Mining is one of the slower skills in the game. Very few people enjoy leveling their mining skill, let alone using it to make money. It is possible to make money mining but not expect to get rich quickly. Some methods can be done AFK, but the best profits are always when you mine more difficult to get.
Helpful Items
–
Dragon Pickaxe. It requires 60 mining and 61 attack. It is about 6% faster than a rune pickaxe. While it may not sound a lot, when you are mining for hours, 6% becomes anything but negligible. Also, it has a special attack that boosts mining by +3 for a short while.
–
Crystal Pickaxe. This one is an upgraded version of the Dragon Pickaxe. It is 3% faster than the Dragon pick, but it requires 71 mining to use it and 70 attack and 50 agility to wield it. Charging the pickaxe is done with Crystal Shards. While this may be a turnoff, it does make a considerable difference. If you have an Elven Signet, it will reduce the rate at which you consume charges.
–
Mining Gloves. Using mining gloves adds a small chance of not depleting a rock after you mine the ore.
Motherlode Mine
You may be familiar with the Motherlode Mine method since it is the most popular one at the moment. It can be done while AFK and it awards a good amount of XP with some profit as a bonus. To start to Motherlode mine, you must have level 30 mining, but at this level, you get coal and nothing else. You unlock ores the same way you would normally. At level 40 mining, you unlock gold; at 40 mithril, adamantite at 70, and so on. The higher your level is, the more profit you can make.
In terms of XP per hour, it also scales with your level, just like your profits. At level 30 mining, you get around 20k XP per hour, but you can make more than that depending on the items you use. You can also earn upwards of 300K GP per hour using this method, depending on your level. Your profits will go towards the upper limit once you reach level 85 mining. For an AFK method, the profits are reasonable. If you want more GP per hour, you cannot do it with AFK mining methods.
Amethyst Mine
Amethyst mining can be done in the Mining Guild area. It is the highest level ore, and it is somewhat AFK as a mining method. You can only get only one ore each time you mine. Compared to Motherlode mining, it requires a bit of player input. Amethyst is priced relatively well, and you can earn anywhere between 250K to 400K GP per hour, depending on the ore price. You will need 92 Mining. To maximize profits, you need to use Mining Gloves.
Blast Mine
Even if the Blast Mine requires level 43 mining, it is recommended to do 75 mining. It is anything but AFK. For this method, you will need a Chisel Tinderbox and dynamite. You chisel a hole in the wall, insert the dynamite, and light it. If you know the blast zone, you should not take any damage. Ore will be blasted on the ground. You need to pick them up, but they will disappear if you keep them in your inventory for too long. Just place the ore in the ore sack near the operator. Once 450 ore is collected in the sack, the operator will let you know, and then you can collect it. With 75 mining and upwards, you can earn up to 500K GP per hour.
Rune Ore
Rune ore is one of the most profitable mining ores, but the profits will vary depending on your level, items you take to help you with mining, and how many players you are competing with.
The best place to mine Rune ore is in the Mining Guild. In the Mining Guild, all ores take half the time to respawn. Since Rune ore normally respawns in 12 minutes in the Mining Guild that takes only 6. There are only two rocks available. You will need 85 mining to mine Rune ore. The most efficient way to mine Rune ore is when the ore respawns and swaps worlds. Just jump through a handful of worlds and make sure you know when each ore respawns. You will want to do this because there will be other players who are also farming Rune ore, and the only advantage you can get is knowing when they respawn.