Usually worthwhile, removing the ground with the pick is extremely quick compared to mining the copper. Sometimes you find a second ore vein that's mostly or completely buried near the first, or find out the ore vein was a lot larger than it looked. We just mined out one in my MP game yesterday, and made sure to dig down and find as much as we could. We got a full stack of 30, plus about a half stack more. Didn't take too long, would have been faster but mining generally brings lots of greydwarves. I think it was very much worth the few minutes it took to uncover the additional ore since we built a tiny structure with a workbench, fire, cooking spit, and some storage right next to it so we can refresh the rested state, and store all the rocks, ore, and drops from the greydwarves.

If you just go mine a bit and move on then I'd say don't bother, if you set up a small mining camp, especially if you're close to two or three ore deposits, then it's more likely to be worth the time to dig it out.

You can mine copper relatively quickly as long as you know how.
1. Digging around the copper prevents enemies from getting in so they won't bother you.
2. While under the copper you are sheltered so you can place a workbench for repairs and a campfire for the Rested buff and to keep the cold away at night.
3. Mine the bottom of the ore out and let the game physics break the upper part.
4. You can process most of it on site, since most of the requirements are available in the Black Forest, so you don't have to return to the Meadows until you need Fine Wood.

all i know is that recruiting a mining troll is very useful, although dangerous

Originally posted by The n00b A:

From what i see, the amount in the underground is about the same or less than the surface (and just below the surface), but i end up spending a lot more time digging the ground itself that is inside and around the ore deposit.

What you guys do? You mine all the way down or just pass and grab whats easy?

If i am digging ore, it goes more than 30 Meter upward. :)
And you get more Copper then on ground.

Yes , its like twice of that you can dig on the surface

100% worth digging out

I always dig out the entire node, even if it takes time.
Normally I dig the node free all the way around and then start from the top of the node and keep at it, till I can't pick further down.
Lastly I use the hoe to pat the ground, which can reveal a couple of small slivers.

Friend of mine don't mind to come round and give a hand with it, same as I don't mind coming to her world and help her gather resources.

Usually the end result of mining a copper node is around 100 copper ore, so yes, to me at least, it's worth digging it all out.

I did the whole thing, because I usually spent some effort in setting up a mining operation. I will have built a workbench/forge for repairs, and hauled a cart / sailed a boat out. Doing all that and then moving to another spot after a little copper would be weird.

If you're just mining what you can carry and running back, then sure, go to a different deposit next time if you want.

1000% it's faster to dig it than find more nodes, bring a cart load it all in and done. There is more underground than on the top sometimes.

I dig around the entire vein. Then I chip through the bottom of it. Once none of the vein is touching any ground, the whole thing will come crashing down with heaps of ore. Still take time, but you at least know you are getting the whole thing.

I dig them all the way just because I dislike the thought of having left precious ore there.

Usually i dig the dirt all the way to the bottom in the lowest spot the vein shows, unveiling it all the way around (with a spare, lesser pick). this makes Greydwarves pose less annoyance as a bonus (aside for their newly adjusted rock throwing).
Then I pick off the exposed top layer and the sides, proceed to clear the ground in columns from the bottom to save 8x pick hits and dig out all that's in the way.
This also causes the occasional, satisfying floating chunk pop at times, but don't go out your way to try and cause that for the entire vein, now THAT is a real time waste (at least in my experience, and i attempted that numerous times)

It's absolutely worth digging it out.

Depends on whether or not I have other veins close by and whether I think the extra walking is worth it.

Usually worthwhile, removing the ground with the pick is extremely quick compared to mining the copper. Sometimes you find a second ore vein that's mostly or completely buried near the first, or find out the ore vein was a lot larger than it looked. We just mined out one in my MP game yesterday, and made sure to dig down and find as much as we could. We got a full stack of 30, plus about a half stack more. Didn't take too long, would have been faster but mining generally brings lots of greydwarves. I think it was very much worth the few minutes it took to uncover the additional ore since we built a tiny structure with a workbench, fire, cooking spit, and some storage right next to it so we can refresh the rested state, and store all the rocks, ore, and drops from the greydwarves.

If you just go mine a bit and move on then I'd say don't bother, if you set up a small mining camp, especially if you're close to two or three ore deposits, then it's more likely to be worth the time to dig it out.

No, there’s a million copper nodes. I like to take a ♥♥♥♥♥ out of each one and keep moving

Dig them out. I have found a second node below/inside the top one a few times.
I think the biggest cluster in one spot I found was 3 merged together. Only found that once.