Minecraft wiki entry for Gold_Ore, associated text: In Java Edition gold ore attempts to generate 4 times per chunk, in blobs of size 9, from levels -64 to 32, in all biomes. It is most likely to be found around layer -16, becoming less common toward either end of the range. Gold ore is also less likely to be exposed to air; 50% of ore blocks that would generate exposed do not generate. There is an additional blob of size 9 that may generate uniformly between -64 and -32 with the same 50% air exposure rate. In badlands biomes, gold ore attempts to generate 50 times per chunk, from levels 32 to 256 uniformly, in blobs of size 9. This extra gold ore in badlands biomes will generate regardless of exposure to air. Gold ore can replace stone, granite, diorite, andesite, tuff, and deepslate. Any gold ore that replaces tuff or deepslate will become deepslate gold ore.