Runescape Mining Provides Good Wage

Mining is one of the first highly-lucrative "jobs" you can take on within Runescape as a low-level character, without needing anyone else's assistance.

To the southeast of Varrock, there is a mining pit which contains a large amount of tin and copper, and a few rocks of iron. It's a great place to start because it's close to a bank and while a lot of players are going to be there with you, there are enough tin and copper spots for you to find a spot or two to claim as your own.

Note: If there's a mining jerk around, disregarding you in your spot and taking it over, save your stress and find another world after adding that person to your ignore list. Get used to it in mining, spouting off does nothing to fix the situation.

If you can claim one of the spots where you can stand in one place and mine either tin OR copper, depending on which way you face, then do so! It saves a lot of time to be able to mine tin while copper is resetting, and then vice versa. Those spots are generally the first taken, so you'll have more luck when there are less players around.

Three Stages of Mining, Smelting and Smithing

Although there are only two skills that can advance as a result of the work you do in mining and smithing, there are actually three stages to the process of mining and smithing.

Stage one includes the gathering of the raw materials, in this case, the ores tin and copper.

Stage two is when the ores are placed in the furnace and are melted down into metal bars. In this case, one tin ore and one copper ore "smelt" together in the furnace to create one bronze bar.

Stage three is when bars are brought to an anvil, and a hammer is used to turn the bars into one of a variety of weapons or armors which can be sold to shops or players.

The "You Must Explore" Runescape Clause

Okay, I'm kidding, there's no such clause, in writing. But it's implied in how things are laid out in the Runescape world.

For example, while you can mine and smith in or very close to Varrock, you cannot smelt your ores there. You have to go to Al Kharid or Falador or even Lumbridge for that. My personal favorite is Al Kharid because the furnace is the closest to a bank.

Make the trip worth your while

At any rate, because you have to go to another location to smelt your ores, it's a good idea to make a decent collection of ores before relocating yourself and changing your focus. I recommend banking at least 100 tin ores and 100 copper ores, to make your trip to Al Kharid worthwhile (be sure to bring 10 coins with you on the way to Al Kharid in case you go the wrong way and have to pay at the toll gate).

Smithing and Selling Strategy

Once you have the metal bars, you can venture back to Varrock and visit the anvil located south of the West Varrock bank. This is my favorite anvil location, again because it is very close to a bank.

Now, when smithing, the key is to make a VARIETY of products from your bars. Don't always create the biggest and most expensive piece, because the more of one product you sell, the less that product is worth in that shop.

Once you have produced 5 each of a variety of products, create another 5 each if you can, until you run out of bars to smith.

Now, to finally get money from all of this work, we want to sell our newly-produced items to other players or to the shops. If you're selling anything below mithril, you're better off to sell to shops - and specialty shops at that.

General Shops vs Specialty Shops

General shops buy and sell everything and anything. You might get some real deals in General shops, because they don't really know the true VALUE of items on their shelves.

Specialty shops buy and sell very specific items, and because of their specific "niche market" they buy and sell their products at higher prices than the General stores do. It's worth your while to sell your wares at these specialty shops, and if you're not familiar with the land of Runescape, this'll be a great way to help you get used to the main cities and the paths between them.

World-Hopping as you sell

"World-hopping" occurs when you log out of one world, only to log back in through a different world, hoping the new world will offer something better.

I world-hop when I am looking for a good place to mine mithril for a while, and I world-hop when I'm selling my smithed items, trying to find a store with as few of the items I'm selling as possible in stock, so I get more cash. The more in stock, the less cash for me, which is no good, I'm sure you'll agree!

Good luck!

Valdesta