Minecraft wiki entry for Mining, associated text: Another way to get many resources acquired from mining very quickly without having to use up tools or TNT, is to use the wither. The wither, unlike most other mobs, has the ability to break any block that can be mined by the player. In addition, if a block is destroyed by the black or blue skulls of the wither, it will drop itself (see Explosion for more details). However, be very careful when attempting to mine by using the wither when in Survival mode, as the wither has many defenses, and is able to deal a great amount of damage to the player. So, make sure to either have high quality weapons and armor, or make the wither mine so that it is impossible for the wither to attack the player.