Ores, Metal, and Casting

In addition to sticks, twigs, and stones on the ground, in your travels you may encounter small pieces of ores scattered around the ground. These are important, as they are one of the only sources of ore and metal before obtaining a pickaxe.

These small ore pieces can serve two purposes: they can provide a source of metal, and more importantly, they indicate the presence of a larger vein of ore somewhere nearby, probably underground and close to the surface. Be sure to note where you find small ores, as the location of ore veins will be useful later during Prospecting.

The twelve types of small ores, and the metal they can be melted into are listed on the next page.

Small Ores

• Native Copper (Copper)
• Native Gold (Gold)
• Hematite (Cast Iron)
• Native Silver (Silver)
• Cassiterite (Tin)
• Bismuthinite (Bismuth)
• Garnierite (Nickel)
• Malachite (Copper)
• Magnetite (Cast Iron)
• Limonite (Cast Iron)
• Sphalerite (Zinc)
• Tetrahedrite (Copper)

Casting

In TerraFirmaCraft, ores each contain a certain number of units, or mB (millibuckets) of actual metal which can be extracted. Small ores like this found on the surface are the lowest quality, and only provide 16 mB of metal. In order to extract this metal, it needs to be melted, and made into tools using a process called casting.

You will need:

• A Small Vessel
• Enough materials for a Pit Kiln.
• One or more Mold(s) to cast the molten metal.
• And finally, at least 144 mB total of a metal which is suitable for casting: Copper, in one or more of its three ore forms.

Note: Casting can also be done with some Alloys

First, open the Small Vessel and put the ores inside. Count up the total amount of metal in the ores carefully! The vessel can only hold up to 3024mB of molten metal, excess will be lost. Then, you need to build a Pit Kiln with the filled small vessel inside. As the vessel heats, the ores inside it will melt, and you'll be left with a vessel of molten metal.

Careful, the vessel will be hot! Craft Wooden Tongs with two sticks and a knife and hold them in your off hand to handle the hot vessel safely.

With the casting interface open, place your empty fired mold in the center slot. It will fill up as long as the vessel remains liquid. (If the vessel solidifies, it can be reheated in another pit kiln.) Once the mold is full, it can be removed and left to cool. Once cool, the mold and its contents can be extracted by using the mold, or putting it in the crafting grid.

You are now able to craft your first pickaxe! Find enough copper to make a pickaxe head, fire a pickaxe mold and melt the ore using a pit kiln, then cast a head. Slap it on a stick, and voila! You can now dig for ore.

A couple other important metal tools are available for progression as well. The Chisel is useful for working with stone blocks for building and other recipes.

The saw allows you turn wood logs into support beams and lumber, which can further be crafted into planks, the crafting bench, barrels, and chests, among other things. It is also useful to make a canoe.