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So you want to be a miner? Mining is an exciting Profession used to gather materials for blacksmithing, engineering, or Jewelcrafting. However, you dont need those Professions to be a miner. You could simply collect resources and sell them. You're going to find these spots anyway as you travel throughout the world, so why not cash in on them?
Becoming a Miner
First you will need to find the mining trainer. After you have learned basic mining, open up your abilities book (hit "p") and look for the "Find Minerals" icon that has been added to your abilities. This will be used to detect mineral veins. Shift Click and drag that icon over to one of the rows of your action bar.
Now you need to go buy yourself a "mining pick". They are usually sold by a "trade merchant" or other merchants near the mining trainer.
Finding Mineral Veins
Now you need to find mineral veins. While you are playing, hit your "Find Minerals" Icon (or press the corresponding hot key). Mineral spots will now show up on the mini-map when you are near them. Seek them out. You will have to look around to find mineral veins. They are often found near quest locations and inside mines. They are usually near mountain terrain. It's up to you to discover the good mining locations. Often it's good to find a path that you can repeat between the mining nodes you have discovered. If a mining node is gray on the map, that means it's above or below you or possibly in a cave nearby.
Have "Find Minerals" active nearly all the time so that you will know when minerals are nearby.
Mineral Vein Types
Minerals come in many different versions. The first veins you will come across are Copper. To find more valuable and higher level ore, you will need to travel to higher level zones. For example Elwynn Forest/Durator has Copper. To find Tin you will need to travel to Westfall/The Barrens. Look below for a list of locations.
| Ore |
Skill Required |
| Copper |
1 |
| Tin |
65 |
| Incendicite** |
65 |
| Silver |
75 |
| Bronze1 |
75 |
| Iron |
125 |
| Indurium** |
150 |
| Gold |
155 |
| Lesser Bloodstone** |
155 |
| Steel2 |
165 |
| Mithril |
175 |
| Truesilver |
230 |
| Dark Iron |
230 |
| Small Thorium |
245 |
| Rich Thorium |
275 |
| Hakkari Thorium Vein |
275 |
| Small Obsidian Chunk |
305 |
| Large Obsidian Chunk |
305 |
| Elementium Ore3 |
- |
| Fel Iron |
300 |
| Adamantite |
325 |
| Rich Adamantite |
350 |
| Eternium4 |
- |
| Khorium |
375 |
1 - Bronze is created by combining Copper and Tin. One Copper bar and one Tin bar creates two Bronze bars.
2 - Steel is created by combing one Iron and one Coal.
3 - Only drops from Blackwing Technicians in Blackwing Lair.
4 - Mined from Fel Iron Deposit, Adamantite Deposit, Rich Adamantite Deposit, or Khorium Veins
**These ores are for quests only but they can be traded to other players that want to do the quest, sold on the auction house, or used to skill up your mining. Incendicite is available in Wetlands, Indurium in Uldaman, and Lesser Bloodstone can be found in Arathi Highlands.
| Ore |
Locations |
| Copper Vein |
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, Thunder Bluff, Tirisfal Glades, Westfall, Wetlands |
| Tin Vein |
The Barrens, Silverpine Forest, Darkshore, Ashenvale, Duskwood, Thousand Needles, Hillsbrad Foothills, Redridge Mountains, Loch Modan, Arathi Highlands, Wetlands, Stonetalon Mountains, Westfall, Alterac Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas |
| Silver Vein |
Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Ashenvale, Badlands, Darkshore, Desolace, Duskwood, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Hillsbad Foot hills, Loch Modan, redridge Mountains, Searing Gorge, Silverpine Forest, Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Tanaris, The Barrens, The Hinterlands, Thousand Needles, Westfall, Wetlands |
| Iron Deposit |
Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Ashenvale, Badlands, Desolace, Duskwood, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Searing Gorge, Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Tanaris, The Hinterlands, Thousand Needles, Wetlands |
| Gold Vein |
Alterac Mountains, Alterac Valley, 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, Un'Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands, Wetlands, Winterspring |
| Mithril Deposit |
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, Un'Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands, Winterspring |
| Truesilver Deposit |
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, Un'Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands, Winterspring |
| Dark Iron Deposit |
Burning Steppes, Searing Gorge, Blackrock Depths, The Molten Core |
| Small Thorium Vein |
Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Feralas, Searing Gorge, Silithus, Tanaris, The Hinterlands, Un'Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands, Winterspring |
| Rich Thorium Vein |
Azshara, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Un'Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands, Winterspring |
| Fel Iron Deposit |
Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest, Nagrand, Blade's Edge Mountains, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley |
| Adamantite Deposit |
Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest, Nagrand, Blade's Edge Mountains, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley, and Dungeons |
| Rich Adamantite Deposit |
Terokkar Forest, Nagrand, Blade's Edge Mountains, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley, and Dungeons |
| Khorium Vein |
Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest, Nagrand, Blade's Edge Mountains, Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley |
Not every zone that contains the ore is listed. Instances and battlegrounds are not usually listed. Ore can also be found in chests or as drops.
Using Mineral Veins
After you find a mineral vein, right-click on it to begin mining. If you are successful, you will now be able to loot some minerals and possibly some rough stones. If you fail, try again. Continue to mine the mineral vein until it disappears.
Mining Components
When you mine, you will find three main types of ingredients: metal, stones, and gems. Gems are rare and are used for better recipes for other professions, such as blacksmithing or engineering. Collect all the ingredients you find and keep them for later. Stones can be transformed by Blacksmiths and Engineers without the use of a forge. Many of these components can also be found from killing monsters or bought from other players.
When you mouse over the mineral vein, you will see a color showing whether you will gain skills by mining it.
Gray - You cannot increase your skill by mining.
Green - These mineral veins give you a fairly poor chance to increase your skill. You can still do it, but its going to take a lot of gathering/creation to up your skill with these mineral veins.
Yellow - These mineral veins give you a reduced chance of increasing your skill. Its still pretty reasonable to try to increase your skills with these mineral veins.
Orange - These mineral veins give you your best chance of increasing your skill. For many of the Professions making an orange item will always increase your skill.
Red - you cannot mine it yet. You need a higher mining skill.
After you have mastered the mining of a particular type of mineral, you will no longer gain skills by mining it. However, you can still use the minerals and stones you mine.
Mining nodes usually give stones that can be used in Blacksmithing or Engineering:
| Ore Veins |
Stones |
 |
| Copper |
Rough Stone |
| Tin |
Coarse Stone |
| Iron |
Heavy Stone |
| Mithril |
Solid Stone |
| Thorium |
Dense Stone |
| Ore Veins |
Gem |
| Copper |
Lesser Moonstone, Malachite, Moss Agate, Shadowgem, Tigerseye |
| Tin |
Lesser Moonstone, Malachite, Moss Agate, Shadowgem, Tigerseye |
| Iron |
Aquamarine, Citrine, Jade, Lesser Moonstone |
| Mithril |
Aquamarine, Black Vitriol, Citrine, Jade, Lesser Moonstone, Star Ruby |
| Small Thorium |
Black Vitriol, Blue Sapphire, Huge Emerald, Large Opal, Star Ruby |
| Rich Thorium |
Azerothian Diamond, Arcane Crystal, Blue Sapphire, Huge Emerald, Large Opal, Star Ruby |
| Fel Iron |
Deep Peridot, Flame Spessarite, Shadow Draenite, Blood Garnet, Golden Draenite, Azure Moonstone, Living Ruby |
| Adamantite |
Deep Peridot, Flame Spessarite, Shadow Draenite, Blood Garnet, Golden Draenite, Azure Moonstone |
| Rich Adamantite |
Deep Peridot, Flame Spessarite, Shadow Draenite, Blood Garnet, Golden Draenite, Azure Moonstone, Living Ruby |
| Khorium Vein |
Arcane Crystal, Deep Peridot, Flame Spessarite, Shadow Draenite, Blood Garnet, Golden Draenite, Azure Moonstone, Living Ruby |
Using a Forge/Smelting
Now that you have the precious metal, you can smelt it into bars that can be used for creating armor, weapons, or other items through the blacksmithing or engineering skills.
Find yourself a forge. They are located in main towns and some smaller towns. If you can't find one, ask around to determine their locations. To confirm you have in fact found a forge, move your mouse over the location and see if it says "forge". You can also try smelting the metals. You do not need to interact with the forge; you only need to be near it.
Now that you have found a forge, its time to smelt the metal. Open up your abilities book and locate the smelting icon. Press that to see your recipes. Some examples of what you can create with smelting are: converting copper ore into copper bars and creating bronze by combining copper bars and tin bars. To gain additional smelting recipes/options, you will need to learn them from a mining trainer. The mining screen will tell you how many of each bar that you can smelt based on the types and amounts of raw material that you have.
Claim Jumping
You will undoubtedly run into another player who is after the same mineral node as you; in fact you might not even see each other before you are both mining it. This is a place where you have the opportunity to be kind or greedy or even-handed with your character. You might offer the other person the mineral node, or try to take it all for yourself, or even offer to alternate mining at the node to increase both of your skills. If another player is fighting a monster next to a mining node, it's generally assumed they are planning on mining after their fight. It's nice to let them finish their fight and mine. If you wish to mine, it's best to first find out if they are going to mine that spot before jumping in and taking the mine (which can be perceived as rude).
General Information
| To become a master miner (300+) you will need to travel to Hellfire Peninsula in Outland for training.
You can earn money by mining and selling bars, stones, or gems on the auction house.
Sometimes you might want to sell ore on the auction house instead of bars because miners like to purchase those to level up their mining.
You can buy mining bags that can be used to store more mining materials. The smaller bag is sold by vendors. A larger one is created by Leatherworkers.
Dark Iron is found mostly inside instances such as Blackrock Depths or Molten Core. Dark Iron must be smelted inside Blackrock Mountain inside an instance.
You can purchase an enchant to gloves that will increase your mining skill. There is also an engineering item that raises mining.
You can share a skill point increase on a mining node by taking turns. One player gathers some ore, then another player gathers ore. |
Common Questions
Does a higher mining level mean you have a greater chance to mine jewels?
No. The jewels are already spawned in the node before you get there. They are either there or not there, and your skill level does not affect that.
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