A helpful guide that shows you which rocks to mine at what level and what pick axe to use.

Mining is a great resource skill that can bring in lots of money if you have a high mining level. Some say mining is the best resource skill. Some cons are that you cannot AFK in mining and when the Grand Exchange came out fish and logs went up a lot more than ore did. This guide will show you what to mine and what is the best xp and what is the best money.

Level 1-20
Mine tin and bronze. These ores can be found in the Al-Kharid mine(These are level14 Scorpions) and the Verrock Mine. You can sell these ores or smelt them into bronze bars for a little extra cash. Use a bronze or iron pickaxe. Upgrade your pickaxe when your mining level hits 6 and change into a steel pickaxe for faster mining.

Level 20-44
Mine iron. This is the fastest mining xp in the game so if you want fast mining xp(Powermining iron) stay at iron until 99. If you decide to bank the iron it is really good money although you do not mine iron very fast at this level. Later, you can always mine iron in 1-2 hits of your pickaxe. And iron sells for more than 100gp each on the Grand Exchange! Upgrade your pickaxe to mith at level21, adamant at level31, and make sure to get a rune pickaxe at level41. This is the best pickaxe-f2p & p2p!

Level 45-60
Mine coal. The best place to mine this is at the Dwarven mine. At level60 go to the Mining Guild. There is 35 coal rocks there and even though there is a lot of people there is still plenty of coal rocks for all. I prefer to go to a noncrowded world because the amount of people is not worth the faster respawn. Also, coal is always in demand.

Level 60-75
Mine iron for xp or coal for money. At the higher levels of this stage mine mithril. Do not mine mithril at 55 mining it is extremely slow and is bad xp. This is because it respawns slowly and and takes a long time to mine. Mine this only if you are smelting mithril bars. Mithril is found in large quantities in the wilderness(Hobgoblin Mine north of Bounty Hunter) and there are 5 rocks in the Mining Guild.

Level 75-85
Adamantite is an excellent way to make money but it takes around 7 minutes to respawn. I strongly suggest hopping worlds instead of waiting that long. Adamantite mining places are-Hobgoblin Mine(8 rocks), Dwarven Mine(3 rocks), Crandor(3 rocks), Edgeville Dungeon(2 rocks), Al-Kharid Mine(2 rocks), Lumbridge Swamp(2 rocks).

Level:85-99
Mine iron for xp. For money mine runite. This is 300k+ a load but there are only two rocks of Runite and they are found in level40 Wilderness just north of the Lava Maze. Mining runite is the best way to make money in f2p although beware of reverents. Carry some food and some dragonhide in case a reverent attacks.

Note:
Runite takes 20 minutes to respawn and in some worlds the two rocks may have already been mined. Just hop worlds until you find an unmined world.