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With the Burning Crusade expansion, mining has become the most important gathering profession in World of Warcraft. Mining was the most useful profession before the expansion because it was the basis for two crafting professions (engineering and blacksmithing) but, with the addition of Jewelcrafting in BC, mining has become even more important.
For this reason, World of Warcraft mining is the best way to earn gold compared to the other gathering professions. Herbs are useful but only to Herbalists while ores and gems are useful to Blacksmiths, Engineers, and Jewelcrafters.
Mining Basics
The obvious first step is to visit a mining trainer and learn mining as a profession. You can do this starting at level 5. Here’s a list of all the mining trainers in WoW:
Horde Trainers:
- Makaru - Located in the center of the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar.
- Brek Stonehoof - Located on the western edge of the center plateau in Thunder Bluff.
- Brom Killian - Located to the south of the bridge leading to the War
- Quarter in the Undercity.
Alliance Trainers:
- Gelman Stonehand - Located on the western side of the Dwarven District in Stormwind.
- Yarr Hammerstone - Located on the eastern edge of Kharanos in Dun Morogh.
- Dank Drizzlecut - Located slightly north of Gol’Bolar Quarry in Dun Morogh.
- Brock Stoneseeker - Located on the southwest side of Thelsamar in Loch Modan.
- Kurdram Stonehammer - Located in the northern area of Auberdine in Darkshore.
- Matt Johnson - Located in the northern section of Darkshire in Duskwood.
Once you’ve trained mining take a look in your spellbook for the “Find Minerals” and “Smelting” buttons and move them to one of your taskbars. Hit the “Find Minerals” button and your minimap will now show yellow circles on the map whenever you’re near a mineral node.
Next, buy a Mining Pick from the mining supplier who’s usually right next to the mining trainer and head out looking for copper nodes (copper is the simplest ore to mine and the only one you’ll be able to mine at the start.)
After you’ve collected some ore, find a forge and use your “Smelting” ability to turn the copper ore into copper bars. If you’re a Blacksmith or an Engineer you can use the bars to craft items or just put the bars up for auction to make some extra gold.
You’ll notice as you mine copper that your mining skill will increase and after awhile copper nodes will turn gray and no longer give you skill-ups from mining them. At this point you’re ready to move onto the next more difficult type of mineral to mine (I’ll show you a table of the mining skill levels needed for each type of ore later).
As you mine you’ll also run into level caps for your mining skill that have nothing to do with mineral types. These caps are designed to make you achieve a certain character level before allowing you to buy the next mining rank to move past the cap. Here’s a list of the skill caps for each World of Warcraft mining rank:
Skill Requirement for Each Mining Rank (pre-Burning Crusade)
0 : Apprentice
75 : Journeyman
125 : Expert
200 : Artisan
Advanced World of Warcraft Mining Guide
Here’s a list of the mining skill required to mine each type of mineral:
Mining Skill Requirements by Mineral Type
1 : Copper
65 : Tin
65 : Incendicite*
75 : Silver
75 : Lesser Bloodstone*
125 : Iron
150 : Indurium*
155 : Gold
175 : Mithril
230 : Dark Iron*
230 : Truesilver
250 : Small Thorium
275 : Rich Thorium
*asterisks are special ores that are used in quests (explained further below)
The skill needed to smelt each type of mineral ore are the same as the skill required to mine it.
Zone Locations by Mineral Type
Copper : Alterac Mountains, Ashenvale, Darkshore, Desolace, Dun Morogh, Durotar, Duskwood, Elwynn Forest, Hillsbrad Foothills, Loch Modan, Mulgore, Redridge Mountains, Silverpine Forest, Stonetalon Mountains, The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Tirisfal Glades, Westfall, and Wetlands
Tin : Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Ashenvale, Darkshore, Desolace, Duskwood, Hillsbrad Foothills, Loch Modan, Redridge Mountains, Silverpine Forest, Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Westfall, and Wetlands
Iron : Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Ashenvale, Badlands, Blasted Lands, Desolace, Duskwood, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Searing Gorge, Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Tanaris, The Hinterlands, Thousand Needles, and Wetlands
Mithril : Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Azshara, Badlands, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Searing Gorge, Silithus, Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Tanaris, The Hinterlands, Thousand Needles, Western Plaguelands, and Winterspring
Small Thorium : Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Feralas, Searing Gorge, Silithus, Tanaris, The Hinterlands, Un’Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands, and Winterspring
Rich Thorium : Azshara, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Silithus, Un’Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands, and Winterspring
Adamantium : Outland
Khorium : Outland
Silver : Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Ashenvale, Badlands, Darkshore, Desolace, Duskwood, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Loch Modan, Redridge Mountains, Searing Gorge, Silverpine Forest, Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Tanaris, The Barrens, The Hinterlands, Thousand Needles, Westfall, and Wetlands
Gold : Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Ashenvale, Azshara, Badlands, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Desolace, Duskwood, Dustwallow Marsh, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Searing Gorge, Silithus, Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Tanaris, The Hinterlands, Thousand Needles, Western Plaguelands, Wetlands, and Winterspring
Truesilver : Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Azshara, Badlands, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Feralas, Searing Gorge, Silithus, Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Tanaris, The Hinterlands, Un’Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands, and Winterspring
Location and Purpose of Special Minerals
Rethban Ore : Any Copper or Tin mine in Redridge Mountains will drop these randomly.
Rethban Ore is for a quest given by Foreman Oslow in Redridge Mountains. He’s located at the southeast side of Lakeshire. Mobs inside the mine where Rethban Ore pops will also drop this ore type.
Incendicite : Wetlands, in the cave directly north of Dun Algaz on the map.
Incendicite is the objective of the alliance quest Search for Incendicite from Pilot Stonegear in Dun Morogh.
Indurium : Inside Uldaman in the various tunnels.
Indurium is the objective of the neutral quest Indurium Ore given by Pozzik at the race track in Thousand Needles.
Lesser Bloodstone : Arathi Highlands, in the northeast corner of the map.
Lesser Bloodstone Ore is the objective of the alliance quest Favor for Krazek given by Krazek in Booty Bay.
Dark Iron : In Blackrock Depths and Molten Core nodes can be found in the numerous caverns.
Dark Iron serves two purposes - you can either smelt it to create bars for any of the Blackrock Depths exclusive recipes or you can turn it in to Lokhtos Darkbargainer in the bar in Blackrock Depths to increase your Thorium Brotherhood faction. When you get your Thorium Brotherhood faction to Honored and above, Lokhtos will sell you some really nice crafting recipes.
To create one Dark Iron Bar you’ll need 8 Dark Iron Ore. You can only smelt Dark Iron at the Dark Forge which is located near the portal to Molten Core. You also need to learn the Smelt Dark Iron skill from Gloom’rel in Blackrock Depths in the seven ghosts room. He’ll only teach you the skill if you give him 20 gold bars, 10 truesilver bars, and 2 star rubies so come prepared!
You can only make items that require dark iron bars at the Black Anvil which is on the other side of the instance where Lord Incendius is located.
Gems by Mineral Type
There a chance when you mine a mineral node that you’ll also find a gem or two. These gems are useful in many crafting recipes, to Jewelcrafters, and to make gold in the auction house.
Here’s a list of the gems you can find with each mineral type:
Copper : Malachite, Shadowgem, Tigerseye
Tin : Jade, Shadowgem, Lesser Moonstone, Moss Agate, Blood Shard (only in the Barrens and used for a quest)
Silver : Shadowgem, Lesser Moonstone, Moss Agate
Iron : Aquamarine, Jade, Lesser Moonstone, Citrine
Gold : Jade, Lesser Moonstone, Citrine
Mithril : Aquamarine, Citrine, Black Vitriol, Star Ruby
Truesilver : Aquamarine, Citrine, Star Ruby
Dark Iron : Black Diamond, Blood of the Mountain, Black Vitriol
Small Thorium : Large Opal, Blue Sapphire, Star Ruby, Black Vitriol
Rich Thorium : Arcane Crystal, Azerothian Diamond, Blue Sapphire, Huge Emerald, Large Opal, Star Ruby
Before you get rid of any gems you mine, remember that a few gems are extremely rare and very valuable:
Arcane Crystals : These are worth between 20 gold to 40 gold depending on your server. Their drop rate is approximately 3%
Azerothian Diamonds : Worth from 40 to 100 gold on the auction house their drop rate is around 1%
Blood of the Mountain : Will sell for 50 gold to 150 gold at auction with a drop rate of 1%
(Notice that this screenshot was taken before I auctioned off the Mature Blue Dragon Sinew (worth 85 gold) and the stacks of Primal Water (worth 430 gold per stack) you can see there in my backpack.)
Here's another screenshot showing a few of my other auctions. I bought that Schematic: Healing Potion Injector for only 20 gold earlier in the day. When the auction clears I'll make at least 75 gold for just a few minute's work because I know what and when to buy and sell at the auction house for maximum profits.
If you're tired of struggling through WoW and not being able to afford the gear you want you need to get this guide!