Well I'm gonna be frank. You do not need the pickaxe early game. There are no nodes on the main island to use it on to gain ore. In fact as of launch (could be changed later) there are only two materials you can mine.


As more ores are discovered or uses for them this guide will be updated. Enjoy the questing!

First is keltonite ore and the second is quest related ore item called rainbow ore



Its located in the tools tab and It actually is very plentiful once you find where it spawns.
Location: Blackbarrow, it is is everywhere. Be sure to bring a pickaxe
Use: Selling and crafting Keltonite armor set. (Thanks to Skenjin in the comments for where the armor is located)
Crafting location: Neo Sild (town inside of cave in the Blackbarrow)

This i what it looks like:


It is actually a decent armor set if your looking to have defense and resistances against all type of attacks. However it is only expert armor.

This quest related. slight spoilers but nothing major Rainbow ore, which is only used briefly when going to the Brisk observatory on Astral Heights

Location: Cave south of Astral Heights for Brisk observatory
Use: Item needed to craft quest key