Expanding a small farm or dismantling a temporary machine does not cost you your activation materials. Every ingot or diamond used to power a Lodestone is recoverable whenever you adjust the loading range or shut the block down.
Swapping Loading Tiers Directly
You do not need to deactivate a chunk loader before resizing its coverage area:
1. Walk up to your active Lodestone and check the on-screen status display, block color tint, or particle effects to confirm its current tier.
2. Hold the new activation item in your hand—an Iron Ingot for 1×1 chunks, a Diamond for 3×3 chunks, or a Netherite Ingot for 5×5 chunks.
3. Right-click the Lodestone directly with the new item.
4. Pick up your previous activation item, which drops safely as soon as the new tier takes effect.
Turning Off a Loader Safely
When you no longer need an area kept active, turn the loader off manually to reclaim your item:
1. Switch to an empty hand on your hotbar.
2. Right-click the active Lodestone block.
3. Collect the dropped activation item and check the on-screen display to confirm the active chunk status and border highlights have cleared.
Once deactivated, you can mine the vanilla Lodestone with a pickaxe as usual and relocate it to your next project without losing either the block or the tier material.