I think it is funny that this is the first time since the first season that Todd actually has to do work. The last three seasons, every time you saw him he was just standing around telling other people what to do.
Too true. It's also funny how quickly he's willing to give up when he is actually doing that work... he seems to have quite the negative attitude compared to when other people do the work and he's motivating them to keep going. I just can't wait until they flash back to Dave and his crew... they've been conspicuously absent from things so far... so either everything is going gangbusters and they're pulling up a bunch of gold, or things were on hold for some reason. I'm almost willing to bet that things are going like precision clockwork at their camp, and because of that, Dave is willing to go and try and help out Todd and crew, and shit will happen as a result. Here's hoping he says a big "fuck you, Todd" and kicks ass at his own dig.
And holy shit was I ever hoping that Jack was going to get a chest full of water when he was standing right in front of the opening of that pipeline when they were getting that pump running. "I can hear something, Todd, but I can't see anything... let me get closer..."
Just watched episode 4 of The Dirt, when they did the behind-the-scenes "holy fuck jack is running that get the hell away" crew interviews. Hilarious.
Yeah, it was pretty funny. I like that Parker realizes he fucks up when he goes off on his guys like he did with Gene (Jean?). On the new episode, Todd just wants to spend as much money as he possibly can at all times. We need 800 Ozs to break even, lets spend 300 of it we don't have yet on a new washplant. I don't think they run 24 hours, wouldn't it make more sense to have a small night crew just feeding paydirt into the washplant at night while doing nothing else(like Parker tried)? They said they had 25,000 yds already waiting to be fed in.
Actually, with all the new heavy equipment they have hauling dirt, and the fact that their current wash plant (according to Freddie) is way undersized as it was specially built to trek through the jungle, I can totally see the justification of getting that bigger washplant. The fact they have 25k waiting speaks to that... makes sense (to me, at least) to ramp up the washplant to match the hauling.
I know they needed to get more dirt through a washplant, but so far they have found about 100-140 OZs this year (1 last year). They had no other option but to buy the biggest washplant in the U.S. (I think that is what was said).
Oh, I have no doubt that it is bigger than what they need... by about 100yrds an hour, if I heard the math correctly... but I also tend to think that it's the only one that is available locally, or it was set up well in advance. In past seasons plants half that size took 3-4 months of order/build time, they weren't just sitting there on a truck "two miles out of town" waiting to be bought by someone who happened to need one. I also think that there HAS to be some sort of back-door wheeling and dealing going on seeing as it's Freddie's. And that whole "ships to the US in 48 hours" thing sounded flaky as hell... I mean, I might be wrong, but that doesn't strike me as something you'd just build and then try and sell after the fact. And if it was shipping in 48 hours, it had to have been paid for already, and I can't see Freddie giving Todd a deal when he's got "real" money from a "real" buyer. BS drama artificially manufactured for the show, if you ask me.
Wow, apparently it happened on July 3rd of this year. His kids said he had a stroke and died a week later. I don't remember seeing anything on Gold Rush about it, but there is that scene with Todd telling the crew.
Wow... had no idea it happened that long ago... surprising that they didn't do an "in memory of" or something similar for the show. I know a lot of this stuff is old footage shot in the summer, but yeah, you'd figure they'd edit it in somehow. At least if they gave a shit, anyway.
Yeah, haven't watched it yet. EDIT: Just watching it now... I guess they just included it in the chronology of the show.
I was really glad to see all the success this season. But I just don't like Tony Beets. I mean I get his motivation for being a tough businessman his drive to work as hard as possible. But I feel like he's an asshole just for the sake of being one. I feel Parker got a raw deal from him. The royalty cut actually incentivized him to work less hard because he only had to pay Tony a higher percentage. Maybe I'm just ignorant to the nature of this type of business, but I feel like it's all run by assholes.
I felt like the cut should have went down with the more gold he got, but he signed the deal so ultimately it's on Parker.
I'd like to see Parker own his own claim and then mine it. Tony would need to find a whole new crew who owns all that equipment and then mine what is essentially stripped land. At this point, I would imagine Parker has enough liquid cash to buy a claim.
I have no problem with Beets at all... he was up front, and Parker went into the deal knowing that it was the only one he had available to him, and he agreed to the terms. And the terms aren't that bad, at all. Sure, the editing and his natural personality make him come off as a dick, but he's not... he gave Parker a shot, and set up a deal to ensure that Parker got most of his gold up front. Parker's just being an immature kid and bitching about it... and he knows he doesn't have other options, which is why he's trying to get that last 400 ounces... so he CAN go and buy his own land. The time to bitch was when he signed the contract... not 2,000 ounces later. Welcome to business... you start off being someone else's bitch until you do well enough to be on your own... and Parker is going through that right now. If anything, it's a dangerous time for him, because that transition can make or break him. He's been quite lucky and prosperous up until now... and I doubt his plans are taking into account any kind of an "off year" scenario. It seems like he's constantly betting it all to get to the next step. Not sure how long that will last. Wish him the best, but I'm not that confident that him rushing to get his own thing will be all he wants it to be.
Especially now that it looks that Gene wont be returning to work for Parker. That's what happens when you are a young boss and haven't learned how to manage people yet. I like Parker but don't like what he does to his employees some times, reminds me of a boss I had when I was younger.