Ironman Guide/Mining

Ironman Guide

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Training Mining on an ironman is not very different from training it normally. In addition to the normal training methods, players will need to mine volcanic ash for making ultracompost and gem rocks for making expeditious bracelets at some point.

Pickaxes up to rune can be bought from Nurmof's Pickaxe Shop. A dragon pickaxe can only be obtained as a rare drop from Artio, Chaos Elemental, Callisto, Calvar'ion, Kalphite Queen, Spindel, Venenatis and Vet'ion, or as a very rare drop from King Black Dragon. A broken dragon pickaxe is a 1% chance to drop from an ore pack bought from Petrified Pete's Ore Shop at the Volcanic Mine for 4000 points. It must be repaired by taking it to Nurmof in the Dwarven Mine for a fee of 2,500,000 coins.

Early training: Quests

Main article: Quest experience rewards § Mining

Early levels can be skipped by completing a few quests. Notably, Plague City has no requirements and grants enough experience for level 15. Completing the following will reach level 37.

Quest	Experience reward	Mining requirement	Other requirements	Enemy to defeat
The Forsaken Tower	500	-		None
Doric's Quest	1,300	15	-	None
Plague City	2,425	-	-	None
The Giant Dwarf	2,500	-	14 , 12 , 16 , 33	None
Another Slice of H.A.M.	3,000	-	15 25	Multiple low level NPCs
The Lost Tribe	3,000	17	13 , 13 , completion of Goblin Diplomacy and Rune Mysteries	None
The Dig Site	15,300	-	10 , 10 , 25	None

Fastest experience

Levels 15–45: Iron ore

Mining iron rocks north-east of East Ardougne, at the Legends' Guild mine, a player can use the fairy rings to teleport to the Chasm of Fire in Great Kourend (D-J-R) for quick banking. Afterward, they can teleport back to the Legends' Guild mine (B-L-R) and continue mining until granite becomes available. Players having trouble with tick manipulation can continue to mine iron in Ardougne or the Mining Guild which becomes available at Level 60.

Alternatively, the iron rocks at the mine south-west of Port Piscarilius offer similar rates, albeit lacking a triangle-arrangement of rocks. If The Forsaken Tower is not completed, players should bring coins to pay the 20 coin fee to bank in Lovakengj via the Lovakengj Minecart Network before again taking the cart back. This method may be of particular use for players with low combat level (no bears), players with a low Agility stat/no Graceful, or players who have not yet finished the Easy tier of the Ardougne diary.

Levels 45–99: 3-tick mining granite

3-tick mining granite rocks is the fastest mining experience in the game. It might be easier to start at a higher Mining level, as it's harder to learn at the lower levels. While tick manipulating granite is a very hard method, it's well worth learning.

Other methods

Levels 61–99: Iron ore

With a dragon pickaxe, you can earn over 82,000 Mining experience per hour in the Mining Guild by mining iron, since you can react to the rock depleting in 2-ticks, making it a decent alternative to granite. Mining Iron Ore in the Mining Guild is also an effective way of earning the Expert mining gloves.

Levels 35–99: Sandstone

Players can get a lot of Mining experience from mining sandstone, which can be exchanged for buckets of sand for Crafting training.

Levels 41 - 99: Calcified rocks

At level 41 players can mine Calcified rocks in the city of Cam Torum to obtain blessed bone shards. Players can get around the same amount of experience as training mining in the Motherlode Mine. Blessed bone shards can be used to train prayer in Varlamore. Blessed bone shards are used to make sacrifices at the libation bowl at the Teomat.

Levels 55–99: Motherlode Mine

Main article: Motherlode Mine

The Motherlode Mine becomes available at level 30, and is moderately efficient at level 55. Players may wish to spend some time here to earn golden nuggets to exchange for the prospector kit, coal bag and gem bag.

Ore veins are mined for pay-dirt which is then washed to obtain a mixed variety of coal, golden nuggets and ore available to the player at their current Mining level. Many ironmen utilise this ore at the Blast Furnace since all of the ores collected here are, notably, inefficient to mine elsewhere on their own such as coal rocks, gold rocks, and mithril rocks.

Levels 85–99: Volcanic Mine

Main article: Volcanic Mine

At level 85, the Volcanic Mine becomes viable. It's advisable to obtain the prospector kit beforehand.

Levels 10–99: Shooting Stars

Main article: Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars are an extremely low intensity mining alternative, albeit with somewhat reduced experience rates compared to most other methods. They can be found periodically in various locations across Gielinor, with each server having different locations, timings and tiers.

Instead of ores, shooting stars provide stardust which can be traded at Dusuri's Star Shop for a few different useful rewards. Notably for ironmen are the celestial ring (2000 stardust), which gives the player a hidden +4 mining boost (even when uncharged), and the bag full of gems (300 stardust) which rewards the player with 40 uncut gems of varying types. These gems provide a source of passive crafting experience and jewellery resources, including a great low risk way to obtain dragonstones, even from a low level. It's recommended to obtain the celestial ring first for the additional mining boost before beginning to collect gem bags for crafting.

Shooting stars, like normal ore veins, also offer gems (at an increased rate with a charged amulet of glory), as well as clue geodes.