Mining Guide for Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos on Nintendo Switch

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How to Mine

When you enter a mine, there won’t be any mineable ore visible. Fortunately, unlike previous games, you won’t have to blindly mine the ground until you find something. Instead, you can use a new feature called Dowsing, which will ‘ping’ the locations of ore and other items underground. These pings will appear as circles on the mini-map in the bottom-right of your screen. Position yourself in the center of these circles to give yourself the best chance of finding the ‘pinged’ item. It’ll save you a lot of stamina as you progress through the game.

One of the spots you dowse on every floor will be a ladder that leads to the next one. You’ll encounter checkpoints every ten floors that will allow you to enter the mines at those specific levels rather than climbing down all the ladders.

Dangers You May Come Across

There are two potential dangers you may come across while digging in the ground and hitting rocks:

Triggering rock movement above your character - An exclamation mark will appear above your head when this happens. Make sure to move out of the way and avoid any shadows that appear nearby, as these are areas that rocks will fall onto. If these rocks hit you, they will lower your stamina and stun you temporarily. You can avoid triggering rock falls by going slowly and taking a second between actions to prevent yourself from getting stuck.

Revealing cracks in the ground - Cracks in the ground symbolize its instability. Walking over unstable ground will cause you to fall down several floors, draining your stamina. Unfortunately, cracks don’t have to be revealed for the ground to be unstable. Any pinged location could be unstable, so be careful, as a bad movement could end your mining for the day.

How to Reach Them

• Lenctenbury Mine - You’ll encounter this mine as part of the main story. It’s the best place to mine if you’re looking for Iron Ore, Bronze Ore, or Raw Amethyst Gemstones.
• Providence North Mine - To reach this mine, you’ll need to repair the bridge leading northwest from Providence Village, which you’ll have to do by gathering 2 High-Quality Lumber, 12 Square Lumber, and 20 Material Stone. Once you’ve built the bridge, just travel up until you find the mine. It’s the best place to mine if you’re looking for Silver Ore, Gold Ore, Raw Jade Gemstones, Raw Crystal Gemstones, or Raw Ruby Gemstones. 
• Lilikala Mine - Travel northwest from Lilikala Village. It’s the best place to mine if you’re looking for Titanium Ore, Raw Glass Gemstones, Raw Garnet Gemstones, Raw Emerald Gemstones, or Raw Tanzanite Gemstones.
• Herbstburg South Mine -Travel south of Herbstburg Village. It’s the best place to mine if you’re looking for Damascus Steel Ore, Raw Moonstone Gemstones, Raw Opal Gemstones, Raw Sapphire Gemstones, or Raw Tourmaline Gemstones.
• Zimagrad West Mine - Before reaching this mine, you must bring down the wall around Zimagrad Village. Once the walls are down, head northwest and continue up until you eventually hit it. It’s the best place to mine if you’re looking for Platinum Ore, Raw Topaz Gemstones, Raw Diamond Gemstones, or Raw Alexandrite Gemstones.
• Volcano Mine - This mine is situated east of the Lilikala Village. It’s the best place to mine if you’re looking for Orichalcum ore, Adamantite Ore, or Raw Aquamarine Gemstones; just be careful about getting lost in the labyrinthine corridors.