Mining is used to collect the ores you’ll need for Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting, and Engineering…this means that the Auction House is usually LOADED with ALL the Mining supplies you’d ever need for leveling.
So instead of wasting the time running around leveling your Mining you may want to just BUY everything. If you don’t think you can afford it then you should read this guide now before you start.
Alliance Mining 1-75 Copper Ore(1)
Darnassus isn't great for mining so you have to come to Darkshore to level it up. Darkshore is a huge zone, there are nodes scattered all off to each side of this route. The southern half is higher level range so do half circles of the route if that is an issue.
This mining path is for this part of the guide is kind of obvious since Elwynn forest isn't surrounded by mountains on all 4 sides. There are two caves to go into and if you run the alternate dotted line from time to time there are more nodes down the river near the Tower of Azora.
This is a route I've used many times for leveling up my mining. You can literally make your own mining leveling route in this zone because it is so mountainous. Just stick to the mountain edges, caves, and rises in land and you'll be set to mine in this zone as shown in the zone mining map guide below.
Westfall is great area to continue level mining while questing.
Loch Modan is the natural progression area of Gnomes and Dwarves if for some reason the starting area didn't get you high enough this is also a good zone.
Horde Mining 1-75 – Copper Ore(1)
Durotar is full of mountains and you could probably develop your own mining route if this one doesn't work for you. I will let you know upfront that Durotar is a deformed piece of land and you would have to run all over the place to utilize a full mining circuit of it which can be tedious while leveling.
Mulgore is just a big oval so this mining route is really simple to run while leveling. Mob levels and aggro are not that important of a factor since you'll be sticking to the outer edges of the map you should be fine following this part guide. You may want to skip leveling mining in the Venture Co Mine if you are too low of a level.
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The undead path for this mining leveling guide is fairly simple. You can pick a starting point anywhere on the line and just run the path mining along the way. If you are low level you may want to take into consideration areas on the map that might be too high for you to cross, if that is the case then just skip them and meet up with the path further down while leveling your mining.
All races but Undead will find this convenient to get to at low levels.
A great Undead alternative area.
Don’t forget to see the mining trainer to increase your mining cap beyond 75.
Mining 50-125 – Tin(65) and Silver(75)
This zone has one of the densest areas of Tin Ore ever noted on any map. By staying in the red zone and going in the caves there are a very large supply of nodes. Take a trip out of the area and run around the outskirts of the mountains when bored.
Horde Territory
If you are low level be careful as the level range of this zone changes quite a bit from the North to the South.
Alliance Territory
This is an Alliance zone, just keep that in mind if you take your Horde there.
Alliance Territory
Don’t forget to see the mining trainer to increase your mining cap beyond 150.
Mining 125-170 – Iron(125) and Gold (155)
Don’t forget to see the mining trainer to increase your mining cap beyond 225.
Mining 175-250 – Mithril (175) and Truesilver (230)
Tanaris is my preference for mining Mithril because you can drop down into caves as you make the rounds.
Here you'll probably want to spend most of your time in the eastern loop or in the cave in the southwest. It's not bad to alternate between the two spots but the eastern loop and southwestern cave are where you will level mining the fastest.
Dreadmaul Rock is loaded with caves full of Mithril Ore, you could spend all day just going in and out of the caves on the red spot but you'll have to be dismounted most of the time and fight your way through some of the enemies. For a more peaceful route take the outskirt arrows. 
Mining 250-300 – Thorium (250) and Rich Thorium (275)
This is one of the best spots for Thorium hands down. Do this small loop and go into the yeti caves, or don't do this loop at all and go to the northern part and run the edges. There's Thorium everywhere!!
This is another good zone to farm Thorium Ore in. Go into the caves of the hives if the big circle gets too boring. If you don't want to drop into the tunnel systems there is still a decent amount of Thorium if you just perform the circuit indicated on the map.
