Greater Foscoe Mining Company

This was a great gem mine! We went for the $53 bucket (split between two people) and found a ton of good stones. There was a softball size geode, roughly 20 cuttable stones and tons more smaller stones. The owner was super friendly and helpful, showing us which stones we had found and some of their attributes. My favorites that we found were the Mexican opal and pink sapphire. This location also has great views of grandfather mountain so it’s a good fall family activity. It was really nice to have sleuthing troughs at different heights, a real advantage if you have kids, as well as benches if you get tired of standing. There is also an awning at the top to stand out of the sun or rain. Another big plus is that they also offer cutting and jewelry making of your stones that you find next door for relatively reasonable prices. Definitely will go back!

Anyone going here needs to understand it's a tourist attraction, that said, my 4 kids had a blast! We got 2 large $100ish buckets for our 4 kids to share. They LOVED going through and sifting the dirt to find their newly loved treasures. Super amazing gentlemen identified all the kids stones and was great with them! I would recommend as an activity if you're into gems or great for the kids!

This place was incredible, the guys were so friendly and Zach was really knowledgeable on the different stones. This will be our go too place for gem mining in the future. I'm really wanting to try the turning my stones into jewelry next time. Then guys just blew my expectations out of the water and my mind.

This establishment went above and beyond for my family. I can not recommend them enough! They were extremely friendly, and continuously came to help my family identify gems while “mining”, as well as giving us brief information about the gems. The employees also gave my son plenty of free ones as well. At the end of mining they will sort all of the gems you find, this is where you can also allow them to turn them into jewelry so if you choose. If I return to this area I will certainly return to this location.

We visited about a week ago and had a great experience. It was a great place to visit during covid. The staff was very helpful and had great positive energy. DB and Matt held us down! Thanks for the fun.

This was our first time gem mining so we didn’t have any previous experience to compare it to. Our family of 4 split the $53 bucket and we took our time. Took about 30 minutes. The view as you panned was great! Our girls were very excited with what they found. We found a large geode which we payed to have cut in half at the jewelers next door ($40). It all seemed pretty pricey if you ask me, but their prices were in line with all the other places we researched online. Our girls loved it (isn’t that the goal?) and are currently sitting at the kitchen table looking through their smaller stones. There was only one guy working there and he was great! Very personable and knowledgeable about the stones. He did a great job getting our girls even more excited about their finds!

We've enjoyed gem mining at this location for the past several years. Zach and Matt are both extremely knowledgeable and super friendly. We have had huge emeralds, peridot, and sapphires cut. We are quite pleased and always look forward to coming back. This year I had a sapphire cut. Here is the before and after pictures. The after yielded two very dark sapphires at an oval cut that were both over 3cts!

My family had a great experience here sifting and sluicing for gems with a view of Grandfather Mountain! Shared a $26 bucket between two kids (5 and 3) for their first panning experience, was worried it would go too fast but certainly didn't. They loved hunting for the gems in the dirt and used sluices at a perfect height for each of them and happily ended up with some muddy sleeves. The staff (DB) was friendly, patient and eager to help!

The guy working was super nice and helpful! We had a group of 6 and split the $100 bucket and each of us found numerous stones! He took the time to go through each kids bucket and put the stones on a chart to take with us. It was definitely a lot of fun and would go back again!

My toddler loves sifting through the sand and mud and cleaning rocks. He even enjoyed the identification done by the staff.

Visiting from the beach my family and I came to Greater Foscoe Mining Co. and brought my 4 year old son for his first gem mining experience! He loved finding “treasures” in the mud , and the staff was awesome ! So knowledgeable and enthusiastic about all of our findings, he took the time to explain all of the awesome stones we had found and pointed us next door to the jewelry store so we could get some of our gems cut ! This place is awesome and really turned us adults into big kids for a few hours! Awesome experience!

My daughter and I came here and I had a blast! Lots of awesome gems found in our bucket! DuBois is also personable and super friendly and knowledgeable! Will definitely recommend!

We took our son for his first gem mining experience, DB was amazing! So friendly and he took the time to explain different gems and such. We had a great time. We shared one of the big buckets and it was filled with gems and he got a geode a little bigger than a baseball. 10/10 would recommend.

I grew up gem mining here and I took my nephews for the first time today and they had an amazing time, we went back for another bucket! The three guys that worked there were amazing and new a lot of information to share with my nephews! I definitely recommend coming here! It great for all ages and you get a great selection of gems!

Mt two daughters and I went here today and had a great time. Dubois was awesome. Showed us all the great stones we found. My youngest found a geode bigger then a softball. I can't belive some/any of these low star ratings, so the water was muddy. It was muddy at Doc's Rocks last month when we went too, and the smell of chlorine was horrible. But we had fun and I got to spend time with my girls.. The $53 we paid was a fair price. Paid $35 somewhere else and didn't find hardly any good gems. We will be back in Boone in August and will be going back. So if you want to have some fun go to Greater Foscoe Mining Company. Relax and enjoy the view!

We love coming to Greater Foscoe Gem Mine every year! The staff is unfailingly enthusiastic and genuinely interested in gems and minerals. They are very knowledgeable about the gems we find; the best part is that they sort our finds and put them on a souvenir chart. (Very helpful, because I don’t always recognize the difference between garnets, rubies, sapphires, and just plain rocks!) Mr. Pickett and Zach at Facets of Foscoe are expert at guiding us in choosing the “biggest and best” cuts on our valuable gemstones. Our jewelry appraiser was impressed at the quality of gems and jewelry we got from Mr. Pickett. I wear my gemstone jewelry proudly! Cannot recommend this place enough if you’re looking for a gem mining experience.

We brought our friends from Ukraine to the gem mine and we had a wonderful time. They loved it and so did we. We got the $53 bucket and found some beautiful stones. We appreciated the friendly gentleman who helped us and was so kind to our Ukrainian family! We highly recommend the Greater Foscoe Mining Company!

The staff was outstanding and great with our kids (4). I’ve read some complaints about dirty water and rude staff… we found that the water made the experience more realistic and the staff was beyond pleasant. It seems an upgrade was made in the hiring. Both DB and Nick were full of insight and energy. They really cared about the experience we were paying for. Overall we were very happy with our time there.

DB was amazing! He was so friendly and knowledgeable. My best friend and I got the $53 bucket and we were not disappointed. We got so many beautiful gems and even a geode. I plan on coming here again to Christmas shop and will
mine again. It was a great time. 💚

Had an awesome time gem mining! We found some pretty gems and the attendant DB was super knowledgeable and sweet! Be sure to tip! (: