This article is about the type of ore. For the item used in the 2008 Easter event, see
Bucket of coal.
Item JSON: {"edible":"no","members":"no","stackable":"no","stacksinbank":"yes","death":"reclaimable","name":"Coal","bankable":"yes","gemw":{"name":"Coal","limit":25000},"equipable":"no","disassembly":"yes","release_date":"4 January 2001","id":"453","release_update_post":"Runescape beta is now online!","lendable":"no","destroy":"Drop","highalch":16,"weight":2.267,"tradeable":"yes","examine":"Used in Smithing (20,30).","noteable":"yes"}Buy limit: 25000
Coal is a resource that can be obtained through mining coal rocks or concentrated coal rocks, requiring level 20 Mining, in various places around RuneScape. One of the best places to mine coal rocks is Gunnarsgrunn mine while concentrated coal is only found in the Living Rock Caverns.
Coal is required to craft elemental, steel and mithril bars. As players increase their Mining level and use higher tier pickaxes, they are able to mine coal at quicker rates.
Coal, like other mining resources, can be stored in an ore box. 100 coal can be stored in a steel ore box or higher. This capacity is increased by 20 at level 29 Mining and a further 20 with the completion of the Everything Is Oresome achievement.
Coal can be obtained through Managing Miscellania by having the player's subjects of Miscellania gather it for them. In order to gain coal, players must store money in the coffers and then set the focus of the subjects on mining. They will mine coal and possibly a few gem stones in the background for the player.
|
 Coal |
|---|
| Mining level |  20 | Critical hit chance |
|---|
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| Source | Coal rock | 10% | 15% |
|---|
| Core |  | 25 | - |
|---|
| Stone spirit |  Coal | Rockertunity multiplier |
|---|
| Geode |  Sedimentary | x5 | x6 |
|---|
| Rock stats | 21 | - |
|---|
| Durability | 140 | Double ore chance |
|---|
| Hardness | 15 | 5% | 10% |
|---|
| Multiplier | 0.7 | 27 | - |
|---|
| Base ore | 1 | Geode chance |
|---|
| Varrock armour double chance | 10% | 15% |
|---|
|
 | 4% | 25 | - |
|
|
Coal maintained an average stable price of 175 coins prior to June 2009, but gradually rose to over 300 coins in the middle of 2010. After free trade was reinstated on 1 February 2011, the price briefly fell to an average 160 coins before it continued to fluctuate near 250 coins until 2013.
On 19 October 2015, during the Invasion of Falador event, double experience was awarded while training at the Artisans' Workshop. This caused the price of coal to rise dramatically, reaching an average Grand Exchange price of 492 coins on 24 October 2015, with a 7-day trading volume of 262,600,000.
Starting around 2016 when Runescape 3 saw it's lowest 2010s playership numbers, the price started settling below 200 coins until it finally reached it's lowest ever 90-day average of around 78 coins in mid-2019. As the game's popularity grew throughout the 2020s, sparked by the release of Archaeology and the COVID-19 Pandemic, the demand for coal grew for a number of reasons, increasing its price substantially. The need for coal in Smithing autoheaters was likely what kept the average price high as returning players pushed for Max capes and Master Max capes.
The market price of coal is currently 306 coins.
Coal
(transmutation) | - |  |  |
|---|
| 6 XP | - | 3 (1.8s) | 306 |
| Requirements |
|---|
| Divination level | 24 |
 Members only |
| Materials |
|---|
| Item | Quantity | Price | Total |
|---|
 | Bright energy | 2 | 379 | 758 |
 | Iron ore | 3 | 1,376 | 4,128 |
| Total price | 4,886 |
|---|
| Profit | −4,580 |
|---|
This is an auto-generated list (
update now), and shows the first 100 items alphabetically. For all items, click
here.
For an exhaustive list of all known sources for this item, see
here.
- ^ There is further information on this drop; see the associated page for details.
This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included - see here for how to help out!
- patch 7 January 2019 (Update):
- Adamant and runite now use luminite rather than coal as the secondary ingredient for smelting. Luminite can be mined at mining level 40.
- Coal is not an ore. Ore requires extraction to obtain the element while coal is already in its usable form.
- In RuneScape, coal rocks have a higher chance of awarding gems than other mined resources. One can observe this in the real world as well. In the real world, coal beds can supply the needed carbon and pressure that gems require to form.
- As a joke around Christmas time, some players give coal to other players. This is a reference to a well known Christmas tradition where coal is given instead of presents to those who have been naughty that year. This was turned on its head during the 2009 Christmas event, where the naughty NPC Tiny Thom was delighted to have been given a lump of coal due to its market value.
- Prior to the Mining and Smithing rework:
- Coal was widely used in the Smithing skill. The looming changes caused the value of coal to steadily drop,[1][2] despite the addition of the Smithing autoheater, which created a new function for coal in Smithing.
- The examine text of coal stated, "Hmm a non-renewable energy source!". This is a joke about coal in the real world as coal cannot be replenished once extracted.
- Coal was also required for making adamant and runite bars, requiring 6 and 8 pieces of coal respectively. Steel and mithril bars also required 2 and 4 pieces of coal respectively.
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| Gem |
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| Geode |
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| Quests | |
| Dungeoneering |
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| Miscellaneous |
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| Historical | | Gielinor Games |
| | Harmonised |
| | Veins |
| | Other |
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| Base | |
| Base +1 | |
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| Miscellaneous |
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Haunted Mine
The Tourist Trap
The Fremennik Isles
The Giant Dwarf (partial completion)
Royal Trouble (partial completion)
TokTz-Ket-Dill
Plague's End
Divine coal rock
Elemental bar
Mithril bar
Mithril ore
Steel bar
Coins
Zemomark
Simple parts
