Planet Crafter Zeolite: Zeolite Cave Entrances, Locations and Recipes

Planet Crafter Zeolite is the glowing white crystal you can only collect late in terraforming, and without it there's no Pulsar Quartz, no Gas Extractor and no Tree seed sequencer. The only place where it keeps coming back is the Zeolite Cave. Every deposit on the surface is finite. This guide shows you the surface spots, all four cave entrances with coordinates and every recipe that eats Zeolite.

🧭 What Zeolite is and when it shows up

Zeolite looks like a cluster of milky white crystals. It's much easier to spot at night because it glows in the dark. Unlike Iron, Titanium or Cobalt, it isn't lying around from the start. It only appears once your planet is far enough along.

The community wiki names the Flora stage as the trigger, which starts at 700 MTi. Before that, you're searching the map for nothing. Some fan guides say the first small crystals already show up at the Moss stage around 200 MTi. That's a community claim the wiki doesn't back up. All thresholds are in our guide to the terraformation stages.

A pattern that helps: Zeolite almost always sits under an arched plant root, often next to a mid-sized rock with reddish streaks. Once you've seen it, you'll notice it everywhere.

🗺️ Where to find Zeolite on the surface

The game-data map on planetcrafter.th.gl marks 284 Zeolite spots across the worlds it covers. On Prime, English coordinate lists come to 45 or 46 entries. These three are closest to the usual starting area and are considered reliable by fan guides:

Surface deposits are one-time only. What you mine doesn't come back. That's enough for your first two or three recipes, but nowhere near enough for steady Pulsar Quartz production. Combine your trips with other errands, such as runs to the Osmium deposits, which sit in the same cave system anyway.

💎 The Zeolite Cave: the only renewable source

The place that matters is the Zeolite Cave, southeast of the sandfalls. The community-run Planet Crafter wiki calls it "the only place to renewably collect Zeolite". The cave is low and wide, full of tilted block-shaped stone pillars, with several large pools of water between them. Big glowing white crystals grow on the walls and ceiling in a faint blue haze.

It has four entrances. Most guides only mention one. These coordinates come from the community wiki:

Inside, the Zeolite Cave works as a hub. Through the Osmium cave you reach the cliffs and the sulfur fields, the arches and the sandfalls connect in the west, and the south wall leads to the meteor crater. Some entrances start out blocked by ice and only open once your terraforming has pushed heat high enough.

⚒️ Mining Zeolite and automating it

By hand, you mine Zeolite with the multitool like any other ore. It gets interesting with the T2 Ore Extractor. Place it on flat ground anywhere inside the Zeolite Cave and it pulls Zeolite out of the ground automatically, with no limit. The basic Ore Extractor won't do it.

The game-data database lists the T2 Ore Extractor recipe as 3 Osmium, 1 Super Alloy Rod and 2 Iridium Rods, built from the multitool. It unlocks once pressure reaches 364.5 mPa. The rods come from crafting stations, so plan a few extra Iridium runs.

The setup most players settle on: a small outpost right inside the cave, several extractors side by side, storage crates next to them and a teleporter back to your main base. Good candidates are covered in our guide to the best base locations. Mind the pools in the cave. When the water level rises, anything built low can end up underwater.

📦 What you need Zeolite for: all recipes

Zeolite is a late-game material. It isn't part of any survival recipe, but several key machines need it:

The database lists a few more consumers: Circuit board, Cosmic Quartz, the T2 Gas Extractor, Fountain, Planet viewer, two microchips and some vehicle upgrades. The table above covers the ones you'll build in volume.

The real bottleneck is Pulsar Quartz. The recipe unlocks at 175 GTi and is the base for Nuclear Fusion generators (5 each), Teleporters (3 each) and Fusion Energy Cells (3 each). Every single quartz eats one Zeolite. If you switch to fusion power in the endgame, you'll need it in the hundreds. That's why the Zeolite Cave decides whether your endgame runs smoothly or stalls.

🛒 Trading, crates and recycling

• Buying through trade? No. The Trade space rocket only works one way: you load goods and receive Terra Tokens. Tokens buy drones, habitat modules, storage upgrades, a cooking station and animal species, but no raw ores. You can't buy Zeolite, only turn it into money indirectly by selling Pulsar Quartz. How the trade loop works is in our Trade Rocket guide.
• Crates: From the Flora stage on, Zeolite also turns up in the loot of crates scattered across the map. Not a plannable supply, but a nice bonus.
• Recycling: Put finished Pulsar Quartz into the Recycling machine and you get the Zeolite back. That's recovery, not multiplication.

You can't craft Zeolite in The Planet Crafter. There's no recipe that makes it and no converter that turns other ores into it.

🌍 Zeolite on Humble, Toxicity and Skeo

According to the community wiki, all base resources from Prime also exist on Toxicity, plus Tungsten, Toxic Goo, spores, toxic water and Pristine mushrooms. Zeolite is one of them, but the spots differ from Prime. Players on the forums also report Zeolite on Humble. That's a community report without an official coordinate list.

Which world offers what is covered in our overview of all Planet Crafter planets. What to pack for the move is in the guide on moving to a new planet.

The moon Skeo has been in the regular game since v2.102 on September 1, 2026. The development-branch builds v2.100 to v2.102 focused on the moon itself, new machines and Magnetar Quartz. None of those patch notes mention a change to Zeolite, its spots or the extractors. Everything about the moon is in the Skeo guide. For Zeolite, the cave on Prime is still the most dependable source.

💡 Practical tips for your Zeolite supply

• Search at night. The crystals glow in the dark and you can see them from much farther away.
• Cave first, surface later. Surface deposits are finite. Save them instead of clearing them early.
• Stack extractors. One T2 Ore Extractor fills a crate slowly. If you plan fusion power, put several side by side or Planet Crafter Zeolite turns into a permanent bottleneck.
• Prioritize heat. One of the cave entrances is blocked by ice and stays shut until your heat value is high enough.

🔗 More Planet Crafter resource guides

Related: where to find Aluminum for base building, and how Magnetar Quartz became craftable with the Skeo update.

❓ Frequently asked questions about Planet Crafter Zeolite

When does Zeolite appear in the game?

According to the community wiki, with the Flora stage at a Terraformation Index of 700 MTi. Before that you won't find any, no matter how hard you look. Some fan guides put the first small crystals at the Moss stage around 200 MTi. That's a community claim.

Where is the Zeolite Cave in Planet Crafter?

Southeast of the sandfalls, with four entrances: west side 360:157:1803, south side 31:190:1440, east side 396:144:988 through the Osmium cave and north side 455:71:1220 from the sulfur field. It's the only place where Zeolite comes back.

Can I mine Zeolite with an extractor?

Yes, but only with the T2 Ore Extractor and only inside the Zeolite Cave. Placement inside is up to you as long as the ground is flat enough. The basic Ore Extractor doesn't produce Zeolite.

Can I craft or buy Zeolite?

Neither. There's no crafting recipe, and the Trade space rocket only sells your goods for Terra Tokens instead of offering raw materials. You can recover Zeolite by breaking Pulsar Quartz down in the Recycling machine.

What do I need Zeolite for most?

Pulsar Quartz. Each one costs one Zeolite, and Nuclear Fusion generators, Teleporters and Fusion Energy Cells burn through Pulsar Quartz fast. After that comes the Gas Extractor with two Zeolite and the Tree seed sequencer with one.

Is there Zeolite on the DLC worlds?

On Toxicity, yes. The wiki states that all base resources from Prime exist there too. For Humble, players on the Steam forums report spots as well, but there's no official coordinate list.

As of October 8, 2026 (version v2.102 "Skeo"). Sources: the community-run Planet Crafter wiki (there is no official wiki; pages "Zeolite Cave" and "Toxicity"), the game-data database planetcrafter.th.gl for item names, recipes, the T2 Ore Extractor and its unlock, English coordinate lists and the Steam patch notes for v2.100 to v2.102.

Community claims, not officially confirmed: Zeolite showing up at the Moss stage, the three surface coordinates from fan guides and Zeolite on Humble. The Tree seed sequencer is the current in-game name in the database; older guides call it the DNA Manipulator. Recipes and thresholds can change with updates.