Wow, I just watched first episode of Gold Rush new season. Tony Beets isn't an act, that guy is nuts. It'll be fascinating to see if that huge dredge can be moved & rebuilt. Tony is one of the best reality characters ever. Too bad the glory hole guys are gone, wonder what happened to them.
Unless it was set up by the producers (most likely explanation) he probably knew that Parker never bothered to read the contract.
If I recall, one of them was proud to have found "59 diamonds"... all were small. So, @ $10 each = $600, they didn't have much... and maybe not even $600 total worth.
Anyone thought of having another look at the old ghost towns that used to mine gold ? A lot warmer than Alaska.
Great season of Gold Rush. It's one of the few reality programs that doesn't seem contrived. If I were Parker I'd stick with the exciting "hot seam" or at least try to find where it is. Stick with what works.
Talking of mining, Me and a couple of others went opal mining in Oz back in the 1960s. We bought an old Vanguard car and drove to the black opal fields of Lightening Ridge in New South Wales. Back then it was a small settlement with 1 post office cum general store, 1 pub, 1 communal phone and a hot spring pool to wash in. The last 50 miles was just a dirt track. I saw a documentary recently of LR. The last 50 miles is now a tarmac road and hordes of tourists go there for a taste of authentic Oz. We met an old guy living out of a caravan who had a claim and a 50 foot vertical shaft to tunnels cut out of the rock back in the 1920s. For an equal share we worked all day with a pickaxe, bucket and candle. We slept out on the ground. It was very hot in the day time but the dew on our sleeping bags froze at night. After a few weeks old Rex went back to Brisbane not having found anything but said we could stay on and keep anything we found. As soon as we struck he came hurrying back saying the claim was all his ! Some people ! Did we find black opal ? Yep sure did. Is there still plenty there ? Loads !!
Yes, I always watch gold rush, I have some clients in mining so it's funny at times how stupid they are , but it's a good place to start from someone to understand why it costs so much to get gold out of the ground.
what do they do wrong? I mean, other than Todd. The biggest mistake seems to be just lack of capital.
They over invest in mining an area not properly surveyed, spending more than they can afford in big machinery that is old and expensive to run. Most should have stayed home and bought a lottery ticket, but a great adventure.
Lack of capital makes you do things not right. For example most of the time they don't do test cores, so they don't know where bedrock is and they don't know how gold rich the land is. core would help pinpoint cuts , which would greatly reduce costs.