The Volcanic Mine is a type of mining training activity found below the Volcano on Fossil Island. In order to enter the mine players will need to complete a number of requirements including; 50 mining, 150 kudos earned and have claimed 5 unidentified small fossils from Peter after building the Museum camp. Additionally, every time you enter the mine you will be required to pay Petrified Pete 30 numulites at the entrance.
How to get to Volcanic Mine Entrance?
The entrance can be found on the North-eastern side of the Fossil Island Volcano. This is marked in the yellow box on the image below. The fastest methods of transportation to the area include:
- Fossil Island teleport and run east.
- Digsite Pendant teleport, use the boat to Fossil Island then run east from Museum Camp.
- Run east from Varrock to the boat at the Digsite, board the boat then run east from Museum Camp.
Specific Items
There are a few items that are specific to the Volcanic Mine and can be crucial in this minigame. These have been noted below.
Heat-proof Vessel
Is given to a player upon entering the minigame. You use this item to create platforms on the lava to walk on. An upgrade is available for 10,000 points from the shop to increase capacity.
Numulite
The minigame NPC requires 30 to start each instance of the minigame. These are self-sustaining, and are obtained by mining the boulder. You should have 500+ at all times in order to get items back from the death coffer (can use Numulite you had on you when you died).
Pyrophosphite and Calcite
These are not used in VM, but are used for the prayer method available on Fossil Island with the fossils you obtain in the minigame. These are gained when mining the boulder and may be dropped.
Volcanic Mine Teleport
This is the quickest teleport to the Volcanic Mine. You’re going to want to keep at least a few of these in your bank in case of a death. Each tab is 200 points in the Volcanic Mine shop.
Gear Setup for Volcanic Mine
Eating the Anglerfish will boost your hp at the start while unlocking the 7th inventory slot needed for all fragments.
Pickaxe Information – Crystal Vs Dragon
The Crystal Pickaxe is 12.5% more xp than Dragon Pickaxe and uses 2.5 shards per hour. It is definitely worth using crystal pickaxe here when training mining. As shards are near 0 time with crystal trees, which give 14-16 shards when harvested every eight hours.
Gear Downgrades
Not everyone will have access to the best in slot gear for volcanic mine immediately. You can downgrade using the table below where necessary.
Guide to completing the Volcanic Mine
When you enter the Volcanic Mine you will be given a heat-proof vessel and have 30 seconds before the start of the minigame. Once started a 10 minute timer will begin, players will need to mine and get out before the timer is up as the volcano will erupt, killing anyone still inside.
Mining the Large Boulder
The main objective within the minigame is to mine the large boulder in the centre of the lava channel. As it is mined, its size will reduce allowing it to move downstream. Every time it stops, players must make their way to it and mine it again.
To move around in the lower level, players must use their heat-proof vessel to pour water on the lava, causing it to harden. The hardened lava will only last 90 seconds before it will melt to normal lava again. The melting process is indicated by the tile becoming more and more orange. If it melts while you are on it you will fall into the lava taking a huge amount of damage.
Lava beasts will also appear, these are an aggressive monster that use only range, launching fireballs at the players. Protect from missiles will reduce their max hit to 1.
When mining the boulder you will receive an assortment of ore fragments, depending on your current mining level. These fragments will reward you with different levels of experience and points. It is also possible to receive the mining pet while mining the boulder. Volcanic Mine is one of the fastest methods to receive the rock golem pet.
Gas Holes
Players will find numerous “gas holes” scattered across the volcanic mine. They have the ability to teleport players across to the other side of the lava channel for a small amount of damage by using the “feel” option. This is particularly useful for players running low on water.
Keeping the mine Stable
As you start the game, gas will begin to fill the mine through the three gas chambers, marked A, B and C. Each chamber has two sets of vents, one is located upstream and the other is downstream. Players will need to investigate them to determine the pressure of each vent. After five minutes has passed (half-way points) the chambers will shift and their statuses will become random and hidden again until your re-investigate.
Dealing with the pressure is simple, the gas chamber can be blocked using a large rock to increase the pressure. Alternatively, you can mine the large rock away to decrease the pressure.
It is important to keep each other the chambers at around 40-60% pressure. If the volcano is not between these values or close, then it will become more unstable. Increasing the likelihood of fireballs and earthquakes. If the mine stability hits 0% the volcano will erupt, killing all those inside who have not already escaped.
Finishing up
When the boulder has been completely mined it will make its way into the lava vortex granting 100 bonus points to all players in the lower level of the mine. Once the 10 minute timer is up the volcano will erupt, so make sure you are out in time. If the timer is showing 30-40 seconds remaining this is the recommended time to start running for the exit, to ensure you don’t die from the mine collapsing.
Mining Experience per hour
The mining experience from volcanic mine scales. The scaling is based on your mining level but also on the type of pickaxe used. It is always recommended to use a crystal pickaxe if you have one available.
At level 50 mining expect around 40,000 mining experience per hour. The volcanic mine only really becomes worth-while from levels 70 onwards, before that there are better options. At level 70 players can expect 68,000 mining exp per hour. Scaling up to 94,000 mining exp per hour with level 99 mining and a crystal pickaxe. The full breakdown for different level brackets can be seen below.
Rewards
Upon leaving the mine Petrified Pete will reward the player with bonus mining experience and reward points based on the ore fragments they obtained during the time in the mine. The reward points can be spent in Petrified Pete’s ore shop.
There are both untradeable and tradeable rewards from his shop. The untradeable rewards include volcanic mine teleports, a large water contained, ore packs and an ash covered tome which is used to unlock the fertile soil spell. Tradeable rewards include various types of ore, volcanic ash, calcite and pyrophosphite. If spending points for rewards to sell on the Grand Exchange, runite ore is significantly the most profitable option.