Palworld Ore Farming Guide — Best Mining Bases, Pals & Automation (2026)

1. Why Ore Is Your #1 Bottleneck

If you've played Palworld for more than a few hours, you already know the pain: you unlock a shiny new Technology node, excitedly open your crafting bench, and discover you need 20 Ingots. You check your chest. You have 3. Welcome to the ore wall.

Ore is different from wood and stone. Those two resources have dedicated production buildings — the Logging Site and Stone Pit — that generate materials passively. Ore has no equivalent building. The only way to get ore is to mine it from nodes scattered across the map, either by hand or by assigning Pals with Mining work suitability.

And the demand is relentless. Here's what ore (via Ingots) is used for:

• Metal Pickaxe, Axe, and Spear — your first major tool and weapon upgrade
• Nails — required for almost every mid-game structure (1 Ingot = 2 Nails)
• Pal Spheres — Mega, Giga, and Hyper Spheres all require Ingots
• Ammunition — Coarse Ammo and Handgun Ammo both consume Ingots
• Refined Ingots — the next tier, which requires Ore + Coal
• Pal Metal Ingots — the final tier, built from Refined Ingots

The conversion ratio is 2 Ore = 1 Ingot. That means a single Assault Rifle (requiring 50 Refined Ingots, which need 100 Ore + 100 Coal) eats 100 ore by itself. Build a few weapons, craft some spheres, repair your gear, and you'll burn through 500+ ore in a single session if you're not farming it efficiently.

The good news: once you set up an automated ore base, you'll never think about ore again. A well-optimized mining crew produces 600–900 ore per hour completely passively. This guide shows you exactly how to get there.

2. Best Ore Base Locations

The key to ore automation is base placement. You need a spot where 4–8 ore nodes are clustered inside your base radius, so your mining Pals can reach them all without wandering. You unlock a second base at Base Level 10 (player Level 14) and a third at Base Level 15 — that's when ore automation truly begins.

Which Location Should You Pick?

For your first ore base (Level 14–20): Go with Fort Ruins or Desolate Church. Both are close to the starting area, have enough nodes to keep a small mining crew busy, and are relatively safe. Fort Ruins is more defensible; Desolate Church has more space.

For your main ore base (Level 20+): Small Settlement Cliff is the gold standard. Eight ore nodes is the highest density in the early-accessible map, and the cliff means raiders can only approach from one direction. Build walls on that one side and your base is practically raid-proof.

For endgame multi-resource farming: Ice Wind Island combines ore, coal, and quartz in a single base footprint. You'll need cold-weather gear and strong combat Pals, but the resource density is unmatched. See our Best Base Locations guide for more on multi-resource base strategies.

3. Mining Pals Tier List

Not all mining Pals are created equal. Work suitability level matters (only Level 2+ can mine ore nodes), but Partner Skills and animation speed make a massive difference in real-world throughput. Here's our ranking based on hundreds of hours of testing.

Early Game (Before You Have Mining Pals)

Until you unlock a second base and catch a Mining Lv 2 Pal, you'll be hand-mining ore. Equip the best pickaxe you can craft (Stone Pickaxe → Metal Pickaxe → Refined Metal Pickaxe) and target the ore nodes near Fort Ruins. A single hand-mining session yields roughly 80 ore per hour — enough for early-game needs, but not sustainable.

Your first mining Pal should be Tombat (found at night near the starting area) or Penking (caught from the early boss fight). Both have Mining Level 2, which is the minimum to work ore nodes. Once you reach the mid-game, upgrade to Digtoise (found in the desert) for a massive throughput jump.

Recommended Mining Crew Composition

A 6-Pal mining crew at an 8-node base produces roughly:

• 2× Digtoise + 2× Anubis + 2× Wumpo — ~600 ore/hour (mid-game setup)
• 3× Astegon + 3× Wumpo — ~900 ore/hour (endgame setup)
• 1× Blazamut + 2× Anubis + 3× Wumpo — ~750 ore/hour (plus raid defense and smelting)

Compare that to hand-mining at 80 ore/hour — automation is 10× more efficient. Need help catching these Pals? Check our Best Pals tier list for locations and strategies.

4. Automated Ore Farm Blueprint

Setting up a fully automated ore base is the single most impactful thing you can do in Palworld. Once it's running, you'll passively generate hundreds of ore per hour while you explore, fight bosses, or breed Pals. Here's the exact blueprint.

Step 1: Choose Your Location

Pick a spot from the table above with at least 6 ore nodes inside your base radius. Place your Palbox at the center of the node cluster. If you can't fit all nodes inside the radius, prioritize the densest cluster.

Step 2: Lay Foundations Over the Nodes

This is a crucial step most guides skip. Build foundation tiles over the entire ore node area. Flat foundations ensure your mining Pals can path to every node without getting stuck on terrain. Without foundations, uneven ground blocks half your crew and throughput collapses.

Step 3: Set Up Storage and Logistics

• One storage chest near the Palbox — this is your ore collection point. Transport Pals will drop ore here.
• One feed box near the mining area — not near the Palbox. This keeps miners close to the nodes instead of walking across the base to eat.
• Beds placed between the mining area and the chest — centered so SAN and hunger top-ups don't pull workers across the map.
• One repair bench — high-tier mining Pals chew through pickaxes. On-site repair beats fast-traveling back to your main base.

Step 4: Assign Your Pal Crew

Step 5: Furnace Setup

Place 2–3 Primitive Furnaces (or Improved Furnaces once unlocked) near the storage chest. Multiple furnaces running in parallel is far faster than one furnace with a large stack. Assign your kindling Pal to the furnaces — they'll automatically smelt ore into ingots as it arrives.

Step 6: Do NOT Mix Work Types

This is the #1 mistake players make. Do not put handiwork, planting, or lumber tasks in your ore base. If your transport Pals are also assigned to a handiwork bench, they'll prioritize crafting over hauling ore, and your miners will idle with full inventories while ore sits on the ground despawning. A specialized base is an efficient base.

Step 7: SAN Management

A high-output mining crew drains SAN (sanity) in 6–8 in-game hours. Build a Hot Spring (unlocked at Level 31) in or near your ore base, and rotate Pals through it. Low SAN causes Pals to slack off, get depressed, and even develop injuries that take them out of commission entirely. Check your Pals' SAN every time you visit the base.

5. Smelting Guide: Furnaces & Ratios

Mining ore is only half the job. You need to smelt it into Ingots, then Refined Ingots, then Pal Metal Ingots. Each tier requires a different furnace and different materials.

Best Kindling Pals for Smelting

Smelting speed depends on the Kindling work suitability level of the Pal assigned to the furnace. The difference is dramatic:

• Jormuntide Ignis (Kindling Lv 4) — the best smelter. 2× faster than a Level 1 Pal. Found in volcanic regions.
• Blazamut (Kindling Lv 3) — excellent dual-purpose Pal. Mines ore AND smelts it. Alpha boss in the volcanic region.
• Bushi (Kindling Lv 3) — good mid-game option. Found at the Sealed Realm of the Sword Hero.
• Arsox (Kindling Lv 2) — solid early smelter. Found in grassland areas.
• Foxsparks (Kindling Lv 1) — your first smelter. Slow but available from Level 10. Fine for early game.

Pro tip: Place multiple furnaces side by side and assign one kindling Pal per furnace. Three Primitive Furnaces running simultaneously with three Foxsparks produce ingots faster than one furnace with one Jormuntide Ignis.

6. Beyond Ore: Coal, Sulfur, Quartz & Hexolite

Ore is the foundation, but Palworld has four other critical mineral resources. Each spawns in different biomes and serves a different progression stage.

Coal — The Refined Ingot Ingredient

Coal spawns in desert, volcanic, and snowy biomes. It's required for Refined Ingots (2 Ore + 2 Coal = 1 Refined Ingot) and Carbon Fiber. The best coal farming spot is the Icy Weald in the northeast, where coal and ore nodes overlap — build one base and farm both simultaneously. Coal can be fully automated just like ore: assign mining Pals to coal nodes inside your base radius.

Sulfur — The Ammunition Bottleneck

Sulfur spawns as yellow crystal nodes inside volcanic caves. It's used to craft Gunpowder, which is required for all firearm ammunition. Each volcanic cave run yields 100–200 sulfur from 20–30 nodes in about 10 minutes, giving you 400–800 sulfur per hour including respawn wait time.

Sulfur is not easily automatable because the volcanic interior is too dangerous for a base. Instead, use a fast flying mount for quick farming runs. Wear heat-resistant gear and bring a strong combat Pal for the aggressive volcanic wildlife.

Need ammo tips? See our Best Weapons guide for a full ammo efficiency breakdown.

Quartz — The Tech Gate

Quartz (and its refined form, Pure Quartz) spawns in snowy biomes as white crystal nodes. The best farming route starts at the Icy Weald fast-travel point, heading northeast along the mountain ridge. A single loop yields 80–150 quartz from 15–25 nodes.

Quartz is processed at a Crusher (unlocked at Level 34): 5 Quartz → 1 Pure Quartz. Pure Quartz is then used to craft Circuit Boards (2 Pure Quartz + 1 Polymer), which gate all electric-tier technology including Ultra Spheres, Legendary Spheres, and the Electric Furnace. If you're struggling to level up fast enough to unlock these, check our Fast Leveling guide.

Hexolite Quartz — The Endgame Alloy

Added in the Feybreak update, Hexolite Quartz appears as tall pink and white crystal nodes that glow at night. It's combined with Chromite and regular Ore to forge Hexolite, the strongest alloy in the game, used for endgame armor, weapons, and facilities.

Unlike regular ore, Hexolite Quartz nodes are spread out — there are no dense clusters. The best farming spots are around the Loess Plains area:

• (-967, -1419) — near an anti-air missile tower
• (-910, -1457) — near the Loess Plains fast-travel point

The recommended strategy is to build a small base around 1–2 Hexolite Quartz nodes, place a Guild Chest, and assign a few mining and transport Pals for passive collection. A Rocket Launcher one-shots the nodes for faster manual farming.

7. Ore Progression: Early to Endgame

Phase 1: Hand-Mining (Level 1–13)

Before you unlock a second base, you're mining ore by hand. Target the nodes near Fort Ruins (156, -394) — it's the closest cluster to your starting area. Craft a Metal Pickaxe as soon as you unlock it at Level 10. Smelt at a Primitive Furnace with Foxsparks. You'll produce roughly 40 Ingots per hour this way — enough for tools, nails, and early spheres, but tight.

Phase 2: First Ore Base (Level 14–25)

At Base Level 10, you unlock a second base. Immediately build it at Desolate Church (67, -402) or Small Settlement Cliff (11, -523). Catch Tombat (night spawns near starting area) and Penking (early boss) for your first mining crew. Add Killamari for transport. Output jumps to ~300 ore/hour. Upgrade to Digtoise as soon as you can reach the desert.

Phase 3: Optimized Automation (Level 25–44)

By now you should have 2–3 Digtoise mining, 2 Wumpo transporting, and 1–2 Bushi or Arsox smelting. Build your third base at Sealed Realm of the Thundergod (256, -361) or Ice Wind Island for multi-resource farming. Unlock the Improved Furnace at Level 34 and start farming Coal for Refined Ingots. Output reaches ~600 ore/hour.

Phase 4: Endgame Mining Empire (Level 44+)

Unlock the Electric Furnace at Level 44. Breed or catch Astegon (Mining Lv 4) or Blazamut (Mining Lv 4 + Kindling Lv 3). Replace your crew with max-tier Pals and add Jormuntide Ignis for 2× smelting speed. Start farming Quartz at Icy Weald for Circuit Boards. Begin Hexolite Quartz runs at Loess Plains for endgame gear. Output peaks at ~900 ore/hour with a fully optimized crew. At this point, ore is no longer a bottleneck — it's an afterthought.

8. Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: Putting the Ore Farm in Your Main Base

Mining and handiwork conflict. If miners and crafters share a base, transport Pals get pulled to crafting queues, miners idle with full inventories, and productivity drops by ~40%. Always build a dedicated ore base.

Mistake 2: Using Mining Level 1 Pals

Cattiva, Lamball, and other early Pals have Mining Level 1 — they can work a Stone Pit but cannot mine ore nodes. You need Mining Level 2 minimum. Check work suitability before assigning Pals.

Mistake 3: One Chest for Everything

If you put all storage in one chest, transport Pals idle waiting for stack-merge animations. Use separate chests for ore, wood, and other materials. Place the ore chest near the Palbox for easy pickup.

Mistake 4: No Defense Pal

Hostile NPC raids and wild Pal attacks will destroy a defenseless ore base. Even one combat-capable Pal (Anubis, Blazamut, or Knocklem) makes the difference between a destroyed base and a raid you barely notice.

Mistake 5: Ignoring SAN

A high-output mining crew bottoms out SAN in 6–8 in-game hours. Without a Hot Spring rotation, your Pals will get depressed, slack off, and develop injuries. Check SAN every visit and rotate tired Pals to a recovery base.

Mistake 6: Trying to Farm Coal and Ore from One Base

Coal and ore nodes sometimes overlap (especially on Mount Obsidian), but running both from one base overwhelms transport queues. Build a separate coal base once you need Refined Ingots in bulk.

9. Frequently Asked Questions