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

My friend and I traveled 4 hours one way to visit this mine. She had seen it on the travel channel and wanted to visit. We went knowing that this was native dirt and not "salted", although they had" salted" buckets for sale as well. We expected the mud and to get dirty. We also expected to find some rubies... more

I saw the tv show on the Sheffield Mine and loaded up the family for the 3 hour trip from Atlanta. First of all, I called ahead and got some general information on hours and location. I was given their hours but not told you have to be there by 3:00 in order to search for rubies. We arrived a... more

I went to the mine today with my wife, teenage daughter, 5 year old daughter and a young niece and nephew. We all had a great time. We stayed the entire day. I would go back and would recommend it to anyone. I liked the fact that we were mining native dirt. You can see were the bulldozer pushed it... more