GOLD RUSH ALASKA season 2

[Goodyguy]

On the Discovery Channel Friday, October 28, 2011 at 9PM e/p.

Well folks it wont be long until the drama continues
Here's a sneak preview...

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[hmmm]

Thanks for that klondikeike, i was curious about your operation, i have found a cement mixer does work to break up the hard pann.
i have started a thread named blue clay.
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,201884.100.html

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[delnorter]

Thanks for the wisdom from the field Gork. There's nothing like the truth of being there and working the land. Tell us more!

Mike

 

[kuger]

Thanks for the wisdom from the field Gork. There's nothing like the truth of being there and working the land. Tell us more!

Mike

XX2!!!!

 

[Gork]

Thanks for the wisdom from the field Gork. There's nothing like the truth of being there and working the land. Tell us more!

Mike

If you have any specific questions, throw them at me. There is too many other things I could say.

Gerry

 

[hmmm]

Thanks for the wisdom from the field Gork. There's nothing like the truth of being there and working the land. Tell us more!

Mike

If you have any specific questions, throw them at me. There is too many other things I could say.

Gerry

it is good to hear your insite gerry.
the hofman boys are quit religious, they may want to pray for gold.
i wonder if the heard the first thing Adam said to Eve,.
"stand back Eve, i don't know how big this thing is going to get"

 

[Klondikeike]

Hey Gork,

Klondikie here..

Great info on the Klondike area......

I have stated since day one of last years show... the BIGGEST mistake that weekend warriors make when trying to make the leap to a commercial operation is they don't take the proper steps to know where the gold is... how much is there.. how deep and how pure it is... Once you know the answers to these questions... one can develop a mining plan that will usually have a certain amount of success...

I once stated an operation without taking the proper steps...only to go bust because the gold was only .70 to .75 fine... and so small and flat, at that weight it was hard to capture..

But if they did that and took all those steps.. there wouldn't be much of a show.. there wouldn't be much drama... and failures...

Good luck to you in the Klondike.. thanks again for the info from up there...


Klondikeike

 

[silvercop]

I just can't get into this show. I expected to see some actual gold being found not 55 minutes of drama and 5 minutes of panning concentrates. It would be more interesting if they would just make a 2 hour documentary of the whole mining season.

the old massey gold fever show on outdoor channel has gotten just as bad, but at least he seems to find more gold than these 3 or 4 or 5 stooges do on gold rush. going to hang in there a few more weeks and if things don't change i am done watching the show.

 

[Goodyguy]

Tonight's show turned out to be another tease............but you can tell gold is on the way
Guess I wont get to see the hydraulic riffles in action after all, oh well.

Hope Parker makes it through the season without getting himself hurt, but you have to hand it to him for his willingness to do what it takes to get the job done. Pretty admirable for a teenager.

I think Fred is going to have to run ten's of 1,000's of tons of material to get much gold unless he just happens to hit a high value pay streak.
Of course he doesn't have as many to split it up with as the Hoffman's. But he still needs plenty just to break even on expenses.

Am I the only one who thinks there are more commercials than show? I know there had to be at least 8-9 or 10 commercials every 5 min. or so.

Hey Gork did you know the fellow that sold Todd the sluice's ? Does he do some mining up there?

GG~

 

[Klondikeike]

You're right GG..

Way too many commercials.. maybe the sponsors are shelling out more to keep these guys going than what the sponsors are paying...since there hasn't been any significant amount of gold recovered anywhere....

This is one episode I can relate with though... Many years ago... went through the same frustration as all 3 operations are going through...but for me, on the same claim all at the same time..... heavy equipment break downs.. clearing timber to reach the gold area... the plant not working correctly..making one modification after another trying to find the answer within a limited time frame of an annual working opportunity...

If gold mining was so easy, everyone would do it... hopefully they'll show more gold next season....although I feel something else will pop up to stop them in their tracks again..that is what the show is about.. their inexperience and stupidity while over coming one challenge after another...

Klondike...

 

[Gork]

Tonight's show turned out to be another tease............but you can tell gold is on the way
Guess I wont get to see the hydraulic riffles in action after all, oh well.

Hope Parker makes it through the season without getting himself hurt, but you have to hand it to him for his willingness to do what it takes to get the job done. Pretty admirable for a teenager.

I think Fred is going to have to run ten's of 1,000's of tons of material to get much gold unless he just happens to hit a high value pay streak.
Of course he doesn't have as many to split it up with as the Hoffman's. But he still needs plenty just to break even on expenses.

Am I the only one who thinks there are more commercials than show? I know there had to be at least 8-9 or 10 commercials every 5 min. or so.

Hey Gork did you know the fellow that sold Todd the sluice's ? Does he do some mining up there?

GG~

Yes I know him. His name is Fischer and he used to run a gas station outside of Dawson City. He always had a lot of equipment around his station to sell. Then again almost everybody up there does. I still can't figure our how they got around Canadian Immigration as there are only two foreigners allowed to a claim and then you have to hire Canadians. They have always been very strict with us. By the way I heard on tonight's show that they said they needed 70 ounces to break even. It actually calculates to 115 ounces when you consider the finess of the gold (750).
By the way I think I have been in the "bush" too long. I can't figure out to upload pictures here. When I do maybe I can show you a little Klondike "Reality."

Gerry

 

[Goodyguy]

Thanks for the reply Gerry,

One more question................. Once the excavator gets down to bedrock, what equipment is used to really make sure that all the remaining gold is recovered? I would think that a lot of gold would be left behind if only the excavator was used to clean off the bedrock.

GG~

 

[Gork]

Thanks for the reply Gerry,

One more question................. Once the excavator gets down to bedrock, what equipment is used to really make sure that all the remaining gold is recovered? I would think that a lot of gold would be left behind if only the excavator was used to clean off the bedrock.

GG~

You have asked one of the most difficult questions many have asked me when they come up to my valley. If you can get hold of the California Mining Journal, April 1995, I had an article in it titled "Prospecting with a Metal Detector." This article explains some of your question. On the cover is a photo of me and in the background is my mining operation.
Most people who come to the Klondike from the south have a perception of bedrock being a very solid mass with some cracks in it. The Klondike bedrock varies, but in general it is a highly rotted foliated schist. It sometimes (such as in my valley) deteriorated to what I call "dog food." You can crumble it with your hand. Although it was hard once, after it got buried eons ago acidic water percolated at bedrock level and leached out the mineralization leaving it highly rotted. It can easily be gone into usually even with a shovel. The alluvial gold would be left in place on or just into this rotted bedrock.
This has even caused some confusion between the placer mining rights and the quartz (mother lode) rights. If gold has moved even one atom from its source, it comes under the placer mining rights. Once when a big mother lode mining outfit questioned my rights I had to go to the mining recorder. I was told that my placer rights ended where the bedrock stopped "weathering." This could be as much as 50 feet down. So the answer to you question is that the rotted bedrock can easily be taken up by their heavy machinery. Hope this answers your question.

Gerry

 

[Goodyguy]

Great reply

Many thanks,
GG~

 

[Gork]

Goodyguy;

I just sent a test photo to practice. I will resend it here. This is 10 ounces of gold produced about 5 miles from the "Gold Rush" boys. This was produced in about 40 cubic yards of pay dirt. This fellow is a friend on Hunker creek. He has some of the richest ground I have seen in the Klondike.

Gerry

 

[Goodyguy]

WoW!

No wonder he's smiling so big
Great job on posting the photo, it's just the right size.

I tried to locate a copy of California Mining Journal April 1995 on e-bay, no luck
And the journals online archives doesn't go back that far.

GG~

 

[Gork]

GoodyGuy; Here is a photo of that cover. That is my mining operation in the background. I am one of the smallest outfits in the Klondike. I could stay small and make a buck because I have coarse gold ground. You will notice that is an old blunderbuss of a detector I used. But it worked great for me as I recovered over 60 ounces of nuggets by just prospecting with it.

 

[GrayCloud]

Okay Gork, Quit teasing us. Show us that giant Klondike Nugget you got hidden away.

 

[Gork]

Okay Gork, Quit teasing us. Show us that giant Klondike Nugget you got hidden away.

OK, since you asked. Here is a few nuggets I found. The one I am holding is 2 1/2 ounces and can be seen in the pan in the upper left. The rest of the nuggets range from 1/4 ouncers to 1 1/4 ounce.
The story behind the 2 1/2 ounce nugget is as follows. The day before some friends were visiting me from Inuvik, Northwest Territory, and I let them take a few pans from a small area where I had already mined out. At least I thought I had mined it out. When building the dam in the background for my downstream operation, I noticed a little coarse gold at bedrock level along the side. This is where a metal detector comes into play as a prospecting tool. After they left I decided I better check it out. I got an interesting reaction. About 14 to 18 inches into the bank I find this 2 1/2 ounce nugget right where my friends had been panning. Creeks meander and this was a side bulge I missed with my backhoe-loader.
I'll see if I can find more photos of my other nuggets.

Gerry

 

[Gork]

Okay Gork, Quit teasing us. Show us that giant Klondike Nugget you got hidden away.

So here are a few more. The two at the top are both 2 /12 ounces and the one with the loop on it is 1 ounce. This is the one I were to Dawson City on Friday nights. It got noticed in the "Snakepit" by the producer of the "Gold Rush" and I had a little conversation with him. It is my most important nugget as I panned it when I was first prospecting my valley in the early 1980s. There is no thrill that matches seeing a nugget that size in the pan.
The arrow shaped nugget was found in a deep crack in the bedrock. After I got through mining a section of my valley on what was an unusual section of hard bedrock (bedrock is usually highly weathered) I saw a number 1/4 and 1/2 ounce nuggets in my sluice box. Since I have gotten larger nuggets there I got to wondering if I had missed them. Mining is a business and to rip up that hard bedrock with my backhoe would be expensive. So, I used the trusty metal detector to find out. I passed the loop over a crack in the smooth bedrock and got a reaction that told me something more than a pea sized nugget was down there. I dug down into the boulder clay in the crack and couldn't find it. Finally I spotted it and pulled it out. It was standing on end in the crack.

Gerry

 

[Goodyguy]

Those are some beauties
I am still chomping at the bit to join the 1oz. nugget club.

GG~