Ore nodes should be hidden and found via prospecting.

[philthymcnasty]

So the copper nerf in the last experimental update got me thinking about how we do mining. We have prospecting for iron, but we hardly use it. We use the big iron nodes, and by the time we are of a tech level high enough for the automated ore drill, we don't use as much iron. It is more cost effective to sell booze then it is to craft edge 1 swords.

But when you look for a base location, you look for fertility, the big iron nodes, and a copper node. Depending on the biome, you will also look for wind. One of the give aways for a good base location is seeing the iron and copper rocks. This kills a bit of the exploration. You just run around until you find funny colored rocks then you prospect to see if it is habitable or not.

So having prospecting reveal if a stone is actually a resource source or not would be both realistic, and would add to the exploration of the game. It would also help newbs a lot, Imagine if prospecting made a dialogue in the howler maze that said "oh crap, those trees are made of Iron!". A new player would not have to go to the wiki, and that would add to the immersion.