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The route in one table
Mining has two honest routes to 99. One uses tick manipulation and is roughly twice as fast. The other avoids it and costs you time, not gold. Both start the same way.
| Levels | Method | XP per hour | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 37 | Six quests | n/a | 27,525 xp for an evening of questing |
| 37 to 45 | Power-mining iron | about 45,000 | Cheap, quick, teaches you to drop ore fast |
| 45 to 99 | 3-tick granite | 87,000 at 45, about 126,000 at 99 | Fastest repeatable xp in the skill |
| 60 to 70 | Iron in the Mining Guild (no ticking) | 70,000 to 80,000 | Halved respawn times make iron worth it again |
| 70 to 99 | Volcanic Mine (no ticking) | 64,200 at 70 with a rune pickaxe | Group minigame, best non-tick xp late on |
The rates assume a dragon pickaxe or better from 61, Varrock armour, and a decent click rhythm. Expect to fall a little short of them in your first hour on any method while you learn it.
Levels 1 to 45: skip the slow part
Doric's Quest, The Dig Site, Plague City, The Giant Dwarf, The Lost Tribe and Another Slice of H.A.M. hand out 27,525 Mining xp between them, which lands you at level 37. None of them is demanding, and finishing them also opens adamant pickaxe use from the start, so the copper and tin grind barely matters.
If you would rather not quest, mine copper and tin to 15 in Lumbridge Swamp, then move to iron. Find a spot where you can reach two or three iron rocks without moving (the Al Kharid mine is a classic) and drop ore as you go. Varrock armour 1 from the easy Varrock diary gives a 10% chance of a second ore, which adds up over a few thousand rocks.
Iron is also where you decide which route you are on. If 3-tick granite sounds miserable, keep power-mining iron: rates sit at 45,000 to 55,000 xp an hour below 60, then jump to 70,000 to 80,000 in the members part of the Mining Guild, where rocks respawn twice as fast.
3-tick granite: the fast route from 45
Granite rewards precise clicking more than anything else in the skill. You use an item on another (swamp tar on a clean herb is the usual pair) to shorten each swing to three game ticks, then mine and drop granite on a fixed rhythm. Rates start at about 87,000 xp an hour at 45, pass 100,000 around 65, and reach about 126,000 at 99 for a steady player.
The best place is now the Cape Conch mine, which needs part of Troubled Tortugans done and spares you the desert heat. The older spot, the Quarry by the Bandit Camp, still works if you bring heat protection such as a desert amulet 4, waterskins or a circlet of water. Wear Varrock armour 2 or better and an uncharged celestial ring, and add the prospector kit once you have the nuggets for it.
Before you commit hundreds of hours, run the numbers on the OSRS xp table: about half of the xp to 99 sits between 92 and 99, so a method you can tolerate at 90 matters more than the one you use at 50.
The no-tick finish: Volcanic Mine and Blast Mine
Volcanic Mine on Fossil Island needs Bone Voyage and 50 Mining, though 70 is the sensible start. A team of three to five on the official world gets the best rates: about 64,200 xp an hour at 70 with a rune pickaxe, closer to 94,000 at 99 with a crystal one. Bring real food, the vents hit hard. Blast Mine opens properly at 75 when runite is in reach and runs about 65,000 to 76,000 xp an hour there, rising past 87,000 at 99, with dynamite as the only running cost.
AFK Mining for when you are busy
| Method | Level | XP per hour | Attention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crashed stars | 10 (best from 60) | about 24,000 to 31,000 | Very low, one click every few minutes |
| Motherlode Mine | 30 (upper floor 57) | about 62,000 at 90 | Low, plus ore and golden nuggets |
| Rubium rocks | 48 (and 60 Sailing) | about 39,000 at 48, 64,000 at 99 | Low, plus splinters to sell |
| Amethyst | 92 | 20,000 to 25,000 | Very low, sells steadily |
The Motherlode Mine calculator shows what a session of pay-dirt is worth at today's ore and nugget prices. The upper floor needs 57 Mining and a one-off payment of 100 golden nuggets to Prospector Percy, and veins there last longer, so pay it as soon as you can. Nuggets also buy the prospector kit (180 in total) and the coal and gem bags (100 each).
Rubium rocks in the Charred Dungeon need 60 Sailing to reach. Each rock gives several splinters before it runs out, the xp climbs steadily with your level, and the splinters sell, so the hours are not wasted.
Mining for money
Gem rocks in Shilo Village need the medium Karamja diary and a charged amulet of glory, and they are the most consistent earner most players can reach: 40,000 xp an hour at 40 without ticking, around 89,000 with it. Blast Mine pays in a mix of ores that you can turn into bars. At 92, amethyst is slow xp but almost no effort, and the amethyst price holds up because fletchers turn it into arrows, bolts, darts and javelins.
Zalcano (Song of the Elves) is another strong option at 70 and up. The fight has an xp-focused mode and a loot mode, and the gap between them is large, so pick levels or gold before each session starts.
Whatever you mine for profit, check the Mining calculator before a long session: it prices every ore you can mine at your level so you can see where coal, gold or runite currently sits against your time.
What Sailing added to Mining
Sailing opened two rocks that change the late-game picture. Rubium rocks in the Charred Dungeon on Charred Island need 60 Sailing and 48 Mining, and run about 39,000 xp an hour at 48 and 64,000 at 99 with little attention, though you walk past red and black dragons, so pack antifire or an anti-dragon shield.
Lead rocks in the Deepfin Mine need 67 Sailing. They play like iron power-mining without the ticking and can reach 90,000 to 100,000 xp an hour with expert mining gloves and the celestial ring, whose double-ore chance stacks with Varrock armour. In practice the method starts at 60 Mining, because it leans on the gloves. If you have not started the new skill yet, our Sailing training guide covers getting to 67 efficiently.
Pickaxes, outfits and other boosts
- Pickaxe: rune at 41, dragon at 61, crystal at 71 after Song of the Elves. The dragon pickaxe is the biggest single speed upgrade most players buy, and its special attack gives a +3 boost.
- Prospector kit: +2.5% xp for the full set. 180 golden nuggets is about ten hours of Motherlode, or 120,000 Volcanic Mine points.
- Varrock armour: a 10% chance of an extra ore; higher diary tiers cover more ores, and tier 4 even works on amethyst.
- Mining gloves: superior and expert gloves give certain rocks a chance not to deplete, which is what makes lead rocks and amethyst so relaxed.
What each level opens up
30 lets you work Motherlode Mine, 57 its upper floor, and 60 the Mining Guild. Volcanic Mine opens at 50, Zalcano at 70, runite at 85 and amethyst at 92. Mining also feeds Smithing directly: an infernal pickaxe smelts some of what you mine, and the ore you keep can go straight into our Smithing training route.