Gold Rush: Alaska

[tgr]

I think Parker will do okay, if Todd gets his washplant up and running then he'll scrape by, Dave I think'll be the motherlode guy, and Fred I kind of hopes breaks a leg, precisely because he's a dickwad. A dickwad which fixed his digger on his own, granted, but still a dickwad.

[Sky]

I think it'll go Fred, Parker, Dave, Todd.

But really, Todd is on good dirt if he can get running and Dave came up with a real crap run. Parker had a decent run already, and it sounds like Fred found another pit to work down, maybe doubling the pay dirt from Jack's 'glory hole'.

Still gotta have some respect for Fred. When everyone else gets hobbled by gear breaking down, this ornery old coot welds a whole new piece of steel. That was pretty awesome. If it wasn't for the whole electrical panel thing, Fred would still be my favorite on the show. Reminds me of the adults I grew up with, really (except the panel thing).

[Xanthippe]

Fred's a bastard. Resourceful bastard, sure, but he's still a grade A bastard.

He seeks favors without returning them, and he attempts to manipulate people to get what he wants by appealing to their better selves and pretending to be neighborly. Then when it's time for him to reciprocate, "screw you, this is business!".

Fuck him. I hope a flood comes down and washes his excavators away.

[Xanthippe]

What happened at the very end? My TiVo missed the last minute or two. Did Dave get what he needed to get?

[kaid]

Dave got a bit over 30 oz of gold so they are in business and Parker got a bit over 50 oz so he is good to go as well. I think Daves crew is probably in very good shape the gold was a bit thinner at the top of the claims dirt than they expected but if going down 2 feet gets you 30 oz guessing as they get down farther towards bedrock they are going to be getting a pretty substantial amount of gold.

[Evildrider]

Basically everyone made a respectful amount, with Parker hitting it biggest.

[kaid]

Ya even fred made a good amount and he was working some old tailings on the way the actual paydirt so it sure beat them just having to throw it away. I think all the crews except todd are pretty well positioned to if not hit their dreams hit good quantities of gold to at least break a modest profit. I just don't see Todd doing anything but ride the clueless failwagon the rest of the season.

[Slayerik]

Well, honestly I don't see the big problem in stockpiling all that dirt. They made it out to be a big thing, but it's not like it's going anywhere. These guys couldn't possibly be efficient enough to be washing all the time.  Now you got your super-trommel in place and you better get 125-150oz minimum from the current stockpile.

Isn't it actually kind of smart by Todd to wait for the trommel? They might be smart to run their old tailings from Big Blue...

[Evildrider]

As much as people like to bash Todd, the guy that was building his new wash plant is the one that was fucking with their timeline.  I'm pretty sure that if Todd knew the guy was gonna be a month late delivering the trommel he may have went a different direction or worked on fixing the other wash plant. 

[tgr]

Stockpiling as they did is probably the best thing they could've done in the situation they were in at the time, however they could've been running dirt all this time and at least have something to show for their time investment. Then, once they got the jesus feature which the new trommel is, they've done away with a fucktonne of surplus material (the rocks etc) and can get to just running actual dirt through the new trommel for a second time just to see how much more efficient it actually is compared to the big blue.

Literally the only dumb thing they did was yank down big blue and sit there with their thumb up their ass dirt-wise for however many weeks it's been by now, because it was done on the assumption the new trommel would arrive "soon".

[Evildrider]

The reason that they stopped using big blue was because they were washing away gold... And let's be honest, by the time they got it fixed you know the trommel would have just arrived.  lol

[kaid]

The reason that they stopped using big blue was because they were washing away gold... And let's be honest, by the time they got it fixed you know the trommel would have just arrived.  lol

I never quite understood why this was such a big deal washing out gold. You know where all the gold is being washed too into your tailing pile/holding area. I would think it would be pretty damn trivial to go back and redig up all that stuff and rerun it. Sure it may have been a bit less time efficient but it sure beats some consistent gold gain and some extra work later than sitting on your thumbs for a month. Frankly they should have sent almost all that crew to help indian river at daves claim and really knock that one out of the park because at least there they had everything in place to get to work may as well have your crew doing something productive if one claim cannot be run.

[Evildrider]

I think they were losing a significant amount of gold through the wash plant.  They are probably better off doing what they are now and just holding the dirt so they can just run and run.

[tgr]

I'm going to just assume that they're going to be running the old runoff through the new washplant as well, just to compare how much more efficient the new washplant actually is.

[kaid]

It will be interesting once the new trommel is hooked up how fast they can burn through the stock piled pay dirt. Really once its up and running they should just  have all hands feeding the beast full time at whatever max rate it can take. Nice to see dave seems to be doing good he at least seems competent and an overall good manager. Other than his one oops of surveying the wrong location which may have been more editing than oops he seems to run a much more sensible dig site in a more sensible manner.

[Sky]

Running the gold twice costs manpower and fuel. Stockpiling for when the new trommel gets there was the right thing to do. Todd should've sent that twitchy investor down to insert a boot into the trommel 'inventor's' anal canal, since that was the guy shitting away the season.

[Soln]

Todd should not have invested in a piece of machinery he knows nothing about, for a company that nobody seems to know about, for an industry he's not qualified to be in.  And in the end, it seems he bought something on spec that may be just a prototype for 250k (?).  He could've just got a better wash plant built like Dave did with an expert to run it, or you know, do it Todd's way.   

[Xanthippe]

But honestly, if Todd wasn't Todd, would there even be a season 3 of Gold Rush? He's television gold.

[kaid]

He is like the honey boo boo of miners it is just hard to look away from him when he is failing in such spectacular ways.

[tgr]

I'm still wondering what the "technological revolution" is which this new washplant has.

[kaid]

I am not sure anybody knows. I find it interesting he contracted this thing with presumably the maker but the makers workshop is CLEARLY not setup to handle the construction of these things so I doubt it is something he has done more than once or twice before. I will be shocked if the thing actually works.

[Evildrider]

So the super trammel worked.. Go fig!

[Slayerik]

Nice trommel engine. Dave taking care of business, as expected...

[Abagadro]

So the super trammel worked.. Go fig!

It did? Seemed like it blew out its engine in pretty short order.

[tgr]

I think you just fell down the sarchasm.

[Sky]

Yes, at this point in the season everyone has gold except Todd. Frickin' surprise!

[Abagadro]

I think you just fell down the sarchasm.

A veritable glory hole of snark!

[Soln]

Here is to Todd's sharp investor.  Any chance the moneybags has the balls to call Todd on his utter and complete incompetence? 

[Evildrider]

Well unless there is some total disaster, they should make that 100 oz goal the investor asked for.  The only good idea Todd came up with so far this season is having the second site at Indian River.

[tgr]

I'll laugh if it turns out Todd's cleanup (when he finally does get the trommel working) is actually bigger than Dave's combined cleanup.

[Sky]

I'm pretty sure he'll blunder into some pretty good money. They've been stockpiling dirt for quite a while so they can just run like crazy once they get a new motor.

And despite all the 'inventor' bullshit, trommels are tested tech (see Big Nugget Mine), so a new one should process at least as good as the beat up old piece of crap they used last year...if the 'inventor' didn't invent out all the critical elements of a trommel.

My favorite thing so far this season was Parker's dad's reaction to torching off that explosive charge. Awesome.

[MisterNoisy]

On my brother's recommendation, I started watching this.  So far, it's sort of like watching 'Whale Wars' in that the only moments to live for are the long, drawn out shots of Todd's face as he becomes the walking, talking embodiment of failure.

I hope the kid strikes it big.  The rest of the 'cast' are unlikable for one reason or another.

[kaid]

Well unless there is some total disaster, they should make that 100 oz goal the investor asked for.  The only good idea Todd came up with so far this season is having the second site at Indian River.

If I was the investory I may cut Todd lose but Dave is clearly on the gold getting over 90 ounces in a couple weeks of running and it looks like the gold is getting better the deeper he is getting. Baring the gold just petering out I see dave hitting at least 500 oz at the pace they are going. Hell if they can even just keep doing a consistent 30-40 oz a week they will likely hit 500 before they have to stop for the winter. And once fall hits he can start clearing off overburden on the rest of the indian river claim and be setup to do even better next year.

[kaid]

I'm pretty sure he'll blunder into some pretty good money. They've been stockpiling dirt for quite a while so they can just run like crazy once they get a new motor.

And despite all the 'inventor' bullshit, trommels are tested tech (see Big Nugget Mine), so a new one should process at least as good as the beat up old piece of crap they used last year...if the 'inventor' didn't invent out all the critical elements of a trommel.

My favorite thing so far this season was Parker's dad's reaction to torching off that explosive charge. Awesome.

Hehe ya I have to say spending fathers day with your two sons blowing the living shit out of a mountain side has to be one of the best fathers days ever.

[Xanthippe]

I enjoyed watching Parker's dad giggling like an 8 year old after blowing up that rock. That's my favorite clip from all the shows, I think.