Who doesn't love rocks--and even better, mining for your own? This place is such a blast for the whole family! The kids had so much fun sifting out treasures, and the shop is full of really cool rocks and gems to explore and buy. The owner is absolutely wonderful--so friendly and welcoming--and to top it off, there's the sweetest pup on the property who made our visit even more special. A must-do experience if you're in the area! read more

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Wonderful service. Lots of bucket sizes / prices to choose from. Tons of gems found. This place is great! Our 6yo granddaughter had so much fun finding gems. It's so organized and the shop is lovely. The owners are very attentive and helpful. We will definitely come back as other family members visit. We are new locals to Helen and this activity is at the top of our list of things to do. read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining - Some of the gems found! - Jewelry Near Me - Helen, Georgia

Buy the big bucket! Awesome experience with very kind and knowledgeable staff. They can even cut your gems and make jewelry for you. Wish we would have had more time but we were just passing through read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining - Jewelry Near Me - Helen, Georgia

Great quick stop for the kids to have fun and take away a souvenir or a bag of souvenirs, reasonably priced. Will visit again for a larger bucket read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining - Jewelry Near Me - Helen, Georgia

Absolute scam. We bought a bucket with supposed to have rubies in. We could not find one and when telling them we were told of several small rocks that they were rubies in the natural stage and the inside will reveal them. I cut them when getting home, but not one of them was a ruby. We also bought a bucket with Gemstones and especially asked them whether they are adding stones from different areas, which they denied. We found gemstone from all over the US - a big disappointment and a far cry from what these places used to be in the past. read more

My kids love this place! The wonderful people there have been awesome every visit we made and that's been a few. Buckets range from size and type of goods you want to mine $15+. We always get the deluxe bucket for our two boys to share and they always leave with at least two sandwich bags full of gems and stones. The mining is done outdoors which actually isn't too bad on warmer days. During the winter they have a "tarp" (not sure the technical term) that they roll down with windows so it keeps the cold and wind out while still allowing lots of sunlight. A great experience for the whole family. Have returned and will keep on returning. read more

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First off, just want to say the guy who greeted us first was the sweetest and most tolerant man in the service industry. He answered all our questions with enthusiasm and joy. We found some really good gems and he told us all about them. Wide range of fossils, gems, and other things to choice from at great prices. You really get a bang for your buck! 10/10 experience! read more

This place was really fun for the young and the old. Each bucket contained the coolest surprises and it wasn't messy at all. You could sit comfortably and sift through your bucket of treasures. Staff was very nice and answered any questions about what you uncovered. Inside there were gorgeous rings, earrings, brackets, pendants to purchase - as well as loose gems and stones. All really reasonable. read more

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The Outpost was really fun and knowledgeable. Only one of our family had ever been gem mining. We all had fun! After we were finished mining, we went into the shop and the guys working inside we so nice and patient. They spent a lot of time with our two teens explaining the different rocks. It was such a cool experience, we went back the day before we left and mined for fossils. read more

My daughter and I stopped by here one rainy, chilly March day. We were kind of worried because we were the only ones there. But we picked our buckets and started "mining" for gems. Basically you pick which kind of gems/stones you want. They give them to you mixed in a bucket of sand, you scoop the sand into a sifter and place it into the water and viola your gems are there! We got a lot of beautiful gems. And we didn't have to get super dirty doing it. Lol overall we were pleased. Owners were nice. They will help you to identify your finds if you'd like. Would definitely do this again read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining - Jewelry Near Me - Helen, Georgia

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Great experience all around. Everyone was friendly, helpful, and accommodating with our kids. Thoroughly enjoyed everything about our experience, and will return. read more

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Awesome for kids and adults, we had a lot of fun and we got the $65 bucket. We will be back! read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining - $65 bucket - Jewelry Near Me - Helen, Georgia

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You'll probably pass at least 4 gem mining places on the way here but I promise Outpost is the best!!! Came here from out of town and the two gentlemen working took such great care of my boyfriend and I who had never gem mined! Such a fun activity and 100% recommend buying a large geode or two! We got two prospectors pick buckets and one small gem bucket. So much fun run by amazing people! read more

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Who doesn't like digging in the sand for gems? I know the sand is pre-stocked, so it's not quite like doing it on your own out in the wild, but it's still pretty fun to get wet and se what is hiding in the bucket. The kids had a blast sharing a big deluxe bucket, and we walked away with bags and bags of gems that will probably end up all over the house and under foot, but they're happy, so I'm happy. There were several sizes of buckets to choose from based on what you were hoping to find in the bucket, and some even included fossils if you're in to that sort of thing. It's a great way to kill some time with the kids and even dig around yourself if you're in the mood to search for some gold! read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining - Now this, is solid gold! - Jewelry Near Me - Helen, Georgia

Awesome. When I was a kid you got a bucket of sand with some small gems in it. Maybe we got lucky, but my kid got around twenty large gems (2") in one bucket. Also, the atmosphere is great with dirt floor, closed in with heat. Employees are super nice, helped me distract my kid while I snuck in an extra big fools gold. read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining - Jewelry Near Me - Helen, Georgia

This was the perfect activity for my 12yo and 7yo boys. They split a large gem bucket and found many "rare" gems. The workers were super friendly and knowledgeable sitting there while the boys sorted all their finds and telling them about the stones, even with some cool tricks! I highly recommend! read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining - Sorting through gems. - Jewelry Near Me - Helen, Georgia

Awesome local fun. Totally enjoyable experience and worth doing. We had never done it before and they were so helpful and took the time to explain what all of our stones were. They can even cut and polish your stones into jewelry! A must do while in town read more

This place is awesome!! Staff was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Fun for adults and kids!! We will be back!

Not cheap but fun and where else can you break open a geode?! My four year old son loved mining for cool rocks and took home two bags full from a $22 bucket. He split a geode and thought that was super cool. The guys working here were very sweet and knowledgeable. read more

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Very knowledgeable staff and great experience. We went with our kids and they loved the treasures they took home. The prefilled buckets focus on specific types of stones. read more

Great place!! Employees are very nice and helpful. We have also visited their other location Dukes Gem and Ruby mine, which was the same way. I would recommend both these businesses to anyone. read more

This was such a fun experience. It wasn't messy and there was actually a decent amount in the bucket that we got. I highly recommend trying this place out. read more

Outpost Gold & Gem Mining made my first time gem mining an unforgettable experience, I absolutely loved it! My boyfriend & I had so much fun, it was definitely a highlight of our trip to Helen. The staff was very friendly & helpful, they even helped guide me when I wanted to break open the geode I purchased there. I really liked everything they had to offer, we plan on coming back sooner than later... I highly recommend giving this place a visit, this staff was everyone from all ages can enjoy what this place has to offer!!!! read more

I absolutely love this place! The atmosphere and everyone working there was awesome and so friendly! I make healing jewelry made of natural stones and crystals and was very surprised to find that the people working at this place knew so much about them! One of the employees there is named Zachary and he is so sweet, kind, smart and friendly! He actually went through all of the crystals and stones I found and told me all about them. I was so happy to find out that he knew so much information about them! At first I only bought one small container to find crystals and stones in. Though when I was watching and listening to Zachary go over all of the crystals and stones that other customers there had found, I realized this wasn't just a normal place, this place actually has highly informed and knowledgeable people working there that are more than happy to help their customers find and know about all of the treasures they discover there. Once I heard Zachary talking to a large group of customers about all of the crystals and stones they found, I knew I needed to utilize this opportunity and purchased several more large containers to find crystals and stones in. I thought perhaps since I had so many of them I had found that they wouldn't go through them all with me and tell me all about them. Though once again they surprised me with how awesome they are at this place and went through and identified and talked about all of the crystals and stones I found. I had such a awesome experience at this place! I even went and checked out all of the other places around that say the offer the same experience of finding crystals and stones, there is no comparison. This is for sure the place that you want to go to have a awesome, fun, exciting experience in a nice atmosphere with friendly and helpful people working there. read more

We went to the outpost by chance and it was great. The kids had a great time and found so many gems in the bucket we chose which was the 12.00 dollar bucket. The gift shop had a great selection and the family was so nice. It was great that it is family owned and such a nice establishment. read more

Great place to take family and have fun panning for gold and gems will definitely come back again and do it again.

We were trying to find things to do with our kids on a cold rainy day and this was perfect. The "mining" area was enclosed and comfortable. I forget which bucket we got, but we had a pretty nice amount of gems. The man working answered all of my nerdy rock questions and had my kids pretty intrigued telling us about the different types of gems we had "mined". The gift shop was neat; there were several stuffed animals that we got to see and there was very unique artwork on the walls. Maybe next tome we'll try for gold! Great place and well worth the $30 we spent. read more

Great fun with the kids! And good value for the money as a $22 bucket allowed us to take home about 15 diff colored gems. And they were large...from about the size of nickel to larger than quarter. Breaking open a geode was awesome as GA does not naturally contain geodes. The guys here got them from AZ. read more

Your typical tourist stop. The kids love it. The owner was working the counter and was really nice, even giving us advice on local trails and sights to see. He taught the kids how to tell a good geode from a not so good geode. They enjoyed the whole thing, and honestly I did too :) the gift shop was just ok. Some of the jewelry was really pretty and it was interesting to learn about how the gemstones look before they are polished, which the guy inside was glad to show us. A cool stop. Would recommend for the kids, or even the adults. read more

We had a great time at Outpost Gold & Gem Mining. We have kids age 15, 9 and 4 and all 3 of them LOVED IT....so do we, the parents. The owner and his son were extremely friendly and helpful, especially in identifying the gems that we had panned out. We did 3 buckets while we were there and my wife made me stop after the 3rd...could have done it all day! We will definitely go back to find more treasures when we visit Helen again. read more

Super fun and interesting! The man working was very knowledgeable about the gems and was very polite. We ending up talking to him for awhile! We got 2 small buckets and they were definitely enough! We also got a medium size geode to crack open which was fun! read more