Gothic 1 Remake Old Mine Guide: Layout, Quests, and What to Find

The mine that keeps the Old Camp alive

The Old Mine is one of the first major locations you will visit in Gothic 1 Remake, and it matters for two reasons. It is where the Old Camp digs the magic ore that the whole colony’s economy runs on, and it is where the Old Camp sends you to prove yourself before they let you join. If you are working toward the Old Camp, the trip to the Old Mine is your initiation. This guide covers where it is, what is inside, who you need to find, and the choice that decides how much experience you walk away with.

Where it is and who runs it

The Old Mine sits in the north-west part of the valley, marked on the map by a pair of watchtowers. From the Old Camp you head north and keep right at the fork. It is lightly fortified with a watchtower and wooden palisades, and it belongs firmly to the Old Camp faction, which became dependent on it after the older Abandoned Mine collapsed.

You cannot just wander in blind, though. First you need the route, which means visiting Graham, the mapmaker near the Old Camp’s northern gate. He will sell you the map for around 20 ore, or you can refuse to pay and threaten him into handing it over for free. Either works.

Inside: layout and dangers

The mine is built around a vertical main shaft with multiple levels, connected by a system of walkways and planks. Side galleries branch off each level, and the abandoned sections are infested with minecrawlers, which makes the place genuinely dangerous for a low-level character. There is a smelting cave with a furnace at the bottom of the shaft, and a sealed gate guards a minecrawler nest that becomes relevant in a later chapter.

To reach the people you need, take the right-hand path and follow the planks and ramps spiraling down toward the lower levels. The mine rewards careful exploration with rings, runes, scrolls, and other gear, but do not rush in underleveled. Make sure your stats are in decent shape first, which the strength, dexterity, and mana guide can help with.

Finding Ian and the supply list

Deep on the lower levels, at a table, you will find Ian, the keeper of the List of Requirements of the Old Mine, often just called the supply list. This is the item Diego’s Test of Faith sends you to retrieve.

Here is the trap that catches a lot of players. You must unlock Diego’s countersign line first, the line “The crawlers look mighty hungry,” before you head down. If you leave for the Old Mine without it, Ian simply refuses to hand the list over and you have wasted the trip. So exhaust Diego’s dialogue at the Old Camp before you go.

The full sequence runs like this:

1. Talk to Diego at the Old Camp until you unlock the countersign.
2. Buy or extract the route map from Graham at the northern gate.
3. Travel to the Old Mine in the north-west valley.
4. Descend to Ian on the lower levels and give the countersign.
5. Take the supply list and decide who to bring it back to.

The Diego or Lares choice

This is where the remake gives you a real decision. You can hand the list straight back to Diego for roughly 750 experience, or you can take a detour to the New Camp and show it to Lares first. Lares adds to the list before you return it to Diego, and that route pays a larger total of around 1,750 experience while also opening the New Camp path to you.

The Lares route is the better deal for experience and for keeping your options open, but it does signal interest in the New Camp, so weigh that against where you actually want to end up. This whole quest is part of the larger admission process for the Old Camp, which eventually has you gathering support from camp NPCs, reaching level 5, and getting an audience with Gomez. The full picture is in the camp decision guide.

The Old Mine in the bigger picture

It helps to keep the three mines straight. The Old Mine is the Old Camp’s active magic-ore operation, the one with Ian and the minecrawlers. The Abandoned Mine is the earlier mine that collapsed, which is exactly why the Old Mine became essential. The New Camp runs its own separate operation entirely, in line with their whole identity of mining ore outside Gomez’s control.

The reason any of this matters is the economy. The Old Camp is the hub of the ore trade with the King’s men, and magic ore is the colony’s currency. The Old Mine is the engine behind that trade, which is why the Old Camp guards it and why proving yourself there is the price of admission. If you want to turn that ore into character power, the ore farming guide shows how to build a stack early.

Quick reference

1. Unlock Diego’s countersign before leaving, or Ian will turn you away.
2. Get the route map from Graham, paid or threatened.
3. Head north-west, keep right, and descend the right-hand path to find Ian.
4. Watch for minecrawlers on the lower levels.
5. Take the Lares detour for the bigger experience reward unless you are set on the Old Camp.

The location, layout, the Ian supply-list quest, the countersign requirement, and the Diego-versus-Lares experience figures above reflect the 2026 remake played post-launch, drawn from current community guides. Some of the deeper NPC roster, the specific loot list, and exact later-chapter quest experience values are single-sourced, and the precise “tribute to the King” framing comes from series lore rather than a confirmed remake line, so treat those finer details as likely rather than certain.