The beginner's mining tutorial

This is a guide that will teach you tutorials, the basics of mining, and about what equipment you will need.

Note: Although the guide is applicable for all skill levels, advanced players can disregard the equipment as theirs would probably be better that the stuff listed in this guide.

Sections:

• Equipment
  
• Crafting
  
• Basic mineshaft/"Hellevator"
  
• Levels/Loot
  
  
  Feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments. I check and update frequently!

Equipment

When mining in Terraria, you will want to take along some basic items. These include:

• Any Grappling Hook
  
• A Broadsword (I use a Katana, which can be bought from the Traveling Merchant)
  
• A Pickaxe, duh. (Until you reach the Underworld, you will not need to make better pick than your default copper one. The copper one can mine most ores found above the Underworld.
  
• Torches. LOTS of Torches.
  
• Wooden platforms and building materials, such as dirt

*Rope/Vine Rope/Silk Rope can be substituted for wooden platforms in terms of going up or down, however take platforms regardless.

Without this equipment, it is VERY hard to follow the tutorials in this guide.

Crafting

The mining equipment is crafted with the following recipies:

Grappling Hook: Basic recipe is Hook + 3 Chains, but they can also be made out of 15 of a certain gemstone

Broadsword: Crafted with either wood or 8 metal bars of a certain type

Pickaxe: The default pick is enough, until you want to mine hellstone

Torches: Gel + Wood

Platforms: Wood

Starting a Mineshaft

A basic mineshaft can be started by using a "Hellevator". Begin by digging a two - four tile wide hole, and mine down. Add torches and wood platforms periodically to provide light and as a way back up. Keep digging down, and you will eventually progress through the many layers, starting in the Surface. In the Surface, basic ores such as copper/tin and iron/lead can be found frequently, and very rarely you can find silver/tungsten. Soon you will reach the Caverns, the next layer.

The entrance to a mineshaft that I built.

Note: The mineshaft is known as a "Hellevator". This is because it is used to tunnel directly to the underworld, and this one can be used for that purpose. The underworld is characterized by a music change, a background change, many demon-like enemies, lots of lava, and brick structures. I recommend getting good equipment before going into it.

The Dirt Layer

The dirt layer is divided into two parts. First part, the Surface looks like this:
The second layer, the Underground, looks like this:

Resources

First Section: Copper/Tin, Iron/Lead, (Rarely)Silver/Tungsten.

Second Section: Copper/Tin, Iron/Lead, Silver/Tungsten, Gems, Cobwebs, Underground Cabins, Pots.

The Stone Layer

Below the Undergroud, and far below the surface, you will find the Stone Layer, also known as the Caverns. It contains many resources, such as ones from the Underground, as well as Gold/Platinum, and others.

The Stone Layer, with an underground cabin intersecting the mineshaft. The cabin has most furniture removed.

Underground Cabins

Underground, in any layer except the first section of the dirt layer, you can find underground cabins. These contain furniture, such as chandeliers and statues, cobwebs, and chests/golden chests.
Underground cabin intersecting the Dirt Layer, with most furniture removed.

The Underworld

In the Underworld, below the Caverns, you will find demonic monsters, lava, and derilict buildings made of ash blocks. You cannot mine the Hellstone, because you will now need a Nightmare Pickaxe, if your world has the Corruption, or if your world has the Crimson, you will need the Deathbringer Pickaxe. When broken, hellstone produces lava, and the underworld should not be explored until you have the needed tools. When you do, you will want to mine hellstone and a hellforge, to craft molten armor/tools/weapons. I recommend crafting molten gear very quickly once you can, as it is very powerful, and is the most powerful gear pre-hardmode.

Other

To mine Hellstone, you will need a Nightmare/Deathbringer pickaxe from either the Eater of Worlds or the Brain of Cthulhu. In addition to that, smashing the shadow orbs/pulsating hearts can cause a meteorite to fall. A meteorite turns a large area into meteorite blocks, and meteor heads will spawn and attack you. Just kill them with your weapon. With a gold/platinum pickaxe or better, mine the meteorite blocks and smelt them into meteorite bars. These can be used to craft very good gear, such as phaseblades (aka lightsabers) made with meteorite and gems, along with the space gun and the star cannon, two powerful guns.

[Dusty]

how do you make a grappleing hook?

[Star Person]

wonderful!

[Galvanized Dreamer]

IMO: Rope works better than platforms, cheaper and don't rely on specific placement.

[H2SO4]

Anvils are made with 5 Iron or Lead bars at a workbench.

[H2SO4]

So?

(THANK YOU TheVandal, for clearing that up.)

[Tzukasa]

Dude the default pick is NOT good enough.. You should ditch it asap, it takes ForEver to mine with...

[Elliot]

Use ropes instead of dirt or wood platform

[Parboleum Loyce]

And no-one has said it would be a full guide for terraria... All we've talked about is mining...

[Jorge]

PEOPLE! ITS NOT MEANT TO BE A FULL GUIDE FOR TERRARIA! READ THE TITLE! oops capslock

[dong konkey]

There are many other structures underground in Terraria. And most people don't call them "Dirt Layer" they call the the Underground and the Cavern layer. You don't talk about how to mine hellstone aswell. Go digging? You need an Obsidian Skin Potion to mine them easily. Some of the materials aren't needed for mining. Overall: 5.5/10 Guide