Pay-to-play Mining training

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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 and a certain Attack level is required to wield one however; players are still able to use the pickaxe to mine without it. To achieve the greatest amount of experience, it is recommended to use the best pickaxe available to the player.

An infernal pickaxe (making one requires 85 Smithing) is recommended to achieve the fastest experience as there is a 1/3 chance for the ore to be consumed and grant some Smithing experience based on the amount that would usually be gained when creating a bar from the ore, without requiring coal. It can be charged with dragon pickaxes or smouldering stones. The latter are usually cheaper, but using the infernal pickaxe can still be somewhat expensive for some players. For other methods, the crystal pickaxe performs better and it should be used if the player has enough crystal shards for it.

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, 2 up to mithril, 3 up to adamantite and 4 up to amethyst (additionally, works as a Prospector jacket).

The Prospector kit obtained from Prospector Percy in the Motherlode Mine provides a total of 2.5% bonus experience per ore mined. The outfit is not time-efficient to get if the player is going for 99 Mining using the fastest methods, however it is a requirement for a master clue step and a hard task in the Falador Diary so the player might want to get it anyway. There are also mining gloves available in the Mining Guild, however they do not bring any benefits when using the training methods below.

Pickaxes

Pickaxe				Weight
	Bronze pickaxe	1	1	2.267 kg
	Iron pickaxe	1	1	2.267 kg
	Steel pickaxe	6	5	2.267 kg
	Black pickaxe	11	10	0.01 kg
	Mithril pickaxe	21	20	1.814 kg
	Adamant pickaxe	31	30	2.721 kg
	Rune pickaxe	41	40	2.267 kg
	Dragon pickaxe	61	60	2.4 kg
	Infernal pickaxe	61	60	2.4 kg
	Crystal pickaxe	71	70	1.36 kg

Ore table

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

Prospector kit

Main article: Motherlode Mine

The Prospector kit is an experience-boosting set, purchasable from Prospector Percy's Nugget Shop in the Motherlode Mine. Pieces of the kit are purchased using golden nuggets obtained randomly through mining pay-dirt. The set costs 180 nuggets in total.

The full set, when worn, grants a 2.5% bonus Mining experience.

Check out Prospector Percy's Nugget Shop rewards on how to obtain this experience-boosting set.

Item		XP Boost	Cost (in )	Sells for (in )	Boost per nugget (% per )
	Helmet	+0.4%	40	32	0.010
	Jacket	+0.8%	60	48	0.013
	Legs	+0.6%	50	40	0.012
	Boots	+0.2%	30	24	0.007
Set bonus		+0.5%
Complete set		+2.5 %	180	144	0.014

Varrock armour 1, 2, 3, and 4

The Varrock Diary is a set of achievement diaries whose tasks revolve around areas in and near Varrock, such as the Barbarian Village and Edgeville. Players looking to claim their rewards can do so from Toby in Varrock, just behind the Varrock General Store.

Rewards for completing each tier of the achievement diaries is as follows:

Varrock armour 1:

• 10% chance of mining 2 ores at once up to coal (also works for clay with or without bracelet of clay). Experience is granted for both ores mined. However it does not work at Motherlode Mine, Blast Mine, Volcanic Mine, or on gem rocks.
• 10% chance of smelting 2 bars from 2 ores simultaneously up to steel when using the Edgeville furnace. Experience is granted for both bars.

Varrock armour 2:

• When worn, 10% chance of mining 2 ores at once up to Mithril, granting xp for both ores mined. Also works on sandstone rock, as well as lovakite ore (despite being a higher level than mithril). However it does not work at Motherlode Mine, Blast Mine, Volcanic Mine, or on gem rocks.
• When worn, 10% chance of smelting 2 bars at once up to mithril when using the Edgeville furnace.

Varrock armour 3:

• When worn, 10% chance of mining 2 ores at once up to adamant, granting xp for both ores mined. Also works on sandstone rock, as well as lovakite ore. However it does not work at Motherlode Mine, Blast Mine, Volcanic Mine, or on gem rocks.
• When worn, 10% chance of smelting 2 bars at once up to adamant when using the Edgeville furnace.

Varrock armour 4:

• When worn, 10% chance of mining 2 of any ore, granting xp for both ores mined. Also works on sandstone rock, lovakite ore, and amethyst. However it does not work at Motherlode Mine, Blast Mine, Volcanic Mine, Dense runestone, or on gem rocks.
  • Note: If this effect happens when you get a gem roll instead of an ore, you will get 2 rolls on the gem table.
• When worn, 10% chance of smelting 2 of any bar at once when using the Edgeville furnace.
• Acts as a Prospector jacket in terms of full Prospector outfit set XP bonus but does not count as a Prospector jacket to fulfill the Falador Diary's hard task of entering the mining guild wearing full Prospector.

Quests for Mining experience

Main article: Quest experience rewards

Quest	Experience reward	Mining requirement	Other requirements
The Forsaken Tower	500	-	20% Lovakengj favour
Doric's Quest	1,300	-	-
Plague City	2,425	-	-
The Giant Dwarf	2,500	-	14 , 12 , 16 , 33
Heroes' Quest	2,575	50	55 , 53 , 53 , 25
Another Slice of H.A.M.	3,000	-	15 , 25
The Lost Tribe	3,000	17	13 , 13
Between a Rock...	5,000	40	30 , 50
Enakhra's Lament	7,000	45 -optional	50 , 45 , 43 , 39
Making Friends with My Arm	10,000	72	35 , 66 , 68
The Dig Site	15,300	-	10 , 10 , 25
Dragon Slayer II	18,000	68	200 , 75 , 70 , 62 , 60 , 60 , 50 , 50
Song of the Elves	20,000	70	70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70
Total	90,600

Fastest experience

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 once shift drop has been enabled in the options. Mobile users can toggle the tap-drop option.

Levels 1–37: Questing

Early levels can be skipped by completing quests that give Mining experience. Completing Doric's Quest, The Dig Site, Plague City, The Giant Dwarf, The Lost Tribe and Another Slice of H.A.M. grants the player a total of 27,525 Mining experience, which elevates a level 1 Mining to level 37. All of the quests have fairly low requirements, and completing them allows the player to use an adamant pickaxe right from the start. This method is recommended if the early level grind is not for you.

Levels 1–15: Copper/Tin ore

From level 1 to 15, players should mine copper or tin. This can be done anywhere, though the Lumbridge Swamp mining site is debatably the easiest due to its relative lack of players and aggressive monsters, and its collection of copper and tin rocks.

To progress from level 1 to level 15, you will need 2,411 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 15–45/70: Iron ore

Mining iron in the Mining Guild.

Mining iron offers the fastest experience from level 15 to 45. At level 45, 3-tick mining granite becomes faster assuming good performance, however this method is much easier and offers relatively fast experience at higher levels. Players who are inexperienced with tick manipulation methods, or do not plan to use tick manipulation at all, are advised to mine iron up to level 70.

Wearing Varrock armour 1 or higher increases the overall experience rate for this method, as it gives the player 10% chance to mine 2 ores at once while worn.

From level 15 to 60, players should mine iron at a location that has three iron rocks in a triangle, as such a formation that allows the player to mine all three rocks without moving. Drop the ores while waiting for the rocks to respawn. There are eight such locations available at this level:

1. Legends' Guild Mine
2. Al Kharid Mine
3. Piscatoris Mine
4. Lovakengj Mine
5. Verdant Valley
6. Mount Karuulm Mine
7. Resource Area (level 51 Wilderness)
8. South Mor Ul Rek mine

If using tick manipulation, the best place to mine iron is in the Legends' Guild mine, which has 4 iron rocks close to each other in the eastern part. Start the 3-tick cycle with a herb and tar (or other suitable items) while moving between rocks, and drop the ores between mines. This method is faster than using a triangle spot, but because this method is much more advanced and significantly harder than using a triangle spot, it is only recommended for players who plan on 3-tick mining granite from level 45 onwards.

From level 60 onwards, the pay-to-play area of the Mining Guild becomes the best option, as the respawn time for rocks mined in this area is halved. This makes it so the players do not have to wait for the rocks to respawn or use tick manipulation; with correct timing and accurate clicks, players can drop the ore between mines and keep mining continuously.

Players can expect to gain up to around 45,000–55,000 experience per hour below level 60 when not using tick manipulation. From level 60 and above, the maximum experience rate in the Mining Guild caps at around 70,000–80,000 experience per hour, depending on performance and the pickaxe used.

Banking the ores is not recommended as this slows down experience rates a lot and the iron ores are usually not worth very much. Ironmen who wish to bank their ores are advised to use the pay-to-play area in the Mining Guild, which has a triangle spot near to the bank chest. Using other locations for banking the ores is not recommended, as they are much slower.

Levels 45–99: Granite

3-tick granite mining in action.

3-tick mining granite (commonly referred to as "3t4g", 3-tick 4 granite) at the Quarry offers the fastest Mining experience in the game. This method is extremely click-intensive and can be hard to learn, however. Tick manipulation must be used for this method, as without it the experience rates are signficantly reduced and this method would not be worth doing. Players who are inexperienced with tick manipulation methods may find it worthwhile to train with iron to higher levels before attempting to train with granite, as mining iron still offers fairly high rates at lower levels.

The four granite rocks are located the south-west area of the Quarry. The fastest way to get there is to teleport with the Camulet. Players must have some sort of desert heat protection in order to survive. Desert amulet 4 provides 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.

Wearing Varrock armour 2 or higher increases the overall experience rate for this method, as it gives the player 10% chance to mine 2 ores at once while worn. It also strongly recommended to use an infernal pickaxe if the player can afford to use it, as it significantly reduces the amount of ores that need to be dropped and also provides passive Smithing experience. One fully charged infernal pickaxe lasts for around 900,000–1,000,000 Mining experience. Using a crystal pickaxe is not recommended for this method, as it does not bring any benefits or increase experience rates because of tick manipulation being used, and it costs crystal shards to use.

Players should drop the mined pieces of granite on the ground between mines. This is done by starting the 3-tick action and clicking on the next rock, quickly dropping the granite and clicking the rock again. This requires accurate clicking and some practice to perform consistently, but it is much more efficient than dropping a full inventory. It is recommended to use resizable mode, zoom in and turn the camera south so that there is as little distance from the inventory to the rocks as possible. Turning data orbs off is also helpful to prevent any misclicks when clicking on the southernmost rock.

With good performance, players can gain up to around 60,000–70,000 experience per hour at level 45, increasing to around 85,000–90,000 experience per hour at level 70 and 105,000–115,000 experience per hour at higher levels. At level 99 with the Mining cape perk, it is possible to gain up to 125,000–130,000 experience per hour. Without tick manipulation players can expect to gain only around 63,000 experience per hour at best.

Other methods

Levels 30–99: Motherlode Mine

Mining in the Motherlode Mine is a slow training method, but it requires relatively low amount effort and offers somewhat decent profit at higher levels. Level 30 is required to mine there, but players are advised to use faster methods until level 55 or level 61, as the experience is very slow at lower levels due to receiving less experience from collecting the pay-dirt. At higher levels, this method is only recommended for players who are looking for an easy training method, as the Volcanic Mine minigame offers much faster experience and requires less effort.

The fastest way to get there is to use the skills necklace teleport to the Mining Guild, and run a short distance to the entrance. Players will need to have a pickaxe on them to clear the obstructing rockfalls to be able to enter deeper into the mine.

Completing the medium tasks of the Falador Diary is recommended, as this grants the player access to a shortcut (requires level 54 Agility) to an area which is near the bank chest and relatively close to the hopper. Completion of the elite diary will also increase the chance of receiving higher-level ores.

Players can obtain golden nuggets through cleaning pay-dirt, which can be used to purchase perks and rewards from Prospector Percy. The most notable reward is the Prospector kit, 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 the Falador Diary. Once the player reaches level 72 and has 100 golden nuggets, it is recommended to unlock the upper levels of the mine. The upper levels have more concentrated ore veins compared to the lower level, and they deplete after they have been mined for a set amount of time, unlike in the lower area, where it's a random chance per pay-dirt mined, making one vein last longer on average.

Experience rates scale depending on the Mining level. When using the dragon pickaxe, players can gain up to around 30,000 experience per hour at level 70, increasing to 42,000 experience per hour at level 85 and 53,000 experience per hour at level 99.

For more up to date calculations on profit per hour, see Motherlode Mine.

Levels 40–99: Gem rocks

Tick manipulation at gem rocks

Mining gem rocks offers relatively fast experience and decent profit. Gem rocks are also the fastest method on average to obtain the rock golem pet, and the only viable source of opal, jade and red topaz, which is particularly useful for ironmen.

Players will need to have completed the hard tasks of the Karamja Diary for access to the underground portion of the Shilo Village mine, which has many gem rocks and a bank deposit box nearby. Without the diary completion this method is not worth doing, as the surface area has much fewer rocks. Players will also need to wear an amulet of glory with charges, as this increases the chance of successfully receiving a gem. Using tick manipulation is recommended, as this increases experience rates and profit per hour.

Experience rates scale depending on the Mining level. Without tick manipulation, players can gain up to around 41,000–42,000 experience per hour below level 70, increasing to 52,000 experience per hour at level 80, 58,000 experience per hour at level 90 and 63,000 experience per hour at level 99. With tick manipulation, the experience rates can reach as high as 86,000 at level 99, which is among the highest for any Mining method while also yielding around 756,413.38 profit per hour. However, the Volcanic Mine offers slightly higher experience rates, albeit at much lower profit.

Levels 70–99: Volcanic Mine

The Volcanic Mine minigame on Fossil Island offers relatively fast experience and it requires low amount of effort to participate in. However, it requires coordinated teamwork and it does not provide any significant profit. Level 50 required to enter the mine, but it is recommended to use faster methods until level 70 as the experience is notably slower below that level.

To enter the mine, players must have completed the Bone Voyage quest, have earned at least 150 Kudos and have claimed the five unidentified small fossils from Peter after fully building the Museum Camp. Players must also pay Petrified Pete 30 numulites every time they wish to enter the mine. Over time, players will slightly profit numulites in the mine, however.

The official world for this minigame is world 323, 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. Having 3 to 5 players in a team is optimal, although duo is also viable. It is also possible to participate in the minigame entirely solo, but it requires much more effort and practice, and the experience rates are slightly slower than in a team.

Experience rates scale depending on the Mining level. In a good team, players can gain around 65,000–70,000 experience per hour at level 70, increasing to around 75,000–80,000 experience per hour at level 85 and 85,000–90,000 experience per hour at level 99 when using a dragon pickaxe. With a crystal pickaxe, players can gain up to around 70,000–75,000 experience per hour at level 71, 85,000 experience per hour at level 85 and 95,000 experience per hour at level 99.

Levels 75–99: Blast Mine

The Blast Mine minigame (which requires having 100% Lovakengj favour) offers decent experience and good profit from level 75 onwards. This is due to being able to obtain runite ore at that level, which makes the bulk of the profit gained. It is possible to participate in the minigame below 75 Mining, but this 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, increasing experience and profit as a result.

A common inventory setup is to have noted dynamites along with unnoted ones, a chisel, a tinderbox, and a 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 depends on the player's Mining level, the 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.

Players can gain up to around 55,000 experience per hour at level 75 Mining, 65,000 experience per hour at level 90 and 70,000–75,000 experience per hour at level 99.

Levels 92–99: Amethyst

Amethyst is an alternative choice for players looking to mine with low effort or click intensity, albeit for very slow experience rates. At high Mining levels, players can expect to mine from 80 to 100 amethyst per hour, for approximately 20,000–25,000 experience per hour and 270,000–330,000 profit per hour.