Mining Guide

Mining 1 to 300

What you’re going to need:

The mining skill. Go see your local mining trainer to get trained.


A mining pick. Can't mine without one (these can also be enchanted if you want, makes absolutely no difference, but it's cool to have. Even if you have your mining pick enchanted the standard mining animation remains the same, so you actually see that nice demonslaying glow you got put on there. You will only see the glow when you equip it like a normal weapon. A player on our server even had a Crusader enchant put on their mining pick and told me that the proc happens when they mine, cant confirm this for sure, but it does seem really pointless).

Optional, but recommended extra: get the cheapest pair of gloves you can find and get them enchanted with +5 mining skill (shouldn't cost you more than 2g, as it takes 3 x Truesilver Bars and 3 x Vision Dust). Don’t bother with the +2 enchant as its not worth it.

If you’re an engineer then make yourself a Goblin Mining Helmet (Goblin Mining Helmet) as this will add +5 to your mining skill.

Also, please remember that mining nodes only appear on the side of hills, cliffs, mountains etc. So your unlikely to find any ores in the great rolling plains, unless there is a small hill there. Also note that Darnassus has NO ore whatsoever! So if you’re a Night Elf and want to mine, get your booty over to Darkshore ASAP. So with that in mind, always follow the cliff faces or hillsides.

Got all that? Good, then lets down and dirty, Dwarf style )

Mining 1 to 65
Mining Copper
Estimated number of nodes to mine = 30

This bit is easy. Mine about 50 copper and smelt. You can use any of the following suggestions for mining routes or make up your own, as copper is so abundant:

*At skill level 50, go back to the mining trainer and learn Journeyman Mining.

So far so good, now you need to hold your flag up:

Alliance WoW Mining Guide
Horde WoW Mining Guide
Done with reading those links? Let's proceed!

Mining 66 – 125

Mining Tin, Silver, Incendicite and Lesser Bloodstone
Estimated number of nodes to mine = 60

This part is a pain in the butt, if you don’t have a mount (well its all a pain in the butt, if you don’t have a mount) as the Tin Veins your going to need to mine are more spread out and not as common as the Copper you just being mining. You also stop getting skill up’s from smelting after about level 85 (Silver is the last thing to give you a skill up). The leg from 100-125 is also pretty bad, as Tin is green at this stage and therefore your getting skill ups at fewer intervals (just pray its a Silver spawn, instead of Tin, as this will still be yellow to you).

Horde & Alliance *even on PvP servers you can still use these routes and areas.

Easiest way to level up to 125, is to go to The Wetlands and find Thelgan Rock (its near the entrance to Dun Algaz - 53,64 for those with location addons). There is a cave there, that is full of spiders and a quest ore called Incendicite. This is an Alliance only quest, but Horde can still mine the ore. Now the ore itself is worthless and only used to complete the quest, but you can mine it from level 65 until about level 125. The nodes respawn quickly and you can level up your mining in less than an hour if your the only one in the cave.
If your Alliance and want to do the quest, go see Pilot Longbeard in The Miltary Ward in Ironforge for the starting quest. He'll send you to speak to Pilot Stonegear in Kharanos, who then gives you the quest.

Lesser Bloodstone: go to the cave in north east Arathi Highlands, just to the east of Hammerfall (path to cave is at 80,40) and mine the nodes inside. It's used as part of a quest chain thats started in Booty Bay by Corporal Kaleb (in the tavern). You only need to keep four of them for the quest.

I actually combine two of my routes here, if I have time. They are as follows:
# Start at The Crossroads and head West towards the entrance of Stonetalon Mountains. Then head south, hugging the cliffs as you go. Follow the cliffs all the way down south until you reach Blackthorn Ridge, just north of Razorfen Kraul. Follow the cliff to the main road and over. Continue heading east and then north up to the entrance to Dustwallow Marsh. Carry on going north until you reach Northwatch Hold and then head up to the Raptor Hills and the Quilboar Village. Now head back to The Crossroads.

# Start at the bottom of the Great Lift in Thousand Needles and head northwest up to Camp Ethok, following the cliff face as you go. Continue on till you reach the border of Thousand Needles and Feralas, then head over to the other side of Thousand Needles and follow the cliffs south. Make a detour when you reach Highperch, as there are a couple of Tin / Iron veins here. Carry on heading south until you reach The Screeching Canyon. Have a quick run into the cave here and pick the couple veins that normally spawn here. Continue south past Freewind Post and all the way to Windbreak Canyon. Now head north, again hugging the cliff face as you go and make your way up to Splithoof Crag. There is a Centaur Village here, with a cave that can have 4 or 5 veins (both Iron and Tin). Mine it. Carry on north past Darkcloud Pinnacle and back to the Great Lift.

Combine the two routes above for a 90-minute trek that can net 100+ copper, 50-70 Tin and 30-40 Iron.

There only two other places that I bother mining for Tin and that is:

# Hillsbrad Foothills: No route here, just do full circuits.

# Ashenvale: Again no real route, just do full circuits.

But you could also try the following places:
Wetlands: Start at Dun Modr and follow the cliffs to the southeast down towards Raptor Ridge. From here either go around Grim Batol, if you’re a high enough level to cope, or follow the cliffs towards Mosshide Fen and onto The Igan Rock. Once there head over to Dun Algaz, then north to Angerfang Encampment and onto Whelgars Excavation Site. Now head north past Ironbeards Tomb and back to Dun Modr.

Redridge Mountains: Start in Lakeshire, head north to Rethban Caverns and follow up to Renders Camp. Head south and follow cliffs to Alther’s Mill. Carry on east towards The Tower of Ilgalar and then loop round that and to the south, heading towards Renders Valley. Carry on to Lakeridge Highway and over to The Three Corners. Now head back to Lakeshire.

Mining 126 – 175

Mining Iron and Gold

Estimated number of nodes to mine = 100

*At level 125, go back to the mining trainer and learn Expert Mining.

From now on both Horde and Alliance can follow this guide easily, so I’ll won’t have separate sections.

# Do the Thousand Needle route above, but take in The Shimmering Flats as well this time.

# Desolace: If you’re Horde, start at Shadowprey Village and head into the Valley of Spears. Follow that through and out and over to the Kodo Graveyard (you could do a quick circle or move on here). Head east to the Magram Village and loop round and down to Shadowbreak Ravine. Follow that through and onto the Mannoroc Coven to the west. Carry on west to the Gelkis Village and make your way back to Shadowprey Village. If you’re Alliance, then start at Nijel’s Point and head southeast to Sargeron, then south to the Kolkar Village. From here you could carry on down south and complete the Horde run or head west to the Kodo Graveyard. From the Kodo Graveyard, head northwest to Ethel Rethor and then northeast ish to Thunderaxe Fortress. Follow round to the north and up to Tethris Aran and then back east to Nijel’s Point.

# Ashenvale: start at the entrance to Ashenvale from The Barrens and head to the west. Skip round the Battleground entrance (only if your Horde) and carry on to the river. Follow the river north, trying to keep as close to bank as possible, so that you can see spawns on both sides of the river. Keep following the river till you get to just before Xavian in the north. Now head east to the next river and cross over to Saytrnaar and onto Forest Song (watch out for those elites). Now head south through the Warsong Logging Camp if your Horde or skirt around it if your Alliance and continue on down through Felfire Hill and onto Demon Fall Canyon. Now head west through Nightsong Woods and back to your start point.

# Badlands: start at Apocryphens Rest and head south to Camp Cagg, then east to Mirage Flats. Now follow cliff face all way to Camp Boff, past Agmonds End. Head north past Dustwind Gulch and onto Hammertoes Digsite and then northwest to Angor Fortress. Now follow the cliffs west all the way to Kargath (or just before it, if Alliance) and back down to Apocryphens Rest. Remember to divert off slightly at each point where the Rock Elementals gather and do a quick tour of their spawn spots.

# Arathi Highlands: start at Thandoll Span and head east then north to Boulderfist Hall. Follow cliffs round to Witherbark Village and continue north up to Hammerfall. If you’re Horde, loop round the back of Hammerfall and continue on to the west. If your Alliance, go as far Drywhisker Gorge (remember to check inside, both Horde and Alliance) and then loop round Hammerfall to the south and back up to the northern cliffs. Follow cliffs west to Dabyries Farmstead and then head south past Refuge Point and back down to Thandoll Span.

# Alterac Mountains: start at the entrance to the Ruins of Alterac and head west past the Growless Cave. Follow the ridge around the ruins and keep going to the end. Now drop down to the coast (you can make a series of jumps to get down, without dying). Now head north to Dandreds Fold. Head east through The Uplands, zigzagging between the two cliff faces as you go until you get to Strahnbrad. Now follow the road back to your starting point. If you’re a high enough level, go into the ruins and do a quick sweep.

# Stranglethorn Vale: couple of small but good routes here. First one is to the north of Grom’Gol Base Camp. Start at Nessingwarys Expedition and follow the hills around the front of the three sets of ruins (Kalai, Balal and Zuuldaia) and then back round to the north of them and return to Nessingwarys Expedition. Second route starts at Kurzens Compound to the north of Zul’Gurub entrance. After a quick circle around the compound, head south down to Mosh’Ogg Ogre Mound. If you’re a high level, then do a sweep of the cave and carry on south to the Ruins of Zulmamwe. Keep heading south past the Crystalvein Mine and the Ruins of Aboraz. Carry on into the Mistvale Valley, now heading west towards the main road. From here either head to Booty Bay or follow the road back up north to your starting point.

# Swamp of Sorrows: couple of nice little spots here. Check around Ithariuss Cave where the Green Whelps are and also around The Stagalbog. Remember to check inside the Stagalbog.


http://www.grinding-guide.com/WoW-Mining-Guide

Also, please remember that mining nodes only appear on the side of hills, cliffs, mountains etc. So your unlikely to find any ores in the great rolling plains, unless there is a small hill there. Also note that Darnassus has NO ore whatsoever! So if you’re a Night Elf and want to mine, get your booty over to Darkshore ASAP. So with that in mind, always follow the cliff faces or hillsides.