Are you interested in mining ores in Old School Runescape? Do you want to learn how to make a fortune from mining? In this guide, we’ll discuss the best ways and locations for mining, essential equipment, and helpful skills to become an expert miner.
Starting your mining journey is not difficult, but you’ll need to make lots of money to purchase better pickaxes and armor so that you can protect yourself from lurking monsters while mining. Let’s dive in!
What is Mining in OSRS?
Mining is a skill in Old School Runescape that lets players extract ores and gems from rocks. The higher your mining level, the higher the chance of successful ore extraction. You can smelt these materials to make bars or sell them for profit. Mining is one of the most popular skills in OSRS, and it’s a great way to earn money.
Essential Tools for Mining
Let’s start by discussing the required mining tools and how they work.
1. Pickaxes
The essential tool for mining is a pickaxe. It is used to break rocks and extract ores. You can also use your hands or a chisel if you don’t have access to a pickaxe, but they are not as efficient.
Once you reach the other side of a rock face after breaking through, you might find an ore vein. Break more rocks until you locate the ore inside.
2. Prospector Kit
The prospector kit provides a 2.5% bonus mining experience when worn. It’s not worth getting if you’re aiming to reach 99 mining using faster methods like power mining, wind rushing, rocker unities, or Fossil Island with the Elder Rune Pickaxe/Enhanced Pendant.
However, the prospector kit is required for master clues, Falador Diary hard tasks, and steps, so you might want to obtain it anyway. The kit costs 180 nuggets, which takes about ten hours on average to earn.
3. Varrock Armour
Wearing Varrock armor gives you a 10% chance to mine two ores at once. If you want to mine iron, Varrock armor one will help. If you’re interested in granite, Varrock Armour 2 can give that effect instead.
However, Varrock armor doesn’t work in Motherlode Mine or Volcanic Mine and has no effect when worn as a prospector jacket.
4. Gems
When mining, there’s a 1/256 chance to get an uncut gem instead of ore. Gems that can be found in rocks include sapphire, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. If you wear charged amulets of glory while mining, your chances increase to 1/86.
5. Mining Areas
Mining areas are scattered throughout Gielinor (Runescape) as both above and underground locations. You can mine for ore, but some require certain quests to gain access or membership to use them.
6. Mining Guild
The mining guild is a mineral-rich place in the Dwarven Mines that only members can access. It has large numbers of coal and reunite rocks, as well as an invisible +7 level boost to your mining level while there.
The guild also has two reunite rocks where you might find some unidentified minerals to trade with other players.
7. Motherlode Mine
The Motherlode Mine is an excellent place to mine, located in the Dwarven Mines. It provides various gems and ores based on your level, which you can deposit into a machine that will produce random ores of different levels.
You might receive gold nuggets used to buy items such as coal bags, gem bags, or prospector outfits at stores like Stuliette on Entrant.
8. Blast Mine
The Blast Mine is found in Lovakengj and requires level 43 Mining. Players can use Dynamite to get blasted ores that give small amounts of Firemaking experience as well, from which you can deposit for random higher-level ores than your current one.
The Blast Mine offers unique content that gives players access to ore up ten levels above their own regular mining skill.
9. Volcano Mine
In the volcanic chamber, players must avoid lava beasts and navigate across pools of lava. However, they must ensure that their mining is stable, as it might collapse unexpectedly with too much pressure exerted on a crack or hole.
Levels and Ore
Here is a list of levels and ores you should complete in the OSRS mining guide:
1. Level 1-15 / Copper and Tin Ore
Mine copper or tin until you reach level 15. We recommend doing this at the mining site in Lumbridge Swamp, where there are fewer players and monsters.
2. Level 15-45 / Iron Ore
If you’re looking for experience, not ore efficiency or profit margins, iron mining is the best choice. If you don’t want to use tick manipulation methods but still need quick levels from level 15-45, mining iron will be faster than any other type of rock in this time frame, assuming proper gear performance, which gives a 10% chance at a double swipe per hit.
3. Level 45-99 / Granite
At level 45 and above, you should mine granite. 3-tick mining granite at The Quarry is a super click but fast Mining experience. However, it takes some time to get used to the tick manipulation method, and its benefits might not be worth it if you’re inexperienced.
The Quarry offers the fastest Mining experience in Runescape, but it’s extremely click-intensive and may be hard to learn. Tick manipulation must be used for this method; otherwise, the rates are significantly reduced, and it wouldn’t make sense to train levels.
If you find tick methods difficult, it’s better to train with iron first before attempting granite. Although iron will give decent XP when you start, after a while, there’s not much more that could benefit you overall progress mining them instead of regular stone blocks found throughout Gielinor.
Conclusion
In summary, mining is an exciting and profitable skill to develop in Old School Runescape. Hopefully, our OSRS Mining guide has given you an idea of what’s involved in mining, tools required, helpful skills, and the best areas to mine for ores and gems. Keep in mind that consistent practice and dedication is key to becoming a successful miner in Runescape.