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Mining Guide

Introduction

Mining is the process of using a pickaxe to obtain ores from rocks. The higher your Mining level, the better the rock you can mine - to obtain a more valuable ore. You should have your pickaxe in your inventory, or even wield it, and then click on a rock. A lumpy rock may have different coloured veins depending on the ore they can give, or a 'rock' may be a small cluster of three rock images (see ores below). Rocks are found at mining sites all over the RuneScape world. Details of the number and type of rocks at each mining site are listed on Tip.It's mining maps menu page, which includes a link to a map of each mine. You can right click on a rock and prospect to see which type of ore it contains. When you click on a rock to mine it, you will see your character swinging a pickaxe at the rock until he/she gets an ore.

Rock
Lumbridge Advisor Beginning miners may wish to ask Roddeck for advice by clicking on the question mark icon near the minimap. It is also wise to visit Bob's Brilliant Axes, located north of the Lumbridge graveyard, for free bronze pickaxes.

You can obtain different pickaxes from Nurmof the Dwarf, who sells them in the Dwarven Mine, the pickaxe shop in Keldagrim, or the Grand Exchange. The better the pickaxe, the quicker you will obtain the ore from the rock. Usually you will wield your pickaxe so that you can carry a full pack of ore. However, sometimes you might want to wield another weapon and just have your pickaxe in your inventory: for example, if you are superheating ores and wielding your fire staff, or mining in the wilderness and wielding your sword. Below is a table of the different pickaxes.

Pickaxes
Pic Name Mining Level to Use Price to Buy
Bronze Pickaxe Bronze pickaxe 1 1 gp
Iron Pickaxe Iron pickaxe 1 137 gp
Steel Pickaxe Steel pickaxe 6 500 gp
Mithril Pickaxe Mithril pickaxe 21 1,300 gp
Adamant Pickaxe Adamant pickaxe 31 3,200 gp
Rune Pickaxe Rune pickaxe 41 32,000 gp
Dragon Pickaxe Dragon pickaxe 61 Monster Drop or
Grand Exchange

Special pickaxes are listed in a separate section below, along with other mining aids.

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Mining Ores

Here is a list of the rocks you can mine and their details. Note that Jagex has updated the look of some (but not all) ore rocks in the game. The old style is a small cluster of three or four uniformly coloured ore rocks. The new look has "veins" of ore in a lump of rock. Both the old and new look for each rock are shown in this table. Some rocks are only offered in a few locations - these are included below for convenience. See the mining maps listing to choose the best location for you to mine more widely available rocks.

Mining Ores
Rock
(old look)		 Rock
(new look)		 Name Level to Mine Exp. Notes
Rune Essence Rune Essence Rune
Essence		 1 5 Found in the Rune Essence Mine (see the Runecrafting guide) and in the Lunar Isle mine. Used to make Runes. On a members server, level 30 miners will mine pure essence.
Clay Clay Clay 1 5 Used in low level Crafting to make Pottery.If mined while wearing a Bracelet of clay wet clay will be mined.
Copper Copper Copper 1 17.5 Used with Tin to smelt bronze.
Tin Tin Tin 1 17.5 Used with Copper to smelt bronze.
Blurite Blurite Blurite 10 17.5 Mined only in the Ice Caves mine south of Port Sarim/Rimmington. Used in the Knight's Sword Quest. Also used by members to make crossbows and bolt tips. Blurite ore and its products are untradeable.
Limestone Limestone Limestone 10 26.5 Mined only in Arandar and off the road east of Varrock's Earth runecrafting altar leading to the Salve Temple. Used for quests, Mort'ton temple building, and the Construction skill.
Iron Iron Iron 15 35 A very versatile ore - used to make Iron and Steel bars.
Silver Silver Silver 20 40 Used in Crafting to make holy or unholy symbols, tiaras, crossbow bolts, and member quest items.
Elemental Elemental Elemental 20 0 Found only in the Elemental Workshop located under Seers Village smithy. Mining it spawns an Earth Elemental; kill it to get the ore. Used in elemental or mind shields and helms.
Coal Coal Coal 30 50 There is always a demand for this ore, used in all high level smelting (smithing).
Sandstone Sandstone Sandstone 35 30 to 60 Found in Enakhra's mine. Used for quests. Experience depends on the random size of the mined rock: 1, 2, 5 or 10 kg.
Gold Gold Gold 40 65 Used in Crafting to make rings, necklaces and amulets.
Gems Gems Gems 40 65 Found only in the Shilo Village Gem Mine, the Shilo Village Underground Gem Mine, and the Lunar Isle Mine. You can get any gem except dragonstone and onyx.
Stone slab Stone slab Stone Slab 41 40 Found only in the TzHaar Stone Slab Mine. Can only be mined with a Rune pickaxe after the TokTz-Ket-Dill quest. Each spot will give two Stone slabs before running out.
Granite Granite Granite 45 50 to 75 Found in Enakhra's mine. Used for quests and power-mining. Experience depends on the random size of the mined rock: 0.5, 2, or 5 kg*.
Rubium Rubium Rubium 46 17.5 Veins are found in the caves from the Kennith's Concerns quest. You can mix rubium with an unfinished guam potion to make super fishing explosive at 31 herblore. This is used to lure Mogres and deals an additional 15 damage to the Mogre.
Mith Mith Mithril 55 80 Used for smelting/smithing.
Addy Addy Adamant 70 95 Used for smelting/smithing.
Rune Rune Runite 85 125 Used for smelting/smithing. Mine locations:

*0.5 kg granite chunks are used in the Summoning skill as a secondary item for some pouches. By using a chisel on a large block of granite, one can cut it into smaller blocks.


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Living Rocks

Min Cavernent Members who possess high mining can access a cavern via a rope ladder in the Dwarven Mines. In this mine you will find several deposits of coal and gold as well as plentiful fishing spots. Resources are gathered at a faster rate than normal in this mine and require only one click to obtain. Be wary however! The mine is full of aggressive rock creatures (level 120+) who guard these resources with vigilance.
Living Rock Caverns
Deposits Name Level to Mine Exp. Notes
Living Rock Remains Living Rock Remains 73 25 These are the remains left over by killing a living rock creature. By mining these you obtain living minerals which can be used to catch fish dwelling in the cavern.
Concentrated Coal Deposits Concentrated Coal Deposits 77 50 per ore These deposits possess a generous supply of coal ore. The deposit eventually collapses after a certain period of time.
Concentrated Gold Deposits Concentrated Gold Deposits 80 65 per ore These deposits possess a generous supply of gold ore. The deposit eventually collapses after a certain period of time.
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Gems

Often you can obtain magic gems (sapphire, emerald, ruby or diamond) at random when mining; a gem will appear in your inventory and the ore you are mining will still be in the rock. No xp is obtained from this. Wearing a charged Amulet of Glory (members only) will significantly increase your chance of mining a gem. Gems are used both for Crafting and for crossbow bolt tips.

Magic Gems
Sapphire Emerald Ruby Diamond
Sapphire Emerald Ruby diamond

Members can also mine special gem rocks in Shilo Village and on Lunar Isle to get normal ones plus three special "precious" gems: opal, jade, topaz. Each gem mined earns 65 mining xp. The additional precious gems obtainable through mining are shown below (note: Dragonstone and Onyx gems cannot be obtained by mining):

Precious gems
Opal Jade Red topaz
Opal Jade Red Topaz
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Miscellaneous Info

A few more things to explain about the skill of mining:

  • Your character will continue swinging until he/she gets an ore. If someone else is mining the rock and the colour changes to grey - it means the other person got the ore. You should move on to another rock or wait till the ore respawns in the rock and the colour re-appears.
  • You can buy a Dwarven Stout from the Inn in Falador and other pubs around Runescape. Drinking it will raise your mining and smithing by one level for a couple of minutes.
Free to play
  • Gold is often used to train Smithing as well as Crafting, thus mining it can be a profitable business. It is highly recommended that free to play members obtain 40 crafting in order to have access to the Crafting Guild. The guild contains 7 gold rocks and several other crafting ores. The only drawbacks to this mine is that it is quite a run from the Falador east bank and possesses fierce competition.
  • The Mining Guild is an area restricted to players with a mining level over 60. It is an extended area in the Dwarven Mine and has many coal rocks as well as a few Mithril. It also offers a short path to Falador's east bank. For more details, refer to the Dwarven Mine map.
  • Runite mining is an excellent source of money for free to play members. The only mine available however, is the Runite Mine in level 46 wilderness. It is surrounded by spiders and gets several revenant visits. The high value and demand for runite ore makes mining it worth the risk.
Pay to play
  • The Coal Trucks mine west of McGrubor's Woods is also a good place for members to mine coal. Load the carts with up to 120 ore, fill your pack, then return to Seers Village to unload and bank it all.
  • Gold ore is highly profitable to mine as a pay to play member as well. For low level miners, one of the best places to mine gold is the Arzinian mines (requires the Between a Rock... quest). A nearby dwarf will deposit your load of gold in the bank for you, but charges several gold ores. If you wear an activated ring of charos (from the Garden of Tranquillity quest), you can charm him to reduce the fee. Note that you must keep one inventory slot open for removing your gold helmet to leave the mine, or else you can log off and back on to exit the mine with 28 gold ores. High level member miners that have 80+ mining, can gather gold very efficiently from the Living Rock Caverns. Each vein in the cavern provides ores at a faster rate than normal and only requires one click to mine. The experience obtained is somewhat below granite, but the profit per hour makes up for it. Beware however, this cavern is full of dangerous (level 120+) living rock monsters.
  • For a lengthy list of mining aids for members see this section.
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Levelling

Now, as for how to level - if you are very dedicated, you can get 85 mining in two months, maybe one and a half. Remember, if you want to level very fast, get on a server with a lot of people. The rocks will spawn faster on a busier world, and if you get a place to yourself, you will be able to mine very fast. The "higher" level rocks take more time to respawn (rune rocks might take up to 30 minutes, as opposed to clay ones that respawn almost instantaneously). As a general idea, on a full server the respawn time is around half of the time on an empty world. Also, remember that your pickaxe type affects how well you mine. Always use the highest level pickaxe that you can.

An excellent way for members to gain mining xp is the Shooting Star Minigame. Not only do you get a bucket of xp without dropping ores, and some nice rewards (ore, gp, cosmic runes), but you also get a chance to mine double ores for a certain amount of time. Each extra ore still earns xp. There are complexities to the game concerning finding stars and mining levels, but it's worth trying.

There are many who advocate dropping ore to level faster. While dropping ores does in fact make you gain xp at a much higher rate, you must keep in mind that you do not get the ores to sell afterwards. However, by achieving a higher level of mining quicker, one could make a profit in the skill much faster than levelling and selling lower grade ores. Of course, there are only two real ores worth powermining: Iron and Granite, as they offer the best balance of speed and xp. Obviously, powermining an ore like Runite is not a good idea.

Alternatively, you can drop the ores you mine while you wait for the rock to respawn. For example if you are focusing on a cluster of three iron rocks, you could mine the three and then drop them while they respawn. Then continue the cycle.

On a similar note, many players believe that mining the best ore you can will always offer the most profit. This is not necessarily true, as you must remember that it is also much slower to mine. While mining higher level ores can result in better overall profit, it isn't guaranteed. A good example is gold, which outpaces most other ores above its mining requirement.

Tips noted below by a circle (o) instead of a solid bullet indicate advice that applies to P2P only. However, additional P2P hints may be included in the F2P tips.

Levels Information
1-20 Copper and Tin ore will be the only ores you can mine easily.
  • For F2P, the ores at the mine south east of Varrock are the closest to the bank. Just a note, if you mine equal copper and tin ores and smelt/smith them, you can get 14 or 15 smithing with only 20 mining levels.
  • The Port Khazard mine on P2P has 3 each copper and tin ore spawns and a nearby bank in Yanille (to the south west).
  • If you don't want to bank the ore, you can either drop what you get or sell it. Dropping can happen anywhere, but the closest general store to a mine is the Rimmington mines.

When do you change from Tin/Copper to Iron? You will want to monitor this from time to time, but the principle is easy. Since Tin/Copper give half the exp points per ore as Iron does, you will want to switch to mining Iron for experience when you get the Iron ore in double or less the swings as it takes you for Tin/Copper. For instance, if it takes you on average 2 swings to get the Tin/Copper but 4 for Iron, then switch to Iron -- your experience per hour will be the same. If the iron takes only, on average, 3 swings, then it will be faster experience per hour.
20-60 You will have the most competition mining iron. However, it is -- hands down -- the fastest way to gain experience on F2P.
  • The Hobgoblin Mines have 27 iron ore spawns. It is in the wilderness, but if you have only a pickaxe and the iron you mine, you won't lose anything. Bring some food and an alternate weapon. Hobgoblins will readily attack you for the first 15 to 20 minutes you are there, and revenants are a continuous risk.
  • If you are F2P and want to bank the ores, the South-east Varrock mine is probably best. You can walk 4 clicks to the Varrock east bank, use the Varrock teleport in your spellbook (requires level 25 magic), or use the Earth altar teleport from the Great Orb Project.
  • If you are P2P, competition will be less. There are many more mining places. The Port Khazard mine has 9 iron ore spawns and a nearby deposit box, so you can bank your ores faster. The bank in Yanille is 3.5 clicks from the northern most group of 4 iron rocks.
  • Another good P2P iron mine is in the Dorgeshuun Mine, accessible during and after the completion of the Lost Tribe Quest. You have the option to sell the ores to Mistag or to bank them in Lumbridge Castle.
  • South of Ardougne along the road, there is a mine with 6 iron rocks. If other locations are crowded, this is a good alternative. You can walk 4 clicks to the Ardougne south bank or use the Ardougne teleport in your spellbook (requires 51 magic and the Plague City quest).
  • It's easy to bank iron from the Piscatoris Mine south of the city. At 57 Summoning you can use the Spirit Kyatt to teleport near the mine. Then use jewelry such as the Glory Amulet or Ring of Duelling to bank, and repeat. Alternatively, just run into Piscatoris to bank (requires Swan Song quest.).
  • At level 30, you can begin mining coal. Coal is always needed for higher level smithing, so it is always in demand. Because the spawn rate for coal is much slower than iron, your rate of gaining experience will be lower.
  • At level 40, you can begin mining gold, which is one of the most profitable ores and is better than almost all ores above it in terms of overall profit. For F2P players, the Crafting Guild is a very good location for players with 40+ Crafting. Of course, it is a viable spot for members as well (who can also use a skill necklace to teleport quickly to the Crafting Guild).
  • For P2P players with level 40 mining the most noteworthy gold mines are the Arzinian Gold Mines and the Northwest Brimhaven "Horseshoe" Mine.
  • At level 55, you can begin mining mithril. Find a place with iron spawns and some mithril rocks as well (such as the P2P Port Khazard mine). Grab each mithril rock as it respawns until you have a full load.
60-85 Hey! You're level 60 now! You can now enter the Mining Guild. Now, decide if you want to make money or continue levelling.
  • If you wish to get some money, try the Mining Guild. It has a whole lot of coal to be mined. It won't be the fastest way to level up, but you will be able to sell what you get. Did you know that you need almost 60,000 coal to get to level 85 mining from level 60? That's several million gp if you sell it all. Of course, players could mine gold for even more money.
  • Or, if you want to get experience, find a secluded place with no one around. That way you can get the ores. You need almost 86,000 iron ore to get to level 85 mining from 60. To avoid burnout, aim for one goal level at a time rather than trying to get straight there.
  • Mining granite (level 45) is a great way for members to powermine (dropping ores). It is found at Enakhra's mine in the Kharidian Desert and is at least as fast as iron. The 500g pieces are a summoning skill secondary ingredient, but keeping 5kg blocks is more efficient. By using a chisel on a large block of granite, one can cut it into smaller blocks, thus turning previously worthless chunks into useful pieces! Be aware, the desert effect applies at this mine, so bring waterskins, an enchanted water tiara, and/or supplies to cast the Lunar Magicks Humidify spell to refill your waterskins!
  • While the experience obtained is somewhat below granite, the Living Rock Caverns provide an extremely viable location for high-level miners (especially 80+ miners, who can mine the Concentrated Gold). The actual mining process is much easier than granite, and you can mine hundreds of ores an hour. The pulley-lift at the entrance of the Caverns provides a quick and easy way to bank, and the numerous Cavefish and Rocktail fishing spots allow players with 85+ fishing to easily replenish their health from the Living Rock monsters. On that same note, it should be mentioned that this location is dangerous, and contains several living rock creatures (level 120+), so armour is recommended.
85-99 Congratulations! You're at level 85 finally! You can mine rune. Most rune miners hop worlds to avoid the extended respawn time while staying in the same location.
  • Rune isn't the easiest thing to get. There are always revenants to worry about (if you mine in the Wilderness) and the competition with other miners is fierce (especially if you mine in the P2P Heroes Guild). With practice you will bring in fuller loads and learn the tricks to getting alot of money. Good luck!

Now go off and have fun mining, whether it be for exp or for the ores (to sell or to smith). Don't forget to use our extensive collection of mining maps under our Atlas section of the web site to help you along your way.

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Mining Aids

There are five types of mining aids: special pickaxes, Varrock Achievement Diary armour, locators, summoning familiars, and beverages.

Special pickaxes are not obtained through conventional methods, and require quests or rewards from a minigame to be obtained.

Special Pickaxes
Pic Name Mining Level to Use Obtained
Sacred Clay Pick Sacred Clay Pickaxe 40 Reward from the Stealing Creation minigame, gives double experience. After a set amount of experience is used, the pickaxe crumbles to dust.
Volatile Clay Pick Volatile Clay Pickaxe 40 Reward from the Stealing Creation, gives 2.2 times experience. After one-tenth of the charge (a certain amount of xp) is used, the item reverts to its' basic form. Note that the volatile tool transforms randomly every one-tenth charge; the pickaxe form is not user-selected.
Inferno Adze Inferno Adze 41 This item is equivalent to a rune pickaxe. It is a reward for completing the Beacon Network minigame. Firemaking level 92 is required to obtain this item. The inferno adze is mainly useful for woodcutting and firemaking.

An item that works similarly to the Sacred Clay Pickaxe is the from the Barbarian Assault minigame, where there is an option that can double the experience gained from mining ores. Players that have obtained a Penance horn can set the switch in the wave's waiting rooms to 'XP' and the Penance horn will charge up as the player makes progress through the waves. The uncharged Penance Horn can be obtained for free by talking to Commander Connad in the Barbarian Assault Lobby.

Players who have achieved Mastery in at least one role in Barbarian Assault can buy the Master Penance Horn. Its charges degrade slower than the Penance Horn, therefore making it lasting longer.

Wearing a Varrock armour piece grants the chance to mine double ore. You also earn xp for the additional ore. (The armour also allows you to use the Edgeville furnace, with a chance to smith two bars at once.) You must complete the Varrock Achievement Diary to obtain the armour as a reward.

Varrock Armour
Pic Name How to Obtain Use
Varrock_Armour_1 Varrock Armour 1 Obtained by completing the easy tasks of the Varrock Achievement Diary. Gives the chance to mine 2 ores at once, up to and including coal ore
Varrock_Armour_2 Varrock Armour 2 Obtained by completing the medium tasks of the Varrock Achievement Diary. Gives the chance to mine 2 ores at once, up to and including mithril ore
Varrock Armour 3 Varrock Armour 3 Obtained by completing the hard tasks of the Varrock Achievement Diary. Gives the chance to mine 2 ores at once, up to and including adamantite ore

The Mobilising Armies minigame offers a reward that acts as a teleport to ore locations* called a locator. Each level of locator can teleport to a more superior ore than the last. They do however deteriorate after 50 uses but can be fully recharged by playing a game of Mobilising Armies. You can only own one locator at a time.

Mobilising Armies Locators
Pic Name What Ores Cost
Inferior locator Inferior Locator Teleports you to areas that contain any ores up to iron. 24,700 reward credits
Poor locator Poor Locator Teleports you to areas that contain any ores up to silver. 44,800 reward credits
Good locator Good Locator Teleports you to areas that contain any ores up to mithril. 70,600 reward credits
Superior locator Superior Locator Teleports you to areas that contain any ores up to runite. 102,900 reward credits

* Note: The locator cannot teleport you to any locations that contain unsmithable ores (besides clay).

Mining Familiars can be obtained using the Summoning skill. They provide an invisible mining boost, which will aid you in efficiency. They also may be able to forage for ores or provide a convenient teleport. The scroll abilities for these particular familiars do not pertain to mining. Pouches are tradeable, but the summoning level listed is absolutely required in order to use them or make them.

Mining Familiars
Summon Level Pic Familiar Abilities Time (min)
18Desert Wyrm Desert Wyrm Fights (level 31) Strength
Boosts Mining +1
Right-click to Forage ores		 19 Minutes
34Void Ravager Void Ravager Fights (level 46) Strength
Forages ore
Boosts Mining +1 and +1 invisible 		27 Minutes
73Obsidian Golem Obsidian Golem Fights (level 126) Strength
Boosts Mining +7		 55 Minutes
83Lava Titan Lava Titan Fights (level 148) Strength
Chance of hitting 5 extra damage each time
Boosts Firemaking +10
Boosts Mining +10
Teleport to Lava Maze (Runite nearby)		 61 Minutes

Three drinks can boost your mining level temporarily, increasing your efficiency. They increase your smithing by the same amount. However, be aware that these drinks will temporarily reduce your combat stats! Stat effects are listed in the item database entries (click the drink name in the table below), and also in our Beer and Wines Guide. If brewed, the player making it can draft up to 4 doses of stout into calquat kegs.

Level Boosters
Pic Name of item Level Increase Information
Dwarven Stout Dwarven Stout 1 Can be purchased at many pubs across Runescape, obtained from spawns, or brewed from Hammerstone Hops using the cooking skill. This item is tradeable on the GE in mugs or kegs.
Dwarven Stout Dwarven Stout(m) 2 Mature dwarven stout is an occasional result from brewing Hammerstone Hops using the cooking skill. Odds of obtaining it can be increased by using The Stuff from the Trouble Brewing minigame. This item is tradeable on the GE in mugs or kegs.
Braindeath Rum Braindeath 'Rum' 1 Can be purchased from Mos Le'Harmless pubs by players who have completed the Cabin Fever quest. This drink affects your stats by percentages, not levels, and is not recommended. Not tradeable.
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Cape of Achievement

Once you have mastered the skill and reached level 99 you may want to buy a Mining Skill Cape from the dwarf wearing one at the entrance of the Mining Guild in Falador. Refer to the Achievement Capes guide for more details.

Mining Cape

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Credits

Original Guide by: Eeeeediot and Misplacedme

Thanks to: 0force, adapter2, Cameron, chenw, Cronoschild, Deezy, damianara, Dragontotem, Fudgy999, Gugge, Haggaman, Howlin1, idunedain, inferno_char, Jaklumen, jimmyw3000, Kill_life, Lady_Shahdie, Lansal, Mining68, Minuit666, Mucco, n_odie, Not Nice 777, pokemama, sirlonewolf, Smellysocks, the_tallest1, Timthebrave, Tonyjr, tryto, Warriormonkx, Wizard111111, wyvren2000, xxtigurxx, Zaaps1, Zargo

Last Updated by: Lady_Shahdie

Last Updated on: 23-Jan-2010

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