WoW Mining Guide 1-450

Mining, one of the three primary gathering professions is a great money maker. Blacksmithing, Engineering and Jewelcrafting are dependent upon the ore provided by mining.

This guide will show you the fastest way the level mining. It's possible to level mining in two ways. You can go around mining all of the nodes, or you can smelt ore that you get from the auction house. Also you can do a combination by gathering some ore, then smelting it.

First you need to become a miner. Visit a mining trainer that is in any of your factions main cities in Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor. If you can't find the trainer in a particular city just ask a guard, they will tell you where to go.

1-65

Gather Copper Ore.

There is a lot of copper ore spread across all of the starting zones.

Elwynn Forest

Durotar

Additional zone maps:

Dun Morogh

Azuremyst Isle

Ghostlands

Mulgore

Tirisfal Glades

66-125

 Gather Tin Ore and Silver Ore.

Go to the mining trainer and learn Mining (Journeyman).
Tin can be hard to come by, so this is one of the toughest parts of leveling mining. The best place for both alliance and horde to go to is The Barrens. There will still be copper to mine and occasionally you will come across iron, which you won't be able to gather until 125 mining skill.

The Barrens

126-175

Gather Iron Ore and Gold Ore.

Learn Mining(Expert).

Arathi Highlands

Stranglethorn Vale

176-230

Gather Mithril Ore and Truesilver Ore.

Remember to visit the mining trainer at level 225.

The Hinterlands

Tanaris

231-275
Gather Thorium Ore.

Un'Goro Crater is by far the best place to get thorium. If there are no other players around you can get to 275 very quickly.

Un'Goro Crater

Additional zone maps:
Silithus

276-325  

Gather Fel Iron Ore.

Go to Outlands and learn Mining(Master). There is Fel Iron Ore all over the place in Hellfire Peninsula, as you can tell from the map below. You can follow the route shown or just go around the outskirts. Leveling mining gets easier from here on out because you can use a flying mount.

Hellfire Peninsula

 326-350

Gather Adamantite Ore.

Nagrand 

351-450

Gather Cobalt Ore.

Travel to Northrend and learn Mining(Grand Master).

Borean Tundra 

401-450

Gather Saronite Ore.

Sholazar Basin

Congratulations on 450 mining skill. Mining can make a lot of gold, especially if you also have herbalism. For tips on making gold with mining and herbalism check out this article: Make 900+ Gold with Mining and Herbalism.