Mining
| Mining (Skill) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Activity | Mining rock for Stone, Coal, Iron Ore, and Silver Ore |
| Tool required | Pickaxe |
| XP per action | 20–90 per depleted node, varies by ore |
| Max level | 40 |
| Counts to Total Level | Yes |
Mining is the skill for extracting Stone, Coal, Iron Ore, and Silver Ore from rock nodes using a Pickaxe. Its materials feed the Traveling Merchant gold trade and the Blacksmith Forge at Frostmere, so it pairs naturally with Woodcutting.
Training
Get a Pickaxe from the Old Miner in the Mines on the Mainland if you don't already have one, then equip it in a hotbar slot and mine rock nodes. What a rock gives depends on the region, not the node: Wilderness rocks yield Stone and Coal, Frostmere rocks yield Iron Ore, and rocks across The Dunes yield Silver Ore.
XP is granted when a node is fully depleted, not per swing:
| Ore | XP per depleted node | Where | Mining level required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone | 20 | Wilderness | None |
| Coal | 25 | Wilderness | None |
| Iron Ore | 50 | Frostmere | 5 |
| Silver Ore | 90 | The Dunes (all regions) | 20 |
Pickaxe tiers
No pickaxe tier changes yield or XP — every tier gathers 1 per swing and grants the same XP. Higher tiers swing faster instead: copper 5% faster, iron 10% faster, silver 15% faster than the base Pickaxe.
The iron pickaxe (the Lvl 2 Pickaxe) is forged from scratch at Grimjaw's Blacksmith Forge in Frostmere or at Dunes West for 60 Iron Ingots + 1,600 Wood, requiring Smithing 17 — there is no Total Level requirement. See Smithing for the full copper → iron → silver ladder.
EXP rates
Rates depend on which ore you mine (20–90 XP per depleted node) and how fast you clear nodes — a faster pickaxe tier clears nodes sooner but pays the same XP per node. Silver Ore in The Dunes is the best XP per node once you reach Mining 20.
See EXP Calculator for a full comparison across all skills.
Rare drops
- Golem pet — 1 in 150,000 chance per depleted Silver Ore rock in The Dunes.
- Mining outfit — the hat drops 1 in 5,000 from rocks in the Mine, and the top and bottom drop 1 in 200,000 from rocks; the Obsidian Cape drops 1 in 10,000 from rocks in Emberstone. Wearing the full Mining kit (while owning every piece) pays +5% Mining XP.
Uses of mined materials
| Material | Uses |
|---|---|
| Stone | Traveling Merchant gold bundle (1,400 per gold exchange) · Shield Potion purchase cost at The Alchemist |
| Coal | Traveling Merchant gold bundle (800 per gold exchange) · Strength Potion purchase cost at The Alchemist · Blacksmith Forge smelting recipes |
| Iron Ore / Silver Ore | Smelted into ingots at the Blacksmith Forge for tools and armor — see Smithing |
| Metal | Traveling Merchant Global pool donations |
Tips
- Ore depends on the region — plan trips to the Wilderness for Stone/Coal, Frostmere for Iron Ore (Mining 5), and The Dunes for Silver Ore (Mining 20).
- Metal is not part of the Personal Merchant gold bundle but is accepted for Global Merchant pool donations.
- Upgrading your pickaxe tier speeds up your swings — it does not change yield or XP, so the payoff is time saved, not bigger nodes.
| Skills of Kintara | |
| Gathering | Woodcutting · Mining · Fishing |
| Production | Cooking · Smithing |
| Combat | Combat |