Grab your hard hat! In Coors Gems and Minerals Hall, follow the mine shaft into a Mexican silver mine, where a cavern glistens with milky white gypsum crystals and stalactites. Then enter Colorado's own Sweet Home Mine to discover a six-foot wall of beautiful red rhodochrosite crystals.
Colorado was founded on mining, so you'll see more local finds, like Tom's Baby, an eight-pound nugget of crystallized gold unearthed in Breckenridge in 1887.
You'll also be dazzled by the largest known pocket of aquamarine ever discovered, from Colorado's own Mount Antero, and a giant Brazilian topaz once owned by artist Salvador Dali. The hall is packed with hundreds of specimens from around the world. Hands-on activities and videos help young explorers learn about mineral characteristics and how minerals form.