Mining holes

[Jake011]

A couple of questions on how mines work:
1.Is there a way to find out if the gorund beneath you has any minerals?
2. If not, how hogh are the chances of finding minerals?

[slipper]

You can use Rustroot Extract to prospect the ground below you, randomly building a Mine Hole and finding minerals is pretty rare.

[Jake011]

Ok, and what kind of ground (exept mountain) should i be looking for (or how rare are mining spots)

[slipper]

Mining spots are pretty easy to find and they can be below any type of ground, my advice is go find a cave and explore it, while you are exploring, randomly mine the walls until you find an ore spot.

[Jake011]

Mining spots are pretty easy to find and they can be below any type of ground, my advice is go find a cave and explore it, while you are exploring, randomly mine the walls until you find an ore spot.

If i make a mining hole, and randomly mine in a direction, do i have the same chances of hitting a metal?

[slipper]

Yes, but it will take forever.
You can walk freely in a cave.

[MagicManICT]

Mining spots are pretty easy to find and they can be below any type of ground, my advice is go find a cave and explore it, while you are exploring, randomly mine the walls until you find an ore spot.

If i make a mining hole, and randomly mine in a direction, do i have the same chances of hitting a metal?

At this point you can probably see where people have already been chipping at spots and can probably safely assume nothing is there. Oh, and while you're at it, pick up stones to check for quality. You never know what you'll find. Also to note, ore can be hiding several tiles into a cave wall and people will have missed it, so it's up to you on how deep to dig. (Thus leading to the conclusion: better to just prospect.)

Also, starting out, you're going to want a mining ability of around 20-25. That's the geometric mean of you strength and tool--sqrt (str * tool). That makes finding better quality stones (for a stone axe) a must.