How To Double Ores In IC2

Learn how to double and nearly triple your ore yields using Industrial Craft 2 (IC2). This guide walks you through the macerator, ore washing plant, and electric furnace to maximize your ore processing efficiency in Minecraft.

Getting Started: Understanding the Basic Process

Industrial Craft 2 provides several machines that allow you to significantly increase your ore output. The process involves three main steps: macerating your ore, optionally washing it for additional yields, and finally smelting the result into ingots. By following this workflow, you can achieve approximately 2.2x ore multiplication, or up to 2.5x if you’re willing to optimize every step.

Step 1: Macerating Your Ore

The first step in doubling your ores is to use a Macerator. This is a low voltage machine, which means you can power it with tin cable. A simple coal-powered generator works well for this purpose.

Place your raw ore (iron ore in this example) into the macerator. The machine will process it and output two crushed ore from just one raw ore. This alone doubles your ore output right from the start.

From one iron ore, you will receive two crushed iron ore. This is guaranteed, making the macerator an essential first step.

Step 2: Ore Washing Plant (Optional but Recommended)

The Ore Washing Plant is an optional second step that can push your ore multiplication even further. To use it, you’ll need water—you can either pipe it in using pipes or manually add a water bucket to the top slot of the machine.

How the Ore Washing Plant Works

Place your crushed ore into the ore washing plant. For each crushed ore processed, you’ll receive:

One purified crushed ore

Two tiny piles of iron dust

The iron dust is key to maximizing your output. Every five pieces of crushed ore that you wash (producing 10 tiny piles of iron dust total) can be compressed in a Compressor into one additional piece of pulverized ore.

This means for every five crushed ore you wash, you gain an extra ore’s worth of material. Since you start with two crushed ore from the macerator (which becomes 4 from two macerations), you can eventually craft another ore from the accumulated dust. This brings your total multiplication to approximately 2.2x.

Step 3: Smelting Into Ingots

Once you have your purified crushed ore (or regular crushed ore if you skipped the washing plant), you need to smelt it into ingots. You have several options:

Electric Furnace (powered by IC2 energy)

Iron Furnace (IC2 alternative)

Normal Furnace (standard Minecraft furnace)

Simply place your crushed ore into the furnace and cook them into ingots. The crushed ore can go directly into any furnace without requiring additional processing.

Quick Route: Skip the Ore Washing Plant

If optimizing every last bit of ore isn’t your priority, you can simplify the process. Simply:

Macerate your raw ore into crushed ore (doubling it immediately)

Smelt the crushed ore directly in a furnace

This skips the ore washing plant entirely but still guarantees you’ve doubled your ore output. It’s a solid balance between efficiency and convenience.

Summary

Industrial Craft 2 makes ore multiplication straightforward and rewarding. At minimum, using just the Macerator doubles your ore yield. By adding the Ore Washing Plant and collecting the tiny piles of dust for compression, you can reach approximately 2.2x multiplication. The entire process uses basic IC2 machines that are easy to set up and requires only coal power to get started. Whether you choose the quick route or the optimized path, you’ll significantly increase your ore efficiency compared to vanilla Minecraft smelting.

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