By Rubinous

Members' and Non-members' Skill.

While there are other aspects to the RuneScape economy, mining can truly be said to be the basis of it all. Anyone at any level can mine, and the resulting ore can be smithed into objects for sale or sold "as is" to others who will smelt and smith it.

Mining is very easy to do. All you need are a pick axe and rocks to mine. Just left click on a rock to mine it. If your mining level is high enough, you are able to get some ore from the rock. A "rock" is usually a small grouping of three rocks.

Most ores are for smelting into metal bars. Mining is hard work so you will also get fatigued and have to rest in a bed occasionally. You can spot the closest bed to each mine on the world map.

Mining is also an easy way to get money after you are over level 40 and can mine coal, which is needed for almost every bar and very easily sold.

Pick axes can be found free in the Barbarian Village and in Rimmington, or you can buy one from the Dwarven Mine's mining store or from Lumbridge's axe shop.

Rocks are found at mining sites and there are lots of mining sites in Runescape. The biggest one is the Dwarven Mine, which contains almost all kinds of rocks. One part of the Dwarven Mine is the Mining Guild. It is for high level miners above level 60 and contains mostly coal and some mithril.

Different rocks contain different ores, but one rock always contains the same ore. You can prospect rocks to see what they contain or you can identify it by the color of the rock

Each mine will have a different variety of ore rocks available. You can look at individual mine maps to see what ores are located at each mining site.

All rocks are gray until they spawn an ore. You can tell the colors of different ores by looking at the picture to the right."

"Certs" -- What are they good for? When mining, you will usually acquire a lot of lumps of ore. Ore does not "stack" in your personal inventory- that is each lump of ore will take up a space. Therefore to be able to more easily carry and trade larger quantities of ore, you may "cert" them, or turn them into certificates. Each certificate represents five lumps of ore. Certificates may be purchased on the Square in Draynor from an ore certificate trader or if you're a member, also from a trader in the "Lost City."

You can also find a gem in the rocks. It doesn't depend on your mining level what gem you get, or how often. They are rare and the only way to get them more often, is by wearing a charged Dragonstone Amulet, which has been dipped in the fountain at the Heros' Guild. Gems don't give you any experience points or use any fatigue. Also if you get a gem, there is still ore left in the rock.

There is one item that raises your mining level temporarily, which is a Dwarven Stout. It gives you one mining and one smithing level for one minute, but you also get drunk and lose four attack, defense and strength levels.

If you are a member, there is also one special coal mining site northwest of Baxtorian Falls. Here there are mining carts that you can fill with ore and the carts will transport the ore close to the bank in the Seer's Village. The cart will hold about 125 lumps of coal. You simply dump the ore from your personal inventory into the cart. When the cart is full, it automatically goes to a small building near the bank, where you may unload the cart and deposit into the bank. However, mining here is not without danger. Giant bats will attack you as you mine here, similar to the Scorpian Pit mine and the Dwarven Mine, where scorpians harass you as you mine there.

With an update on May 29th, 2003, Jagex brought Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mithril, Adamantite, and Runite pickaxes into the RuneScape World. All the picks can be bought from Nurmof in the Dwarven Mines, just north of the General Store. Each pick has a different number of swings depending on the quality of the metal. For example, bronze picks give you one swing per click and runite picks give you 12 swings per click. The old pickaxes were replaced automatically with bronze picks.