Mining

Mining is a skill that allows players to obtain ores and gems from rocks. With ores, a player can then either smelt bars and make equipment using the Smithing skill or sell them for profit. Mining is also one of the most popular skills in RuneScape as many players try to earn a profit from the skill. On the map, mining areas are identified with a regular pickaxe icon and the mining shop with a gold pickaxe icon. The current minimum to be ranked on the highscores in Mining is 48 Mining and 88,000 experience.

How to mine[]

To mine, a player will first need a pickaxe. Pickaxes are sold by Nurmof in the Dwarven Mines, Bob at Lumbridge, or the Grand Exchange. New players are given a bronze pickaxe when they complete learning the ropes. Players should then choose where to mine taking into account nearness to a bank as well as ore types available. Players only need to click once on any rock containing ore to mine it (provided they have the level needed for that ore type). Players can determine what ore is in a rock by right clicking and choosing Prospect. Most higher level miners do not need to prospect every rock as they recognize the colour of the rock and know what it contains. The obtained ores, gems, or essence can then either be sold or used by the player for the smithing skill. Selling ores and essence can be very profitable.

Luck will play a certain factor in how quickly ores are obtained from mining. While the players level and pickaxe type also have an influence, there remains a certain randomness that determines when the ore is finally mined. When two players of different levels both attempt to mine the same rock it is very possible for the lower leveled player to get the ore.

Some players believe that they can get ores faster by repeatedly clicking on the rock until they get an ore because by clicking a rock, it will reset the "luck" timer so players will just have to click until they get an ore in one stroke of the pickaxe.

Pickaxes[]

The pickaxes used in mining can also be equipped as a weapon, giving players one more space in their inventory. A player's Mining level determines the type of pickaxe they can mine with (while their Attack level determines if they can wield it and save that inventory space). As with all weapons, as the pickaxe type progresses so to does its effectiveness. The higher a level needed to use a pickaxe, the better it is than the ones below it.

The prices in the table below are those from Nurmof's shop. If a player damages the pickaxe's head from Exploding Rock random event they will have to bring their pickaxe to Nurmof and use the pickaxe on him to get it fixed for a cost of about 1/30th of buying the pickaxe.

A good trick to save money is go to the Grand Exchange buy a broken pickaxe then go to Bob in Lumbridge and get him to fix it for you.

Pickaxe	Mining Level	Attack Level	Price	Repair cost
Bronze	1	1	1 coin	Free
Iron	1	1	150 coins	Free
Steel	6	5	530 coins	17 coins
Mithril	21	20	1,300 coins	43 coins
Adamant	31	30	3,200 coins	107 coins
Rune	41	40	32,000 coins	1,100 coins

Minable items[]

Ores are obtained from the different types of rocks. These rocks can be found in mines. On the mini-map, mines are labelled with a grey pickaxe. The colour of a rock corresponds to the ore's colour, so a black rock will yield coal ore, a blue rock will yield mithril ore, etc. Players can identify what kind of ore a rock is via Prospecting.

When players click on a rock, they will hit it with their pickaxe and try to get the ore out. The higher level rocks, such as mithril and adamant, take longer for players to mine an ore out of them, making the player require patience.

After the ore has been mined, the rock will turn grey (or brown, depending on its original colour) for a while. Eventually another ore will respawn and the rock will regain its vein of colour. Players can only mine a rock when ore is available. Ore respawn times differ with the difficulty of the rock and the amount of people on the server. For example, rune rocks can take over 20 minutes to respawn while iron rocks take about 3 seconds. Rune essence is an exception to this, as there is no respawn time and you can get a full inventory without stopping.

You can sometimes get uncut gems (from sapphire to diamond) while mining.

Mine table[]

Image	Ore	Level	Xp	Notes
	Clay	1	5	Clay is used in Crafting to make small items such as pots.
	Rune essence	1	5	To mine rune essence, players will need to complete the Rune Mysteries quest. It is used in the Runecrafting skill. Rune essence does not have a respawn time, allowing players to click once on the rock and wait until their inventory is full.
	Copper	1	17.5	Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt a copper ore with a tin ore to make a bronze bar.
	Tin	1	17.5	Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt a copper ore with a tin ore to make a bronze bar.
	Blurite	10	17.5	Blurite is needed in the quest The Knight's Sword.
	Iron	15	35	Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt an iron ore to make an iron bar or smelt it with 2 Coal to make a steel bar.
	Silver	20	40	Silver is used in the Crafting skill to make items, such as tiaras.
	Pure essence	30	5	Members only. To mine pure essence, players will need to complete the Rune Mysteries quest. It is used in the Runecrafting skill. Pure essence does not have a respawn time, allowing players to click once on the rock and wait until their inventory is full. Pure essence cannot be mined in the free-to-play worlds, although it is tradable.
	Coal	30	50	Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt Coal with other ores as follows: 2 Coal and an iron ore to make a steel bar, 4 Coal and a mithril ore to make a mithril bar, 6 Coal and an adamant ore to make an adamant bar, or 8 Coal and a rune ore to make a rune bar.
* * * *	Mining a gem rock gives a player a gem ranging from opal to diamond, which can be used in Crafting.
	Gold	40	65	Gold is used in the Crafting skill to make items, such as jewellery.
	Mithril	55	80	Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt a Mithril ore with four coal to make a mithril bar.
	Adamant	70	95	Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt an Adamant ore with six coal to make an adamant bar.
	Rune	85	125	Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt a Rune ore with eight coal to make a rune bar. Also, this ore can take up to 25 minutes to respawn and as short as 12 minutes. The only two existing rune ore rocks in the free-to-play world are in the deep wilderness.

Mine	Clay	Copper	Tin	Iron	Silver	Coal	Gold	Mithril	Adamantite	Runite	Notes and hazards
Al-Kharid	-	3	1	9	5	3	2	2	2	-	Chasm Mine / Scorpion pit is a popular mining site for new players, although caution should be taken as there are aggressive Scorpions around the site.
Barbarian Village	-	-	5	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	Very few safe spots for low level miners, lacks copper ore needed for bronze
Crafting Guild	6	-	-	-	6	-	7	-	-	-	Level 40 Crafting & brown apron required.
Crandor Isle	-	-	-	-	-	10	3	8	3	-	Accessible during and after the Dragon Slayer Quest
Dwarven Mine	5	11	10	9	-	11	2	2	3	-	Scorpions & King Scorpions at the south-eastern section. A man at the East of the mine can repair broken pickaxes.
Edgeville Dungeon	-	2	2	3	3	6	-	1	2	-	Skeletons, Hobgoblins, and more
South of Falador	-	2	6	3	-	2	-	-	-	-	Very Safe, with mobility can get into Falador to smelt.
Hobgoblin Mine (W)		-	-	21	-	27	-	19	8	-	Hobgoblins, Level 32 Wilderness. Beware of the Revenants.
Karamja Volcano	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	Skeletons
Lumbridge Swamp South-East	-	5	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Safe place for low level miners. You can find the Mining Tutor there.
Lumbridge Swamp South-West	-	-	-	-	-	7	-	5	2	-	Good for high level miners, especially those who can superheat ores, as there's coal, mithril, and adamantite.
Mining Guild	-	-	-	-	-	37	-	5	-	-	Need level 60 Mining to enter
Rimmington	2	5	2	6	-	-	2	-	-	-
Steel Mine (W)	-	-	-	2	-	3	-	-	-	-	Skeletons, Level 6 Wilderness
Varrock East	-	9	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-
Varrock West	3	-	8	3	3	-	-	-	-	-
Wilderness Coal	-	-	-	-	-	34	-	-	-		Skeletons, Level 9 Wilderness
Wilderness Runite	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	Level 46 Wilderness. Beware of the Revenants.

Free-to-play mines[]

All players have access to these mines.

Misthalin mines[]

Al-Kharid Mine
Barbarian Village Mine
East Varrock Mine
West Varrock Mine
Edgeville Dungeon Mine
Lumbridge Swamp South-East and South-West mine

Asgarnia mines[]

Asgarnian Ice Caves mine
Crafting Guild Mine
Dwarven Mine
Mining Guild
Rimmington Mine

Island mines[]

Crandor Mine
Karamja Volcano Mine

Wilderness mines[]

Hobgoblin Mine
Steel Mine
Wilderness Rune Mine
Wilderness Skeleton Mine

Tips[]

Here are some tips to help a player mine.

Power mining[]

Also known as drop mining, this is where a player fills their inventory with ores, drops them all, and repeats. While this method of mining allows players to raise their Mining level quickly, dropping a whole inventory of ores can take some time. Also, by using this method, a player would be missing out on Smithing experience or money from selling the ore. Some mining spots for:

Free-to-play iron - The Hobgoblin Mine (located in levels 29-31 wilderness) and the Al-Kharid (Scorpion) Mine. Also in the Rimmington Mine, powermining iron works well as this area is usually deserted. However, mining and dropping iron can lead to around 37000/hour. Although the Dwarven Mine is not as good, there is much less chance of a low-level player dying.

Busy world vs. empty world[]

The rate of ore respawn for each rock is proportional to the number of players logged in that world. This means that the same rock will respawn quicker in a busy world like World 1 or World 2 than it would in a quieter world such as World 127. This is especially important to consider when power mining (see above).

For general mining, it is slightly more advisable that players go to a quieter trading world such as World 127. Although it has a slower rate of rock respawn, there are much less players in the world and therefore less competition for the rocks. As for selling the ores, the new method of trading in the Grand Exchange allows the player to make offers with players in all servers. The only disadvantage, as mentioned before, is the ore respawn rate plus the disadvantage of the traditional method of trading as there would be very few people wishing to purchase your ore.

Wield the pickaxe[]

Players are strongly recommended to wield their pickaxe. This way, they have more inventory space to allow them to carry ores. To wield picks players must have the appropriate Attack level, as the pickaxe is considered a weapon.

Wear light items[]

Players are strongly recommended to wear few items or nothing at all other than their pickaxe. Wearing fewer items allows a player to run longer. If they are wearing armour, then their weight would be quite large, making them lose a large amount of energy in a short amount of time.

Wilderness mine tips[]

In the Wilderness, players can be attacked by dangerous Revenants, all of whom can hit very high in any attack style, and can freeze and/or prevent you from teleporting. They can even steal players out of combat with another monster. Before you begin mining, check which attack you are weakest to in terms of equipment bonus (Magic or Ranged. Melee doesn't matter since you'll be running and will not be next to the revenant), as revenants primarily attack with whatever you are weakest to. If a Revenant does attack you, the best thing to do is turn on the protection prayer of which attack you are weakest to if you can, run away (preferably south, in hopes that they won't be able to attack you in a lower level of the wilderness), and switch worlds as soon as you're out of range.

Switch worlds[]

For higher level ores such as adamantite or runite, it is sometimes faster to switch between servers rather than wait for the rocks to respawn. This is not recommended for any lower level ores.

Training[]

Here are some suggested training methods for a player to raise their Mining level.

Level 1 to 15: Mine copper and tin rocks. An alternative which also levels Runecrafting or provides income is rune essence. Rune essence is easier to mine because only one click is required and a full inventory is mined in one go. Rune essence can be mined, after completing the Rune Mysteries quest, by talking to Sedridor in the basement of the wizard's tower, or Aubury in Varrock. Clay can also be mined to level Crafting.
Level 15 to 60: Mine iron rocks. Iron can be obtained quickly, making it a valuable rock to use when leveling up. Iron is the best ore to gain experience all the way to level 99. If coins are needed coal can be mined, but it's better to wait until access to the guild has been granted. From level 41 onwards the player can equip a rune pickaxe and mine iron in one hit. The absolute fastest way to level from 41 Mining onward in free play is to go to the Al-Kharid Mine. Towards the north part of the mine there are 3 iron rocks grouped together. The mine also contains aggressive level 14 scorpions that attack players with combat levels of 28 or lower, so it would be useful to first train your combat skills high enough to ward them off. Mine the three rocks and quickly drop the ore while waiting for them to respawn. This should take 6-10 seconds and will give 105 experience. Using this method (assuming it's done in 10 seconds) here is how long going from level 41 to level 60 should take, by level:
42---7 min
43---7 min 30 sec
44---8 min 30 sec
45---9 min
46---10 min
47---11 min
48---12 min 30 sec
49---14 min
50---15 min
51---16 min
52---18 min
53---20 min
54---22 min
55---25 min
56---27 min
57---30 min
58---33 min
59---37 min
60---41 min

Level 60 to 85: Mine coal rocks in the Mining Guild or gold rocks in the crafting guild if coins are needed, otherwise continue with iron. Getting up these levels will take much longer and players should be prepared to put in some time. Power mining iron as recommended for the previous levels will take about 84 hours of work. Putting in an hour a day it could be done in about 3 months. If the player can mine three iron and drop them in under 10 seconds it will take less time for them to level up.
Level 85 to 99: For the fastest method to 99 players should power mine iron. I will take 279,310 iron ore to get to 99 from 85.
Level 85 to 99: To continue levelling the player should now mine coal in the guild. If coins are wanted mine rune ore, which can be found in the wilderness of both free-to-play and members worlds. There are also 2 rocks in the Heroes Guild for members.

Temporary boosts[]

File:Runescape controls emotes skillcape mining.gif

A player wearing the Mining cape.

Dwarven Stout - Drinking this will raise a player's Mining and Smithing levels by 1 for a short time. Dwarven stouts can be bought in Falador one at a time, or members can buy them in bulk in Burthorpe. They are also a common drop from dwarves, and can be bought in several places in members areas, as well as brewed using the Cooking skill. There are several re-spawns in the dwarf tavern along the shortcut under White Wolf Mountain (you need to complete Fishing Contest to go there)..

Mining Guild - In the Mining Guild there are 37 coal and 5 mithril rocks. It is close to a bank (just climb the ladders to the west and head north). Level 60 Mining is required to enter (level 59 miners can achieve this by drinking a Dwarven Stout just before entering the guild). There is one especially efficient place to mine, in the north-east corner, where there are 6 coal in very close proximity. Mining mithril is not recommended in the guild unless there is no-one else at the rocks. An anvil is available outside of the guild in the North end of the mines. The anvil, in combination with the superheat spell, allows the player to smith the ores they mine. The smithed items can be turned into coins with the high alchemy spell or sold at the nearby shop avoiding trips to the bank.

Crafting Guild - The Crafting Guild is the best place in free play to mine gold, silver, and clay. 40 crafting and a Brown apron are required to enter. Gold ore is very valuable and in high demand by members for quick smithing experience, so free players hoping to make money mining would benefit greatly by training their Crafting level to 40.