Gem Mining

A delightful activity for kids, grandkids, and adults too!

What is Gem Mining? It's a treasure-hunting experience you've just got to try!

Gem Mining - Northwoods Gift Shop Style Since 1997

Tom built a rocky outdoor gem mining area and an indoor gem mining area, perfect for fall, winter or rainy day miners. A second higher outdoor trough was built because so many adults were mining too!

You buy a bag filled with sand (we offer 2 sizes of bags) and your treasures are hidden in the sand. At the mining trough, you sift through the sand using a miner's pan and water, washing away the sand to uncover your special stash of nature's gems. You'll have even more fun showing all your discoveries with your friends when you get home!

What will you find in your bag? This is where WE STAND OUT!

You will find:

Polished and rough semiprecious gemstones, plus big to small sizes of colorful, sparkly, and even fossilized treasures, and everything is intriguing and beautiful.

You could even find quartz crystal points, amethyst, rose quartz, fools gold, a wide range of colorful agates, hematite, jaspers, obsidian, sodalite, citrine, and much, much more!

But there's more! Each bag will also have a variety of beautiful large to small sea shells plus fossilized shark's teeth, plus an arrowhead hand-chipped from obsidian or chert.

But there's even more! Anyone who finds a coin in the bag receives a FREE gift

We offer several charts at the gem mining areas to help identify the unique combination of natural gems found in your bag.

We create each bag ourselves to ensure the amount and variety of items.

New customers are surprised and delighted by the variety and quality of the whole gem mining experience.

Customers return year after year for our gem mining. We are grateful for that but it also says we must be doing it right!

So why not give it a try while visiting our area? Bring the kids and grandkids - it's a lot of fun.

This is an excellent activity for girl and boy scout troops. 18 hole miniature golf can be available at a discount since we offer group rates. (Discount for mini golf depends on age of group)