Gem Mountain Philipsburg

Cassie Higgins

2024-05

My sister, her 3 kiddos and I had an amazing time! We had so much fun sorting through the rocks to find sapphires and every time we did it made our day. The people were very friendly and helpful and made it even better. Thank you Gem Mountain for a great experience!

Sarah Leithold

2022-05

Had so much fun, Travis was incredibly helpful and has such a great sense of humor!! Thank you for the recommendation of the scenic drive, my husband and I had the best adventure today. Gem Mountain is a must visit!!

S J

2023-09

Mining for sapphires is so much fun. we got a few that were larger than 2 carats, We need to send them in to have them heat treated. I highly recommend either going to the mine or buying a box from them to go through!

Shandee Votaw

2023-12

I love going in to Gem Mountain! Staff are friendly and helpful, sifting the gravel to find little treasures is relaxing. Leaving with those treasures feels therapeutic. Definitely recommend

Bayard L

2022-05

We bought two buckets of gravel for $40 each to sort through and found several cuttable stones. Our second bucket had an unusually high amount of sapphires, so be aware that your mileage may vary.They charge reasonable prices and make it straightforward to find sapphires. It was absolutely thrilling to find gemstones. The gravel was raw, muddy, and brown at first, not loaded with polished stones like some tourist destinations do to make people feel special.The way the gravel is sorted by the attendants pushes almost all of the sapphires to the top of the gravel pile when the sieve is flipped onto the table. This makes for a great experience, because multiple sapphires are usually visible before starting the longer part of the hunt.If you'd like your sapphires/garnets cut, they are currently experiencing a one year wait because of how many customers get in line.

Patrick Jahsman

2024-03

Loved the experience! It was so fun! Take your mom she will have a blast.

Joe Baldes

2019-05

Visited this store very much by accident and very happy about that. Rock and Gem stores are by far my favourite and Gem Mountain did not disappoint. Prices were about par, but they have a great selection of unique items.

Kurt McCullough

2021-05

Talk about addictive. Digging through dirt @ our age is just good clean fun. We ordered some of ya'lls buckets of dirt and we are on a steep learning curve before our actual arrival in the Big Sky.. Sitting on the Mexican Border sifting thru all this rock is nothing short of just a blast! Still have a few lbs to go through but I'm pretty sure we will order more before we get there. I guess it's kinda like gambling @ a casino without the second hand smoke! Just the luck of the draw..Plotted. Oumuamua. Beep.

sherri ferguson

2024-04

Gravel is very expensive...we bought the boot the big jug and the small ones ..very tiny pieces ..cant do anything with them

Renee Johnson

2023-08

I have been coming here for 5 years and have never been treated so poorly. At 3pm I was put on a waiting list to have the stones looked at, at 5 pm they close and would not look at my stones. We were only here for 1 night. I'm stuck with stones, $45 of nothing. It's not worth your $45. Avoid doing business here

Jennifer Berryman

2021-05

Friendly and very knowledgeable staff!! We found some awesome sapphires! Can't wait to see them after they have been treated and faceted!

Kaylee Tremblay

2023-07

The mining itself was incredible. Something that I will always remember. The employees were very friendly and helpful. The store was also nice-kept and dog friendly.

Butterfly1892

2022-05

So much fun and found a 3.2 carat sapphire. Just make sure you wear sunscreen. Finished the lucky seven in about 4 1/2 hours with just two people. Barely finished in time before closing but we did it!! Definitely coming back. Staff was amazing, funny and super helpful.

Gus Laursen

2022-05

Lots of great jewelry and gemstone items on display and for sale. We brought some out of state family for a visit and the kids were excited to search for gemstones. Pro tip: feed the kids lunch first, otherwise they start to get a lot more restless picking through the gravel for sapphires. 😂Overall, it was a really fun experience and despite the need to refuel the kiddos, they all had a great time.

Scott Sterland

2021-05

Great staff and a lot of fun! Definitely worth the trip. Of course there are no guarantees of getting a huge stone. But my wife and I have been going there for five years and have a great time each visit. It’s a great time for out of town guests too.

Bray Rem

2024-04

Clean. polite. helpful and awesome gem selection

dragonswordkata

2021-05

We got some little sharks teeth for our grandsons. They also had a place you could buy bags of gravel with possibly different semi precious gems in them and then wash it out to see what you get. Fun little activity. We didn't see a price.

Todd Mora

2016-05

We had a great time! My wife and kids panned for gems for several hours. The staff was very helpful and showed us how to find the gems in the dirt. We found more than 20 gems that could be cut and one that was over 4 carats rough (almost 2 after cutting). This was a great experience and my kids loved it.

Anya Ziemer

2023-05

It was very fun! The gems we found were really cool to look at and to seek out! They also had a person there to look at what you found, and see thir condition and such! The employees there were very friendly!

Rachael Gogis-Taylor

2021-05

My husband and I were there in 2015 while on our honeymoon. We live in the NE corner of Indiana and spent 3 weeks traveling, stopping along the way at historical sites as we headed towards Montana; the sapphire mines were the goal of our trip. We had the most AMAZING time looking for sapphires in a pile of gravel. The gift shop was SPECTACULAR! And everyone there was so nice and friendly. We will definitely return one day. Our honeymoon was a trip of a lifetime! Your sapphire mine was definitelyone of the highlights of our trip.

Nathan Everson

2021-05

Amazingly amazing!!!!!! I tried a few spots for sapphire gravel. The best experience by far. I cant thank them enough for sharing these wonders. 40$ a bucket about 30 lbs. Did 2 buckets got 80 sapphires.... : ) 💘 best by far in all of Montana

RangerGirl4ever LiveLaughLove

2018-05

Had a lot of fun. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Spent almost two hours there on one bag. Once you knew what you were looking for it became easier. It's almost addicting. I can see how one can stay there an entire day and get more bags. It's exciting and fun. The staff also goes through the stuff again to make sure you didn't miss anything. Why don't you do the gym mine at the mountain but they're closed three days out of the week FYI but you can still have lots of fun in town. It's a cute and fun town where everyone's friendly. Plan to spend a whole day in Phillipsburg to check everything out.

Claire Beach

2022-05

Had the best experience I could have imagined. Because of my schedule, I can't make it to the actual mine. Reading the previous reviews on here, I was hesitant to go the in town location. But honestly, it couldn't have been better.The staff went above and beyond, answered questions, repeated demonstrations, and let me take as long as I want without feeling rushed. I would give above 5 stars if possible. Thanks for making my experience so great!

John Reo

2018-05

Lots of fun and the staff are super nice. A 3.16 ct blue sapphire was the first, nicest and only blue one we found of many other clear and greenish ones we found. We did one 2gal bucket of material for 30.00 and left the big blue for heat treatment and cutting. It will take a few months but can't wait to see it finished.

Haley

2020-05

This review is complicated. It is 5 stars for when you go out to their affiliated site and dig for your own sapphires at the site. It's 3 for the sapphires at the store. The workers are very nice but the stone evaluator laughed at my stones on one occasion. It didn't make me feel great. I've bought gravel here since but haven't had it cut with them, I go to another place in town for cutting (there are only 2...) I do like that they have year round facilities. See - it's complicated.

phil hey

2020-05

Order sapphire gravel bucket online. Delivery was expedient and product was as advertised. Merchant was a pleasure to deal with. We had a lot of fun sorting for sapphires. Would give 10 stars if I could.A couple of months later still dealing with Gem Mountain have had no problems whatsoever. Now up to 20 stars

Margie Bauer

2023-08

Very, very happy with anything these people have done for me. They go the extra mile. Their people do excellent work.

Chance Bowne

2016-05

For spring break I decided to try something new and, being a third generation rock hound, I decided to go sapphire panning. Once I got there, I decided to look around the store first, looking at all the beautiful works of art. Then I began to pan. From one 2 gallon bucket, I found at least 30 carats of raw sapphires! The staff here is wonderful and incredibly helpful. I need to plan my next trip here ASAP!

Angie Blankenship

2022-05

I ordered a gravel bucket as a Christmas gift. I was told my order was within theTimeframe for Christmas delivery, but I know things happen and I was prepared for it to possibly arrive after Christmas. I ordered on 12/17 and it still has not arrived on 12/29. Tracking has also not been updated since 12/17. I have tried to contact the company twice and have gotten no response. They need to refund me or ship a replacement.Update. This was resolved and package was replaced satisfactory. Will keep ordering from them !

Heidi Hinton

2018-05

I have been here a few times. Both trips I had a wonderful time. Twice I have had sapphires faceted for me. However, this past order that I placed and just recently received was quite disappointing. For money per stone that a customer pays, you would expect to get what you wanted. That was not the case with the largest stone in my order. I was told that the stone did have a flaw in it, but the flaw was on the outside edge which could easily be cut away when faceting the stone. I had insisted that all stones in my order were "rounds", just like the last order that I had placed. The stone which was originally a 3.17 ct came back and Oval cut weighing in at .90ct. The stone also had a huge crack which looked like air bubbles in the stone, this greatly changes the reflection the stone has. I would not use this stone for any jewelry pieces. I've dealt with customer service for this issue. After multiple back and forth emails they gave me two options, none of which seemed like winners. I am now stuck with a stone that I wouldn't even gift away. Go elsewhere for your sapphire hunting.