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How to Remove an Ore Boulder in Core Keeper
Set up a powered Crude Drill to extract ore and deplete a normal boulder, with crafting requirements and setup checks.
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For a normal, finite ore boulder, use powered drills to extract its ore until it is depleted. This is a mining process, not an instant pickup action. Player reports describe the boulder breaking after depletion.
Start with a Crude Drill
You do not need to make the Scarlet-tier Drill to begin. A Crude Drill costs 8 Tin Bars at an Automation Table. The table itself costs 5 Copper Bars and 8 Tin Bars at a Tin Workbench.
If you need a Tin Workbench, make it at a Copper Workbench using 10 Wood, 6 Copper Bars and 10 Tin Bars. For power, an Electronics Table costs 8 Wood and 8 Copper Bars at the Copper Workbench; an Electricity Generator costs 10 Copper Bars at the Electronics Table.
Set up extraction
Power → drill → extraction
- Supply electricityConnect a generator to the drill. Use wire when the source is distant.
- Face the boulderPoint the working head of the drill toward the ore boulder.
- Collect behind the drillCheck for ore at the rear. Conveyors are optional for this setup.
- Allow it to depleteKeep extracting from the boulder. Normal finite boulders run out.
Clear room beside the boulder before placing equipment. The Electronics Table makes three wires from one Copper Bar. Additional drills can speed up extraction; conveyors and smelters are optional for the basic setup.
Still blocked?
Check drill orientation and power before replacing equipment. If you use an infinite-boulder mod, depletion may be deliberately disabled; that mod’s own documentation describes this behaviour.
Moving an intact boulder to your base is a different task. Reports of doing that with commands or mods do not establish a normal pickup action.