On tonight’s Off The Grid Thursday on Discovery, the new episode of Reclaimed sees hosts Alex Charvat and Kevin Gilman weigh the pros and cons of exchanging their renovation efforts for a crack at an abandoned gold mine on the property.
Below is a clip, and the opener takes us to where Kevin and Alex first come up to this abandoned shaft where it has been covered up to prevent people from nosing about and perhaps falling down into the deep shaft hole.
Approaching the area, Kevin says: “We first walked up to the hole it looks like an anthill that’s just collapsed, basically.”
He and Alex want to see what’s inside this thing and how deep it actually goes. Kevin says: “The mine has been closed up with an iron lid across the top of it right now to keep people like Alex and me out.” He laughs at that idea.
Analyzing the mine, Alex says: “Part one is just to see what’s down there… and we’ll send a camera first. [It] kind of looks like a colonoscopy!”
The guys send a remote camera down the shaft, and it is attached by a rope. They get images back on their laptop.
Alex continues to examine the footage and says: “We will send a camera first…you got that? There is actually something back there…that’s a shaft is it really it’s small but yes it is if I can turn it. Keep going it looks like an iron…Oh buddy look at that!” He shines lights on what looks to be ropes and more shafts that run perpendicular to the main shaft.
Alex explains why the mine is likely abandoned: “There’s a few reasons somebody’s going to abandon a mine. One [reason] it’s time, maybe something happened where you couldn’t physically mine anymore. The other — somebody’s repeatedly the finding gold and they’remaking money.
“They are going to keep digging and they’re going to keep expanding their mine. The other is health… somebody got sick, and [maybe] they died. I mean you can’t physically mine anymore and there could still be gold down there.”
As the two go further into the mine shaft, they notice two yellow ropes hanging parallel to each other and realize that the ropes were there and lead somewhere promising. At least they hope so!
Prospecting a Gold Mine
Discovery is betting that reclaimed mines are going to appeal to fans of Gold Rush and even Dave Turin’s Lost Mines. Old abandoned shafts and mines are re-explored and found to be viable with improved excavation technology.
But tonight…how many times can you go back to the well? Watch as Alex and Kevin strike a risky deal with claim owners Jerry and Martha.
The exchange is for the pair to offer a renovation of the couple’s rundown 30-year-old cabin, but if the land isn’t profitable, they will have to negotiate a deal that will make their investment worth it.
Exclusive preview of Reclaimed:
Enter the abandoned gold mine as the two men use a remote camera attached to a laptop so they can observe the insides and see if it looks promising or not:
Reclaimed airs Thursdays at 9 pm on Discovery Channel.