How to Find Coal in Minecraft

Last Updated: March 5, 2021

Coal is a very important resource in the world of Minecraft. Coal is used to craft torches, campfires, and fire charges. Both torches and campfires can be used to light your path in the dark. This not only makes it easier to see in the dark, but it also prevents certain hostile mobs, like zombies, skeletons, and spiders from spawning. You can also use coal as fuel in furnaces, which can be used to cook food and smelt ore.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Mining Coal

1
Know what coal blocks look like. Coal blocks look like grey stone blocks with black spots on them.
2
Find exposed stone. Coal blocks are found amongst stone blocks. Stone blocks can be found alongside mountains, cliff sides, in caves, or underground. Since Minecraft worlds are randomly generated, there is no way to say exactly where you will find coal blocks. You will need to search for them. However, they are pretty common and not too hard to find.
- If you are searching for coal in caves, be careful not to venture too deep inside the cave. Not only is it easy to get lost inside a cave, but caves also have lots of hostile mobs and other dangers. If you die in a cave, you will drop everything in your inventory. The only way to get it back is to go back inside the cave to where you died and pick everything up.
- You can nerdpole to get a good view of the landscape. This involves stacking lots of dirt blocks under your feet to raise your avatar high off the ground.
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3
Craft a pickaxe. You need a pickaxe in order to mine coal. You can craft a simple wooden pickaxe out of two sticks and three wood plank blocks using a crafting table. You can craft a stronger and more durable pickaxe by substituting the three wood plank blocks with stone blocks, iron bars, or diamond.
- To equip the pickaxe, place it in one of your toolbar slots and highlight the slot. You will see the pickaxe in your hand. On PC, you do this by pressing the number on the keyboard that corresponds to the slot in your toolbar or use the mouse wheel to cycle through your toolbar items. On game consoles, you press the left and right shoulder buttons (R1 and L1) on the controller to cycle through all the slots in your toolbar.
4
Mine the coal block. When you find a coal block, equip your pickaxe and stand in front of the coal block. Place the plus-shaped reticle in the center of the screen on the coal block and press and hold the attack button to attack the block repeatedly until it breaks apart and drops coal.
- Press the left mouse button on PC to attack. On game consoles, press the right trigger button on the controller to attack.
- If a pickaxe is not equipped, coal blocks will not drop coal.
5
Collect the coal. After you mine a coal block until it drops coal, simply walk over the black coal icons that rotate on the ground. You will pick them up automatically and add them to your inventory.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Finding Coal through Exploration

1
Search for treasure chests. If mining sounds too mundane, go exploring! You won't find much coal this way, but exploring is more fun and challenging. Coal can be found in chests in the following areas:
- Chests found in igloos have a 74.3% chance of containing coal. Igloos are found in snowy tundra and snowy taiga biomes.^{[1]
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- Chests found in dungeons have a 27.4% chance of containing coal. Dungeons are found underground. The coal will be stacks of 1-4.^{[2]
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- Chests found in woodland mansion have a 27.4% chance of containing coal. Woodland mansions are found in Dark Forest and Dark Forest Hills biomes. The coal will be stacks of 1-4.
- Chests minecarts in abandoned mineshafts have a 32.0% chance of containing coal. Abandoned mineshafts can be found underground and in caves. The coal will be stacks of 3-8.
- Chests in Stronghold storerooms have a 35.6% chance of containing coal. You can locate a stronghold using an eye of Ender. The coal will be stacks of 3-8.
2
Select a chest to open it. When you find a chest while exploring, stand close to it and place the plus-shaped reticle in the center of the screen on the chest. Then right-click, or press the left trigger button on game consoles to open the chest. This will display the contents of the chest.
3
Collect the contents of the chest. If you find coal or any other items you want to keep inside the chest. Use the mouse or right analog stick on your controller to highlight the slot it is in. Click or press the A button on your controller (X on PS4) to collect the item and put it in your inventory.^{[3]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Hunting Wither Skeletons

1
Travel to the Nether. Make a Nether Portal to travel to the Nether where you will find a renewable source of coal: wither skeletons.
2
Find a Nether Fortress. Nether Fortresses are large structures of Nether Brick. Wither skeletons only spawn in Nether Fortresses.
- Be careful. The nether is very dangerous. Don't get lost. Be sure to craft weapons and armor and know how to Survive in the Nether.
3
Locate a nether fortress. Nether fortresses are large structures made out of nether brick that are only found in the Nether. For the best chance of finding a nether fortress, travel east or west.^{[4]
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4
Hunt for wither skeletons in the nether fortress. Wither skeletons look like regular skeletons that spawn in the overworld, but they are black. Equip a sword or other weapon and attack wither skeletons to kill them. When you kill a wither skeleton, it has a 1/3 chance of dropping coal.

Community Q&A

Question

Why do you need coal?

Ip Onyx

Community Answer

You need coal for smelting ore, such as diamond ore gold ore iron ore coal ore ancient debris in a furnace and to cook food (raw only).