Gem rocks

Gem Rocks are a unique type of rock that yield gems, rather than ore, when mined. They give 65 Mining experience per rock, regardless of what gem is mined. 40 mining is required to mine these rocks. The Gem Rock takes about a minute and twenty five seconds to restore. The chance of mining an additional ore while wearing Varrock armour does not apply to gem rocks.

The types of gems that can be mined are:

• Uncut opal
• Uncut jade
• Uncut red topaz
• Uncut sapphire
• Uncut emerald
• Uncut ruby
• Uncut diamond

The gem received is random - rocks are not bound to specific gems, except for the rocks found during The Tale of the Muspah. It is rare to receive more expensive gems such as rubies and diamonds. Gems are mined at a faster rate while wearing a charged Amulet of glory and Ring of wealth. Wearing a Ring of wealth also gives a small chance to get two gems from one rock (a message will appear when this occurs).

The respawn time is about a minute, though the rate changes depending on how many players are connected to the server.

A popular technique when mining these rocks is to bring a chisel and cut and fletch the gems into bolt tips thus reducing the need to bank.

Another popular technique is to drop the less valuable gems such as jades and opals to maximise the amount of money made.

The Gem Rocks can be used with the Gem bag reward from Dungeoneering for minimal banking by fletching the cheaper gems to bolt tips and saving the more expensive gems.

When mining with a Sacred clay pickaxe while the Prized pendant of Mining is equipped you will receive 390 Mining experience per gem rock mined.

Based on a sample of 2084 consecutively mined gems at Shilo Village with a Rune pickaxe and Amulet of glory, the chance of mining each type of gem is as follows:

File:Gem Chances.png

A pie chart representing the chances of a random gem mined

Gem Type	Approx. chance of mining	Current GE Value
Uncut Opal	46.4%
Uncut Jade	21.9%
Uncut red topaz	12.7%
Uncut Sapphire	7%
Uncut Emerald	4.1%
Uncut Ruby	3.7%
Uncut Diamond	3.5%

Based on the above table, this means on average the player will earn coins per rock mined.

Based on a sample of 501 consecutively mined gems at the Al Kharid Resource Dungeon with a Rune pickaxe, the chance of mining each type of gem is as follows:

Gem Type	Approx. chance of mining	Current GE Value
Uncut Opal	51.1%
Uncut Jade	24.6%
Uncut red topaz	9.6%
Uncut Sapphire	5.8%
Uncut Emerald	4.2%
Uncut Ruby	2.8%
Uncut Diamond	2.0%

Based on the above table, this means on average the player will earn coins per rock mined.

Locations

• Shilo Village after completing the Shilo Village quest.
• Shilo Village Underground Gem Mine after completing hard tasks of Karamja Diary.
• Lunar Mine after completing Lunar Diplomacy.
• Ice cave, found during The Tale of the Muspah (Only contains sapphires, no experience is gained from these rocks and cannot be mined again).
• The Al Kharid Resource Dungeon requires a Dungeoneering level of 75 to access. Very little competition due to the high requirement. Has 7 gem rocks.

Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup activity

A gem rock in the Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup activity.

Gem rocks can be found randomly while hacking jungle in the Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup activity. When a player discovers one, a message will appear saying: "The jungle parts to reveal a gem-rich rock". These rocks have gems encrusted on the surface, which disappear as the player mines it. The rock may be mined three times before disappearing. The colours of these gems are not an indication of which gems the player will actually mine.

Trivia

• The rocks appear to only contain purple gems (dragonstone), but they can't be mined from a gem rock. The Gem rocks in Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup look more like what's inside; they show Opal, Topaz and Jade.
• If two players begin mining a gem rock at the same time, occasionally both will receive a gem from the rock.
• When the gem rock is mined, the xp lamp sound will play.