Minecraft wiki entry for Things_not_to_do, associated text: Except for Ancient Debris, ores can only be obtained using the Silk Touch enchantment. The player always gains more experience from mining ores with the correct pickaxe to collect the raw material than from smelting the ore. Additionally, the player misses out on the chance to collect multiple items from each mined ore, especially if they own a pickaxe enchanted with Fortune, or if mining redstone ore or lapis lazuli ore. The only exception (As of 1.16.1) when nether gold ore is smelted, it makes one gold ingot (9 gold nuggets) rather than gold nuggets (2-6 for nether gold ore; average yield does not extend 9 nuggets even with Fortune III).