Foggy Mountain Gem Mine

All of the staff were helpful and showed a great deal of hospitality. A much much better expierence than the other big gem mine in town.

We had a great time here! Foggy Mountain Gem Mine was exactly as advertised and they were completely up front about how it works, where the gems came from, etc and that was before we decided to buy a bucket. So you know you know what you are getting. it is fun especially for the kids, but the adults in our party enjoyed it as well. If we wanted to do actual mining, then we would have been miners. I used to live in Montana as a child and they had basically the same set up. The staff was very knowledgeable and friendly. It is a business so I am not sure why people are surprised they will cut, polish and set the stone if you want them to and they also have jewelry in display cases for sale. I also had my parents with us and they were very satisfied with this business! We had a fantastic experience there and would definatly go back!

Not much to say about Gem Mines in this area — here’s the skinny:
1. You buy a bucket of dirt from them — it contains various rocks, etc. The «mines» are not mines at all — rather they buy lots of this dirt wholesale — and sell it by the bucket to people with kids :-)
2. Take the bucket to a sluice of water and put it (shovel by shovel) into a «Classifier» (a big sieve) to filter the dirt away and leave the gems. Now you have Gems!
Prices range from $ 15 for a small bucket to lots more (I think they have ‘em in the $ 100+ range) for larger ones. The larger ones come with some stones you can pick out from the store (so basically, you’re buying a bucket and a stone or several stones.)
Kids love this, but it’s nothing overly special. At the end they’ll look through what you found and tell you what it was/​is. They’ll offer to cut and polish your stones as well, if you so desire. We just left with what we had and plan to tumble them later.
This place is relatively small as far as these places go. It’s on the side of the road — and while it’s easy to pull in; pulling out can be a bit of a hassle. My advice is to find a parking spot off to the side of the building — or back in if possible when you get there. There’s little space to back out in the lot (you have to back out onto the main road) so it’s a bit dangerous.
I personally wish we had gone to to The Greater Foscoe Mining Company — which is more outdoors and built onto a hill (it’s bigger too) than this place — that’ll be our spot next time…

We visited the Foggy Mountain Gem Mine on a cold February day and purchased the Motherlode Bucket for a family of 8. It was a large size container that kept the family busy and competing for a good hour.
The rocks and sand are sifted and washed to reveal any gems inside. Then the gemologist sort and identify the pieces in a fun and interactive personalized way. Customers are offered the opportunity to have pieces polished and set into jewelry but are not pressured in any way. The staff was knowledgeable and friendly and made the experience even more interesting
We had a great time, learned a lot, and left with various stones and crystals, including a selection of amethyst, quartz, turquoise, sapphire, emeralds, and rubies. The kids had a blast and I even had my rings cleaned and polished while we waited (they did a fabulous job there as well).

Took 10 kids (age 4 — 14) and 8 adults and we all had a great time! I observed all of the gemologists interacting with numerous customers and they were all amazing! They took their time and made every customer feel special.
Nick took care of our crew and he was terrific! We all highly recommend!

A fun place to be! We spent 3 — 4 hours here and got «the motherload» bucket. Although we had to wait a while to start shifting through our bucket, it was worth the wait. We went during the winter so we were happy that they kept it warm in there!
The staff (especially Daniel and Kaleb) were super helpful, knowledgeable, nice and it seems like they really enjoy their jobs. It was so cute to hear the little kids find «beautiful materials» and you can also buy fair priced pre-​made jewelry.
BE CAREFUL PULLING INTO, AND BACKING OUT OF, THE PARKING LOT!

Had a great time here! The staff is very informative about the gems and helpful through your mining experience. We got the mother lode bucket and got 5 bags of gems of all kinds, including rubies, emeralds, and sapphire. Great family fun.

A standard gem «mine».
The company buys «gem» rocks from all over the world, mixes it in with local gravel and dirt, puts it all in a bucket and sells you the bucket for a lot of money. You sit in front of a flume which has really dirty water and wash away the dirt to reveal the «gem». The flume water is recycled (i.e. pumped back into the flume) which is good for the environment but it is not really filtered or disinfected. This means if any other guest has a disease that could be water borne, you too can get it.

Amazing. I definitely recommend coming here. So much fun and you get to feel like a bit of a pirate while finding shiny/​colorful things. We were up for my birthday and decided to come to this gem mine because it didn’t seem as busy and «touristy». Very small place and not a huge sign or anything. The workers are really nice and informative. We bought the $ 65 bucket which is about the size of a Home depot/​work bucket. We bought 2 huge backs of rocks and 1 small bag out of the deal and it was so much fun. The people here are really chill and don’t pressure you to buy anything. They’re like «Oh, if you want to cool and if not, cool» which I like. We did get one stone cut that is included in the bucket. It does take a few weeks to get it sent to your house and it is about $ 6 for shipping, but we figured why not? It was just a lot of fun to find rocks. My husband and I started competing for coolest find (I won hands down of course). We’ll be back next time we’re up in Boone!

We had an awesome time at Foggy Mountain Gem Mine! The prices and information are all on their website but basically you buy a bucket of rocks and can sift through them to find gems. They have an indoor and outdoor area in case the weather’s bad. Once you finish the staff will tell you what rocks you have. You have the option of getting them polished and placed in a setting for an additional fee but it’s certainly not required and I didn’t feel pressured to do it at all. The staff was wonderful and I would return to Boone just to do it again!

Whoever came up with this business model is a genious!
So…you’re not actually going to hit any rock with a pick or hammer. You buy a bucket filled with rocks and gems. Your discoveries are fairly pre-calculated…but your kids will stay excited the whole time. The bigger the bucket you buy, the bigger the booty it contains. You’ll find your gems by rinsing the contents from your bucket with a screen you lower into a trough of running water. Fun times!
Where the genious of this business really comes to fruition is in the professional identification of the gems. You can sit down with employees that will sort and identify your findings… and there will be many findings. This is where you’ll have the chance to have your gems cut and polished and set into a ring/​necklace/​broach, etc. A little grind here, a little polish there, set it, and voila!
We watched a family of four walk out to the tune of $ 600 right before us. I let my kids know up front, we’re here to have fun, not spend a ton… but hey… it’s pretty cool to have some jewelry made if that’s what you’re in to. Not to mention, you can get some of their pieces made for a fairly (yes this is subjective) reasonable price.
Try: Picking a bucket size that your wallet can handle
Avoid: The traffic when backing out of the parking area

We had a blast here and have absolutely no complaints. We got there a few minutes before they opened and were first in. The staff is super polite, friendly, and even took the time to write down directions to a park on the Blue Ridge that she loved.
We got the $ 65 bucket and walked away with 3 zip locks full of gems. We found a ton of golf ball sized gems, and a large amount of rubies, emeralds, and Tourmaline. I paid to have the largest ruby and emerald cut and will update this review when those come in in about 3 – 5 weeks.
Overall I definitely recommend this place and will absolutely come back again.
Nick