Ace of Diamonds Mine & Campground

Great place! I have better luck here than the other mines. I have been many, many times and plan to continue doing 2 trips a year as long as they are in buisness. Still take time to check out other mines in the area when i do go out for vacation but always do the best here.

Had a great time at this mine. I’ve never been to the other ones because everyone still recommends this one, but we found a few good diamonds today in a couple hours. Went to a few different spots up and down the hill and found diamonds at all of them.
Sunblock, water and hats highly recommended in the summer, there’s no shade and you’re gonna get hot!

When I ask the locals about going «diamond mining» in Herkimer, they all talk about Ace of Diamonds first. We’ve been back three times and each time we’ve met the most amazing, generous and charming folks. You can learn a lot from the people who do the mining semi professionally and I’m not kidding when i say that people were literally walking over to our wives and giving them stones, geodes, fossils and other gifts, just because.
Reasonable pricing, open rain or shine and who doesn’t want to spent all day in a big pile of dirt looking for shiny rocks?
Perfect for children of all ages and activity level.

My husband and I went for the day. We lasted about 4 hours. It is a lot of hard work, but so worth it. We never left the rock pile. The staff was so friendly and the gift shop was lovely. We took our own tools but you can rent tools for a very small fee. My husband broke into rocks and I just scraped the ground and we found quite a lot. Be prepared to get dirty.

Had a great time here over the Labor Day Weekend. We camped at the Herkimer Diamond KOA (definitely recommend their campground) and went to their mine on the first day. Found some decent gems, but had much better luck on our second day at the Ace of Diamonds. The one across the street from the KOA was picked through and it seemed like they didn’t put much effort into turning over their rocks. It’s also a hike from the parking lot. The Ace of Diamonds was a whole different story. They offer a much better chance of finding treasures and it’s right next to the parking lot. We will definitely be back to Ace!

We were really looking forward to looking for Herkimer diamonds here, but they were very hard to get to and I seemed like a tourist trap.

This summer we spent a few days prospecting for Herkimer’s at the Ace of Diamonds mine in Middleville, NY. We had great fun successfully breaking open rocks with hammers and sifting through the dirt with a screen to find the pretty stones.
Lucky for us they had a full selection of tools available for rent in the mine shop for a reasonable price, because we were on vacation and this was not a preplanned activity so we had no tools.
We camped right on-​site at the Ace of Diamonds Mine. The reasonably priced campsites featured a picnic table and fire pit. Water and electric hookups are optional.
Always wear protective eye wear and clothing in the mine area, plus always be careful climbing around on the rock piles.
We met lots of nice folks and collected many fine crystal specimens.

After trying the other mine up the street, this place is sweet relief!
My family (6 of us) drove to NY with thoughts of diamonds swirling in our heads, though the quartz is not quite as valuable :)
Ace has three mining areas — a large rock wall, a large rock pit, and an excavated field up a steep hill. We had the most luck in the field’s hillside, busting rock away and digging at the roots of trees to find vugs (pockets of quartz concentration). Come prepared with long pants (jeans or Dickies), boots, gloves, safety glasses. Rock may chip violently or fall on your feet, so you need skin protection. For tools, they rent & sell hammers, picks, trowels, garden rakes, etc. for cheap.
The staff was helpful, but not too friendly. I would have liked a bit more direction or a hint at strategy, though they probably make more money when people only find a small amount & come back the next day.
Ace is much better than the mine attached to the KOA, which is a huge tourist trap with little hope of actually finding diamonds, assuring frustration. The KOA mine’s store had Herkimer diamond earrings for $ 79, at the cheapest. You could get just as nice ones at Ace for $ 20.
For those interested, the store at the Ace of Diamonds mine also has a large library of occult, Celtic, and magick literature.