This also annoys me. I have 3 suggestions to fix this issue

1. A sieveing mechanism that takes dirt as an input and outputs with a low to very low chance ores ( or ore chunks that can be processed to whole ore pieces).

2. Give the option to burry all ( ore selcted amount) of dirt into the ground, basicly make it vanish instead of having to drop it.

3. Add road tiles which require dirt as a base crafting ingredient.

I do not agree While Dirt is not always a highly used commodity It can be sold at the trader if using the trading post mod and dirt is also needed when grading and depending on the depth of what your filling large amounts may be needed And also Dirt is very much needed in the black powder mod as it is used to craft salt peter for the powder and is required in large amounts. While it is true that dirt is not that useful in a vanilla game the same can be said for gold and silver as they have very little use in a totally vanilla game Honestly who does not add the trader mod ?

I also disagree with this request. I've been able to successfully retrieve copper ore while mining. The shovel, when permitted based on surface type, is low yield for copper, and the pickaxe yield is determined by the density of the copper ore. This is consistent with the other minerals mine from stone layer and surface layers.

I use dirt to fill trenches against walls, smooth the land (e.g. for farming and trails), and for many other purposes, including sale at the Traders Post.

I actually find dirt very important when I want it. How often I want it varies.