Mining

Smoking Rocks

Whilst mining an ore, it may start "smoking". You will see smoke coming out of the rock. At this point you should stop mining the rock. If you continue to do so, there will be a small explosion and your pickaxe will be damaged. If you damage your pick axe, seek Nurmof who can be found in the dwarven mines. He will fix your pick axe for a small fee, depending what metal it is (rune costs the most to fix, bronze the least).

Pickaxe Splitting

Whilst mining your pickaxe head might suddenly come off and drop somewhere in the immediate area. Simply pick up the head and "use" it on the handle which will be in your inventory. Then your pickaxe is fixed. If you don't pick up the head, someone else might take it, and the handle will be useless.

Rock Golem

A rock golem might appear whilst you mine any ore. It will start to attack you, or will get ready to attack you if it is obstructed by something. The rock golem monster varies in combat, depending on your combat level. The maximum they reach is 159, but they can be as small as lvl 14 ones. You can choose to run away so it doesn't catch you, or attack it. If you manage to kill it you might get ores, pickaxes or nothing. Protection melee spell works here.