Coral Island – The Complete Mining Guide (Updated)
Farming sims are having a moment and from Stardew Valley, we’ve gotten full re-imagined fun with Sun Haven and even My Time At Sandrock. Now we have Coral Island a farming and life sim that has you living out your conservation dreams on a beautiful Southeast Asian tropical island. In this world, you can spend your days growing crops, raising livestock and revitalising the town. And in your free time, there’s always fishing and mining to do!
Mining in Coral Island is not just great to earn money but the ores you collect are necessary to upgrade your Farmhouse and equipment. There are several different mines to go through in the Caverns of Coral Island, types of ores and gemstones, as well as enemies that you encounter. We’ll cover all this and more in our Coral Island mining guide below!
Disclaimer: This article has been updated since its previous post on November 7th 2022.
How To Start Mining
You’ll immediately get a pickaxe on your first day on Coral Island so that you can smash the rocks on the farm. That’s basically the essence of mining, but to get to the Cavern that may take you a few days. Sometime in the first week Mark will show up at your property and tell you about the Caverns on the back of the island. That’s your cue to head on over there.
Enter the Cavern and you’ll run into Kira who will tell you about the mines and that you’ll need to be able to defend yourself against the beasties that live there. She’ll then proceed to you a Blunt Sword before you go in.
When you enter the Cavern, there are four stone doors, which open up to the different mining caverns. Each of the unique caverns will have a different environment, monsters as well as gems and other mining resources. All the mines in the cavern are 40 levels deep, with an elevator that you can unlock every five floors (except for the 35th floor). Every 10th floor of the mine will grant you a reward chest. And after reaching the bottom of the first mine at level 40, it will unlock the next mine and so on.
To start mining all you need to do is approach a rock and hit it with your Pickaxe. Once broken it will release ores, stones or gems. The further you advance in the mines, the harder the rocks become, requiring you to upgrade your pickaxe.
How To Upgrade Your Pickaxe
All pickaxes consume 3 energy per use if they hit a breakable material or 1 energy if the hit fails. However, higher-level pickaxes do more damage per hit, allowing the player to spend their energy more effectively. Some lower-level pickaxes will also be unable to break larger rocks.
The Mines
The Caverns in Coral Island consist of four different mines. In order to unlock each mine you’ll need to reach the bottom (level 40) of the first mine, to unlock the next. The mines will unlock in this order: Earth, Water, Wind and Fire. The Earth mine will automatically be unlocked at the beginning of the game.
Within each mine, there will be different types of resources that you can mine in the form of stones and geodes. When you break apart a stone it will have a random amount of materials in there, but most commonly Stone and Coal. While a node (it looks like minerals stuck on the stone) will have a higher chance of being able to mine a resource. Besides stones and resources you’ll also be able to find gems, geodes and other random resources such as seeds, wood etc.
There are also places to fish within the mine that aren’t affected by weather or season (excluding special fish).
| Earth Mine | Water Mine | Wind Mine | Fire Mine | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resources | Bronze Ore Earth Geode | Silver Ore Water Geode | Gold Ore Wind Geode | Osmium Ore Fire Geode |
| Floor Reward | Lvl 10 – Ring of Speed Lvl 20 – Gold-Encrusted Hammer Lvl 30 – Spikes x12 Lvl 40 – Jamu x4 | Lvl 10 – Candied Tree Seed x8 Lvl 20 – Amber Shield Ring Lvl 30 – Explosive II x10 Lvl 40 – Jamu x6 | Lvl 10 – Decoy x10 Lvl 20 – Forager Ring Lvl 30 – Jamu x4 Lvl 40 – Jamu x15 | Lvl 10 – Explosive III x10 Lvl 20 – Flameguard Greatsword Lvl 30 – Blessed Opal Ring Lvl 40 – Explosive III x25 |
| Fish | Blue Tang Silver Arowana (Winter) Tilapia | Cobia Freshwater Eel Red King Arowana (Fall) Silver Arowana (Winter) | Pink Snapper Polka-Dot Batfish Red King Arowana (Fall) Silver Arowana (Winter) | Lobster Red King Arowana (Fall) Tuna Yellowtail |
Geodes
Geodes are a type of special rock that you’ll find while mining in the caverns. They can’t be broken by you but if you bring them to the Blacksmith they’ll be able to work them open for you for 20g. These Geodes will often contain rare gems and other materials.
| Geode | Possible Drops |
|---|---|
| Geode | Stone, Coal, Bronze Ore, Silver Ore, Black Opal, Diorite, Fire Agate, Granite, Jasper, Lepidolite, Marble, Morganite, Pink Crystal, Red Beryl, Topaz |
| Earth Geode | Stone, Coal, Bronze Ore, Silver Ore, Black Opal, Diorite, Fire Agate, Granite, Jasper, Lepidolite, Marble, Morganite, Pink Crystal, Red Beryl |
| Water Geode | Stone, Coal, Bronze Ore, Silver Ore, Gold Ore, Aquamarine, Azurite, Beryl, Blue Quartz, Crystal, Diamond, Moonstone, Quartz |
| Wind Geode | Stone, Coal, Bronze Ore, Silver Ore, Gold Ore, Amber, Amethyst, Emerald, Jade, Peridot, Pink Diamond, Serpentine, Variscite |
| Fire Geode | Stone, Coal, Bronze Ore, Silver Ore, Gold Ore, Garnet, Labradorite, Onyx, Opal, Purple Crystal, Rhodonite, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Topaz |
| Mystery Geode | Stone, Coal, Bronze Ore, Silver Ore, Gold Ore, Osmium Ore, Amber, Amethyst, Aquamarine, Azurite, Beryl, Black Opal, Blue Quartz, Crystal, Diamond, Diorite, Emerald, Fire Agate, Garnet, Granite, Jade, Jasper, Labradorite, Lepidolite, Marble, Moonstone, Morganite, Onyx, Opal, Peridot, Pink Crystal, Pink Diamond, Purple Crystal, Quartz, Red Beryl, Rhodonite, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Serpentine, Topaz, Variscite |
Traversing The Mines
Traverse the mine via rope or elevator, use them when you need to return to the surface. But with the elevator, unlike the rope, you’ll be able to jump to another elevator stop point that you’ve discovered. You won’t be able to hop around the mine from the elevator on Day One, instead, you’ll need to unlock it by discovering it, which you’ll be able to do every five levels or so.
To move further down the mine without the use of an elevator simply mine all the rocks around you. Eventually, you’ll find a hole which will drop you into the level below you.
Though the rule is that you’ll find an elevator every five levels, there’s an exception when you’re at level 30 of the Cavern. Instead of 5 levels down the next elevator will be ten levels down, not five. So remember to pack for an extended, difficult trip to reach level 40, which is the bottom.
The contents of the Cavern are randomized each day, and it doesn’t appear that ore or gems become more abundant as you go lower and lower. So if you’re just mining for ore it shouldn’t matter which level you go to.
Monsters
Exploring the Cavern is probably the least peaceful aspect of Coral Island because of the monsters. These creatures can inflict damage to your Health, so you’ll need to clear them out with combat before your HP runs down to zero. Once you run out of Health your trip into the Cavern will end for that day.
It’s generally a smart move to clear out any monsters populating a floor before you look for the exit, and since swinging your weapon doesn’t cost any Energy there’s nothing to lose besides time if you go for the monsters first. For more information check out our combat and weapons guide here.
Smelting Ore
Metal bars are one of the key resources in Coral Island, and in order to craft them, you’ll need a Furnace and some ore. Start by crafting the furnace. You should receive this recipe quite early on in the game after mining a little bit. Simply press the letter T on your keyboard to open up the crafting menu. From there, select the furnace to craft it.
Furnace Recipe: 40x Stone, 20x Bronze Ore
| Metal Bar | Recipe | Time | Utilise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze Bar | 5x Bronze Ore 1x Coal | 6h | Tool Upgrades House Upgrade Mayonnaise Machine Keg Tap Coop, Barn, Mill |
| Silver Bar | 5x Silver Ore | 12h | Tool Upgrades House Upgrade Keg Yoghurt Machine Stable Silo |
| Gold Bar | 5x Gold Ore 1x Coal | 24h | Tool Upgrades |
| Osmium Bar | 5x Osmium Ore 1x Coal | 36h | Tool Upgrades |
Mining Mastery Skills
| Skill | Description and effect |
|---|---|
| Double Ore | 20% chance to mine double ores. |
| Rock Domino | 10% chance to break surrounding rocks when mining. |
| Geode Finder | 100% increases the chance of finding geodes. |
| Rare Rocks | 1% chance for regular rocks to drop rare resources. |
| Gem Price | 15% increase to the selling price of all gems. |
| Double Gems | 5% Chance to find double gems. |
Coral Island
Coral Island is a vibrant and laid-back reimagining of farm sim games. Be who you want and create the idyllic farm of your dreams, where you’ll tend crops, nurture animals, and build a bond with the natural world around you. Help revitalize the nearby town and its surrounding coral reefs, and forge relationships with a vibrant community of more than 70 fellow people who call Coral Island home.
Coral Island is currently out on Early Access on PC – Steam and Xbox Game Pass.
CORAL ISLAND GUIDES
SKILLS GUIDE
- Coral Island – The Complete Fishing Guide
- Coral Island – The Complete Mining Guide
- Coral Island – Bug Catching Guide
- Coral Island – Cooking and Recipe Guide
- Combat and Weapons Guide
- Ocean Critters Guide
FARMING GUIDE
- Coral Island – Best Crops To Plant
- Coral Island – All Crops, Flowers, Fruit Trees List
- Coral Island – Artisan Products Guide I (Bee House, Cheese Press, Dehydrator, Keg)
- Coral Island – Artisan Products Guide II (Loom, Mason Jar, Mayonnaise Machine, Mill)
- Coral Island – Artisan Products Guide III (Oil Press, Tap, Yogurt Machine, Aging Barrel)
FRIENDSHIP & ROMANCE
- Coral Island – Friendship Guide
- Coral Island – Bachelorette Romance Guide
- Coral Island – Bachelor Romance Guide
ISLAND GUIDES
