Crisson Gold Mine

I have been coming to Crisson Gold Mine for decades. My family began taking me here when I was a child. I live out of state now, and every time I come back to Georgia, I HAVE to visit. I am always pleased with what I get from the dirt there. Always quality. And here is a good selection, so you can spend as much time there as you’d like. This is a family owned business and everyone is so nice to me every time I visit. They have a great selection of supplies as well, if you’re a professional! You will be happy you visited Crisson!

Had an amazing time! My sister and I took our three girls on a huge road trip this summer, as part of it we visited Savannah and the home of Girl Scouting. We decided to earn the patches available through that council and one was about gold mining history in Georgia! The staff answered all our questions and taught us so much! We had a wonderful time panning and even found some amazing gems! We will be back!

Upon entering the gift shop, you can purchase tickets at the counter to «pan» for gold and gems. This gold mine is not open for touring. However, you may enter and see the big tools that were used in the late 1800s to mine for gold.
This is family-​run. Someone gave us a brief demo as to how to pan for gold. Luckily I saw a video and had some experience earlier in the day to understand the concept behind this. There were 2 others who were doing the same and we did not get supervision. However, they were open to questions and eventually one of them helped me identify gold. I suspect my technique was not correct. Well, that is what I like to believe since I did not get much gold flakes.
The best part of this experience was looking for gems. We each got a bucket of sand. Using shovels, we scooped them into our pans and dunked them into the water trough. The smaller sand particles went through the net and after a few repetitions, we were left with big stones. We were advised by another patron to get the $ 30 bucket next time. We watched as she found more and bigger stones including rubies!
This was a great experience. Definitely worth trying once. Support the local family as well!

Had a blast at Crissons! I suggest getting the high grade concentrates whether for gold or gemstones. I found a few rubies and sapphires as well as tons of other beautiful stones! We also used a trommel to search for gold and loved it! They are very helpful people and are patient. There is a lot going on around there and they do an awesome job of balancing customers. I also want to note that my mother is in a wheelchair but wanted to be part of the fun and they accommodated her no problem by letting us drive her down to the trommel and panning area. Very helpful and nice! Thank you for everything!

Awesome place for family. Great prices on gold equipment. Employees are very knowledgeable and nice.

If you’re interested in or wanting to learn about gold mining you really need to visit Crisson Gold Mine in Dahlonega, Georgia. There is a very friendly atmosphere there and the employees are eager to help you get started. You can feel free to ask questions and they will help first-​timers get started. There are plenty of souvenirs and gold mining equipment you can purchase for your own use. After looking around on the inside you can take a wagon ride tour on the outside and see even more, including antique mining equipment. Great place to take the family at reasonable prices. No hurrying, you can take your time and feel right at home as you pan and meet other people who are also having a great time. I like the easy access off and on the highway. Also, plenty of good, safe parking. If you’ve never panned for gold this would be a great place to learn. If you are already a pro you will enjoy joining in on the excitement here. I strongly recommend giving Crisson Gold Mine a shot when you visit Dahlonega. I’ve been there several times and love the Mine and the City!

For roughly $ 10, this is a decent attraction if you’re visiting with children.
You get as much time as you like when panning for gold, so adults can spend a lot of time here finding gold flakes. Young kids might lose interest in about 5 – 10 minutes.
The 2-​gallon buckets with gemstones are a bigger hit with toddlers and young children, and it does take about 10 minutes to carefully get through it all.
Finally, the new wagon ride pulled behind a tractor was a hit. $ 3/​person.
All in all, a decent value for about 90 minutes of entertainment.

This appears to be a serious mining store with a tourist trap as its centerpiece. Of course, we were there to pan for gold with our daughters, so I guess a tourist trap was exactly what we wanted.
The store area was a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ split between a tourist gift shop and what appeared to be serious mining equipment. The lady behind the counter was busy talking with someone who I guess was a serious gold mining enthusiast. As a result she had little time for us. We stood there for several minutes waiting for her to acknowledge us. We were about to leave when another employee arrived with his lunch in hand. He didn’t really want to deal with us either, so he began eating his lunch. Finally, he came over (I guess he got tired of us staring at the back of his head) and told us how the place works.
For $ 10 per person, you get to go into a room behind the gift shop with several troughs of water. There they give you a pan with sand already in it. You get a brief instruction on how to sift the sand using the water. You can also get a bucket of sand that you can use to sift for gems. Ten minutes and thirty dollars later, you come out with a small vial of gold flakes and a bag of miscellaneous gem stones.
I knew going into this that it was a tourist trap, but even in a situation like this I expect a certain level of customer service. Our first clue should have been the website. The site doesn’t have the address on it and the map is completely inaccurate. There are a couple of other mining operations like this in the area. I’d try them before I came here.