Anyone else watch "Gold Rush: Alaska" on the Discovery Channel?

quantumleap · Jan 7, 2011

I've followed gold panning programs for years on the Outdoor Channel when I used to get that so I'm interested in gold mining. This show is supposedly one of the most watched shows on cable.

The problem I have with it is that they only have the show on for like 5 minutes and then the cut to commercial. It gets old after awhile.

It's kind of fun to watch though. These guys are bumbling around trying to find gold.

JakeT. · Jan 7, 2011

Watching my first episode right now. Looks awesome. I panned for gold last summer and plan to do so again. This time around I have a bad ass metal detector which might help a bit. Never found anything other than tiny tiny flakes. Probably won't find anything this year either but it is fun to be in the middle of nowhere and wasting time in the sun.

quantumleap · Jan 7, 2011

Jake T. said:
Watching my first episode right now. Looks awesome. I panned for gold last summer and plan to do so again. This time around I have a bad ass metal detector which might help a bit. Never found anything other than tiny tiny flakes. Probably won't find anything this year either but it is fun to be in the middle of nowhere and wasting time in the sun.

What kind of detector do you have?

I was looking at a Fisher Gold Bug but I hear White's are good too.

JakeT. · Jan 7, 2011

quantumleap said:
What kind of detector do you have?

I was looking at a Fisher Gold Bug but I hear White's are good too.

Maybe I shouldn't have said "bad ass" since they make detectors that are a few grand. Mine is a Garrett 1350. Cost $600 which was a pretty good deal at the time. The coil can go underwater and it has a pinpointer so I don't have to waste time picking through random clumps. It'll tell you the exact clump and exact spot where the item is. Pretty neat. Haven't found anything worth over 10 bucks yet though. About $50 in coins last year and costume jewelery.

quantumleap · Jan 7, 2011

Jake T. said:
Maybe I shouldn't have said "bad ass" since they make detectors that are a few grand. Mine is a Garrett 1350. Cost $600 which was a pretty good deal at the time. The coil can go underwater and it has a pinpointer so I don't have to waste time picking through random clumps. It'll tell you the exact clump and exact spot where the item is. Pretty neat. Haven't found anything worth over 10 bucks yet though. About $50 in coins last year and costume jewelery.

That's the price range I'm looking at too. Except I want just a gold detector. A lot of times gold is found in what is called "mineralized" soil and a metal detector will have a lot of hits in soil like that. So I want one that just picks out the gold.

JakeT. · Jan 7, 2011

quantumleap said:
That's the price range I'm looking at too. Except I want just a gold detector. A lot of times gold is found in what is called "mineralized" soil and a metal detector will have a lot of hits in soil like that. So I want one that just picks out the gold.

Very true. I took it up to Garden Valley (former gold rush area about an hour from Boise) and it did okay in some places and was spotty in others. It really had problems near the hot springs. You'll have to let me know if you have any success.

kidman232 · Jan 10, 2011

throw a straw hat on the old guy and he can be any cliche miner you have ever seen in a movie or tv show

festeringZit · Jan 10, 2011

Great show.

EVincent · Jan 10, 2011

Do any of these guys ever find gold?

quantumleap · Jan 10, 2011

kidman232 said:
throw a straw hat on the old guy and he can be any cliche miner you have ever seen in a movie or tv show

@)

quantumleap · Jan 10, 2011

E Vincent said:
Do any of these guys ever find gold?

It's early but in the last episode I saw they get the machinery put together and run some dirt through it but the exit pipe gets clogged. They find some specks in the black dirt.

Sol-Rosenberg · Jan 10, 2011

not a bad show. i thought it was going to be a little better than it actually is but i still like it

HuskerFan1 · Jan 10, 2011

the reason gold is "gold" is b/c its rare and its not easy to pull out of the ground. im gonna watch this show online and catchup b/c i find it interesting but i dont expect these guys to strike it rich...some of these mining companies are moving a TON of earth to mine only a few grams of gold per ton....go buy a gram bar off ebay and take a look at how small it is...its almost mindboggling when it sets in how much works it takes to produce 1oz of pure gold.

Mine life of 8.6 years based on existing reserves of 906,375 ounces of gold within 6.5 million tonnes at an average gold grade of 4.4 grams per tonne (“gpt”).

Processing rate of 730,000 tonnes per annum (2,000 tonnes per day (“tpd”)) and a recovery rate of 94%.

Average cash operating costs of $502 per ounce ($66.94 per tonne milled) with a break even gold price of $602 per ounce.

the above is just an example of a gold company and their latest drilling info on one of their mines...

Murphy8276 · Jan 11, 2011

next episode they finally hit the good stuff

WOOT

-murph

Megacapper · Jan 11, 2011

Those guys are complete morons very fun to watch. I'm sure it is edited to make them appear more stupid than they actually are but still. Given it is a TV show good chance they will "find" gold. If it were true real life ... they should start practicing for their new jobs .... "Welcome to Wal-Mart".

quantumleap · Jan 11, 2011

Megacapper said:
Those guys are complete morons very fun to watch. I'm sure it is edited to make them appear more stupid than they actually are but still. Given it is a TV show good chance they will "find" gold. If it were true real life ... they should start practicing for their new jobs .... "Welcome to Wal-Mart".

I agree that they are shown as morons. I also wonder how much of their conflict is made up by the show's producers. One guy goes and scolds another guy's kid and then the father of that kid tells the guy to get out of his place.

quantumleap · Jan 11, 2011

HuskerFan1 said:
the reason gold is "gold" is b/c its rare and its not easy to pull out of the ground. im gonna watch this show online and catchup b/c i find it interesting but i dont expect these guys to strike it rich..

They're showing the neighbor and are saying that stories say he has pulled a lot of gold out of the ground. Then they show him with a pan full of nuggets. If he was so rich why would he be living in a cabin in remote Alaska still working the ground for gold?

I'm guessing the show's producers show him to give people the idea that the miners have a good chance of finding a lot of gold.

Murphy8276 · Jan 11, 2011

quantumleap said:
They're showing the neighbor and are saying that stories say he has pulled a lot of gold out of the ground. Then they show him with a pan full of nuggets. If he was so rich why would he be living in a cabin in remote Alaska still working the ground for gold?

I'm guessing the show's producers show him to give people the idea that the miners have a good chance of finding a lot of gold.

I think the old guy across the road keeps the gold he finds.. he seems to be one of those live off the land guys.. someone who holds the farm house and loves it. The guy definitely hangs on to his gold though, i doubt he sells it at all.

proof - u see the other old guy renting out porcupine creek.. but u see this old guy living off his land.. so they are two different people.. one guy is making a fortune renting his land out each year for thousands of dollars including equipment sales..etc and the other is living off his land and enjoys the gold rush himself.

-murph

Megacapper · Jan 11, 2011

Its just so hard to tell what is real on "reality" tv these days. I watch that show rehab on trutv. There is a forum devoted to pointing out fake things in the show. Last year they were mixing in episodes from various seasons. One episode this guest is an ultra demanding high roller bitching out the staff about bringing him the wrong type of dental floss. The next episode the same guy is the best man at a bachelor party being threatened with arrest after the host skips on the bill and he can't pay.

My guess is in truth the old man scrapes by making a decent living or at least enough to live on. In the original gold rushes the people who made the most money were those that sold supplies to the miners. My guess is that not much has changed there. I would say that in this "show" the guys make a small profit by the end of the year. Not good TV to have them homeless in Alaska at the end of the show.

On another point. Early on in the episode the narrator was talking about how far they were from any authority. Then as they get started with their mining fish and wildlife shows up on their claim to cite them for illegally tapping the creek. So who turned them in? The old man or the show's producers. No way the guy just shows up on his on.

kidman232 · Jan 28, 2011

lack of preperation and general knowledge is crazy on this show

Anyone else watch "Gold Rush: Alaska" on the Discovery Channel?

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