Graveyard Keeper 2 Mining Guide

Mining runs on two systems: the breakable objects you hit by hand, and the zombie digger stations that produce the same materials without you standing there. The build names almost none of the hand-breakable objects, so they are grouped here by what they drop and how many hits they take.

By hand: the breakable nodes

Thirty-five objects drop mineral materials, in sixteen groups. An empty name means the game ships no name for that object — this page does not invent one. The most useful rows:

| Drops | Hits | Objects | In-game name | |---|---|---|---| | Stone ×1–2 | 5 | 16 | (unnamed) | | Sand ×4 | 4 | 2 | (unnamed) | | Marble ×4 | 5 | 2 | Marble | | Iron Ore ×3 (+ Miner talent) | 5 | 2 | (unnamed) | | Clay ×4 | 2–3 | 2 | (unnamed) | | Golden nugget ×4–30 | 2 | 3 | (unnamed) | | Copper Nugget ×3 (+ Miner), Gem ×1 | 5 | 1 | (unnamed) |

The remaining groups are small stone nodes (1–4 Stone, 5 hits each). The three golden nugget nodes scale upward — 4–8, 9–18 and 15–30 per node — and are covered in detail in the gold nuggets guide.

By zombie: the digger stations

Three stations produce materials, each completing one batch per 8 ticks; four more stations in the same zones only haul and supply.

| Station | Zone | Output per batch | Build cost | |---|---|---|---| | Zombie Miner | Zombie Mine | 1 Iron Ore, 2 Coal, 1 Gem | 2 Wooden Plank + 4 Brick | | Clay Digger Stand | Zombie Digging | 1 Clay | 2 Wooden Plank + 4 Iron Nails | | Sand Digger Stand | Zombie Digging | 1 Sand | 2 Wooden Plank + 4 Iron Nails | | Zombie Supplier Station | Quarry | hauling / supply | 4 Wooden Plank + 4 Bronze Nails | | Porter Station | Quarry | hauling / supply | 2 Piece of stone + 4 Brick | | Porter Station | Zombie Mine | hauling / supply | 2 Wooden Plank + 4 Brick | | Porter Station | Zombie Digging | hauling / supply | 2 Wooden Plank + 4 Iron Nails |

Putting a zombie on a station follows the normal worker rules — see zombie workers and the zombie mine guide. The Quarry additionally holds the Zombie Stone Quarry and Zombie Marble Quarry (2 Piece of stone + 4 Wooden Plank each).

The three mining zones

The zone names are the game's own — Zombie Mine (5 buildings), Quarry (7) and Zombie Digging (6). All three share the same storage ladder: Simple Chest (4 Wooden Plank + 4 Bronze Nails), Chest (4 Oiled Plank + 2 Wooden beam + 6 Iron Nails) and Large Chest (2 Oiled Beam + 6 Carved Wood + 8 Steel Screws). Chests store the output and porter stations move it.

What iron ore turns into

Iron Ore (base price 100) feeds three recipes, and the ingots then flow into iron details, nails and steel goods. The full list lives on the metal recipes page.

| Recipe | Inputs → outputs | Batch | |---|---|---| | Iron Ingot | 1 Iron Ore + 1 Coal → 1 Iron Ingot | 8 tick | | Iron Ingot | 3 Iron Ore + 30 Fuel → 3 Iron Ingot | 12 tick | | Philosopher Stone | 1 Iron Ore + 1 Philosopher Stone → 1 Golden nugget | 8 tick |

Frequently asked questions

Where do I get iron ore? Break the 5-hit ore veins by hand (3 ore each, plus the Mining talent) or run a Zombie Miner — 1 Iron Ore + 2 Coal every 8 ticks.

How do I unlock zombie mining? Build the Zombie Miner station in the Zombie Mine zone and assign a zombie to it; the same zone's Porter Station hauls the output back toward your base. Smelting the ore into ingots ties straight into the bronze and iron chain from the early tech route.