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Mining Guide
By FireballX301
(Note: Text coloured red indicates Members-Only items, locations or features)
Pickaxes
Ores
Rock Downtimes
Tips and Tricks
Extra Mining Info
Mining EXP Rewards
Mining. One of the more 'profitable' skills in Runescape, yet also one of the more tedious. The purpose of mining is to gather ore, which is used to smelt bars and thus to smith equipment. Many ore is worth a pretty penny, so mining can make quite a bit of cash.
Pickaxes
To start your mining, you need one thing: A pickaxe. You may purchase these at Nurmof's Pickaxe shop in the Dwarven mine, or you can find a bronze pickaxe in the Barbarian Village. The higher order metal the pick is made out of, the easier it is to extract ore out of rocks. Be forewarned, you need a certain level in mining to wield the higher level picks.
Picture | Name | Cost | Mining Level To Wield |
 | Bronze Pickaxe | 1 Coin | 1 |
 | Iron Pickaxe | 140 Coins | 1 |
 | Steel Pickaxe | 500 Coins | 6 |
 | Mithril Pickaxe | 1300 Coins | 21 |
 | Adamant Pickaxe | 3200 Coins | 31 |
 | Rune Pickaxe | 32000 Coins | 41 |
After you grab your pickaxe, it's time to go mining. There are multiple mining spots scattered around Runescape. When you find one, you can now start mining. You should equip your pickaxe, then start clicking on rocks. Rocks may be prospected to find out which ore is inside, and mined for the ore. It may take multiple strikes to extract an ore from a rock, depending on your mining level and the type of pick you're using.
That's all the basics to mining. Just get to work accumulating valuable ore and you can get rich.
Gems
There is a random chance that you may also acquire gems while mining - the gems are awarded randomly and don't replace the ore you're mining. They're awarded in uncut form and yield no additional mining experience, but may be cut and crafted for good crafting experience. Many players, however, discard gems as a waste of space, as the gems themselves are rarely worth more than the ore they replace. Wearing an Amulet of Glory increases the chance of earning a gem. You can acquire sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds in this method.
There is a small mine in Shilo Village that exclusively awards gems the same way other rocks award ores. The rocks there, however, also award three semi-precious gemstones (Opal, Red Topaz, Jade) as well as the four normal gems. Experience earned is the same regardless of the type of gem you take.
Ores
The following table contains all the ores that can be mined in Runescape, and their uses.
Name | Ore | Rock | Level | Exp | Recommended Spots | Uses |
Clay |  |  | 1 | 5 | Crafting Guild, SW Varrock | Crafting Pottery |
Rune Essence |  |  | 1 | 5 | Essence Mine | Runecrafting |
Copper |  |  | 1 | 17.5 | Varrock | Smithing Bronze |
Tin |  |  | 1 | 17.5 | Varrock, Barbarian Village | Smithing Bronze |
Iron |  |  | 15 | 35 | Dwarven Mine, Varrock, Grand Tree | Smithing Steel and Iron |
Silver |  |  | 20 | 40 | Crafting Guild, Al Kharid, Grand Tree | Crafting Silver |
Coal |  |  | 30 | 50 | Mining Guild, Skeleton Mine, Coal Trucks | Smithing Steel and Up |
Gold |  |  | 40 | 65 | Keldagrim Mine, Crafting Guild, Brimhaven | Crafting Gold |
Mithril |  |  | 55 | 80 | Dwarven Mine, Level 30 Hobgoblins | Smithing Mithril |
Gem Rock |    |  | - | 65 | Shilo Village | Mining Jade, Opal, Red Topaz |
Adamantite |  |  | 70 | 95 | Dwarven Mine, Level 30 Hobgoblins | Smithing Adamantite |
Rune |  |  | 85 | 125 | Level 46 Rune Mine, Heros Guild | Smithing Rune |
Quest Ores
Special ores are often needed as parts of certain Quests. These ores, their experience values and the Quests they are used for are listed below.
Name | Ore | Rock | Level | Exp | Spots | Uses |
Blurite |  |  | 10 | 17.5 | Ice Cavern | |
Elemental |  |  | 20 | 0 | Seer's | |
Limestone |  |  | - | 26.5 | Limestone Mine east of Varrock | Various quests |
Sandstone |     |  | 1 | Tiny(30) Small(40) Medium(50) Large(60) | Rock Quarry south of Bedabin Camp | |
Granite |    |  | 1 | Tiny(50) Small(60) Medium(75) | Rock Quarry south of Bedabin Camp |
Rock Downtimes
When you mine a rock and successfully gain the respective type of ore that the rock yields, the rock will change from its normal color to a dull rocky gray. During this time, you cannot mine anymore ore from the rock. This is known as the downtime. Eventually, the rock will turn back to its original color, and you can mine it again.
The following table displays a rough downtime for each rock type. Please note that the rock downtimes go down (meaning that the rock's ore is restored quicker) the more people on the server. The information in the table is for a server with an average amount of people; about 1250 or so.
Rock | Downtime |
Clay | 0.5 seconds |
Tin | 2 seconds |
Copper | 2 seconds |
Elemental | 3 seconds |
Iron | 5 seconds |
Granite | 8 seconds |
Sandstone | 8 seconds |
Limestone | 28 seconds |
Coal | 32 seconds |
Silver | 65 seconds |
Gold | 90 seconds |
Gem Rock | 94 seconds |
Mithril | 3 minutes |
Adamantite | 6 minutes 30 seconds |
Runite | 19 minutes 40 seconds |
Mining Tips and Tricks
- From level 1, just mine copper and tin until about level 30, where you can mine iron efficiently.
- For fast experience after level 30, powermine Iron. By powermine, mine until you're full, then drop the iron. You'll need to do this until level 60, which is when you can gain access to the Miners Guild. Iron is the fastest standard way to obtain mining experience.
- The Mining Guild, with over 30 coal rocks and close proximity to the falador bank, is one of the best coal mining spots in the game. See the Mining Guild Guide for more info.
- The Dwarven stout, a drink buyable from the pub in Falador, temporarily raises your mining and smithing levels by one. This can allow you to get into the mining guild early, or to mine a high-level ore. There also exists a brewable Mature Dwarven Stout, allowing a temporary raise of two levels to mining and smithing.
- The Sandstone and Granite mine south of the Bandit Camp in the Desert allows extremely fast mining, yielding up to three times the rate of exp as powermining iron. If you wish to level your mining quickly and don't care about the ore itself, powermine the rocks there. There is no minimum level to mine there, though your level influences the size of the rocks you mine.
- Some enchanted jewelry, like the Bracelet of Clay, can assist you with your mining. The Bracelet of Clay, for example, automatically turns your hard clay into soft clay as you mine. See the Enchanted Jewelry section of the Crafting Guide for more info.
Extra Mining Info
There are some other, extra things that you should know about while raising mining:
Cape of Accomplishment
The ultimate reward for getting level 99 Mining is not only the great ability you will have in the skill, but the Cape of Accomplishment that you will have the oppurtunity to purchase. For more information on Capes of Accomplishment, see the Skill Capes page.
Related Links
The following links may help you with your Mining.
Mining EXP Rewards in Quests
The following quests give Mining EXP Rewards upon completion.
Quest | Exp |
1300 exp | |
2425 exp | |
2500 exp | |
2575 exp | |
3000 exp | |
3000 exp | |
5000 exp | |
7000 exp | |
15300 exp |
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