OSRS Motherlode Mine Calculator
Pay-dirt, golden nuggets and hours to your Mining goal at the Motherlode Mine, the ore at your level, and the nuggets for the prospector kit and every reward.
Set experience directly to plan past level 99, up to 200M.
What a pay-dirt gives you
| Ore | Level | Chance | Cleaning XP | Sells for |
|---|
Ways to play, side by side
Your level, pickaxe and outfit, with the upper floor and its hopper already paid for.
| Way | Pay-dirt an hour | XP an hour | Coins an hour | Time |
|---|
Every pickaxe, side by side
Your level, floor, ring and outfit, with each pickaxe.
| Pickaxe | Level | Pay-dirt an hour | XP an hour | Time |
|---|
Ore, nuggets and coins
Rewards you want
Every reward, side by side
Each reward on its own, from no nuggets, at your pace. Value is what the contents sell for after the 2% tax.
| Reward | Nuggets | Time | Value | Coins a nugget |
|---|
Every pay-dirt is 60 experience, and more when it is cleaned. The ore it becomes is set by your level when you mine it, and pays 15 to 75 more when it reaches the sack, so the experience a pay-dirt pays is worked out ore by ore. A golden nugget comes with 1 in 32 at every level. Rates an hour include the walking, depositing and banking. They follow the wiki's experience an hour at levels 30, 40 and 50 on the lower floor and 61 to 99 on the upper floor with its hopper, a dragon pickaxe and the prospector kit, read in a straight line between those levels. Any other pickaxe, the celestial ring, a glory, or the lower floor above 50 changes only the time spent swinging, from how often your pickaxe swings and your chance each swing. Those rates are estimates, marked with a ~, and so is anything with the Falador Diary, whose extra ore the game gives as about 1% each. Ore and reward values use today's instant-sell prices after the 2% tax. Rules and costs checked against the OSRS Wiki on 24 October 2026.
Pay-dirt and the ore it becomes
Ore veins in the Motherlode Mine need 30 Mining, and each pay-dirt you mine is 60 experience. Your level sets the chance of pay-dirt on each swing, 28.9% at 30 to 41.4% at 99, and your pickaxe sets how often you swing. Before each swing the game rolls for a gem, 1 in 256 of the time or 1 in 64.2 with a charged amulet of glory, and a gem swing gives no pay-dirt. Varrock armour and mining gloves do nothing here.
The ore is decided when you mine the pay-dirt: a golden nugget 1 time in 32, then runite, adamantite, mithril and gold in that order once you have the level for each, and coal if every roll fails. Boosts raise the ore you get only while you mine. The celestial ring helps you mine faster but does not give you ores above your level.
| Ore | Mining | Cleaning XP |
|---|---|---|
| Golden nugget | 30 | 0 |
| Runite ore | 85 | 75 |
| Adamantite ore | 70 | 45 |
| Mithril ore | 55 | 30 |
| Gold ore | 40 | 15 |
| Coal | 30 | 15 |
The ore by Mining level
The percent of pay-dirt that becomes each ore, and the experience a pay-dirt pays with its cleaning, before the prospector kit. A golden nugget is 3.1% at every level:
| Level | Nugget | Rune | Addy | Mith | Gold | Coal | XP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 96.9 | 74.5 |
| 40 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 | 86.7 | 74.5 |
| 50 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.7 | 80.2 | 74.5 |
| 55 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 15.9 | 16.4 | 64.5 | 76.9 |
| 60 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 18.2 | 18.8 | 60 | 77.3 |
| 70 | 3.1 | 0 | 3.8 | 21.5 | 21.8 | 49.8 | 78.9 |
| 80 | 3.1 | 0 | 9.1 | 24 | 23.7 | 40.1 | 80.9 |
| 85 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 11.6 | 24.7 | 24 | 35.7 | 82.2 |
| 90 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 14.2 | 25.7 | 24.3 | 31.2 | 83.5 |
| 99 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 18.8 | 26.9 | 24.2 | 24.6 | 85.6 |
The elite Falador Diary makes each ore's roll about 1% more likely. The whole prospector kit adds 2.5% to all of it, so a pay-dirt at 85 is 84.2 experience with the kit. The achievement diaries calculator lists every task of the elite Falador Diary.
Experience an hour by level
With the upper floor and its hopper from 57, the best pickaxe you can use and the prospector kit worn. The pay-dirt an hour is what that experience takes at each level.
| Mining | Floor | Pickaxe | XP an hour | Pay-dirt an hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Lower | Mithril | 13,000 | 170 |
| 40 | Lower | Rune | 26,000 | 340 |
| 50 | Lower | Rune | 33,000 | 432 |
| 61 | Upper | Dragon | 45,000 | 568 |
| 70 | Upper | Dragon | 48,000 | 594 |
| 80 | Upper | Dragon | 52,000 | 627 |
| 90 | Upper | Dragon | 59,000 | 689 |
| 99 | Upper | Dragon | 64,000 | 730 |
The upper floor, the hopper and the sack
The upper floor needs 57 Mining, which boosts cannot reach, and a one-time 100 golden nuggets to Prospector Percy. Its 64 veins are closer together and last 36 to 40 seconds after the first pay-dirt, against 23 to 27 downstairs. Its own hopper costs 50 more and saves the climb down to deposit; until you have both, the plan above mines downstairs.
Cleaned pay-dirt waits in the sack, which holds 108, or 189 once you pay 200 nuggets. That is four or seven full inventories of 27, so carry only a hammer or a gem bag and deposit 27 at a time. The larger sack saves a few trips and very little time, so the rates do not change with it.
Prospector Percy's Nugget Shop
Percy sells for golden nuggets only and buys back what he sold you for 80% of its price. The last three lines are permanent upgrades to the mine.
| Reward | Nuggets | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Prospector helmet | 40 | +0.4% Mining experience, and needed for a hard Falador Diary task |
| Prospector jacket | 60 | +0.8% Mining experience |
| Prospector legs | 50 | +0.6% Mining experience |
| Prospector boots | 30 | +0.2% Mining experience, and +0.5% more with all four |
| Coal bag | 100 | Holds 27 coal (36 with a Smithing cape), mostly for the Blast Furnace |
| Gem bag | 100 | Holds 60 of each uncut gem from sapphire to dragonstone |
| Soft clay pack | 10 | 100 noted soft clay |
| Bag full of gems | 40 | 40 noted uncut gems, mostly sapphires and emeralds |
| Upper floor | 100 | The upper floor, its 64 veins lasting 36 to 40 seconds. Needs 57 Mining |
| Upper floor hopper | 50 | A hopper on the upper floor, so you never climb down to deposit |
| Larger sack | 200 | The sack holds 189 pay-dirt instead of 108 |
The whole prospector kit is 180 nuggets for 2.5% more Mining experience anywhere, and everything Percy sells once, upgrades included, is 730.
Motherlode Mine questions
What should I buy first? The upper floor and its hopper as soon as you reach 57, then the prospector jacket, legs, helmet and boots, which is the order that gives the most experience for each nugget. Below 57 the outfit comes first because the floor is not yet open to you. The larger sack is last: it costs the most and saves the least. If you want the hard Falador Diary, the helmet is the piece it asks for.
What is the best use of spare nuggets? Take whichever pack sells for more. At today's prices a soft clay pack brings 940 coins a nugget and a bag full of gems 407.
Does Percy sell the golden prospector kit? No. Star fragments from the shooting stars shop recolour the kit gold, four for the set, and the stardust calculator plans them.
Can I get the rock golem here? Yes, every pay-dirt has a chance at it; the pet calculator works out the odds.
What else trains Mining? The Mining calculator compares every rock and method in the game.
Update history
Every change to this calculator
- Calculator added