Starsand Island Iron Ore & Ore Locations by Forest Zone
Almost every ore in Starsand Island comes out of Moonlit Forest, handed out in order: the deeper you push past its camps and bosses, the rarer the rock. “Where is iron ore” really means “how deep do I need to go” — the third zone, Dreamfall Garden. Below: the zone order, a zone→ore table, a short section per ore (first location, smelting chain, shop availability), then Ore Chunks, the Ore Analyzer and mining buffs.
Locations merge the item data’s origin fields with a widely upvoted community ore guide that walks the forest portal by portal — both Early Access material, under re-check for 1.0 (respawns and node placement were patched several times). Recipes come from crafting data that already contains Version 1.0 strings.
Moonlit Forest zone order
Camps/teleport points run in this sequence (twelve camps and three bosses per the developer; nodes respawn the next day):
Evernight Forest → Gate of Life → Dreamfall Garden (boss: Crystalith) → Crystalith Hideout → Azure Bay → Mural Valley (boss: Glintortle) → Harvest Yard → Grain Haven → Darkwater Shore → Homeward Trail → Serenity’s Rest → Moonlight Meadow (altar, final boss: Ruin Guardian)
The item data uses three depth labels — roughly “early forest”, “midsection” (Azure Bay to Darkwater Shore) and “The Depths” (Homeward Trail onward) — which line up with the community zone names. Zone-by-zone navigation, gates and chests are on the Moonlit Forest map guide.
Zone → ore table
| Zone | Ores first or commonly found here |
|---|---|
| Evernight Forest | Copper, Tin, Quartzite, Fluorite, Common Ore Chunks |
| Gate of Life | Copper, Tin, Quartzite, Fluorite |
| Dreamfall Garden | Iron (first), Coal (first), Copper, Tin, Quartzite, Fluorite, Salt (pile) |
| Crystalith Hideout | Iron, Copper, Quartzite, Fluorite, Gold (first, per players), Uncommon Ore Chunks begin |
| Azure Bay | Gold (first per item data), Iron, Coal, Tin, Primorite |
| Mural Valley | Coal, Gold, Primorite, Magnetite (boss arena at the end) |
| Harvest Yard | Transition zone — no ore-specific reports collected |
| Grain Haven | Flamecore (first), Oilstone, Diamond, Gold, Primorite |
| Darkwater Shore | Flamecore, Oilstone, Gold, Primorite (upper level) |
| Homeward Trail | Oilstone, Diamond, Rare Ore Chunks |
| Serenity’s Rest | Moonstone, Aurorite, Flamecore, Rare Ore Chunks |
| Moonlight Meadow | Aurorite, Moonstone (Ruin Guardian room) |
Smelting chart (what each furnace needs)
| Station | Fuel/flux | Turns |
|---|---|---|
| Furnace I | Charcoal (Charcoal Kiln: Softwood 1 + Fiber 2 → 2; or 5g at the General Store) | 4 Copper → Copper Ingot; 4 Tin → Tin Ingot; 4 Quartzite → Glass Brick; Fluorite → Radiant Core |
| Furnace II | Coal | 4 Iron → Iron Ingot; 4 Gold → Gold Ingot; 4 Magnetite → Magnet; 4 Primorite → Starflare Core |
| Furnace III | Oilstone | 4 Flamecore → Flamecore Ingot; 4 Moonstone → Lunar Core; 4 Aurorite → Aurorite Ingot |
| Gear Smith | — | Tin Ingot → Gear; Iron Ingot → Iron Nail; 3 Iron Ingot → Iridescent Sand; 3 Radiant Core → Radiant Crystal; 3 Lunar Core → Lunar Crystal |
| Cutter I / II | — | Glass Brick → Glass Pane; Iron Ingot → Iron Sheet |
| Charcoal Kiln | — | 4 Oilstone + 3 Fiber → Rubber; 4 Salt Brick + 2 Fiber → Fine Salt |
Furnace and cutter blueprints are covered on the machines page.
Ore by ore
Copper Ore
Everywhere — the item data literally lists its origin as “everywhere”, and every forest zone from Evernight to Crystalith Hideout has nodes. Furnace I with Charcoal: 4 ore → Copper Ingot (then Copper Sheet at the cutter). Zerine’s General Store sells Copper Ore at 10g from Junior rank.
Tin Ore
Early forest: Evernight, Gate of Life, Dreamfall Garden, Azure Bay. Furnace I → Tin Ingot → Gear Smith → Gear (the first machine part you will run short of). General Store: 10g.
Quartzite Ore (“quartz”)
Evernight through Crystalith Hideout. Furnace I: 4 ore + Charcoal → Glass Brick → Cutter I → Glass Pane — the glass the Fish Egg Incubator and many builds call for. General Store: 10g (listed as Quartz).
Fluorite Ore
Almost the whole forest starting at Evernight. Furnace I → Radiant Core; three cores at the Gear Smith → Radiant Crystal (needed by the Quick Shipping Box, Chopper II, Steel Wide Hoe and more). No shop listing found. Player tip: gold ore looks very similar to fluorite — break every yellow node.
Coal
First in Dreamfall Garden, then Azure Bay and Mural Valley; several players note nodes below the waterfall / where you drop off the bubble bridge. Coal is the flux for Furnace II — iron, gold, magnetite and primorite all need it — so the Dreamfall Garden run is what unlocks mid-game metal. Coal is distinct from Charcoal (Furnace I flux, kiln-made). Item data has no origin field for coal; the Dreamfall-first placement is the community consensus.
Iron Ore
First in Dreamfall Garden (both the item data and the community guide agree), then Crystalith Hideout and Azure Bay. Two Early Access patches are relevant: 0.3.5809 addressed iron nodes being hard to find, and 0.3.4631 fixed iron at the “enchanted frog” spot in the forest not respawning — so if an old thread says iron never comes back, that is outdated. Furnace II with Coal: 4 ore → Iron Ingot → Iron Sheet (Cutter II), Iron Nail (Gear Smith) or Iridescent Sand (3 ingots, Gear Smith). General Store sells Iron Ore at 20g from Intermediate rank; the Merchant Ship has bought Iron Ingots at 132g per lot of 12.
Gold Ore
Item data says Azure Bay; players say the first nodes are right after the Crystalith fight, in Crystalith Hideout / Azure Bay, and that they look like fluorite. Also Mural Valley, Grain Haven and the upper part of Darkwater Shore. Furnace II + Coal → Gold Ingot, the base of Alloy, Gold Wire, Gold Sheet and the High-Performance Wire Set. General Store: 25g from Senior rank.
Magnetite Ore
End of Mural Valley, in the Glintortle boss arena — multiple players independently report this, and you need the exploration rank that opens the Mural Valley gate. Sources disagree on the label: the item data calls the origin “Spiritshade River (Moonlit Forest)”, a name that does not appear on the release map (probably an internal or older zone name). A second route: Uncommon Ore Chunks analysed in the Ore Analyzer can yield magnetite. Furnace II + Coal: 4 ore → Magnet (Fish Trap, Solar Rod, Spirit Cube II). No shop listing found.
Primorite Ore
“Midsection” of the forest — Azure Bay, Mural Valley, Grain Haven, upper Darkwater. Furnace II + Coal → Starflare Core; three cores → Starflare Crystal. Also an ingredient of Vitality Core (see plant and crafted resources). No shop listing found.
Flamecore Ore
Grain Haven first, then Darkwater Shore (upper) and Serenity’s Rest. Furnace III with Oilstone: 4 ore → Flamecore Ingot (Spring, Chip, Eternal Alloy). General Store: 35g at Expert rank.
Oilstone
Item data: “cave below the Waterwheel” — Grain Haven / Darkwater Shore / Homeward Trail. Oilstone is the Furnace III flux and also makes Rubber at the Charcoal Kiln (4 + Fiber 3). General Store: 30g at Expert rank.
Diamond
“The Depths” — Grain Haven and Homeward Trail. Used raw: Chip (Flamecore Ingot + Gold Wire 3 + Diamond 2) and the Perpetual Reactor. No shop listing found.
Moonstone
Serenity’s Rest (“The Depths” in the data); players also pull it from the Ruin Guardian boss room. Furnace III + Oilstone → Lunar Core → Gear Smith, 3 → Lunar Crystal (Titanium Rod needs 5). Lunar Core is also the main ingredient of Immortal Seeds and of Meteor Planks. Early Access had a moonstone non-respawn bug on PC and consoles, since fixed. Ore Chunks occasionally yield it. No shop listing found.
Aurorite Ore
Moonlight Meadow per item data, Serenity’s Rest per players — the last zones. Furnace III + Oilstone → Aurorite Ingot → Eternal Alloy (Titanium Rod, endgame machines). No shop listing found.
Salt Brick
Item data: “Luminbridge (Moonlit Forest)”, plus the General Store at 20g; the community guide marks a salt pile in Dreamfall Garden. Not a furnace ore — it goes through the Charcoal Kiln (4 + Fiber 2) into Fine Salt, which several festival recipes (Clam Soup at New Year, beach festival dishes) require.
Common / Uncommon / Rare Ore Chunks
Chunks are unidentified rocks scaled by depth: Common in the early forest, Uncommon from Crystalith Hideout through Darkwater Shore, Rare from Homeward Trail and Serenity’s Rest. Mining robots also bring chunks home. You cannot use a chunk directly — see the next section.
Ore Analyzer, Spirit Cube Fragments, Ancient Precision Part
The Ore Analyzer (General Store blueprint 650g; Hardwood 8 + Copper Sheet 2) opens chunks into hidden contents. Known outputs:
- Ordinary ores including Magnetite and occasionally Moonstone.
- Spirit Cube Fragment (from Uncommon and Rare chunks) → Spirit Cube I (4 Fragments + 2 Bronze, Worktable II) → Spirit Cube II (2 × Cube I + Magnet) → Spirit Cube III (2 × Cube II + 2 Alloy, Worktable III). Spirit Cubes feed the Robot Terminal, robots and the Teleporter; crafting them requires the Intermediate Crafter certification.
- Ancient Precision Part — the item text calls it a key item obtainable by analysing a chunk of any grade. What it crafts into is not confirmed in the sources reviewed; it is being checked.
So “uncommon ore chunk locations” = Crystalith Hideout → Azure Bay → Mural Valley → Grain Haven → Darkwater Shore, plus whatever your mining robot digs.
Mining buffs worth stacking
- Green Grape Juice — mining-yield buff, stacks up to 5.
- Soup Dumplings — adds a chance to get an Ore Chunk per node.
- Workpedia “stamina refund per node” — combined with the Blast Hammer (several nodes per swing) the refund adds up.
- Nodes respawn daily, so a morning sweep Dreamfall Garden → Azure Bay covers iron, coal and gold in one trip.
FAQ
Where do you find iron ore in Starsand Island?
Dreamfall Garden, the third Moonlit Forest zone (after Evernight Forest and Gate of Life), then Crystalith Hideout and Azure Bay. The General Store also sells it at 20g once you reach Intermediate rank.
Where is coal?
Dreamfall Garden onward (Azure Bay, Mural Valley). It is the Furnace II fuel; Charcoal from the kiln does not replace it.
Where is magnetite?
The Glintortle boss arena at the end of Mural Valley, or by analysing Uncommon Ore Chunks in the Ore Analyzer.
Where is moonstone?
Serenity’s Rest in the deep forest, with extra drops in the Ruin Guardian room; rarely from Ore Chunks. Smelt it in Furnace III with Oilstone to get Lunar Core.
Related guides
- Moonlit Forest map, gates and chests
- Machines and crafting stations
- Premium wood, bamboo and plant resources
- Fishing guide (Titanium Rod needs Lunar Crystal)
- Beginner guide
Last reviewed: August 23, 2026 — sources: game item/crafting data export, community Moonlit Forest ore guide and Reddit reports, official Steam patch notes (EA 0.2–0.5).
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