1-300 Mining Guide

What you’re going to need:

Mining skill (obviously). 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 ( http://wwndata.worldofwar.net/item.php?id=10542 ) 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 Teldrassil (Night Elf Start Zone) 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 level 50, go back to the mining trainer and learn Journeyman Mining.

Horde



Undead: Start at the entrance to Deathknell, looking out towards Brill. Head South and follow the cliffs all the way round to The Undercity. Skip past UC and keep following the cliffs up to The Bulwark. Now head North up to Scarlet Monastery, hugging the cliffs as you go. When to reach the coast, head west and then south to follow the cliffs down and round to Agamand Mills. Follow those hills south again to get back to your starting point. Average amount of copper ore from this run, should be about 30-40.

Tauren: Mulgore. The natural geography of this place makes it easy to run around. Just pick a starting point and follow the cliffs all the way around in a circle. Remember to check out the Venture Co mine on your way round. Average amount of copper ore from this run, should be about 40-50.

Orc & Troll: You could just do whole circuits of Durotar, but there is so much copper round here that small routes are just as productive. My favourite routes are:

Start at the gates of Orgrimmar and head East towards Skull Rock (make sure you go into Skull Rock and mine the ore there too). Head a short way south to where that Orc is standing on his lonesome, then head back West following the cliff face (keeping the Zep Tower in sight). Carry on over the road and across the top of the canyon and on to the coast. Head North up to the cliff face and then East back to Orgrimmar. I get about 30-40 copper ores from this short run on a good day.

Start at Razor Hill and head West towards the Quilboar grounds. Hug the cliff face until you reach the river, then head north until you reach Orgrimmar. Head East until you see the first little farmstead, now head south and drop into the canyon. Follow the canyon out and head South East until you reach Razor Hill again. You’ll get about 25-30 copper ores on this route.

Alliance


Human: Start at Goldshire and head East following the cliff face to the north of Crystal Lake. When you get the north of the Logging Camp head South. Follow the river to the border of Elwyn forest and Duskwood, then head North West back towards Goldshire (make sure you visit the two mines on this route). This route should net you about 30-40 copper ores.

Night Elves: Your going to have to go to Darkshore, as Darnassus has no ores whatsoever! So start at Auberdine and head directly east until you reach the cliffs at the edge of the map. Now head south, hugging the cliff face as you go. When you get to the entrance of Ashenvale, head west to the coast and then North back to Auberdine. Head out from Auberdine, directly to the East (same as you did at the start of this route), but when you reach the cliffs this time head north. Just follow the cliffs to the North and back round the coast, heading South again to Auberdine. I find this figure of eight pattern to be easier than taking Auberdine in one whole route, but that’s just me. Feel free to improvise it. Normally get about 40-50 copper ores from this entire route.

Dwarves and Gnomes: Ah, the home of mining and possibly the best place to start, Dun Morogh! You really don’t need a route around here, copper is everywhere, if you can’t find a decent route yourself, then you’re beyond help! But, I will tell you my favourite route. Start at Kharanos and head to the Wendigo cave (you all know where that is, right?). Clear cave and then continue on West, following the cliff face. Carry on until you hit the main road then head North up to the Frostmane Hold. From there head directly east over to Shimmer Ridge, then North up to Ice Flow Lake. Now follow the cliffs down to Ironforge, on to Misty Pine Refuge and back round to Kharanos. This run normally nets me about 40-50 copper ore.

Another good run in this area is the Gol’Bolar Quarry. Circle the outside, around the top, then drop down and into the mines. I can get about 20 copper ores on this short run.

Mining 66 – 125

Mining Tin and Silver

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.

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 (ish) 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.

http://www.marsgamer.com/freeguides/1-300_mining_guide.html

Undead: Start at the entrance to Deathknell, looking out towards Brill. Head South and follow the cliffs all the way round to The Undercity. Skip past UC and keep following the cliffs up to The Bulwark. Now head North up to Scarlet Monastery, hugging the cliffs as you go. When to reach the coast, head west and then south to follow the cliffs down and round to Agamand Mills. Follow those hills south again to get back to your starting point. Average amount of copper ore from this run, should be about 30-40.