~~Blu's Guide to Mining~~
Updated as of April 24. Pics soon.
Well, I love Mining, it's my favorite skill. It's also one of the more challenging skills, Definitely the hardest of the resource skills.
Let's get to equipment first, although equipment can change for some spots, most generally are the same.
Pickaxes:
A free bronze pick axe is at Lumbridge, in the top of the Northern tower leading out of the walls. But, Iron is probably better to use.
Although pick axes are normally better depending on level, some have different pros and cons, like Cost, Speed, and Availability.
I personally love Stealing Creation Pickaxes. Remember, the attack level although not needed, is good to save an inventory space.
Level 1: Bronze-Iron pickaxe, requires 1 attack to wield, saving an inventory space. Becomes worthless at about level 10. Very cheap-free.
Level 6: Steel pickaxe, requires 5 attack to wield, saving an inventory space. Good from levels 6-21.
Level 21: Mithril pickaxe, requires 20 attack to wield, saving an inventory space. Good from 21-35.
Level 31: Adamant pickaxe, requires 30 attack to wield, saving an inventory space. Good from 31-42.
Level 40: Stealing Creation pick axe, Requires no attack level, Gives 2x exp. Gained by trading in 20 points from the Stealing Creation mini-game. Crumbles to dust when used up. Good from 40-99.
Level 41: Rune pickaxe, requires 40 attack to wield, saving an inventory space. Cheapest for it's speed. Good for 41-99. Although if you have the cash, a Dragon one is faster by 5.3%.
Level 41+92 Firemaking: Inferno Adze, Normally not a pickaxe, but is also a Hatchet. High firemaking level makes this not a very good choice, although it requires 1 attack to wield. Good from 41-80. Same speed as Runite Pick.
Level 61: Dragon pickaxe, Requires 60 attack to wield, is the fastest pickaxe, but costly. Good from 61-99.
Other equipment:
There are other items, although few that raise xp gained in mining.
Penance Horn: Filled up during the Barbarian Assault mini-game, This item when held in your offhand, gives bonus exp while mining.
Mining Urns: Decorated urns, are cheap, and give a bonus 685 xp while you hold them in your inventory and fill them up.
Styles of Mining:
There are different types of mining, normally broken into more exp, or more profit.
Drop Mining: Normally done on: Iron, Coal, Gold. This is the act of dropping ore each inventory you gain so you don't have to bank.
Superheating: Normally done on: Mithril, Adamant, Runite, Gold. This is done normally for magic xp, and profit. Often done holding a fire staff with nature runes, casting the spell to make bars, then banking.
Banking: Normally done on profitable rocks: Mithril, Coal, Gold, Runite, Adamant.
Skill guide: The XP way.
1-15: Copper and Tin at Lumbridge swamp, Bronze/Iron/Steel pickaxe. Drop Mining.
15-35: Iron at Al Kharid or Dwarven Mine, both can be Dangerous. Steel/Mithril pickaxe. Drop Mining.
35-45: Sandstone, In the Desert Quarry, Water Tiara (e) Highly recommended. Adamant/Rune/Sc pickaxe. Drop Mining.
45-65: Granite, Mined in the Desert Quarry, Water Tiara (e) recommended. Rune/Sc/Dragon pickaxe. Drop Mining.
65-77: Coal, Mining guild, Crowded, Rune/Sc/Dragon pickaxe. Drop or Bank.
77-85: Concentrated Coal, Living rock caverns, High defense gear recommended. World 77/84 are the Living rock Cavern worlds. Rune/Sc/Dragon pick. Highly recommend Sc/Dragon. Bank.
85-99: Concentrated Gold, Living rock caverns, High defense gear recommended. World 77/84 are the Living rock Cavern worlds. Rune/Sc/Dragon pick. Highly recommend Sc/Dragon. Bank.
Busy world VS Empty world:
The rate that ore respawn for each rock is proportional to the number of players logged in that world. This means that the same rock will respawn quicker in a busy world, like World 1 or World 2, than it would in a world with fewer players, such as World 125. This is especially important to consider when power mining.
Varrock Armor:
Varrock armor offers a 9%-11% chance of obtaining two ores at the same time from one rock. The player will get experience for both ores. As the Varrock armor is upgraded upon completing the tasks, this unique effect will be available for rocks up to Adamantite.
Familiars: All invisible boost
Desert Wyrms- boost of 1
Void Ravagers- boost of 1 + boost of 1 if asked.
Obsidian Golems- boost of 7
Lava Titans- boost of 10
