mine then in kotoko farm. i do the raw meat quest come back and mine and do it again and again until i have loads of ore. doing the first monster hunt quest is even better cause u get 500z from doing it, and its fast and really easy. since u can get 3-4 ore per time at mining lvl 1, eventually u should get a fair amount of earth crystals. its safer then going to the desert or swamp to do a mining run.