Mining

Intro:

Mining is a primary profession, and can be used with blacksmithing, engineering and for the purposes of trading. While out in the world, you will often be near a mine. Many ores and other things like gems can be found from mines. Crafters can use mining to save on the cost of materials and mining can be used to generate cash by selling to crafters.

No matter if you mine while you fight or fight while you mine, mining can help you reach your goals.

Getting Started: Apprentice

Miners can be found in the low level areas or at the capital cities for the most part. Most trainers will have a supplies merchant nearby who can sell you a mining pick, the one needed thing for mining. General Supply merchants also tend to sell picks. After you get the mining skill, you can then use the 'find minerals' skill which puts dots on the minimap showing where the minerals are close to use. A good starting point is to zoom the minimap all the way in, then zoom out twice, to see minerals around you. You will find that minerals are often in odd places. You may have to zoom the minimap in to be able to find the deposit. You will also tend to get better at mountain climbing to reach some deposits.

The first thing you will find is copper. Copper is easy to find and has many uses. Copper ore stacks to 10 in your bags and can be converted to copper bars with smelting which stack to 20. Smelting is the process of converting the ore to bars which are used to craft or can be traded. Ore can be traded also, but there is little reason not to smelt the ore. Early on, you will get skill point for smelting. However, you will find that you stop getting skill for smelting and have to mine to get more skill.

Continuing Your Career: Journeyman

As you start exploring away from the newbie areas, you will see tin now and then. By the time you reach around level 20, you should be able to find tin without trouble. From around skill 75 and up, you won't be getting skill from smelting copper or tin, so keep busy with that pick! Most of your trainers will train you to Journeyman, so this is easy to find and get.

Once you start finding tin, you will have a chance to find silver. Silver is a rare respawn of tin mines. It takes skill 75 to mine silver. Smelting silver will give skill after copper and tin stop, but still won't get you to expert. Once you find tin, make sure you visit a trainer to get tin and bronze smelting. Bronze is smelted from copper and tin bars.

As you reach the end of your Journeyman period, you will find that the skill slows down. Copper mining stops giving skill and only tin and silver mines will give skill. Stay with it, for you may soon see that iron mine! At skill 125 you can mine Iron, and will start to skill up again.

Mining for Fun and Profit: Expert

Between skill levels 125 and 150, you should find an expert mining trainer, and pick up expert mining so you can keep increasing skill past 150. Expert mining trainers can be found at:

Ironforge

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Training is free and allows access to iron and gold ores.

Zen and Art of Mining: Artisan

Not too much is known of the arcane ways of the Artisan Miner.

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Tips

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