New series on Discovery Channel tonight

[rhartill]

Gold Rush Alaska premieres tonight Friday, Dec 3, 2010 at 10 Eastern on the Discovery Channel---check your local listings

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/gold-rush-alaska-episode1-video/

[Joanne]

Re: New series on Discovery Channel tonight

Gold Rush Alaska premieres tonight Friday, Dec 3, 2010 at 10 Eastern on the Discovery Channel---check your local listings


http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/gold...pisode1-video/

I have a tough decision to make. I don't have Tivo and at the exact same time is a new series on the Science channel about cavers doing science experiments.

http://science.discovery.com/tv/deadly-descent/

Joanne

[Rubyredvet]

Flip a coin.

[ExpUt]

I'm ready for more, its not too over hyped like many reality shows and being its a subject dear to my heart I'll be watching again

[Dino]

I watched it even though I've never really been a huge fan of reality tv. Reality tv always seems to over dramatize things. However, I'll definetly be keeping an eye on this series to see if they find any gold.

I also wanted to mention that I watched a really good program on the History channel called Lost Worlds; Sin City of the West which describes the history and mining of Deadwood, South Dakota. If you get a chance; check it out. It's got some great models of the equipment and mines located there. It'll make you want to visit Deadwood!

[Dino]

Anybody see the second episode? I did over the weekend and kept wondering to myself where the regulatory agencies were. The show does little to discuss submitting a plan of operations, reclamation bond or even address mine safety training. Some of the scenes make me wonder if the guys on the show even know what they are doing. The show seems to center around everything going on in the camp except actual mining. If they don't start mining something soon I may just have to give up on watching.

[one_bad_rover]

Was wondering the same thing, buildings, diggings and such would all seem to require one hell of a large bond. Especially the way the old man is going. I did note that all of the buildings were built on stilted bases, making them removable. Alaska may have a lot more lenient rules on mining up there. But I dont think they have a clue as to what they are doing. Now I am interested in the old guy on the claim next to them. He seems to be in the know.

[Dino]

It definetly looks like the old timer across the river knows whats up. Did you see those nuggets? Hope the desperados learning to mine don't get any bright ideas about rolling him. What really suprises me is how many times those jokers in the show will jump in a freshly excavated (and wet) hole to do some panning. It's only a matter of time before one of those yahoos gets buried. Someone should tell them you can pan the freshly excavated muck just as easily as the stuff in the hole and be a whole lot safer.

[$ alex $]

as interesting as the show is, its hard to watch the show and not get nervous about the whole thing.
first of all, the fat dude with the goatee (todd?) is a total dick to dorsey plus, he doesnt really know what he was getting into or what he is doing. second, the old dude seems kinda retarded to me... makes rash decisions that dont make a whole lot of sense. honestly, im interested to know why they didnt hire someone to do some research on the site or maybe a third party assay to make sure the land owner wasnt lying about the gold that is supposedly there. maybe they could have even hired an experienced miner or mining engineer to help out with some stuff... on top of all that, dorsey needs to be more safety minded and im just wondering why the hell they all brought their kids and wives into such a hostile situation haha. i love the idea of the show, but all the drama and lack of wisdom is kinda making me more and more disinterested...
what does everyone else think?

[Joanne]

as interesting as the show is, its hard to watch the show and not get nervous about the whole thing.
first of all, the fat dude with the goatee (todd?) is a total dick to dorsey plus, he doesnt really know what he was getting into or what he is doing. second, the old dude seems kinda retarded to me... makes rash decisions that dont make a whole lot of sense. honestly, im interested to know why they didnt hire someone to do some research on the site or maybe a third party assay to make sure the land owner wasnt lying about the gold that is supposedly there. maybe they could have even hired an experienced miner or mining engineer to help out with some stuff... on top of all that, dorsey needs to be more safety minded and im just wondering why the hell they all brought their kids and wives into such a hostile situation haha. i love the idea of the show, but all the drama and lack of wisdom is kinda making me more and more disinterested...
what does everyone else think?

I've only watched parts of two episodes, but I had some of the same thoughts. The old man seems like he has ADD. Digging holes everywhere, won't wait for help when unloading expensive equipment. I agree about not taking a family up there, especially when they are just starting out and don't have a clue what the environment is like. I like the concept of the show, I'm just not sure I like this show. That said it seems to have developed quite a following.

Joanne

[$ alex $]

this is very true. i will stay tuned to see if they get their acts straight, but its definitely not on my to-do list haha. i also like what was said a few posts ago about bonds and permitting. i had a class last semester where i learned that some mines are in pre-development stages for up to ten years before they can legally break ground. kinda makes ya wonder...

[Therrin]

Ahah! I too have been following this show, albeit by a different route. I check back on TPB and download the torrents for the show and then watch them on my computer at my leisure. Except... I haven't seen anything past episode 3... no one has uploaded Epi4 yet, which brings me to start thinking that it didn't make it that far.
Has Epi4 aired on TV yet? I don't even own a TV, so I don't know.

They're a bunch of lunatics!!! "Oh, the kids left out food, and of the 200 bears that are around, one decided to eat it, this is a show of aggression and so we must shoot it. Well, we couldn't find *that* bear, but we found a smaller one, so we shot it instead." WTF??

According to OSHA, an excavation of more than 4 ft requires shoring :P But then, OSHA doesn't apply to mining, that's the MSHA. And the rules don't actually apply unless a business has 10 employees or more. (I *just* took OSHA 10, so I remember that much).

Like you all mentioned, that guy across the river has his operation all set! I'm more worried about someone seeing the series and deciding to go up there and put he and his wife down and take his gold. Wouldn't surprise me if he had several pounds of it.

The other thing about these "reality shows"... it gives a bad name and reputation to the people who do this as honest work for their living. I do like how it shows that it's not a "simple" or "cheap" thing to do. You don't just run up and throw a bunch of crap on the ground and go to it, it takes some setting up and engineering and figuring and such.
Placer mining hold considerably less restrictions than lode mining, and for both, if it's a "small operation" being run by a group of less than 10; there are far fewer regulations required. Location has a lot to do with that as well.

Exploratory drillilng is more common now with both types of deposits, but a planned drilling schedule and pattern is absolutely necessary. Many people tend to "over drill", which can quickly incur huge expenses before any extraction work has actually taken place.
Unless you happen to have a 3" core drill and some diamond bits lying around, you've got to hire someone. Then find a hole where you find the sweet spot between the overburden and the bedrock which contains significant gold values, then discern the direction (easier in this case with the relative known direction of the ancient river beds).
Since the ancient river bedding often overlays the bedrock, they aren't going to find much in the way of that unless they're digging trenches down to actual *bedrock*. And if that takes 20 to 30 ft, it's a lot more work than just digging a 10 foot hole here and there.

[Dino]

How did that old guy put it...

"NO GUTS NO GLORY"

If they're not careful they have plenty of guts. If it was me, I would have started with a smaller track hoe, grizzly and high banker/sluice setup for a summer before going as big as they did. I also would have canvassed the area with a metal detector as well.

[Therrin]

I just re-watched Epi's 1 through 3 again, and the 2nd time around it's just stunning all the bad decisions they make and the oddball makeup of their crew

Then they take all these minor events, and they turn them into HUGE things, and add drama to them that wouldn't normally exist. It's not so much "realism" as it is playing to the camera just because it's there.

Like, the guy from "across the river", Mr. Schnobbel. They apparently kept trying to get him to act like he didn't want them there, and he refused to do it. He said he was happy to have them around, and that he'd be glad to give them advice and help them out. Apparently they were all upset that he wouldn't act like some crazy old guy who was being really confrontational.

There are all these interviews with these other people watching them make the show, and they explain how everything is basically faked to be "dramatic".

[$ alex $]

thats lame. its a great concept for a show. wish they wouldnt have totally slaughtered it like they have...