Mining

Mining is a skill that allows players to obtain ores from rocks. With the ores, a player can then either smelt and smith them or sell them for a great profit. Mining is also one of the most popular skills in RuneScape as many players try to earn a profit from the skill.

How to mine
To mine, a player will first need a pickaxe. Pickaxes are sold by Nurmof in the dwarven mines, though new players are given one when they complete tutorial island. When a player has obtaineda pickaxe, they next need to find a mine. When these two tasks are complete, the player can then find a rock in the mine and click on it, making them mine the rocks with their pickaxe. As a player is mining a rock, they will eventually obtain an ore. This ore can either be used in the smithing skill or it can be sold. Selling ores can give players a good profit.

Mining is a skill largely based on a player's luck, which is totally random in RuneScape. Luck affects mining in this way: the player will mine the rock, but when they hit the rock, it might take eight to twenty hits to obtain an ore. Another player may mine the same rock and get an ore in just one hit. Using a pickaxe of a higher metal will allow players to obtain ores faster, though luck will still play a key role.

Pickaxes
Pickaxes, or 'picks', are needed to mine rocks. They can be equipped as a weapon, giving players some more space in their inventory. However, pickaxes cannot be smithed. Pickaxes can either be bought from Nurmof in the dwarven mines or from other players. Nurmof's shop in the dwarven mines is labelled on the mini-map as a gold pickaxe.

A player's mining level determines the type of pickaxe they can mine with. The higher a level needed to use a pickaxe, the better it is than the ones below it. For example, a rune pickaxe will mine rocks faster than an adamant pickaxe.

The prices in the table below are from Nurmof's store when there is only one of that kind of pickaxe in stock. If a player breaks the pickaxe's head from a rock with smoke coming out of it, then they will have to bring their pickaxe to Nurmof and ask him to fix it, for a price.

Ores and rocks
Ores are obtained from the different types of rocks. These rocks can be found in mines. On the mini-map, mines are labelled with a gray pickaxe. The colour of a rock corresponds to the ore's colour, so a black rock will yield coal ore, a blue rock will yield mithril ore, etc.

When players click on a rock, they will hit it with their pickaxe and try to get the ore out. The higher level rocks, such as mithril and adamant, take longer for players to mine an ore out of them, making the player require patience.

After the ore has been mined, the rock will turn gray for a while. Eventually another ore will respawn and the rock will regain its colour. Players can only mine a rock when ore is available. Ore respawn times differ with the difficulty of the rock. For example, rune rocks take over 20 minutes to respawn while iron rocks take about 3 seconds.

Mine table
At the moment, only free-to-play mines have been added.

Free-to-play mines
All players have access to these mines.

Misthalin mines

 * Barbarian Village Mine
 * Al-Kharid Mine
 * Edgeville Dungeon Mine
 * Lumbridge Swamps Mine
 * East Varrock Mine
 * West Varrock Mine

Asgarnia mines

 * Crafting Guild Mine
 * Dwarven Mine
 * Ice Caves Mine
 * Mining Guild
 * Rimmington Mine

Island mines

 * Crandor Mine
 * Karmaja Volcano Mine

Wilderness mines

 * Hobgoblin Mine
 * Wilderness Rune Mine
 * Steel Mine
 * Wilderness Skeleton Mine

Pay-to-play mines
Only members can access these mines.

Asgarnia mines
Hero's Guild Mine

Random events
In addition to the general random events, there are a few that are specific to mining.

Rock Golem
Similar to the River Troll when fishing, or the Tree Spirit when woodcutting, this is a fairly tough opponent based on your combat level, though as you approach the point where you would get the next level up, it can actually be quite an easy opponent, if you are armed and fully armoured. If travelling light, and armed only with your mining pick, it's a tougher proposition, though nothing like as tough as a shade.

Common drops are a single ore, an uncut gem, though there are other possibilities.

If you'd rather not fight, then just run away until it stops following.

Smoking Rock
If you continue mining a rock with smoke or gas bubbles emerging, it will explode, damaging your pick and you as well. The pick can be repaired by Nurmorf, but the cost increases for better picks.

Lost pickaxe head
If the head flies off your pickaxe, just pick it up and put it back on the handle. You have a limited time to collect it, before others can see it.

Dr. Ford
You're dazed after being hit by a chunk of rock. Which fingers is he holding up?

Get it right, get some fruit, get it wrong or ignore him, and you'll take a forced rest.

Power mining
Also known as drop mining, this is where you mine a plentiful ore, then drop it and mine again.

While this enables you to build your mining level quickly, without the time it takes to carry it to the bank and return, dropping a full load of ore also takes some time. Unless you choose to ignore smithing and become a coal trader, this has a major disadvantage that you do not advance your smithing level if you do not bring back ore to smelt. It has its place, if you you need an extra level more than you need the ore you are currently able to mine, but it's probably an over-used tactic.

Wielding
If you do not have sufficient attack level to wield your pick, then you should always wield a suitable weapon, unless using potential "mine and die" tactics, where you carry just your pick.

If you have the choice, it is usually best to wield your primary weapon in any mine with aggressive residents, since a long sword is a far better weapon than a pick in the same metal. In safer mines, you can make room for an extra ore by wielding your pick.

One disadvantage of wielding your pick, if the head flies off, you must collect the head, then un-equip the handle in order to re-attach.

Moving quickly
If the mine has no guardians and you plan to run away from any Rock Golems you may encounter, then wearing lightweight kit, robes or nothing but your character's normal clothes, may enable you to run for longer.

Since rune essence is lightweight, you can run to or from the mine, but with heavier ores, it makes the best use of your endurance to run to the mine and walk back.

Wilderness mine tips
After getting a pasting I only just survived at the Wilderness Coal Mine, from a mage PKer, hitting up to 15, I'll offer the following tips. So the best kit for the miner in lower level wilderness, is probably full leather, the wooden shield (has 1 defence against magic) and an amulet of defence, with your 3 protected items then being your good pickaxe, the amulet, and the leather body or an ore if it's the good stuff. This leaves you considerably weaker against the resident monsters, but the lightweight kit may help your running endurance, though not much if fully laden.
 * Metal armour is great against the monsters that pester you (skeletons were not much trouble), but leaves you a sitting duck if a PK'ing Mage blasts you, even while running, you still take a beating.
 * Leather offers better protection against this kind of surprise attack, although metal is better if a ranged fighter decides to make a pincushion of you, leather is still reasonable in defence, since an armoured warrior is the greatest threat, but has to make contact.

With 20:20 hindsight, I clean forgot I had the "Protect from magic" prayer which would have saved 50% of the damage - I should have turned that on, unarmoured, and then charged the Mage.

Another mistake was being close to the edge - with armour that holds up well against the resident monsters, better to have plenty of them between you and any Pk'er.

Temporary boosts

 * A Dwarven Stout will raise mining and smithing by 1. It can be bought in Falador, is a common drop from dwarves, and can be bought in several places in members areas, as well as brewed using the Cooking skill.
 * A Mature Dwarven Stout will raise mining and smithing by 2. You receive 2 as a reward for completing the Forgettable Tale, and it can be brewed by using the Cooking.