Discovery ch. Gold Rush Alaska

[01 medicated]

Airing Dec. 3 Rookie gold miners put it on the line in hopes of striking it rich

 

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[pegleglooker]

You are Earle Wilson, the claim owner. You are going to let a bunch of guys who supposedly know nothing about mining gold exploit your claim like that? I agree, most of these guys are new to gold mining, but there has to be some brains behind the project.

I wonder what the miners make per episode ? And how and when they get paid..... That might be " the brains " behind the show, because if I was Earle I would say Thank you and goodbye. Then next season I would be out at the creek continuing the mining...

PLL

 

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[Hoser John]

In the last 55+ years I've collected gold of just about every color know to man from staining from adjacent minerals,contaminents and different compositions. The reason the buckets all had the same amount of gold was that magnetic joke lost more than it recovered and I'd pay a kings ransom for them idjets leftovers as more there than recovered. Simply think of a oreo cookie and the white is your gold being thrown on the trash pile. They even showed a magnet drug across their cons that sanwiched gold and black sands BUT new fangled machine hides the process so they couldn't see the same thing happening and like magic it doesn't happen because not seen John

 

[GrayCloud]

Good point Steve.

 

[hmmm]

I do hope they got paid from the tv people, after all if it where not for the tv bs, re wrights ect , things would have been way farther along.
it would have given them at least 2 more weeks in the glory hole.
i am a fan now, it was very entertaining.

 

[Snarkie]

Some of you have hit on some key points.

Even "reality TV" is scripted. It has to be, to make everything interesting, and to allow it to all come together. This is why many things are shot and shown, out of sequence.

You need drama; you must be kept on the edge of your seat to tune in the following week (or season) to see what happens next. Had they found the Motherlode this season, there would be no reason to return and shoot next year. Remember, Todd supposedly has spent $275k and only returned $20k. He's supposed to be broke, so how can he be back next year, and what's up with that huge nugget that was shown?

They either hit paydirt and left this out, or they seeded footage to bait the hook for the next season, and I'm inclined to think it was the latter. My knowledge is in scripted shows, so I'm not 100% certain on this, but I do have a bit of a grasp on how reality stuff works.

Bottom line is: it didn't matter what happened or what they found. Earle wasn't going to kick them out because he signed a contract, just like everyone else. Most people have never seen themselves on television and never will, and they all jump at the chance to get paid and see their smiling faces on the tube. Everyone wins this way; gold or not.

 

[Kestral]

I think most of the drama and turmoil is being scripted by the show's people...
Who really knows how much gold they have pulled out? They could have found plenty, and are super happy, but that would make a bad show.
Anyway, I like it, it's good to see people trying.
Furthermore, I lived in Alaska five different times, through every season. And I can tell you, people get dramatic up there for some reason, there's some crazy energy there.
I made a map showing where the claim is that they are mining, if you want to check it out:
http://www.hubbardmapworks.com/page04.html - scroll down to see it
The last episode is tonight, I'm sure all the haters will be watchin too >>

 

[calisdad]

Scripted?
I read an AP story this week where Fish and Game said they didn't need to shoot that bear.
It probably wasn't the bear in their camp, wasn't a threat to them and should have been cited for attracting them with reckless food storage. They also said shooting the bear would have made better scripting for the show.

What I find unconsionable is the absolute destruction they did to that piece of land. They should have put things back in a reasonable condition before leaving. The term 'rape and pillage' come to mind.

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

Well, I had a gut feeling Dakota Fred was going to take Porcupine Creek from them. Did anyone see their faces when Fred said he was going to take his own crew to mine Porcupine? I would go on Fred's crew!

Guess that was the reason Todd had to find another location!

I can only figure Discovery is going to do 2 crews now for Gold Rush Alaska. Fred's and Todd's!

 

[jog]

Scripted?
I read an AP story this week where Fish and Game said they didn't need to shoot that bear.
It probably wasn't the bear in their camp, wasn't a threat to them and should have been cited for attracting them with reckless food storage. They also said shooting the bear would have made better scripting for the show.

What I find unconsionable is the absolute destruction they did to that piece of land. They should have put things back in a reasonable condition before leaving. The term 'rape and pillage' come to mind.

So they should have filled in the hole before they left? Just to move it all back out next year.... Don't think so.

 

[jog]

Well, I had a gut feeling Dakota Fred was going to take Porcupine Creek from them. Did anyone see their faces when Fred said he was going to take his own crew to mine Porcupine? I would go on Fred's crew!

Guess that was the reason Todd had to find another location!

I can only figure Discovery is going to do 2 crews now for Gold Rush Alaska. Fred's and Todd's!

Why not? all the work is done...

 

[kuger]

Jimmy/Fred Team?

 

[Klondikeike]

My name is Klondike Ike..

I have posted several times here... I have over 30 years of mining experience...not as a weekend warrior.. but as a serious miner..somewhat like what we see on the AGR show.. but with heck of a lot more organization and success....

I am currently putting a small commercial placer operation together here in the lower 48...to starting in June this summer...

These guys in Alaska, are in for a real treat REAL SOON...

As a small miner in the US today, you MUST register with, have an approved safety plan....and become certified with MSHA....(Mine Safety and Health Administration) .... usually within the staff of small mining operation, there is a MSHA certified trainer... (I am currently in process for this requirement) and each mine MUST complete, for any open pit operation, part 46 or 48 of CFR 30...usually for placer gold, it is part 48...and also complete an annual refresher course...after the first year New Miner course.

I am currently completing all the appropriate paperwork required by MSHA...

MSHA has a lot of documentation and evidence that of small mines that employ 5 or less miners in the US account for about 75% of all mine associated deaths... and MSHA is cracking down on small miners for the safety of the employees and personnel, who are not in compliance....

As part of the many conversations I have had with several MSHA personnel... MSHA is using the weekly episodes of GRA... to write several Citations... and will be delivering them shortly to the group...as NO ONE FROM GRA HAS CONTACTED MSHA..NOR APLLIED FOR OR BEEN GIVEN AN APPROVED SAFTY PLAN...NOR COMPLETED ANY OF THE REQUIRED TRAINING...nothing..nada... no contact what soever...!!!

It should be interesting, to say the least... who knows, maybe a whole new twist to the show...lol

Klondike...

 

[stilllookin]

You Know I'll probably get some heat but, where would this country be today without the inexperienced explorers of yesterday. No offense to anyone, you have your opinion . But there is so darned much red tape involved in anything you do today it destroys the will of a lot of us. Yes this group didn't know what they were doing but they are learning, just the way many of us do, trial and error. How did the old timers ever survive without someone holding their hand and telling them their every move? The way I see it we're being told If you haven't spent at least a grand for paperwork before you start you have no business doing it. Oh, I forgot there's the Lawyers fees, God forbid we didn't cross that "T" cause you may be sued. Not one of us criticizing their operation had the kahunas to do what they did. Sorry Klondike apparently you do. But do you think some inspiration may have come from witnessing their operation? Wayne

 

[hmmm]

SOMEONE SAID THE owner should take the claim away, you forget these guys dug a massive hole and now they are at pay dirt. the owner would know the first year is needed to just set up , year 2 is where the money is.
he cant kick them out for setting up the mine.

 

[Goodyguy]

Behind the scenes "FULL DISCLOSURE"
Looks like they are going to try a different mine next season, with bigger and better equipment!

[video=vimeo;20396792]http://vimeo.com/20396792[/video]

 

[Klondikeike]

With ALL due respect...Stillooking...

The "inexperienced" men of yesteryear, may not have had a lot of knowledge of gold recovery as we do today, but they were masters at so many diffeent trades...they had to be.. mostly due to not being able to buy what they needed from a store.. they built nearly everything the needed...or created it from nearly nothing

That type of knowledge has been bred out of our society today... And as a society , we have moved from an agricultural to an industrial one... today, we live in comfortable houses, with air and heat... and drive a car to WORK...as we work for someone else...only a small part of pur population works for themselves... and while we work for someone else, we probably know a great deal about the job we do for that person.... but for most folks, that is a far as it goes.... today we have NOT the knowledge of so many trades as the old timers had... so today, when a weekend warrior goes out for a weekend or even a 2 week vacation... he or she is stretching the safty shield around them...because they don't have the grasp of what really is and isn't safe...just like the guys in the Alaska Gold Rush show...

Let's look at the AGR show... that processing plant is one of the MOST dangerious plants I have ever seen set up... There should be retainng walls beween the trommel and the sluice box... the suice box is sitting in a cavern of a "ditch they cut... anmd without any retaining walls..the gravel walls are not tappered...they are straight up and down...what would happen if those walls fell..while someone was cleaning the boxes...or working in that area...? They would either be very seriously injured or killed....The entire plant is just sitting on the dirt and gravel they piled up for elevation... with NO support to the surrounding earth... sooner or later, something will give....they found out a part opf that principal in the very beginnig when the shaker deck started moving all over the place, but they only secured it in place..they didn't do anything to secure the surrounding dirt from moving......To make that a real safe plant.. just one day of preperation before they started placing equipment in place, would have made all the difference in the world to how safe that plant is...and they have ALL the materials right there growing out of the ground.... they took time to cut and mill the timber to make homes, cabins and structures.. but didn't think enough about the safty of the work area... because of a lack of knowledge....and that is where MSHAcomes in.. trying to save a live and reduce injuries...

This is just a small example of my point..and I believe that is what MSHA's point is as well... LET ME SAY THIS..I HATE RED TAPE MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW... But I see a lot of good from this type of red tape... after all..what is the price of a person's life..or the price of a life long injury

No I do not need the AGR to give me inspiration... My website say what my inspiration is..... www.patriotgoldenterprises.com I have been very successfull in mining over the years...(the pics in my previous post are MY pics and not doctored...of a plant I built a few years ago and some really nice nuggets...about 2 pounds worth...) ...way long before these guys from Oregon even thought of going to Alaska... I have driven tunnels on viens....about a mile of them in my life... I have set up, built my own plants and operated a number of mining operations over the years...For the mining operation I will be setting up this summer, while each one working there will be paid well.. the bulk of the proceeds will be going to one or more charities...to help kids stricken with life threatening health issues... .. no I do not need a reality show to give me inspiration.. but $1400 an ounce gold does....I can help a lot of kids and get paid well too...

Klondike...

 

[jog]

You Know I'll probably get some heat but, where would this country be today without the inexperienced explorers of yesterday. No offense to anyone, you have your opinion . But there is so darned much red tape involved in anything you do today it destroys the will of a lot of us. Yes this group didn't know what they were doing but they are learning, just the way many of us do, trial and error. How did the old timers ever survive without someone holding their hand and telling them their every move? The way I see it we're being told If you haven't spent at least a grand for paperwork before you start you have no business doing it. Oh, I forgot there's the Lawyers fees, God forbid we didn't cross that "T" cause you may be sued. Not one of us criticizing their operation had the kahunas to do what they did. Sorry Klondike apparently you do. But do you think some inspiration may have come from witnessing their operation? Wayne

That's exactly the way I feel. To many regulations for me. If someone goes and does somthing stupid and it doesn't affect anyone else so be it. If they lean there lesson then there better for it, if they don't live to tell about Oh well....

 

[hmmm]

SOMEONE SAID THE owner should take the claim away, you forget these guys dug a massive hole and now they are at pay dirt. the owner would know the first year is needed to just set up , year 2 is where the money is.
he cant kick them out for setting up the mine.

SCRAP THAT
i changed my mind, he should kick them out and it looks like he did.

 

[stilllookin]

Klondike
I do respect what everyone has to say here, and I agree on some issues you make, But how did you get started? What year did you start? I can't believe you were so educated at that time you couldn't make a mistake or didn't make any mistakes. With all the information available to us on the internet today, we should be able to prepare ourselves to do everything right. But I don't think as much as we educate ourselves, there isn't someone out there that thinks he is smarter than everybody else and therefore has to make some laws to tell us we have to do things his way. I know by now you probably think I'm a rebel, well in some respects maybe I am. I simply feel no matter how many laws you enact it is not going to protect each and everyone of us from harms way. I respect our laws but it doesn't mean I won't get hurt doing everything according to the law. Good luck on all your endeavors. Wayne

 

[Klondikeike]

Wayne...

I got started, way back in the mid 1960's...when Buzzard..."Gearge Massey" of GPAA fame and I did some dredging together.. before his kids were around... or at least they were in diapers...and back then, there were very few laws...likewise there were even less people doing what we were doing... but as more and more people became intrested in prospecting and mining over the coming years.. with very little reguard for the environment, private property....laws were needed to keep people, who as a group, were NOT using GOOD common sense and not doing what was or is right......

I mainly did dredging back then...building my own because you could NOT buy one back then from off the shelf like you can today....Did I make mistakes...yes I did...many of them... which is why I was so incediblely poor in the early days..... but from those mistakes, I learned.... using a lot of common sense along the way.... Several of my friends, back then were killed dredging, because they didn't use good common sense...

You and I know there are people out there that do not have a lot of common sense... it is these people, who wanting to discover the thrill of gold mining.. that usually get into trouble... if it was just them..fine... but they are usually surrounded by others..and other inocent people get hurt or killed because of their lack of knowledge....so laws are inacted to help protect the few from themselves and us...and makes it a pain in the ...you know what.... for us free thinkers and common sense people...

But one thing I did NOT do.. I did not start driving heavy euipment without some training...nor doing any serious earth moving, without first some training..... first was a "corespondence course" while serving in the military... then about a year before I was to get out.. I requested a transfer to the engineers division..and using my corespondence course knowledge.. I furthered my education of earth moving and heavy equipment operations and was taught and learned how to properly operate heavy equipment... Today, I am a very good operator... from those early days...to now..I have hndreds and hundreds of operational hours in excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks and so forth.... I also hold a General Contractor's license.. which gave the back ground to understand the construction and engineering formulas to design and build retaining walls around mine processing equipmemt.... as well as the many fluid formulas, I swore in High School Algebra I would never use in real life...remember Pi R squared...? lol....

So yes, I did make mistakes in the begining.. but never attempted any seriouis mining activity without the proper knowledge and training I needed to know what I was doing.... Unfortuantely, most do not do this or take these few steps... most go from the idea of mining to the seat of a dozer and after a few minutes, kind of get the hang of operating as they go along..... but still without the safty knowledge of... just as an example... how steep are embankments are to be cut to before they are no longer safe...and so, so, so much more...

Yes of course, laws will not protect everyone, because not everyone will follow them.... case in point, my day job is driving an 18 wheeler.. I haul Haz-Mat fluids for the oil industry...in early Jan this year.. a man feel asleep and did a head-on collission with me..while I as on a bridge, ouit in the middle of nmo where...ner Laredo, TX...being on a bridge...left me without many options to get out of his way...he had fallen asleep and crossed the center line...Okay..an accident..right.............No, not at all...!!!!! He was an unlisenced driver..had an ID card only...the passenger did have a valid driver lic. but was asleep at the time of the accident... whose to say, if the pasenger had been driving, someone trained and licesned, there may not have been an accident... all I know, is that there are laws govern the way we drive our vehicles...and if these two guys had followed them, most likely, the accident would not have happened...At the point of impact.. according to the State Trooper Report... I was less thasn 2 inches of the right side guard rail on that bridge that night...that is how far the unlicensed driver had crossed the center line...fortunately I missed him...somehow...avoiding his small pickup.. but hit the tandum wheel utility trailer they were towing, which fully loaded, way beyond the trailers weight capability....with such an impact it broke my front truck axile...and shattered the right side wheel rim...which caused me to loose steering control imediately at the time of the impact......if someone had been following him..I would have killed them...no doubt ...as I veered across the his side of the highway with no steerinmg control as thre truck was doing just whatever the physics of the moment dictated it to do......anything in my way was going to be hit...luckily, it was just a lot of guard rail, desert bnrush and totalled my truck and trailer....I was very lucky to have survived....

We are a nation of laws and rules... without those laws, we would live in chaos... Weekend minng is fun, pleasurable and mainly for a fun time as a hobby....with the great hope of finding something of some value... On the other hand.. commercial mining.... the main target of MSHA, usually involves a more complex situation, additional heavy equipment you would not normally find on a weekend excursion...and usually 4 or 5 maybe 6 people, pulling together for the common good of the operation.... and certainly moving maby 100's times more dirt than the weekend warrior...but real and known safty practices are usually not part of the thinking in such an operation....the thinking is get to the gold as soon and as quickly as possible,... that is why these small mines account for such a high amount of the overall deaths and injuries in mining...lack of training and knowledge....just like the driver who crashed into me....the principals are the same...

Ike...

PS: I am looking for a couple more good hands who can work all summer and who would like to learn how to really gold mine...and be paid in gold...