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by Amanda Miller 
May 21st 2009 at 8:00PM
Saronite translates into easy WoW gold, and can be farmed in massive quantities in Sholazar Basin, Icecrown and Storm Peaks. Wintergrasp is also a great place to farm it, despite being ground-bound.
Miners
Sacred Duty, a prot pally blog, recently posted an excellent example of a simple yet effective saronite farming route in Icecrown.
If you cannot fly yet, I highly recommend Sholazar Basin. Follow the rivers, run around the pillars, and circle the province perimeter. In fact, pretty much anywhere you go, you will find saronite, and the mobs are mid-seventies, unlike the heavy hitters in Icecrown.
As for Storm Peaks, make sure to fly up where you would think you have no business being. Giant cliff walls that stretch for miles and random peaks may be boring, but they do contain nodes.
An hour could easily grant you a few hundred ore. Before you smelt it, check your AH prices for ore versus bars. Because two ore go into a bar, you will want to smelt your ore into bars to sell if one ore is worth less than half of one bar. Otherwise, sell the ore! Jewelcrafters will buy it up for prospecting. Jewelcrafters
Prospecting saronite is very profitable. The probability for a blue-quality gem is around 21%, Scarlet Rubies routinely sell for 70-80g on my server, while raw ore might cost 70s-1g a piece (remember, you need to prospect 5 at a time).
Even if you had to pay 5g for each set of 5 ore, and only sold each ruby for 70g, that would give you 14 chances at prospecting a ruby (one, at least) before you'd begin to lose money, and that is without taking into consideration the profits you would be reaping from the other gems that would be coming out of the process.
As for Wowhead, it estimates that you'd be able to sell a ruby for around 100g a piece! Always learn the average prices for relevant items across days and times, so that you know how to spot a deal.
Stay tuned for more tips to help you make piles of gold on Time is Money. Kebina Trudough is dishing the dirt on coveted gold-making secrets, and you won't want to miss it! Check out my guide to choosing lucrative quest rewards for resale to a vendor, tips for disenchanters, or a list of addons to help you sell your loot. Finally, check out my tips to using the Auction House to make the most gold!Filed under: Mining, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Economy, Jewelcrafting, Features, Making money, Time Is Money
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Graver May 22nd 2009 8:53AM
at least you know you don't make any sense...
sith69 May 22nd 2009 8:36AM
Saronite??? Are you kidding? Copper sells for more on my server. Thorium sells for a LOT more.
Warren May 22nd 2009 1:11PM
it figures i am always behide the curve on the money making anyway. my DK just turned 74 so haven't been able to fly and farm for ore yet. but the herbing my druid dose paid for my dks epic flyer. but 18 gold for a stack of lichbloom /boo
jfofla May 22nd 2009 1:38PM
I am a miner/bs and I might add a true AH wizard. I bought the Traveler's Mammoth on day one for the full 20K, because I could.
I tell you this to let you know I work the AH constantly. However, I have stacks and stacks and stacks of Saronite that just won't sell. The biggest problem is the AH fee, it is tremendous for a good that might or might not sell. I have stopped mining Saronite because I just don't have room for anymore.
So on my server at least, Saronite is not a money maker, far from it.
Chris May 22nd 2009 2:59PM
WG is awesome for any sort of farming. I only get ganked about once every hour or so and since it's a non-flying zone there's a more level playing field for farming.
yaja May 22nd 2009 3:48PM
I'm another one thats going to tell you saronite is NOT the way to go for making money from mining. with AH prices approaching merchant prices for ore, you pay massive listing fees on something that has massive competition (eg; undercutting) from everyone else trying to unload it.
look into what other older ores/bars sell for. in most cases you'll make 4-5x as much mining older rarer stuff.