The Lava Flow Mine is one of the most important locations of Keldagrim, being the main source of the dwarven city's power supply. It is run collectively by the Consortium and overseen by Foreman Jaak. The mine was first released along with the questKing of the Dwarves on 4 January2011. Later, a training area associated with the mine was released on 16 May2011. It is a place for players to train Mining quickly without gaining ores (though gems may be acquired) and by pleasing the Liquid Gold Nymph players may attain pieces of the golden mining suit. A Mining level of 68, a Smithing level of 70, and a Strength level of 77 is required to complete the quest and is therefore a requirement to use the mine.
The Lava Flow Mine acts as a geothermal power plant, using Gielinor's thermal energy (the lava) to turn water into steam, which in turn operates the various mechanisms around Keldagrim.
Located in Keldagrim, the Lava Flow Mine is used as the primary power source for the city. It creates steam, on which many of the city's machines work (similar to the Blast Furnace). It is a vital part of Keldagrim - the Green Gemstone Director calls it the single most important piece of machinery in Keldagrim.
At the start of King of the Dwarves, a cloaked figure blows himself up in the mine, causing a cave-in, which wounds six of the miners. He blows up the secondary boilers only, and black guard troops come to fix them very soon. They leave the miners under the rubble, for the player to mine them out. If the boilers weren't fixed, they might have exploded, causing further deaths and leaving most of Keldagrim without power for days. After the quest it seems 3 of the 6 miners have died: 2 died immediately, and 1 more died of his wounds later on.
During the quest the Blue Opal Director reveals how the lava flow mine works. The lava comes from the sub-Barendir magma vent. It is siphoned off from this vent and run along channels in the mine. The lava heats water in primary boilers over the channels, and the steam created is channelled into seven secondary boilers in the centre of the mine. From here, the steam is pushed through distribution vents to the various machines around Keldagrim, such as the mine carts and the blast furnace.
Location[]
The location of the mine.
The Lava Flow Mine is located through an opening on the east wall of Keldagrim. The easiest way to get there is by using the mine cart from the Grand Exchange to travel to East Keldagrim, and then run northeast.
Alternately, any complete golem outfit you own. Their effect stacks with any owned pieces of the golden mining suit and the Varrock armour effects, e.g. more experience per crust mined
There are two small Summoning obelisks nearby: one is to the east of Keldagrim bank (Luck of the Dwarves Keldagrim teleport is right next to obelisk), while another is to the west of the Grand Exchange (travel via the mine cart, or bring teleportation). It is recommended to bring your own summoning potion or super restore potion to stay longer while having multiple pouches.
The main purpose of the Lava Flow Mine is to mine off crust from one of the four lava channels. Foreman Jaak will say which of the four lava channels needs the most attention, which will also yield the most mining experience per successful cut of the crust. You can check the steam gauges next to each channel segment to see the flow in that segment - the segment with 50% flow gives the most experience.
After a while (Anywhere between 4 to 7 minutes), the best flow changes, you will receive a message in your chatbox when this happens. Jaak will know which one yields the most experience again. Unless the world is fairly full, it is advised to talk to Jaak instead of finding the correct flow yourself, because finding it with too few people might take too long. The segments next to the one with 50% flow will have 60% flow, and the next segments 70% flow and so on. This can help in finding the best segment to mine.
When mining the best channel segment, one successful cut yields 100 experience when the exact correct part of the correct flow is mined. Experience gained is proportional to the flow in that segment, as shown in the table below. After a player mines a bit of the crust off 10 times, the player will stop mining and will have to re-click on the crust.
Flow rate
Experience per mine
50%
100
60%
90
70%
80
80%
70
90%
60
100%
50
Strange rocks can be obtained from mining the crusts.
Finding the blockage[]
When the blockage segment moves, immediately go to Foreman Jaak near the entrance to find the new channel. Once you know this information, go to the steam gauge for either segment 4 or 5 of the new channel and find the percentage. If it isn't 90% (which only one end can be from the centre segments) or 50%, then check the other segment's value and use that as an offset to find the location.
Segment 5
Segment 4
Blockage
90%
80%
1
80%
70%
2
70%
60%
3
60%
50%
4
50%
60%
5
60%
70%
6
70%
80%
7
80%
90%
8
As an alternative to asking Jaak, the correct channel can be found by reading the flow at two central locations in segments 4 or 5: between channels A and B, and between channels C and D. At each location read the two dials, and stop as soon as you find the one with less than 100%. Then read the neighbouring dial to find the direction of the correct segment.
Maximising experience rates[]
To maximise experience rates while in the Lava Flow Mine, you must be mining the segment with 50% flow. This can be quickly identified by firstly looking in segments 4 or 5 of each channel to find the one with below 100% flow, or talking to Foreman Jaak to be told which channel letter is slower, and then moving along it until you find the 50% flow, once here, you should begin mining.
Also, it is recommended to mine in any of the unofficial worlds with a clan to find the 50% segments faster.
The current maximum experience is around 45k/hr (90k/hr with Bonus experience) at level 99 with a good team and a lava titan (needs further testing). At level 80 with a lava titan the maximum experience is around 35k/h.
Distractions[]
There are multiple distractions that can occur while mining the crusts.
Gems - Like other types of mining, there is the chance that gems will be found. These will be sapphire, emerald, ruby or diamond.
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Players fixing a broken boiler in the Lava Flow Mine.
Boiler breakages - As a result of the chaos dwarf attack, the boilers overheat. Repairing them takes a random Smithing level (70 to 90, boosts may be used) and a hammer (tool belt works), which spawns at the mine entrance. If you fix it you will gain Smithing experience based on the required level. This cannot be assisted. A boiler will break on average about every 1 hour and 10 minutes[source needed], although the time between breakages is random. You will get a red message in your chatbox whenever a boiler breaks.
To see how much experience you would get when repairing a boiler, see the calculator to the right. You can only repair one boiler per hour.
This formula is where is the smithing level required.
TzHaar hero - The TzHaar hero will chase a lava monster along the channels of the mine. Players can stall the lava monster by taunting it. If they can do so for long enough for the TzHaar hero will catch it, everyone inside the mine will be twice as likely to find gems for the next ten minutes. You will get a red message in your chatbox when the bonus comes into effect and also when it ends.
Possessed pickaxe - A Dwarven ancestor spirit will take control of a nearby pickaxe. If the pickaxe is defeated, the ancestor will grant a 10% Mining experience bonus for ten minutes to the player who killed it. You will get a red message in your chatbox when the bonus comes into effect and also when it ends. The bonus stacks multiplicatively with a Bonus XP Weekend multiplier. Note that killing multiple Possessed pickaxes and speaking to the Dwarven ancestor spirit within 10 minutes of one another will not add an additional 10% bonus but will restart your 10 minutes.
Liquid Gold Nymph - When the Liquid Gold Nymph appears, she will give you a piece of the golden mining suit. If you already have a full set of the outfit, she will offer you 2,500 Mining experience or the option to gild any single pickaxe you have in your inventory or on the tool belt (not including the inferno adze, crystal pickaxe, dwarven army axe, or sacred clay pickaxe). You will get a message in your chatbox when she appears, and a sound will play. The flow rate of the segment you are currently mining does not affect the chance of the nymph appearing.
Lava geyser - (requires completion of Birthright of the Dwarves): Occasionally a lava geyser will appear in one of the lava sections. First, players have to cool it down by using Water or Ice spells. After it has cooled down, it can be mined for a hefty amount of Mining experience. When the cooled down geyser has been mined completely, it will disappear and players have a chance of getting Imcando pickaxe fragments.
Note: It is announced in the chatbox when a geyser appears.
Rewards[]
Golden mining suit[]
In addition to the Mining and Smithing experience obtained by contributing to the mine, the Liquid Gold Nymph will randomly appear and reward players with a piece of the golden mining suit in the following order. Wearing all five pieces gives a 6% boost to experience while Mining (1% set bonus), similar to the effects of the lumberjack clothing set. It is no longer possible for a player to obtain multiple suit pieces. Previous to a recent update, one could drop a piece that they wish to obtain and then talk to the nymph for another then proceed to pick up the piece they dropped after they receive the piece they want from the nymph (but now the option is not drop, but destroy).
*If the player owns any Varrock armour, the mining top will also give the chance of receiving extra ores (up to whatever ore your Varrock armour would normally allow).
Gilded Pickaxes[]
The Liquid Gold Nymph will also offer to trim the pickaxe in the players inventory or tool belt, if they have acquired the complete golden mining suit. Foreman Jaak can remove the gilding on any of the pickaxes.
The player also has the option to get a 2500 experience reward instead of a gilded pickaxe, by asking if the Liquid golden nymph has nothing other than gold.
During the Lava geyser distraction, the player has the chance to obtain Imcando pickaxe fragments. These fragments can be used to create an Imcando pickaxe. To do this the player will need to bring the following to Thurgo after completing Birthright of the Dwarves:
If you speak with the Dwarven ancestor spirit while wearing the ghostspeak amulet or the cramulet, he will tell you a story about how he used to be the #2 miner in ancient Keldagrim, and he was killed by a lava monster before he was able to compete for the #1 miner spot.
It's possible to get two nymphs at once.
Mining from a lava flow or even being within the mine should kill the player due to convection and radiant heat, since the heat from the lava would convect (and be radiated) into the air making the temperature too high for a human to survive; the foreman mentions this and says it's a wonder that it doesn't happen.
On 12 January2012, after The Firemaker's Curse game update, players at the Lava Flow Mine found it impossible to cross the bridges to access other channels. This was later fixed in a system update.
Sealed clue scrolls may also be obtained from mining crust.
The official world for Lava Flow Mine is world 71 (P2P).
