Copper is a low-tier mineral that requires only level 1 in Mining before you can mine it. Copper is also the very first type of mineral a new player will encounter in their journey at Tutorial Island! But due to the low experience rates, players generally tend to only mine copper ore (and its partner in crime, tin) until they reach level 15 in Mining, when they can then switch to the much better (in every aspect) iron ore. This in turn creates a scarcity of copper in the market, boosting its price and making it a relatively decent money maker for new accounts who are looking to earn their first couple of thousand gold.
Best F2P Copper Mining Spots
The Rimmington mine is the closest location to a bank (deposit box in this case). It’s located right between its namesake Rimmington and Port Sarim, with plenty of rocks to extract your ore from. When your inventory fills up, just head east to the Port Sarim docks, find the deposit box next to the Entrana monks, and throw all your ore in there. Just be careful to not deposit your pickaxe on accident! If Rimmington doesn’t suit your fancy, or is overcrowded (usually it’s not), you can make your way to the South-east Varrock mine and start swinging at those rocks instead. This mine is slightly farther away from a bank by a few seconds. But it has the benefit of it being an actual bank that you can browse, and not just a box. Plus, the Grand Exchange is a brisk walk away, should you want to upgrade your pickaxe or just sell your ore to other players.
Best P2P Copper Mining Spots
Even though there are multiple areas that are locked behind quests, skills, and other such requirements, the Port Khazard mine has them all beat by a mile. And it’s available to everyone. There are two copper rocks here that you can mine, and the distance between them and the bank chest is very minimal. So this is for sure the absolute best spot available to get your hands on some fresh copper ore. The fastest way to get to Port Khazard is either through:
Using charter ships Or by teleporting to the Kandarin Monastery with an Ardougne Cloak, and then simply running south.
A bonus tip for those looking to make some extra cash: do your mining on the dedicated Fishing Trawler world. That way you’ve got a chance to pick up the precious raw fish other players might occasionally drop.
Various Tips & Tricks
When you’re mining something, it’s a good idea to always use the best pickaxe available to you. With that said, copper is such a low level ore that even the trusty ol’ Rune Pickaxe works excellently on it, so there’s no need to bother yourself about getting a Dragon Pickaxe (or a Crystal one) just for it. Here’s some other equipment that you might consider using:
Wearing any tier of the Varrock Armour provides a 10% chance of mining an additional ore, and it stacks with the 5% chance of the Mining Skillcape. The Celestial Signet passively raises your mining level by +4. This boost is considered invisible and doesn’t allow you to mine better ores than your level allows. When charged with stardust, it provides a 10% chance for an extra ore, similar to the Varrock Armour. The Prospector Outfit increases all mining experience gained by 2.5% when wearing the full set, though the effect is negligible when mining copper.
You should also consider mining (or buying) an equivalent amount of tin, then smelting your ores into bronze bars that sell for a higher price than the individual ores would. Lastly, and this goes a little “off-topic” from the original mining thing – but players that are just looking for some copper ore can make their way to the Blast Furnace in Keldagrim. Here you can buy copper on the cheap, costing only 4 coins per ore (the price does go up after each purchase!)
