Ore vein

Ore veins are harvestable world objects found

Characteristics
Ore veins are a source of mineral ore and are found in rocky outcroppings, caves, and mines throughout Appalachia. They are harvested by interacting with the object. Veins within a blast zone have a chance to convert to ultracite veins.

Changelog
Prior to update 32, interacting with an ultracite vein or depleted ultracite vein would either spawn a wave of Scorched defenders or a scorchbeast, regardless of whether a blast zone is present. This feature was disabled due to a bug that causes "flora" to persist after being harvested, allowing the defender wave to be respawned repeatedly.

Bugs

 * Ore veins which have already been harvested will reappear if the player leaves the area and returns. These veins may be interacted with, but will not yield ore or disappear. Collecting enough items to bump the node off of the "recently looted items" list will restore normal behavior.
 * Nearly every ore vein within abandoned mine shaft Elaine and abandoned mine site Kittery is scripted to use RNG for determining whether or not the node may be harvested. Nodes which are selected to be unharvestable will not be hidden. These veins may be interacted with, but will not yield ore or disappear.
 * Uranium veins, ultracite veins, and depleted ultracite veins will not grant bonus ores when harvested by a player wearing a Excavator power armor torso.
 * Many ore veins around Appalachia are obstructed by other objects and are inaccessible.

Behind the scenes
Ore veins are features in real life geology that are significant to mining.