Quartz

Quartz is a Mineral that can be found by foraging in The Mines, Quarry Mine, and Skull Cavern. It can also appear in Garbage Cans, and Stone Golems have a 10% chance to drop it when defeated. In the Quarry, Quartz may also be generated as part of the daily rock spawns, and it can come from several node types there. A Ghostfish Fish Pond can produce Quartz once the population reaches 3, and more once it reaches 9.

Quartz is a basic but useful mineral with several practical uses. It can be smelted in a Furnace with 1 Coal to produce Refined Quartz, which takes 1.5 in-game hours. It is also used in tailoring to create the Gray Vest on the Sewing Machine. In addition, five Quartz can be traded to the Desert Trader in the Calico Desert for one Bomb.

Quartz may be requested for Help Wanted quests on Pierre's General Store board, and it can also be required for Fish Pond quests. A Ghostfish Fish Pond may ask for 5 Quartz to increase the pond capacity from 1 to 3, while some other fish, including Crab, Cockle, Lobster, Mussel, Oyster, or Shrimp, may request 5 Quartz to raise capacity from 5 to 7.

Some useful notes about Quartz:

• It can be destroyed by bombs.
• In the Quarry, open space matters: existing rocks block new spawns, so clearing the area improves the chance of valuable nodes appearing there.
• Quarry tiles marked as usable can hold paths, artisan equipment, and refining equipment, and yellow tillable tiles can also be used to plant common trees.
• Villagers do not travel through the Quarry or across its bridge, so items placed there are safe from destruction.

Quartz is one of the most common minerals players will accumulate while mining, and its main value comes from being a steady source of Refined Quartz, a quest item, and a trading material. Because it is so easy to obtain in early and midgame mining, players often keep a stockpile rather than selling it immediately, especially once Fish Ponds, tailoring, and Desert Trader trades become relevant.