General Method Description

Gold ores maintain a high value because of the ability to use them to power-level Smithing. The big problem is that the rocks can often be crowded, so I spent time trying to find locations where you can mine productively with minimal conflict.

At level 50, you mine slowly enough that six rocks is sufficient to avoid waiting around for respawns, assuming you are on a reasonably full world. If you move your player-owned house to Brimhaven, there's a nice,

mine close by that is not often used and easy to get to -- it's located right by the entrance to the Brimhaven Dungeon.

At higher levels, you mine faster and would waste a lot of time standing around waiting for respawns there. A better option is the mine northwest of Brimhaven. It has 10 gold rocks near each other, and even a convenient gold ore ground spawn. In theory, the best place for high-level players to mine gold is the Arzinian Mine in Keldagrim, which has a whopping 146 gold ores. Completing the quest Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf even opens up a short-cut between the Arzinian Mine and the bank in Keldagrim. However, in my tests, I found that Brimhaven is still faster -- that may be because of the ground spawn there that gives you about two free ore per trip.

In terms of familiars, one idea at high levels is to use an obsidian golem or lava titan for their invisible Mining boosts. However, a beast of burden is usually better because it allows you to cut down significantly on banking. Use a spirit terrorbird until level 96 Summoning, when you can switch to the pack yak; don't use a war tortoise as it is only a little better than the terrorbird and the pouches are very expensive.

Finally, always wear your Varrock armour to get a chance of mining two gold at once!

Very high level players who also have high combat skills should strongly consider mining concentrade gold deposits instead, to earn more money and more XP as well.

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.