More Rewarding Ores
Overview
More Rewarding Ores is a vanilla datapack that rebalances ore drops to make mining more satisfying and less grind-heavy without drastically altering progression.
Instead of a cubic meter of ore yielding a single resource item, ore blocks now drop larger and more varied quantities, making exploration and mining feel more rewarding while still keeping resource progression reasonable.
The datapack modifies the loot tables for all vanilla overworld ores, nether ores, and ancient debris, and introduces consistent rules for how Silk Touch and Fortune enchantments interact with these new drops.
This datapack works in vanilla Minecraft and is compatible with any mod loader, since it only changes loot tables.
Core Gameplay Changes
Increased Ore Drops
Most ores now drop multiple resources per block, representing a more realistic yield from a cubic meter of ore.
Adjusted Base Drops
| Ore | New Base Drop |
|---|---|
| Coal | 3–8 coal |
| Iron | 2–4 raw iron |
| Gold | 2–4 raw gold |
| Diamond | 1–4 diamonds (rare bonus possible) |
| Emerald | 1–3 emeralds |
| Nether Quartz | 2–4 quartz |
Rare Diamond Bonus
Diamond ore has a small chance to produce a richer yield:
- Normal drop: 1–4 diamonds
- Rare bonus: 6–8 diamonds
This rare drop is intentionally uncommon to preserve the excitement of discovering diamonds.
Ores That Keep Vanilla Base Drops
Some ores already produce multiple items in vanilla Minecraft. Their base drops remain unchanged:
| Ore | Vanilla Base Drop |
|---|---|
| Copper | 2–5 raw copper |
| Redstone | 4–5 redstone dust |
| Lapis Lazuli | 4–9 lapis lazuli |
These ores only receive changes through enchantments.
Fortune Enchantment Changes
Fortune now doubles the base drop range for all ores affected by the datapack.
Examples:
| Ore | Base | With Fortune |
|---|---|---|
| Iron | 2–4 | 4–8 |
| Gold | 2–4 | 4–8 |
| Coal | 3–8 | 6–16 |
| Copper | 2–5 | 4–10 |
| Redstone | 4–5 | 8–10 |
| Lapis | 4–9 | 8–18 |
This makes Fortune feel much more impactful while keeping drops within reasonable bounds.
Silk Touch Behavior
Silk Touch preserves the ore block as expected.
| Tool Enchantments | Result |
|---|---|
| Silk Touch | Drops the ore block |
| Fortune only | Doubled drop ranges |
The Silk Touch + Fortune interaction is unique to this datapack, providing a useful middle ground between preserving ores and maximizing yields.
Nether Ore Adjustments
| Ore | Base Drop | Fortune |
|---|---|---|
| Nether Quartz | 2–4 quartz | 4–8 |
| Nether Gold Ore | 2–6 gold nuggets | 4–12 nuggets |
Ancient Debris
Ancient debris behavior is mostly preserved:
| Tool Enchantments | Result |
|---|---|
| Normal mining | Drops ancient debris |
| Silk Touch | Drops ancient debris |
This maintains the rarity and progression of Netherite while still allowing the Silk Touch + Fortune rule to apply.
Technical Notes
The datapack overrides vanilla loot tables for:
- Coal ore
- Iron ore
- Gold ore
- Copper ore
- Redstone ore
- Lapis ore
- Diamond ore
- Emerald ore
- Nether quartz ore
- Nether gold ore
- Ancient debris
Both stone and deepslate variants are included.
The datapack only affects newly broken ore blocks and does not alter world generation.
Compatibility
- Works in vanilla Minecraft
- Compatible with Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, Quilt, or any other mod loader
- Compatible with most mods unless they also overwrite the same ore loot tables
Philosophy
This datapack aims to make mining feel rewarding rather than tedious, while still preserving Minecraft’s core survival progression.
You’ll spend less time grinding for resources, and more time building, exploring, and experimenting.
Version History
v1.0.0
- Initial release of More Rewarding Ores
- Rebalanced vanilla ore loot tables to increase mining rewards
- Added multi-item drops for most ores
- Coal now drops 3–8 coal
- Iron ore now drops 2–4 raw iron
- Gold ore now drops 2–4 raw gold
- Diamond ore now drops 1–4 diamonds
- Added rare 6–8 diamond bonus drop
- Emerald ore now drops 1–3 emeralds
- Nether quartz ore now drops 2–4 quartz
- Copper, redstone, and lapis retain vanilla base drop ranges
- Fortune enchantment doubles drop ranges
- Implemented experimental Silk Touch + Fortune special rule
- Added loot table overrides for all overworld ores, deepslate variants, nether ores, and ancient debris
- Included datapack icon (
pack.png)
v1.0.1
- Updated datapack for Minecraft 1.21.11
- Fixed datapack structure issues preventing loot tables from loading
- Corrected datapack folder path (
loot_tablevsloot_tables) - Updated
pack_formatfor modern Minecraft versions - Removed Silk Touch + Fortune special rule
- Fixed bug where the special rule could activate on unenchanted tools
- Updated description and documentation
v1.0.2
- Fixed issue where ores dropped nothing when mined
- Updated enchantment predicates to Minecraft 1.21+ item predicate format
- Corrected Fortune and Silk Touch detection logic in loot tables
- Ensured base drop ranges work with unenchanted tools
- Confirmed compatibility with Minecraft 1.21.11
v1.0.3
- Finalized fixes for loot table logic
- Corrected conditional checks for tool enchantments
- Ensured Fortune correctly doubles drop ranges
- Ensured Silk Touch preserves ore blocks
- Verified correct drops across all ores
- Confirmed stable functionality across all supported ores