How to get iron ore and iron ingots in Graveyard Keeper 2
Where iron ore comes from, how to turn it into ingots, and how to set up a Zombie Miner so you never hunt for rocks again.
The short answer
Early on you get iron ore from iron rocks and from the Trademaster, who stocks it at tier I. Long term, a Zombie Miner produces 1 Iron Ore and 2 Coal every cycle. To make ingots, put 1 Iron Ore and 1 Coal into a Smithy I or Smithy II. Ore, ingots and Iron Details are three different items, so check which one your recipe actually wants.
VIEW IMAGE ↗What to check, in order
- 01
Read the request carefully: Iron Ore, Iron Ingot and Iron Detail are separate items made at separate stations.
- 02
For a small shortfall, buy ore from the Trademaster while his shop is still at tier I.
- 03
Mine iron rocks with your pickaxe on the toolbar; they are finite, so do not count on them forever.
- 04
Smelt at a Smithy: 1 Iron Ore plus 1 Coal makes 1 Iron Ingot.
- 05
Set up a Zombie Miner with a porter as soon as the area opens, for steady ore and coal.
- 06
For Jack’s order, pack ingots into a crate and put it on the warehouse pallet before Pride.
From ore to finished metal
- 01
Iron ore
Gather, buy or mine
- 02
Recipe unlock
Check the correct bench
- 03
Fuel or coal
Match the recipe input
- 04
Iron ingot
Collect the finished metal
Field Guide schematic · read alongside the checklist. Not an in-game screen.
Ore, ingot or detail? Know what you are missing
Most iron headaches start with the wrong noun. A quest that asks for Iron Details does not want ingots, and a recipe that wants ingots will not take raw ore. Before you spend an evening mining, open the recipe or quest and write down the exact item name.
Iron Details are needed surprisingly early. The broken morgue door, for example, wants an Iron Detail, and that sits three technologies away when you start. If a building is greyed out because of iron, follow the chain backwards: Detail needs Ingot, Ingot needs Ore and Coal, and each step needs its own station and unlock.
| Item | Made from | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Iron Ore | Iron rocks, Trademaster, Zombie Miner | World, shop, mine station |
| Coal | Zombie Miner output | Mine station |
| Iron Ingot | 1 Iron Ore + 1 Coal | Smithy I or Smithy II |
| Iron Detail | Iron Ingot | Anvil, after the matching smithing tech |
Where to find iron ore
Iron rocks are scattered around the zones near your base, with more in areas that open up through the story, such as the forest and the swamp. Each rock gives a handful of ore, around six per rock by most players’ counts, and they do not come back once broken. Treat them as a starter supply, not an economy.
Mining needs enough mastery and a pickaxe on your toolbar. Guides disagree about which branch gates iron rocks, so hover the rock: if your swings do not register, the tooltip shows what is missing. A bronze or iron pickaxe and the first mastery node usually clear it.
The Trademaster sells Iron Ore, along with Bronze Scrap, Golden Nuggets and gems, but only at tier I. Upgrading his shop changes the stock, so if you lean on him for iron, buy what you need before you upgrade.
Field note: Iron rocks also drop red technology points. Mining them when you need red points anyway is a cheap way to bank ore early.
Smelting iron ingots
The documented recipe is simple: 1 Iron Ore and 1 Coal at a Smithy I or Smithy II gives 1 Iron Ingot. The Smithy also turns sand and coal into glass and clay and coal into bricks, so it earns its space even before you have much iron.
Some guides list a furnace route that uses fuel instead of coal. Update 1.005 rebalanced kiln and furnace costs, so recipe numbers from launch week may already be out of date. Open the recipe window in your own game and use the quantities it shows; it reflects your installed version.
Put a zombie with a hammer on the Smithy and keep coal flowing, and ingots stop being a bottleneck. The Iron Age achievement wants 100 smelted ingots, and a zombie-run Smithy gets you there without you touching it.
The Zombie Miner: iron forever
Stone, marble and iron are all renewable once zombies are involved. A Zombie Miner produces 1 Iron Ore and 2 Coal per cycle, indefinitely, which covers both inputs of the Smithy recipe with coal to spare for glass and bricks.
The forest mine is the usual spot. Getting in takes story progress and, according to games.gg, dynamite to clear the blockage. The miner station itself is cheap, around 2 Wooden Planks and 4 Bricks, and it pairs with a porter station that carries the ore and coal to your chests. Give the miner a pickaxe, iron if you have one.
- Add a second Miner Station if you want to double output.
- Place extra chests near the porter so a full chest never stalls the line.
- Coal from the mine also feeds glass and brick recipes at the Smithy.
Jack’s iron order (Supply: Iron)
The Workshop Hours quest asks for iron in a specific form: a packed supply crate on the warehouse pallets. A crate takes 6 Iron Ingots, 4 Boards and 8 Bronze Nails. Ingots sitting in your backpack do not count, however many you carry.
Timing matters more than materials here. Orders are only handed out on Pride, and the pallets are only checked the following Pride morning, so the whole order takes at least a week. Update 1.007 also fixed iron delivery quests that could stall, so if yours seemed stuck before the patch, try again after updating.
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Iron Ingot | 6 |
| Board | 4 |
| Bronze Nails | 8 |
Bronze versus iron
If you came here because a recipe is greyed out, check whether it actually wants bronze. Bronze Ingots come from a furnace: the common recipe is 3 Bronze Scrap and 20 Fuel for 2 ingots, and there is a second route using Copper Nuggets and Tin. Bronze Scrap is cheap at Herm’s store and turns up in barrels and junk piles.
Iron tools are a real step up. On the toolbar an iron tool gives +4 mastery against bronze’s +2, which is often the difference between a recipe that starts and one that does not.
Common questions
Is a missing iron recipe a mining problem?+
Usually not. A greyed-out iron recipe points to a technology or station you have not unlocked. Owning ore does not unlock anything by itself.
Do iron rocks respawn?+
No. Once broken they are gone, which is why a Zombie Miner is worth the effort.
What is the iron ingot recipe?+
1 Iron Ore and 1 Coal at a Smithy I or II makes 1 Iron Ingot. Always confirm the numbers in your recipe window, since furnace costs were rebalanced in 1.005.
Why did Jack not accept my ingots?+
His order wants a packed crate (6 Iron Ingots, 4 Boards, 8 Bronze Nails) placed on the warehouse pallet. Pallets are only checked on Pride morning.
Can I buy iron ingots?+
Yes. The town Smithy shop stocks ingots once it is built, and higher tiers add iron details and gear. Buying is fine for a small gap.
Where does coal come from?+
The Zombie Miner produces 2 Coal with every Iron Ore, so a running mine covers smelting by itself.
Which tech tab has the iron recipes?+
Metallurgy. Bronze Works, Melting and Bronze Craft come first and cost about 45 red points in total; the iron smithing nodes hang further down the same branch, so you will be spending red points to get there.
How long does the Iron Age achievement take?+
It counts 100 smelted iron ingots, tracked by batch. With a hammer-equipped zombie on the Smithy and a Zombie Miner feeding it, it ticks over in the background while you do other work.
Sources & further reading
Recipes, costs and timings were cross-checked against the references below and the official patch notes. Numbers can shift with updates, so the in-game recipe window always has the final word.
- Community databaseGK2DB: metal items
- Community databaseGK2DB: stone and coal items
- Community walkthroughGK2DB: walkthrough II (Jack’s iron order)
- Guidegames.gg: how to find iron ore
- Community FAQWikily: ingot recipes and renewable resources
- OfficialOfficial 1.005 and 1.007 patch notes
