OSRS Mining Guide - Fastest 1-99

Mining is a very important skill to learn in Old School Runescape. Not only is it a requirement for certain quests, but it is also one of the best skills to learn in terms of making a profit.

In this guide, you will learn the best possible methods to maximize your time when training mining. You will also discover certain tips and tricks to optimize your leveling journey, such as tick manipulation, mining shooting stars, etc.

Why It's Important

So, why train mining? There are a few reasons why you need to level this particular skill in Old School Runescape. The first is that you'll need level 85 Mining if you want to complete all of the achievement diaries. These diaries are essential because they give you bonuses that will make the levelling process a lot smoother.

The second reason why you need to invest time in training mining is it is a skill requirement for some raids. The Tomb of Amascut raid, for example, requires you to have at least level 85 mining, though level 99 mining is ideal.

And lastly, when you mine ores, you get experience points, as well as some gem rocks. Gem rocks can be turned into precious gems used in crafting. You can sell these gems for GP, which is why Mining is one of the most profitable skills to learn in the game.

The only downside when training mining is that the animation is painfully slow. That is why I won't waste your time. I'll only provide you with the best methods so that you gain the most mining experience per hour.

In addition, most of the leveling methods that will be mentioned in this guide are available in free to play. So, if you don't want to pay for a membership, do not worry! You will certainly not be left behind!

Best Items to Boost Mining XP

There are some items in OSRS that can help you get the maximum mining experience possible. They are:

• Mining Gloves:This pair of gloves gives you a small chance to not deplete the ore deposit you're mining. There are three types of Mining Gloves, such as the Basic Mining Gloves, Superior Mining Gloves, and Expert Mining Gloves. These can be purchased from Belona's Shop at the Mining Guild Mineral Exchange for 60 unidentified minerals. Be sure to get them as soon as you can.
• Varrock Armour:The Varrock Armour set can be obtained by completing the Varrock Achievement Diaries. Finishing the Medium Varrock Diary, for example, awards you with Varrock Armour 2. This particular gear provides a 10% chance of mining double ores at once, resulting in twice the mining XP. The first three tiers allow you to mine twice the ores up to Adamantite Ore. After completing the Elite Varrock Diary, you'll obtain Varrock Armour 4, which grants the 10% bonus to mine double ores whichever mining deposit you fancy. Keep in mind that there are a few exceptions to this, meaning there are some rocks that are not affected by mining enhancers like the Varrock Armour. This includes Ancient Essences, Stardusts, Gem Rocks, and fossils from the Motherlode Mine, among others.
• Prospector's Outfit: Also known as the Prospector's Kit, this is a four-piece item set that comprises the Prospector Helmet, Jacket, Legs, and Boots. These can be acquired from Prospector Percy's Nugget Shop located in the Motherlode Mine. What's great about the item set is that it provides a 2.5% boost to your mining experience gain. Wearing all of the items enables you to cut the time it takes for you to achieve 99 mining by a significant amount! To get your hands on each piece of gear, you need to get Golden Nuggets from Pay-dirts. Pay-dirt can be obtained by mining the ore veins that are abundant in the Motherlode Mine. Each pay-dirt has a small chance (roughly 2.73%) of giving you a Golden Nugget when it's cleaned, so you may need to spend a lot of time in the Motherlode Mine until you get all of the pieces from the item set. Speaking of which, the entire Prospector's Kit costs 180 Golden Nuggets. It will take you roughly 20 hours to acquire the necessary amount if your mining skill is below 50, and about 10 hours or so if you are above level 50.
• Gem Bag: This item is a godsend as it can store up to 300 uncut gems before you need to empty it to go mining again. If you are new to OSRS, you will occasionally get uncut gems instead of ores when training mining. These gems add up fast, especially if you intend to stick to one leveling method for extended periods of time. This is where the Gem Bag comes in. To store gems, all you have to do is open the Gem Bag by right-clicking on it and selecting the correct option. Alternatively, if you want to store the gems that are already in your inventory, you can just left-click the bag to store them all at once. This thing can be purchased from Prospector Percy's Nugget Shop as well for 100 Golden Nuggets.
• Coal Bag:Just like the Gem Bag, the Coal Bag is purchasable from Prospector Percy's Nugget Shop for 100 Golden Nuggets. This item effectively doubles your carrying capacity since it can store all of the coal you get when you train mining. That said, you can open the bag by right-clicking on it and every coal that you obtain will automatically be put inside. If you're wondering where coal is used, it is primarily utilized as a core ingredient in smelting ores to turn them into metal bars. These bars are used for crafting, which is a topic for another day. While both Coal Bag and Gem Bag are nice to have, it's better if you complete the entire Prospector's Kit first.
• Amulet of Glory: This piece of jewelry can be acquired by enchanting a dragonstone amulet with a Lvl-5 Enchant. Casting the spell costs a Cosmic Rune, 15 Water Runes, and 15 Earth Runes. This amulet can be "charged" so that you can teleport to several key areas, including Edgeville, Karamja, Draynor Village, and Al Kharid. When you equip a charged Amulet of Glory, the chance of acquiring an uncut gem from mining training is raised significantly from 1/256 to 1/86. On top of that, you can use this thing to teleport to the Grand Exchange if you want to trade with other players, or you can teleport to the Edgeville Furnace to smelt ores. If you do the latter, make sure to equip the Varrock Armour so that you'll have a 10% chance of obtaining two metal bars at once.
• Dragon Pickaxe:This is one of the most important items you can get to optimize your mining training. That's because this thing increases your mining speed by 5.88%. This lets you mine an ore deposit every three ticks! The mining rate is important because it also enables you to use the different tick manipulation methods, which will be discussed in greater detail later in the guide. To get your hands on this pickaxe, you must fight notable monsters in the Wilderness, namely Callisto, Venenatis, Chaos Elemental, and the King Black Dragon. It takes some time for it to drop, so just farm these monsters until you get one. This pickaxe requires Attack level 60 and Mining level 61 to wield. However, it has a special attack called Rock Knocker that effectively increases your mining skill by three. This means that even if your mining level is only level 58 but your attack level is 60, you can use the special attack to use this particular pickaxe for five minutes!
• Crystal Pickaxe:This is the one you should use once you reach level 71 because this is the fastest pickaxe in the game. In order to get this, there are a couple of things that you need to do. First, you have to obtain the Dragon Pickaxe from any of the Wilderness monsters mentioned above. Second, you need to complete the Song of the Elves quest so that you can make crystal tools and equipment. This item has a pretty steep quest requirement, but I promise you that it is all worth it in the end! One thing to note about this pickaxe is that it has 10,000 charges in total. The charges get depleted every time you use the pickaxe to mine ores. When it loses all of its charges, it turns back to Dragon Pickaxe. Fortunately, it can be recharged by using crystal shards on it. Each shard grants 100 charges and you can use up to 200 crystal shards for a max of 20,000 charges.
• Celestial Ring: A viable mining training method is looking for Shooting Stars to mine a precious resource known as Stardust. Stardust can be used to charge the Celestial Ring - an accessory that grants a 10% chance of mining an extra ore from gem rocks, up to Adamantite Ore, when charged. This ring also gives you an invisible +4 boost to mining, regardless of whether it has charges or not. You can purchase one from Dusuri's Star Shop located at the Mining Guild in Falador for 2,000 Stardusts.
• Elven Signet: This unique ring grants a 10% chance to not consume charges when using the Crystal Pickaxe. This can drop from the Crystal Implings in Prifddinas.
• Celestial Signet:Do you want to gain the effects of both Celestial Ring and Elven Signet in one item? If so, you'd want to craft a Celestial Signet! This is a mining enhancer that is obtained by combining the aforementioned accessories, as well as 100 Crystal Shards and 1,000 Stardusts. Just like the Celestial Ring, the Celestial Signet can be charged using Stardusts so that you can benefit from the extra ore bonus.
• Graceful Outfit: Since tick manipulation requires you to run around nearby ore veins for maximum exp, it is best that you get the Graceful Outfit. That's because wearing the entire set not only reduces your weight by 25 kg, but also restores your run energy by 30%. The individual pieces can be purchased from Grace at the Rogues' Den. You will spend Marks of Grace, which can be acquired by doing some rooftop agility courses.
• Explorer's Ring:Speaking of run energy, the Explorer's Ring can restore your run energy by a certain percentage depending on the level of the said item. This can be yours if you complete the Lumbridge & Draynor Diary achievements. While Explorer Ring 1 is ok, aim to get Explorer's Ring 4 by accomplishing the Elite Lumbridge & Draynor Diary. The reason is that the ring completely restores your run energy three times a day.
• Karamja Gloves 3: If you want to gain profit while leveling your mining skill, you should get Karamja Gloves 3. This pair of gloves can be yours by completing the Karamja Hard Diary. What the Karamja Gloves 3 does is it gives you unlimited access to the underground level of the Shilo Village Mine. This area is great for mining gem rocks later on.
• Stamina Potions: Among all of the skills in Old School Runescape, mining training is one of the most click intensive. For this reason, you want to have a healthy supply of Stamina Potions so that you'll always run from one point to another. This is pretty much mandatory if you're going to use any tick manipulation methods.

Fastest Way to 99 Mining (Regular Method)

Mining can be tedious and boring to level up, especially if you don't know the other methods to train mining. To give you options, I will go over the regular methods first before I introduce other methods that involve complex techniques like tick manipulation and whatnot.

So, without further ado, what should you do to begin training your mining skill?

Level 1 to 37: Questing

The fastest way to get your mining levels up, in the beginning, is by doing quests. Here is a rundown of the quests that you can do early on so that you can level up from 1 to 37 Mining:

• Doric's Quest (500 XP)
• Plague City (2,425 XP)
• The Giant Dwarf (2,500 XP)
• The Lost Tribe (3,000 XP)
• Another Slice of H.A.M. (3,000 XP)
• The Dig Site (15,300 XP)

Completing these quests helps avoid the drudgery that comes with getting various pickaxes to mine ore deposits. Aside from that, certain quests give you great rewards that will aid you later on in your leveling journey.

For instance, finishing The Dig Site quest gives you the ability to do specimen cleaning at the Varrock Museum for Kudos. Kudos is akin to favour in OSRS, where you'll unlock rewards if you reach certain thresholds.

At 100 Kudos, you'll gain access to the Bone Voyage quest, which is necessary if you want to unlock Fossil Island. Additionally, accruing 153 Kudos is required to complete the Varrock Hard Diary. Finishing this diary achievement rewards you with Varrock Armour 3.

Level 1 to 15: Mining Tin and Copper Ores

If you do not mind the grind and would like to know the feel of actual mining, then I suggest you get your pickaxe and go mine copper and tin ores. Before anything, though, you need to learn the concept of "Power Mining."

Power Mining is a technique where you simply drop all of the ores you've mined to make space for new ones. This is one thing that you should learn immediately because it comes in handy at later levels. You can enable the shift click drop option to drop your ores faster.

Power Mining, when used in conjunction with three-tick manipulation, can be very click intensive. You may need a more competent mouse if you are to train mining because it can be a very tedious process and is sheer drudgery.

That being said, you can use the traditional method by mining copper ores at level 1. If you are a free to play OSRS player, you can head to the southeast or southwest portions of the Varrock Mines to begin.

Southeast Varrock Mine

Southwest Varrock Mine

An alternate location to mine copper/tin ores is the East Lumbridge Swamp Mine. This is located in the southeast section of the Lumbridge Swamp. If you get lost, find the region's Fishing Site and go a few meters to the west of the map.

East Lumbridge Swamp Mine

To improve efficiency, you should always equip the best pickaxe for your current mining level. You can start with an Iron Pickaxe and then transition to a Steel Pickaxe when you've reached level 6. At level 11, get yourself a Black Pickaxe because it is two ticks faster than the previous one.

You can stay in the Varrock Mines or East Lumbridge Swamp Mine until level 15. It will take you roughly 15 to 20 minutes to achieve this, but that's assuming that you power-mine all of the ores. When the process is optimized, you could potentially earn 10,000 mining experience per hour.

Level 15 to 30: Time to Mine Iron Ores

Once you've reached level 15, you can now practice three-tick manipulation on iron ores. But, what is it exactly?

Tick Manipulation is a technique used in skilling where you take advantage of the Old School Runescape's in-game clock. You see, each server tick lasts 0.6 seconds. The reason why it's called "three-tick manipulation" is that you'll be executing certain actions that take three ticks to complete. When done correctly, you can cancel the animation of your previous action, thereby allowing you to perform it again immediately after.

To illustrate, when you start mining iron ores, doing a three-tick action like using a knife on Teak Logs to create crossbow stocks (fletching), enables you to cancel the mining animation so you can quickly mine other rocks. This works best if there are ore deposits nearby, which is why the best place to mine iron ores is in the Al Kharid Mine, particularly in the northern portion of the map. Here, you will find a lot of spots where three or four iron ore deposits are bunched up together.

Al Kharid Mine

The main reason why three-tick manipulation makes your life easier is that the early pickaxes take anywhere between five to eight ticks to complete their animation. This technique basically saves you a lot of time, though it will require some practice to get it right.

So, how is tick manipulation performed? Here are the steps:

• Get a knife and a Teak Log and put them in your inventory. Be sure to place them on the left side so that you can access them quickly. It also helps to resize your inventory small enough so that you can still see the ore deposits clearly on the screen.
• Mine an ore deposit by left-clicking on it
• While you're mining, left-click on the knife and then immediately click on the Teak Log to initiate the fletching action
• After three ticks, click another ore deposit nearby to mine that ore.
• Rinse and repeat

To help you get the hang of it, you can use the Visual Metronome plugin in RuneLite. This will show a counter near your character to indicate the ticks. Note that you don't need this technique if your character does not have to move to a nearby location.

Again, be sure to equip the best pickaxes based on your level. Since you're going to be in the Al Kharid Mine until level 30, you should bring a Mithril Pickaxe with you and use it starting level 21. Keep in mind that you're power mining here, so drop all of the iron ores from your inventory once it's full.

Without tick manipulation, you can earn 45,000 to 60,000 mining experience per hour. However, if you use the said technique, you can acquire up to 100,000 to 120,000 mining experience!

Other places that contain iron ores include:

• Piscatoris Mine
• Legends' Guild Mine
• Lovakengj mine
• Resource Area (requires 51 Wilderness Level)
• Mining Guild
• Fossil Island (requires Bone Voyage quest completion)

Level 30 to 70: Enter the Motherlode Mine (and Pay a Visit to the Mining Guild)

Experienced OSRS mining players will tell you that the Motherlode Mine (aka MLM) is one of the best spots to power level your Mining skill. Free to play OSRS players can access the lower area starting at level 30. However, you have to have a Runescape membership to enter the upper level and gain access to more concentrated ore veins.

There are several ways to get to the mines; the fastest is to use a Skills Necklace to teleport to the Mining Guild and then run east. Alternatively, you can head to the house in the northeastern section of Falador, where you'll see a flight of stairs that lead to the entrance.

Entrance to Motherlode Mine (from Northeastern House in Falador)

The Motherlode Mine is rife with ore veins. When mined, it gives you pay-dirt and 60 mining experience each. The pay-dirt should be "cleaned" at the water circuit situated at the center of the mine. You can place the pay-dirt you've collected in the hopper nearby. After that, it will undergo a cleaning process where it will eventually end up inside a sack. The sack contains a random number of ores that you can use for other purposes like smelting.

One thing to note here is that the water circuit is operated by two water wheels. At some point, the wheels will break and they have to be repaired in order for the circuit to function again. The good news is that just about anyone inside the premises can repair the water wheels. Most of the time, you don't even have to worry about it because there are players who dedicate themselves to ensuring that the water circuit is in tip-top shape. But, if there's no one fixing the wheels, you'll have to do it yourself.

Anyway, the mining XP that you get here is respectable. You get 15,000 exp per hour at level 40. At level 61, you gain twice that amount at 30,000 mining experience per hour. You can stay here until level 70. If you can, use a Rune Pickaxe starting at level 41 and the Dragon Pickaxe when you reach level 61.

Now, you're probably wondering why so many people love mining in the Motherlode Mine. Well, the main reason is that you can do semi-afk leveling here. Sure, the exp rate is much slower than power-mining iron ores, but this is a casual approach that is bearable for most players.

Another good reason why you'd want to mine at MLM early is so that you can start acquiring Golden Nuggets for the Prospector's Outfit. Golden Nuggets have a 2.74% chance to appear after cleaning some pay-dirt.

If you want to gain some profit in the Motherlode Mine while leveling, it is recommended that you complete the Medium Falador Diary. Doing so gives you access to the dark tunnel located just north of the Falador Bank. This enables you to store all of the ore you've collected to sell to other players in the Grand Exchange.

Dark Tunnel Location in Motherlode Mine (Easy Access to Falador Bank)

Remember the Mining Guild? Well, you can enter it once you've reached level 60. What's cool about this area is that you gain a seven-level boost to your skill while you're inside. The higher Mining skill level means you get more ores and better experience rates per hour.

Furthermore, the Mining Guild offers a wide variety of ores that spawn faster than those found in the outside world. The free to play area has iron, coal, mithril, and Adamantite ores that you can mine to your heart's content.

The members-only area contains two additional ores, namely Runite and Amethyst. Both of these are great money-makers later on, but you have to be at a higher level to maximize gains.

Level 70 to 99: It's Scorching Hot in Here!

When you've completed the Bone Voyage quest and have accrued 150 Kudos by doing some activities at the Varrock Museum, you can now enter the Volcanic Mine to play a minigame. Even though you can technically go to this place at level 50, level 70 is where it's at if you want to acquire the best exp rate per hour.

The Volcanic Mine minigame is a 10-minute repeatable event that can be done solo or in a group. But, because you want to get as much mining experience as possible, you'd want to do this with at least three or four other players.

Why is that, you ask? In this place, there are three volcanic gas chambers and three sets of vents. The premise is to make sure that the pressure of the gas chambers does not go above or below 50%. In other words, you want to stabilize the pressure so that things don't go out of whack.

You have to pay Petrified Pete 30 Numulites each time you enter the mine. If you are rich, you can drop a one-time payment of 3,000 Numulites so that you can access the area permanently. Once you enter, you have a 30-second window before the volcano starts rumbling.

As mentioned earlier, the Volcanic Mine has three gas chambers. Each of them has two sets of vents; one for the upstream lava channel and the other for the downstream. Your team must investigate the vents to reveal an overlay that provides information about the current amount of pressure for each gas chamber.

The pressure will constantly go up or down depending on the circumstances. To increase pressure, you or a party member can block the gas chamber with one of the large rocks nearby. Conversely, you can mine the rock that's blocking the chamber to reduce pressure. Keep an eye on the overlay and make sure that the pressure of each gas chamber hovers around 40 to 60%.

Volcanic Mine Map Layout

When the volcanic gas chambers have been stabilized, you can now douse the lava with water to form platforms that you can step on. This allows you to mine the large boulder that swims through the lava channel for precious resources and mining experience. When you enter the Volcanic Mine, you're given a water canteen filled to the brim that allows you to create the said platforms.

Keep in mind that the platform only lasts for 90 seconds. Fortunately, there's a visual indication that tells you that you need to get off of the platform and head back to safety. Once the platform turns bright orange, head to solid ground and douse the lava with water again. What happens when you fail to get out of the platform in time? Well, you take 60 damage per second!

So essentially, what you need to do in the Volcanic Mine minigame is to stabilize the pressure of the gas chambers, create platforms using water so that you have solid ground to stand on, and then mine the giant lava rock that swims in the middle of the map for resources. Repeat the process until there are only 40 seconds left.

Anyway, at the 40-second mark, start heading to the rope to exit the area. If you don't do that, you will have no time to escape successfully. 10 minutes after the game has commenced, the volcano will explode and you're going to die if you're still inside! In the event that you die, Petrified Pete will scavenge the items you've collected while inside and return them to you for 150 Numulites.

Aside from experience points, what are you going to get from the Volcanic Mine? Here is a rundown:

• Numulite
• Calcite
• Pyrophosphite
• Unidentified Fossils
• Iron Ore Fragment
• Coal Fragment
• Silver Ore Fragment
• Gold Ore Fragment
• Mithril Ore Fragment
• Adamantite Ore Fragment
• Runite Ore Fragment

Occasionally, you'll acquire a rock golem by mining the boulder inside the Volcanic Mine.

The game is fun and enjoyable! In fact, you can even choose to reach level 99 Mining here if you want. When using the best pickaxe available, you gain 68,000 experience per hour at level 70, 72,000 at level 80, and 79,000 at level 90.

Level 72+: Ascend the MLM

If you're not able to join a party that will help you in the Volcanic Mine, you can go back to the Motherlode Mine at Level 72. Pay 100 Golden Nuggets to Prospector Percy and he will open MLM's upper level for you.

Unlike in the previous area, the ore veins found in the upper level deplete after 15 to 27 seconds, meaning you have a fixed amount of time to mine them for resources before you go to another one. This is why some players prefer to train mining in the MLM because of the semi-AFK nature that the upper level provides.

You will gain anywhere between 30,000 to 50,000 experience points an hour in the MLM upper level, up to a maximum of 52,000 XP per hour at level 99 Mining.

Alternative Leveling Methods

Mining training can be very boring and monotonous. While you can certainly mine ores in the locations mentioned above, there are viable alternative leveling methods that you can try if you want to mix things up. You can find the best ones below:

Questing

You can always start your mining training by doing quests that give considerable amounts of experience points. Here's the full list:

Look for Shooting Stars

If you want to take a break from mining quests, you can partake in the Shooting Stars activity to gain some mining experience. Every two in-game hours, a shooting star will land somewhere in Gielinor. Search the area for Crashed Stars and mine them for Stardust.

Stardust can be traded in Dusuri's Trade Shop for some nifty items, such as Star Fragments, Bags Full of Gems, Soft Clay Packs, and Uncharged Celestial Rings.

So, where are the Crashed Stars located? The shooting stars that drop from the sky can land on any of the possible crash sites around Gielinor.

Crashed Star Landing Sites in Gielinor

Normally, you'd look for them on your own. However, there's a dedicated community called the Star Miners filled with members who are willing to aid you in your search. If you are interested, you can join their group on Discord.

One of the reasons why mining Crashed Stars is a great alternative method of gaining exp is that you can pretty much go AFK until they get depleted. When no other players are extracting the stars' resources, you can mine them for 30 minutes.

The Shooting Stars event is available in free to play worlds as well, albeit you'll only get half the XP compared to Old School Runescape members.

Mine Granite Ores

A lot of OSRS players gain fast experience per hour by mining granite ores starting at level 45. The best place for this is the Quarry located south of the Bandit Camp in Kharidian Desert. Here, you will find plenty of three or four granite ores that are close to each other, which is why you need to utilize the 3-tick manipulation to ensure maximum efficiency.

By this time, you should already have a Varrock Armour 2 to give you a 10% boost in exp gain while mining granite. On top of that, equip the rest of the items from the Prospector's Kit, including the helmet, legs, and boots for a good 1.2% additional boost in XP.

Because you'll be working under the intense heat of the sun, bring some waterskins and food with you.

Quarry Location (for Granite Mining)

Get Those Precious Gems

Once you're able to visit Shilo Village and have already completed the Karamja Hard Diary for Karamja Gloves 3, you can start mining gem rocks for profit at level 40. The Karamja Gloves 3 is required as it gives you access to the underground portion of the Shilo Village Mine. Here, you will find an abundance of gem rocks that grant 40,000 to 60,000 exp per hour.

Because the gem rocks are not too far apart, you can actually use tick manipulation to gain even more XP! When you use this technique, you can achieve 99 Mining at around 170 hours if you begin at level 40.

Don't forget to equip a charged Amulet of Glory so that you'll have an increased chance of obtaining an uncut gem while mining gem rocks. Moreover, you can dramatically reduce the need to visit the bank to unload the stuff you've mined by bringing a Gem Bag with you.

Spending time in the underground level of the Shilo Village Mine nets you around 300 to 750 gems per hour and up to 600,000 gold coins in profit depending on your efficiency.

Blast Off!

At level 42 Mining, you can start making rocks explode by doing the Blast Mine minigame. Otherwise known in the Old School Runescape community as "Blast Mining," this activity lets you use explosives to gain blasted ores for XP and gold coins.

The Blast Mine is located in the northern section of Lovakengj. Before you can engage in blast mining, though, you need to accrue 100% Lovakengj favour by creating dynamites, mining Volcanic Sulphur, and delivering minecart control scrolls. Completing The Forsaken Tower quest grants 10% favour as well.

Blast Mine Location

So, how do you actually do blast mining? The core premise of the minigame is to use a chisel on the rock walls to create a cavity deep enough to fit dynamite in. Once the explosive is set, use a tinderbox to light the fuse. You have a few seconds to back off before it explodes. You must distance yourself from the blast radius or else you take 15 damage.

After the explosion, you will find some ore on the ground. You must pick it up and deposit it into a nearby ore sack. Just like in the Motherlode Mine, the blasted ore has to undergo a cleaning process. After that's done, you will get different types of ore depending on your current mining level.

I am going to let you in on a little secret. There is actually a very good spot to get as much ore as possible without wasting a lot of time. That spot is located in the northwest corner of the Blast Mine.

Blast Mine

What makes the Blast Mine great is that you can acquire ores 10 levels higher than your current Mining level. Because of this, you can start obtaining Runite Ores at level 75 Mining. If you're wondering what they are for, Runite Ores can be turned into Runite Bars for crafting.

Since you'll be running a lot in the Blast Mine, it is recommended that you equip the full Graceful Outfit for optimal energy restoration. If you want to get the maximum XP possible, you can wear the Prospector's Outfit instead.

Mine for Profit

If your main goal is to get rich in Old School Runescape, you can mine Runite Ores once you've reached level 85. Runite Ores can be found in the following locations:

• Central Fremennik Isles Mine
• Fossil Island Mine
• Frozen Waste Plateau Mine
• Heroes' Guild Mine
• Isafdar Mine
• Isle of Souls Dungeon
• Lava Maze Dungeon
• Lava Maze Runite Mine
• Mining Guild
• Mourner Tunnels
• Myths' Guild Mine
• South Mor Ul Rek Mine
• The Stranglewood Mine
• Trahaearn Mine

The above-mentioned spots are only available to Runescape members. If you are a free to play OSRS player, the only area you can mine Runite Ores from is the Runite Rock north of the Lava Maze. Only two Runite Rocks spawn here, so you may have to switch worlds in order to farm them efficiently.

Runite Ore Location in Lava Maze

An important thing to note is that Runite Ores have a very long spawn time of 12 minutes for F2P and six minutes for members. As you can see, getting mining experience is just an added benefit when doing this method. Your main objective here is to get rich by obtaining Runite Ores.

Due to the scarcity of Runite Rocks, equipping the Superior Mining Gloves is a must. This item helps you get an additional amount of ore before the source is depleted. You can get 200,000 to 750,000 GP depending on how much Runite Ore you've mined per hour. It goes without saying that you should use a Dragon Pickaxe or Crystal Pickaxe for best results.

At level 92, you can head back to the members-only area of the Mining Guild to farm amethyst crystals. Even though the exp rate is quite low at just 20,000 per hour, the amount of money you can get from mining amethyst is huge at 350,000 to 500,000 GP/hr.

Amethyst farming is one of the most profitable methods of gaining gold coins in the game. What's more, due to their 75-second respawn timer, you can go AFK until the amethyst crystals are ripe for the picking.

If you're playing in Ironman Mode, mining amethysts is quite helpful because it gives you the materials necessary to craft certain types of ammunition, including bolt tips, arrow tips, dart tips, and javelin heads.

Tips and Tricks

Did you know that there are certain things you can do to maximize your time training mining? Here are some useful tips and tricks that you can employ to optimize your leveling journey:

1. Always Use the Best Pickaxe Available

One of the best pieces of advice when trying to achieve 99 Mining is to use the best pickaxe available for your level. At level 1, you can skip the Bronze Pickaxe in favor of the Iron Pickaxe. That's because the latter is a tick faster than the former. You just have to farm 140 coins to purchase the said pickaxe from Nurmof's Pickaxe Shop in the Dwarven Mines.

When you reach level 41, return to the Dwarven Mines and buy a Rune Pickaxe from Nurmof, which costs 32,000 coins. This should make your life easier because it's capable of mining ores at three ticks between rolls.

At Mining level 61, your goal is to get your hands on the Dragon Pickaxe. This thing is not only used for mining ores but it is also an essential component for making the Infernal Pickaxe and Crystal Pickaxe.

Speaking of which, the Crystal Pickaxe is the one that you should use for the endgame. This is the fastest pickaxe in Old School Runescape and it only weighs 1.36 kg!

2. Take Advantage of Mining Enhancers

There are items in OSRS called Mining Enhancers that give you a lot of benefits. The Expert Mining Gloves, which can be purchased from Belona at the Mining Guild Mineral Exchange, grant a 25% chance to not deplete ores when mining. This is amazing for farming Runite Ores and Amethysts, especially since they are so rare and have very long respawn times.

The Mining Cape is another mining enhancer worth mentioning. When equipped, you have a 5% chance of acquiring an extra ore while mining, up to Adamantite. You can buy the cape from Gadrin for 99,000 coins. If you don't know, Gadrin is one of the dwarven guards you can find at the Mining Guild entrance.

Mining Cape

Other mining enhancers in Old School Runescape include:

• Celestial Ring
• Celestial Signet
• Varrock Armours

3. Slay Zalcano

If mining Runite Ores or Amethyst Crystals is too slow for you because you're a free to play OSRS player, you can still use your Mining skill for profit by slaying Zalcano.

Zalcano is a demon that's imprisoned underneath Prifddinas. As you can tell, you must complete the Song of the Elves quest first before you can do this.

Unlike other enemies in the game, Zalcano cannot be damaged through normal means. Instead, you have to utilize your Smithing, Mining, and Runecrafting skills to destroy her armor with an Imbued Tephra. Once her armor is broken, use your trusty pickaxe to slay her.

The reason why Zalcano is great for profit is that she drops a lot of expensive items when you eliminate her. For instance, she has a 1/8,000 chance of dropping an Uncut Onyx - considered to be one of the rarest gems in the game. Moreover, she can drop a Pure Essence, which is an ingredient used to craft different types of runes.

Here are the other noteworthy items that can drop from Zalcano:

• Silver Ore
• Gold Ore
• Uncut Diamond
• Uncut Dragonstone
• Crystal Tool Seed
• Zalcano Shard
• Smolcano

Zalcano

4. Master Tick Manipulation

If there is one thing you may have noticed in this OSRS mining guide, it is that tick manipulation is mentioned quite a number of times.

Mining is not a skill that's comfortable to level up, especially in the early levels. Sure, you can propel yourself to level 37 just by doing quests and mining tin ore or iron ore from there, but until you can get your hands on the endgame pickaxes, leveling is a drudgery if you don't do other methods.

That said, tick manipulation is a technique that you need to master if you want to make the process of reaching 99 Mining a lot more bearable. While it may take some time for you to get the hang of it, there are things that can aid you along the way.

You have to use the Visual Metronome. This plugin displays a counter on the screen that tells you if a certain action you're doing has already reached three ticks. Remember, each server tick translates to 0.6 seconds in the real world. This plugin gives you accurate information so that you can optimize when you should switch to nearby rocks.

Next, you want to press and hold the Shift key, left-click on an ore in your inventory, and select "Swap left-click..." After that, you'll be presented with several new options and from there, choose the "Drop" action.

What the command does is that every time you left-click on a stack of tin ores, for example, that stack is instantly dropped without having to press Shift + click. The reason why you want to just "click-drop" the ore is that if you're doing tick manipulation, your inventory is going to fill up rapidly. This saves you a lot of time when managing your inventory and your mouse + keyboard will thank you for it!

Conclusion

Mining can be very difficult to level up in Old School Runescape, which is very evident in the early levels. The process is sheer drudgery, particularly if you don't know what to do. Fortunately, you've come across this OSRS mining guide!

This guide equips you with the knowledge that you need to maximize your time and get the best experience rates as possible. I've provided you with different methods so you can mix things up if you ever get bored doing one thing.

You've also learned how to use tick manipulation to your advantage. Sure, this technique is quite click intensive, but if you're able to master it, you'll dramatically reduce the time it takes for you to reach 99 Mining.

There are regular methods like mining copper/three-ticking iron mining or doing some quests that can give you a considerable boost in levels early on.

If you want to take some time off from leveling, you can make some money with mining as well. I suggest that you engage in Runite mining even though Runite Rocks are quite rare in free to play worlds. Do this until you decide to become a Runescape member and mine amethysts in the Mining Guild at level 92.

Furthermore, you're now armed with information about the best items to equip for faster and smoother leveling. Things like the Prospector's Kit, Mining Gloves, and the various pickaxes should help you cut the time it takes to level up the skill significantly!

So there you have it! Be sure to save this OSRS mining guide and refer to it as many times as needed because it will definitely make your mining training so much fun and enjoyable!