go after those kinds of surface deposits if I'm only in really dire need of copper.   By the time I'm digging copper there's at least 1 or 2 surface deposits that are at least 1 layer below the soil/sand/gravel which yields enough for me to go prospecting for the much more lucrative native copper.