This complete 1-99 osrs mining guide shows you every method currently in the game to reach 99. F2P, P2P, AFK and even tick manipulation methods are included. Use the navigation below to navigate to your current level or preferred method.
Mining EXP Boosters
As always let’s start with some of the mining experience boosting equipment that can you use to level up mining faster.
OSRS Prospector Outfit
The prospector outfit is the mining outfit equivalent of the lumberjack, anglers and other skilling outfits found in osrs.
The prospectors outfit is a reward from the motherlode mine and just like it’s other skilling counterparts gives you a nice 2.5% exp boost when the full prospector set is worn.
Prospector outfit pieces can be obtained from the shop in the motherlode mine in exchange for golden nuggets which you receive passively while mining at the motherlode mine.
The additional 2.5% mining experience boost will be very valuable towards getting 99 mining so it’s definitely worth getting, especially since the motherlode mine (covered in this mining guide) gives very good mining experience per hour.
The whole prospector set will cost you 180 nuggets.
Since the motherlode mine is one of the AFK mining methods that gives great profit/experience per hour obtaining the full set is a no-brainer.
OSRS Varrock armour
Wearing Varrock armour gives you a 10% chance of mining 2 ores instead of one. Whenever this happens you’ll also be gaining the experience for both ores making the varrock armour a great mining experience-boosting wearable.
When the full prospector outfit is worn, the prospector jacket can be swapped out for the Varrock armour body which will take over its abilities. So you can enjoy the benefits of both pieces at the same time!
The Varrock body can be obtained from completing the Varrock achievement diaries. There are 4 different versions for each level of achievement diaries available.
| Varrock Diary | Varrock armour 1 | 10% chance of obtaining 2 ores at once up to Coal |
| Varrock Medium Diary | Varrock armour 2 | 10% chance of obtaining 2 ores at once up to Mithril |
| Varrock Hard Diary | Varrock armour 3 | 10% chance of obtaining 2 ores at once up to Adamant |
| Varrock Elite Diary | Varrock armour 4 | 10% chance of obtaining 2 ores at once (any ore) |
Ores that don’t work with the Varrock armour: motherload mines, blast mines, volcanic mine, dense runestone, and gem rocks.
OSRS Mining gloves
The mining gloves, depending on their variant can be obtained for 60, 120, and 240 unidentified minerals in the mining guild. Mining gloves have a chance of not depleting a rock when worn.
Mining gloves come in 3 different variants, regular mining gloves, superior mining gloves, and expert mining gloves.
Regular mining gloves work up to gold ore, the superior mining gloves work up to runite ore, and the expert mining gloves work up to amethyst ore.
Here’s a quick table that displays the chance of non-depletion of rocks you get when wearing mining gloves in osrs.
| Silver (regular) | 50% |
| Coal (regular) | 40% |
| Gold (regular) | 33.33% |
| Mithril (superior) | 25% |
| Adamantite (superior) | 16.6% |
| Runite (superior) | 12.5% |
| Amethyst (expert) | 25% |
Mining gloves can be combined with prospector armour pieces and the varrock armour piece to give you the most efficient mining experience rates in old school Runescape.
Questing from levels 1 – 33 mining
Gaining your first mining levels is very slow. I’d recommended you skip these and do some of the available quests instead.
Levels 1 – 10 Doric’s Quest
Doric’s quest is a no-brainer. All you have to do is buy the items from the grand exchange and you’re done. This quest will take less than a minute and it will put you at level 10 mining.
Levels 10 – 18 Plague City
Plague city is another quest with zero requirements that is relatively quick and easy to complete. Not to mention it is a very important quest as plague city is required for the recipe for disaster subquests. Once completed, the quest reward experience will put you at level 18 mining.
Levels 18 – 33 The Dig Site
Completing the dig site will reward you with 15,300 mining experience, this will instantly put you at level 33 mining. Unlike the other two quests, this one has some requirements:
- 10 Agility
- 10 Herblore
- 25 Thieving
OSRS Mining Guide – Fastest Way to 99 Mining
Powermining
For the fastest way to reach 99 mining, you want to incorporate the power mining method. This basically means you shift-drop everything you mine once your inventory is full (or instantly when using tick manipulation), instead of running to the bank.
Mining levels 1 – 15 Copper and tin ore
If you don’t want to complete any of the mining quests above, you can mine copper and tin ore instead. Multiple copper and tin ore mining spots are found around old school runescape but the best location is the varrock mine.
EXP Rate: 10K/hr
Approx time: 15 minutes
Location: Varrock mine
Again, it is highly recommended to do quests instead.
Mining levels 15 – 75 Iron ore
From mining level 15 you unlock iron ores. You’ll want to power mine iron ores all the way until 75 for the fastest mining experience per hour. Use the 3-rock locations only as this is the most efficient setup for the maximum experience per hour.
From mining level 60 you will start to insta-mine iron ore giving you a huge experience boost.
EXP Rate:
- 30K/hr (level 15)
- 60-70K/hr (level 60)
Iron ore locations: Al Kharid, Mining guild (60 mining required), Legend’s Guild mine, Tahaearn mine (prifddinas), Wilderness Resource area (7500gp to enter), Piscatoris mine, Fossil Island (Bone Voyage quest)
The Mining guild is the best possible location to mine iron ore for its invisible +7 level boost.
Mining levels 75 – 99 3 Tick Granite Quarry
3-Tick Granite is by far the fastest way to train mining in old school runescape. However, it is extremely click-intensive so it’s definitely not for everyone. Lazy players who prefer to afk should opt for the motherlode mine instead.
Unless you have a dessert amulet 4 you’ll need waterskins for this method as the only location is in the dessert. If you have access to the lunar spellbook, bring runes for the humidify spell.
EXP Rate: 70 – 120K/hr
Granite Quarry Location
The granite quarry is located in the Kharidian Desert. East of Nardah and South of bandit camp. You can easily get here by traveling to bandit camp using the magic carpet and then walking south.
3-tick mining tutorial
OSRS Mining Guide – Motherlode Mine
From level 30 mining you gain access to the motherlode mine. This is the most AFK mining training option to reach level 99 mining. It is also the only way to get the prospector kit which gives you a 2.5%+ experience boost. So even if you prefer a higher experience rate, you should still consider grinding out the 180 nuggets required for the prospector set.
You can use this training method to AFK all the way to 99 or you can combine it with 3-tick granite as an AFK method while you train other skills.
EXP Rate: 15 – 50K/hr (exp rate increases by 5k every 10 levels)
PROFIT per hour: 40 – 300K/hr
Approx time from levels 30 – 99: 330 hours
Approx profit from levels 30 -99: 75M
How the motherlode mine works
The motherlode mine consists out of two parts, an upstairs and downstairs area. The downstairs area is accessible from level 30 mining. The upstairs area requires you to be level 72 mining and has to be purchased for a 100 golden nuggets.
In these areas you can mine from ore veins on the walls, these will give you pay-dirt which grants you 60 experience each. Once your inventory is full you move to the cleaning area. Here you simply place the pay-dirt into a hopper and the water circuit will do the rest for you.
The cleaned pay-dirt will end up in the sack at the end of the water circuit which can be searched to collect ores and golden nuggets. The possible ores depend on your mining level, so once you reach level 70 you can get adamantite ore and at level 85 you can get runite ores which will boost your profit per hour.
Upper level (level 72 mining required)
The ore veins here last longer than downstairs making it even more afk.
Motherlode mine location
The motherlode mine is located in the dwarven mines underneath Falador. You can get here quickly by using a skills necklace to teleport directly to the mining guild or by teleporting to Falador and running towards the party room.
Motherlode Rewards
Rewards can be bought in exchange for golden nuggets at Prospector Percy’s Nugget Shop. You should use your first 480 nuggets towards getting a prospector kit, upper floor access and a larger pay-dirt sack.
OSRS Mining Guide — Alternative training methods
Levels 61 – 99 Gem Rocks
From level 61 mining, players who have completed the Hard Karamja Diary get access to the underground portion of the Shilo Village mine. Training mining at gem rocks is a good alternative as gem rocks offer nice hourly experience and profit rates.
Equipment/inventory:
- Prospector kit
- Karamja 3 gloves (teleport to the gem mine)
- Charged glory (increases chance of receiving gems)
- Dragon pickaxe
EXP Rate:
- levels 61-70: 40K/hr
- levels 70-80: 50K/hr
- levels 80-90: 60K/hr
Profit per hour: Between 400K-700K/hr
With tick manipulation, you can get experience rates up to 90K/hr and earn up to 1M/hr at 99 mining.
Gem rocks location osrs
Shilo Village mine, you can get here by using your Karamja 3 gloves.
Levels 70 – 99 Volcanic Mine
From mining level 50, if you have completed the Bone Voyage quest you can gain access to the volcanic mine minigame. However, it’s recommended you have at least 70 mining for decent experience rates.
Volcanic Mine requirements:
- Bone Voyage quest
- 50 mining (level 70+ is recommended)
- 150 kudos
Volcanic Mine Equipment/inventory:
- Prospector kit
- Dragon pickaxe
- Prayer enhancing items (skillcape, blessing, etc)
- Prayer/super restore potions
- Food/sara brews
Official volcanic mine world: 323
EXP Rates:
- levels 70-85: 70K/hr
- levels 85-99: 90K/hr
Volcanic Mine location
Levels 75 – 99 Blast Mine
From mining level 75 you get the chance of obtaining runite ore from the blast mines which makes it a great way to make money at this level while also gaining some decent hourly experience rates.
In the blast mines, you’ll be excavating rocks and then stuffing them with dynamite. After the explosion, you’ll get blasted ore which you can place into the barrels near the water circuit, similar to how the motherlode mine works.
Afterward, you can retrieve the ore by speaking to the operator. This is where you’ll get an Exp drop so if you have prospectors outfit, take it from the bank and equip it before collecting to get your 2.5% experience boost.
EXP Rate: 50k – 75K/Hr
Profit per hour: 500K/Hr
Requirements:
- 30 mining (75 mining recommended)
- 100% favour Lovakengj house
Equipment/inventory:
- Graceful outfit (or other weight-reducing armour)
- Dragon pickaxe (special attack)
- Explorer’s ring 1-4 (recommended)
- Stamina potions
- (noted) Dynamite
- Chisel
- Tinderbox
Blast Mine Location
Mining Guild
The mining guild offers the same invisible +7 level boost every other skilling guild in old school Runescape does. This mine is available to both F2P and P2P players who have reached 60 mining. However, F2P players only get access to the F2P area of the guild.
Rocks available in the mining guild are: Iron, Coal, Mithril, Adamantite, Runite, and Amethyst.
Mining Guild Location
The mining guild is located in dwarven mine underneath Falador. You can get here quickly by using a skills necklace or by teleporting to falador and walking towards the South-East bank.
Quests that grant Mining experience
| Quest | Exp reward | Mining level required | Other level requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| The forsaken tower | 500 | / | 20% Lovakengj favour |
| Doric’s quest | 1,300 | / | / |
| Plague city | 2,245 | / | / |
| The Giant Dwarf | 2,500 | / | 14 thieving, 12 crafting, 16 firemaking and 33 magic |
| Heroes quest | 2,575 | 50 mining | 55QP, 25 herblore, 53 cooking and fishing |
| Another slice of H.A.M. | 3,000 | / | 15 attack and 25 prayer |
| The lost tribe | 3,000 | 17 mining | 13 agility and thieving |
| between a rock | 5,000 | 40 mining | 30 defence, 50 smithing |
| Enakhra’s lament | 7,000 | 45 mining (optional) | 39 magic, 43 prayer, 45 firemaking, 50 crafting |
| Making friend with my arm | 10,000 | 72 mining | 35 consturction, 66 firemaking and 68 agility |
| The dig site | 15,300 | / | 10 agility, 10 herblore and 25 thieving |
| Dragon slayer 2 | 18,000 | 68 mining | 200QP, 50 construction, 50 hitpoints, 70 smithing, 62 crafting, 60 agility, 60 thieving, 75 magic |
| Song of the elves | 20,000 | 70 mining | 70 agility, construction, herblore, farming, hunter, smithing and woodcutting |
Read also: optimal quest guide
1-99 Mining Training Summary
Hopefully, this osrs mining guide is useful on your quest to go from 1-99 mining.
You should use the mining calculator to calculate profits and experience needed to level. If anything is missing, you can contact us.
