Stardew Valley is a life/farming simulator that will allow you to find love and become rich while doing manual labor. The main focus of the game will be on planting and growing crops.
However, there are many other tasks you will need to complete to learn some of the secrets that Pelican Town hides. One of them is mining. You will need to mine for rare ores, such as copper or iron, to unlock more powerful tools and buildings.
Recommended Read: How to Use the Copper Pan in Stardew Valley
Luckily, Copper Ores are relatively easy to find if you know where to look for them. Unfortunately, the best methods to get this resource will require quite a lot of time and energy from your character.
To get Copper Ore in Stardew Valley, you will need to use your pickaxe on copper nodes in the Mines or in the Quarry, buy it from the Blacksmith, or use a Copper Pan in the rivers.
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How to Get Copper Ore in Stardew Valley
Copper Ore is the weakest ore in Stardew Valley. This is why it is also one of the easiest ones to find. Luckily, there are a few ways you can get Copper Ore in Stardew Valley:
- From copper nodes in the Mines between levels 2 to 39.
- From copper nodes in the Quarry.
- Buy from the Blacksmith for 75 g Year 1, then for 150 g Year 2 onward.
- Loot from Metal Heads in the Mines between levels 81 and 119.
- Loot from Copper Slimes in the Quarry Mine.
- Harvest from Stonefish Fish Pond with a population of at least 3.
- Use Copper Pan in rivers.
Mining to Get Copper Ore
The most straightforward way to get Copper Ore in Stardew Valley is mining. It is also the most efficient way to get ores, as you go directly to the source.
The only problem with mining is the constant fighting and energy used to create a path through all the rocks. Though this will usually stop you from doing other chores during that day, you should be able to get a decent amount of copper if you spend your time on the right floors.
In general, Copper Ore spawns between floors 2 and 39, with a higher concentration of nodes appearing on the last floors. Copper Ore still spawns on higher levels, but the game will also give you other resources, and the percentage of Copper Ore will diminish.
On the specified floors, there is also a high chance that normal rocks will drop Copper Ores when destroyed. This can be very useful when you’ve looted all the copper nodes and want to advance to the next floor.
Players can mine copper nodes with the simple pickaxe from the start of the game, and they will get between 1 to 3 Copper Ores per node.
Another place where you can find copper nodes is the Quarry, which you can unlock by completing the Crafts Room Bundles in the Community Center. Unfortunately, there is no way to complete all of those bundles until Winter, so you won’t have access to the Quarry until then.
However, once you do, you can check the Quarry every day to see what type of nodes you can find, including copper ones. This is the safest way to get Copper Ores and the least time-consuming.
Purchase Copper Ores
Though you might prefer to spend time in the Mines collecting Copper Ores, others might want to use their hard-earned money to speed up the process. The second-best way to get Copper Ore in Stardew Valley is to purchase it from Clint at the Blacksmith.
In the first year, Clint will sell you an endless amount of Copper Ore for 75 g a piece. This is a really good price if you managed to make money from farming or fishing.
The most common things you will build with Copper Ores are the Furnace and the upgraded copper tools. For the Furnace, you will need 20 Copper Ores, which would cost 1500 g at the Blacksmith.
All of the tool upgrades cost 5 Copper Bars, which require 25 Copper Ores. So, to upgrade a tool using only gold, you will need 1875 g for the copper and another 2k g for the upgrade itself, resulting in a total of 3875 g, considering you got the Coal for free.
This price might seem extremely high in the early game if you haven’t farmed some of the best Spring and Summer crops in Stardew Valley when you had the time.
The Traveling Cart also occasionally sells Copper Ores, but the minimum price is 100 g, which is a lot. Since the price ranges between 100 g and 1k g, you would likely do well to never buy copper from her.
Looting Copper Ore from Enemies
There are only two mobs in Stardew Valley that drop Copper Ores:
- Metal Heads
- Copper Slimes
Players have a 20% chance to get Copper Ore from the Metal Heads that spawn between floors 81 and 119. However, most players that tend to get that far in the Mines don’t need Copper Ores anymore. Usually, you should be able to buy what you need by that point.
A much better mod that you can loot for Copper Ores is the Copper Slime. Once you unlock the Quarry, you can also enter the adjacent Quarry Mine, which spawns Copper and Iron Slimes.
These Copper Slimes have a 33% chance to drop Copper Ores. However, you can only restart the Quarry Mine by starting a new day, so if you don’t find any when you enter, you will need to check again the next day.
You also need to be careful since there are a lot of Haunted Skulls that appear on the northern side of the Quarry Mine. They can be very annoying, and there are a lot of them.
There are also quite a few copper nodes in the Quarry Mine as well, so going in there once you unlock it should yield quite a few Copper Ores.
Fish Pond for Copper Ore
This method might not be the best one, but it does, occasionally, get the job done. Players can catch the Stonefish on level 20 of the Mines and then place it in a Fish Pond to start passively producing resources.
Once the Fish Pond reaches a population of 3 Stonefish, it will now get the chance to produce Copper Ores. You can place the first 2 Stonefish yourself and wait a few days to get the population increase quest.
After that, you will have a chance of around 7% to get 5 Copper Ores each day. You will also have a chance to get Geodes, which, very often, also hold Copper Ores inside.
Though this is not a very active way to get Copper Ore in Stardew Valley, it is a very decent passive solution. Using a Stonefish Fish Pond will allow you to get a constant flow of Copper Ore that will be helpful in the future.
Pan for Copper
Once you get rid of the Glittering Boulder next to the Mines, you will unlock a cutscene with Willy where you will get a Copper Pan. You can use this item to collect various minerals and ores from moving bodies of water (rivers).
You will have a general 40% chance to get Copper Ore each time you use a panning spot. However, getting rid of the Glittering Boulder requires you to complete the Fish Tank Bundles at the Community Center.
Luckily, you can complete these Bundles by Fall if you aggressively level up your Fishing skill.
That’s everything you need to know about how to get Copper Ore in Stardew Valley!
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