Cataclysm Classic Mining Profession and Leveling Guide

Mining is one of the few gathering professions available to players. This profession focuses on collecting ore, rather than crafting items or consumables. This gathered ore is most commonly smelted into bars and used by other professions, such as Engineering and Blacksmithing to fuel their crafting needs; but the raw ore can also be used with Jewelcrafting.

To be able to mine ore veins you need to have a Mining Pick in your inventory. When you have Mining you will learn a skill called Find Minerals to track and show the location of nearby ore on your minimap. Make sure to keep this up whenever you are out gathering or you will have a much harder time finding nodes.

When you learn Mining from the trainers you will also learn a technique called Smelting. It is a skill Miners can use when they are near a Forge to smelt the raw ore into usable metal bars for crafting. The good part is that smelting ore also increases your skill in Mining too and it can be used to level your Mining quickly without having to seek out veins of ore if you are willing to buy the materials.

Cataclysm brings 3 new Mining materials for players to gather.

• Obsidium Ore
• Elementium Ore
• Pyrite Ore

In Cataclysm, you no longer need to visit different trainers to learn new ranks of Mining. Every trainer will now be able to each you all ranks in any major city.

Alliance	Horde
Gelman Stonehand — Stormwind	Makaru — Orgrimmar
Geofram Bouldertoe — Ironforge	Brek Stonehoof — Thunder Bluff
Foreman Pernic — Darnassus	Brom Killian — Undercity
Muaat — Exodar	Belil — Silvermoon

Cataclysm also adds profession trainers in each starting zone, allowing you to pick up a profession right away rather than needing to reach a major city first.

Alliance	Horde
Jack All-Trades Derrington — Gilneas	KTC Train-a-Tron Deluxe — The Lost Isles
Lien Farner — Elwynn Forest	Runda — Durotar
Wembil Taskwidget — Dun Morogh	Lalum Darkmane — Mulgore
Iranis Shadebloom — Teldrassil	Therisa Sallow — Tirisfal Glades
Valn — Azuremyst Isle	Saren — Eversong Woods

Your Mining advancement begins by mining Copper Ore found in the low-level starting areas. Once you have reached 50 skill in Mining, head to your local trainer to learn Journeyman Mining, allowing you to progress up to 150 Skill.

Elwynn Forest

Tirisfal Glades

After training Journeyman Mining head out and lookout for Copper Ore, Tin Ore, and Silver Ore.

Hillsbrad Foothills

Make sure to visit your nearest trainer and learn Expert Mining. You are now mainly looking for Iron Ore, Silver Ore, and Gold Ore.

Western Plaguelands

At 150 Skill you obtain the ability to mine Mithril Ore, keep an eye out for any Mithril veins.

Tanaris

Here you are looking for Thorium Ore. Un'goro Crater has a very large amount of Thorium veins, allowing you to quickly level up in this zone. You can also head to Outland at level 275, but it will usually be slightly quicker to stay in Un'goro until level 300.

Un'goro Crater

Here you will be looking to farm some Fel Iron Ore in Hellfire Peninsula. Run along the mountain edges looking for any veins you can find on your minimap.

Hellfire Peninsula

Be sure to check in all of the caves for Adamantite Ore and Fel Iron Ore while flying around the zone.

Nagrand

Be sure to head to a Mining trainer to unlock Grand Master Mining, allowing you to max out your Mining at 450 skill level. Be sure to check the caves while flying around.

Sholazar Basin is one of the best zones in the game for mining ore as it has a massive amount of veins to mine. Use this zone to finish off your Mining skill in a short time.

Be sure to check the caves while flying around and keep an eye out for any Obsidium Ore veins.

Mount Hyjal

Be sure to check the caves while flying around and keep an eye out for Elementium Ore and Obsidium Ore veins. Here you can farm a very high amount of ore if there are not many others farming in the area.

Twilight Highlands

Mining provides you with a unique buff Toughness, increasing your Stamina based on your Mining skill level.

Buff	Skill Required	Details
Toughness (Rank 1)	75	Increases Stamina by 3.
Toughness (Rank 2)	150	Increases Stamina by 5.
Toughness (Rank 3)	225	Increases Stamina by 7.
Toughness (Rank 4)	300	Increases Stamina by 10.
Toughness (Rank 5)	375	Increases Stamina by 30.
Toughness (Rank 6)	450	Increases Stamina by 60.
Toughness (Rank 7)	525	Increases Stamina by 120.

Mining is just one of the many professions you may choose to level in Cataclysm Classic. To learn more about the other options available, we recommend checking out our overviews of all professions and their unique bonuses below.