Equipment
The only item required to mine is a pickaxe. In order to achieve the greatest amount of experience and ores, one should always use the best pickaxe available at a Mining level. However, certain low level rocks become attainable at maximum speed at higher mining levels, even with lower level pickaxes. Although a certain Attack level is required to wield one, players are still able to use the pickaxe to mine without the required level.
Completing task sets from the Varrock Diary grants the player Varrock armour, which gives the player 10% chance of mining 2 ores at once while worn. Varrock armour 1 gives this bonus ores up to coal, Varrock armour 2 up to mithril, Varrock armour 3 up to adamantite and Varrock armour 4 up to runite (additionally, works as a prospector jacket).
Additionally, the Prospector kit obtained from Prospector Percy in the Motherlode Mine using golden nuggets, provides a total of 2.5% bonus experience per ore mined.
Ore Table
| Level required | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Rune essence
|
5 |
| 1 |  Clay
|
5 |
| 1 |  Copper
|
17.5 |
| 1 |  Tin
|
17.5 |
| 10 |  Blurite ore
|
17.5 |
| 10 |  Limestone
|
26.5 |
| 15 |  Iron
|
35 |
| 20 |  Silver ore
|
40 |
| 30 |  Coal
|
50 |
| 30 |  Pure essence
|
5 |
| 35 |  Sandstone
|
30,40,50,60 |
| 40 |  Gold ore
|
65 |
| 40 |  Gem rock
|
65 |
| 45 |  Granite
|
50,60,75 |
| 55 |  Mithril ore
|
80 |
| 65 |  Lovakite ore
|
10 |
| 70 |  Adamantite
|
95 |
| 85 |  Runite
|
125 |
| 92 |  Amethyst
|
240 |
Quests for Mining Experience
- Doric's Quest: 1300 XP
- Plague City: 2425 XP
- The Giant Dwarf: 2500 XP
- The Lost Tribe: 3000 XP
- Between a Rock...: 5000 XP
- Enakhra's Lament: 7000 XP
- The Digsite: 15,300 XP
Fastest experience
To gain Mining experience most efficiently, players should always drop the ores they mine ("powermining" or "dropmining"). Players can quickly drop their items by holding the shift key and clicking on the ore.
Levels 1-32
Completing Doric's Quest and The Digsite grants the player a total of 16600 Mining experience, which elevates a level 1 Mining to level 32. Both quests have fairly low requirements, and completing them allows the player to skip early levels and use Adamant pickaxe right from the start.
Levels 1-15 – Copper ore / Tin ore
If the player is not willing to do any quests, copper or tin should be mined from level 1 to 15. This can be done anywhere, though the Lumbridge Swamp mining site is debatably the easiest due to its relative lack of players, aggressive monsters and its collection of Copper and Tin rocks.
To progress from level 1 to level 15, you will need 2411 experience. You will need to mine a combination of 138 copper or tin ores to reach level 15, since they both give 17.5 experience a piece.
Levels 15-75/80 – Iron ore
From levels 15 to 75 or 80, players should mine iron at a location that has three iron rocks in a triangle, as such a formation allows the player to mine all three rocks without moving. There are eight such locations: the Legends' Guild mining site, two in the members' section of the Mining guild, the mining site northeast of Ardougne, the Lovakengj mine, the Piscatoris mine, the Al Kharid Mine and the Resource Area (level 51 Wilderness)..
Completing the easy tasks of Varrock Diary for Varrock Armour 1 is highly recommended for this method, as it gives the player 10% chance to mine 2 ores at once while worn, increasing overall experience rate.
From level 41 and above, the maximum experience rate is around 60k experience per hour.
At level 75 Mining, players may want to switch to Blast mining (requires 100% favour with the Lovakengj House), which offers similar experience rates but gives excellent profit, whereas powermining iron gives no profit at all.
Levels 80-99 – Granite
From level 80 Mining onwards, the absolute fastest experience is gained by powermining Granite at the Quarry.
Mining for money
Levels 1-32
It is recommended to skip the early Mining levels by completing Doric's Quest and The Digsite.
Levels 1-15 – Clay / Tin ore
If questing is not an option, players can mine clay or tin. If mining clay, it is advised to wear Bracelet of clay to get soft clay instead of normal clay, which gives better profit. Mining tin gives better experience but at a decreased profit. Mining copper is not advisable unless the player plans to smith bronze bars to train early levels of Smithing.
A good place to mine clay is at the South-west Varrock mine, which is fairly close to a bank. Low-level players should beware of the mugger if your combat level is less than 18. Tin ore can be mined at various locations.
To reach level 15 Mining you will need to mine 483 clay, each clay giving 5 experience.
Levels 15-30/55/61/70/75 – Iron ore
Players who have completed the easy tasks of the Ardougne Diary can quickly obtain iron ore at South-east Ardougne mine. Players can teleport to Edgeville via amulet of glory to bank and return with the cloak's teleport option to Kandarin Monastery. This method is fairly click-intensive, but it grants roughly up to 33-36k experience per hour (with good concentration and wearing Varrock Armour) at level 41 Mining and above. If you cannot afford to stock up on amulets of glory, or cannot recharge them because you have not completed Heroes Quest, then buying rings of dueling and teleporting to Castle Wars can be a cheaper option.
Alternatively, after completing The Lost Tribe and unlocking the bank chest at Lumbridge cellar (requires the first subquest of Recipe for Disaster), players can mine iron in the Dorgesh-Kaan mines and bank at Lumbridge cellar. This place is rarely crowded, but a light source is required.
However, the best method for banking and mining iron is at the Mining Guild. Two sets of iron in a triangle are just nearby the bank there.
If the player is not able to use methods above, good places to mine are located in Keldagrim, Varrock West/East Mine and northeast of Yanille. With an Agility level of 5, the Falador West mine has a very short banking trip over the crumbling wall shortcut.
Wearing any type of Varrock Armour whilst mining iron ore is highly recommended for better experience and profit per hour. Additionally, wearing an amulet of glory with charges increases the chance of finding uncut gems, slightly increasing overall profit.
Depending on the ore prices, players may want to switch to Motherlode Mine at level 55, when they are able to obtain mithril ore; at level 61 when they are able to use Dragon pickaxe to mine faster; or at level 70 when they are able to obtain adamantite ore. Players can enter there with 30 Mining if they wish to obtain golden nuggets early on; it should be noted however that the experience rate and profit per hour in Motherlode Mine is significantly lower below 55 Mining.
Levels 30-75/99 – Motherlode Mine
Mining in the Motherlode Mine is a viable alternative to mining iron ore, as its only requirement is to have level 30 Mining. This method of training is frequently used to get to 99 Mining, as it is a lot less click-intensive compared to other methods and still makes a decent amount of profit at higher levels. The presence of a bank chest allows you to bank the ores you receive.
Completing the tasks of Falador medium diary grants the player access to a shortcut (requires 54 Agility) within the Motherlode Mine. You can increase your chance of receiving higher level ores by completing the hard tasks of Falador Diary and further by completing the elite tasks.
Additionally, players are able to obtain golden nuggets through cleaning pay-dirt. These can be used to purchase the Prospector kit from Prospector Percy, which adds a bonus 2.5% experience while mining. Having all the parts from the Prospector kit is a requirement for completing the hard task set of Falador Diary.
Once the player reaches level 72 Mining and has 100 golden nuggets, it is recommended to use the upper levels of the mine. The upper levels have more concentrated ore veins compared to the lower level, and might often be less crowded due to the higher mining level requirement.
Having decent Agility level and weight-reducing gear is helpful in saving run energy, as you will have to run fairly long distances with heavy pay-dirt loads. This is especially the case if you don't have access to the upper level.
To progress from level 30 to level 75, you will need to gain 1,197,058 experience.
Levels 61-75 – Gemstone
Players who have completed hard tasks of the Karamja Diary can efficiently mine gem rocks at the underground portion of Shilo Village mine. Players can use the nearby bank deposit box after they have mined a full inventory of gems. Experience rates with a charged amulet of glory equipped and a dragon pickaxe average around 41,000 - 42,000 experience per hour with this method.
Levels 75-99 – Blast Mine
The Blast Mine minigame, which requires having 100% favour with the Lovakengj House, allows obtaining ore 10 levels below the required Mining level. This means that the player is able to obtain runite ore at level 75 Mining. It is possible to participate in the minigame below 75 Mining, but this is not recommended due to poor profit. Higher Mining level increases the chance of getting higher-level ores, resulting higher experience per hour and better profit.
A common inventory setup is to have noted dynamites along with unnoted ones, a chisel, a tinderbox and an energy/super energy/stamina potion. As soon as you run out of dynamite, run to the nearby bank chest to unnote more dynamite for blasting. Having weight-reducing clothing (such as the graceful outfit) is very beneficial in order to save run energy. Since the chance of getting higher-level ores depend on the player's Mining level, dragon pickaxe's special attack can be used to temporarily increase the current Mining level. Equip the prospector kit when collecting the ores from the operator for extra experience.
This method gives much better experience (around 54,000 - 55,000 experience per hour at level 75 Mining, 59,000 - 60,000 at level 85) and profit than mining in Motherlode Mine, but it's notably more click-intensive.
Levels 85-99 – Runite ore
For players who don't have access to the Blast Mine minigame, mining runite ore is the most profitable, although an extremely slow method of mining training. The best place to mine runite ore is underneath the Heroes' Guild, which has two runite rocks located in there. In order to access the Heroes' Guild, players must have completed Heroes Quest or into Deep Wildy which has 3 runite rocks. However, as of June 1, 2017 in Mor-Ul Rek, there are 3 new runite ore locations within close proximity to a bank. There is also 2 new rocks located in the members only section of the mining guild in close proximity to a bank. The mining site on Fossil Island contains also 2 runite rocks.
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