Originally posted by vinyblaster:

What does "early" even mean here? Technically you can *find* it without killing any boss since a few veins are actually visible without even digging. And then what? You need an iron pickaxe to mine it. Now again, it is technically possible to get the iron pick without killing any boss if you get iron from killing the red blobs in the swamps. It's just gonna take forever and I wouldn't call it "early".