Planet Crafter Aluminum: Locations, Mining and Uses
"Where on earth is the Aluminum?" When it comes to Planet Crafter Aluminum, that question pops up in every other Steam and Reddit thread. Small pieces turn up in lots of places, but the big concentrations sit in a handful of clearly recognizable areas. If you don't know them, you'll search for hours and still run out of Super Alloy right when you need it.
This guide shows where it actually is, how to mine it reliably and what you really need it for. Since the console launch in July 2026, many PS5 and Xbox newcomers ask the same question. The map and the deposits are identical on every platform.
โ๏ธ Where to find Planet Crafter Aluminum
The main deposit is the Aluminum Hills, an open area with shiny rock columns and darker ground than its surroundings. Community reports on Steam consistently describe the zone as an area with "unusual, dark lighting" that stands out from the rest of the map and lies near the Iridium cave.
For scale: the game-data map on planetcrafter.th.gl marks more than 900 single Aluminum spots across all worlds. Most of them are scattered pieces. Smaller amounts show up in these places:
| Location | Yield | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Aluminum Hills | High (main deposit) | open area, shiny rock columns, dark ground, near the Iridium cave |
| Iridium cave | Medium | scattered on the floor, often next to Iridium ore |
| Zeolite Cave | Low | a few pieces between the Zeolite deposits |
| Sulfur fields | Low | a few pieces on the edges of the sulfur zones |
| Labyrinth canyons | Low | several entrances, ore mostly along cliff edges |
| Meteor field | Temporary | only after meteor showers, disappears again after a short time |
Heading straight to the hills pays off most. Everything else is a top-up when you're in the area anyway, for example to grab Iridium or Sulfur. Where the Zeolite Cave is and why you'll want it later is covered in its own guide.
๐ How to recognize the Aluminum area
The deposits look clearly different from Iron or Titanium: they have a metallic shine and tend to stick up vertically instead of lying flat. The hills also stand out with a noticeably darker sky over the area, almost as if it were lit differently. Several players on Steam confirm this marker independently. Once you see that contrast, you're in the right place.
๐ฆ Mining: from picking it up by hand to the Ore Extractor
Early on, you collect the pieces by hand with your multitool. The deposits are finite pieces on the ground and don't respawn on their own. The one exception: after a meteor shower, new pieces can briefly appear in the impact area, but they vanish again after a few minutes.
Once you've unlocked the Ore Extractor, an outpost right in the hills makes sense: according to players, the extractor keeps pulling ore there automatically. One detail many guides leave out: the extractor has to stand inside the dark zone, not just at its edge.
Several players on Steam report that an extractor outside that zone simply produces nothing, even when it looks like it's sitting in the middle of the rock. Before you leave the outpost, check that the extractor actually shows the right ore as its output.
๐ What you need Aluminum for
From the mid game on, the metal becomes a real bottleneck because it shows up in a lot of recipes, above all Super Alloy, which many higher-tier terraforming machines need:
| Recipe | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Super Alloy | 1 each of Iron, Cobalt, Magnesium, Silicon, Titanium, Aluminum |
| Super Alloy Rod | 8 Super Alloy, 1 Aluminum |
| Beacon | Titanium, Silicon, Aluminum (unlocks early through the heat value) |
| Advanced Craft Station | 3 Aluminum plus Titanium, Magnesium, Silicon |
On top of that, the game-data database lists it in this equipment and these buildings, among others:
- Machines and buildings: T3 Vegetube, T3 Drill, T2 Solar Panel, T2 Heater, Communication Antenna, Vehicle station
- Equipment: T3 Backpack, T3 Oxygen Tank, T2 Exoskeleton, T2 Jetpack, T1 Agility Boots, several microchips
- Materials: Circuit board, Water Filter
Because the list is so long, don't wait until a specific recipe is missing. Stock it from the start, just like Iron or Silicon. The Beacon is worth building early: it needs very little of it and helps you not get lost on the big, uniform map on your first trip to the hills.
๐ก Practical tips for farming Aluminum
- Build a small outpost with an Ore Extractor right in the hills instead of walking there from your main base every time.
- Check the extractor after placing it. It only produces reliably inside the dark zone.
- Grab as much as you can by hand on your first visit, before the extractor is even unlocked. That saves you a second trip.
- Swing by after meteor showers in case new pieces landed in the impact area.
- Don't hoard leftovers. Turn them into Super Alloy quickly once the mid-game machines come up, because demand jumps sharply there.
๐ More Planet Crafter guides
Where to set up outposts is covered in our guide to the best base locations. The terraforming basics and all Ti thresholds are in the terraformation stages guide. If you just started on console, the PS5 guide gets you going.
โ Frequently asked questions
Where is the most Aluminum in The Planet Crafter?
In the Aluminum Hills near the Iridium cave: an open area with shiny rock columns and noticeably dark ground.
Does Aluminum respawn?
No. Apart from short-lived pieces after meteor showers, it doesn't come back on its own. According to players, an Ore Extractor in the hills is the only reliable long-term source.
Why isn't my Ore Extractor producing Aluminum?
Usually it's standing outside the actual deposit zone. Place it directly in the dark-lit part of the hills, not just at the edge.
What do I need the most of it for?
Super Alloy. One Super Alloy takes one unit, and a Super Alloy Rod takes eight Super Alloy plus one more, so nine per rod.
As of October 8, 2026 (version v2.102 "Skeo"). Item names and recipes were checked against the game-data database planetcrafter.th.gl. Locations, the dark-zone rule for the Ore Extractor and the meteor-shower respawn come from community guides and Steam discussions and are player information, not official data. There is no official wiki for The Planet Crafter; the known wiki sites are fan projects. Exact map positions can shift slightly between versions, but the areas are easy to recognize by their look.
