Minting

''This article is about the Minting skill. For tips to train the skill, visit Minting training (F2P) (P2P)''

Minting (released on 27 May 2009, and again on 29 June 2009) is a economic and profitable production skill. It was released twice, the first time it was released it was removed quickly due to a major coding error. Using the skill, members can turn Nuggets into gold coins to make a substantial profit, although at low levels, the skill is not very profitable. NPCs involved in minting refer to RuneScape gold pieces as RSGP. This is a reference to professional references to real world currencies, such as the GBP (Great British pound), the USD (United States dollar) or EUR (Euro).

Until level 50, Minting produces a very low amount of profit. The process of minting is slow and produced about 30,000 coins an hour at level 1. Using the best methods at level 99, however, players can make over 1,500,000 coins every hour, making it the most profitable skill. The current minimum to be ranked (at approximately rank 455,584) on the Hiscores is level 30. As of 13 October 2010, 7,998 players have achieve 99 in the skill.

Although profitable at high levels, Minting has a very slow xp rate. This is because, as stated by Jagex, they did not want the slow production of coins getting out of hand and ruining the economy. Also, at lower levels, Minting turns out to be a waste of time rather then a profitable action.

Development history
Minting was released officially on the 27th of May, 2009. In less than 2 hours, however, the entire system was rollbacked. The reason was due to a major coding error in the system. The error was that no matter what level, players always produced 5,000 coins, the highest amount per nugget (available at level 99), which meant that a huge amount of gold coins were plunged into the economy. This was removed after the system was rollbacked. The skill was released again after a month, this time fixed, and without a coding error.

Game history
Minting was founded by a Saradominist warrior in the God Wars, in the Third Age, when the Saradominist fighters were running out of supplies and weaponry, and were in dire need of money to fund their cause. Although his identity is currently unknown, after the God Wars ended, he was dubbed "The Fief" by Saradomin, made immortal and given rights over the economy. The Fief is currently accessible at level 99 Minting in his office.

After the Fief was forced to swear an oath to Saradomin that he would not use his immortality against the good of mankind and that the economy must always remain stable, The Fief employed upon the ordinary adventurer to cast coins for himself. Although, the Fief says he watches over mankind all the time, and makes sure the circulations of RSGP does not go out of control.

Mintable items
When Minting was first released, on 27 May, the stats guide showed that gold bars, gold ore, gold amulets, nuggets passively found during panning, and other gold items found across RuneScape could be used to create coins. When the skill was removed and released again in June, the list of mintable items were reduced down to Nuggets. A more effective way of obtaining nuggets was also released in the form of the Gargantuan Mines.

The Seven Gargantuan mines
The Seven Gargantuan mines were released along with the skill (the second release). The Mines can be found in the Gargantuan Desert in Gargantua. This is the first ever underground mine in RuneScape. In the mine, there are seven sectors which are accessible at different Minting levels. All of the mines contain a nugget rock, which, like the rune essence, has an infinite supply.

Carats
Although all of the nugget rocks have an infinite supply, the purity and therefore the amount of coins that can be minted out of a piece of that respective nugget rock changes. The purity is measured in the real-life gold purity scale of Carats. The different carat nuggets look the same, but have different examine texts ("Bits of gold rock. (x Carats)")

Mine carts
Due to the scarcity of a bank, a useful system of mine carts operate. Only one Mine cart system is available in the first mine, two in the second mine, three in the third mine and so on, until seven in the seventh mine. These mine carts can hold 28 ores (of anything) each, and can be sent to deposit the ore at the bank, and then return. The process takes 3 minutes, so therefore having another mine cart as a backup can be useful.


 * Mining this will give you swamp tar.

Also, another useful hint is, that in the town of Gargantua, there are hidden trapdoors which go down to a certain sector, so walking all the way down is not necessary.

Nuggets are not tradeable. There is NO way of obtaining nuggets through the Grand Exchange.

Mining nuggets give 1 Mining xp and 0.25 Minting xp.

Other ways of obtaining nuggets

 * After the Digsite quest is complete, players can use the panning tray to find nuggets. This is really slow and far from a bank. This way still gives 0.25 minting xp.

Other mintable items
At level 75 Minting, the player can trade planchets for rewards in the Minting Guild. One of the rewards, which the rewards trader, Air-Chief Marshal Sir Anthony sells is Ingots, which he stocks over 6000 at once. An ingot costs 250 planchets each. Ingots will award double experience when cast and fired, yielding 4xp/coin. In effect, Ingots do the job of Nuggets for different amounts of experience points.

Minting coins
To begin minting, a player must go to the mint near the Ice Mountain, or, if they have 80 Construction, build a Mint room in their house with a coin furnace, and a casting bench. To mint, a player needs a coinage tool and a chisel, along with some nuggets they have mined beforehand.

Coinage tool
A coinage tool is required to cast the planchets made upon chiseling the nuggets. Planchets are simply coins ready to be cast and fired. Coinage tools can be brought from the Rewards Trader in the Minting guild or the Cashier in the mint. There are four types of coinage tool. The different types of coinage tools will provide an increase in the chance of succeeding when casting a single coin. The chance increases are shown below.

Chiseling the nugget
To chisel the nugget (or ingot), simply use a chisel, or the Moneymaking chisel (brought from the Minting guild at level 75, providing an extra 20% chance of succeeding when chiseling for a single coin) on a nugget. This will make the nuggets into planchets. Each nugget will become a certain number of planchets, and this number is affected by the players Minting level, the chisel they use, and also the Carat of the nugget.

Casting the planchets
The planchets can then be struck with a coinage tool. So if a player has 1,400 planchets (planchets are stackable items) after chiseling 26 nuggets, the experience will be 1,400. Striking planchets takes approximately one minute per 10 planchets - so 10 seconds for each planchet. This number is greatly reduced at higher levels.

Firing the planchets
The player can then use a coinage furnace in the mint, Player owned house, or a normal furnace (which greatly reduces the coins yielded) to fire the planchets and make them into coins. A normal furnace reduces the coins yielded by half. Completing the Minting of one planchet will yield 0.6xp for each coin.

Minting/Dungeoneering
A furnace with coinage anvils similar to the Daemonheim smithing furnaces can be found randomly in rooms, or it can be built with Construction in the Smuggler room. Further Nugget rocks can be found and can be mined. A player can then use a chisel and the nuggets mined to create coins in Dungeoneering.

A Minting door, where the player has to strike the planchet key has been introduced. There is only one coinage tool in Dungeoneering, called the Dungeon Hammer.

Minting Guild
The Minting Guild is a small area under the Mint, accessible at level 75 Minting, which has a bank, four coinage furnaces and 5 coinage tables. It also has a rewards trader which sells minting rewards for uncast planchets.

The Fief's office
When reached skill Mastery, the player can buy a Saradomin pass and proceed through the wooden door to the left of the Minting guild to find the Fief, who sells the skillcape for 99,000 coins

Statistics
A player at level 1 Minting using the Coinage hammer, 1 carat nuggets and a normal chisel can receive around 32,520gp per hour, disregarding the nugget mining time, and around 17,000xp.

A player at level 75 Minting using a Die, ingots or nuggets and a moneymaking chisel will receive around 552,478gp per hour, disregarding the nugget mining time with over 300,000xp.

A player at level 100 Minting (with Skillcape boost) using a Die, all rewards which give help to the skill, training at the Edgeville furnace with a Magpie familiar (nearest to bank), can make just under 2,000,000gp per hour, with around 1,300,000xp.