WoW Mining Guide

Mining is a very important gathering profession. Mining has become significantly more popular with the release of the Jewelcrafting profession and is still a necessary component of Blacksmithing. Because mining is so important and in high demand it is almost necessary to use a mining guide to save time and gather all the resources you need for your main profession. This mining guide will help you gather all of the resources you will need to.

Some of these mining routes are better illustrated in map format and easier to follow. If you stick to the tips in the first section and apply those to every zone you enter, it will make it easier for you to find what you are looking for.

Mining Copper 1-65

Required Skill: 1

Recommended Level: 1+

Because copper minerals are so easily found in the newbie zones, maps will not be necessary. If you look for mountains, rivers, caves, and sometimes small hills you will be able to find all the mines necessary to get you up to skill 75.

Mining Silver & Tin 65-125

Required Skill: 65, 75

Recommended Level: 10+

The Horde and Alliance will start merging zones and playing with each other in the zones where these resources are most commonly found. These zones include The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Wetlands, Ashenvale, and Redridge Mountains. Obviously, not all of those zones are contested territory but the opposing factions commonly level there anyways. Below are maps to the routes I recommend, if the map of the zone you wish to do your mining in is not included, then follow the basic tips of rivers, mountains, and caves.

Mining Iron & Gold - 125-175

Required Skill: 125, 155

Recommended Level: 20+

These zones are where you can go to mine gold and iron. Be advised that if you are on a pvp server that these nodes can get highly competitive and will oftentimes come to bloodshed. These zones include areas like Shimmering Flats, Desolace, Arathi Highlands, and Badlands.

Mining Mithril & Truesilver - 175-250

Required Skill: 175, 230

Recommended Level: 40+

If you had problems with PvP or competition in the previous zones; I want to give you a fair warning from here on out that it just gets more and more fierce. The zones you will most likely find Mithril and Truesilver in are Azshara, Searing Gorge, The Hinterlands, Blasted Lands, and Tanaris. At 230 skill you can also find Dark Iron to mine but it is located in instances near Blackrock Mountain and the surrounding zones.

Mining Small Thorium and Rich Thorium Deposits- 250-300

Required Skill: 250, 275

Recommended Level: 50+

At this point in mining people do not mess around. They are most likely starting to farm to sell on the auction house and make themselves rich. Typically competition is very fierce for these nodes but with the release of burning crusades people are mostly pursuing higher up minerals. These minerals are often found in zones like The Burning Steppes, Ungaro Crater, Eastern Plaguelands, Western Plaguelands, and Winterspring.

Mining Fel Iron, Adamantite, Rich Adamantite, and Khorium - 300-375

Required Skill: 300, 325, 350, 375

Recommended Level: 60+

These are the new mining minerals introduced in Outland and are only found in the new zones. Please keep in mind that you have to be 300 for Fel Iron, 325 for Adamantite, 350 for Rich Adamantite, and 375 for Khorium. Rich Adamantite and Khorium are rare spawns in place of the regular Fel Iron and Adamantite nodes. These resources are found in the Outlands. Fel Iron can be found in all zones so just follow any of the below mining maps and you'll run into it. Adamantite typicially spawns in Terrokar Forest, Nagrand, Blade's Edge Mountains, Shadowmoon Valley, and Netherstorm. All of these resources can be found among the following zone routes.

A full version of this guide with maps can be found here WoW Mining Guide

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