Pay-to-play Mining training

RSCRS

This article is about the pay-to-play guide. For the free players' guide, see Free-to-play Mining training.

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Equipment

The only item required to mine is a pickaxe. In order to achieve the greatest amount of experience and ores, one should always use the best pickaxe available at their Mining level. However, certain low level rocks become attainable at maximum speed at higher mining levels, even with lower level pickaxes. Although a certain Attack level is required to wield one, players are still able to use the pickaxe to mine without the required Attack level.

Completing task sets from the Varrock Diary grants the player Varrock armour, which gives the player 10% chance of mining 2 ores at once while worn. Varrock armour 1 gives this bonus ores up to coal, Varrock armour 2 up to mithril, Varrock armour 3 up to adamantite and Varrock armour 4 up to runite (additionally, works as a prospector jacket).

Additionally, the Prospector kit obtained from Prospector Percy in the Motherlode Mine using golden nuggets, provides a total of 2.5% bonus experience per ore mined.

There are also mining gloves available in the Mining Guild. There are regular mining gloves, superior mining and combined with 60 unidentified minerals, expert mining gloves.

Ore table

Level required	Name	Experience
1	Rune essence	5
1	Clay	5
1	Copper	17.5
1	Tin	17.5
10	Blurite ore	17.5
10	Limestone	26.5
15	Iron	35
20	Silver ore	40
30	Coal	50
30	Pure essence	5
35	Sandstone	30,40,50,60
40	Gold ore	65
40	Gem rock	65
45	Granite	50,60,75
55	Mithril ore	80
65	Lovakite ore	10
70	Adamantite	95
85	Runite	125
92	Amethyst	240

Quests for Mining experience

• Doric's Quest: 1300 XP
• Plague City: 2425 XP
• The Giant Dwarf: 2500 XP
• Lost Tribe: 3000 XP
• Between a Rock...: 5000 XP
• Enakhra's Lament: 7000 XP
• The Digsite: 15,300 XP
• Making Friends with My Arm: 10,000 XP
• Dragon Slayer II: 18,000 XP

Fastest experiences

To gain Mining experience most efficiently, players should always drop the ores they mine ("powermining" or "dropmining"). Players can quickly drop their items by holding the shift key and clicking on the ore.

Levels 1-32

Completing Doric's Quest and The Digsite grants the player a total of 16600 Mining experience, which elevates a level 1 Mining to level 32. Both quests have fairly low requirements, and completing them allows the player to skip early levels and use Adamant pickaxe right from the start.

Levels 1-15 – Copper ore/Tin ore

If the player is not willing to do any quests, copper or tin should be mined from level 1 to 15. This can be done anywhere, though the Lumbridge Swamp mining site is debatably the easiest due to its relative lack of players, aggressive monsters and its collection of Copper and Tin rocks.

To progress from level 1 to level 15, you will need 2411 experience. You will need to mine a combination of 138 copper or tin ores to reach level 15, since they both give 17.5 experience a piece.

Levels 15-75 – Iron ore

From level 15 to 75, players should mine iron at a location that has three iron rocks in a triangle, as such a formation allows the player to mine all three rocks without moving. There are nine such locations: the Legends' Guild mine, two in the pay-to-play area of the Mining Guild, the Lovakengj mine, the Piscatoris mine, the Al Kharid Mine, Fossil Island valley (near the mushtree) and the Resource Area (level 51 Wilderness).

Completing the easy tasks of Varrock Diary for Varrock armour 1 is highly recommended for this method, as it gives the player 10% chance to mine 2 ores at once while worn, increasing the overall experience rate.

From level 60 and above, the maximum experience rate is around 60,000 experience per hour, and roughly 70,000 experience per hour in the pay-to-play area of the Mining Guild because of the invisible +7 level boost given inside.

Levels 75-99 – Granite

From level 75 Mining onwards, the absolute fastest experience is gained by 3-tick mining granite at the Quarry at 99. While extremely click-intensive, this method offers by far the best experience rates; with good performance it is possible to achieve 115,000 - 120,000 experience per hour at 99 Mining.

As the Quarry is located in the desert, some sort of desert heat protection is necessary in order to survive. Desert amulet 4 offers immunity to the desert heat while worn, alternatively wearing the Hitpoints cape along with a regen bracelet will outheal the damage taken from desert heat. If neither of those are an option, the player can bring waterskins and fill them with the lunar spell Humidify.

Other methods

Levels 1-32

It is recommended to skip the early Mining levels by completing Doric's Quest and The Digsite.

Levels 30-99 – Motherlode Mine

Mining in the Motherlode Mine is a common way to get 99 Mining, as it is not as click-intensive as the other methods; however, experience rates are significantly lower as a result.

Completing medium tasks of the Falador Diary grants the player access to a shortcut (requires 54 Agility) within the Motherlode Mine. You can increase your chance of receiving higher level ores by completing the elite tasks, which increases the profit and experience.

Additionally, players are able to obtain golden nuggets through cleaning pay-dirt. These can be used to purchase the Prospector kit from Prospector Percy, which adds a bonus 2.5% experience while mining. Having all the parts from the prospector kit is a requirement for completing the hard task set of Falador Diary.

Once the player reaches level 72 Mining and has 100 golden nuggets, it is recommended to use the upper levels of the mine. The upper levels have more concentrated ore veins compared to the lower level, and they deplete based on time unlike in the lower area, making one vein last longer on average.

At 70 Mining, the player can expect to get roughly 30,000 experience per hour, at 85 around 42,000 experience per hour and at 99 around 53,000 experience per hour.

Levels 61-75 – Gemstones

Mining gem rocks at the underground portion of Shilo Village mine becomes a viable option for players who have completed hard tasks of the Karamja Diary. Players can use the nearby bank deposit box after they have mined a full inventory of gems. Experience rates with a charged amulet of glory equipped and a dragon pickaxe average around 41,000 - 42,000 experience per hour below 70 Mining, 52,000 experience per hour at 80, 58,000 experience per hour at 90 and 63,000 experience per hour at 99. However, doing this method past 75 Mining is not recommended unless the player is hunting for the rock golem pet, as the Blast Mine minigame offers better experience and profit.

Levels 70-99 – Volcanic Mine

Participating in the Volcanic Mine minigame can offer the best experience rates outside of the Quarry. To enter the mine, players must have level 50 in Mining, and have earned at least 150 Kudos. In addition, players must pay Petrified Pete 30 numulites every time they wish to enter the mine.

In a good team, one can expect roughly 72,000 - 75,000 experience per hour at 85 Mining and 90,000 experience per hour at 99.

The official world for this minigame is world 23, although it is recommended to search for a team — the Minigame Group Finder includes a clan chat for Volcanic Mine, where players may be found making groups.

Levels 75-99 – Blast Mine

The Blast Mine minigame, which requires having 100% favour with the Lovakengj House, allows obtaining ore 10 levels below the required Mining level. This means that the player is able to obtain runite ore at level 75 Mining. It is possible to participate in the minigame below 75 Mining, but is not recommended as the lack of runite ores will severely hamper experience and profit rates. Having a higher Mining level increases the chances of obtaining better ores.

A common inventory setup is to have noted dynamites along with unnoted ones, a chisel, a tinderbox and an energy/super energy/stamina potion. As soon as you run out of dynamite, run to the nearby bank chest to unnote more dynamite for blasting. Having weight-reducing clothing (such as the graceful outfit) is very beneficial in order to save run energy. Since the chance of getting higher-level ores depend on the player's Mining level, dragon pickaxe's special attack can be used to temporarily increase the current Mining level. Equip the prospector kit when collecting the ores from the operator for extra experience.

While giving significantly more Mining experience and profit per hour than the Motherlode Mine, it is significantly more click-intensive.

Levels 85-99 – Runite ore

For players who are unwilling to use the Motherlode/Blast Mine, mining runite ore is the most profitable, although it is the slowest due to competition from other players and the rarity of rune rocks throughout RuneScape.

The best spots are the Heroes' Guild, where there are two rune rocks. There are also another two rune rocks in the members' only section of the Mining Guild. A set of three rune rocks can be found in the inner ring of Mor Ul Rek, though this requires the player to have a fire cape first. After completion of the Dragon Slayer II quest, 2 more rune rocks are available in the basement of the Myths' Guild. There are other spots with rune rocks, but they are usually in very dangerous locations.

If a player were to go from 85 to 99 Mining solely with runite rock mining, they would net approximately 873,493,983 gp.