Ore box

An elder rune ore box

Ore boxes are items that store metal ores.

Initially, ore boxes can store up to 100 of each ore, which is increased by 20 as the player reaches certain level milestones. After completing the Everything Is Oresome achievement, requiring 90 Mining, the maximum capacity for each ore except gold and silver is increased by a further 20, up to a maximum of 140.

Gold and silver ores can only be stored after completing the Family Crest quest at a maximum of 100 ore each. Gold and silver ore are not subject to storage increases due to increased mining levels or completion of Everything is Oresome. Members may continue to store gold and silver ore in their ore box on free-to-play worlds after completion of the quest.

The Bronze ore box can be smithed directly at an anvil. Ore boxes may be upgraded from the previous tier to a higher tier by adding two bars of the desired metal onto an existing ore box at an anvil. Ore boxes may only be upgraded one tier at a time, and players must have the relevant smithing level to upgrade them. Alternatively, players may purchase and use any of the available ore boxes from the Grand Exchange regardless of the player's mining level.

Mechanics

The ore box's left-click option, "fill", fills the box with all ores in the player's inventory. Ores (including noted ores) can also be individually used on the box to fill it with all ore of that type. A mouse-over tooltip is displayed showing the contents of the ore box sorted from the lowest to the highest tier. The ore box can be added to the action bar, allowing the player to fill the box with a keybind.

The ore box cannot be emptied into a player's inventory. Once filled it can only be emptied into a bank, deposit box or metal bank. The "Deposit-All" option in the metal bank empties the ore box as well as having an "empty" option that works in the bank interface. With deposit boxes, the ore box must be used on it to deposit the contents without banking the ore box, as the empty option does not exist in the deposit box interface, but this does allow the player to return to mining. Simply placing an ore box into the bank also empties the box, placing all the ores stored within it into the bank. If there isn't enough space in the bank, the ore(s) will stay in the box while banked.

Ore boxes share storage between them, so there is no use in owning multiple boxes. The player cannot fill the ore box while carrying more than one of them in their inventory. Attempting to fill the ore box whilst carrying several of them simply results in the player character exclaiming "I can't hold all these ore boxes!", with no ore being added to the box.

The metal bank can be viewed via the "View metal bank" option, but no items may be deposited or withdrawn from it.

A temporary boost in Mining level can increase the capacity temporarily.

Dying in the Wilderness with an ore box of any tier, if unprotected, will result in the box and all ores contained within dropping on the ground for the killer. If the player protects their ore box, any ores contained within the ore box will be dropped on the ground for the killer; however, the ore box will be kept.

If the inventory is filled by mining while carrying the ore box, the game displays a message that the player could fill the box, even if the material mined cannot be stored there (such as when the box is already full).

Types of ore boxes

Ore box	Highest tier of ore storable	Ingredients	XP (from Scratch)	Mining level for storage increase	GE price	Profit of creation (From scratch - bars)	Profit of creation (From scratch - ores)	Profit of creation (Prior Ore box + bars)	Profit per 100 XP Prior + Bars (Scratch - bars)
Bronze ore box	Copper ore Tin ore	2 × Bronze bar	30	7	1,353	−1,061	301	N/A	−2.83
Iron ore box	Iron ore	1 × Bronze ore box 2 × Iron bar	80 (110)	18	6,544	−158	412	903	8.86 (−69.62)
Steel ore box	Coal Silver ore	1 × Iron ore box 2 × Steel bar	150 (260)	29	13,831	2,551	4,545	2,709	5.54 (10.19)
Mithril ore box	Mithril ore	1 × Steel ore box 2 × Mithril bar	240 (500)	37	24,161	10,083	13,169	7,532	3.19 (4.96)
Adamant ore box	Adamantite ore Luminite Gold ore	1 × Mithril ore box 2 × Adamant bar	340 (840)	41	42,559	19,507	23,623	9,424	3.61 (4.31)
Rune ore box	Runite ore	1 × Adamant ore box 2 × Rune bar	480 (1,320)	55	53,522	20,540	25,724	1,033	46.47 (6.43)
Orikalkum ore box	Orichalcite ore Drakolith	1 × Rune ore box 2 × Orikalkum bar	700 (2,020)	66	65,253	20,343	26,739	−197	−355.33 (9.93)
Necronium ore box	Necrite ore Phasmatite	1 × Orikalkum ore box 2 × Necronium bar	1,000 (3,020)	72	98,512	37,490	45,780	17,147	5.83 (8.06)
Bane ore box	Banite ore	1 × Necronium ore box 2 × Bane bar	1,400 (4,420)	85	160,648	85,056	93,972	47,566	2.94 (5.2)
Elder rune ore box	Light animica Dark animica	1 × Bane ore box 2 × Elder rune bar	2,000 (6,420)	95	200,075	95,265	114,439	10,209	19.59 (6.74)

Update history

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!

• ninja 16 May 2022 (Update):
  • You can now check your metal bank from any tier ore box.
    • You may not deposit or withdraw items from the metal bank when opening it via the ore box.

• patch 4 May 2021 (Update):
  • Using the 'Fill' and 'Inspect' options on an Ore Box will no longer interrupt actions.

• patch 11 January 2021 (Update):
  • You'll no longer receive popup messages regarding deposits in the ore box when smelting gold or silver before completing Family Crest.

• patch 15 June 2020 (Update):
  • Fixed an issue that would cause the 'Inspect' option on ore boxes to cut off words if the chat character limit was reached.

• patch 24 February 2020 (Update):
  • Fixed an issue in which the contents of an ore box was being deposited into a player's inventory if the box had previously been placed into a full bank upon death.

• patch 22 July 2019 (Update):
  • The Ore Box tooltip has been adjusted to stop visual clipping when using a large variety of ores.

• patch 18 February 2019 (Update):
  • An ore box can now be used on a deposit box, in a similar fashion to a (spirit) gem bag or coal bag, to empty the ore box's contents into your bank without depositing the ore box.

• patch 14 January 2019 (Update):
  • It is now no longer possible to fill ore boxes when you have multiple of them on you.

• patch 4 February 2019 (Update):
  • No longer autofill noted ores - you can still use the noted ores on the ore box to store them if you wish.

• patch 28 January 2019 (Update):
  • There is now a warning when attempting to alch or disassemble them.
  • Smithing and ore boxes are no longer allowed in New Varrock.

• patch 21 January 2019 (Update):
  • Players will no longer be able to remove pickaxes from their toolbelts while in New Varrock.

• patch 7 January 2019 (Update):
  • You can make an ore box using the smithing skill. Depending on its upgrade level, it can store up to 100 of each ore.

• update 7 January 2019 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

• Ore stored in ore boxes are not counted towards carried weight of the player.
• The value of ores stored in an ore box is not counted by the Wealth evaluator.