Mining Efficiently

Mining is something that very boring for many people, so it is optimal to get as many ores from mining, as fast as possible. The system of mining that I use does just that. I mine 33% of blocks, and look at a total of 66% of blocks. I find an even larger percent of the ores i the ground. How do I do this? Well:

I begin by digging a two wide whole down to level 15 using ladders on one side and having a basejump (water) on the other side for quick entry. In order to quickly figure out if you are at level 15 click f3 and look at your y value.

Dig out a box that is about 3x3x10. On the far side start your first tunnel. Move over two blocks, and start your second  tunnel, but dig down to level 13 to start this tunnel. Move over two more blocks after this and begin a third tunnel, this time using level 15 again. Continue this process alternating tunnels until the end of the room is reached.

After this Go to the opposite corner and dig down 4 levels to level 11. Dig another 3x3x10 room directly under the first. Dig the same pattern in the second room as in the first. To finish off simply choose a tunnel and dig it as long as you want, then start on the next.

 

Why this works

This method, as previously stated, covers 66% of all blocks in the search for ores. The goal of mining is not to get the greatest number of ores possible from a given space, but it is to get the greatest number of ores in a minimum amount of time. The only way that a vein of ore will not be found, is if it exclusively in one of the 1x2 blind spots. If an ore is in the blind spot it is most likely a small vein of two blocks, and therefore it is not necessary to find it.

Grey squares are tunnels, yellow squares are
exposed squares, white squares are blind spots.

I'm going to start having a Question of the Day section at the end of each blog. 

QOTD: What are your mining techniques? Are they different from mine?