Minecraft wiki entry for Mining, associated text: For those who favor mining in a straight path but try to not make it very long. Once they have reach the bedrock level, go up a few blocks and start mining and make it a large corridor. If the player reaches a cave, continue to make the large corridor and secure the cave. This will give the player large stores of cobblestone and more of a chance of finding lava. Find ores that are nearby that would be hidden if the player did another technique and did not get lost in their mine. This a very basic technique yet a tiring way of mining. It is suggested to use a diamond pickaxe with max efficiency enchantment and unbreaking enchantment so that the pickaxe doesn't break during the process and also consumes less time compared to using a non-enchanted stone pickaxe.