Mining Training Guide (F2P)
Table Of Contents
Introduction
Mining, it's what makes the RuneScape economy go round. Without it you wouldn't have your Runite Platelegs or the limestone bricks for your house. This is one of the best ways to make money in the game. A single Runite Ore is worth up to 13k! In this guide we will cover how to get you the mining cape and where the best training spots are. We will be covering free to play methods only.
Mining Worlds
For the fastest experience (XP), do your mining on a server (world) with lots of people. The rocks will respawn faster on a busier world, which only means one thing- you will be able to raise your Mining level very fast. The higher-level rocks take more time to respawn then lower level rocks. For example, depending on the amount of people on the server, Rune Rocks might take up to 25 minutes, as opposed to clay which respawns almost instantly. It is generally better to mine on a trading world such as world one or two. Although these servers have many more people logged in, most are concentrated around trading places such as banks or town centers. The rocks will respawn quicker on busy trading worlds, and the number of people Mining in that world is likely to be equal to a quieter world.
Pickaxes
Remember that your pickaxe affects how well you mine. It is very important to always use the highest-level pickaxe that your level will allow. Click here for more information on the different pickaxes available.
Power Mining (drop mining)
This is where a player fills their inventory with Ores and drops them all before repeating, as apposed to banking the ores. While this method of Mining allows players to raise their Mining level quickly, dropping a whole inventory of ores can take some time. In most locations, you will find that you can run (not walk) to a bank and deposit the ore in about the same amount of time as dropping, but benefit by having banked the ore. Also, for all you lazy people out there, banking the ore requires considerably less clicking. When your run energy percentage drops, you can always drop a load or two while it regenerates.
Bank Mining
Always run on the way back from the bank, and if your energy percent allows, on your way to the bank as well. This will save a lot of time. The equipment you wear will affect the distance you are able to run, and therefore the pace you are able to gain ore, and xp at. The more weight you carry on your character means the less you will be able to run. Instead, you will have to resort to walking to and from the banks. It is strongly recommended to wear robes or nothing at all other than your pickaxe.
Training
There are many, many ways to train this skill but in this guide we will show you the most efficient and fastest ways to get to 99.
Levels 1-20
To start off there aren't many ways to train mining. I suggest you either mine clay, Rune Essence after completing Rune Mysteries or tin and copper ore. Each method has it's pros and cons so it is up to you to decide what method you want to use.
Method One
Clay: For very quick Mining experience I suggest you mine clay and then drop it. Clay ore responds right away so you won't have to wait around waiting for it to respond. The best place to mine it is South-West Varrock. This is the method for you if you want to power-train to 20+ mining quickly to mine more expensive ores like Iron or Coal.
Method Two
If you do choose to mine Copper and Tin ores which can be fairly fast, the ores at the mine south-east of Varrock are the closest to the bank. The mining spot south-west of Varrock is the second closest. This method is good if you plan to train your Smithing at the same time.
Method Three
Clay, Copper, and Tin ore aren't the only ores you can mine easily, however, the easiest way to train mining at these levels, while still earning money, is to mine Rune Essence in Varrock. To enter the rune essence mine, you will need to have completed the Rune Mysteries Quest.
Levels 20-60
Once you have achieved level 20 Mining, you will be faced with a choice. The choice you must make is this; Do you want to gain money, or experience? The fastest way to gain money is by Mining Coal Ore. The fastest way to gain experience is by Mining Iron Ore.
Method One
The best place to mine Iron Ore for F2P is south-west of Varrock. Make sure you use a busy world (1500 people or more) when mining at this spot in order to avoid competing with people. There is also Silver Ore which can be extracted. Silver is useful for training Crafting. As you get in higher levels I would suggest move to Dwarven Mines in order to mine some Gold Ore which will give you more exp and some money. (But is very slow due to the lack of Gold Ores)
Method Two
The best places to mine Coal Ore would be The Southwest Lumbridge Swamps (Farther from a bank), Or Dwarven Mines (Can be crowded try logging into a heavily populated world). At first Mining Coal Ore will be very slow and people will beat you to the ores. Don't get disappointed!! Eventually you will be Mining with the speed of light, once you are able to mine Mithril Ore you can mine that as well as coal since it offers better exp and money. But once again it will be a slow start, so don't give up.
Levels 60-99
Now that you have finally achieved greatness it's time for the last part of your journey. But it's only going to be a harder and longer journey to get 99, it will test your pickaxe, your body, and patience to the max. But Jagex has been kind enough to bless us with some help mainly in the form of the Mining Guild.
Method One
You will be spending a lot of time in the Mining Guild. This is by far the best place to obtain Coal, both for members and free players. The only requirement to access the mining guild is level 60 Mining. However, if you drink a Dwarven Stout, which can be bought for 1gp at the pub in Falador, it will temporarily raise your Mining level by one. This is useful if you wish to enter the Mining Guild at level 59 Mining. Here you will be able to mine Coal, and Mithril Ore till you die of boredom. If you have 45 Dungeoneering, and level 60 Mining you can access the Mining Guild Hidden Mine. This newly added mine contains 8 Mithril Ores, 4 Adamant Ores, and 3 Rune Ores. It will be extremely overcrowded with F2P miners as it is the only place out of the wilderness that has Rune Ore. This is the best Mining spot for Free to Play players.
Method Two
You can have the choice of training at the Southwest Lumbridge Swamps which contains lots of Coal Ore, a few Mithril Ores, and 2 Adamant Ores. It can be crowded at times, but since it has a mixture of higher level ores it makes it a choice place to train, even though it is a bit far from a bank. The other choice is The Edgeville Dungeon, orAl-Kharid Mine. They both have a decent amount of high level ores for you to use. Or if you're really brave when you are at a much higher Mining level, you can mine Rune Ore in the Wilderness. Remember to be wary of Reverents and each Rune Ore takes 20 min to respawn.
Locations
You teleport off the Tutorial Island and you come to the strange city of Lumbridge. Eager to explore you head south to a mining pit and realize you love this skill. Wanting to see what other places to mine you begin to roam around RuneScape. Quickly getting lost you need help. Well, in this part of the guide we will show you all of the locations in the Free 2 Play world and what kind of ores are in here.
Al-Kharid Mine
The Al-Kharid Mine contains: 2 Adamant ores, 3 Copper ores, 2 Gold ores, 9 Iron ores, 2 Mithril ores, 5 Silver ores, and 1 Tin ore. This is a good Mining spot for drop mining, but isn't the best place to bank mine as it is a long run to the nearest bank. This location is not recommended for people under level 10, as there are level 14 Scorpions that could kill you with ease. Other than that it is an excellent Mining spot!
Barbarian Village
The Barbarian Village mine contains: 4 Coal ores, and 5 Tin ores. This is a decent Mining area for people who are mining Coal since not many people come to this area. The closest banks are Edgeville and the Grand Exchange.
Crafting Guild
The Crafting Guild Mining Site contains: 6 Silver ores, 6 Clay, and 7 Gold ores. You need to be wearing a Brown Apron and have a Crafting level of 40 to be able to mine here. This is a good Mining spot for people who want to mine gold since people can't get in unless they have 40 Crafting.
Dwarven Mine
The Dwarven Mine contains: 5 Clay, 11 Copper ores, 10 Tin ores, 9 Iron ores, 11 Coal ores, 2 Gold ores, 2 Mithril ores, and 3 Adamantite ores. This is by far one of my favorite and best mining places. It can be a bit crowded at times but there are tons of ore, and it is quite near the Falador West Bank. But beware if you combat level is low. As you get deeper into the mine there are some scorpions lurking about.
Mining Guild/Mining Guild Hidden Mine
The Mining Guild contains: 37 Coal ores, and 5 Mithril ores. This location which is located inside the Dwarven Mine is a miner's heaven. If you are into Mining and have a Mining Level of 60, you want to be here. You have more ores than you can mine and you are right under the Falador West Bank making banking trips a lot easier. If you have 45 Dungeoneering, and level 60 Mining you can access the Mining Guild Hidden Mine. This newly added mine contains 8 Mithril Ores, 4 Adamant Ores, and 3 Rune Ores. It will be extremely overcrowded with F2P miners as it is the only place out of the wilderness that has Rune Ore. This is the best Mining spot for Free to Play players.
Rimmington
The Rimmington Mine contains: 2 Clay, 5 Copper ores, 2 Gold ores, 6 Iron ores, and 2 Tin ores. This is a fairly good mining spot, the nearest bank is the Draynor Village Bank.
Southeast Varrock
The Southeast Varrock Mine contains: 4 Iron ores, 9 Copper ores, and 5 Tin ores. This is a great Mining spot for beginners since it is fairly close to the Varrock East Bank, and there is an abundance of quick respawning ores.
Southwest Varrock
The Southwest Varrock Mine contains: 3 Clay, 8 Tin ores, 3 Iron ores, and 3 Silver ores. This is a good Mining spot. The only danger here is a Level 6 Mugger. The nearest bank is the Varrock West Bank which is just a short jog from the mine.
Edgeville Dungeon
The Edgeville Dungeon Mine contains: 2 Adamant ores, 1 Mithril ore, 3 Iron ores, 2 Copper ores, 6 Coal ores, 2 Tin ores, and 3 Silver ores. This spot is only recommended for people with a Combat Level of about 50+ since it is full of Skeletons, Hobgoblins, and Giants. The nearest bank is the Grand Exchange providing you have a Brass Key to unlock the door.
Southwest Lumbridge Swamps
The Lumbridge Swamp West Mine contains: 7 Coal ores, 5 Mithril ores, and 2 Adamantite ores. This is a great mining spot due to the large amount of high level ores. It is a bit of a journey to the nearest bank, but you if you have an Explorer Ring you can Cabbage Teleport to save time on your trip to the bank. This spot is probably better for Drop Mining.
Southeast Lumbridge Swamps
The Lumbridge Swamp East Mine contains: 5 Copper ores, and 5 Tin ores. This is probably one of the better places for beginners since it is close to Lumbridge, and it also contains a Mining Tutor who can show starters the ropes!
Rune Essence
The Rune Essence Mine contains: Rune Essence! This is great for beginners if you have completed The Rune Mysteries Quest, since the ores don't have to respawn you can get a steady flow of xp. The best part is you are also very close to the Varrock East Bank.
Wilderness
The Rune Mine contains: 2 Rune Ores. This is one of the ONLY locations in the Free to Play world where you can mine Rune Ore. The other is in the Mining Guild Hidden Mine, but that requires you to have 45 Dungeoneering, and level 60 Mining. I strongly suggest you do not use any Wilderness Mines at all. There are various monsters and Revenants that could possibly attack and kill you. The only Mining site you should go to is the Rune Ore site. It is suggested if you have to mine in the wilderness, mine quickly then log off and switch worlds then repeat in order to avoid Revenants. It is also suggested that you have the high Combat skills to safely mine rune in the wilderness. There are also Deadly Red Spiders guarding the ores.
Conclusion
I hope that by you reading this guide you will have the knowledge and confidence to train this skill without doubt on what you are doing. If done right Mining can yield extraordinary profits (Rune Ore, Adamant Ore etc). Just remember that you will need to be ready to click on the next ore so you really can't do AFK mining in the F2P version of the game. The next time you think of training Mining come to us because we will show you how it is done!
Guide credits
Special Thanks: Anna Molly, Rank Penguin
Last update: 15-Oct-2010 21:54 by Dave