Mining and Smelting Basics For Beginners (Valheim)

You won’t get far in Valheim without proper gear, and a key step in getting yourself well-equipped is mining. In this guide, we’ll show you exactly where and how to mine ore, and how to turn that ore into metals you can use to craft with.

Smelting Basics

Before you worry about mining, you’ll need to create a Smelter so you can turn mined ore into useable metal ingots.

Surtling Cores

The most difficult ingredient to acquire for your Smelter is the Surtling cores. In the early game, your only source for Surtling cores will be the Burial Chambers in the Black Forest, where you can find them either in chests or scattered around the dungeon.

You’ll need to collect 5 Surtling cores to craft a Smelter. However, Smelting requires charcoal, and making charcoal with food is a hassle, so you’re better off continuing to explore until you’ve found 10 Surtling cores so you can also craft a Charcoal kiln.

NOTE: If you’re really desperate to start smelting and can’t find more than 5 Surtling cores, you can make charcoal by letting food sit on the cooking station after it’s cooked. It will eventually turn into charcoal.

Crafting a Smelter and Charcoal Kiln

A Smelter requires 5 Surtling cores and 20 Stone to craft, and can be created using your hammer. With your hammer equipped, right click to open the build menu, and then select the Crafting tab and select the Smelter. Note that you’ll need to be by a workbench to place the smelter.

Crafting a Charcoal Kiln is basically identical to crating a Smelter. The kiln has a pretty big footprint though, so make sure you’ve got plenty of room and flat ground (use your hoe if you need to flatten an area). A Charcoal Kiln requires 5 Surtling cores and 20 Stone to craft, and can be created using your hammer. With your hammer equipped, right click to open the build menu, and then select the Crafting tab and select the Charcoal kiln. Note that you’ll need to be by a workbench to place the Charcoal kiln.

Making Coal in the Charcoal Kiln

This part is easy. With wood in your inventory, press E on the front of the Charcoal Kiln. Every few seconds, one wood will be turned into coal, which will fall out of the front of the kiln. Again, if you don’t have the materials for the kiln, you can overcook food on the Cooking Station to make coal.

How to Smelt Ore

To smelt ore into metal ingots, you’ll need to have both ore and coal available. Then follow these steps:

1. Put coal in the right side of the Smelter by presing E. You’ll need 1 coal for each ore you want to process, but it’s more efficient to simply fill the Smelter with all the coal you can.
2. Put your ore in the left side of the Smelter. If you only have one kind of ore in your inventory, you can simply press E on the hole on the left side of the Smelter. If you have multiple types of ore and you want to smelt a specific ore, you’ll need to put that ore in your hotbar and then press the corresponding number key while the Smelter “Add item” prompt is active.
3. Once the coal and ore are both in the Smelter, you’ll see a fire light in the front of the Smelter. Wait a bit, and an ingot will pop out for you to craft with!

Mining Basics

Your First Pickaxe

You won’t be able to do any mining at all until you defeat the first boss, Eikthyr. He’ll drop Hard Antler, which upon pickup will unlock the Antler pickaxe recipe for the Crafting table. The Antler pickaxe is easy to craft, requiring only 10 wood and a single Hard antler. It will allow you to mine both Tin and Copper deposits, as well as destroy large rocks for their stone (or just to get them out of your way).

Where to Start Mining

The Black Forest is the next place you’ll need to head after defeating the first boss, and it also happens to be where the first minable ores are. Tin appears as small deposits on the ground, and seems to spawn near bodies of water or rivers. Copper spawns as large rock formations with veins of copper visible.

How to Mine

Mining works the same as harvesting wood with your axe: With your Pickaxe equipped, use Mouse 1 on the ore you want to harvest. After a few good swings, the deposit will break and you’ll have access to the ore. Copper deposits won’t always drop copper ore, so don’t be surprised if you get nothing but stone sometimes.

You should now be ready to smelt and mine in Valheim. We hope this guide was helpful! Let us know if you have questions or suggestions in the comments section below.