This guide (updated for patch 3.1.3) is intended to be used by people who are power leveling their mining using a high level character who has an array of flight paths, mounts, and is high enough level to easily access all of these zones without too much difficulty.
Physically mining nodes is not the only option to power level your mining. For some steps it may be feasible to buy ore off the auction house and smelt it. You can get your mining from 1 to 290 from smelting without ever touching a mine but it will be very expensive because some of the ores are rare, if you wish to skip these first steps and power level your mining to 290 from smelting see the Smelting 1-375 section at the bottom of this guide (you can actually reach 375 by mining for 30 skill ups only). If you'd like to smelt but don't have the money check out this Gold Guide for gold making ideas.
Leveling Sections:
1-65 - Copper
66-125 – Tin
126-175 - Iron
176-245 – Mithril
246-300 – Thorium
301-350 – Fel Iron
351-375 - Adamantite
351-400 – Cobalt
401-450 - Saronite
Smelting 1-375
Skill: 1-65
The first resource you will be mining while power leveling your mining is Copper. If you have money you can just skip this step and buy Copper Ore and smelt it into Copper Bars, but if for some reason you would like to use mining instead of smelting to level your skill for this part, I recommend the following zones and routes.
There are also more routes are available in the Horde Copper Mining Guide and Alliance Copper Mining Guide.
Skill: 66-125
At skill level 75 you will be able to mine Silver which you will find frequently while mining Tin. This will help you get your skill to 125. If you have the money, smelting Bronze Bars or Silver Bars from buying ore in the auction house will also help you speed up this step. If you don't have much gold to buy mats then take a look at these gold making tips. The best Tin Mining Routes are available below.
There are also more routes are available from the Tin Mining Guide.
Skill: 126-175
At skill level 155 you will also be able to mine and smelt Gold which can help you get to 175 faster. I recommend buying 20 Gold Ore off the auction house when you hit skill 155 to smelt 20 Gold Bars and use those skill ups to make the process faster (make sure you trained smelt gold from the Alliance Mining Trainer or Horde Mining Trainer).
There are more Iron routes are available from the Iron Mining Guide.
Skill: 176-245
At skill level 230 you will be able to mine Dark Iron Ore and Truesilver Ore, both can help you get to 245 quicker but the majority of the work will be done by mining Mithril. The best Mithril mining routes are found below. Also, consider simply skipping to the smelting section of the guide to save time. If you need gold to buy the mats look at this Gold Guide.
More Mithril routes are available from the Mithril Mining Guide.
Additionally to help from 230-245 you may find the Dark Iron Mining Guide or Truesilver Mining Guide useful.
Skill: 246-300
You will NOT be able to mine Rich Thorium Veins until skill 275 so try to focus on mining Small Thorium Veins until then. Also, I personally have mined Thorium until I hit skill level 340 so if you are not quite high enough to enter Outland safely you can stay on Thorium until 340. Below are the best Small Thorium Mining Routes.
Switch to these areas after you hit skill 275 to get to 300 faster.
More Thorium mining routes are available from the Thorium Mining Guide.
Skill: 301-350
I want to point out that you can level your mining to 375 just by mining Fel Iron but it may take a little bit longer. I did it without leaving Hellfire Peninsula. It slows down after the mines turn green at 350, but it is possible. Below is the best Fel Iron Mining Route (yes you only need one). Also, don't forget that you can smelt for this section until 340, check out this Gold Guide if you need gold to buy the mats.
More Fel Iron mining routes are available from the Fel Iron Mining Guide.
Skill: 351-375
At 350 you are able to mine both Rich Adamantite Deposits and Adamantite Deposits so you should have no trouble going to 375 swiftly if you follow these routes. As an alternative to mining Adamantite at all you can also skip right ahead to mining Cobalt for these levels.
If you have a flying mount do not use the two areas above but instead try these.
More Adamantite mining routes are available from the Adamantite Mining Guide.
Skill: 351-400
In Zul'Drak you might find Rich Cobalt nodes but they aren't mine-able until 375. Keep in mind that Zul'Drak is a higher level zone (mid 70's) and if you are a lower level you might want to try Howling Fjord instead. Also, if you have money you might want to consider buying Cobalt Ore off of the auction house and smelting until you reach 375. If you don't have the gold to buy the supplies use these gold making tips to help you get all the gold you need.
More Cobalt mining routes are available from the Cobalt Mining Guide.
Skill: 401-450
Icecrown has been by far the most rewarding zone for Saronite and Titanium but Scholazar is by far the most fun because there various different options in the route and varying landscapes that you can tour on your mount. Scholazar is usually crowded and highly competitive due to it being a lower level zone but may actually have more node spawns than Icecrown.
More Saronite mining routes are available from the Saronite Mining Guide.
(you will have to mine 3 times in this guide)
You can smelt from 1-375 and only have to mine for three times in the guide. This can make leveling up your mining really easy but if you don't have the gold to buy supplies you will be out of luck. Take a look at these gold making tips so that you can simply buy mats and smelt your way up.
Smelting Copper
Skills: 1-65
Buy enough Copper Ore from the auction house to reach skill 65 in mining. You will need at least 65 Copper Ore. Try starting off by buying 100 Copper Ore and see where you end up. I used 165 ore one time leveling up and 131 another time, so it varies.
| Copper Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
1 |
| Yellow |
25 |
| Green |
47 |
| Gray |
70 |
Smelting Tin
Skills: 65-75
I made 22 Tin Bars to get to skill level 75. You'll need Tin Bars to smelt your Bronze Bars. If you don't want to smelt Tin at all then just buy the bars from the Auction House, and begin smelting Bronze right away.
| Tin Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
65 |
| Green |
70 |
| Gray |
75 |
Smelting Bronze
Skills: 75-115
If you have a lot of cash just skip this section and move to smelting Silver Ore, it will go faster, or just smelt Bronze until it turns green at 90. If you decide to level up all the way from yellow to gray plan on smelting for a while. I did it to test it out and it took me 227 smelts just to reach 115.
| Bronze Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
65 |
| Green |
90 |
| Gray |
115 |
Smelting Silver
Skills: 115-125
Silver can be a bit more expensive to make than Bronze Bars but if you make Silver Bars you'll level up with less smelting attempts. I made 15 Silver Bars to get to 125.
| Silver Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
75 |
| Yellow |
115 |
| Green |
122 |
| Gray |
130 |
Smelting Iron
Skills: 125-155
It took me 59 smelts to get from 125-155.
| Iron Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
125 |
| Yellow |
130 |
| Green |
145 |
| Gray |
160 |
Smelting Gold
Skills: 155-175
It took me 22 smelts to get to 175.
| Gold Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
155 |
| Yellow |
170 |
| Green |
177 |
| Gray |
185 |
Smelting Steel
Skills: None! It's gray.
| Steel Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
- |
| Green |
- |
| Gray |
165 |
Smelting Mithril
Skills: 175-230
It took me 217 smelts to reach 230.
| Mithril Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
175 |
| Green |
202 |
| Gray |
230 |
Smelting Truesilver
Skills: 230-250
It took me 47 smelts to get to 250.
| Truesilver Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
230 |
| Yellow |
235 |
| Green |
242 |
| Gray |
250 |
Smelting Thorium
Skills: 250-290
It took 216 smelts to get to 290.
| Thorium Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
250 |
| Green |
270 |
| Gray |
290 |
You will have to mine from 290-300 since Thorium Bars turns gray at 290.
Smelting Fel Iron
Skills: 300-315
It took me 46 smelts to get to 315.
| Fel Iron Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
300 |
| Green |
307 |
| Gray |
315 |
You'll have to mine from 315-325 since you can't smelt Adamantite until 325.
Smelting Adamantite
Skills: 325-340
It took me 77 smelts to get to 340.
| Adamantite Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
325 |
| Green |
332 |
| Gray |
340 |
You'll have to mine from 340-350 since you can't smelt the next level ores until 350.
Smelting Cobalt
Skills: 350-375
This is likely the easiest way to finish off to 375; however, you can level up using Eternium and Felsteel to 375. If you choose to level up using these two ores I have listed the path you would take below this section.
| Cobalt Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
350 |
| Green |
362 |
| Gray |
375 |
Smelting Eternium
Skills: 350-365
It took me 45 smelts to get from 350-365.
| Eternium Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
350 |
| Green |
357 |
| Gray |
365 |
Smelting Felsteel
Skills: 365-375
It took me 29 smelts to get to 375.
| Felsteel Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
350 |
| Yellow |
355 |
| Green |
367 |
| Gray |
375 |
Smelting Hardened Adamantite
| Hardened Adamantite Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
- |
| Green |
- |
| Gray |
375 |
Smelting Khorium
| Khorium Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
- |
| Green |
- |
| Gray |
375 |
Smelting Saronite
| Saronite Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
- |
| Green |
- |
| Gray |
400 |
Smelting Titanium
| Titanium Skill Proficiency |
Smelting |
| Orange |
- |
| Yellow |
- |
| Green |
- |
| Gray |
450 |
