Survey Meter

Tells you what ore lies around you, so you do not dig blind. Read-only, needs no power, and unlocks nothing.

Crafting

  R
I S I
  S

R is Redstone Dust, I is an Iron Plate and S is a Shaft.

Using it

Right click. It lists up to four kinds of ore within 16 blocks, each with a rough block count and which way most of it lies. It then needs a couple of seconds before the next reading.

The count is rounded to the nearest 8 and wobbles a little each time, so a thin vein may read as nothing and a fat one will not read the same twice. It is a guide, not a count.

Outcrops

Some veins show themselves: a lone block of the ore sitting on the surface above a vein that is not buried too deep. Tin, zinc, lead, copper, iron and graphite do this. Follow it down.