Ruby Mining in North Carolina

[carnation]

We love to go ruby and sapphire mining in North Carolina! We've found quite a few good specimens--although I seem to find mostly moonstones and Mr. Carnation finds all the rubies and sapphires. (Grrr.) When we take the kids, we try to visit the salted mines where they put in some stones ahead of time.

Has anyone else been mining?

[WCUgirl]

YES! I love ruby mining. We used to go as a little girl. Mr. AXiD670 and I went several times while we were dating & engaged, but we haven't been in about 2 years now.

Where in NC do you go? I'm assuming Franklin.

[AOIIBrandi]

No, but I've driven by and wondered if it is worthwhile. Woud you share a couple of spots - either on here or PM?

[carnation]

We go to different mines in Franklin and the surrounding areas (the names escape me and Mr. C isn't around right now--I'll ask.)If you want to find gems for sure, go to a salted mine (their signs usually advertise that)!

Another gem we've found a lot of--the gorgeous rhodolite garnets.

[ZTAngel]

Yes, I went to a place in NC right by Asheville. Lots of fun. I found a few stones but nothing of real value. There are people who find stones worth thousands of dollars!

[WCUgirl]

I search for the emeralds, since they're my birthstone.

I actually try to avoid going to the salted mines. It's just more fun that way.

And yes, I have TONS of garnets. I still have a necklace from when I was a little girl that my daddy had made for me from a garnet we found while ruby mining on vacation in Franklin one year. I wish I still wore silver though. I've been thinking about having it remounted.

ETA: One summer Mr. AXiD670 and I went on a weekend trip to Pigeon Forge and went ruby mining there. Turned out the mine was salted - the stones were shipped in from Franklin, NC! We were mining for stones that we could have found in our back yard (since WCU was only 20 min. or so from Franklin).

[Peaches-n-Cream]

So how does this work? Do you just go to a mine and start digging? I'm a city girl so I have no idea how this works, but it sounds interesting.

New York City has natural garnets so people think that they have found gems. Unfortunately, most of them are not gemstone quality, but they sparkle.

[WCUgirl]

Okay, here's the setup. You sit on these benches at a trough sort of thing that has water flowing through it. You purchase a bucket of sand (yes, that's right!), usually about $5 or $6 a bucket (sometimes you can do a deal like 5 for $20 or something). You have these screens, and you just start dumping handfuls of the sand into the screen. You dunk the screen into the trough, which washes all the sand away, and then you dig through the remaining rocks and look for gemstones.

It's really a lot of fun!

Has anyone ever been panning for gold? We've done that too. That's also a lot of fun, but ruby mining is so much better.

[carnation]

A couple of times my husband just took our own buckets to NC and bought bucketsful of gem material and brought it back so we could mine it in our own backyard. It was a lot easier when our older girls were little.

To find corundum (rubies and sapphires), you look for six-sided stones. The rhodolites kind of stand out because they're hot pink.

[breathesgelatin]

I've gone ruby mining at Franklin! Fun stuff. I actually also used to be able to pull really impure ugly ones out of the creek at the camp where I went to all through school and where I used to work.

[KellyB369]

In elementary school we went to Hiddenite, NC on a field trip. I guess that is a salted mine (I've never heard that term before) because all the gems, etc were placed there. We didn't know that at the time though. It was a lot of fun.

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

not really gem-hunting..
When I visit my grandfather in SW Ohio I head out to the farm my grandma grew up on and go fossil hunting along the creeks. Lots of fossils from the ancient sea bed- on a good excursion I can find some fossilized corrals.

[JupiterTC]

This is weird. I was just thinking about ruby mining the other day, and how I missed it. Bizzare

Anyways, I use to go ruby mining at the NC State Fair. It opened up right at the entrance of the fair, so it's usually either the first or the last thing that families do at the fair. I loved it as a little kid, and maybe I'll go again this year at the fair.

[WCUgirl]

*bump*

My parents have been vacationing in the mountains this summer and Mr. AXiD670 and I went up to visit them this weekend. We went ruby mining Saturday! I found a nice ruby, topaz and amethyst that I'm thinking about having one of them made into a necklace.

We also got lots of moonstone and quartz. No big emeralds.

One recommendation -- if you go to Franklin, NC, stop by Burglen's (that's where we always stop first). He'll tell you which mines are good at the moment, and if you prefer, which ones aren't salted.

Yesterday we went to Rose Creek mine. My dad was mad b/c they charge $6 for the first bucket, then $3 for each add'l bucket. He was talking about how back in the day you'd get 8 buckets for $1. Then about 20 years ago, it was 4 buckets for $1. Now it's $6 for one bucket, and the stones you find are just chips compared to what you could find years ago. That's my dad!

We went to go out to one today where you could dig your own bucket (these buckets were huge!). It was $15 per person ( ), but it was also unlimited. So, you could fill your buckets ten times if you wanted to. But we didn't have enough time since Mr. AXiD670 and I had to get back on the road to pick up the doggie from the kennel.

Anyways, just wanted to share my ruby mining stories from the weekend.

[carnation]

Oh boy, this was timely--we want to go before school starts! Do you remember the name of the $15 mine?

Is Burglen's a jewelry store?