My husband and I and two 10 year olds had a great time at the Country Boy MIne. We learned about a part of Colorado history that we had not known, and the tour was interesting and entertainingly presented by our tour guide. See photos. We took the tip on the tripadvisor description site and took the yellow slickers/raincoats that were offered and we were glad we did as it was a bit drippy and cold in the mine, which is like a dark cave (not completely dark). I would not recommend the tour or the gold panning for anyone under 8 years old.
At the end of the tour, I would have left, opting out of the opportunhity to pan for old, but my husband and children wanted to try it "just for a few minutes" and 1 hour later (!) had to be pried away from the gold panning. It was a good lesson---my son definitely experienced the heartbreak of thinking that he would find gold quickly and easily and was a bit miffed when my husband immediately found a few flakes, yet after an hour, no other gold was found. My son (10 years old) got a taste of the hopefulness, disappointment, envy, etc that gold miners experienced, as well as the difficulty of how to kinow when to give up, when to be persistent, and when to cut your losses. This provided an opportunity to consider the lives of the 49ers, being from California the Gold Rush has been part of his school work. Fun!