Materials & Mining Progression: Ore Locations and Pickaxe Tiers

Progress in Permafrost is strictly gated by your tool tiers. Attempting to strike a Copper vein with a primitive Stone Pickaxe will yield zero ore while destroying your tool’s durability.

To conquer the frozen wilderness, you must understand the tool tier hierarchy and know where high-value veins spawn across the map.

1. The 5-Tier Pickaxe Hierarchy

2. Resource Locations & Map Landmarks

1. Flint (Surface Boulders)

• Found: Scattered along riverbeds, ridge bottoms, and perimeter cliffs of the starting valley.
• Appearance: Dark grey stones with a distinct glass-like sheen.

2. Copper & Coal (Eastern Mountain Caves)

• Found: The rocky canyons east of House Camp and inside subterranean karst tunnels.
• Appearance: Copper nodes feature green-tinged veins; Coal nodes are pitch-black jagged rock outcrops.
• Tip: Coal yields 3x the burning duration of dry wood in furnaces.

3. Iron Ore (Northern Industrial Ridges)

• Found: Near abandoned railway tracks, collapsed mineshafts, and the perimeter of the Solar Farm.
• Appearance: Rust-red and brownish-black heavy crystalline rocks.

4. Moonrock (The Shattering Crater)

• Found: Inside the deep impact crater in the far northwestern dead zone.
• Appearance: Glowing iridescent cyan-blue minerals emitting mild cosmic radiation. Entering without protective thermal gear triggers severe hypothermia.

3. Smelting Ratios in the Stone Furnace