Mining

Mining is a skill that allows players to obtain ores and gemstones from rocks. With ores, a player can then either smelt and smith them or sell them for a great 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.

How to mine
To mine, a player will first need a Pickaxe. Pickaxes are sold by Nurmof in the dwarven mines, though new players are given one when they complete tutorial island. When a player has obtained a pickaxe, they next need to find a mine. When these two tasks are complete, the player can then find a rock in the mine and click on it, making them mine the rocks with their pickaxe. As a player is mining a rock, they will eventually obtain an ore (or gemstone). This ore can either be used in the smithing skill or it can be sold. Selling ores can give players a good profit.

Mining is a skill largely based on a player's luck, which is totally random in RuneScape. Luck affects mining in this way: the player will mine the rock, but when they hit the rock, it might take eight to twenty hits to obtain an ore. Another player may mine the same rock and get an ore in just one hit. Using a pickaxe of a higher metal will allow players to obtain ores faster, though luck still does play a key role.

Pickaxes
Pickaxes, or 'picks', are needed to mine rocks. They can be equipped as a weapon, giving players some more space in their inventory. However, pickaxes cannot be smithed. Pickaxes can either be bought from Nurmof in the dwarven mines or from other players. Nurmof's shop in the dwarven mines is labelled on the mini-map as a gold pickaxe.

A player's mining level determines the type of pickaxe they can mine with. The higher a level needed to use a pickaxe, the better it is than the ones below it. For example, a rune pickaxe will mine rocks faster than an adamant pickaxe.

The prices in the table below are from Nurmof's store when there is only one of that kind of pickaxe in stock. If a player breaks the pickaxe's head from a rock with smoke coming out of it, then they will have to bring their pickaxe to Nurmof and ask him to fix it, for a price.

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 gray 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.

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 gray for a while. Eventually another ore will respawn and the rock will regain its colour. Players can only mine a rock when ore is available. Ore respawn times differ with the difficulty of the rock. For example, rune rocks take over 20 minutes to respawn while iron rocks take about 3 seconds.

Free-to-play mines
All players have access to these mines.

Misthalin mines

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

Asgarnia mines

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

Island mines

 * Crandor Mine
 * Karmaja Volcano Mine

Wilderness mines

 * Hobgoblin Mine
 * Wilderness Rune Mine
 * Steel Mine
 * Wilderness Skeleton Mine

Members mines
Only members can access these mines.

Asgarnia mines

 * Hero's Guild Mine

Others

 * Keldagrim mines
 * Fremminik mines
 * Coal Truck Mines

Random events
Random events are events that happen at random times. They were introduced to stop autoers, or people who use a program to do their work. Some random events include NPCs wanting players to do a task for them and rewarding them if they are successful or a monster that will attack the player. In mining, there quite a few of random events.

Rock golem
While mining, a Rock Golem may appear and will begin attacking a player. The combat level of the golem depends on the player's combat level, but it will always be stronger. The Rock Golem's combat level varies from level 14 to 170. The player can either kill it or run away from it. If a player kills a Rock Golem, it can drop drop ores, stouts, pickaxes, an uncut gem, or nothing.

Exploding rock
When a player mines a rock, smoke or gas bubbles may emerge from it. If a player continues mining this rock as this is happening, the rock will explode, dealing minor damage to the player and destroying the head of their pickaxe. To repair it, players have to bring it to Nurmof, the dwarf who sells pickaxes in the Dwarven Mine, for a price.

Lost pickaxe head
While mining, the player's pickaxe head might fly off. The head will land somewhere nearby, usually 3 to 10 squares away. When this happens, the player has to find the pickaxe head quickly before someone else sees it and grabs it - who might attempt to extort it from them. When the player has found the pickaxe head, they can use it with their handle to put the pickaxe back together. If you ever find a pickaxe handle, you should pick it up, just incase someone doesn't notice they have lost there pick head. That way you can have a back up pick without spending any money.

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 doing this method, a player would be missing out on smithing. For P2P Power mining is particularly useful at the Granite Quarry in the Al Kharid desert. This requires starting the quest Enakhra's Lament.

Wield the pickaxe
Players are strongly recommended to wield their pickaxe. This way, they'll have more inventory space to allow them to carry more ores. To wield picks you must have an appropriate attack level, as your pick is considered a weapon. Bronze      -     1 Iron           -    1 Steel          -    5 Mithril        -    20 Adamant        -    30 Rune         -    40

Wear light items
Players are strongly recommended to wear few items or nothing at all other than their pickaxe. Members are advised to wear the boots of lightness, obtained in the Temple of Ikov, so that their weight is lower. Also, wearing the Spotted Cape or Spottier Cape from the Hunter Skill can be very useful, as well as Penance gloves from the Barbarian Assault mini-game. 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
Having a high-level defence and wearing stronger armors gives players a much stronger defence against pkers that attempt to try their luck for some runite/adamantite/etc. ores. Leather/Dragonhide armour also offers fairly good protection against both magic and meleers. Players could either only bring their pickaxe to the wilderness, or bring full leather, a wooden shield or an anti-dragon shield, and an amulet of defence. Fortunately, if a player dies with all these items, they'll keep their pickaxe, the amulet, and the leather body or an ore, depending on what kind it is. A good portion of food is recommended. Saradomin's brew may prove essential in life and death situations, as it gives a 20% + 2 defence bonus, and 15% + 2 hp boost.

Training
Here are possible ways for a player to raise their mining level.


 * Level 1 to 15: Mine copper and tin rocks. An alternative if you want to level runecrafting or sell the produce is rune essence, you can also do clay if you want to level crafting. Rune essence is easier to mine because you only have to click once and you can mine a full inventory in one go.  You can mine rune essence by completing the Rune Mysteries quest and talking to Aubry in Varrock.
 * 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 85.  If you are in need of cash you can mine coal but it's best to wait untill you are in the guild.  From level 41 on you can equip a rune pick and mine iron in one hit.  The absolute fastest way to level from 41 mining onward 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 player with combat levels of 28 or lower.  Mine the three ore and quickly drop them while you wait for them to respawn.  This should take 6-10 seconds and you will gain 105 experience.  Using this method (assuming you do it in 10 seconds here is how long getting to level 60 should take by level.
 * To get to 42 will take 7 minutes.
 * To get from level 42 to 43 will take 7 minutes and 30 seconds.
 * 43-44 will take about 8 minutes 30 seconds.
 * 45---9 min 20 sec
 * 46---10 min 10 sec
 * 47---11:20
 * 48---12:30
 * 49---13:50
 * 50---15:10
 * 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 if you need the cash, otherwise continue with iron. Getting up these levels will take much longer and be prepared to put in some time.  Powermining iron like recommended in the previous levels it will take you 84 hours of work.  Putting in one hour a day you could do it in about 3 months.  Time how long it takes you to mine the three iron and drop.  If you can do it in under 10 seconds it will take less time to level up.
 * Level 85 to 99: If you want levels you should now mine coal in the guild. If you want money mine rune ore, which can be found in the wilderness if you are not a member. There are also 2 rocks in the Heroes Guild for members.

Quests

 * Digsite Quest - 15300 experience
 * Enakhra's Lament - 7000 experience
 * Between a Rock... - 5000 experience
 * The Lost Tribe - 3000 experience
 * Heroes Quest - 2575 experience
 * The Giant Dwarf - 2500 experience
 * Plague City - 2425 experience
 * Doric's Quest (Non-member) - 1300 experience

Temporary boosts

 * Dwarven Stout - Drinking this will raise a player's mining and smithing level by 1 for a short time. Dwarven stouts can be bought in Falador one at a time, or members can buy them in Burthorpe in quantities up to 12, at which point the stock is expended and the player must wait for the store to restock. 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.
 * Mature Dwarven Stout - Members only. Drinking this will raise a player's mining and smithing by level 2 for a short time. Players receive two mature dwarven stouts as a reward for completing the quest Forgettable Tale, but they can also be brewed.