Profession guide

Mining in WoW Forever: smelting route and where the gold is

Mining gets a Rock Garden that spawns ore nodes at camp, a new Azerothium bar, and a buyer list topped by blacksmiths who need 1,200+ bars. Here's how to sell into it.

By the Goblin · 6 min read · 2 Oct 2026

Mining is still the safest gold in the game. Blacksmiths and engineers are going to burn through more metal in Forever than they ever did, and our blacksmithing route alone wants 720 Thorium and 542 Mithril Bars. Somebody has to dig that up.

TYPE: Primary · gathering
RECIPES: 18
NEW IN FOREVER: 5
CAMP RECIPES: 3

Skill levels for 18 of 18 recipes are estimates until we can check them in game.

What's new in Forever

Five new recipes. Two are smelts: Azerothium at 275 and Heavy Thorium at 289. We don't know what either bar is used for yet, so watch them.

Three are camp pieces. The Lodestone at 17 is a group melee attack power buff that doesn't stack with Blessing of Might. The Rock Garden at 137 spawns a common mining node over time, so yes, you can farm ore at your camp. The Molten Foundry at 300 is a crafting station. Bountiful Harvest, a Legacy perk, finds extra Scarce materials from mining.

Camping3 recipes ›

17LodestoneRough StoneCopper Bar
137Rock Garden2× Heavy StoneIron OreSilver Bar
300Molten Foundry5× Thorium Bar2× Dense StoneTruesilver Bar

Smelted Bars2 recipes ›

275Azerothium Bar2× PitchblendeCoal
289Heavy Thorium BarHeavy Thorium Ore

Skill shown is where the recipe unlocks. Numbers are game data, not yet checked in game.

Shopping list

What it takes to smelt your way up. You'll mine all of it yourself while leveling.

ITEMVENDORMINMEDIAN

Copper Ore5c——

Silver Ore75c——

Copper Bar10c——

Tin Bar35c——

Tin Ore25c——

Gold Ore5s 0c——

Iron Ore1s 50c——

Heavy Thorium Ore3s 75c——

— = no listings in the latest scan on US·NORMAL·HORDEPrices from AHledger

Mining leveling: Copper Ore, Silver Ore, Copper Bar, Tin Bar, Tin Ore, Gold Ore, Iron Ore, Heavy Thorium Ore

Camp recipe and skill-ups

Smelting levels you alongside mining: copper, tin, bronze, silver, iron, gold. The data shows gaps between those steps, but that's normal, because you level mining by mining. Heavy Thorium takes the last few points to 300.

1–47
57×Copper Bar
57× Copper Ore
1254770learned automatically
47–62
21×Tin Bar
21× Tin Ore
32506275from the trainer
62–82
28×Bronze Bar
28× Copper Bar28× Tin Bar
286590115from the trainer
82–112
36×Silver Bar
36× Silver Ore
82100112125from the trainer
123–135
14×Iron Bar
14× Iron Ore
123130135140from the trainer
159–177
21×Gold Bar
21× Gold Ore
159170177185from the trainer
289–300
11×Heavy Thorium BarNEW
11× Heavy Thorium Ore
289300307315from the trainer

Making gold while you level

Sell bars, not ore, when the smiths are leveling. Blacksmiths and engineers want bars by the hundred. Smelting saves them the step, and they'll pay for that.

Mithril and Thorium will be expensive for months. One blacksmith and one engineer leveling on our routes need about 860 Mithril Bars and 840 Thorium Bars between them. Hold some back for later in the first month.

Build a Rock Garden. A node that spawns at your camp is free ore while you do something else.