This is a bucket business. The gems in these buckets are from numerous mines, and are obviously salted. That being said, I am a novice gem cutter, and there is no better place to get lots of great rough material at a good price. The kids will love it, and the gem buckets are much cleaner then the ones packed... More

Visiting Gem Mountain is a great way to spend an afternoon with kids of any age. Our group of 4 people split a large bucket of mixed gems and a smaller bucket of material from their ruby mine and we came away with a lot of neat stones. My son found a huge emerald which we are having cut and... More

Will keep your kids entertained for hours, make jewelry with your finds. More

My young daughter (8)!and I wanted to visit this place after seeing it featured on TLC. If you just stop at the shop and buy a bucket, that is exactly what you will get...a bucket filled with some native material but mostly loaded with material from around the world. Not an authentic experience but fun for kids. We booked the... More

We purchased an $85 mixed bucket and then proceeded to sift thru the bucket for gemstones for 2 hours. We found some really nice specimens, though the best ones were on top of the bucket. I think they need to mix the buckets better. You throw out 3/4 of the filler stone, so you only end up with about 1/4-1/3... More

I expected a rock shop and got an expensive jewelery store. More

This is a larger long-established gem mining business in the NC mountains. However I would not recommend them. They have a lot to learn about customer service. Take your money elsewhere. There are two other gem mining operations in the town of Spruce Pine itself and many others throughout the NC mountains. My family has done this tourist-type gem mining... More

In a nutshell this is a roadside tourist trap, but kids love it. They give you a bucket pre-filled with rocks and rough gemstones which you take to a flume and sift away. I really was not thrilled about spending my time and money on something like this but my kids had their hearts set on it. It turned out... More

This is a great place for the kids to have some fun. And they won't get too dirty cause the buckets are filled with white gravel type rocks not dirt (a plus for the finger nails). The buckets have all sorts of gems in them for the kids to pick out. They are fairly easy to identify and if you... More