Playing as the miner profession in Refinery Caves 2, but don’t know what ore to mine for? There are many ores to mine/dig for, ranging from common ores such as iron and copper to more rarer ores such as cloudnite and wildcore. This article will list ten good ores to mine for, along with their prices, tiers, locations, and what I think about them from my experience.

10. Bauxite

An uncommon ore that can be found specific areas such as the Jungle Cave (37.91%) and Quarry (24.63%) on Novabay. Relying on bauxite for income isn’t too bad for beginner players as bauxite can be frequently found in the Quarry, which can be difficult and tedious to bring up ores to your vehicle. Bauxite can be valued at $22/u when refined and $10/u if sold raw. Bauxite itself from my experience is a decent ore to mine especially for beginners as the tool tier required for bauxite isn’t too high for beginner pickaxes.

9. Lithium

A rare ore that can be found in the Marble Valley (1.89%) on Novabay. Relying on lithium for income isn’t a too bad of an option as many ores in the Marble Vally such as granite and marble, can go for a decent price when refined $36/u, $24/u raw, and $60/u when polished. Lithium from my experience is a decent ore to mine if you’re looking for a new ore to mine from ores such as bauxite, even with its low spawn rate.

8. Cloudnite

A unique ore that can be found in a shallow cave located on the peak of Mountain “Adam” (100%) on Rosewell Island. Cloudnite is a good ore for income for experienced players as cloudnite, when refined can be valued $60/u and $16/u raw. Getting to cloudnite, however requires traversing through hazardous areas such as ice patches, which can cause your vehicle to lose traction and holes/pitfalls that players can accidentally fall into.

On top of this, players are also at a constant risk of hypothermia, which can be mitigated by staying near fireplaces that occasionally appear throughout mountain “Adam”. Cloudnite from my experience is a good ore to mine as not only cloudnite sells for good money, but can also be sifted to obtain rare items, ore fragments, and silver chests, which can be an easy way to obtain red gems for the Crystalized Abyss.

7. Cobalt

A unique ore that can be found in the center of the Stone Cradle (5.34%) in an underground cave in the Jungle. Cobalt when sold raw can be valued to be $42/u, when refined can be valued to be $65/u, and when polished can be valued $105/u. The Stone Cradle can only be accessed by blowing up the entrance with dynamite, it is also recommended from my experience to have extra bundle of dynamite saved when exiting, as the rocks that block the entrance of the cave respawn within a couple of minutes. Cobalt from my experience is a good ore to mine from Cloudnite, but does require buying dynamite, which can be expensive, but the profit from selling cobalt can make up the price of the dynamite.

6. Blastshard

A unique ore that can be found in the Crystalized Abyss (50%) in the Rosewell mines, along with its similar counterpart voltshard. Blastshard is one of the handful of ores that doesn’t require refining or polishing and when sold raw is valued $80/u. Getting blastshard requires gemstones in order to active the path into the Crystalized Abyss as the entrance from the mines to the crystal region is divided.

When using gemstones in order to activate the path to the Crystalized Abyss, each type of gemstone has their own “lifespan”, which determines how long the path stays active. The Blue gemstone being the most common out of the three has a lifespan of 10 minutes, the purple gemstone having a lifespan of 20 minutes, and the red gemstone having the lifespan of 30 minutes. Gemstones can be obtained from either fishing, which have very low chances of fishing from and silver chests, which can be obtained from fishing and shifting sand or cloudnite (recommended). Blastshard from my experience is a good ore to mine, even though it requires some steps, however when mining blastshard or voltshard, both ores can explode if you swing too hard or if your pickaxe has the explosive enchant.

5. Odd Stone

An ore that can be commonly found in the Spore Cave (100%) along the walls of the cave, located on Sakura Island. Odd Stone is valued at $80/u when sold raw and when refined is valued to be $100/u. Getting to the Spore Cave requires going through multiple twists and turns in the Sakura Caves (it’s recommended to watch a tutorial). The Spore Cave can be dangerous, especially if the player stays in the cave for too long, which can cause the player to feel dizzy, due to the toxic spores in the air and if the player doesn’t move at all for a long time, they will begin to take damage.

Odd Stone from my experience, can be a good ore to mine and similarly to cloudnite, odd stone when refined can be sifted to obtain items such as pieces of silver, wood chunks, and other valuable items like chests and gemstones. Odd stone however can be very tedious to get, due to the location of the Spore Cave.

4. Emerald

A gem that can be found in the Miner’s Hideout (22.22%) located in the middle of the Sarcophagus in a mining operation that is apparently happening on the roof? Along with diamond, another precious gem that can be found in the same area, Emerald cannot be refined and has a value of $90/u when sold raw and can be polished increasing the value to $115/u, however polishing can actually decrease the value to ~$97-$103/u, due to the size decrease (it’s not worth polishing emerald or diamond).

Emerald from my experience is a great ore to mine; however, mining emerald can be tricky due to the environment of the Miner’s Hideout, using tools such as the proton-24, hooking-8, and the item bag can be very useful in transporting ores without accidently dropping any ores into the deep waters of the Sarcophagus (having the advanced diving gear can also be useful in recovering any fallen ores).

3. Obsidian

A common ore that can be found in the Scorching Valley (25.00%) throughout the biome. Obsidian cannot be refined and has a value of $80/u but can be polished increasing the value to $120/u. Obsidian is a tier 4 ore, which means that tools such as the jet pickaxe can easily mine obsidian. It is recommended to use the proton-24 for transport as mining all obsidian nodes can drop around ten pieces of obsidian.

From my experience, obsidian can be a really good ore to mine, due the tier of obsidian and the number of pieces of obsidian that can drop from mining all 5 nodes (~10 pieces), which can make mining large amounts of this ore quick and easy.

2. Volcanium

Volcanium, a unique ore that can be found in the Scorching Vally (62.50%) on the highest peak. Similarly to some ores that can be found in the Scorching Valley, volcanium cannot be refined or polished and has a base value of $140/u when sold raw (a regular piece of volcanium is usually ~$800). Obtaining volcanium requires accessing through the Sarcophagus, which has a toll/entrance price of $2,000 or $1,800 with the golden ticket talent and swimming through an underwater section directly under the Miner’s Hideout, which after swimming into the correct tunnel will lead you into the Scorching Valley.

Unlike most ores Refinery Caves 2, volcanium has a durability tier of 5, which most tools like the jet pickaxe are not able to mine due to its high tier. It is recommended to use the obsidian pickaxe, which is a tier 5 pickaxe that can mine ores like volcanium and to make mining volcanium easier and faster, it is recommended to have the chaining enchant. Volcanium from my experience is a good ore to mine as you can gain 120k worth of volcanium from just mining volcanium. Some recommendations would be to use the proton-24 as it will be very useful transporting large batches of ores and having vehicles such as the Tarius and Pisces (one really full Pisces is around 4 Tarius buckets full).

1. Abyssalite

An ore that can be found in the Cursed Cave (100%) located in the Scorching Valley. Similarly to previously mentioned ores, Abyssalite cannot be refined and has a value of $170/u, however Abyssalite can be polished and has a value of $230/u. Getting to the Cursed Cave can be very dangerous as it is only accessible by passing through an obstacle course under the largest lavafall that flows through the middle of the Scorching Valley. After passing through the obstacle course, the player will be greeted with the cave entrance into the Cursed Cave. When entering the Cursed Cave, the player is warned that Tool Reaper does not work, which means one wrong step into the void will result in the permanent loss of your items and tools from your inventory (it is a good idea to leave any valuable items in a safe place).

Similarly to Volcanium, Abyssalite is a tier 5 ore that can be mined with tools such as the obsidian pickaxe, industrial drill, and even dynamite. Abyssalite from my experience can be a really good ore to mine, but is overall a very risky ore to get, due to the Cursed Cave’s ability of canceling the Tool Reaper talent and the steps required to get to the Cursed Cave in the first place. (high risk, high reward)