Minerals and metals are only found underground, in dangerous and rare mines.
The entrance to a mine will look like a set of staircases leading down. They occur randomly throughout the planet. Different mines contain different minerals which can be used to make metals or stone items. Mines also contain dangerous enemies which guard the resources. The enemies get more dangerous the deeper into the mine you go, so while you may be able to gather the top few layers with a basic wooden shield and a pointy stick, you will need to upgrade your gear or have a lot of patience to gather the minerals on deeper levels.
Unlike plants and animals, minerals and metals do not regrow - there is a limited number of minerals in the game from the start.
There are five basic types of stone
There is one material which is turned into clay
There is one material used for glass or salt
There are 8 rare gemstones in the game - they currently have no use.
There are ten different types of alloy-able metal in the game. These metals can be converted into alloysteels. The different metals can be found in different geographic regions around the planet - players will have to travel far and wide to access all of the metals and advance the tech tree to its furthest point.
There are also three types of non-alloyable metals in the game. They can only be used for basic 'one metal' recipes
The alloy-able metals can be converted into alloysteels by combining any number of the metals that you have already found. The more metals that are combined, the stronger the weapons and armour that can be made from this metal. The alloysteels are named as follows