Ore Excavation Wiki

Ore Excavation adds vein mining to Minecraft. Normally you break ores and logs one block at a time; with this mod you hold a single key while you break a block and the entire connected vein of that same block type is mined together in one action.

• Break one block of an iron-ore deposit and every touching iron-ore block is mined with it.
• Chop the bottom log of a tree and the whole trunk comes down.
• Drops and experience are awarded exactly as if you had mined each block by hand, and the held tool takes durability for every cascaded block.

The feature is opt-in per swing (it only fires while you hold the key) and is highly configurable, so it speeds up tedious mining and tree felling without breaking survival balance. Server owners get precise control over how powerful it is allowed to be.

1. Find the key bind. Open Options -> Controls and look for the new Vein Mine key. By default it is bound to the grave / backtick key (`) - the key above Tab on most keyboards. Rebind it to anything you like.
2. Equip the right tool for the block you want to mine (a pickaxe for ores, an axe for logs). By default the correct tool is required.
3. Hold the Vein Mine key and break a block in an ore vein or a tree. The whole connected group is mined at once.
4. Release the key to go back to normal one-block-at-a-time mining.

That is the entire core loop: hold the key, break one block, harvest the whole vein.

When you break a block while holding the Vein Mine key, the mod runs a bounded flood-fill search outward from the block you hit, collecting every connected block of the same eligible type, and breaks them all in the same action.

• Only blocks that are directly connected to the one you broke are included - a separate, non-touching deposit of the same ore is left alone.
• Only blocks of the same type are included - mining one iron-ore block will not pull in an adjacent gold-ore block.
• The search is bounded by the configured maximum block count and maximum radius so a single swing can never run away across the whole world.
• Connectivity mode is configurable: by default it uses straight 6-direction adjacency; enabling diagonals uses full 26-neighbour adjacency so blocks touching only at a corner are still included.

Drops, experience, and tool durability are applied per block as the vein is harvested.

Which blocks can be vein-mined is decided by block tags, not a fixed hardcoded list. Out of the box this covers the usual ores and logs, and because it is tag-driven it automatically extends to ores and logs added by other content that register under the same tags.

• Ores - break one, harvest the connected deposit.
• Logs - break one, fell the whole trunk.
• Other tagged blocks - any block that belongs to an eligible tag is included automatically.

A blacklist lets you explicitly exclude specific blocks even if they would otherwise qualify, so you can fine-tune exactly what vein mining applies to.

Ore Excavation gates vein mining so it behaves like a natural extension of survival mining rather than a free dig-everything button:

• Hold-to-activate - vein mining only happens while you hold the Vein Mine key. Mining without the key behaves exactly like vanilla (one block).
• Correct tool required - by default you must be holding the proper tool for the block (a pickaxe for ores, an axe for logs). This can be turned off in the config.
• Durability cost - the held tool loses durability for every block in the vein, just as if you had mined them individually. If the tool breaks mid-cascade, the cascade stops cleanly.
• Silk Touch and fortune are honoured - enchantments on the held tool apply to every block in the vein, so Silk Touch yields the ore block itself and Fortune boosts drops as normal.

Several limits keep vein mining fair and prevent lag or griefing, all adjustable in the config:

• Maximum blocks per excavation - a hard cap on how many blocks a single swing can mine (default 64). Even a huge connected deposit stops at the cap.
• Maximum radius - the cascade is confined to a cube of this size around the block you hit, so very long veins are bounded.
• Cooldown - an optional minimum number of ticks between excavations per player, useful on multiplayer servers.
• Bonus experience - an optional extra XP reward per cascaded block, on top of normal block XP.

Because these are server-side, server owners can tune exactly how powerful vein mining is for everyone on the server.

Server-side config is stored per world at <world>/serverconfig/oreexcavation-server.toml once you load into a world. The main options are:

• limits.max_blocks - hard cap on blocks mined per excavation (default 64).
• limits.max_radius - distance around the anchor block the cascade may reach (default 16).
• limits.cooldown_ticks - minimum ticks between excavations per player (default 0).
• blocks.block_tags - the block tags considered vein-mineable (default ores + logs).
• blocks.block_blacklist - specific block IDs to never vein-mine (default empty).
• blocks.diagonals - use 26-neighbour (diagonal) connectivity instead of 6-neighbour (default false).
• activation.require_tool - require the correct tool in hand (default true).
• activation.require_held_key - require the player to hold the key (default true).
• rewards.apply_tool_damage - consume 1 durability per cascaded block (default true).
• rewards.xp_per_block - bonus XP per cascaded block (default 0).

Editing the file and running /reload applies the new values immediately.

• Strip-mine faster: hold the key while clearing ore pockets to scoop entire deposits in one click.
• Clear forests instantly: chop the base log of each tree with the key held to fell whole trunks for fast wood gathering.
• Save your good tools: remember each block costs durability - carry a backup or an Unbreaking/Mending tool for big veins.
• Tune the cap for your playstyle: lower max_blocks for a gentle quality-of-life boost, or raise it for aggressive harvesting.
• Use diagonals for messy ore: enable diagonal connectivity if you find natural ore blobs leaving stray blocks behind.
• Blacklist sensitive blocks: add anything you do not want swept up (e.g. a particular block on a server) to the blacklist.

Ore Excavation is server-aware and safe for multiplayer. The limits, cooldown, tool requirement, and eligible-block settings all live in the server-side config, so they are enforced consistently for every player.

• Set a cooldown to stop players spamming huge excavations.
• Keep max blocks and max radius modest to prevent lag from very large cascades.
• Use the blacklist to protect specific blocks.
• Because activation requires the player to hold the key, normal mining is unaffected for anyone who is not using the feature.

Vein mining is not working. Make sure you are actually holding the Vein Mine key (default `) while you break the block, and that you have the correct tool equipped if the tool requirement is enabled. Check the key bind in Options -> Controls.

Only one block breaks. The connected blocks must be the same type and touching. A different ore type or a gap will stop the cascade. If you expect corner-touching blocks to be included, enable diagonal connectivity in the config.

The vein stopped before it was fully mined. You probably hit the max blocks or max radius limit, or your tool broke mid-cascade. Raise the limits in the config or use a more durable tool.

My tool broke fast. Vein mining consumes durability per block. Use a tool with Unbreaking/Mending or disable tool damage in the config.

Can I vein-mine blocks from other content? Yes - eligibility is tag-based, so ores and logs that register under the same tags are picked up automatically. Use the blacklist to exclude anything you do not want.

Does it work in survival without cheating? Yes - drops, XP, tool durability, and enchantments all behave exactly as if you mined each block individually.