TBC Mining Guide 1-375 for Anniversary Realms

You can reach 375 Mining in TBC Classic Anniversary mostly by smelting bought ore at a forge, with three stretches that force you into the field: 290-300, 315-325 and 340-350. Learn Artisan Mining at 200, Master Mining at 300, and start mining Fel Iron at 275. Farming takes more time yet yields ore for selling or for Blacksmithing, Engineering, or Jewelcrafting, whereas smelting costs gold and is quicker.

Smelting or farming

Smelting means buying ore from the Auction House and converting it at a forge; farming means riding routes and mining veins yourself. At a forge in town you can get to 290, but from 290 to 300 no smelting recipe remains orange; those points require mining Thorium. The same forced mining gaps appear at 315-325 on Fel Iron and 340-350 on Adamantite and Fel Iron.

Buy a small buffer above the listed amounts because smelting recipes go yellow and then green and consumption depends on skill-up luck. You will finish with spare ore and bars to sell or use.

What to bring before you start

• Mining Pick: purchase one at the Mining Supply vendor close to your trainer, then store it in your bags; mining is impossible without it.
• Find Minerals: turn it on in your spell book and leave it tracked on your minimap; nearby ore nodes appear as a golden dot. Mining without it wastes time.
• Trainer visits: you must visit a trainer to unlock each skill tier, so upgrade when you hit the required skill or you cap out early.
• Veins: they take multiple hits, with anywhere from 1-2 successful harvests up to 8, so fully clear each vein for the maximum materials.

Mining skill colors

Each vein shows red, orange, yellow, green or gray: red means your skill is too low; orange can fail but a first success guarantees a skill-up; yellow usually succeeds and most successes skill up; green rarely skills up; gray never does.

Trainer ranks and locations

Classic trainers from 1-300 work at any major city trainer. Horde options include Makaru in Orgrimmar, Brek Stonehoof in Thunder Bluff, Belil in Silvermoon City and Brom Killian in Undercity; Alliance options include Geofram Bouldertoe in Ironforge, Gelman Stonehand in Stormwind, Muaat in The Exodar and Kurdram Stonehammer in Darkshore.

Master trainers are Hurnak Grimmord at Honor Hold (56, 64) for Alliance and Krugosh at Thrallmar (55, 37) for Horde, with trainers also in Shattrath City on the Aldor and Scryer sides.

Smelting shopping list

The 225-230 Mithril stretch has low skill-up rates, so buy extra Mithril. Smelting Felsteel Bars can be very expensive, so check prices before the final step and consider mining instead.

Ore and vein skill requirements

Khorium Ore requires 375 Mining and rarely replaces a Fel Iron or Adamantite node rather than spawning on its own. It drops 2-4 ore. Eternium Ore is a rare bonus drop from Adamantite and Khorium deposits, not a dedicated node.

Outland nodes you mine may additionally yield Mote of Earth and Mote of Fire; combining ten motes creates a Primal Earth or Primal Fire.

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Classic farming routes 1-300

• 1-65: every starter zone has Copper Ore, so pick the one you are questing in; Teldrassil has no copper and no Mining trainers, so Night Elves start in upper Darkshore. In Durotar, clear the Venture Co. Mine before jumping down from the cliffs for about 8 Copper Veins in one pass. Durotar, Dun Morogh, Elwynn Forest and Mulgore are the best zones.
• 65-125: learn Journeyman at 50. The Barrens and Hillsbrad Foothills have Copper, Tin and some Silver; Ashenvale and Redridge Mountains are decent alternatives. Tin stops giving skill-ups at 165.
• 125-175: learn Expert at 125. Thousand Needles and Desolace are full of Iron; Arathi Highlands is good but its caves hold more Mithril than Iron, which you cannot mine until 175. Gold Ore unlocks at 155.
• 175-245: learn Artisan at 200, not 175, and keep farming until you reach it. The best zones are The Hinterlands and Tanaris; The Hinterlands offers a smaller loop for solo play, whereas Tanaris has a huge loop containing multiple caves. Mithril is the core ore here, and Truesilver unlocks at 230.
• 245-300: Small Thorium Veins unlock at 245 and Rich Thorium Veins at 275. Un'Goro Crater's perimeter loop hits both, and you can stay there to 300; Eastern Plaguelands, Winterspring and Burning Steppes are alternatives if Un'Goro is contested. Felwood works well if you are leveling Herbalism alongside Mining.

Outland routes 300-375

You can start mining Fel Iron at 275, but visit the Master trainer in Hellfire Peninsula at 300 to raise the cap past 300. Fel Iron can take you up to 375 for skill-ups, though the rate falls past 325; at 325, change over to Adamantite.

Hellfire Peninsula, 275-325

Run the mountain ridgelines and outer edges; Hellfire Peninsula is dense with Fel Iron and is the only Outland zone where Adamantite does not compete for spawns. No flying mount is needed. The zone is heavily contested, so if nodes are scarce, smelt Fel Iron Bars to 315.

Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest and Nagrand, 325-350

At 325 switch to Adamantite. Zangarmarsh and Terokkar Forest both offer dependable cave routes, each zone having four or five marked caves; since nodes are deep inside, enter each cave as far as its back. Zangarmarsh uses an outer-border loop with a northwest island cave and a southern cave, while Terokkar circles the mountainous edges and skips Shattrath and Skettis. If nodes are scarce, smelt Adamantite Bars to 340.

Nagrand, Netherstorm and Shadowmoon Valley, 350-375

Nagrand is the go-to zone at 350; it has the highest concentration of Adamantite of any Outland zone and a clean circuit of regular and Rich Adamantite. Head into the ogre dens and the caves near Warmaul Hill in the northwest, then take the canyon running southeast to northwest where nodes are grouped; underwater nodes are also found close to Sunspring Post and Throne of the Elements.

In Netherstorm and Shadowmoon Valley, Rich Adamantite is often found, yet the majority of nodes sit high up, requiring a flying mount. In Netherstorm, run the upper western loop near the Manaforges and the southern edges; two caves have higher-level mobs. Shadowmoon Valley has solid Adamantite and Rich Adamantite in elevated areas, and its two caves are generally not worth clearing because of mob density.

Flying makes Mining dramatically faster in Outland, so buy even a basic flying mount before the last stretch if you hit level 70 first.

Khorium cannot be target-farmed: it occasionally replaces a Fel Iron or Adamantite node, so run zones with high node density and mine every node, including low-value ones, to turn spawns over faster. More players mining a zone forces faster respawns. Nagrand and Netherstorm have the highest overall node density, giving the best chance for a Khorium replacement.

What Ores Sell For on Anniversary Realms

Prices differ by realm. In the October 24, 2026 US scan of Anniversary auction houses, Tin Ore is the top-priced material that opens in the 1-75 bracket and Copper Ore moves the most units. In the October 25, 2026 EU scan, Tin Ore again leads 1-75 and Copper Ore moves the most units.

From 75-150 Silver Ore leads on both regions; Mithril Ore leads 150-225; Truesilver Ore leads 225-300; Khorium Ore leads 300-375. Adamantite Ore is the volume ore in 300-375 on both regions, while Fel Iron Ore is the volume ore in 225-300.

The lower value between sold-for and listed-now goes in the price column, meaning it represents the amount a seller receives at present.

On US realms, 10 Mote of Earth at 40s 61c each comes to 4g 6s, while one Primal Earth sells for 3g 79s, so the separate motes are worth 26s 23c more. One Primal Fire sells for 18g 56s against 18g 47s for 10 Mote of Fire at 1g 84s each, so the Primal is worth 8s 75c more.

On EU realms, 10 Mote of Earth at 49s 68c each comes to 4g 96s, while one Primal Earth sells for 4g 99s, so the Primal is worth 3s 10c more. Ten Mote of Fire at 1g 86s each comes to 18g 62s against 19g 99s for one Primal Fire, so the Primal is worth 1g 37s more.

Against its 60-day listing, US Copper Ore is down from 6s 4c to 5s 86c, Silver Ore from 1g 27s to 92s 41c, Dark Iron Ore from 37s 96c to 20s 23c and Khorium Ore from 2g 73s to 2g 70s. EU Khorium Ore is down from 1g 89s to 1g 70s and EU Dark Iron Ore from 34s 37c to 21s 19c. EU Copper Ore is above its 60-day listing at 7s 40c against 5s 60c, and EU Adamantite Ore is above at 1g 39s against 1g 19s.

Treat a fallen ore as one to keep rather than sell at today's price.