When I'm not exploring fresh caves or lands in minecraft, I'm busy trying to find deposits of diamond, gold and iron deep in the earth. So far I've just been digging around just above bedrock on a whim to look for these rare minerals but I've started thinking that I should be taking a more controlled, efficient approach to mining.

**What is the optimal mining strategy that yields the most rare minerals while minimizing blocks removed and time spent digging and traveling?**

**Edit:** The existing answers are great for mining, but no one has addressed travel time to and from the mine which is usually ~60 blocks downward and incredibly tedious. Solutions?
['https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/8310', 'https://gaming.stackexchange.com', 'https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/1070/']
I find the easiest way to get to the bottom of a mineshaft is to set your ladder 2 blocks onto the wall. That way you can carefully fall almost the entire way to the bottom and simply hold the backwards key to reattatch yourself to the ladder just before you hit the ground.
A good way to mine fast is by using a Haste II beacon combined with an Efficiency V Diamond or Netherite Pickaxe or some of the above answers are useful too.

Edit: The above solution is good for pre-1.18 but only works while you're in the Beacon's range. Now, **Moss** is a faster solution, and once you get a Mob Grinder, you can get a lot of Bone Meal to replace all Stone types (and ***only*** Stone types, so the ores are safe) with more Moss, allowing for faster mining and less durability lost of your Pickaxe, with the fastest speeds being achieved with a Diamond or Netherite ***hoe***.