All 16 nether ores, from top to bottom, left to right: Coal, Diamond, Gold, Iron, Lapis, Redstone, Copper, Tin, Emerald, Silver, Lead, Uranium, Nikolite, Ruby, Green Sapphire, Sapphire.
Nether Ores is an IC2 compatible mod which adds new natural blocks to the Nether. Ores such as Diamond are more common in the Nether than the Overworld though they often only spawn singularly or in a group of 2. With Nether Ores, it is more profitable to macerate, pulverize, or Induction Smelt them where possible. For example, 1 Nether Diamond ore yields 4 Diamonds when being macerated, but yields only one Diamond ore when smelted. If processed in an Induction Smelter and a Grinder, 1 Nether Diamond will give 4.5 Diamonds per ore (will always give at least 4 and gives 5 half the time). Certain ores cannot be macerated and must be smelted or otherwise processed.
Note that the most profitable (but not necessarily the most time-efficient) yield from Nether Ores is now generally achieved with the use of a mix of machines from Thermal Expansion (namely the Induction Smelter), and the Factorization ore processing chain (Grinder -> Mixer -> Slag Furnace -> Crystallizer). For Nether Copper, Tin, Iron, Gold, and Silver, 900% average yield per ore can be achieved in a best case scenario (using Rich Slag in the Induction Smelter), and 600% average yield can be achieved if no rich slag is available, and sand is used instead. Nether Coal and Nether Lead Ore are also best processed via an Induction Smelter. The exceptions to this are Nether Redstone, Nikolite, and Lapis Lazuli, which still give the highest yield via maceration.
Use CAUTION when mining any Nether Ore with a pickaxe, any nearby Zombie Pigmen will attack you. The effect is much like when you attack one of them. A Mining Laser will allow you to collect the ore without causing Zombie Pigmen to become aggressive. Nether Ore has a chance to cause nearby ores to explode when the first ore is mined, this makes a sizzling noise similar to creepers and TNT when they are about to go off. Chain reactions have been observed, where one exploding ore can trigger another to hiss, then explode. Explosions will place flame nearby, similar to ghast fireballs. Mining Turtles and the Mining Laser have a 0% chance of triggering explosions. If you hear a sizzle when you have mined a Nether Ore, the nearby ore that is about to explode can be prevented from doing so by quickly mining it, however there is no visual change between non-sizzling and sizzling ore (except for the occasional wisp of rising smoke), so the only way forward is to guess which ore is about to explode, and mine as many nearby as possible.
NOTE : Coal Nether Ore seems to be the most volatile but this is not confirmed. This may be due to the large size of coal deposits, but it is more likely that Nether Coal Ore just has a higher chance to explode in the config file.
| Ore | Macerator Output | Furnace Output |
|---|---|---|
| Nether Iron Ore | 4 Iron Dusts | 1 Iron Ore |
| Nether Gold Ore | 4 Gold Dusts | 1 Gold Ore |
| Nether Silver Ore | 4 Silver Dusts | 1 Silver Ore |
| Nether Lead Ore | 4 Pulverized Lead | 1 Lead Ore |
| Nether Tin Ore | 4 Tin Dusts | 1 Tin Ore |
| Nether Copper Ore | 4 Copper Dusts | 1 Copper Ore |
| Nether Diamond Ore | 4 Diamond | 1 Diamond Ore |
| Nether Green Sapphire Ore | N/A | 1 Green Saphire Ore |
| Nether Sapphire Ore | N/A | 1 Saphire Ore |
| Nether Ruby Ore | N/A | 1 Ruby Ore |
| Nether Emerald Ore | N/A | 1 Emerald Ore |
| Nether Uranium Ore | N/A | 1 Uranium Ore |
| Nether Lapis Lazuli Ore | 24 Lapis Lazuli | 1 Lapis Lazuli Ore |
| Nether Redstone Ore | 24 Redstone | 1 Redstone Ore |
| Nether Nikolite Ore | 24 Nikolite | 1 Nikolite Ore |
| Nether Coal Ore | 4 Coal | 1 Coal Ore |
A German tutorial , how to mine them without Explosions can be found there: