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Mining is one of the primary professions found
in World of Warcraft. A gathering profession, Mining centers around the
collecting of various raw ores found throughout the wide world. Miners
also have the ability to take the raw ore they have collected and turn it
into a sellable product using their Smelting ability. Learn more about the
Mining profession in World of Warcraft in the sections below:

Training Mining

Before you can get out there and start
collecting ore you must first learn the Mining profession. Doing this is
simple, just seek out a Mining Trainer. These trainers can be found in all
capital cities and even some other more remote locations. If you find you
are having difficulty locating a trainer, speak with the nearest city
guard who will happily point you in the right direction.

alt="Org Mining Trainer" />

Once you have located the Mining Trainer speak
with them to learn the first level of Mining (Apprentice) for a small fee.
Apprentice Mining will allow you to earn skill points in the profession up
to 75. At this point you will need to return to your trainer to learn the
next skill level. This process will be repeated time and again until you
have reached the max skill level of 600. Check out the table below to see
the various ranks and skill levels of each:

Rank Skill
Levels
Apprentice 1-75
Journeyman 50-150
Expert 125-225
Artisan 200-300
Master
(The
Burning Crusade)
300-375
Grand
Master
(WotLK)
375-450
Illustrious
(Cataclysm)
425-525
Zen
Master
525-600

Mining Tools

Now that you have learned Mining, you must
collect the right tools for this profession. Mining requires players to
have a pickaxe (also known as a Mining Pick) along at all times in order
to mine ore. Mining Picks can be purchased for a small fee from vendors
located near your Mining Trainer, or from any Trade Vendor you may come
across.

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Mining in World of Warcraft

With Mining trained and your Mining Pick
located securely in your pack, it is finally time to set out into the
world and collect some ore. Don't be nervous, Mining in World of Warcraft
is a fairly simple process. Upon learning the Mining profession you will
be given the ability to “Find Minerals” (a skill found in the mini-map
drop down menu).

alt="Find Minerals" />

Turning this on will allow any nearby ore
nodes to appear as gold dots on your mini-map. Ore nodes are found all
over the world, however, you will notice these nodes typically appear in
rocky, mountainous areas. Head towards these gold dots to discover the
ore. Stand close to the ore and right click on it to begin Mining. Mining
is a channeled ability, so any movement or damage will interrupt the
process. When the channel is complete the ore will either show up in a
loot box or go directly into your bags depending on your loot settings.
After being mined the node will vanish and will not respawn for some time.

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Congratulations you have just mined your first
node of ore!

Skilling Up Mining

As Mining is a gathering profession, you need
to do a ton of gathering to skill it up. Flying around the world
collecting ore nodes is a great way to skill up. Keep in mind that
different ore nodes require different skill levels to loot. The difficulty
of each ore node for you to mine is color coded as with all other
professions in World of Warcraft. Depending on the difficulty of the ore
node will determine if you receive a skill point for collecting it or not:

Color Skill-Up
Chance

style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Red

Unable to gather at this time.

style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">Orange

A skill point will always be gained.

style="color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">Yellow

A skill point will most likely be
gained.

style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">Green

A skill point will likely not be
gained.

style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Gray

A skill point will never be gained.

Smelting Ore

Another great way to skill up your ore (and
potentially make some cash) is to use the Smelting ability. Smelting takes
raw ore and transforms it into purer bars of the base metal or you can
also combine other metals to create alloys such as Bronze. To Smelt metal
you need to be positioned near a forge, which can be found in most major
cities and even some out the way places.

alt="Smelting Icon" />

To smelt ore, open your professions tab and
select the “Smelting” button, then click on the ore you wish to smelt.

Toughness

Every primary profession in World of Warcraft
will give you a special benefit. In the case of Mining players will
acquire Toughness as a reward for all their hard labor swinging that pick.
Toughness translates into a small stamina boost that gradually increases
as the player gains skill in Mining. Toughness may be especially appealing
to tanks who are especially concerned with extra health.

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Secondary Professions

At some point in time you will most likely
want to take up another profession and you may decide you want one that
will complement Mining. Since Mining is a gathering profession, most will
choose to pair it with a production profession. There are three production
professions that pair well with Mining:

  • Engineering
  • Blacksmithing
  • Jewelcrafting

Each of these professions is able to take the
raw material you earn by Mining and transform it into some kind of
finishing product making them all great choices. However, if you are
looking to double up on gathering professions you will find that both
Herbalism and Skinning work equally well. All in all there is no best
route, do whatever fits your needs and personal preferences.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

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