I have to admit that this was my first time going inside a real mine museum and probably my last.
The drive was quite brutal from Burnaby. It was almost three hours due to the various construction sites on the Sea to Sky highway. Traffic was moving as fast as a piece of rock on the ground or a turtle walking towards food near the construction zones. While driving to the museum, I tried not to think of the traffic as it had nothing to do with the museum itself.
There was plenty of free parking when I arrived right before 1 pm which was great. Admission price was more on the steep side for $29.95 for an adult, but the prices went up from reading previous reviews of the $21.50 for an adult.
Upon entering the museum, there were many past relics of what miners used when they worked in Britannia Mine. There was also an area where they showed a film about the history of the mine and the area of Britannia Beach.
The Minerals & Society exhibit in the Beaty Lundin Visitor Centre was perfect for elementary aged kids to high school students. There were displays of different minerals from around the world and educational information about the importance of mining. For those who took high school Geology 11, this section could be very boring.
There was also a section for those who want to pan for gold. Out of the more a dozen individuals panning for gold, only two people bagged some small very pieces of gold. There were no staff at the gold panning site and it would be so much better if there were some staff that would help people learn how to pan for gold.
The underground tour was dark, cold, dirty and loud! I was prepared for being dark and somewhat cold, but it was freezing cold with my Patagonia fleece vest and a long sleeve button down shirt. Please bring a winter jacket if you decide to do the underground tour, even in the summer! A large part of the tour in the mine was walking! Yep, I had to walk through the tracks and tunnels in the mine and it was very muddy, wet, slippery, rocky and some parts felt unstable. Women should definitely should not wear high heels and everyone should be not beach flip flops for sure. Boots or water resistant running/trail shoes are recommended! The heard hats provided were unhygienic and they should have provided polypropylene bouffant caps to everyone should decide to go on the underground tour and the hard hats were covered in dirt and mud! During the tour, the tour guide demonstrated various mining machines and there were insanely loud and we were just told to cover our ears! Visitors were not offered ear protection at the site of the underground tour and I highly recommend getting the ear protection for those who like to take photos.
My favourite part of the tour was Mill 3 and it was ore processing location of the mine and it was declared a National Historic site. The tour guide did an excellent job explaining and demonstrating the process with real samples of minerals inside Mill 3. Unfortunately, none of the actual machines worked at Mill 3, but the humungous size of Mill 3 really amazed me for sure.
Do I recommend this tour? Yes for those who are fans of mining, but how many people are fans of mining in real life? If you have a curiosity about mining and you're very interested in geology, sure, go to this mine museum. But those who went through geology in school, this place just felt so predictable and even boring. It just felt like another high school field trip. read more