Prospecting Pick

Prospecting Pick
Durability	Copper: 150 Tin Bronze: 250 Bismuth Bronze: 300 Black Bronze: 350 Gold: 60 Silver: 80 Iron: 650 Meteoric Iron: 900 Steel: 1625
Stackable	1
Tools

Prospecting Picks (Propick) are used to help players locate ore deposits for mining. An in depth guide discussing the various mining modes can be found on the Mining page.

Creation

The raw material used to create the tool head determines the crafting process required:

• Casting (100 units): Copper and Bronze alloy
• Smithing (1 ingot): Tool head crafted from the metals shown in the table (below).
• Assembly:

Tool Tiers

Material	Durability	Tool Tier	Mining Speed (Stone & Ore)	Mining Speed (Metal)	Attack Power (HP)	Attack Tier
Gold	60	2	2.7x	N/A	1.75	2
Silver	80	2	2.7x	N/A	1.75	2
Copper	150	2	2.5x	N/A	1.25	2
Tin Bronze	250	3	3.3x	N/A	1.75	3
Bismuth Bronze	300	3	3.0x	N/A	1.5	3
Black Bronze	350	3	3.5x	N/A	2.0	3
Iron	650	4	4.5x	4.5x	2.25	4
Meteoric Iron	900	4	4.75x	4.75x	2.35	4
Steel	1625	5	5.5x	5.5x	2.5	5

Usage

See also Mining - Prospecting

Prospecting picks have two modes, Density Search and Node Search. You can select them with the 'F' key.

• Density Search mode allows players to sample three rock blocks within 16 blocks to return the probability of ores in that part of the world. The probability is returned in ‰, parts-per-thousand, for each ore type. Density Search mode is useful in telling players what ores to expect to find within a given area, but does not tell players exactly where the ore may be, nor its potential size or quality.

• Node Search mode is a much more precise way of identifying ores. By default, it is enabled in world generation with a radius of 6, but can be changed via worldgen command after a world has been created. After breaking a single block in Node Search Mode, the game scans all blocks in the specified radius, and tells the player if detectable ores are nearby. This mode tells players the direction and size of the ore deposit relative to the broken block.

Blocks broken by the prospecting pick do not drop any materials.

For a detailed walkthrough of using the prospecting pick, try this guide: Guide:Prospecting.

Difference between modes

Density Search mode tells players the probability of finding ores, while Node Search mode tells players how much ore is detected nearby. Additionally, Density Search mode will not tell the player about the presence of certain ores such as gold or silver , that are found within deposits of other minerals. Node Search mode does inform players about child ore deposits.

Storage

The prospecting pick can be placed against a wall, stored in containers and placed on tool racks .

Prospecting Pick Tutorial Videos

Prospecting Pick Tutorial English	In depth propick tutorial including mod recommendations

Notes

The head developer settled a debate in 2023 about density readings. To the question "Are prospecting reading in density mode chunk-based, or position-based?" Tyron responded "They are position based. thats why i don't want to represent them in the same way as prospector info". The mod Prospector Info displays density-reading results on the map in squares aligned with chunk borders, and many video tutorials have perpetuated the misconception that prospecting results are chunk-based.

History

• Prior to version 1.18.0, node search mode was disabled in world generation by default.