Mining

Mining is a skill that allows players to obtain ores from rocks. With the 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.

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 obtaineda 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. 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 will still 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.

Ores and rocks
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.

Locations
At the moment, only free-to-play locations added

Al-Kharid / Chasm Mine
Also known as the Scorpion Pit, due to the abundance of these pests. This is a resaonable mine for most materials as it has everything except clay and rune, but is usually quite busy. The 3 Iron ores at the north end are popular with power miners, as they are mined by swivelling on the same spot in the middle of them.
 * Located in the northern area of Al-Kharid, the desert region at the east of the free-to-play map.
 * A bank and a furnace are a fair walk to the south

Barbarian Village
A poor mine, the coal is usually busy with people trying to organise 2 each and not taking kindly to "intruders", while tin alone is not much use. Also, since the major graphics overhaul in February '06, the barbarians are hostile and don't take kindly to noobs stealing their coal.
 * Located on the road west from Varrock, towards Falador, and north of Draynor Manor
 * The bank in Edgeville to the north is closest

Crafting Guild
The entrance requirement of level 40 crafting requires dedication to the craft skill, and a brown apron from the Varrock clothes shop is also required. This mine offers the three craft materials, Clay, Silver and Gold, but you'll have to go elsewhere to smelt them. Clay can be prepared on the premises though.
 * Located at the far west of the free-to-play map, south of Falador
 * Nearest bank and furnace, Falador - members with sufficient agility can take a short cut tunnel under the city wall and go up the west side of the moat

Crandor
Crandor is reached by boat, during the Dragon Slayer quest, and may subsequently be reached using the "odd wall" in the Karamja volcano dungeon. Some good ores, and some good monsters too!
 * Located north of Karamja, through the volcano dungeon, after completing Dragon Slayer, see Karamja for more.
 * Nearest facilities are a dungeon and boat trip away, then it's still a hell of a walk to Draynor bank.
 * If you can spare the runes, superheat smelting and/or teleporting back are an option

Dwarven Mine
With some of everything except silver, rune and special items, this is another of the major mines. It can be rather busy, and among the richer deposits at the southern end is a severe infestation of Scorpions and King Scorpions that will trouble even those with moderate combat levels.

Other facilities in this mine include the mine shop to the east of the main entrance, where some ores may be traded, and the north section of the passage to the west, where there is a general store, Nurmorf's pickaxe shop, and a transportation system for members.
 * Main Entrance: In the foothills of the Ice Mountain, north of the Falador to Barbarian Village road
 * Falador Entrance: A building in the far northeast of Falador has stairs down to the south end of the mine
 * South gate: Entrance to the mining guild, level 60 required
 * Nearest Bank is Falador east, via the Falador entrance

Edgeville Dungeon
Also called the Skeleton mine by some, though there are several guarded by skeletons.

A compact mine with a variety of ores, and the resident skeletons and occasional wandering Hobgoblin ensure that combat level, as well as mining level, is useful here. This mine seems to attract a number of "load and go" miners, and often snaps between busy and clear in the time it takes to get a full load of coal. The single Mithril is often ignored.
 * The long way: From the dungeon entrance at Edgeville, through the dungeon.
 * The short way: Leaving west and then south, a key may be collected from a chamber to the east, allowing entry and exit using the ladder near the Hill Giants and a building on the Varrock side of the river
 * Nearest bank, Varrock west, using the key. There is no reason to use the Edville route again.

Hero's Guild
This is "the" mine for Runite ore without all the tedious mucking about in the wilderness! It boasts Coal, Mithril, Adamantite and rune with only a few Giant Bats and a personal caged Blue Dragon. You must complete the Hero's Quest to enter here. This mine was one of the reasons for the coined phrase "World Jumping" in runescape.
 * Located more or less due north of Taverly
 * Nearest Facilities - Falador

Hobgoblin Mine
Rich in higher level ores, but dangerous due to it's position around level 32 wilderness, leaving you open to attack by player killers many levels above you, as well as by the Hobgoblins which may ignore you after a while.

Be aware that the limit for teleport is level 20 wilderness, so you cannot teleport out of trouble. If you have not been skulled for attacking other players, then your 3 most expensive items will be preserved, for a miner, this would be a Rune pick and your two best armour pieces, or two ores if you carry just your pick.
 * Located more or less due north of Edgeville
 * There is a furnace in the ruins to the east, entered from the south in approximately level 25 wilderness

Karamja Volcano
4 gold and not usually busy, the main weakness of this mine is not so much the Skeletons, but the fact that it is a boat trip away from any bank. Using this mine can also be combined with a Lobster fishing trip, or some monster killing in the dungeon. A mine where the world switch tactic can be useful.
 * Located in the Karamja volcana dungeon, in the same chamber as the climbing rope that is your way out
 * Nearest facilities: Take the ship back to Port Sarim and then go to Draynor for a bank or Falador for a bank or furnace

Lumbridge Swamp
A long walk from Draynor Village and an even longer one from Lumbridge due to the wall, makes this a very annoying mine to find busy. It has enough coal to comfortably supply two, though there are often as many as five players in a scramble for coal. It is a rich source of Mithril, especially if the other visitors are only able to mine coal. This is another mine where world switching works well, especially for Mithril

This mine has nothing for low level miners, Coal, mithril and Adamantite are the only things found here.
 * Located south of Lumbridge, but walled from it. It seems quicker to walk the coastal route toward Draynor Village than through the swamp
 * Nearest bank, Draynor Village

Mining Guild
Level 60 mining, or 59 and a Dwarven stout is required to enter.

This mine has a lot of Coal and a few Mithril, and varies between "not busy", "moderately busy", and "crazy", since everyone is there for one thing only, and all are capable of mining it. It supports up to 6 players comfortably, more than that and you have to be very sharp to avoid higher level miners stealing your rock.

Unless a complete free for all has broken out, it is polite not to mine a rock that someone else is mining, and hope they show the same courtesy to you. After a while, you get a feel for pattern that other miners tend to follow, with the rocks outside the larger groups being less fought over.
 * Main Entrance: In the centre of a horseshoe of buildings, south of the Falador east bank. Either open three doors to enter from the west side, or walk round to the open side.
 * Access gate, to the north, leading to/from the main Dwarven mine
 * Falador east is the bank for this one

Rimmington
A good general mine, with ores from Clay to Iron, plus Gold. It also has no resident monsters. The Iron ores are grouped into 2, 3 and 1, with the groups being good places to find dropped Iron. The Gold tends to be very busy, or completely ignored if no miners of high enough level are in.
 * Located northeast of Rimmington, west of Port Sarim and some way south of Falador
 * Nearest bank: Falador east or Draynor Village

Steel Mine
You can't mine steel, but this supplies the raw materials, Coal and Iron. The aggressive level 18 Skeletons are an annoyance, but at level 6 wilderness, few player killers can do you enough damage before you run back to safety.

Not a great mine, but the low reward and small degree of risk can make it less busy than better ones.
 * Located just north of Edgeville, near the end of the river
 * Nearest bank, Edgeville

Varrock East
A good low level mine with no resident monsters, with Iron and the raw materials for Bronze. A minor annoyance, the swarm seems to be particularly common here.
 * Located outside the southeast corner of the city wall
 * Nearest bank, Varrock East, going north by the city wall and taking the east entrance

Varrock West
Another mine with Tin but no Copper, like the Barbarian Village mine. This one has Clay and Silver, as well as Iron. A reasonable mixed mine with no resident monsters.
 * Located outside the southwest corner of the city
 * Nearest Bank, Varrock West, going north by the city wall and taking the west entrance

Wilderness Coal
Also referred to as the Skeleton Mine or Wilderness Skeleton Mine. Level 9 wilderness makes the player killer hazard a little worse than at the Steel Mine and the level 22 Skeletons are a little stronger. If you can stand the pace, this is a very rich coal mine, but you have to rely on running to safety or using expensive teleport runes, though it may be a good mine for members carrying anything with a teleport that can be recharged.
 * Located due north of the Black Knight's Castle, and if you want to avoid additional monster encounters, you should travel north/south between the mine and the ridge
 * Nearest bank, Edgeville, go east when you hit the ridge, and you can go to Edgeville, or cut south by the Monastery to get back to civilization

Wilderness Runite
At level 46, this is not for the faint hearted. North of the Hobgoblin Mine, north of the Lava maze and surrounded by multi-combat wilderness, though the mine area is not multi-combat. Deadly red spiders are close by, though it is not certain if they wander into the mine. World switching is useful here, to fill up with Runite, but getting it back to civilization is another dangerous trek - remember, you are beyond teleport range. If you have any food left, you may need it on the way back. It is also a good idea to run using CONTROL-Click on the minimap when you need to escape, and not waste energy with permanent run selected. If you run past potential player killers, they will find it difficult to tag you with a bind spell.
 * When you see the lava maze, skirt round it, going further west to avoid the Lessers, Then back to follow the north edge of the Lava maze.
 * Nearest bank: Edgeville, or take just your pick, no armour, get two Runite then die and go to Lumbridge (or for members, the Falador re-incarnation after the Recruitment Drive quest would be even better)

Random events
In addition to the general random events, there are a few that are specific to mining.

Rock Golem
Similar to the River Troll when fishing, or the Tree Spirit when woodcutting, this is a fairly tough opponent based on your combat level, though as you approach the point where you would get the next level up, it can actually be quite an easy opponent, if you are armed and fully armoured. If travelling light, and armed only with your mining pick, it's a tougher proposition, though nothing like as tough as a shade.

Common drops are a single ore, an uncut gem, though there are other possibilities.

If you'd rather not fight, then just run away until it stops following.

Smoking Rock
If you continue mining a rock with smoke or gas bubbles emerging, it will explode, damaging your pick and you as well. The pick can be repaired by Nurmorf, but the cost increases for better picks.

Lost pickaxe head
If the head flies off your pickaxe, just pick it up and put it back on the handle. You have a limited time to collect it, before others can see it.

Dr. Ford
You're dazed after being hit by a chunk of rock. Which fingers is he holding up?

Get it right, get some fruit, get it wrong or ignore him, and you'll take a forced rest.

Power mining
Also known as drop mining, this is where you mine a plentiful ore, then drop it and mine again.

While this enables you to build your mining level quickly, without the time it takes to carry it to the bank and return, dropping a full load of ore also takes some time. Unless you choose to ignore smithing and become a coal trader, this has a major disadvantage that you do not advance your smithing level if you do not bring back ore to smelt. It has its place, if you you need an extra level more than you need the ore you are currently able to mine, but it's probably an over-used tactic.

Wielding
If you do not have sufficient attack level to wield your pick, then you should always wield a suitable weapon, unless using potential "mine and die" tactics, where you carry just your pick.

If you have the choice, it is usually best to wield your primary weapon in any mine with aggressive residents, since a long sword is a far better weapon than a pick in the same metal. In safer mines, you can make room for an extra ore by wielding your pick.

One disadvantage of wielding your pick, if the head flies off, you must collect the head, then un-equip the handle in order to re-attach.

Moving quickly
If the mine has no guardians and you plan to run away from any Rock Golems you may encounter, then wearing lightweight kit, robes or nothing but your character's normal clothes, may enable you to run for longer.

Since rune essence is lightweight, you can run to or from the mine, but with heavier ores, it makes the best use of your endurance to run to the mine and walk back.

Wilderness mine tips
After getting a pasting I only just survived at the Wilderness Coal Mine, from a mage PKer, hitting up to 15, I'll offer the following tips. So the best kit for the miner in lower level wilderness, is probably full leather, the wooden shield (has 1 defence against magic) and an amulet of defence, with your 3 protected items then being your good pickaxe, the amulet, and the leather body or an ore if it's the good stuff. This leaves you considerably weaker against the resident monsters, but the lightweight kit may help your running endurance, though not much if fully laden.
 * Metal armour is great against the monsters that pester you (skeletons were not much trouble), but leaves you a sitting duck if a PK'ing Mage blasts you, even while running, you still take a beating.
 * Leather offers better protection against this kind of surprise attack, although metal is better if a ranged fighter decides to make a pincushion of you, leather is still reasonable in defence, since an armoured warrior is the greatest threat, but has to make contact.

With 20:20 hindsight, I clean forgot I had the "Protect from magic" prayer which would have saved 50% of the damage - I should have turned that on, unarmoured, and then charged the Mage.

Another mistake was being close to the edge - with armour that holds up well against the resident monsters, better to have plenty of them between you and any Pk'er.

Temporary boosts

 * A Dwarven Stout will raise mining and smithing by 1. It can be bought in Falador, is a common drop from dwarves, and can be bought in several places in members areas, as well as brewed using the Cooking skill.
 * A Mature Dwarven Stout will raise mining and smithing by 2. You receive 2 as a reward for completing the Forgettable Tale, and it can be brewed by using the Cooking.