Coal is a very important resource within Old School RuneScape. This is due to a variety of reasons, the main one being coal’s use in the smelting of higher tier metals. These metals include steel, mithril, adamant, and rune.
Of course, this means coal is a necessary material for any players looking to train their Smithing skill. Due to the amount of coal needed to smith individual bars, large abundances of coal are needed for any serious training of this skill.
Fortunately, there are several places around Gielinor where players can mine coal in large quantities. Some of these places are better than others in terms of the number of coal rocks available, and proximity to a bank. In this guide, I’ll show the best place to mine coal in OSRS.
Motherlode Mine
The best place to mine coal in Old School RuneScape overall is the Motherlode Mine. That being said, mining here works a little differently than in the rest of the game. Within the Motherlode Mine, you’ll be mining pay-dirt from ore veins in the walls.
Once you have a full inventory of pay-dirt, you take to the machine in the middle of the mine, which will clean your pay-dirt, turning it into usable ores. Coal is the most common ore for the pay dirt to turn into, but it can become a number of different ores based on your mining level.
Simply collect your ores from the deposit sack, and bring them straight to the bank chest, which is very close to the cleaning machine. Motherlode mining for any extended period of time will net you an abundance of coal, among a number of other rewards.
As mentioned before, you can get other ores based on your Mining level, but coal is the most common. You also have a chance each inventory of getting golden nuggets, which can be used to purchase various rewards, like the Prospector Outfit and Coal Bag, from Prospector Perry.
You can access the Motherlode Mine through the Dwarven Mines under Falador. In fact, there’s a pretty neat shortcut to the Mine in the empty building next to the Falador Party Room. Simply climb down these steps, and you will be in front of the Mine.
Keep in mind, you must have 30 Mining to enter the Motherlode Mine. However, this is the same level you need to be able to mine coal at all, so you should have this covered. Additionally, to maximize your Mining experience, you may want to use the Gem Mine in Shilo Village.
Coal Trucks
If you don’t want to use the Motherlode Mine, however, there are many great alternatives across OSRS. For example, the Coal Trucks near Seer’s Village allow you to mine coal, then deposit it in minecarts to be taken back to the Village, so you can bank your coal.
There are 18 coal rocks at the Trucks, and 2 minecarts. You can store up to 120 coal in these carts, and this amount increases based on your completion of the Kandarin Achievement Diary. Simply mine your coal, deposit in the carts, and head back to Seer’s when they’re full.
You can unload your coal from the carts in a building in Northwestern Seer’s Village. This building will have a Mining icon on it in the World Map, and cuts down on your bank trips significantly. You can shorten these trips even more with Graceful Clothing, since coal weighs a lot.
Note there is a log balance Agility shortcut requiring 20 Agility at the Coal Trucks. Using this shortcut shortens your trips back and forth massively. Since 20 Agility is a pretty low requirement, I wouldn’t recommend the Coal Trucks without it.
The Coal Trucks is one of the most popular spots for those looking to make cannonballs in OSRS.
Mining Guild
Alternatively, players with 60 Mining can use the Mining Guild in Falador. This is often said to be the best place to mine coal in OSRS for F2P players. While the requirement is a little steep, the area contains a whopping 37 coal rocks, and is pretty close to the Falador East bank.
If you are a paying member, there is an additional area of the Mining Guild that cannot be accessed by free players. This area contains 20 more coal rocks, and may be worth moving to if the free area becomes too crowded.
Ardougne Monastery
If you have the equipment required to make it efficient, you can also mine coal at the Ardougne Monastery. There are 4 coal rocks in close proximity here, but no bank close by. However, you can use either an Amulet of Glory or Ring of Dueling to teleport to Edgeville or Castle Wars.
Simply mine an inventory of coal, then teleport to a bank using one of these items. When you’re done at the bank, use your Ardougne Cloak to teleport back to the Monastery, rinse, and repeat.
The Ardougne Cloak is your reward for completing tiers of the Ardougne Achievement Diary. Even the Cloak 1 from the easy tier provides unlimited teleports to this monastery, and you can buy the teleport jewelry from the Grand Exchange. Rings of Dueling are much cheaper.
Keep in mind, the Ardougne Monastery location is a little too far from a bank to mine coal here efficiently without teleporting. While the teleport jewelry mentioned has no requirements to teleport, this really shouldn’t be done without at least the Ardougne Cloak 1.
Barbarian Village
Finally, many free players also mine coal at the Barbarian Village west of Varrock and Edgeville. There are 4 coal rocks here, and the Edgeville bank isn’t too far away. There are many better, closer banks, but the Barbarian Village will do in a pinch, especially for free players.
There are no requirements past the 30 Mining needed to mine coal at the Barbarian Village. You might find some players training combat skills on the Barbarians found throughout, but the NPCs are not aggressive.
Final Thoughts
There are myriad great places to mine coal in Old School RuneScape. Of these places, the best by far is the Motherlode Mine. However, if you don’t want to use the Motherlode, you can use a number of great alternatives.
Some of these alternatives include the Coal Trucks and Ardougne Monastery for pay to play members, while free players can use the Mining Guild, or Barbarian Village.
