TBC Classic Mining Profession and Leveling 1-375 Guide

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

Mining ore veins first requires you to have a Mining Pick. Mineral veins will take multiple hits to fully empty, with anywhere from 1-2 successful harvests all the way up to 8. Make sure you fully clear out the mineral vein to get the maximum amount of materials possible.

While focusing on gathering ore, it is highly recommended to use a movement speed increase, such as Crusader Aura or Riding Crop. This will help greatly with the amount of materials you can gather in a session as the movement speed lets you move from vein to vein much faster over the course of a long farming session.

You may also find that Mining can be used to complement your goldmaking in TBC Classic. For more information on this among other methods involving alternative professions, please see our separate guide on the topic:

When Mining is learned as a profession, you will also learn a skill called Find Minerals that will show nearby mineral nodes as a golden point on your minimap. This allows you to see ore in hidden areas or off-screen so you can gather any nearby ore.

When you approach a mineral vein, you can interact with it to try and mine the ore. However, you cannot gather all ore from the start; you will see different colors representing how hard is it for you to gather that certain ore. These colors represent the skill level needed to gather the ore and are the following:

• Red means that vein needs a higher skill level than you currently have and you cannot mine it yet.
• Orange means you can mine this vein, but your attempts may fail. Every first successful attempt on the vein is guaranteed to increase your Mining skill.
• Yellow means you can normally mine this vein, your attempts may occasionally fail, and most successful attempts increase your Mining skill.
• Green means you can easily mine this vein, your attempts will rarely fail, and you will rarely increase your Mining skill by mining these.
• Gray means you can mine this vein with no effort, your attempts will never fail, and they will never increase your Mining skill.

When you learn Mining from the trainers, apart from the very useful Find Minerals you will also learn a technique called Smelting. It is a skill Miners can use when they are near a Forge to smelt the minerals into usable metal bars for crafting. The good part is that smelting minerals 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.

The skill levels you will need to train at are:

• Apprentice Level can be learned when first picking up the profession, starts from a skill level of 1, and goes up to 75. It also requires your character to be Level 5.
• Journeyman Level can be learned when you reach a skill level of 50 and goes up to 150. It also requires your character to be Level 10.
• Expert Level can be learned when you reach a skill level of 125 and goes up to 225. It also requires your character to be Level 20.
• Artisan Level can be learned when you reach a skill level of 200 and goes up to 300. It also requires your character to be Level 35.
• Master Level can be learned when you reach a skill level of 275 and goes up to 375. It the highest Profession Level and also requires your character to be Level 55.

You can learn Mining from any Mining trainer, which are found in capital cities. When you arrive at a major city you can ask any city guard for directions, and pick the Mining trainer option under the professions section. This will mark their location on your map, allowing you to easily find them and get the Mining skill.

To learn Mining past 300 skill level, you must travel to Outland and talk with a master Miner. Alliance and Horde players can find their respective trainers at:

• [A] Hurnak Grimmord at Honor Hold in Hellfire Peninsula, around coordinates (56,64).
• [H] Krugosh at Thrallmar in Hellfire Peninsula, around coordinates (55,37).

Vein	Skill Level				Possible Loot			Zones
	Orange	Yellow	Green	Gray	Guaranteed	Sometimes	Rarely
Copper	1	25	50	100	2-4 Copper Ore	1-6 Rough Stone	1 Shadowgem 1 Malachite 1 Tigerseye	Low-level zones
Tin	65	90	115	165	2-4 Tin Ore	1-8 Coarse Stone	1 Shadowgem 1 Moss Agate 1 Lesser Moonstone 1 Jade	Low-level zones
Silver	75	100	125	175	2-4 Silver Ore		1 Shadowgem 1 Moss Agate 1 Lesser Moonstone	Low- to mid-level zones
Iron	125	150	175	225	2-4 Iron Ore	1-6 Coarse Stone	1 Aquamarine 1 Citrine 1 Lesser Moonstone 1 Jade	Mid-level zones
Gold	155	180	205	255	2-4 Gold Ore		1 Aquamarine 1 Citrine 1 Lesser Moonstone 1 Jade	Mid-level zones
Mithril	175	200	225	275	2-4 Mithril Ore	1-8 Solid Stone	1 Aquamarine 1 Citrine 1 Star Ruby 1 Black Vitriol	Mid-level zones
Truesilver	230	255	280	330	2-4 Truesilver Ore		1 Aquamarine 1 Citrine 1 Star Ruby	Mid-level zones
Thorium (small)	245	270	295	345	2-3 Thorium Ore 2-5 Dense Stone		1 Black Vitriol 1 Arcane Crystal 1 Large Opal 1 Star Ruby 1 Huge Emerald 1 Blue Sapphire 1 Azerothian Diamond	Mid- to high-level zones
Thorium (rich)	275	300	325	375	4-5 Thorium Ore 4-7 Dense Stone		1 Black Vitriol 1 Arcane Crystal 1 Large Opal 1 Star Ruby 1 Huge Emerald 1 Blue Sapphire 1 Azerothian Diamond	Mid to high-level zones

Metal	Skill Level				Materials
	Orange	Yellow	Green	Gray
Copper Bar	1	25	47	70	1 x Copper Ore
Tin Bar	65	65	70	75	1 x Tin Ore
Bronze Bar	65	65	90	115	1 x Copper Bar 1 x Tin Bar
Silver Bar	75	115	122	130	1 x Silver Ore
Iron Bar	125	130	145	160	1 x Iron Ore
Gold Bar	155	170	177	185	1 x Gold Ore
Steel Bar	165	165	165	165	1 x Iron Bar 1 x Coal
Mithril Bar	175	175	202	230	1 x Mithril Ore
Truesilver Bar	230	235	242	250	1 x Truesilver Ore
Thorium Bar	250	250	270	290	1 x Thorium Ore

1-65

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.

65-125

After training Journeyman Mining head out to either Hillsbrad Foothills, Redridge Mountains, The Barrens, Loch Modan, or Darkshore and look for these veins for skill-ups all the way to 125:

• 65-100 — Copper Ore
• 65-125 — Tin Ore
• 75-125 — Silver Ore

125-175

Make sure to visit your nearest trainer and learn Expert Mining. You will be gathering plenty of these ores as this is typically one of the tougher spots in Mining progression as you only have one main ore to gain skill-ups from. Set up nice circular routes in Arathi Highlands, Desolace, and Thousand Needles to cover as much ground as possible and keep your eyes peeled for:

• 125-175 — Iron Ore
• 155-175 — Gold Ore

175-225

At 175 Skill we obtain the ability to mine Mithril, giving us access to a very popular mineral. If you previously were in Arathi Highlands, you can continue to mine there as there is a large mixture of your needed ores. If not, you will want to make your way there, to Hinterlands, or Tanaris.

• 175-225 — Mithril Ore

225-245

At 225 Skill, make sure to visit your nearest Mining trainer and learn Artisan Mining. After that continue your previous mining route until you reach 245.

245-300

At 245 Skill we gain the ability to mine Small Thorium Veins and at 275 we can access the Rich Thorium Veins, giving us the ability to quick gather all ore in the area and reach Skill Level 300. We recommend that you head into Un'Goro Crater, Blasted Lands, Felwood, or Silithus and gather any mineral veins that may grant you a skill-up.

• 245-300 Thorium Ore

Vein	Skill Level				Possible Loot			Zones
	Orange	Yellow	Green	Gray	Guaranteed	Sometimes	Rarely
Fel Iron	300	325	350	400	2-4 Fel Iron Ore	1-2 Mote of Earth 1-2 Mote of Fire	1 Eternium Ore 1 Golden Draenite 1 Blood Garnet 1 Flame Spessarite 1 Deep Peridot 1 Shadow Draenite 1 Azure Moonstone	All Outland zones
Adamantite	325	350	375	425	2-4 Adamantite Ore	1-6 Mote of Earth 1 Eternium Ore	1-2 Golden Draenite 1-2 Blood Garnet 1-2 Flame Spessarite 1-2 Deep Peridot 1-2 Shadow Draenite 1-2 Azure Moonstone	All Outland zones except Hellfire Peninsula
Adamantite (Rich)	350	375	400	450	5-7 Adamantite Ore	3-8 Mote of Earth 1-3 Eternium Ore	1-2 Golden Draenite 1-2 Blood Garnet 1-2 Flame Spessarite 1-2 Deep Peridot 1-2 Shadow Draenite 1-2 Azure Moonstone	All Outland zones except Hellfire Peninsula
Khorium	375	400	425	475	2-4 Khorium Ore	1-4 Mote of Earth 1-3 Eternium Ore	1-2 Golden Draenite 1-2 Blood Garnet 1-2 Flame Spessarite 1-2 Deep Peridot 1-2 Shadow Draenite 1-2 Azure Moonstone	All Outland zones

Metal	Skill Level				Materials
	Orange	Yellow	Green	Gray
Fel Iron Bar	300	300	307	315	2 x Fel Iron Ore
Adamantite Bar	325	325	332	340	2 x Adamantite Ore
Eternium Bar	350	350	357	365	2 x Eternium Ore
Felsteel Bar	350	355	367	380	3 x Fel Iron Bar 2 x Eternium Bar
Hardened Adamantite Bar	375	375	375	375	10 x Adamantite Bar
Khorium Bar	375	375	375	375	2 x Khorium Ore

300-325

Here we 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.

325-350

For these next 25 skill-ups we will head into Zangarmarsh and search along the outer edges of the map. Here we will find a mixture of Fel Iron Ore and Adamantite Ore, both offering us skill-ups.

350-375

The last few skill-ups we recommend heading into Nagrand as we will see an increased number of nodes, both rich and regular, in the area. You can also choose to stay in your current area as Mining is very simple to train in any of the zones Outland has to offer.

With Phase 5, the new raid Sunwell Plateau on the Isle of Quel'Danas adds a new smelting pattern, which can drop from any of the trash mobs inside the raid. Study of Advanced Smelting is Bind on Pickup, requiring a player with mining to loot the book themselves. When used, the Miner will learn to Smelt Hardened Khorium. These bars are required to make many of the new crafting patterns that are also obtained in the raid.