Blackrock

[Procne]

not a huge effort or give little gain. You will get tons of silver, gold and glass from what he showed while looking for blackrock and actively working the mine to help the drop down.

I disagree. Statistically, if you left more space between those tunnels, then for the same effort you would have more chances of finding interesting veins (silver, black rock). I think glass and gold are outside the subject of this discussion, because with those your mining strategy doesn't matter, only how much you mine.

If you leave more space between tunnels there is a chance you will miss some silver veins (because they can be so small). But the amount of tiles you check (that is mined tiles + 4 adjacent ones) is still the same (assuming you have mined up the same amount of tiles)

[Dallane]

not a huge effort or give little gain. You will get tons of silver, gold and glass from what he showed while looking for blackrock and actively working the mine to help the drop down.

I disagree. Statistically, if you left more space between those tunnels, then for the same effort you would have more chances of finding interesting veins (silver, black rock). I think glass and gold are outside the subject of this discussion, because with those your mining strategy doesn't matter, only how much you mine.

If you leave more space between tunnels there is a chance you will miss some silver veins (because they can be so small). But the amount of tiles you check (that is mined tiles + 4 adjacent ones) is still the same (assuming you have mined up the same amount of tiles)

If i was just straight up looking for black rock I would give a 6 tile space so you can go back later if you feel like it. Even then if you find the black rock and your mine level if fresh then it's useless to attempt to level down. You either have to wait 1-2 weeks with no progress on your mine or work it with a chance to make some really good money. I found black rock around the same time doing small tunnels compared to the large gaps and was making tons of silver with gold and glass.

Really it comes down to how much a person likes to mine. I loved it so I mined and sifted for hours on end in the search for black rock. 2-6ish spaces gives you the perfect spread to find the big groups and the small groups of black rock. Doing more than that and you are going to miss out on black rock.

[Shrapnel]

Both of you make valid points. However my method of mining is to be extremely thorough in searching for ores, not the most efficient in terms of bile and time spent. It also helps that i enjoy Mining..

Everyone has their preference, use a method that best suits your needs.

[Chrumps]

If I was to mine that dense tunnels I'd rather strip mine all rock in the area, both for glass/gold/gems and for space - either as storage space or as salt collecting area.
But that makes sense in first or second level as deeper levels require more walking when used.

Edit:
It is really easy to hit black rock on the first level. I'd say it is more problematic to dig out a large space because of how common is black rock.
Dug out today:

[Kandarim]

i had the same issue with my latest mine. I dug out well over 1k blackrock over the course of a month or so, and ended up with three cavedowns - all decently close to the initial entrance.