News: New Ore Mechanics

April 7 developers published for Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot 21w14a, which changes the ore mining process in the game.

The update affects iron, copper, and gold ores. Now instead of ore blocks, they will drop "raw" or "unprocessed" resources.

"Raw" resources can be smelted in a furnace to obtain ingots.

The developers made this change to reduce inventory and container clutter. Additionally, all ores now work the same way with the Fortune effect.

The changes are already available in Minecraft: Java Edition 21w14a and will soon appear in test versions of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.