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The Basics

To begin mining, you should first obtain a basic pickaxe which you can obtain for free from Bob at Bob's Axes inLumbridge. Once you have one, it's time to set out and find a place to mine. There are several mining spots around Runescape, but the cities of Lumbridge and Varrock are usually where you should start off your first Mining adventures.

Mining Ores

Now that you've found a place to mine, you can either jump right in and click on a rock to mine from, or you can prospect the rock. When you prospect a rock you will search for any ores inside and determine what type of ore is in the rock. This could take some time, so it's best to learn what color each different rock will be when it has ore in it. Now you can click on a rock to mine from it, and your character will keep mining until you obtain the ore.

Mining Gems

 From time to time you may find an uncut gem while mining. These can be crafted, and are valuable to anyone working on the skill. Gems can be cut with a chisel to make them more valuable when sold to a store, but most people would prefer uncut gems to work on their crafting. There's a greater chance of mining a gem if you are wearing a charged Amulet of Glory, but finding a gem can still be difficult.

See the below "Gems" sub-section for more information.

Dwarven Stouts

If you need a quick "level-up," a Dwarven Stout is just the drink for you. Stouts will raise both your mining and smithing levels by 1 for a short amount of time. They can be bought from the Rising Sun Bar in Falador for 3gp, so stock up on them if you plan on using many stouts during your mining career.

Mature Stouts & Beer

As a reward from the Forgettable Tale (of a Drunken Dwarf) Quest you will get 2 Mature Dwarven Stouts which will increase your Mining and Smithing levels by 2, not just the ordinary 1 level. When Brewing Beer there is a chance that it will become Mature and give extra bonuses. To make it more likely that it becomes Mature you can add "The Stuff" which is something you can buy as a reward from Trouble Brewing.

Braindeath Rum

As well as giving more Hitpoints and Strength, the drink also gives you +1 Mining temporarily. The Rum can be brought from Harpoon Joe's House of Rum in Mos Le’Harmless for 30gp.

Powermining

This is also known as "Drop Mining." Powermining is when you rapidly mine ores and drop them solely for the purpose of gaining quick experience. Generally, players will powermine ores that are easy to mine, such as Iron, Copper, Sandstone and Granite. These ores respawn quickly and are easy to obtain.

Pickaxes

Miners that are more skilled have the ability to use higher quality pickaxes which allow you to obtain ores more quickly when mining. Pickaxes range from Bronze being the lowest quality, and Rune being the highest, but they are rather expensive.

Pickaxes can be bought from Nurmof's Pickaxe Shop, which is found in theDwarven Mines. There are two entrances to the mine: the first being in a building northeast of the east Falador bank, and the second being to the south of Ice Mountain (located north of Falador). The shop itself is found to the west of the entrance. You must go around the twisting passage, and the shop is north of the General Store.

Pickaxes
Picture	Pickaxe	Mining Level	Cost
	Bronze	1	1gp
	Iron	1	140gp
	Steel	6	500gp
	Mithril	21	1,300gp
	Adamantite	31	3,200gp
	Rune	41	32,000gp

Alternatively, you can smith your own pickaxes after the completion of the Peril's of Ice Mountain quest, provided you meet the smithing requirement to make the desired pickaxe.

Special Pickaxes

There are some pickaxes in Runescape that have special requirements that need to be met. These pickaxes also might have a unique ability that other pickaxes do not posses. There are currently three special pickaxes in Runescape: the Dragon Pickaxe, the Inferno adze, the Sacred/Volatile-clay pickaxe.

• The Dragon Pickaxe is a rare drop from the Chaos Dwogres (level 117), Chaos Dwarf Hand Cannoneers (level 100), and the Chaos Dwarfs (level 48) at the Chaos Dwarf Battlefield. To reach the monsters, you must have completed the Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf Quest. This pickaxe requires a Mining level of 61 to use and is the fastest pickaxe in the game, even beating the Inferno Adze in terms of speed. This pickaxe has a special attack called "Shock", which drains 100% of the Special Attack Energy Bar and increases your maximum hit while draining your victim's Attack, Ranged, and Magic levels by 5%. This special attack takes slightly longer to perform than a normal attack.
• The Inferno Adze is a tool capable of being a mining tool and a woodcutting tool. It is obtained from the All Fired Up mini-game. It requires level 41 Mining to use as a mining tool and level 92 Firemaking to wield. It has the same mining speed as a Rune Pickaxe, as its main purpose it to be used as a Woodcuttingtool, with the benefit of serving as a pickaxe.
• The Sacred-clay/Volatile-clay pickaxe is a reward obtained through theStealing Creation mini-game. Both pickaxes require level 40 Mining to use and each give bonus experience per ore mined (with the exception of a few ores in Runescape). The sacred-clay variant of the pickaxe gives double the normal given experience, while the volatile-clay version gives 2.2 times the normal experience. Be aware that neither of these pickaxes are permanent and will disappear or morph into a different tool after a certain number of uses. These pickaxes are relative to that of a Rune Pickaxe in terms of mining speed.

Rocks & Ores

Of course, we can't forget the main part of mining; the ores! Each ore can be found in a specifically colored rock to match the ore, and when a rock is full of the ore it will change color. Instead of prospecting each rock, it's best to remember what each rock looks like, in order to make mining go much quicker.

Mining Chart
Picture of Rock	Picture of Ore	Ore	Mining Level	Mining Experience
		Clay	1	5
		Copper	1	17.5
		Tin	1	17.5
		Iron	15	35
		Silver	20	40
		Coal	30	50
		Gold	40	65
		Mithril	55	80
		Adamantite	70	95
		Rune	85	125

Gems

While mining rocks, you may happen to mine a Gem. Gems can be used to make various objects such as jewelry or bolt tips, and come in a variety of types. Regular gems, including Sapphires, Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds can all be mined from regular rocks containing ore; the most common ones being Sapphires. If you're a Member and wearing a charged Amulet of Glory, you'll have a better chance of mining gems.

There are also other kinds of gems, including Opals, Jades and Red Topazes which can only be mined from the Shilo Village rocks. Once you complete the Shilo Village Quest, you will be able to use these rocks to mine all types of gems.

Mineable Gems
Picture	Gem	Mining Experience
	Sapphire	65
	Emerald	65
	Ruby	65
	Diamond	65
	Opal	65
	Jade	65
	Red Topaz	65

Special Ores

Some of the ores that you'll mine in RuneScape only have a certain purpose, such as being used in a quest. Others have unique uses instead of being able to be smithed into armor and weapons.

Special Ores
Picture	Ore	Mining Level	Mining Experience	Use
	Limestone	1	26.5	Use a Chisel with this to make a Limestone Brick. Used in theConstruction skill.
	Rune Essence	1	5	Used inRunecrafting to make Freeplay Runes.
	Plain Rock	1	1	Used for baloon toads in Recipe for Disaster.
	Bluerite	10	17	Used in theKnight's Sword Quest.
	Elemental	20	0 (not mined)	Used in theElemental Workshop Quest.
	Daeyalt	20	17	Used in theDarkness of Hallowvale Quest. It's worth noting that there are 3 ores per rock, and it is possible to powermine it.
	Pure Essence	30	5	Used inRunecrafting to make any type of Runes.
	Sandstone	35	1kg - 30  2kg - 40  5kg - 50 10kg - 60	Sandstone is currently only used during theEnakhras's Lament Quest. It is pretty easy to mine and can be powermined for fast experience.
	Gem Rocks	40	65	Found in Shilo Village. You can mine any gem (except Dragonstone) from these.
	Obsidian	41	40	Used during theTokTz-Ket-Dill Quest and can be crafted into pillars of obsidian with a chisel and hammer, giving 20 experience per slab made. 2 pieces of Obsidian can be mined from each section of wall.
	Granite	45	Tiny- 50  Small - 60  Medium - 75	Granite is currently only used during theEnakhras's Lament Quest. If you have a high enough mining level it is possible to effectively powermine it for quick experience.
	Rubium	46	17.5	Used to make Super fishing explosives. You first discover how to use and get Rubium in theKennith's Concerns Quest.
	Lunar Ore	60	-	Used only during the Lunar Diplomacy Quest.
	Living Minerals	73	25	Obtained through mining the dead remains of living rocks within theLiving Rock Caverns. Used as fishing bait to catch Rocktail, which require level 90 Fishing to catch and are located in the same area.
	Concentrated Coal Deposit	77	50	Located within theLiving Rock Caverns. These deposits hold a vast amount of ore per rock. It is possible to mine 2 ores per swing on these rocks as well. Guarded by several high level monsters. Great for superheat mining.
	Concentrated Gold Deposit	80	85	Located within theLiving Rock Caverns. These deposits hold a vast amount of ore per rock. It is possible to mine 2 ores per swing on these rocks as well. Guarded by several high level monsters.

Mining Notes

• A higher mining level will make it easier to mine bigger chunks of Sandstone. You can also break the chunks of Sandstone with a chisel. For example a 5kg piece would break into two 2kg and a 1kg. You can only carve granite during the quest. Chiseling sandstone does not give any crafting experience.

Ore Respawn Times

Each ore in the game takes a certain amount of time to respawn, or reappear so that you can mine it. Generally, the higher-level ores take a longer time to respawn than lower level ones, and the number of players on a server also effect ore respawn times: the more people on a server, the quicker an ore will respawn. The following is a chart of approximate respawn times for ores:

Mining Notes

• Timing spawns on perfectly empty servers without the aid of a private server is technically impossible, and as such these are approximated times.
• In the case of rune ores, accurately timing the spawns becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, on lesser populated servers as the times differ by up to a minute between spawns due to rapidly changing sever sizes. As such, these times are based on the underlying pattern, and were loosely checked for accuracy.