This location feels too commercial to provide a true mining experience. The guy in the office is rude, acts like it is a problem for him to do his job of orienting you. We walked in and he asked if we had been there before, we replied no and he then grumbled and said that his throat hurt and he... more

This recreational activity was extremely well priced at $15 per adult & $10 per child. That includes 2 starter buckets of dirt each, your choice of rainbow (seeded with plenty of large, pretty semi-precious rocks & a few arrow heads) or native (potential ruby & sapphire). We took our 7 yr old here for her first gem mining experience &... more

A while back I had, of course, seen this mine on the Travel Channel. Well, I was so excited to try mining that I went to their site and ordered a bucket of dirt to go. A week later, my order still had not arrived. When I called, I got a man who said his wife and he had been... more

My Aunt and I spent the afternoon at Sheffields Mine. When you go into pay you do get instructions on how to clean the red mud off the rocks while sluicing and are shown examples of what to look for. You will get very dirty and sometimes wet. They do have towels to wipe your hands off with but bring... more

My husband and I had seen Sheffield Mine featured on the travel channel, like so many others and we had planned our vacation not just based on the show, but our love of playing in the dirt. We did our research, read all the reviews so we were prepared for extremely rude people, sneaky employees and jaded instructors. Our experience... more

My wife and I went to this mine to find some native stones, upon arriving we we herded into the shop area and instructed as a group of about 25 the fine art of looking for rubys, etc. Half the time you couldn't hear as other staff were shouting outside. This mans attitude (the instructor) left something to be desired,... more

Disappointment is putting it mildly. My family, including my husband, kids, mother, brother and sister, drove 3 hours from Atlanta to mine at Sheffield. We were very excited because this was the first time in 25 years that we had been to the ruby mines! Growing up, my family went to the North Carolina mines every summer (not Sheffield's, but... more

Visited the mines and my daughter enjoyed the experience. She found a terrific stone and we left them an order to have it cut, (pre-paid of course). Never received it, and numerous messages to them have been unanswered. So if you go, enjoy it for what it is, but don't bother to have the gems cut there. You'll never see... more

Our family went there because like so many others, because we seen it on TV. The Sheffield Mine was the first mine we went to. The employees went through our rocks and threw them out saying they were not sapphires or ruby's. We did not know any difference because we had not been mining before. We spent all day there... more