Mining is a fundamental skill in Old School RS (OSRS), and introducing mining gloves has provided a great way to make your mining experience more efficient and AFK-friendly. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about mining gloves, from what they are, how they work, to where you can obtain them. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a thorough understanding of how mining gloves can improve your mining experience.

What Are Mining Gloves?

Mining gloves are a special type of glove that allows you to mine additional ores from rocks before they deplete. This makes mining a more AFK activity, as you won’t have to click as often to keep mining. There are three tiers of mining gloves: regular mining gloves, superior mining gloves, and expert mining gloves. Each of these gloves offers increasing benefits, allowing you to get more ores per rock and extending the time between needing to find a new rock.

With regular mining gloves, you can mine one extra ore before a rock depletes. Superior mining gloves extend this bonus to two extra ores for iron, silver, coal, and gold, and add a chance for extra ores from mithril and adamant rocks. Expert mining gloves, the highest tier, provide three extra ores for iron and gold, two extra ores for mithril and adamant, and even work on higher-tier ores like amethyst and rune, making them a valuable item for any dedicated miner.

How Do Mining Gloves Work?

The way mining gloves work is relatively simple. When you mine an ore while wearing the gloves, the rock has a chance not to deplete immediately, allowing you to extract additional ores before it eventually crumbles. This feature is incredibly useful, especially when you're grinding out lower-level ores like iron, where the extra ore drops can significantly increase your mining efficiency.

However, it’s worth noting that as of the time of writing this guide, mining gloves do not work on certain types of rocks, specifically sandstone and granite. Recent updates have altered the way mining gloves interact with these rocks, essentially removing their benefits for these materials. This could change in the future, so it’s a good idea to check the OSRS Wiki or community updates if you plan on mining sandstone or granite.

Requirements for Using Mining Gloves

To purchase and use mining gloves, you’ll need to meet a few basic requirements:

  • 60 Mining: This is needed to access the Mining Guild, where you can purchase the gloves. This requirement is boostable, so you can use temporary boosts like potions to meet it.

  • 40 Unidentified Minerals: These are needed to purchase regular mining gloves from the shop in the Mining Guild.

  • 70 Mining: This is required to use expert mining gloves, the highest tier available. Keep this in mind while grinding out unidentified minerals, as you’ll need to reach this level for the best gloves.

How to Obtain Unidentified Minerals

Unidentified minerals are a currency used to purchase mining gloves. They are obtained while mining in the Mining Guild, which makes this location a prime spot for grinding out minerals. The rate of obtaining unidentified minerals is tied to the type of ore you’re mining, with iron ore being one of the most efficient ways to gather them.

Once you have enough minerals, you can use them to purchase the different tiers of mining gloves from Balona’s shop, located near the bank in the Mining Guild. Here’s a breakdown of the costs for each tier of gloves:

  • Regular Mining Gloves: 40 unidentified minerals

  • Superior Mining Gloves: 100 unidentified minerals

  • Expert Mining Gloves: Requires both previous gloves and an additional 40 unidentified minerals

Where to Find Balona’s Shop

Balona’s shop is located in the Mining Guild, which is situated in Falador. To access the Mining Guild, head to the southern part of Falador and use the ladder to enter the Guild. There are a few different ways to reach the Mining Guild:

  • Running from Falador East Bank: If you’re already in Falador, you can simply run south from the East Bank to reach the Mining Guild entrance.

  • Using a Skills Necklace: The Skills Necklace has a teleport option directly to the Mining Guild. After teleporting, just run south to find Balona’s shop.

  • Dwarven Mine Entrance: You can also access the Mining Guild through the Dwarven Mine by running east from Falador and then south through the mine.

Once inside the Mining Guild, find Balona near the bank, and right-click on her to trade. This will give you the option to purchase the mining gloves with your unidentified minerals.

Upgrading to Superior and Expert Mining Gloves

After purchasing the regular mining gloves, you can upgrade to superior and expert mining gloves as you collect more unidentified minerals and level up your Mining skills. Here’s how to upgrade each tier:

  • Upgrading to Superior Mining Gloves: Requires 100 unidentified minerals. Once you have enough, trade with Balona to purchase them.

  • Upgrading to Expert Mining Gloves: Requires 70 Mining, both the regular and superior gloves, and an additional 40 unidentified minerals. To upgrade, talk to Balona and select the option to combine your gloves into the expert version.

Once upgraded, the benefits of the gloves increase, allowing you to gather multiple ores from various rocks before they deplete. For example, with expert mining gloves, you can gather up to four iron ores or three gold ores from a single rock, making them highly efficient for AFK mining.

Benefits of Using Mining Gloves

Mining gloves are incredibly useful for players looking to maximize their efficiency while training their Mining skills. Here are some of the key benefits of using mining gloves:

  • Increased AFK Time: With mining gloves, rocks last longer, meaning you don’t have to click as frequently to continue mining. This makes it easier to train Mining while focusing on other activities or relaxing.

  • Improved Ore Gains: Mining gloves increase the number of ores you can obtain from each rock, making it possible to gather more ores without needing to constantly switch rocks. This is especially helpful when mining ores like iron or amethyst, which are typically in high demand.

  • Enhanced Mining Experience: The ability to mine multiple ores from a single rock can speed up the process of training Mining, especially when combined with the experience boosts from mining in the Mining Guild.

Final Thoughts

Mining gloves offer a great way to improve the efficiency of your mining experience in OSRS, especially if you enjoy AFK activities. With the ability to mine multiple ores from a single rock, these gloves can make a big difference in how quickly you gather resources and level up your Mining skills. Remember that regular, superior, and expert mining gloves each provide increasing benefits, so it’s worth working towards the higher tiers as you progress in your mining journey.

While the gloves currently don’t work on sandstone and granite, the benefits they provide for other ores make them a worthwhile investment for any serious miner. Whether you’re looking to stock up on iron ore, gold ore, or even aim for high-level materials like amethyst, mining gloves can help you achieve your goals more efficiently.

Happy mining, and may your time in the Mining Guild be prosperous! We hope this article is helpful. For more guidance on OSRS and buying OSRS gold services, check out RSorder.

RSorder Team