Method Description, Instructions and Tips for Success

General Description

The gem rocks in Shilo Village are a great place both for training Mining and getting valuable gems that you can sell or use for Crafting. In fact, they are so great that the mine is constantly crowded. Full worlds usually have two or more players fighting for the rocks, and empty worlds often have players as well, and respawn too slowly even if they do not.

However, upon completing all three parts of the Karamja Achievement Diary, you get a great pair of gloves that teleports you straight to a second gem rock area directly below the first, which has 8 more rocks. They are rather spread out so a fair bit of running is required, but this is not a big deal since you have to wait about a minute for the rocks to respawn anyway.

If you are lucky enough to find a world where there is nobody upstairs, you could do both mines. I no longer bother, however, since, this is so rare these days.

Note that higher Mining levels don't help a great deal with gems because you run into respawn rate limitations.

The methods here assume that you are keeping all of the gems you take. Some players drop the opals and jade to make room for more of the better gems. I don't, though, because it only takes 45 seconds round-trip to bank and return to the mine. If the value of opal and jade drops dramatically, I'll revise this method.

Incidentally, don't bother with a war tortoise here as it makes little difference and is a waste of a valuable pouch. Even a pack yak isn't really worth using for this method.

Note that a dragon pickaxe will provide more yield than a rune pickaxe for those with Mining levels above 60. Due to its very high cost, however, I have decided not to include it in the Moneymaking Guide at this time.

Specific Method Details

Equip yourself with your rune pickaxe, weight reducing gear, ring of duelling and Karamja gloves 3. (Note that Varrock Armour doesn't work on gem rocks.) Also summon a spirit terrorbird.

Operate your gloves to teleport to the underground gem mine. Run southwest to the gem rock there, mine it, and then go clockwise around the loop. It should take about a minute to do all eight rocks, which is also what their respawn time is on a fairly full world. When your inventory is full, store 12 gems in the terrorbird and mine 12 more. When you have 40, teleport to Castle Wars, bank and repeat.