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This article is about the mining skill. For information on training mining, see Mining training.
Mining
Mining
Release date 4 January 2001 (Update)
Players with
99
85,586
as of 29 Oct 2015
Players with 120 2,287
Players with
200M XP
504
as of 29 Oct 2015
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Mining
File:Mining animation.gif

A player mining for bane ore using the Mining skill.

Audio options icon
Mining level-up jingle

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Mining is a skill that allows players to extract ores, gems, rune essence and other resources from rocks in mines throughout RuneScape. Mined ores can be smelted at a furnace, turning them into bars that can be made into metal objects using the Smithing skill, the Construction skill or the Crafting skill. On the map, mines and mining sites are identified with a lump of ore (File:Mining spot map icon.png), and Mining shops are identified with a pickaxe (Mining shop map icon) icon.

How to mine[]

To mine, players need a pickaxe (the better the pickaxe and Mining level the quicker it is to mine the ores) that they have the required Mining level to mine with. Players should then choose where to mine, taking into consideration the proximity to a bank, and what ores are available. Players only need to left-click once on any rock containing ore to mine it (provided they have the level needed for that ore type). The obtained ores, gems, and essence can then be sold for profit, or used by the player for the Smithing, Crafting and Runecrafting skills.

Most types of ores can be determined by simply examining the rock. Experienced miners did not need to prospect every rock, as they recognised the colour of the rock and knew the ore it contained. However, an update made it so that simply hovering one's cursor over the rock would tell the player what ore was to be found in it, in the upper-left corner (though some rocks, like certain mineral veins, still have the "Prospect" option).

Pickaxes[]

The pickaxes used in mining can be equipped like a weapon, giving players one more space in their inventory. A player's Mining level determines the type of pickaxe they can mine with, while their Attack level determines whether they can wield it. As with all metal weapons, the better the pickaxe, the more effective it is as a tool and as a weapon. Pickaxes are sold by Nurmof in the Dwarven Mine, Tati in Keldagrim, Bob in Lumbridge (bronze only), or at the Grand Exchange. Furthermore, pickaxes can be forged at the appropriate Smithing level for players who have completed the Perils of Ice Mountain quest. Pickaxes may also be stored in the wielded to save inventory space. A bronze pickaxe may be stored on the toolbelt for any unforeseen mining activities.

Pickaxe Mining level Attack level*
File:Dwarven army axe.png Dwarven army axe 1 1
Bronze pickaxe Bronze 1 1
Iron pickaxe Iron 1 10
Steel pickaxe Steel 6 20
Mithril pickaxe Mithril 21 30
Adamant pickaxe Adamant 31 40
Rune pickaxe Rune 41 50
Dragon pickaxe Dragon 61 60
File:Pickaxe (class 5).png Sacred clay 40 1
File:Inferno adze.png Inferno adze 41 (and 92 Firemaking) 1
File:Imcando pickaxe.png Imcando pickaxe 81 60
File:Crystal pickaxe.png Crystal 71 70
  • Attack is only required to wield, not mine. The pickaxe may be wielded, placed in the inventory, or placed in the toolbelt to mine.

Mineable items[]

Ores are obtained from the different rocks that are found in mines. On the minimap, mines are labelled with a grey pickaxe. The colour of a rock's vein corresponds to the ore's colour, so a black vein will yield coal, a dark blue vein will yield mithril ore, and so forth.

When a player clicks on a rock, they will hit it with their pickaxe and attempt to extract the ore. The higher level the rock (e.g., adamantite and runite), the longer the mining procedure will take, requiring the player to have some degree of patience.

After the ore has been mined, the rock will no longer have a visible vein of colour for a while. Eventually, another ore will respawn and the rock will regain its vein of colour. Players can only mine a rock when ore is available. Ore respawn times differ with the level requirement of the rock and the amount of people on the server (e.g., runite rocks can take up to 25 minutes to respawn, while iron rocks take about 10 seconds). Rune essence is an exception to this as there is no respawn time and players can mine continuously.

Players can continuously mine multiple pieces of coal and gold ore in the Living Rock Caverns until the concentrated coal/gold rock collapses. Sometimes, players will mine two ores at once, gaining experience for both ores. While wearing Varrock armour, players may find that they can mine three ores at once in the cavern. Mining coal in the Living Rock Caverns requires level 77 Mining, while mining gold there requires level 80 Mining. Beware of aggressive, ranged/melee level 92 creatures that protect the rocks. Using world 84 can protect individuals from the rock creatures as there is a high volume of players in this world.

Ore Level Experience Notes
Clay Clay 1 5 Clay, when used with a water source to create soft clay, is used in Crafting to make small items such as pots.
Rune essence Rune essence 1 5 To mine rune essence, players will need to complete the Rune Mysteries quest. It is used in Runecrafting. Rune essence does not have a respawn time, allowing a player to click once on the rock and wait until his/her inventory is full.
Copper ore Copper 1 17.5 Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt a copper ore with a tin ore to make a bronze bar.
Tin ore Tin 1 17.5 Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt a tin ore with a copper ore to make a bronze bar.
Limestone Limestone 10 26.5 Limestone is needed in the Regicide quest and for the Varrock Tasks. It can be crafted into limestone bricks by using a chisel on them, which are used in the Construction skill. It is found next to the place where you start Rag and Bone Man.
Blurite ore Blurite 10 17.5 Blurite is needed in the quest The Knight's Sword. It is also the only ore needed for smelting blurite bars, used to create blurite limbs for crossbows and unfinished blurite bolts. It is nontradeable.
Iron ore Iron 15 35 Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt an iron ore to make an iron bar or smelt it with 2 coal to make a steel bar.
Elemental ore Elemental 20 0 Elemental ore can only be mined during and after the Elemental Workshop I quest, and is smelted with 4 coal into an elemental bar which is used in making elemental shields, elemental helmets, and elemental bodies.
Daeyalt ore Daeyalt 20 17.5 Daeyalt ore can only be mined from the Meiyerditch mines during and after the Darkness of Hallowvale quest. Mining 15 ores is required before being released from the mine. It is nontradeable.
Silver ore Silver 20 40 Silver is used in the Crafting skill to make items, such as tiaras.
Pure essence Pure essence 30 5 To mine pure essence, players will need to complete the Rune Mysteries quest. It is used in Runecrafting. Pure essence does not have a respawn time, allowing a player to click once on the rock and wait until his/her inventory is full.
Coal Coal 30 50

Coal is very commonly used in Smithing, being required to make bars from steel to rune.

File:Sandstone.png Sandstone 35 30, 40, 50 or 60 Available at the quarry south of the Bandit Camp (Kharidian Desert). Used in Enakhra's Lament quest. When mined, it shows up in your inventory as a 1, 2, 5, or 10 kg block. (If calculating yourself, divide by 60 as the exp per rock is over 60. To be more exact divide by 62 as the exp per rock is about 62.4702(tested by many trials))
File:Uncut opal.png
Uncut jade
File:Uncut red topaz.png
Uncut sapphire
Uncut emerald
Uncut ruby
Uncut diamond
Gem Rock 40 65 Gem rocks are only available to players who have level 75 Dungeoneering (Al Kharid hidden mine) or have completed the Shilo Village quest or Lunar Diplomacy quest; there are gem rocks in the lunar mine as well as in Shilo Village. Gems can also be found randomly during the Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup minigame, by mining rocks or from various quests and rewards. Mining a gem rock gives the player a random gem ranging from opal to diamond (meaning no dragonstone or onyx), which can be used in Crafting or Fletching. Although the type of gem received is random, you are much more likely to receive a low level gem. An experienced miner with a high level pickaxe can make up to 300k an hour mining these rocks when dropping lower level gems from their inventory.
Gold ore Gold 40 65 Gold is used in the Crafting skill to make items, such as jewellery.
'Perfect' gold ore 'Perfect' gold ore 40 - 'Perfect' gold ore is used in the Family Crest quest to make a 'perfect' ruby ring and 'perfect' ruby necklace.
Granite (5kg) Granite 45 50, 60 or 75 Available at the Desert Quarry south of the Bandit Camp (Kharidian Desert). Used in Enakhra's Lament and King's Ransom.
Rubium Rubium 46 17.5 Found on the walls deep within the Witchaven Dungeon. Used in Kennith's Concerns.
Mithril ore Mithril 55 80 Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt a mithril ore with four coal to make a mithril bar.
Lunar ore Lunar 60 - Used during the Lunar Diplomacy quest to make a lunar helm.
Adamantite ore Adamantite 70 95 Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt an adamantite ore with six coal to make an adamant bar.
Living minerals Living minerals 73 25 Living minerals are used as bait with a fishing rod to fish for rocktail. Rocktail fishing spots are only found in the Living Rock Caverns. The minerals are only found by mining the remains of living rock creatures found in the caverns.
Bane ore Bane ore 77 90 Available after the quest Ritual of the Mahjarrat. Used to create bane bolts/arrow heads.
Coal Concentrated coal rocks 77 50 Concentrated coal deposits give multiple ores, and grant 50 experience each, or 2 ores adding up to 100 experience. Concentrated coal rocks are only found in the Living Rock Caverns.
Harmonised coal rock 77
Gold ore Concentrated gold rocks 80 65 Concentrated gold deposits give multiple ores, 65 experience each, or 2 ores adding up to 130 experience. Concentrated gold rocks are only found in the Living Rock Caverns.
Red sandstone Red sandstone 81 70 This is the ingredient used to create robust glass (which in turn is required to craft potion flasks) after As a First Resort..., players are only able to mine a maximum of 50 red sandstone daily, which resets at midnight GMT.
Harmonised mithril rock 84
Runite ore Runite 85 125 Players can use the Smithing skill to smelt a runite ore with eight coal to make a rune bar. This ore can take 12.5–25 minutes to respawn depending on how full the world is.
Corrupted ore Seren Stones 89 296.7 or 356 when Voice of Seren is active Seren Stones have the highest mining output in game and a one in three chance of giving a Corrupted ore. The Seren Stones are found in Prifddinas, in the Trahaearn clan.
Harmonised adamantite rock 89
Harmonised runite rock 95

Table of mines[]

Mine Rock Notes and hazards
Clay Copper Tin Iron Silver Coal Gold Mithril Adamantite Runite
Al Kharid mining site 0 3 1 9 5 2 2 2

2

0 Chasm Mine/Scorpion pit has a rock slope that's climbable at level 38 Agility.
Dondakan's mine 0 0 0 0 0 0 146 0 0 0 Accessible after the Between a Rock... quest. Contains lots of gold veins, and a local dwarf to transport the gold ores to the bank (for a small fee of gold ores). Alternately, the bank is a 30 sec longer trip from the local boat man
Gunnarsgrunn mining site 6 0 5 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 Very few safe spots for low-level miners; lacks copper ore needed for bronze
Brimhaven mining site 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 On western side of Karamja island; May be far from bank unless Shilo Village is completed
Coal Trucks 0 0 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 0 Coal trucks can hold up to 120 coal. You can hold up to 140 coal if the easy Seers' Village Tasks are completed, 168 if the medium tasks are completed, and 196 if the hard tasks are completed. If the elite tasks are completed, 200 coal in the trucks will go directly to your bank.
Crafting Guild mining site 6 0 0 0 6 0 7 0 0 0 Level 40 Crafting required. Usually vacant of miners, because of crafting requirements.
North Crandor mining site South Crandor mining site 0 0 0 0 0 10 3 8 3 0 Accessible during and after the Dragon Slayer quest.
Dorgeshuun Mine 0 0 0 9 12 0 0 0 0 0 Accessible during and after The Lost Tribe. A good place to power-mine without losing a lot of money, as Mistag (at the southern end of the mine) will buy your iron and silver ores. Requires a light source.
Dwarven Mine 5 11 10 9 3 24 2 2 3 0 Scorpions and King Scorpions at the south-eastern section. These numbers include the mining ores in the Resource Dungeon, which requires 15 dungeoneering level to enter. The resource dungeon has also a deposit box for fast banking.
Edgeville dungeon mine 0 2 2 3 3 6 0 1 2 0 Skeletons, Hobgoblins, and more.
Eastern Fremennik mine 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 2 0 0 Beware of black unicorns.
Mourner Tunnels mine 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Dark Beasts present, only accessible during and after Mourning's Ends Part 2
Grand Tree mine 9 0 0 8 4 11 4 4 3 0 Only accessible after The Grand Tree quest.
Heroes' Guild mine 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 2 2 2 Hero's Quest required.
Bandit camp mining site 0 0 0 16 0 20 0 22 8 0 Hobgoblins, Level 32 Wilderness.
Karamja Volcano mine 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Skeletons
Lumbridge Swamp training mining site 0 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
South-west Lumbridge Swamp mining site 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 5 2 0
Mining Guild 0 0 0 0 0 37 0 13 4 3 Need level 60 Mining to enter. These numbers include the mining ores in the Resource Dungeon, which requires level 45 Dungeoneering to enter.
Central Fremennik Isles mining site 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 1 Accessible after The Fremennik Isles quest.
Keldagrim north mine 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 10 2 Accessible after Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf quest.
Rimmington mining site 3 5 2 6 0 0 2 0 0 0 Very safe, with mobility can get into Falador to smelt.
Southern Wilderness mining site 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 Skeletons, Level 6 Wilderness
South-east Varrock mining site 0 9 6 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 To the south is a bear that may pose a threat for low levels.
South-west Varrock mining site 3 0 8 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 Muggers
South-Western Wilderness mining site 0 0 0 0 0 34 0 0 0 0 Skeletons, Level 9 Wilderness
Lava Maze runite mining site 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Level 46 Wilderness.
Lava Maze Dungeon mine 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Level 45 Wilderness, underground between the poison spiders and black dragons. Antipoison and anti-dragon shield recommended, slashing weapon or knife required to access.
Hellhounds cave 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Hellhounds, ogres.

See mines and mining sites for a more detailed listing of mines.

Shooting Stars[]

See main article: Shooting Star

Shooting Stars are a Distraction and Diversion. They can be found via a telescope in a player-owned house. They fall in waves every 2 hours on all worlds and will land around 2–15 minutes after each other. The stars can be from size 1 (10 Mining required) up to size 9 (90 Mining required). Bigger stars give more stardust in total, but are much harder to mine. There are nine areas in DarkScape where shooting stars will land at. You can learn more about the specific locations in the Distractions and Diversions guide. Mining stars give players stardust. If you reach your limit of 200 stardust, you can still carry on mining the star for Mining experience. 200 stardust may be exchanged for:

  • Chance to receive double ores when mining for a limited amount of time.

Wilderness Warbands[]

See main article: Wilderness Warbands

Wilderness Warbands is a Distraction and Diversion where the player or a group of players attempt to loot supplies and trade it in for experience. One of the possible loots are Mining supplies. Players can loot up to a maximum of 25 supplies per camp or 75 supplies daily. Turning the supplies to Quercus will give players experience based on how many supplies they have looted and what their current level is.

Random events[]

See main article: Random events

Gems[]

When mining your player may find a gem in the rock. A player's chances of finding gems are increased when wearing a charged amulet of glory or ring of wealth. If wearing both, the effects double. There also seems to be a positive correlation between a player's Mining level and the frequency of gems they receive while mining. In other words, the higher levelled the ore, the more likely it is to receive gems while mining it. There is also an extremely small chance of finding more than one gem in a rock (this happens quite often when mining a Shooting Star). If your inventory is full you are still able to find gems, however the gem will be dropped and you will receive the message "You do not have enough space in your inventory, so you drop the gem on the floor.".

Gems that can be found in rocks are uncut sapphires, uncut emeralds, uncut rubies and uncut diamonds. If you use a (superior) gem-finding scrimshaw you also have the chance to receive uncut dragonstones and uncut onyxes from a rock. The scrimshaw will also increase the diamonds found, with higher-levelled rocks increasing the chance for higher gems.

Note: Gems cannot be found while mining mineral deposits.

Tips[]

Animation when mining[]

It should be noted that when mining a player's animation will never be stopped unless they log out, die, or left-click somewhere else or eat/drink anything or drop something. So, with this in mind, players could, in theory, mine continuously until the ore runs out. One example of this is when players are attacked, their mining animation may be delayed or seem as if it has been stopped, but in reality they are actually still mining.

Players could also transfer to another ore if they feel that the ore they are mining is taking too long. The animation will transfer and you might find mining faster this way.

Busy world versus empty world[]

The rate that ore respawn for each rock has a linear relationship with the number of players logged in that world. This means that the same rock will respawn quicker in a busy world, like World 1 or World 2, than it would in a world with fewer players, such as World 125. This is especially important to consider when power mining (see above).

For general mining, it is slightly more advisable that players go to a quieter world. Although it has a slower rate of rock respawn, there are much fewer players in the world and, therefore, less competition for the rocks. As for selling the ores, the Grand Exchange allows the player to make offers with players in all servers. The only disadvantage, as mentioned before, is the ore respawn rate plus the disadvantage of the traditional method of trading as there would be very few people wishing to purchase your ore.

Wear Varrock armour and an amulet of glory[]

Among other benefits, Varrock armour (obtained from completing the different levels of difficulty of the Varrock Tasks) offers a chance of obtaining two ores at the same time from one rock. The player will get experience for both ores. As Varrock armour is upgraded upon completing the tasks, this unique effect will be available for rocks up to adamantite. Wearing an amulet of glory or ring of wealth will also increase the chance of obtaining gems.

Switch worlds[]

For higher level ores such as adamantite or runite, it is faster to switch between servers for more ore rather than wait for the rocks to respawn. This is not needed for lower level ores.

Training[]

See Mining training for more details.

Temporary boosts[]

See main article: Temporary skill boost
File:Mining Emote.gif

A player wearing a mining cape (t) and performing the skillcape emote.

  • Mining cape raises one level when cape is equipped, or when a player selects the 'boost' option that comes with the cape. However, 99 Mining is required.
  • Dwarven stout - Drinking this will raise a player's Mining and Smithing levels by 1 for a short time. Dwarven stouts can be bought in Falador one at a time, or bought in bulk in Burthorpe. They are also a common drop from dwarves, and can be bought in several places in various areas, as well as brewed using the Cooking skill. There are several re-spawns in the dwarf tavern along the shortcut under White Wolf Mountain (you need to complete Fishing Contest to go there).
  • Mature dwarven stout - Drinking this will raise a player's Mining and Smithing by 2 levels for a short time. Players receive two mature dwarven stouts as a reward for completing the quest Forgettable Tale of a Drunken Dwarf, but they can also be brewed using the Cooking skill. This does not stack with ordinary dwarven stout.
  • A brown spicy stew can raise Mining temporarily by up to 5; however, it can also decrease it by up to 5.
  • Braindeath 'rum' raises Mining by one level and Strength by 3, but decreases some other stats.
  • A God banner will provide a visible, +2 boost, lasting for half an hour.
  • Desert wyrms summoned with the Summoning skill will give the player's Mining an invisible boost of 1 level.
  • Void ravagers summoned with the Summoning skill will give the player's Mining a boost of 1 level + 1 invisible boost.
  • Obsidian golems summoned with the Summoning skill will give the player's Mining an invisible boost of 7 levels.
  • Lava titans summoned with the Summoning skill will give the player's Mining an invisible boost of 10 levels.
  • Star sprites from a Shooting Star will reward you with being able to mine 2 ores at once (25% chance), lasting for the amount of stardust you collected (200 stardust equals a 15-minute boost); it does work on runite.

Helpful items[]

Special mining areas[]

  • Coal Trucks - The coal trucks are located west from Seers' Village and north from Ardougne. There are 18 coal rocks and handy carts for storing coal in. The carts can store 120 at a time and it is also recommended to take 28 coal when leaving as well. There is a quick way or a slow way to get to and from the coal trucks.
Quick Way: With 20 Agility go across the log that is on the east side of the coal trucks. The Camelot Teleport spell can also be used for quick access to the Seers' bank
Slow Way: To walk all the way around the lake, past the Fishing Guild, to Seers' Village.
Once in Seers' Village go north-west from Seers' Village bank and there are more coal trucks in the shed. Remove all the coal and bank, repeating the process until all the ore has been taken.

After completing the Seers' Village Tasks the coal trucks can hold up to a max of 196 coal before having to be emptied.

  • Mining Guild - In the Mining Guild there are 37 coal and 5 mithril rocks. It is close to a bank (just climb the ladders to the west and head north). Level 60 Mining is required to enter (level 59 miners can achieve this by drinking a dwarven stout just before entering the guild). There is one especially efficient place to mine, in the south-east corner, where there are 6 coal in very close proximity. Mining mithril is not recommended in the guild unless there is no-one else at the rocks. An anvil is available outside of the guild in the north end of the mines. The anvil, in combination with the Superheat Item spell, allows the player to smith the ores they mine. The smithed items can be turned into coins with the Alchemy spell or sold at the nearby shop avoiding trips to the bank.

You can save a couple of seconds while banking using the skills necklace's Mining Guild teleport, which teleports you directly in front of the stairs leading down to the mining area.

  • Crafting Guild - The Crafting Guild is a decent place to mine gold, silver, and clay. 40 Crafting is required to enter. Players can easily teleport there by use of a skills necklace or the balloon transport system. Gold ore is very valuable and in high demand by players using the goldsmith gauntlets for quick Smithing experience, so some players hoping to make money mining would benefit greatly by training their Crafting level to 40.
  • Arzinian Mine - After completing the Between a Rock... quest, players can access the largest gold mine in the game, with 146 gold rocks. Players must talk to Dondakan while wearing a gold helmet in order to access it. To leave the mine, simply remove the helmet or log off and log in again. The mine is very far from a bank; however, a short ways away, there is a dwarf who will deliver Gold ore to the bank for you in exchange for a 20% cut of the profits, rounded up. The fee is halved if the player is wearing a ring of charos (a).
  • Shooting Stars - A shooting star can be seen through a telescope in a player-owned house every two hours. Details will be given, such as the location of impact site and time remaining until impact. Once a shooting star has crashed onto Gielinor, a player may search it out and mine it. Mining the star will give the player stardust, which can be exchanged for some rewards from a star sprite at the middle of the star, after the star has been fully mined. The sprite will also give the player an ability to mine more than one ore per rock (for a limited amount of time). Only 200 stardust pieces can be mined from the star. After that, the player can continue to mine the star and get experience (amount of experience depends on the level of star, or the amount of outer shell of the star still intact). This can be helpful to assist people in breaking the star apart so they can get their reward. Also, a star sprite can only reward a player once per day. It is recommended that the player exchanges a full 200 stardust pieces, for a larger reward.
  • Living Rock Caverns - The living rock cavern has concentrated coal rocks and concentrated gold rocks, which can be mined for multiple amounts of ore, gaining fast amounts of experience, and with the nearby deposit box, you gain good amounts of money from it. You need 77 and 80 Mining for coal and gold respectively.
  • Dwarven Mine resource dungeon - Requires level 15 Dungeoneering to enter, but contains 3 silver rocks, 13 coal rocks and 6 mithril rocks, along with a bank deposit box. This mining location is by far the closest location to a bank/deposit box in RuneScape, and therefore it is a very favourable place to mine.
  • Lava Flow Mine - After completing the King of the Dwarves quest, players unlock a new area to mine with a chance to receive the golden mining suit. There are a number of distractions at the mine which are pretty much just random events. To successfully achieve the best experience, you must make sure you are mining at the segment with a 50% lava flow which can be checked by clicking the gauges. No ore is produced here.

Trivia[]

  • Early in RS classic it was possible to mine gems from rocks, that you did not have the proper level to normally mine ore. This allowed a player to rapidly click on the rock and obtain gems without actually mining it. This exploit was swiftly fixed.

See also[]

Wikipedia logo
Mining}}

This article incorporates text from the RuneScape Wiki which is also licensed under CC-BY-SA.

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