Gold is a metal ore raw material in Starsand Island, found — as most such materials are — in the Moonlit Forest. Not to be confused with Coin (which is the basic currency of the island) Gold can be mined, processed, and then used for crafting. But first, of course, you have to find it.
If you find yourself running around Moonlit Forest for what feels like ages without finding any Gold deposits, you’re not alone – it’s simultaneously really easy to stumble across, but surprisingly hard to find if you actually go out looking for it. To help you out, here’s where to mine Gold Ore in Starsand Island.
How to mine Gold in Starsand Island
Gold Ore mining nodes are most commonly found in the Crystallith Hideout area of the Moonlit Forest map in Starsand Island. However, there are a couple of complications that make Gold harder to get hold of than you might expect.
First off, Gold Ore nodes are very easily confused with Flourite – they’re basically identical in colour and often found together, meaning that you might have overlooked a wealth of Gold mining opportunities because you didn’t realise you were looking at two different node types.
The main way to tell them apart is that Gold ore shows up as a flat yellow colour, whereas Flourite is more translucent and has more of an orange-y tinge to it in places. That being said, it’s a very subtle difference at first glance.
Secondly, Gold Ore is likely the first resource node you’ll encounter which requires the Impact Hammer in order to mine it. The Impact Hammer blueprint must be bought directly from Zerine and crafted at a Level 2 Worktable, and it’s only available to Junior Crafters and above. Since there’s no basic equivalent to the hammer tool, it’s another aspect of Gold mining that’s easy to overlook until you find yourself in need of it.
For more Starsand Island mining advice, take a look at our guide to finding and processing Iron Ore. We also have a page to help you get your hands on the Cutter 1 blueprint if you missed it during the tutorial.