Nephis Ore is ore that Nephi sought for making tools to construct a ship. Nephi asked the Lord where he could find “ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me” (1 Nephi 17:9). The Lord told Nephi where he should go “to find ore, that I might make tools” (1 Nephi 17:10).
Nephi made tools “of the ore which I did molten out of the rock” (1 Nephi 17:16). By the Lord’s command, Nephi made “plates of ore” and engraved the record of his people, his father’s record, their wilderness journeyings, and prophecies upon them (1 Nephi 19:1). Nephi taught his people to work in several materials, including “precious ores, which were in great abundance” (2 Nephi 5:15).