GEORGETOWN, Colo. (KDVR) — A 150-year-old working gold mine has recently shifted gears from producing gold to producing profits by opening up for public tours.

Take a look around the outside and you might say the Capital Prize Gold Mine is a land that time forgot.

On the inside, after more than 150 years, it is still a working Colorado gold mine.

“The unique thing about this mine is that it was founded by the brothers who found Georgetown, George Griffith,” said Paul Hintgen, miner and tour guide.

More than 4 miles of man-made tunnels deep inside Griffith Mountain were built for just one reason: to find gold.

Gold nuggets are not to be found in a gold mine. All underground gold will be found in ore.

“We crush our rock. We have to further separate and get to what we call concentrate,” Hintgen said.

It is a labor-intensive, costly, time-consuming and dangerous endeavor. But there is still money in “them thar hills” — by the way of public tours.

“This is the real deal. It is not a tourist trap. If you want to buy a shot glass, you’ll have to go someplace else,” Hintgen said.

Experiencing firsthand what it was, and is, really like to pursue Colorado’s most precious metal.