Mining

osrsw:Miningclassicrsw:Mining

This article is about the mining skill. For information on training mining, see Mining training (F2P) (P2P).

Mining
Release date	4 January 2001 (Update)
Members only	No
Statistics
Minimum level to be ranked	15 (as of 24 Jan 2019)
Players with 99	143,011 (as of 24 Jan 2019)
Players with 120	9,914 (as of 24 Jan 2019)
Players with 200M XP	2,262 (as of 24 Jan 2019)
Infobox • Talk page

A player semi-actively mining for orichalcite ore using the Mining skill.

Mining level-up jingle

Mining is a gathering skill that allows players to extract ores, gems, rune essence, geodes and other resources from rocks in mines throughout RuneScape. Mined ores can be smelted at a furnace, turning them into bars that can be made into metal objects using the Smithing skill, but also sometimes the Construction skill or the Crafting skill. On the map, mines and mining sites are identified with a lump of ore (), and Mining shops are identified with a pickaxe () icon.

The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 1,349,141) on the hiscores for Mining is level 15. As of 24 January 2019, there are 143,011 current members that have achieved level 99 in Mining. There are 9,914 current members that have achieved level 120 in Mining.

Mining was extensively overhauled on 7 Jan 2019. To see all changes made to the skill refer to Mining and Smithing rework, and the historical article on the skill.

Core mechanics

The pickaxe of earth and song.

To mine, players need a pickaxe that they have the required Mining level to mine with. The pickaxe can be in their inventory, wielded in the main hand slot, or stored in the tool belt. Players should then choose where to mine, taking into consideration the proximity to a bank, and what ores are available. Players only need to left-click once on any rock containing ore to mine it (provided they have the level needed for that ore type). The obtained ores, gems, and essence can then be sold for profit, or used by the player for the Smithing, Crafting and Runecrafting skills.

Rocks

Mining rocks do not deplete. For each strike on a rock, the player will make progress towards gaining an ore, as shown on a progress bar above the character's head. The amount of progress gained will depend on the player's Mining level and the tier of pickaxe that they use. Additionally, 1/10 of the player's Strength level is added to the player's progress gains. Rock have two assigned stats, durability and hardness. To view the stats on a particular rock, the player can right-click and select "prospect."

The prospect tooltip for a runite ore rock.

Durability

Durability or hitpoints determines the amount of progress needed to get ore from the rock. Once the player has built up enough progress points to equal the rock's durability they will gain ore and their progress will reset.

Hardness

Hardness reduces the amount of progress gained from mining the rock and is checked against penetration. Using a pickaxe of a tier equivalent to or better than the tier of rock being mined will eliminate the effect of hardness.

Table of core rocks

Mining level	Ore
1	Copper ore and Tin ore
10	Iron ore
20	Coal
30	Mithril ore
40	Adamantite ore and Luminite
50	Runite ore
60	Orichalcite ore and Drakolith
70	Necrite ore and Phasmatite
80	Banite ore
90	Light animica and Dark animica

Other rocks

Levelling benefits that apply to specific rocks (critical hit chance, rockertunity multiplier, geode chance, double ore chance) do not apply to non-core rocks (concentrated deposits are counted as non-core rocks).

• Concentrated coal deposits require 70 Mining. Their experience multiplier is the same as a necrite rock, levelling benefits for coal apply to concentrated coal deposits. Concentrated coal deposits have 500 durability (compared to necrite's 1,300) and grant five coal instead of one (working out to 100 durability per coal, compared to a coal rock's 140 durability per coal). This makes concentrated coal deposits the best source for coal which is used with the smithing auto-heater.
• Concentrated gold deposits require 80 Mining. Their experience multiplier is the same as a banite rock but, levelling benefits for banite do not apply. Concentrated gold deposits have 750 durability (compared to banite's 1,700) and grant five gold ore instead of one (working out to 150 durability per gold ore). This makes concentrate gold deposits the best source for gold ore.
• Concentrated sandstone rocks are level 50 versions of regular sandstone rocks. Their experience multiplier is the same as a Runite rock. They give sandstone at the same rate as regular sandstone rocks but also give Menaphos reputation.
• Both red sandstone rocks and crystal-flecked sandstone rocks are among the only rocks that still deplete. When mining these rocks with the resourceful aura active, players retain a 10% chance to give an additional sandstone which does not contribute towards the daily limit.
• Various gem rocks have now been organised into five tiers requiring 1, 20, 40, 60 and 75 mining respectively. The higher tier gem rocks drop better gems.
• Alaea crablets give better active experience than animica, but give salt rather than valuable ores. This gives them a niche as the highest raw experience method. They cannot generate rockertunities.
• Solid crystals require 75 Mining to mine. Their experience multiplier is the same as a Necrite rock, but levelling benefits for Necrite do not apply. The drop rate is balanced to give around 1 crystal fragment per tick with 75 Mining. At 75 Mining, with a rate of 6,000 fragments (2,000 crystals) it would take 2.5 hours for a full set of attuned crystal armour (5,000 crystals).
• Seren stones Seren stones cannot generate rockertunities. Their niche is entirely AFK. Corrupted ore is awarded.
• Pure and rune essence have no major changes.

Pickaxes

A player's Mining level determines the type of pickaxe they can mine with, while their Attack level determines whether they can wield it or not.

If multiple pickaxes are carried then the order of use is Equipped > Inventory > Tool belt. Any non-augmented pickaxe can be put in the toolbelt. Any pickaxe except Bronze pickaxes can be removed from the toolbelt directly without having to speak to Doc. This allows pickaxes to be swapped and upgraded. Placing a new pickaxe into the toolbelt removes the old one into your inventory. Removing a pickaxe from the toolbelt leaves a default Bronze pickaxe in its place - this is why Bronze pickaxes cannot be removed, to prevent a source of infinite pickaxes.

Every pickaxe has two stats, one named penetration, and a damage stat.

Penetration

Penetration is a stat that is checked against the hardness of the rock attempting to be mined. If the pickaxes' penetration stat is less than the hardness level of the rock the damage done toward an ore is reduced. This also reduces the amount of experience gained per swing.

Damage (stat)

Damage is a stat that determines the base damage a pickaxe can do. It is generally a range. As the level of a pickaxe increases, so does the damage stat.

For example: a bronze pickaxe has a minimum damage stat of 3 and a maxium damage stat of 7. While a Dragon pickaxe has a minimum damage stat of 33 and a maximum damage stat of 93.

As a general rule the better the pickaxe, the more effective it is as a mining tool. It is highly recommended to use the best possible pickaxe for your mining level.

Table of pickaxes

The following table of pickaxes has been sorted from the worst to the best pickaxes.

Mining Level	Pickaxe	Damage			Penetration	Augmentable
		Min	Average	Max
1	Bronze	3	5	7	0
10	Iron	5	10	15	5
10	Iron+1	6	11	16	5
20	Steel	10	20	30	15
30	Steel+1	11	21	31	15
30	Mithril	15	30	45	30
30	Mithril+1	16	31	46	30
30	Mithril+2	17	32	47	30
40	Adamant	20	40	60	50
40	Adamant+1	21	41	61	50
40	Adamant+2	22	42	62	50
50	Rune	25	50	75	75
50	Rune+1	26	51	76	75
50	Rune+2	27	52	77	75
50	Rune+3	28	53	78	75
50	Inferno Adze	28	53	78	75
60	Orikalkum	30	60	90	105
60	Orikalkum+1	31	61	91	105
60	Orikalkum+2	32	62	92	105
60	Orikalkum+3	33	63	93	105
60	Dragon	33	63	93	105
70	Necronium	35	70	105	140
70	Necronium+1	36	71	106	140
70	Necronium+2	37	72	107	140
70	Necronium+3	38	73	108	140
70	Necronium+4	39	74	109	140
70	Crystal	39	74	109	140
80	Bane	40	80	120	185
80	Bane+1	41	81	121	185
80	Bane+2	42	82	122	185
80	Bane+3	43	83	123	185
80	Bane+4	44	84	124	185
80	Imcando	44	84	124	185
90	Elder Rune	45	90	135	235
90	Elder Rune+1	46	91	136	235
90	Elder Rune+2	47	92	137	235
90	Elder Rune+3	48	93	138	235
90	Elder Rune+4	49	94	139	235
90	Elder Rune+5	50	95	140	235
90	Earth and Song	50	95	140	235

Special pickaxes

Only four pickaxes are augmentable, therefore making them "special". Augmentation is done with the Invention skill.

Augmented pickaxes cannot be placed on the toolbelt, although their non-augmented versions can. Since the special pickaxes are identical in stats to one of the smithable pickaxes, it is only worth making a special pickaxe if you intend on augmenting it.

Level	Image	Name	Creation Method
60		Dragon Pickaxe	Very rare drops from monsters on the Chaos Dwarf Battlefield, and Chaos Giants. A possible reward from the Triskelion Treasures and the Motherlode Maw. Bought on the Grand Exchange.
70		Crystal pickaxe	4,000 Harmonic dust A Dragon pickaxe
80		Imcando pickaxe	A Gilded dragon pickaxe Imcando pickaxe fragments obtained from the geyser random event in the Lava Flow Mine after completing the Birthright of the Dwarves quest. 1,000,000 coins A Redberry pie
90		Pickaxe of Earth and Song	Combining an Imcando pickaxe, a Crystal pickaxe, and a Blast fusion hammer at an anvil, consuming all three items.

Where to get a pickaxe

Pickaxes are sold by Nurmof in the Dwarven Mine, Tati in Keldagrim, Bob in Lumbridge (bronze only), or on the Grand Exchange. Pickaxes and their upgraded versions can be forged at the appropriate Smithing level for players who have completed the Perils of Ice Mountain quest.

Damage (mechanic)

Damage is the mechanic that allows the progress toward gaining an ore while mining. The players damage progress is checked against the durability of the rock they are mining. There is a progress bar above the player's head. Once this is filled, the player receives an ore. Each swing deals damage based on the players Mining level, Strength level, and the pickaxe used. Swings occur every 4 ticks (2.4s). If a player's Strength level vastly out-levels their Mining level, it has a huge impact on their damage per swing and in turn their ore and experience per hour.

Damage progress is stored even if a player stops mining or switches rocks, provided they resume mining the same type of rock.

Basic Equation

The basic calculation for damage is:

$DamagePerSwing=Mininglevel+\left\lfloor {\frac {Strengthlevel}{10}}\right\rfloor +DamageRoll+NetHardness+CritBonus$

Equation notes

• $NetHardness(Penetration-Hardness)$ is only added to the equation when the players pickaxe is a lower tier than the rock they are attempting to mine. This results in a negative number, reducing the damage per swing.

For example:

Mining and Strength Level	Pickaxe	Rock	Damage per Swing
30	Bronze pickaxe: 3-7 damage 0 penetration	Mithril ore rock: 240 durability 30 hardness	6 - 10
	Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage 30 penetration		48 - 78

• $CritBonus$ is only added to the equation if the swing deals a critical hit. By default the player has a 10% chance on each swing to deal a critical strike, this is increased as the players mining level increases.
• Because Strength is rounded down in the calculation (i.e. levels 90-99 will all be +9), Strength level only has an impact every 10 levels.
• Visible and invisible boosts for Mining and Strength apply when determining damage per swing.

For example: The player has boosted their strength from level 38 to level 41. The equation will take into account a level + 4 bonus to the damage per swing as opposed to a + 3 bonus.

• Any excess damage carries over to your progress to another ore. However, 100% of the durability of a rock cannot be dealt in a single swing. Anything above 100% be capped at 100%.

For example:

Mining and Strength Level	Pickaxe	Rock	Damage per Swing	Excess damage	Actual damage per swing
30	Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage 30 penetration	Copper ore rocks: 40 durability 0 hardness	48 - 78	8 - 38	40 - 40

Stamina

After level 15 Mining, players unlock the Stamina mechanic. Following every swing, 10 stamina is drained and refills completely whenever a rock is clicked. Stamina is a multiplier to the damage formula. The stamina bar can be enabled by opening the Settings, then navigating to Gameplay -> General -> Game Interaction (scroll down a bit in this menu).

Stamina gives a % increase to damage per swing based on how much Stamina the player currently has. No bonus damage can be dealt in this way for levels 1-14. Visual cues in the form of sparks from the rock on every swing indicate where on the table players lay. Alternatively, players can toggle their stamina bar in the game interaction settings.

A player with 1 - 99% stamina

A player with full stamina

Stamina	Bonus	Intensity	Spark Colour
Full Stamina	+25% Damage Per Swing	Active	Green
1-99% Stamina	+12.5% Damage Per Swing	Semi Active	White
Empty Stamina	No Bonus	Completely AFK	None

In order to sustain a full stamina bar, the rock must be clicked at least every 4 ticks (2.4s).

Mining levelling benefits increases the stamina pool by 10 at certain levels (meaning it takes more swings before it depletes). However, if intending to be fully active or completely AFK the stamina pool size is irrelevant. The stamina pool size is only pertinent to players seeking to occasionally click in an 'Ithell Harps' fashion (semi-active $+12.5\%$ damage per swing). The stamina pool's size only has a marginal increase in damage per hour (roughly 5%) for semi-active players.

With a stamina bonus the player can gain more experience per swing and more quickly mine an ore.

Example

Mining and Strength Level	Pickaxe	Rock	Stamina	Damage per Swing
30	Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage 30 penetration	Mithril ore rock: 240 durability 30 hardness	Full Stamina (Active): +25%	60 - 97.5
			1-99% Stamina (Semi-Active): +12.5%	54 - 87.75
			Empty Stamina (Completely AFK): No Bonus	48 - 78

Rockertunities

An orichalcite ore rock with a rockertunity.

While mining can be done completely AFK, rockertunities are a mechanic to keep players engaged while mining. Every time a player swings their pickaxe, there is a chance that a nearby rock of the same type will become a 'Rockertunity'. Rockertunities cannot spawn on the rock currently being mined. Clicking the highlighted rock rewards the player extra damage (and by extension experience) for one swing. Since damage progress doesn't reset for changing to other rocks of the same type, participating in rockertunities can increase experience and ore per hour.

Notes:

• Rockertunities also have the potential to deal a critical hit, further increasing the damage/experience gained.
• Rockertunities are exclusive to each player.
• Rockertunities always spawn within 8 squares of the rock being mined.

Rockertunity Multiplier

While the base multiplier for rockertunities is $\times 4$, higher Mining levels can raise the multiplier up to seven (dependent on rock). The values on the table below correspond to the Mining level required for the increased multipliers.

This levelling benefit only applies to core rocks, so, when mining non-core rocks such as concentrated coal or gold, the rockertunitiy multiplier will always be four.

The Magic golem outfit can increase this to $\times 7$.

Rock	Rockertunity Multiplier
	x4	x5	x6
Copper ore and Tin ore	1	6	-
Iron ore	10	14	-
Coal	20	21	-
Mithril ore	30	38	-
Adamantite ore and Luminite	40	47	-
Runite ore	50	54	-
Orichalcite ore and Drakolith	60	68	-
Necrite ore and Phasmatite	70	73	77
Banite ore	80	89	-
Light animica and Dark animica	90	94	96

Example

Mining and Strength Level	Pickaxe	Rock	Stamina	Rockertunity	Damage per Swing
30	Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage 30 penetration	Mithril ore rock: 240 durability 30 hardness	Full Stamina (Active): $+25\%$	Yes	78 - 126.75
			1-99% Stamina (Semi-Active): $+12.5\%$		70.2 - 114.075
			Empty Stamina (Completely AFK): $NoBonus$		62.4 - 101.4

Critical Swing

Critical swing!

Critical swings deal extra damage for that swing. If a critical swing is rolled on a rockertunity swing, the rockertunity multiplier also applies to the additional damage from the critical effect. A popup occurs whenever a critical swing is hit:

Loading...

Critical Swing ChanceCritical Swing Bonus

Critical Swing Chance
By default the player has a 10% chance on each swing to deal a critical swing. The values in the table below correspond to the Mining level required to achieve higher critical swing chances, specific to each rock. This levelling benefit only applies to core rocks, so, when mining non-core rocks such as concentrated coal or gold, the base 10% critical hit chance will be used. Needs moving out of userspace

Rock	Critical Hit Chance
	10%	20%	30%
Copper; Tin	1	2	8
Iron	10	12	-
Coal	20	25	-
Mithril	30	31	35
Adamantite	40	45	48
Luminite	40	45	48
Runite	50	56	58
Orichalcite; Drakolith	60	64	-
Necrite; Phasmatite	70	75	-
Concentrated Coal	70	25	-
Banite	80	81	-
Light animica; Dark animica	90	91	97

Critical Swing Bonus
The critical swing bonus is the amount of extra damage gained for that swing. The critical swing bonus is not per rock and continues to accumulate as the player gains Mining levels - this also means that this bonus applies to non-core rocks.

Mining Level	Critical Hit Bonus
1	5
3	10
9	15
11	20
17	25
22	30
24	35
32	40
34	45
43	50
44	55
52	60
59	65
61	70
65	75
74	80
79	85
84	90
87	95
99	100

Experience

Although not every swing grants an ore, every swing grants experience based on the damage rolled for that swing. The damage made on that swing is multiplied by the experience multiplier of that rock and a global $0.4$ to determine the base experience drop.

Formula

$Experience=Damage\times RockXPModifier\times 0.4$

Rock experience modifiers

Ore	Rock XP Multiplier
Copper ore and Tin ore	0.66
Iron ore	0.68
Coal	0.70
Mithril ore	0.72
Adamantite ore and Luminite	0.74
Runite ore	0.76
Orichalcite ore and Drakolith	0.78
Necrite ore and Phasmatite	0.80
Banite ore	0.82
Light animica and Dark animica	0.84

Examples

For example:

The experience calculations assume the damage from the above rockertunity table.

Mining and Strength Level	Pickaxe	Rock	Rock experience modifier	Stamina	Experience per Swing	Average Experience per hour
30	Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage 30 penetration	Mithril ore rock: 240 durability 30 hardness	$\times .72$	Full Stamina (Active): $+25\%$	22.4 - 36.5	44,175
				1-99% Stamina (Semi-Active): $+12.5\%$	20.2 - 32.8	39,750
				Empty Stamina (Completely AFK): $NoBonus$	17.9 - 29.2	35,325

Double Ore Chance

The values in the table below correspond to the Mining level required to obtain a chance to obtain double ore, specific to each rock. This levelling benefit only applies to core rocks, so, when mining non-core rocks, the base chance of 0% will be used.

Rock	Double Rock Chance
	0%	5%	10%
Copper ore and Tin ore	1	4	5
Iron ore	10	13
Coal	20	27
Mithril ore	30	36
Adamantite ore and Luminite	40	49
Runite ore	50	53
Orichalcite ore and Drakolith	60	62
Necrite ore and Phasmatite	70	76
Banite ore	80	82	86
Light animica and Dark animica	90	92	98

Items found while mining

Geodes

A geode is a rare item obtained sometimes when Mining which contains gems or other items. Geodes are stackable with the same type of geode, bankable, and untradeable. By default a player has a 5% chance to get a geode each time they get a piece of ore when mining. Levelling benefits can increase this for core rocks, the base chance of 5% will be used for non-core rocks. There are three different types of geodes. The type of geode you get is based on the level requirement of the rock, for example regular coal yields Sedimentary geodes, whilst concentrated coal yields Igneous geodes due to their higher level requirement to mine them.

Rock	Geode Type	Geode Chance
		5%	10%	15%
Copper ore and Tin ore	Sedimentary	1	-	-
Iron ore	Sedimentary	10	16	-
Coal	Sedimentary	20	23	-
Mithril ore	Sedimentary	30	39	-
Adamantite ore and Luminite	Sedimentary	40	42	-
Runite ore	Sedimentary	50	51	-
Orichalcite ore and Drakolith	Igneous	60	63	69
Necrite ore and Phasmatite	Igneous	70	78	-
Banite ore	Igneous	80	83	-
Light animica and Dark animica	Igneous	90	93	-

Sedimentary geode drop list

Item	Chance	GE Price
Uncut opal	20%	220
Uncut jade	12.5%	1,324
Uncut red topaz	7.5%	1,356
Uncut sapphire	5%	476
Uncut emerald	2.5%	1,710
Uncut ruby	1.5%	1,295
Uncut diamond	1%	3,039
Spirit shards	50%	24
Average Value		439

Igneous geode drop list

Item	Chance	GE Price
Uncut opal	5%	220
Uncut jade	6%	1,324
Uncut red topaz	7%	1,356
Uncut sapphire	8%	476
Uncut emerald	9%	1,710
Uncut ruby	8%	1,295
Uncut diamond	5%	3,039
Uncut dragonstone	2%	12,428
Spirit shards	50%	24
Average Value		893

Metamorphic geode drop list

Item	Quantity	Value
Uncut onyx	1	1,605,892
Onyx dust	5-15	75,855 - 227,565
Crystal triskelion fragment	1	Not Sold
Dragon equipment	1	10,783 - 4,002,735
Concentrated alloy bar	1-10	65,294 - 652,940
Enriched alloy bar	1	205,469
Sealed clue scroll (elite)	1	Not Sold
Ancient effigy	1	1,000,000
Anima crystal	1	150,000
Gift for the Reaper	1	1,250,000
Corrupted ore	100-300	Not Sold
First Age coin	1	1,000,000
Hydrix bolt tips	18-50	170,964 - 474,900
Banite stone spirit	27-75	133,515 - 370,875
Dark animica stone spirit	13-30	139,373 - 321,630
Light animica stone spirit	13-30	146,276 - 337,560
Average Value		548,530

Items that assist with mining

Ore Box

Main article: Ore box

Ore boxes

The ore box is a bankable and tradeable inventory item similar to the Large rune pouch, which allows the player to collect more ore than will fit in an inventory for longer mining sessions without banking.

The ore box is made using the Smithing skill at an anvil. Ore boxes can be upgraded to hold higher level ores, this is done at an anvil with two bars and the previous ore box. Ore boxes can store 100 of each ore up to the level of the box (i.e. an Ore Box (Steel) can store 100 Copper ore, 100 Tin ore, 100 Iron ore and 100 Coal). The Smithing level requirement is merely to forge the upgrade not to apply it - players without the level may purchase on the grand exchange. At certain Mining levels, the capacity of the ore box can be raised from 100 to 120. The values below denote the Mining level required to unlock the increase for each of the ores. A further increase of 20 (totalling 140) can be unlocked by completing the Everything Is Oresome achievement.

Notes:

• Ore boxes can only store core ores. Gold and Silver ore can only be stored after completion of Family Crest.
• Ore boxes have a shared inventory, so owning more than one is worthless.

Smithing level	Name	Ingredients	Progress	Experience	Stores Up To
1	Bronze ore box	2 Bronze bar	200	0	Copper ore and Tin ore
10	Iron ore box	2 Iron bar Bronze ore box	400	80	Iron ore
20	Steel ore box	2 Steel bar Iron ore box	600	150	Coal
30	Mithril ore box	2 Mithril bar Steel ore box	800	240	Mithril ore
40	Adamant ore box	2 Adamant bar Mithril ore box	1000	340	Adamantite ore and Luminite
50	Rune ore box	2 Rune bar Adamant ore box	1200	480	Runite ore
60	Orikalkum ore box	2 Orikalkum bar Rune ore box	1400	700	Orichalcite ore and Drakolith
70	Necronium ore box	2 Necronium bar Orikalkum ore box	1600	1000	Necrite ore and Phasmatite
80	Bane ore box	2 Bane bar Necronium ore box	1800	1400	Banite ore
90	Elder rune ore box	2 Elder rune bar Bane ore box	2000	2000	Light animica and Dark animica

Bottled Stone Spirits

Bottled stone spirits

Bottled stone spirits are items that allow you to gain an additional ore while mining. Stone spirits appear on drop tables (including bosses, minigames, thieving, etc). When receiving ore through mining a stone spirit of that same type of ore is consumed granting an additional piece of ore (i.e. doubles the ore rate). Since each spirit only produces a single piece of ore, large numbers of them need to be carried by miners if they want continual double yields.

No additional XP is awarded for the extra ore. If more than one ore was gained (e.g. via Varrock armour) still only 1 stone spirit is consumed and 1 additional ore gained (for a total of 3; base, one from the armour, one from the stone spirit).

Each type of stone spirit stacks with its own type. All stone spirits are tradeable. There is one type of stone spirit for each core ore:

• Copper stone spirit
• Tin stone spirit
• Iron stone spirit
• Coal stone spirit
• Silver stone spirit
• Gold stone spirit
• Mithril stone spirit
• Adamantite stone spirit
• Runite stone spirit
• Luminite stone spirit
• Orichalcite stone spirit
• Drakolith stone spirit
• Necrite stone spirit
• Phasmatite stone spirit
• Banite stone spirit
• Light animica stone spirit
• Dark animica stone spirit

Mines and mining sites

Main article: Mines and mining sites

Special mining areas

• Coal truck mining site - The coal trucks are located west from Seers' Village and north from Ardougne. There are handy carts for storing coal in. The carts can store 120 at a time and it is also recommended to take a full ore box and inventory of coal when leaving as well. There is a quick way or a slow way to get to and from the coal trucks.

• Quick Way: With 20 Agility go across the log that is on the east side of the coal trucks. The Camelot Teleport spell can also be used for quick access to the Seers' bank
• Slow Way: To walk all the way around the lake, past the Fishing Guild, to Seers' Village.

• Once in Seers' Village go north-west from Seers' Village bank and there are more coal trucks in the shed. Remove all the coal and bank, repeating the process until all the ore has been taken.

• After completing the Seers' Village Tasks the coal trucks can hold up to a max of 196 coal before having to be emptied.

• Mining Guild - It is close to a bank (just climb the ladders to the west and head north). Level 60 Mining is required to enter (level 59 miners can achieve this by drinking a dwarven stout just before entering the guild). The Artisan's Workshop is just outside the guild providing quick access to the metal bank.

• You can save a couple of seconds while banking using the skills necklace's Mining Guild teleport, which teleports you directly in front of the stairs leading down to the mining area.

• Crafting Guild - The Crafting Guild is a place in free play to mine gold, silver, and clay. 40 Crafting is required to enter.

• Members can easily teleport there by use of a skills necklace or the balloon transport system.

• Arzinian Mine - After completing the Between a Rock... quest, members can access the largest gold mine in the game, with large amount of gold rocks. Players must talk to Dondakan while wearing a gold helmet in order to access it. To leave the mine, simply remove the helmet or log off and log in again. The mine is very far from a bank; however, a short ways away, there is a dwarf who will deliver Gold ore to the bank for you in exchange for a 20% cut of the profits, rounded up. The fee is halved if the player is wearing a ring of charos (a).

• Living Rock Caverns - The living rock cavern has concentrated coal deposits and concentrated gold deposits, which can be mined for multiple amounts of ore, gaining fast amounts of experience, and with the nearby deposit box. You need 77 and 80 Mining for coal and gold respectively.

• Dwarven Mine resource dungeon - Requires level 15 Dungeoneering to enter. This mining location is by far the closest location to a bank/deposit box in RuneScape, and therefore it is a very favourable place to mine, especially in free to play servers.

• Lava Flow Mine - After completing the King of the Dwarves quest, players unlock a new area to mine with a chance to receive the golden mining suit. There are a number of distractions at the mine which are effectively random events. To successfully achieve the best experience, you must make sure you are mining at the segment with a 50% lava flow which can be checked by clicking the gauges. No ore is produced here.

Distractions and diversions

Shooting Stars

Main article: Shooting Star

Shooting Stars is a repeatable Distraction and Diversion. They can be found via a telescope in a player-owned house. They fall in waves every 2 hours on all free-to-play and members worlds and will land around 2–15 minutes after each other. The stars can be from size 1 (10 Mining required) up to size 9 (90 Mining required). Bigger stars give more stardust in total, but are much harder to mine. There are nine areas in RuneScape where shooting stars will land at. You can learn more about the specific locations in the Distractions and Diversions guide. If you reach your limit of 200 stardust, you can still carry on mining the star for Mining experience. Mining stars give players stardust. 200 stardust may be exchanged for:

• 152 cosmic runes
• 52 astral runes
• 20 gold stone spirits
• 50,002 coins

For an exact total of 137,606 coins.

• 25% chance to receive double ores when mining for up to 15 minutes of in-game time. This boost will not count down while in the lobby or logged out.

There are clans that specialise in finding shooting stars. The Distractions and Diversions section of the official RuneScape forums is home to several of these clans.

Wilderness Warbands

Main article: Wilderness Warbands

Wilderness Warbands is a members-only Distraction and Diversion where the player or a group of players attempt to loot supplies and trade it in for experience. One of the possible loots are Mining supplies. Players can loot up to a maximum of 25 supplies per camp up to 3 camps daily (75 supplies). Turning the supplies to Quercus will give players experience based on how many supplies they have looted and what their current level is.

Random events

Main article: Random events

Mining boosts and bonuses

Equipment/items

Image	Name	Benefit
or	Mining cape or Mining master cape	+5% double ore chance. Whenever double ore is received, bonus XP equal to the level requirement to mine that rock is awarded.
	Mining accumulator	Gains 1% charge whenever the player gets a critical swing when Mining. Upon studying the player gains 2,500 Mining experience, which destroys the accumulator.
	Amulet of glory	Increases geode drop chance by 1%.
	Ring of wealth	Doubles the chance of receiving a metamorphic geode instead of an igneous geode (2% up from 1%). Higher tier luck rings also have this effect.
	Sign of the porter (I) (II) (III) (IV) (V) (VI)	Allows transport of ore to your bank once your inventory is full.
	Mining urn	Will give experience once filled.
	Juju mining potion	10% chance to gain a stone spirit of the type of ore mined (applies every ore-receiving swing, not every swing).
or	Perfect juju mining potion	10% chance to gain a stone spirit of the type of ore mined (applies every ore-receiving swing, not every swing). Whenever a stone spirit is consumed to generate an additional ore, the player's stamina bar immediately refills.
	Statue collection bag	Allows you to collect strange rocks and golden rocks without them taking up inventory space.
	Magic golem outfit	+5% critical hit chance. +1 rockertunity multiplier. Removes aggression from living rock creatures. Applies any unlocked Golden mining suit and Varrock armour bonuses.
	Quarrymaster aura	Increase critical hit chance by 2/4/6/8/10% when Mining
	Resourceful aura	+2% geode chance when Mining. 10% chance to give an additional red/crystal-flecked sandstone which does not contribute towards the daily limit. 10% chance to not deplete a resource when Woodcutting.
	Varrock armour 1	+4% chance of mining double ore when mining Copper, Tin, Iron, or Coal. With medium New Varrock tasks finished: +8% chance of mining double ore when mining Copper, Tin, Iron, or Coal.
	Varrock armour 2	+7% chance of mining double ore when mining all core rocks up to Luminite. With medium New Varrock tasks finished: +14% chance of mining double ore when mining all core rocks up to Luminite.
	Varrock armour 3	+9% chance of mining double ore when mining all core rocks up to Phasmatite. With medium New Varrock tasks finished: +18% chance of mining double ore when mining all core rocks up to Phasmatite.
	Varrock armour 4	+10% chance of mining double ore when mining all core rocks. With medium New Varrock tasks finished: +20% chance of mining double ore when mining all core rocks.
	Rock-crushing scrimshaw	Increase critical hit chance by 2% (regular scrimshaw) or 3% (superior scrimshaw) when Mining.
	Gem-finding scrimshaw	Increase geode chance by 2% (regular scrimshaw) or 3% (superior scrimshaw) when Mining.
	Ring of Whispers	Gives +3 Mining damage per swing when worn.
	Collector's insignia	Charged: +2% geode chance +10% chance for red or crystal sandstone to not deplete Uncharged: +1 geode chance +5% chance for red or crystal sandstone to not deplete

Temporary boosts

Main article: Temporary skill boost

A player wearing a mining cape (t) and performing the skillcape emote.

• Mining cape visibly boosts the player's Mining level by 1 when a player selects the 'boost' option that comes with the cape. However, 99 Mining is required.
• Dwarven stout - Drinking this will raise a player's Mining and Smithing levels by 1 for a short time. Dwarven stouts can be bought in Falador one at a time, or members can buy them in bulk in Burthorpe. 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. There are several re-spawns in the dwarf tavern along the shortcut under White Wolf Mountain (you need to complete Fishing Contest to go there).
• Mature dwarven stout - Members only. Drinking this will raise a player's Mining and Smithing by 2 levels for a short time. Players receive two mature dwarven stouts as a reward for completing the quest Forgettable Tale of a Drunken Dwarf, but they can also be brewed using the Cooking skill. This does not stack with ordinary dwarven stout.
• A brown spicy stew can raise Mining temporarily by up to 5; however, it can also decrease it by up to 5.
• Braindeath 'rum' raises Mining by one level and Strength by 3, but decreases some other stats.
• A God banner will provide a visible, +2 boost, lasting for half an hour.
• Desert wyrms, summoned at level 18 in Summoning will add + 1 damage per swing, while mining.
• Void ravagers, summoned at level 34 in Summoning will add + 1 damage per swing, while mining.
• Obsidian golems, summoned at level 73 in Summoning, will add + 7 damage per swing, while mining.
• Lava titans summoned at level 83 in Summoning will give add + 10 damage per swing, while mining.
• Star sprites from a Shooting Star will reward you with being able to mine 2 ores at once (25% chance), lasting for the amount of stardust you collected (200 stardust equals a 15-minute boost); it does work on runite.
• A stoneberry can be used to temporarily boost mining by 2 levels, but will also reduce your defence level by 1. These cannot stack.

Training

See Free-to-play Mining training and Pay-to-play Mining training for details.

Achievements

Main article: Mining achievements

Skilling pet

Main article: Rocky

Like all skills, there is a skilling pet obtainable from training this skill. The pet for the Mining skill is called Rocky.

Trivia

The oldmining level-up jingle

• On 3 July 2007, the mining animation was significantly changed. The change initially irked some players, likely because they had become accustomed to the very steady pace and sound of the prior animation. Some players believe this "nerfed" mining as the animation seems longer thus apparently increasing the time a rock is hit before an ore is yielded.
• Early in RS classic it was possible to mine gems from rocks that you did not have the proper level to normally mine ore. This allowed a player to rapidly click on the rock and obtain gems without actually mining it. This exploit was swiftly fixed.
• On an hidden update the mining jingle got changed.

History

Mining was one of the skills available at RuneScape's launch on 4 January 2001. In the beginning, there was only one kind of pickaxe, just called Pickaxe which had to be used manually on the rock. It was not until 2003 that metal pickaxes were added to the game. With the large graphical update in 2004, random events were added. These included the Rock Golem, pickaxe heads falling off, and broken pickaxes. In 2006 players began to mine granite in the Desert Quarry, some of the fastest Mining experience in the game. In late 2009, the long-awaited dragon pickaxe was released as a drop from chaos dwogres, chaos dwarf hand cannoneer, and chaos dwarves (only on battlefield), all of which are located on the Chaos Dwarf Battlefield. On 10 November 2014 Crystal pickaxe was released requiring you to give Lady Ithell a dragon pickaxe and 4,000 harmonic dust to sing one for you. This made it the best pickaxe in the game until the Mining and Smithing rework of 2019, when it was replaced by the Elder rune pickaxe + 5 and the Pickaxe of earth and song.

Players used to be able to discover which ore was in a rock by right-clicking and selecting Prospect (with or without a pickaxe) which would require them to wait a few seconds before learning which ore the rock contained. However, most types of ores can now be determined by simply examining the rock. Experienced miners did not need to prospect every rock, as they recognised the colour of the rock and knew the ore it contained. However, an update made it so that simply hovering one's cursor over the rock would tell the player what ore was to be found in it, in the upper-left corner (though some rocks, like certain mineral veins, still have the "Prospect" option). After the 2019 rework, prospecting was reintroduced, now displaying the level requirement, hitpoints, hardness, and XP multiplier for the given location.

See also

• Mines and mining sites
• Free-to-play Mining training, a guide to training Mining for free-to-play players
• Pay-to-play Mining training, a guide to training Mining for pay-to-play players
• Quest experience rewards - Mining
• Grand Exchange Market Watch/Mining
• Mining/Level up table
• Mining Calculators