How to Find Gold in Minecraft

Co-authored by Zac Churchill

Last Updated: July 29, 2022 References

Looking for gold in Minecraft? You've come to the right place! Gold can help you make tools, foods, and armor, so it's super useful while you're gaming. Below, we'll teach you everything you need to know. You'll learn how to mine for gold, how to find it in unique places (like the Badlands Biome and The Nether!), and how to use the gold you find. Read on for more!

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Mining Gold Ore in the Overworld

1
Make an iron pickaxe or better. You will need an iron, diamond, or netherite pickaxe in order to mine gold ore.^{[1]
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Research source} You will need 2 sticks and 3 iron or diamonds in order to make a pickaxe. Open a crafting table and place the 2 sticks on top of each other starting at the bottom of the middle column. Then, fill the top row with the iron or diamonds.
- An iron or diamond pick is pretty much all you need to mine gold, since getting a netherite pickaxe is way more difficult: you will need to go to the nether, find 4 pieces of ancient debris and mine them with a diamond pickaxe, smelt the ancient debris in a furnace (to get the netherite scraps), combine the scraps with gold ingots to make a netherite ingot, and finally upgrade the diamond pickaxe using a smithing table.
2
Dig down to Y-level 32 or below. Hold your pickaxe, face the block you want to mine, and hold right click until it breaks. Make sure you mine down at an angle, making a staircase like formation as you go, as this will prevent you from falling into caves or lava.
- If you're playing on Pocket Edition, tap and hold on the block to break it.
- If you're playing on a console or with a controller, hold the right trigger.
- If you're going through caves instead, make sure to leave a trail of torches behind you. This will help you find your way back out. However, in version 1.18 and above, gold is less likely to generate when exposed to air, so going caving for gold is less likely to turn up much.
- You can also stand in the middle of two blocks and alternate breaking each one. However, you'll have to pillar back up or use ladders later.
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3
Check your Y-coordinate. Gold ore is found from Y-levels 0-32 pre-1.18 and Y-levels -64-32 in versions 1.18+.^{[2]
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Research source}. You can check your current altitude by pressing F3 on Java Edition, checking a map in the console edition, or enabling the “Show Coordinates” world option in Bedrock Edition. The Y-coordinate tells you your altitude. Here are the best layers to look for gold:^{[3]
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- Layer 28 is the highest and usually safest layer where you'll find the maximum amount of gold pre-1.18.
- Pre-1.18, layers 11–13 are the best places to look for gold and diamonds at the same time. Try to avoid digging below layer 10, where lava becomes much more common.
- In version 1.18 and higher, gold is most commonly found at Y-level -16, with gold becoming less common toward either end of its range.
4
Mine in branches to find gold. Dig a main horizontal tunnel to get started. Mine branches off this main tunnel one block wide and two blocks tall to search for gold. Gold ore typically spawns in groups of four to eight blocks.^{[4]
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Research source} This means you'll find almost all of the gold if you keep three solid blocks between each tunnel.
- To find every single gold block, keep two solid blocks between each tunnel. However, this is a much slower method.
5
Mine the gold ore. You'll know a block is gold ore if it looks like stone or deepslate but with bits of gold in it. When you find some, hold your pickaxe, face the ore, and hold right click until it breaks. When it breaks, it will drop a piece of raw gold. If you're playing on version 1.16 or below, or using a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch, it will drop a block of gold ore.
- If you're playing on Pocket Edition, tap and hold on the block to break it.
- If you're playing on a console or with a controller, hold the right trigger.

Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Finding Gold in Badlands Biomes

1
Make an iron pickaxe or better. You will need an iron, diamond, or netherite pickaxe in order to mine gold ore. You will need 2 sticks and 3 iron or diamonds in order to make a pickaxe. Open a crafting table and place the 2 sticks on top of each other starting at the bottom of the middle column. Then, fill the top row with the iron or diamonds.
2
Find a badlands biome. Badlands biomes, also known as mesas, are one of the rarest biomes in Minecraft. They are characterized by their abundance of red sand and large mounds of colorful terracotta^{[5]
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Research source}. If you do not already know where one is, pick a direction and start traveling while looking for one. This may take a long time, however, so be prepared for the journey.
- If you are playing on Java Edition, have cheats enabled on your world and are having a hard time finding a badlands biome, you can use commands to find one. Open chat and type /locatebiome badlands and enter it. This will give you the coordinates of the nearest badlands biome, which you can then teleport or travel to.
3
Check your coordinates. Gold ore is found from Y-levels 32-79 in badlands pre-1.18, and 32-256 in 1.18+.^{[6]
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Research source}. You can check your current altitude by pressing F3 on Java Edition, checking a map in the console edition, or by enabling the “Show Coordinates” world option in Bedrock Edition.
4
Mine for gold ore. Dig branches into the hillsides, or just walk along and scan the cliffs for gold ore.
5
Search abandoned mineshafts. Badlands are the only biome where mineshafts can generate above ground^{[7]
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Research source}. If you come across a mineshaft while mining for gold in one, explore it. Gold ingots can generate as loot in minecart chests found in mineshafts^{[8]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Finding Gold in The Nether

1
Make a Nether portal. A nether portal can be made using 10 obsidian, which is formed when water meets lava source blocks, and can be mined with a diamond pickaxe.
- Place two obsidian blocks next to each other on the ground, and then place a placeholder block on each end. Place three obsidian blocks in columns on each of the placeholder blocks. Put a placeholder block on the top of each column. Place two more obsidian blocks between the top placeholders, then light the portal using a flint and steel.
2
Enter the Nether portal. Make sure the portal is activated and there are swirling, purple blocks inside the portal frame. Step into the portal frame. Your screen will appear purple and before you know it, you are transported to the Nether.
3
Look for Nether gold ore. This type of gold ore looks like netherrack with bits of gold in it. It only generates in the Nether from Y-levels 10-117, in any biome^{[9]
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Research source}.
- It is best to look for Nether gold ore in biomes that aren't basalt deltas as this biome has fewer valid generation areas. Basalt Deltas are mostly gray biomes filled with basalt and blackstone.
4
Mine the Nether gold ore. Unlike regular gold ore, you can use any type of pickaxe to mine Nether gold ore. Hold a pickaxe in your hand, face the ore, and hold down right click until it breaks. It will break into 2-6 gold nuggets^{[10]
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Research source}.
- If you're playing on Pocket Edition, tap and hold the block to break it.
- If you're playing on a console or with a controller, press and hold right trigger to break it.
- If you break Nether gold ore or other gold blocks near piglins, they will attack you, regardless of if you are wearing golden armor or not.
5
Turn the gold nuggets into ingots. Open a crafting table and fill all 9 slots with a gold nugget to make a single gold ingot.
- Alternatively, you can mine nether gold ore with a Silk Touch pickaxe and smelt it just like regular gold ore.

Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Finding Gold Ingots in Chests

1
Explore abandoned mineshafts. Mineshafts can generate underground in any Overworld biome, or above ground in badlands^{[11]
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Research source}. The minecart chests found in mineshafts can contain gold ingots.
- The easiest way to find abandoned mineshafts is by exploring caves and ravines. Look for oak planks, fences, rails, and torches you didn't place, as these things indicate a mineshaft.
- Look for minecart chests in the mineshaft and check them for gold ingots or other loot you want.
2
Look for dungeons. Dungeons can generate at any Y-level as long as it is next to a cave^{[12]
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Research source}. Chests in dungeons have a chance to contain gold ingots.
- Explore caves and ravines, and look out for cobblestone you didn't place, as this usually indicates a dungeon.
- Place torches on and around the spawner in the dungeon. This will prevent mobs from spawning. You could also destroy the spawner with a pickaxe, but this will completely destroy it.
- Check the chests for gold ingots or other loot you want.
3
Loot villages. In Java Edition, villages can generate in deserts, plains, savannas, taigas, and snowy tundras. In Bedrock Edition, they can generate in these biomes as well as sunflower plains, taiga hills, snowy taigas, and snowy taiga hills^{[13]
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Research source}. Some chests in villages may contain gold ingots as loot, especially the blacksmith’s chest.
- Pick a direction and start traveling until you find a village. It may take you a while to find one, so bring plenty of supplies like food, blocks, tools, and armor.
- When you find a village, check inside all the homes for any chests. Open the chests and take any gold ingots and other loot you want.
- Finding a village is beneficial because villages provide access to free items.^{[14]
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- You can find chests filled with random items all around a village.^{[15]
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- You can exchange materials that you find throughout the game for different items depending on the specialization of the villager.^{[16]
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4
Look for shipwrecks. Shipwrecks can generate in any ocean biome, and may even generate beached above water^{[17]
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Research source}. They contain chests that can have gold ingots.
- Swim or sail around oceans while looking for wooden structures underwater. You can also feed a dolphin raw cod or salmon, which will cause them to lead you to the nearest underwater structure, which may be a shipwreck^{[18]
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- Swim around the shipwreck and check all the rooms and chests. Take any gold ingots, buried treasure maps, and other loot you want. Buried treasure maps will lead you to buried treasure chests which can have gold ingots in them.
- Use the buried treasure map to find buried treasure. Hold the map in your hand and look for the white dot on it that indicates you. Determine what direction you need to go in to get to the red X on the map and start traveling in that direction. As you travel, check your dot's movements. When you're on top of the red X, start digging around that area until you find a chest. Open the chest and take any gold ingots or other loot you want.
5
Find desert temples. Desert temples generate in deserts. The floor is always at Y-level 64, so some temples may be partially buried by sand^{[19]
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Research source}. The chests found in these temples can contain gold ingots.
- Explore desert biomes until you find a pyramid like structure with 2 towers attached. This is a desert temple.
- Get inside the temple and locate the orange and blue terracotta inside on the floor. Below is the treasure room. Break one of the outside orange blocks and make sure there is a block beneath it before digging down more. Dig until you reach the bottom of the treasure room. Don't step on the stone pressure plate in the middle of it, break it instead or else it will trigger a TNT explosion.
- Open all the chests in the room and take any gold ingots and other loot you want.
6
Explore jungle temples. Jungle temples can generate in jungle and bamboo jungle biomes. There are 2 chests inside that can contain gold ingots.
- Explore jungle and bamboo jungle biomes. Look for a large cobblestone structure, this is the temple.
- Enter the temple. Go down the stairs that are near the entrance. On one side, there will be a wall with 3 levers. You can pull the levers and, if the correct combination is pulled, a block upstairs will be moved that will lead to a chest that can contain gold ingots and other useful loot.
- On the other side, there will be a corridor with some arrow traps. Look on the floor for pieces of string and tripwires. Break the tripwires to deactivate the trap. At the end of the corridor there will be a chest that can contain gold ingots and other loot.
7
Loot woodland mansions. Woodland mansions are very rare structures that generate in dark oak forest biomes, often thousands of blocks from the spawnpoint^{[20]
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Research source}. They contain lots of good loot though, and some chests may have gold ingots.
- The easiest way to find a woodland mansion is by trading with a cartographer villager for a woodland explorer map and using the map to find one. You could also explore dark oak forest biomes until you find a giant, dark oak and cobblestone mansion.
- Woodland mansions are very dangerous, so be sure to bring plenty of supplies including food, blocks, torches, tools, good weapons and armor.
- Once you find a woodland mansion, enter it and explore each room you find. Some rooms may have chests that can contain gold ingots and other loot. Take whatever loot you want.
8
Explore any Nether fortresses or bastions you find. You may find these structures while exploring the Nether. Nether fortresses can generate in any Nether biome, and bastions can generate in all Nether biomes except for basalt deltas. If you find one of these structures, explore them and look for chests, as they may contain gold ingots among other loot.
- Some rooms in bastions may also have gold blocks in them. You can break these gold blocks and turn them into ingots.
- Piglins will attack you if you mine gold blocks or open chests near them, so be careful when exploring bastions.
9
Look for strongholds. Strongholds can generate underground in any biome, sometimes even in oceans.
- Make eyes of ender to find a stronghold. Eyes of ender are crafted using enderpearls and blaze powder. Enderpearls can be obtained by killing endermen(as well as bartering with piglins and trading with Expert-level cleric villagers), and blaze powder can be obtained by killing blazes and turning their rods into powder.
- Use the eyes of ender so they fly into the air. They will travel for a short distance then fall back down to the ground. Keep going in the direction they went in and periodically use another eye to make sure you're on the right path.
- When the eyes go underground, start digging down until you find stone bricks. Mine the stone bricks to break into the stronghold.
- Explore the stronghold. Chests can generate in strongholds and they can contain gold ingots as well as other loot. Take any gold ingots and other loot you want.
10
Find End cities. End cities generate in the outer End islands, which you can get to after defeating the Ender dragon.
- Find and activate the end portal. Use the steps mentioned above to find a stronghold, then explore the stronghold until you find the end portal. To activate the portal, place 12 eyes of ender in the portal frame. (Some eyes may be already placed for you.)
- Before entering the portal, make sure you're prepared to fight the Ender dragon and find end cities. Bring plenty of food and blocks. Bring your best armor and weapons, and any healing or positive effect potions you have.
- Kill the Ender dragon. First, you'll need to destroy the end crystals that are on top of the obsidian pillars. You can shoot at them or build up and punch them to destroy them. Once all are destroyed, you can begin to damage the Ender dragon by shooting it or hitting it with a weapon.
- Once the dragon dies, some small bedrock portals will spawn around the main island. You can build up to them and throw an enderpearl into the portal, this will take you to the outer End islands.
- Explore the outer End islands and look for End cities. End cities are very large, so they'll be fairly easy to spot from afar. They are made of purple purpur blocks and endstone bricks.
- Enter any End cities you find and look for chests. Chests that generate in End cities can contain gold ingots and other good loot, so take any gold and other loot you want.

Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Using Gold

1
Smelt gold ore or raw gold. You'll need to smelt raw gold and gold ore in a furnace to turn them into usable ingots. Open a furnace and place the gold ore or raw gold in the top slot and a fuel source like coal in the bottom slot. Wait for it to smelt into a gold ingot, which will pop out in the rightmost output slot.
2
Make gold tools. You can make any regular tool out of gold using the same crafting recipe. However, keep in mind that gold tools break much faster than other types of tools, so they are not the best option available.
- Gold pickaxes have the best mining speed out of any other type of pickaxe, including diamond and netherite. If you have an abundance of gold and want to mine out a large area, it may be a good idea to craft a bunch of gold pickaxes to quickly mine it out.
3
Make gold armor. You can make any type of armor out of gold using the same crafting recipe. Gold armor breaks much faster than other armor types, so it is usually best to use other materials.
- Gold armor is needed for bartering with Piglins, since they will attack you if you aren't wearing at least one piece of gold armor.
4
Make blocks out of gold. You can make 2 types of blocks out of gold, one out of ingots and one out of raw gold. Open a crafting table and fill all 9 slots with a gold ingot or a piece of raw gold to make 1 gold block.
5
Craft a clock. Open a crafting table and place a redstone dust in the center of the crafting area, with one gold ingot on each side (four total). This makes a clock, which shows you the position of the sun or moon.
- Clocks will not work in the Nether or End dimensions, they will just spin around randomly.
- Place an item frame (eight sticks and one leather) on the wall and place a clock in it to make a wall clock.^{[21]
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6
Build powered rails. Open a crafting table and place a stick in the middle of the crafting area. Then fill the left and right columns with gold ingots (six total), and place redstone at the bottom. This powered rail will make minecarts move on their own, if you power it with a redstone torch or powered redstone dust.
7
Make gold pressure plates. If you want to start a redstone circuit when something falls on or walks over a square, build a pressure plate with two ingots side by side.
8
Make golden apples. Open a crafting table and place an apple in the center of the crafting area, then surround it completely with golden ingots (eight total). This will make a golden apple, which can be eaten even with full hunger and will give you regeneration and absorption effects.You will also need a golden apple to cure a zombie villager.
- You used to be able to make a more powerful enchanted golden apple, or "Notch apple", in most versions of Minecraft by using gold blocks (see below) instead of ingots. This recipe was removed in Minecraft 1.9.^{[22]
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9
Break gold ingots into nuggets. A single ingot anywhere in the crafting area will turn into 9 gold nuggets. These have a few uses:^{[23]
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- Glistening Melon: Melon slice completely surrounded by nuggets. Used for potions.
- Golden Carrot: Carrot surrounded by nuggets. Used for potions, food, and breeding/ healing horses. They are also the most 'Healing' food in minecraft (only on Java edition)
- Firework Stars: To make a firework, place any dye in the center and gunpowder to its left. Adding a gold nugget directly below the dye during crafting makes the firework star-shaped instead.
10
Barter with piglins. You can use gold ingots to barter with piglins for other useful items. Go to the Nether and find a piglin. They can spawn in Nether wastes and crimson forests^{[24]
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Research source}. Once you find a piglin, throw a gold ingot near it. It will pick up and hold the ingot, examining it for a few seconds before taking it and throwing a different item to you^{[25]
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Research source}.
- Piglins will attack you if you attack them, mine gold near them, or are not wearing gold armor. You can use some of your gold ingots to make a piece of gold armor to make sure they do not attack you while bartering.
11
Make netherite ingots. You can use 4 gold ingots along with 4 netherite scraps to make a netherite ingot. Open a crafting table and place the ingots and scraps anywhere in the crafting space.

Community Q&A

Question

How can you survive an attack?

Community Answer

You can use your sword and shield. A sword does a sweep attack which becomes very useful when dealing with swarms.
Question

Can you tell me what the Notch Apple does?

Community Answer

The Notch Apple, or Enchanted Golden Apple, is basically a golden apple, but it has a purple sheen to make it look enchanted. It gives you more effects than the regular golden apple, like Fire Resistance or Strength.
Question

What is the environmental impact?

Kenny

Community Answer

Unlike in real life, mining does not pose much of a concern to the environment. After the infdev (Infinite Development) version of Minecraft, finding some gold would leave hardly a dent to the amount of resources left. However, if you are a slow player, you might reach the edge of the world since infdev is not actually infinite; it's just big. At that point, you'd run out of resources to get, which can be thought of as some kind of environmental impact.