Runescape Money Making Guide - Mining & Smithing

In RuneScape, Mining is used to mine ores from rocks scattered around the Runescape world. Each rock contains a one of the 11 different types of basic ores. Each ore requires a certain mining level to mine, and can be smithed into a bar with the required smithing level. The mining skill can be used to create a good source of income, whether selling ores or smithing them into something. Smithing is the process of turning your ores into bars, which can then be used to create armor or weapons, either for your uses or for the purpose of making money.

The Basics

There are many mines in RuneScape where you can obtain different types of ores, each of which contains different ores. Members can even mine gems upon the completing of Shilo Village quest.

In order to mine any ores, you will need a pickaxe. These may be obtained for free in Falador. You will find a bronze pickaxe lying on a box just south of the Falador east bank, inside the building surrounding the Mining Guild.

There are 11 different types of ores obtainable in RuneScape. You can identify which rocks contain which ores by either right clicking a rock and pressing ‘Prospect’ or looking at a rock’s color.

Smithing is usually divided into two parts, smelting and smithing. Smelting is the melting of ores into a bar, which can then be smithed into armor or weapons. Combined with mining, you can make a huge profit by making bars such as Iron, Steel, or Mithril!

Mining

Levels 1-14
Tin
Required Mining Level: 1
Recommended Mining Site(s): South-east Varrock Mine
Selling Price: 10gp-30 each

Copper
Required Mining Level: 1
Recommended Mining Site(s): South-east Varrock Mine
Selling price: 10gp-30 each

Clay
Required Mining Level: 1
Recommended Mining Site(s): South-west Varrock Mine
Selling price: 10-50gp each

Smithing

Bronze Bar
Required Smithing Level: 1
Recommended Smelting Site(s): Al Kharid Furnace
Selling Price: 15-25gp each

You can’t really make much money at this level. Your goal is just to raising your mining and smithing to be able to mine and smith Iron Ores, and until then there’s no real profit in selling your ores. Just smith them all into bars and other weapons and armor to increase both mining and smithing levels. If you’re completely new and really need the cash, you can sell the Bronze Bars to players, or if you’re a little less desperate then you can smith them into any bronze objects and sell them to a general store. This is a much more efficient use of your time than trying to find buyers for your Bronze items. If you’re in no need of money and want to do something nice, you could give away bronze sets to new players just to feel good!

Mining

Levels 15-29
Iron
Required Mining Level: 15
Recommended Mining Site(s): South-east Varrock Mine, Al Kharid Mine
Selling Price: 100-130gp each

Silver
Required Mining Level: 20
Recommended Mining Site(s): Al Kharid Mine, Crafting Guild
Selling Price: 400-450gp each

Smithing

Iron Bar
Required Smithing Level: 15
Recommended Smelting Site(s): Al Kharid Furnace
Selling Price: 230-250gp each

Silver Bar
Required Smithing Level: 20
Recommended Smelting Site(s): Al Kharid Furnace
Selling price: 300-350gp each

Iron ores and bars bring in big bucks. Ores sell at about 110gp each and are found in many places in RuneScape, and bars sell for about 240gp each, though there’s only a 50% chance of successfully smelting them. Mining and banking all your iron ores would be the best bet here, seeing as they are easy to mine, sell for a good price, and are in high demand.

Silver is a good source of income – though at this level it will be troublesome to obtain amounts large enough to get real money and raise mining/smithing levels. There are less silver ores available than iron ones, it will take longer to mine, and most likely more people will be on the silver rocks. If you’re determined to mine silver, though, ores are worth from 400-450gp each and bars are 300-350gp.

Mining

Levels 30-59
Coal
Required Mining Level: 30
Recommended Mining Site(s): Lumbridge Swamp Mine, Mining Guild
Selling Price: 150-200gp each

Gold
Required Mining Level: 40
Recommended Mining Site(s): Al Kharid Mine, Crafting Guild
Selling Price: 250-450gp each

Mithril
Required Mining Level: 55
Recommended Mining Site(s): Lumbridge Swamp Mine
Selling Price: 450-550gp each

Smithing

Steel Bar
Required Smithing Level: 30
Recommended Smelting Site(s): Al Kharid Furnace
Selling Price: 600-700gp each

Gold Bar
Required Smithing Level: 40
Recommended Smelting Site(s): Al Kharid Furnace
Selling price: 150-200gp each

Mithril Bar
Required Smithing Level: 50
Recommended Smelting Site(s): Al Kharid Furnace
Selling price: 1,300-1,600gp each

With hard work comes the reward! Mining Coal and Iron and smelting them into bars can be very profitable. Steel Bars can sell for 600-700gp each, yielding high earnings. If you’re lazy and don’t want to mine all those ores, you could just as easily buy iron and coal ores and just smelt them, then sell the bars! Even with the price of buying the ores, you can make a nice sum of money. Mithril bars and ores is an alternative, though it will be much harder to obtain the Mithril ores. The best place to get Mithril and coal ores at this level is at the Lumbridge Swamp Mine. Even though you are a higher level, mining and selling just iron ores can be a good process through which you can earn money.

The Mining Guild

Levels 60-69
Once you hit level 60 mining, you have access to the Mining Guild. This special guild is home to bountiful coal rocks, along with the occasional Mithril rock. The availability of this guild changes your moneymaking abilities greatly, seeing as it has loads of rocks and is close to a bank. The Mining Guild is found south of the east Falador bank, with four ladders leading down into it. It not only has many ores, but also filters out the many level 30-59 coal miners that would otherwise hog your rocks.

Mining

Levels 70-84
Adamantite Ore
Required Mining Level: 70
Recommended Mining Site(s): Lumbridge Swamp Mine, Al Kharid Mine
Selling Price: 1,500-1,600gp each

Smithing

Adamant Bar
Required Smithing Level: 70
Recommended Smelting Site(s): Al Kharid Furnace
Selling Price: 3,100-3,300gp each

With adamant now available to you, the amount of money that you can earn gets even better. These ores can sell for about 1.5k each, their bars totaling 3,200gp. Adamant ores are a little hard to get, with few rocks open to free to play players. If you’re aiming to get bars, you can go to the Lumbridge Swamp Mine, bringing along a fire staff and nature runes. With this equipment, you can smelt the ores into bars, allowing for more ores to be mined and bars to be gotten in one inventory. Alternatively, you can still mine and smelt iron and coal to sell steel bars at good prices. This will never go away. Or, you could mine just iron and sell the ores.

Mining

Levels 85 -99
Runite Ore
Required Mining Level: 85
Recommended Mining Site(s): Wilderness Runite Mine
Selling Price: 12,000-12,500gp each

Smithing

Runite Bar
Required Smithing Level: 85
Recommended Smelting Site(s): Al Kharid Furnace
Selling Price: 13,000-15,000gp each

Runite ores are rare. There are only a few rocks in the whole RuneScape world, and they have a long respawn time, making it hard to mine them. Though there are many difficulties, Runite Ores and bars sell for loads of money, and just mining and smithing these can get you rich in no time. Alternatively, you can still mine and smelt iron and coal to sell steel bars at good prices. This will never go away. Or, you could mine just iron and sell the ores.

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