Pigeon Forge Gem Mining

Very disappointed in the service. The kids and I were excited to go gem mining today and we spent 40 min waiting to have some questions answered about the cutting process. The first person was vague about how it worked and the second lady was rude and acted like she didn’t have time and in the middle of talking she just walked away. The kids and I wanted to do this activity but I am leaving a very disappointed lost customer due to the lack of service.

This place stunk. Definitely no gem mine. Paid $ 65 for a bucket of sand with some stones thrown in. The kids (6 of them) went through the bucket in 10 minutes. Then you go inside to see the «assayer». This is where the scam really begins. They tell you what stones you found and try to convince you make it some jewelry. Don’t do this!!! Way too expensive for what you get.
The employees were nice and didn’t pressure us. After 30 minutes we were walking out with kids asking, «That’s it?» Unfortunately, yep.

It’s a fun activity for kids, but it’s really just a clever jewelry store. All the buckets are predetermined, so there’s not much mystery to it. It’s not so much of «what will I find» as «what did they give me?».
As for the jewelry up sell… It’s a very expensive souvenir. Getting jewelry made at a tourist destination is the equivalent of paying $ 25 for an airbrushed T-​shirt. But, at least (hopefully) you’ll still have the necklace 20 years later.
I paid $ 100 for a pendant necklace that I could have gotten for $ 30 on
, but not surprising.
My only annoyance was I didn’t get the pleasure of watching them make it. They take your stone and tell you when your order will be ready for pick up. I wouldn’t have as much buyer remorse if I could have actually SEEN the process.
If I had a «do over», I would have just had gems cut and not have them actually set into jewelry. For my $ 100, I could have had maybe 3 – 4 gems cut.

For $ 15, this was a great value. You scoop sand out of a bucket and strain it through water, to find the gems. Plenty of neat rocks. Then an assayer can tell you what you got, and they can cut the stones for jewelry. It didn’t seem that overpriced, and it wasn’t remotely a hard-​sell. Definitely take the kids. Adults liked it, too.

Pros:
— The activity is simple yet enjoyable. Yes, it’s just scooping treasure-​laden sand from a bucket and cleaning the dirt off to reveal said treasure. It’s definitely fun for a young kid (4 – 7 years old). Digging, discovering, and collecting stuff — what’s not good about that?
— You might think that a bucket of dirt with some rocks and fossils should not cost a minimum of $ 25, but for the fun of «discovery» and getting to keep the loot, it’s actually not a bad deal. I wouldn’t suggest getting the more expensive buckets. I mean, how many rocks and fossils does one need?
Cons:
— Watch out for the up-​selling when you get your gems assayed. I get that they have to do that to make more profit, but still…
— The assayer who looked at our stones and fossils didn’t seem to enjoy doing it. It seemed as though it was a bother to do it. Some better customer service would be more appreciated.
— The activity itself doesn’t take up a lot of time, unfortunately. Give about 30 – 45 minutes for this stop.
Overall:
A novel, but quick, activity for the young ones.

Awesome place! Both my sons loved it and the staff were extremely nice. It was my oldest sons birthday and they gave a complimentary bucket to mine and four free tickets to see the bears next door. We will definitely return in the future. Awesome place for kids.

Our visit to the gem mine was really fun, the man running the buckets up front was extremely polite and very helpful. However, the lady (short woman with short blonde hair) that divided our rocks into «just for pretties» and «to be made into jewelry» bags was very rushed, even though there wasn’t a line. I also told her I saw an ad on the local channel on TV that said they would give us a 3lb bag of gem with our purchase of a bucket. She looked at me like I was stupid and told me I must have been thinking of North Carolina, and I told her it was on the LOCAL channel for pigeon forge, and it showed a picture of the front of the building, and she then proceeded to get very smart with me and said she doesn’t give anything away for free. I told her «tell your manager to take it off TV, then, because that’s false advertisement!» There was no reason for her to be so rude, which is why I had to rate this only 3 stars.

This is a fun trip for the whole family, sure it’s not the cheapest thing around, but you can easily spend a good hour or two here with the family and usually walk away with a good ring or a nice pair of earrings in the process. You might luck up and get a really good quality gem too, the most important thing though is that you’re spending a lot of time with your family looking for treasures. It’s fun and not expensive and more importantly, your whole family can enjoy it, even the little ones.

This is a really neat place for kids and adults alike. Ok maybe it’s neater for the girls…
When you get here you can either sit inside or outside (under a roof) on either side where there’s a trough with water running through it. You go inside the store to pay for your bucket and they give you voucher. There’s all sorts of choices for your mining bucket. You can get a kind of anything bucket from $ 15 to $ 500. Or you can choose certain gemstone buckets if you’re wanting to find a certain one, instead of hoping. You’re guaranteed more of those stones if you go for the specialty.
If you spend $ 50 or more you can get one of your stone’s cut to a carat for «free», up to $ 15. Then you can get it set in a pendant, ring, earrings, etc, for a small fee. It’s not a bad price, setting a ring will go between $ 25-​$ 40 and a necklace even cheaper. If you’re looking for a nice, unique gift or a great way to remember your trip then this is a great place! The people aren’t always the most upbeat and exciting employees but they do their job.