Burglen's does have jewelry -- but they are who we ALWAYS go to before we go mining so he'll tell us which mines are "hot" and go to afterwards to have him make our good finds into jewelry. He provides a map to all the mines in the area, but he'll circle the ones he recommends. It's completely free.

Like I said, my family has been going to him for forty years, so don't think I'm trying to plug him or anything for stealth marketing. He's very reputable.

The mine that was the $15 for unlimited buckets was Mason's Mine -- it was waaaaay out in the boonies. I got very carsick today, lol. It's basically somebody's house and they have a trough and dirt pile in the back. :) I think I still have the map we got yesterday in the car (the one from Burglen's). If you'd like, I can take it to work tomorrow and scan it and email it to you as an attachment. Just PM me w/ the email addy you'd like it sent to, and I'll get it over to you.

ETA: I did a quick Google search, and was quite surprised to find that Burglen's has a website.

I want to go to Burglen's for sure! Did you see on the website where he's selling his business? :(

Have you ever read a book called Gems for the Taking? That's what started me wanting to go years ago--it's a fabulous book about Carolina ruby mining!

Bump! We're taking our exchange students ruby mining next week. Does anybody know of any good mines these days?