Local Guides World

Shady Hellman

1 reviews on 1 places
Wow, just wow wow wow.

Thai is an experience you do not want to miss. We got there first thing on a Saturday morning. We started out by doing our gold pan experience, which comes with your mine tour ticket. There were 5 of us (4 adults and a 2.5 year old) and we all got a flake to 3 flakes of gold.

The tour was amazing! It lasted about 45 mins into a mine. I would stay don’t wear nice shoes/clothes as it was dripping a bit and had water in the mine but nothing crazy (I had white shoes and was good but my hat caught a few clay dropped). The miner team was great. She was able to answers everyone’s questions, even the kids that had some silly ones. She also had some fun little jokes and tricks to keep things fun.

They have tons of old finds from the mine when it was in working condition. You won’t regret checking this out.

If youre claustrophobic I’ll just add there really wasn’t any parts of the cave that were tight. I could put my hands out all the way by my sides and not touch the walls throughout most of the tour. They also have lights on in the cave that make it safe to get around. We had a few people in our tour that were older with knee/back issues and they were able to get up/down without it being too much - but I don’t think it would be good for walkers/wheelchairs.

Now for the mining review - the gold mining was fun, we got 1-3 flakes per person. The activity took about 15 mins but was included in our tour. We added on the $30 gem stone package - worth it!!! The bucket was about 5 gallons of sand/gems. We had a blast scooping the mix into our pan, shifting and then identifying. We got a huge back of gems including some precious stones. I got a huge chuck of blue sapphire. Luckily they have a lapidary onsite to cut your gems, Miner Mike.

Miner Mike was so knowledgeable! We was able to help us breakdown the possible sizes I would be able to get some my stone, what the color would be and proved me tons of options. And the prices to cut the stones weren’t bad at all! I’ll be getting 2 6mm stones, one set in a ring. It will take about 3 weeks to ship to me - not bad.

Overall, if you’re thinking about stopping here- do it!!! You won’t regret it.