Mining
Mining is the core loop of Ancients — and every ore you break pays you three ways at once.
- Money, handed to you as a Money Note item.
- Ancient Energy, banked straight into the pickaxe you're holding.
- Level XP, the main way to climb your level.
Ore is auto-sold the instant you break it, and the cash arrives as a Money Note you right-click in a safe zone to claim. Mine outside a safe zone and the payout is taxed (you only ever see the after-tax amount); mine inside one and it's tax-free. See Selling & the Shop for how payouts and the shop work.
The energy each block gives is stored inside your pickaxe. You can /extract it as carryable orbs, or feed it to the Wormhole to level and enchant the pickaxe.
What you need to mine
Each ore tier needs a good enough pickaxe and a region that allows it. Higher-tier ores pay more money, Ancient Energy and XP per block, and deepslate variants are worth a little more than the regular block — the full breakdown lives in Ore Values & Respawn Times.
Mining is also the primary way to raise your level, which unlocks new mines and areas (/levels). XP stops once you hit the current cap (/levelcap) until the cap rises.
PvP is on everywhere except safe zones — spawn and each mine's warp arrival platform. Step off the pad and you're fair game.
Mining is slower this season
Base mining speed is lower across the board now: a fresh, unenchanted pickaxe takes noticeably longer to break each block. That makes Mining Speed boosts matter far more, and insta-mining is an earned end state rather than the default.
In this section
These pages cover the rest of the loop — the mines themselves, what each ore is worth, your pickaxe, meteors crashing in for richer ore, and the standalone Calcite Caverns money run. Currencies explains money and energy in depth.
Version history
v2.0.0
- Base mining is now slower across the board — a fresh, unenchanted pickaxe takes noticeably longer to break each block.
- Calcite now sells for 2x more ($5.47 -> $10.94 per block), making Calcite Caverns a far stronger money run.