Mining

Mining is the foundation of Britannia's metal economy — the Blacksmith's ore supply, the Tinker's ingot stack, and the Sampire's Lumberjacking-axe partner skill all draw from this skill's output. The Mining tree carries nine ore tiers from Iron to Valorite, the High Quality Granite system for Masonry, the Saltpeter dungeon resource, and the gem-drop table at GM. Uniquely, Mining is the only skill in the game that can exceed Grandmaster without a Power Scroll: Mining Gloves push the cap to 105 directly, and Power Scrolls do not exist for the skill.

Mechanics

To mine, use a Pickaxe or Shovel on a mountainside or cave-floor tile. The skill check rolls; on success, ore is harvested into the pack. On failure, no ore — the tool's durability ticks down on each attempt regardless.

A character cannot mine while mounted — dismount first.

Ore is smelted to ingots by using the ore on a Forge (in cities) or a Fire Beetle (the rideable mining-pet alternative). The smelt check has its own success roll based on the greater of the character's Mining or Blacksmithy skill. A failed smelt destroys 50% of the ore pile. Always smelt high-tier ore in small piles (2-ore stacks) to limit the loss-per-failure.

Ore tiers and skill thresholds

Ore tiers rise across mountainsides and cave floors as the player explores; the vein refresh mechanic randomizes which tier a vein produces on each cycle. A 65+ Mining character with Verite skills cannot force a vein to produce Verite — the vein decides what's there. The character's skill level only determines whether they can extract a tier; lower skill leaves a colored vein un-mineable.

Refresh and tier randomization

When a vein refreshes after being harvested, there is a slight chance it will change resource type — a Verite mountainside today might produce Iron tomorrow, and vice versa. The percentage of colored ore a vein produces on average remains roughly stable across tiers; if a Dull Copper vein gives 70% colored ore output, a flipped-to-Valorite version of that same vein will produce a similar 70% colored rate.

This is the tier-roulette mining gameplay: experienced miners track high-percentage colored veins, returning to them across many sessions. The actual ore-tier outcome cannot be controlled, but the percentage is (over time) consistent.

Tools that boost mining outcomes

The Gargoyle's Pickaxe and Prospector's Tool are scarce drops; their tier-bump function is the only way to upgrade a vein on demand. A skilled miner uses one bump on a Verite vein to attempt Valorite extraction.

Miner's Maps — Vela the Sorceress

The Covetous Void Pool reward system (administered by Vela the Sorceress) sells colored-ore maps that reveal a single vein's exact location for a target tier:

These are the only mechanism that guarantees a specific tier's location — an enormous time-saver for high-tier miners.

Felucca and town adjustments

The Felucca double-yield is the central reason serious miners run their pickaxe trips in Felucca despite the PvP risk — a Valorite-rich vein in Felucca yields twice as fast as the same vein in Trammel.

High Quality Granite and Sand

GM Mining unlocks two stone-track resources, each gated by a tutorial book sold at gargoyle alchemists/stonecrafters:

• High Quality Granite — for Masonry. Buy the tutorial book in Ver Lor Reg (Central Ilshenar) or Royal City (Ter Mur). Once read, the pickaxe can be set to mine stone alongside ore.
• High Quality Sand — same source. Once the book is read, beach and desert tiles can be mined in addition to mountains.

The tutorial books cost approximately 10,000 gold each. Both can only be read by GM Miners.

Recycle / re-smelting

Recycling Blacksmithy items returns ingots based on the greater of the character's Mining or Blacksmithy skill (capped at 105):

ingots_returned = (ingots_to_make_item) × (0.66% × Skill)

A 12-ingot item smelted at 100 skill returns 7 ingots (12 × 66.0%, rounded down). Pushing skill to 101.1 (with Mining Gloves) crosses the 2/3-back threshold — every ingot saved is real economic value when recycling rare ore.

Special resources

Gems (at 100 Mining)

A randomly-rolling gem drop joins each high-skill mining return:

• Turquoise
• Fire Ruby
• Blue Diamond
• Ecru Citrine
• Perfect Emerald
• Dark Sapphire

These are the Imbuing-grade gems used in property-roll crafting. Standard small gems can also be rolled after reading the High Quality Gems book (Royal City Blacksmiths, ~10,000 gold).

Saltpeter

Introduced with the High Seas booster. Saltpeter is mined from niter deposits found in dungeons and at sea. It's the gathering resource for the Black Powder gunpowder economy — used in cannon ammunition for ship combat. A Saltpeter-only miner runs a separate dungeon route from a standard ore-track miner.

Blackrock

A small piece of Blackrock is a rare event-special resource that has been used in past world events and retains some niche uses. Not part of standard mining yield; the chance is low and event-cycle dependent.

Race bonuses

A Human miner's per-dig output is intrinsically higher than an Elf's; an Elf's percentage of colored ore from a colored vein is intrinsically higher than a Human's. The choice depends on whether the miner is grinding bulk ore or chasing colored ore extraction.

Training

Build context

• Pure Miner. GM Mining + GM Blacksmithy + GM Tinkering + 100 Carpentry / Masonry. The full crafter pipeline; one character supplies an entire shard's metal economy.
• Sampire-Miner Hybrid. GM Mining + GM Lumberjacking + the Sampire combat skills. The Lumberjacking-axe damage bonus on a Sampire's Bardiche pairs naturally with a mining loop because both skills involve travel + extraction.
• Mining-Tamer. Mining + Animal Lore + Animal Taming + Vet — Fire Beetle for smelt-on-the-go, Pack Mule pets for capacity.
• Treasure Hunter. Mining is no longer required for T-Map digging (Pub 105 swapped Cartography in). Modern Treasure Hunter templates skip Mining; pre-Pub-105 builds still benefit from gear-shedding.

Strategy notes

• Mining Gloves are the practical cap. GM Mining + +5 Mining Gloves = 105 skill. Crosses the 2/3-back recycle threshold and allows safer high-tier smelting. Always equip when smelting Valorite.
• Felucca is mandatory for serious yield. The 2× ore per dig in Felucca is double-the-time-efficiency. Mining alts kept in Felucca with stealth + recall capability outperform Trammel-only miners by a factor of 2.
• Vela's maps are the high-tier shortcut. Save Void Pool tokens for Verite/Valorite maps when an extraction project needs specific colored ore.
• Smelt small piles. A 30-ore Valorite stack at 95 Mining is a 50% loss on a failed smelt. Split into 1-ore or 2-ore stacks; lose at most 1 unit per failure.
• Pickaxe vs. Shovel. Pickaxes are tinker-craftable from 4 ingots; shovels from 2. Shovels are slightly faster to acquire but identical in mining outcome. Carry both for variety.
• Smelt in Felucca too. No facet tax on smelting; colocate the forge near the mining yard.

See also

Blacksmithy, Tinkering, Glassblowing, Masonry, Carpentry, Lumberjacking, Mining Gloves, Pickaxe, Shovel, Forge, Fire Beetle, Giant Beetle, Iron Ore, Dull Copper Ore, Shadow Iron Ore, Copper Ore, Bronze Ore, Golden Ore, Agapite Ore, Verite Ore, Valorite Ore, High Quality Granite, High Quality Sand, Saltpeter, Niter Deposit, Blackrock, Vela the Sorceress, Covetous Void Pool, Miner's Maps, Royal City, Ver Lor Reg, Gargoyle's Pickaxe, Prospector's Tool, Felucca.