Motherlode Mine
| Motherlode Mine | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Released | 24 April 2014 (Update) | |||
| Members | Yes | |||
| Floors | 2 | |||
| Location | Dwarven Mine (Asgarnia) | |||
| League region |  Asgarnia✓ | |||
| Inhabitants | Humans, Dwarves | |||
| Teleports | Skills necklace (Mining Guild) | |||
| Map | ||||
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| Advanced data | ||||
| Type | dungeon | |||
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Pick & Shovel |
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The music which plays when inside the mine
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| File:Pick & Shovel.ogg | |
The Motherlode Mine is a members-only Mining training area located in the Dwarven Mine, popular for offering low-intensity Mining training. Level 30 Mining is required to mine on the lower level, and level 57 Mining is required for the upper level, after it is unlocked. Neither of these requirements can be boosted. It is strongly recommended to bring a pickaxe to enter the mine and further passage, as opposed to relying on other players and miners to remove the rockfalls that block the area.
Getting there
There are several ways to access the mine:
- The quickest way to reach the mine is to teleport outside the gate leading to the Mining Guild with a Skills necklace, which will put you just south-west of the mine entrance. 60 Mining is not required to enter with this method.
- Players can also enter the Dwarven Mine via the house in north-eastern Falador, east of the Falador Party Room. Taking the stairs will put players just north of a cave entrance to the mine.
- Players with 60 Mining can enter the Mining Guild directly and run east until they see a cave entrance.
- Finally, players can enter the Dwarven Mine via the camp south of Ice Mountain, and walk south-east to the northern entrance.
Features
Bank chest
Near Prospector Percy is a bank chest that can be accessed without any requirements. Players are recommended not to bank after each trip; see the deposits section below.
Ore veins
Scattered throughout the lower level of the mine are ore veins, which can be mined for pay-dirt, yielding 60 Mining experience each. These veins deplete after 23-27 seconds. This timer starts as soon as the first Pay-dirt is mined.
The veins also have a chance to give uncut gems. When a gem is mined, no additional experience is given for the gem; this means that each gem mined comes out to 60 less experience per inventory. The amulet of glory's mining effect can be used to increase the chance of receiving a gem, however, to maximise experience, wearing the amulet of glory is not recommended as it decreases overall experience earned per hour, unless you have purchased a gem bag and keep it open in your inventory. Clue geodes cannot be obtained in the mine.
Upper level
For a one-time fee of 100 golden nuggets paid to Prospector Percy, players with a base level of 57 Mining can unlock the upper level. In addition to offering 64 ore veins, all clustered much closer together than the ores on the lower level, the upper level is closer to the bank and hopper.
Additionally, the ore veins on the upper level deplete at a much slower rate than the ones on the lower level. These veins deplete after 36-40 seconds. This timer starts after the first Pay-dirt is mined.
Due to the ore vein timer starting after the first ore is mined, mining veins on low population worlds that are not in use by other players will provide more consistent timings and require less effort.
Water circuit
At the centre of the mine is a water circuit that connects a hopper to a sack. Players can deposit pay-dirt into the hopper to send it to the sack for cleaning via the water circuit.
The circuit is powered by two large water wheels, which sit on struts that will occasionally break. If both struts are broken, the water flow will stop entirely, and any pay-dirt that was making its way to the sack will be frozen in place until the water flow is restored. This is not player-specific, meaning anyone can repair the struts, and nobody in the mine will be able to clean pay-dirt if they're both broken. Additionally, players can still deposit even if the struts are broken, but it will not be cleaned until one of them is repaired.
Players may safely log out or hop worlds while using the water circuit; the progress of your pay-dirt will be saved. This also means that it is technically possible to hop to a different world where the strut is fixed; However, this may take longer than repairing it and is generally considered to be bad etiquette.
The struts can be fixed using a hammer. Doing so grants Smithing experience equal to 1.5 times the player's Smithing level, which will be rewarded on successfully fixing the strut. Chance of repairing improves with a higher level, with a base chance of 12% to repair each tick at level 1 Smithing, increasing to a 27% chance each tick at level 99.[1] Hammers can be found in the crates surrounding the machine.
To get from level 1 to 99 Smithing with this method, a player would need to repair 100,367 struts (99130 when using Dwarven stout). While repairing struts in an unpopulated world, players can expect to fix about 40 struts per hour. When world hopping, they can repair up to 400 struts per hour depending on the number of active players in Motherlode Mine.
Rockfalls
Rocks fall on certain tiles around the mine; these rockfalls block access to veins or other areas of the mine. Removing them requires a pickaxe and rewards 10 Mining experience each. If the rocks fall on a player, it will damage them for 1-4 Hitpoints.
Runite Minor and the other miners may occasionally remove these rockfalls, though they usually just mine pay-dirt. Box traps and other traps placed on the ground may be laid to temporarily prevent rockfalls from blocking a path, until the trap collapses.
Shortcuts
The dark tunnel next to the bank chest is an Agility shortcut that connects the east side of the mine to the centre. It requires 54 Agility and completion of the medium Falador Diary to use. There is a similar tunnel to the south which does not require diary completion.
Mining
Cleaning ores
After obtaining pay-dirt, players can deposit into the hopper to begin to clean it. Pay-dirt can only be dropped from inventory or deposited into the hopper, it cannot be banked. Once deposited into the hopper, as long as the water is flowing, the pay-dirt will make its way towards the sack, taking 8 seconds, at which point players will receive bonus experience. The sack can then be searched to collect various ores and golden nuggets.
Each ore has a level requirement equal to the Mining requirement for that rock; players with 50 Mining, for example, will not receive mithril, adamantite, or runite ore. Bonus experience will increase with higher mining levels, as higher-tier ores are cleaned. The average bonus experience per pay dirt cleaned varies with Mining level; being 16.84 at level 85 and 21.9 at level 99.
Using a Dragon Pickaxe special attack, full prospector outfit and Celestial Ring:
- level 93-94, 7,722 pay dirt with an average bonus of 25.70 (693.9 per load of 27 pay dirt).
- level 94-95, 9,450 pay dirt with an average bonus of 25.88 (699.1 per load of 27 pay dirt).
- level 95-96, 10,935 pay dirt with an average bonus of 26.31 (710.4 per load of 27 pay dirt).
- level 96-97, 11,475 pay dirt with an average bonus of 26.56 (717.0 per load of 27 pay dirt).
- level 97-98, 12,609 pay dirt with an average bonus of 26.81 (723.9 per load of 27 pay dirt).
Using boosts will allow players to receive ores they usually can't obtain.
| Ore |  Levelrequired |
Bonus experience |
GE Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Coal | 30 | 15 | 152 |
 |
Golden nugget | 30 | 0 | Untradeable |
 |
Gold ore | 40 | 15 | 157 |
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Mithril ore | 55 | 30 | 134 |
 |
Adamantite ore | 70 | 45 | 1,069 |
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Runite ore | 85 | 75 | 11,025 |
Ore rates
The ore received from pay-dirt is based on the player's Mining level, with better ores becoming more common at higher levels. The table below shows the chance of ores at each level:
Ores are determined when the pay-dirt is mined, not when cleaning.[2] Thus, players wishing to boost should do so while mining, not before cleaning. Pay-dirt rolls for each ore in descending order, starting from the top tier you're eligible to get.[3] With the Falador Elite diary, the success chance to receive an ore is increased by ~1%.[4] The number of percentage points added to the rate is ~1% for runite ore; ~2% for adamantite ore; and ~1% for mithril ore.[5]
Deposits
When the sack holds 108 pay-dirt (or 189 if the sack has been upgraded), a game message in the chatbox will state Some ore is ready to be collected from the sack. It's getting full., and players will no longer be able to mine pay-dirt or deposit pay-dirt into the hopper until the sack is emptied below 108 (or 189 if the sack has been upgraded).
To maximize the capacity of the sack, players should have an inventory with only 1 space occupied by a hammer or gem/coal bag. This setup will result with 4/7 trips with a full inventory of pay-dirt before having to empty the sack.
Money making
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Rewards
Golden nuggets can be obtained by searching the sack after cleaning pay-dirt, with each pay-dirt having a 3.13% chance of being a nugget, regardless of a player's Mining level. This means that, on average, a player should receive a golden nugget every 32 pay-dirts cleaned.
Golden nuggets stack, and will be collected all at once when searching the sack. Once obtained, they can be used as currency at Prospector Percy's Nugget Shop.
| Item | Number in stock | Restock time | Price sold at | Price bought at | Exp boost | Boost per nugget | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Prospector helmet | 100 | 0.6s (1t) | 0.4% | 0.010%/ | ||
 | Prospector jacket | 100 | 0.6s (1t) | 0.8% | 0.013%/ | ||
 | Prospector legs | 100 | 0.6s (1t) | 0.6% | 0.012%/ | ||
 | Prospector boots | 100 | 0.6s (1t) | 0.2% | 0.007%/ | ||
 | Coal bag | 1 | 0.6s (1t) | N/A | N/A | ||
 | Gem bag | 1 | 0.6s (1t) | N/A | N/A | ||
 | Soft clay pack | 1000 | 0.6s (1t) | N/A | N/A | ||
 | Bag full of gems | 100 | 0.6s (1t) | N/A | N/A | ||
In addition to the rewards above, players can speak to Prospector Percy to gain access to the upper level (with 57 Mining), gain access to the Super Hopper on the upper level, and upgrade the pay-dirt sack for one-off payments of 100, 50, and 200 golden nuggets respectively.
Experience and efficiency
The experience and profit rates of Motherlode Mine can vary greatly based on level, the tier of pickaxe used, the amount of other players mining, and whether or not the upper floor is used. The double-ore bonus from Varrock armour 2 does not apply in the Motherlode Mine.
Compared to other methods, Motherlode Mine requires significantly lower effort, while still offering moderate experience and profit. Mining iron ore or granite provides significantly higher experience rates at the cost of being more click-intensive and offering no profit, as items are dropped when mining.
Players can expect the following XP rates, assuming the following unlocks:
- Upper level is unlocked at level 57 Mining.
- Dragon pickaxe is used from level 61 Mining.
- Prospector's outfit is worn.
- The upper floor Super Hopper is unlocked.
| Level | Xp/hour | Profit |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 13,000 | 31,787.00 |
| 40 | 26,000 | 37,090.00 |
| 50 | 33,000 | 54,270.00 |
| 61 | 45,000 | 69,844.00 |
| 70 | 48,000 | 102,542.00 |
| 80 | 52,000 | 144,990.00 |
| 90 | 59,000 | 321,189.00 |
| 99 | 64,000 | 475,969.00 |
The following table compares experience rates with other methods, with the highest rates bolded:
| Level
|
Iron Ore | Granite | Motherlode Mine | Blast Mine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 31,500 | N/A | 13,106 | N/A |
| 41 | 42,000 | N/A | 15,500 | N/A |
| 61 | 49,350 | 40,410 | 45,000 | 48,000 |
| 75 | 52,290 | 48,400 | 50,000 | 58,000 |
| 85 | 52,290 | 55,490 | 54,000 | 64,400 |
| 99 | 70,000 | 125,000 | 64,000 | 79,000 |
However, Volcanic Mine always offers the highest experience rates behind 3-tick granite mining.
While the Motherlode Mine is never the most efficient method for pure experience, players planning on completing the Falador Diary should mine here until they obtain 40 golden nuggets, as this will unlock the Prospector's helmet, which is needed for a hard task. Players who wish to unlock the upper level will, on average, need to mine from level 30 to level 68, in order to receive enough golden nuggets for the full outfit and the upper level fee.
On average, players will need to mine 17,519 pay-dirt to unlock the upper level, upgraded bag, and complete Prospector's kit.
Reward Order
As of May 2024, with the reduction in level requirements for the upper floor, players looking to purchase efficiently should first unlock the upper floor, then upper floor hopper for 100 and 50 Golden Nuggets respectively.
Outfit pieces should then be obtained in order of what has the highest bonus per nugget. The best order is jacket, legs, helmet, and then boots. Purchasing each piece in this order would net the player an additional 0.83% XP versus purchasing all items at once. However, if the player mines ores that benefit from the Varrock armour, they may wish to delay the jacket until last. As Varrock armour 4 shares the XP boost effect of the jacket, the jacket can be later sold back to Prospector Percy for 48 nuggets, once the Varrock Diary is completed.
Gem and coal bags can be useful depending on how and what you mine; if you're going for gems, a worn charged amulet of glory alongside an open gem bag will maximise gems without affecting experience rates.
Coal bag's main use is in Blast Furnace Smithing - it greatly affects XP/h and GP/h rates when smithing any bars that require coal. (see Blast Furnace/Strategies for a detailed overview)
Expanding the sack size should be done last, as the increased rate of experience from a larger sack is negligible compared to the upper level's and prospector kit's enhanced experience rates and the usefulness of the coal and gem bags.
Changes
| Date | Changes |
|---|---|
| [[{{#explode:15 May 2024| |0}} {{#explode:15 May 2024| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:15 May 2024| |2}}]] (update) |
Players are warned when mining ore veins with a full sack at the Motherlode Mine. |
| [[{{#explode:8 May 2024| |0}} {{#explode:8 May 2024| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:8 May 2024| |2}}]] (update) |
|
| [[{{#explode:15 March 2023| |0}} {{#explode:15 March 2023| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:15 March 2023| |2}}]] (update | poll) |
|
| [[{{#explode:1 March 2023| |0}} {{#explode:1 March 2023| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:1 March 2023| |2}}]] (update) |
The delay when depositing pay-dirt into the hopper has been removed. |
| [[{{#explode:13 July 2022| |0}} {{#explode:13 July 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:13 July 2022| |2}}]] (update) |
The upstairs ore veins no longer need to be completely depleted to start their respawn timer. |
| Date unknown |
The Medium Falador Diary no longer provides any increased chance of receiving higher ores when cleaning pay dirt.[6] |
| [[{{#explode:31 October 2019| |0}} {{#explode:31 October 2019| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:31 October 2019| |2}}]] (update) |
The clickzone of the top of the ladder in Motherlode Mine has been improved. |
| [[{{#explode:9 March 2017| |0}} {{#explode:9 March 2017| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:9 March 2017| |2}}]] (update) |
The Motherlode Mine has had its timer lengthened in the upper area. |
| [[{{#explode:23 February 2017| |0}} {{#explode:23 February 2017| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:23 February 2017| |2}}]] (update | poll) |
|
| [[{{#explode:30 April 2015| |0}} {{#explode:30 April 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:30 April 2015| |2}}]] (update) |
Pets now follow you up and down the Motherlode Mine's ladder. |
| [[{{#explode:23 April 2015| |0}} {{#explode:23 April 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:23 April 2015| |2}}]] (update) |
The Motherlode Mine's ladder has had its click-zone changed to help players click the correct end of it. |
| [[{{#explode:9 April 2015| |0}} {{#explode:9 April 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:9 April 2015| |2}}]] (update | poll) |
An expansion of the Motherlode Mine with a brand new upstairs area can be accessed by players with over 72 mining that have paid Percy a one-time fee of 100 nuggets. |
| [[{{#explode:5 March 2015| |0}} {{#explode:5 March 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:5 March 2015| |2}}]] (update | poll) |
|
| [[{{#explode:1 May 2014| |0}} {{#explode:1 May 2014| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:1 May 2014| |2}}]] (update) |
Dwarves no longer deplete pay-dirt veins and when a vein is depleted the "empty rock" sound will play to all the adjacent players. The rate at which ore respawns has also been increased slightly. |
Trivia
- The rockfalls share the same model as the pet rock when they fall from the ceiling. As a result, the falling rocks wear party hats during Christmas.
- When a player climbs up the ladder, the player character does not actually move up a plane in the game; rather, the terrain on the upper level is simply raised up from the ground on the plane the player character is standing on, so the player will be able to see other players and NPCs on both levels. This is similar to the mechanics in Castle Wars.
- There are several popular culture and community references within the Motherlode Mine:
- On the western side of the mine, there is an NPC named Runite Minor, who is named after the designer of the Motherlode Mine and winner of the 2014 Player Designed Content.
- In the middle of Prospector Percy's machine, there is a baby mole with the examine text "Mooooooooooooole", a reference to a scene from the film Austin Powers in Goldmember.
- Prospector Percy's appearance and examine text are references to the character Stinky Pete from Toy Story 2.
- The miner in the north-eastern corner of the mine has examine text that reads "Secretly, he'd like to rescue princesses and eat mushrooms", a reference to the Mario video game franchise as the miners share a similar appearance to its titular character.
- A miner in the south-western corner reveals that "he became a miner after his agoraphobia stopped him doing Sailing", a reference to the supposed Sailing skill.
- A miner along the east wall's examine text reads "He could have been a great ballet dancer if they'd let him try." This is a reference to the film Billy Elliot, about a father's expectations for his son to be a miner, and not to follow his dreams of being a dancer.
- A miner on the eastern side has the examine text "professional miners don't actually whistle while they work" which is a reference to Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- The machine Prospector Percy built to wash the pay-dirt is a cheap knockoff of the machine used in the Lovakengj blast mine. According to the operators, the design is a secret, and those who try to copy it would "never get it quite right" and "their machine would break down all the time", referencing the fact that the struts on the water wheel often break.
- If all the ores are collected from 85 to 99 Mining at Motherlode Mine, it will average out to 6,344,981 Smithing experience.
References
| Items | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objects | |||||||
| Prospector Percy's Nugget Shop |
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| NPCs | |||||||
| Inhabitants | |
|---|---|
| Monsters | |
| Scenery | |
| Shops | |
| Related | |
| Asgarnia | |
|---|---|
| Dwarven mines | |
| Fremennik Province | |
| Great Kourend | |
| Kandarin | |
| Karamja | |
| Kebos Lowlands | |
| Kharidian Desert | |
| Misthalin | |
| Morytania | |
| Tirannwn | |
| Varlamore | |
| Wilderness | |
| Other | |