Other than that, these are some of the other afk activities you might want to give a try for mining XP:
Motherload Mine (semi-afk, good profit from ores received) Barronite (good for new players and F2P accounts, chance to get some unique items) Shooting Stars (most afk mining activity by a mile, decent rewards) Mining Amethyst (very high level, not as afk as other methods)
Mining is widely considered by many players to be in Old School RuneScape’s top 3 worst skills, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be! Let’s go through each of these methods one by one, and showcase all their pros and cons so you can choose the perfect spot to swing your pickaxe at.
All The Best AFK Mining Spots
#1: Motherload Mine
Motherload Mine is probably the most well-known mining activity in OSRS that’s considered to be AFK. The concept of the mine is very simple: All around the cave, there are walls with ore veins in them. Mining these veins gives you Pay-dirt, which you must then clean by taking it to the center of the cave, and putting it inside the water-powered hopper. Your clean pay-dirt will turn into ore (based on your Mining level), and will flow towards the sack located opposite of the hopper, where it will stay and accumulate until collected. In addition to ore, you will sometimes find golden nuggets, which can be traded to Prospector Percy for goods – such as pieces of the Prospector outfit or upgrades to the mine. Accessing the Motherload Mine can be done through the house in Falador east of the Party room, or a cave through the Mining Guild. Note: The sack will only hold up to about 80 items, so make sure to collect your ore after about 4 inventories of pay-dirt.
#2: Barronite
The Ruins of Camdozaal are a relatively recent addition to OSRS, and serve as a skilling hub for low level F2P players. Inside the Camdozaal Ruins are the aptly named Camdozaal Mines, where you’re able to mine Barronite. These rocks are similar to Motherload Mine, where you can get more than one ore per click. Mining Barronite will either give you barronite shards, or a barronite deposit. The shards are used in the creation of a couple of tools and weapons, and can also be spent to receive various buffs throughout the ruins (such as 10% increased success chance while mining). The deposits can be broken down into barronite shards, with a chance of obtaining an ancient relic (like a piece of the Imcando hammer). The experience here isn’t all that great, so I recommended moving to something else once you level up a bit. Completion of the novice quest “Below Ice Mountain” is required to access the Ruins of Camdozaal, and 14 Mining is needed for barronite.
#3: Shooting Stars
Up next we’ve got my favorite way of training Mining, which is coincidentally also the one most AFK. Approximately every 2 hours, a shooting star will crash land somewhere on Gielinor. To find out where the star is going to land, players can build a telescope in the study room of their Player-Owned House. There are three different tiers of telescopes, with every higher level telescope being more accurate than its predecessor. The three tier are:
Oak telescope, requires 44 Construction and has a 24 minute window Teak telescope, requires 64 Construction and has a 9 minute window Mahogany telescope, requires 84 Construction and has a 2 minute window
When you look through one of these looking-glasses, you’re going to get a prompt saying in which general area the star is going to fall (for example, Kandarin), and in how much time. If a star has already landed, you’re going to get a text saying that you don’t see anything interesting right now. Each region has a predetermined set of possible locations that the star can fall (usually 3-5 spots per region), so all you gotta do to find it is go through them one by one. Stars come in different sizes, with each size requiring a different mining level to mine (a size 8 star requires 80 mining, but a size 2 star requires 20). When a player begins working on the star with their pickaxe, the outer layer slowly “degrades” until it eventually runs out, and the new layer appears (it always goes 1 tier down, so 6 becomes 5, 5 becomes 4). The higher layers of a star give the most mining exp, while the lower ones give the most stardust. Stardust can be traded to Dusuri at the Mining Guild for various items and consumables, with the most useful one being the Celestial Ring. Note: Free players are eligible to mine stars, though at half the regular experience. Additionally, the stardust shop is members-only, so you’ll have to hold on to your dust for another day.
#4: Mining Amethyst
Mining Amethyst is the highest level activity we’ll be covering here, and it’s perhaps the least afk one too. Amethyst Crystals are the highest level ore in OSRS, requiring a whopping 92 Mining in order to excavate. While you can only get 1 amethyst per crystal, the amount of time it takes to successfully mine one makes this activity somewhat afk. Tip: Wearing the Expert Mining gloves gives a 25% chance of not depleting an amethyst vein after a successful mine, further increasing the afk-ness of it. These gloves can be acquired by combining the Mining Gloves with the Superior Mining gloves, both of which must be bought using Unidentified Minerals. Getting the minerals can be done through mining anything inside the members area of the Mining Guild, including Amethyst! Lastly, players can take a chisel with them and turn the amethyst they get into dart tips, cutting banking time down to zero and maximizing profits! Amethyst Crystals can only be found in the Mining Guild, which can be quickly accessed with a Skills Necklace.
Bonus AFK Mining Tips
Here are a few extra things that every aspiring miner should know before setting foot inside the caves:
Always use the best tier of pickaxe that you can afford, or is available to you. Wearing the full Prospector’s Outfit from the Motherload Mine will increase all Mining experience earned by 2.5%. If your house lacks a telescope, you can use one in another player’s house. Tired of scouting for stars? Join one of the dedicated star hunting clan chats and let them do all the work for you! The Varrock Armour has a 10% chance of doubling any ore that you get, while the Mining Skillcape has a similar effect with only 5% chance. The Celestial Ring from shooting stars grants the wearer an invisible +4 boost to their Mining level. On top of that, when it’s charged, it has the exact same ore-doubling effect like the Varrock Armour.
