Free-to-play Mining training

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This article is about non-members methods of training the Mining skill. For members' methods of training Mining, see Pay-to-play Mining training.

This guide describes the most effective free-to-play methods to train the Mining skill. Mining is a gathering skill which typically involves collecting ores (and occasionally geodes) from different types of rocks, often found in groups in mines. A pickaxe is required when mining. Levelling up the Mining skill increases the chance of the player getting critical hits, which deal greater amounts of damage to rocks and so increase the rate of receiving ores and the larger experience drop that occurs alongside this. A higher Mining level gives chances of receiving double ores from certain types of rock; and increases the frequency of rockertunities, which also grant extra damage when used. As players level up they are also able to use better pickaxes. To gain the best experience rates possible players are strongly recommended to use the highest level pickaxe available to them and use rockertunities whenever available.

A rockertunity

The experience rate estimates in this guide assume that the best possible pickaxe is being used for the stated Mining level and do not incorporate the use of any experience boosting items or bonus experience. They also assume that players do not bank the ores that they obtain, as this would reduce xp/hr, although whether it is worth it to bank the ore would depend on the market, proximity, and preferences.

Players using the Evolution of Combat mode can drop ores by adding the ore to their action bar and pressing the associated keybind to drop the ore. As opposed to dropping items directly from the inventory using their right-click drop option, dropping ores via the action bar does not interrupt mining. Players who do wish to keep the ores that they mine could make use of the ore box, and expansions to its capacity to decrease the frequency of trips to the bank.

Pickaxes

Higher level pickaxes deal greater amounts of damage to rocks and so increase the rate of receiving ores and the larger experience drop that occurs alongside this. Pickaxes may be used from the player's inventory or tool belt or whilst being equipped.

Level required	Pickaxe	Average damage done to rock
1	Bronze pickaxe	5
10	Iron pickaxe	10
	Iron pickaxe + 1	11
20	Steel pickaxe	20
	Steel pickaxe + 1	21
30	Mithril pickaxe	30
	Mithril pickaxe + 1	31
	Mithril pickaxe + 2	32
40	Adamant pickaxe	40
	Adamant pickaxe + 1	41
	Adamant pickaxe + 2	42
50	Rune pickaxe	50
	Rune pickaxe + 1	51
	Rune pickaxe + 2	52
	Rune pickaxe + 3	53

Urns

Urns can be used to gain additional Mining experience while training. When held in the inventory, urns are filled as the player mines ore. Only base experience gains counts towards filling the urn. Full urns can be teleported away to receive additional experience, equivalent to 20% of the Mining experience gained while filling the urn. Only one urn is filled at a time, though players may own up to a total of 10 full urns. If a player owns 10 full mining urns they must teleport at least 1 away before they can fill more urns. Urns are only tradeable in their (nr), non-runed, forms. In order to use a mining urn the player must add an earth rune to it, this makes the urn untradeable.

Image	Name	Crafting level required to add rune	GE price of non-runed urn	Charges gained from	Type of ore	Experience required to fill	Experience gained from teleporting
	Cracked mining urn	1	1,532	Ores available at level 1	Clay Copper ore Tin ore Rune essence	437.5	87.5
	Fragile mining urn	17	1,099	Ores up to and including level 20	The above, plus: Iron ore Limestone Blurite ore Coal Silver ore Daeyalt ore	1,000	200
	Plain mining urn	32	1,660	Ores up to and including level 50	The above, plus: Mithril ore Pure essence Sandstone Adamantite ore Luminite ore Gold ore	1,625	325
	Strong mining urn	48	2,507	Ores up to and including level 70	The above, plus: Granite Runite ore Orichalcite ore Drakolith ore Necrite ore Phasmatite ore	2,000	400

Summary

See here to calculate how many ores will be obtained during training. The following figures do not include boosts nor urns.

Levels	Method	Experience per hour
1-10	Copper/tin	5,000
10-20	Iron	15,000
20-30	Coal	25,000
30-40	Mithril	40,000
40-50	Adamantite/Luminite	45,000
50-99	Runite	60,000
Any	Shooting Star	75,000

Levels 1-10: Copper/Tin

Players should begin by mining copper rocks and/or tin rocks. The Ashdale mine contains two rocks of each type close together as well as a nearby furnace for storage. Players can continually mine from the same rock, but should switch to rocks with rockertunities when these spawn. With level 1-10 Mining players should gain an experience rate equivalent to around 5,000 experience an hour, and should achieve level 10 Mining after around 10 minutes.

If they want to keep the ore, they can store it in the metal bank by going a short distance south and using the "Deposit-All" option on the furnace, forge or anvil, which puts all ores in the inventory or in the ore box into the metal bank.

Levels 10-20: Iron

At level 10 players can start mining from iron rocks; these can be found in the South-west Lumbridge swamp mining site and South-west Varrock mining site. Players should gain around 15,000 experience an hour at these levels.

At level 15 players unlock Energetic Mining, which allows the player to deal increased damage per swing to rocks while mining by actively clicking the rock. See Mining#Stamina for more information.

This guide assumes that from level 15 on wards the player is maintaining a moderate level of activity; players who maintain 100% stamina may be able to gain higher experience rates.

Levels 20-30: Coal

From level 20-30 Mining players should mine coal rocks, which can be found in several mines, with Gunnarsgrunn mine having very fast access of the metal bank. At these levels players should be able to gain around 25,000 experience an hour.

Levels 30-40: Mithril

With level 30 Mining players can begin mining mithril rocks for around 40,000 experience an hour. Mithril rocks can be found at the Varrock south-west mine and Varrock south-east mine.

Dwarven Mine resource dungeon requires 15 Dungeoneering, but is the best site as the mithril rocks are extremely close to a bank deposit box (one rock is so close you can deposit ore without moving).

Levels 40-50: Adamantite/Luminite

At level 40 players may choose to mine adamantite rocks or luminite rocks; both of which give around 45,000 experience an hour but the latter is far more profitable.

Luminite rocks are located in two mines in the Dwarven mines. Mining Guild resource dungeon requires 45 Dungeoneering and 60 Mining. Dwarven luminite mine is right outside of Dwarven Mine resource dungeon and thus you can make use of the same deposit box as before, so it is recommended.

Adamantite rocks can be found at the Rimmington mining site and South-east Varrock mining site.

Levels 50-99+: Runite

Runite rocks can be mined with at least level 50 Mining. The rocks can be mined in the South and North Crandor mining sites, and in the Mining Guild (requires 60 Mining). This gives around 60,000 experience an hour, at level 50 Mining. Players can take advantage of a rune ore box, which can be purchased from the Grand Exchange or created with level 50 Smithing. These allow you to store between 120-140 runite ore, allowing for less frequent banking.

Shooting Star

Shooting Stars are a Distraction and Diversion which spawn randomly throughout the world. They yield very high rates of experience. They are the best experience source for high levelled mining players. Locating a Shooting Star could happen randomly, but more likely a player might be notified through a friend or their clan that a shooting star has appeared at a particular location on a certain world. In addition to the mining experience, once the star has been completely destroyed, the player has the opportunity to trade their Stardust to the Star Sprite to receive valuable rewards and a 15 minute +25% ore boost to any rocks mined. Locating a size 9 Shooting Star by themselves, a player will take nearly 30 minutes to completely destroy the rock.

Money making using the Mining skill

Mining clay

Level required	Experience per hour	Profit per hour	Details of method
None	4,200	606,480	Money making guide/Mining clay

Mining iron ore

Level required	Experience per hour	Profit per hour	Details of method
15 15 29	33,600	960,828	Money making guide/Mining iron ore

Mining adamantite ore

Level required	Experience per hour	Profit per hour	Details of method
40+	45,000	743,712	Money making guide/Mining adamantite ore

Mining luminite ore

Level required	Experience per hour	Profit per hour	Details of method
40+ 15 (recommended)	57,000	1,335,040	Money making guide/Mining luminite ore

Mining runite ore

Level required	Experience per hour	Profit per hour	Details of method
50+	60,000	1,878,731	Money making guide/Mining runite ore

Quests for Mining Experience

Quest	Members	Experience reward	Mining requirement	Other requirements
The Tale of the Muspah		800	8	6 Firemaking 10 Magic 10 Woodcutting
What's Mine is Yours		1,000	-	5 Smithing
Boric's Task I		1,500	30
Legacy of Seergaze		2,000	35	20 Construction 29 Agility 31 Slayer 40 Firemaking 47 Crafting 49 Magic
Plague City		2,425	-
The Giant Dwarf		2,500	-	12 Crafting 16 Firemaking 33 Magic 14 Thieving
Heroes' Quest		2,575	50	53 Cooking 53 Fishing 25 Herblore 25 Defence (Black Arm gang only)
Another Slice of H.A.M.		3,000	-	15 Attack 25 Prayer
The Lost Tribe		3,000	17	13 Agility 13 Thieving
Boric's Task II		3,500	40
Between a Rock...		5,000	40	30 Defence 50 Smithing
Summer's End		5,000	45	23 Summoning 35 Hunter 37 Woodcutting 47 Firemaking 55 Prayer
A Void Dance		5,000	47	46 Hunter 47 Construction 48 Summoning 49 Herblore 52 Woodcutting 54 Thieving
Enakhra's Lament		7,000	-	50 Crafting 45 Firemaking 13 Magic
Boric's Task III		8,000	60
Defender of Varrock		10,000	59	51 Agility 51 Hunter 54 Smithing
Rebuilding Edgeville		10,000	-
Kennith's Concerns		12,000	46
TokTz-Ket-Dill		15,000	41	50 Attack 50 Construction 43 Crafting 45 Strength
The Dig Site		15,300	-	25 Thieving 10 Agility 10 Herblore
The Curse of Arrav		30,000	64	37 Slayer 41 Summoning 61 Agility 64 Ranged 64 Strength 66 Thieving
Ritual of the Mahjarrat		40,000	76	76 Crafting 77 Agility
King of the Dwarves		45,000	68	70 Smithing 77 Strength
Plague's End		50,000	75	75 Agility 75 Construction 75 Crafting 75 Dungeoneering 75 Herblore 75 Prayer 75 Ranged 75 Summoning 75 Woodcutting
Nomad's Elegy		50,000	75	75 Construction 75 Woodcutting
River of Blood		50,000	72	80 Herblore 80 Constitution 78 Attack 78 Ranged 78 Magic 76 Firemaking 75 Fletching
The Brink of Extinction		100,000	72	80 Defence 80 Smithing
Birthright of the Dwarves		100,000	80	82 Smithing 85 Strength
Total	589,600