One of the reasons players return toStardew Valleyover and over again is because it offers a huge variety of ways to spend their in-game. Many play as intended and attempt to build a well-rounded Farmer, working on leveling up their skills in Foraging, Fishing, Farming, and beyond. However, others like to focus on a single stat at a time. Mining is amini-game all of its own, necessitating a whole specialized skill set and a lot of pre-planning for a deep dive into the Monster-filled depths.
Tons of useful items show up in the game’s mines, from essential ores to quest-fulfilling gemstones. However, there are also plenty of inventory space-hoarders which players collect so frequently that they’re all but useless. Here’s a look at some of the worst offenders, which have players cursing the scant 36 slots of their maximum inventory.
The Mines, Floors 15-29 and 81-109
Sell Price
1g
Fiberis never a bad material to gather, even for the most experienced of Farmers. It’s just often inconvenient that it shows up in the Mines. Especially in the early game stages, before players have upgraded to the largest backpack possible, it’s not a priority space occupier when descending into the deep.
However, there are certainly times when Fiber is in scarce supply. If gamers find crows eating their crops inmiddle of Summerand need to build Scarecrows, or need to craft a ton of Warp Totems to get home from the Skull Cavern five seconds before the 2am cut-off, then they might be grateful to come across a patch of weeds below ground.
2g
Like Fiber,Wooddoesn’t make this list because it’s a useless material — far from it. Rather, the essential material isn’t what players drag themselves all the way to the game’s various subterranean caves, laden withSashimi and Triple-Shot Espressos, to search for.
It’s highly unlikely that players will exhaustStardew Valley’sbetter supplies of wood (namely, Trees of all types) and need to dive into the Mines for this building material. After a certain point, it takes up a precious inventory slot for no reason, and often ends up being thrown in the trash to make way for more valuable loot.
25g
Quartzis a useful material once smelted into its refined form, and helps the Farmer complete Community Center Bundles and the Museum’s collection in a raw state. However, Quartz suffers from being an extremely common mining material.
It’s usually worth keeping a few in storage, in case the player’s supply of Refined Quartz runs low, and they find themselves in sudden need of Quality Sprinklers, Lightning Rods, or Solar Panels. However, Quartz quickly outstays its welcome. Beyond a certain level, it becomes another unneeded space filler, and is likely headed for the trash before it even reaches the Farm.
12g
Bone Fragmentscan help the player complete Quests and craft a number of items. But unlike other common materials from the land below Stardew Valley, the items players can make with them are rarely essential ones.
The Thorns Ring is gnarly, dealing damage to enemies whenever the Farmer takes damage. The Bone Mill produces speedy fertilizers, and the Ostrich Incubator…well, incubates Ostriches. But these are all fun, later-game bonuses. Aside from helping players pass a remixed Community Center Adventurer’s Bundle, they’re all things that are nice to have rather than essential for progressing further in-game.
100g
Despite getting a node of its own in the Mines,Amethystisn’t as useful as its ubiquity might suggest. Although it is of the earliest and easiest gems players come across in-game, it’s somewhat disappointing that there isn’t more to do with the purple sparkler.
Its most-memed utility is probably as one of Abigail’s Loved Gifts, as she often responds by telling the player she’s been hungry (and presumably crunching down on the gem). It is also used in the Weapons Forge and to complete some orders from the town notice board. The only other real reason for gamers to hang onto it is if they love purple clothes.
Sell price
Most useful when smelted in place of regular Quartz (producing three Refined Quartz for the mundane version’s one),Fire Quartzis a pretty, but otherwise fairly underutilized mining material.
Requested by some varieties of Fish Pond and used to complete the Community Center Geologist’s Bundle, the mineral is otherwise asked for occasionally via the notice board outside Pierre’s General Store. Its usefulness was upped somewhat in theStardew Valley1.6 update, but it’s still far too common for how little can really be done with it in-game on consoles.
80g
When a gemstone’s description makes mention of how common it is (“Fairly common, but still prized for its beauty”), it’s easy to predict that players will quickly get sick of it popping up in their mining inventory. It is not used in any crafting recipes, and is only an option in one of theCommunity Center Bundles. Its use as gold dye in the Sewing Machine isn’t a super compelling reason to keepTopazin stock.
At least it’s a Loved Gift for the usual rock-obsessed suspects. Then again, that’s true of many other items which can be commonly found in the mines. An 80g sell price doesn’t feel like much reason to have expended much effort to find it, either.
This is another one where the description of the item, which states that it is “widely used in manufacturing and folk medicine,” could make the player feel cheated, and highlight missed opportunities in-game. If ConcernedApe is taking notes for further updates, then leaning into the supposedly medicinal uses ofOrpimentmight be something to consider.
As it stands, this Geode Mineral simplypads out the Museum’s collection, and appears frequently enough in Omni Geodes that players hoping for a bigger payday at Clint’s could be disappointed. Although some players may have to crack a lot of Geodes to get sick of it, a measly 80g doesn’t feel like enough gold for the trouble.
15g
Limestone, scraping the very bottom of the barrel, is categorically the most useless item a player can bring up from the Mines. The immense disappointment inspired by paying to crack open a Geode at Clint’s, only to make a loss on the investment, is enough to send the Farmer scuttling back to their old Joja office with disgust.
Limestone isn’t used in any Bundles, doesn’t appear in any recipes, is only a lukewarm Liked Gift for one character (the Wizard), and creates a dreary gray dye whenplaced in the Sewing Machine. The fact it sells at just 15g feels like it adds insult to injury, and makes it worth tossing in the trash as soon as its slot in the Museum collection is filled.
