When leveling mining, it pays to think ahead.

Favor for Krazek (Stranglethorn Vale/Arathi Highlands, level 32).

Zinfizzlex's Portable Shredder Unit (Alterac Valley, level 60).

The Spectral Chalice (Blackrock Depths, level 55).

Lore for a Price (Gnomeregan/Ironforge, level 37).

Nogg's Ring Redo (Gnomeregan/Orgrimmar, level 35).

Gnome Improvement (Gnomeregan/Ironforge, level 35).

Components for the Enchanted Gold Bloodrobe (warlock quest, level 34).

Quests that require products from a miner: (other than blacksmithing) There are no known quests specifically for miners, however there are quite a few for blacksmiths.

Be warned, though: Blacksmiths and Engineers generally want you to smelt the ore into bars, and Jewelcrafters strictly want the ore to prospect. Mining a good amount of money at the auction house. The current maximum level for miners is 450.

Smelting allows the miner to reduce the ore to metal bars. Mining also comes with an associated skill, Smelting. (At later levels this number varies more greatly.) To do this, the miner tracks the mineral nodes on his mini-map, and then harvests from it anywhere from 2 to 4 times. Fortunately ore is important for three different production skills, blacksmithing, engineering, and jewelcrafting.

Wowhead eternium ore