Treasure Hunting

I’m continuing on from yesterday’s post about where to go gem hunting in North Carolina. The picture to the left is a raw emerald. Looks pretty different from the ones cut and set into jewelry, doesn’t it? North Carolina is definitely emerald country though. But like I mentioned in yesterday’s post, North Carolina is home to tons of other different rocks and minerals, too.

Rose Creek Mine, located in Franklin, North Carolina, is another flume mining operation with a twist. You get to go dig your own bucket of dirt from the mining tunnel and then bring it back to the flume rather than have the bucket prepared for you. It’s possible to find rubies, sapphires, garnets, and amethyst among other things in this locale. The flume area is covered so you can even work in the rain.

Also located in Franklin is the Sheffield Mine. At this flume mine, you have a couple of options. Your general admission is $15 ($10 for those under 15 or over 60) and that includes two “starter” buckets of dirt. For your starter buckets, you can either choose two native buckets that may contain native rubies and sapphires, two enriched buckets, or one of each. On top of this, you can purchase special enriched buckets that can cost anywhere from $12-$100. These buckets might contain Mexican opals, Brazilian emeralds, and any other gem they have in stock. There’s also a special fossil bucket for those who lean more to that area. Here is a link to some pictures of items that were found by one person.

The Thermal City Gold Mine in Rutherford County, NC offers both gold mining and gem hunting. Here, the experience is more authentic - the dirt and gravel is not enriched or enhanced. In addition to their standard fare, they also offer special digs a few times each summer that require advanced reservations.

So, where are the best places to go gem hunting in North Carolina? It all depends what you’re looking for.

The Gem Mountain Gemstone Mine in Spruce Pine, NC offers both flume mining and trips to the Brushy Creek Aquamarine Mine. The flume mining is conducted in a covered area and consists of washing rough material with screens in the flume. If you happen to find something that you particularly like, you can have it cut and made into jewelry for an additional fee. The mine tours require a bit more planning, so if you’re interested in these, call for a reservation.

The Emerald Hollow Mine in Hiddenite, NC is another place to go gem hunting in North Carolina. It holds the distinction of being the only emerald mine in the United States in which the general public can go treasure hunting on their own. Emeralds aren’t the only gemstone in this locale. Over 60 other gems and minerals have been found here. A variety of gem hunting methods are offered here, including sluicing, creek digging, and mine digging.

Here’s a first look at the gems I found in that 20-pound sack.  It’s still going to take a bit to get them cleaned up - some of them were more raw than I thought they would be.  There’s definitely some rose quartz in there and a nice inverted clear crystal scepter.  There’s also some sapphire, too, but it’s definitely not gem-quality.  I was surprised to find some ametrine in there, too.

The more time I spend with these specimens, the more I think it was a pretty decent deal.  Sure, you could just buy the gems already cleaned up, but I actually like cleaning them.  Buying a bag like this is not the same thing as digging up the specimens yourself, but I think it might just be the next best thing.  For those people who can’t just get out and mine whenever they want, this might be a good way to satisfy that mining desire - at least a bit anyway.  I will post some pictures and a further update when I get some of these rascals cleaned up.

Back in this post , I mentioned that I was going to buy a bag of gem-ore from Spruce Pine Gemstone Mine just to see what kind of goodies it might contain. Well, it came in the mail yesterday (well within the alloted delivery time, I might add), and I started going through it. There was a lot more in the bag than I thought there was so this is going to take some time, but I thought I could go ahead and give an update of what I’ve found so far.

It’s pretty clear that the gems were placed in the bag of rocks, but I think that comes as no surprise. How else could they offer a guarantee that you would find items in each bag? Even with that, I am having tons of fun with this. I even love the gorgeous right rock and sand that the gems came packed in. In addition to picking out the gems, I’ve gotten the nicer white rocks and put them aside to clean off. I think they will make great additions to other craft-type projects. I still haven’t cleaned any of the gems specimens very well yet, but there seem to be some nice ones! When I get them cleaned, I will post some more pictures. But so far, I am pretty pleased with this little experiment. It’s a lot more fun that I thought it would be.

I came across this web site today, and I have to admit that I was intrigued a bit.  Instead of actually going out to a mine, the Spruce Pine Gemstone Mine in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, has containers full of mine ore indoors that you can purchase and go through on site.  And if you can’t make it to their shop, never fear!  They will ship a bag of the mine ore directly to your house by priority mail.  The ore buckets for sale at the shop seem to be priced based on where they were gathered and what they might contain.  The ones that are available to be shipped directly to your home are all sold at a flat rate starting at $39.95 (including priority shipping) for a 20-pound sack.

The list of gems you can find here includes everything from emeralds and sapphires to all varieties of quartz such as amethyst and citrine.  I’m curious enough that I’m going to order the 20-pound bag and see what all it entails.  I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures when I get the sack of mine ore and report back here on what I find.