Ores

-From wikipedia:

"Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit. Ore is extracted from the earth through mining and treated or refined, often via smelting, to extract the valuable metals or minerals."

In Cavesrl ores are one of the most important itens in the whole game, with each ore having an specified use and their usefulness can range from currency and a type of secondary supply to even crafting components.

There is currently 4 different ores that the player can acquire while exploring the caves: Gold, Emeralds, Energy crystals and Blood crystals, and each one has it's own speciality.

Gold
Gold is the main currency in Cavesrl, being used to buy supplies, weapons, armor plates and a few blueprints, and although it is very rare, you can also use gold purchase minor upgrades from Merchants.

Gold is the second most common ore in the game, being found with ease on the walls of any cave of will ever step into. Note:

The only difference between Gold Coins and Gold ore, is that gold coins are usually dropped by enemies or found in containners in a quantity that may vary, while gold ore can be found on stone walls or after recycling an iten that had some gold in it.

Emerald
Emeralds are a secondary currency in Cavesrl, they are slightly rarer than gold, and very few itens outside of the shelter can be bought using them.

But still, emeralds are can be used to unlock and install upgrades or modifications, Merchants will usually offer higher quality itens in exchange of emeralds, and on some places you can even buy gold coins in exchange of this ore.

Emeralds are uncommon ores, that can be found on the walls or even in crystal chunks.

Energy Crystals
Energy crystals are the most common ore in the whole game, being found with ease just about anywhere, they are very useful in any part of the game, since Energy crystals restore a certain amount of energy, which is a quite rare but extremely useful resource.

However despite the fact that Energy Crystals are very common and useful, this type of ore is very fragile, so most of the time when you mine it without high quality tools, you'll be able to retrive only small and unstable fragments that cannot be stored in the inventory (instant application) and will only restore small amounts of energy.

Also since Energy Crystals are only availble in the form of crystal chunks, there is a high chance that several of the Crystals on that location are going to be dormant Golems, making this one of he most dangerous ores on the caves if you don't have a proper combat gear.

Variations (Energy crystal)
Energy crystals are fragile ores, and due to this they come in several forms and shapes, each one with their own bonuses and features.

Blood Crystals
Blood Crystals are the rarest ore in Cavesrl, being only found on the some areas of the Lava Caves, Blood Crystals are very similar to the Energy crystals in almost every aspect, with the only difference being that they heal wounds instead of replenishing energy, and they do not appear in the form of crystal chunks.

Variations (Blood Crystal)
Just like the Energy Crystals, Blood Crystals are quite fragile and due to this each crystal will come in different sizes and shapes, each one with their own features and capabilities.

Tips
The quantity and quality of the ores gathered is mainly influenced by the quality of the mining tools you are currently using.

For example: In order to get more Gold and Emeralds you are going to need a Midas Pickaxe or a Midas drill, while to increase your chance to get an intact Energy/Blood Crystal it is recommended to use a high quality mining device.

You can also collect almost any of these ores when you recycle an iten that might contain them, such as Midas Weapons in exchange for gold, Artifacts for emeralds and so on.