Prospectors | |
---|---|
Genre | Reality |
Starring | Amanda Adkins Steve Brancato Dwayne Hall Rich Fretterd The Busse family The Dorris family The Cardwell family |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 37 |
Production | |
Production company | High Noon Entertainment |
Release | |
Original network | The Weather Channel |
Original release | March 26, 2013 – February 14, 2016 |
Prospectors is a weekly American reality television series that aired from March 26, 2013, to February 14, 2016, on The Weather Channel. The show follows miners in the Colorado Rocky Mountains as they search for precious metals and gemstones.
No. | Title | Original air date | |
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1 | "Breaking the Dry Spell" | March 26, 2013 | |
The Dorris family members need a big find to keep their season alive. Nearby, prospector Steve Brancato searches on Mount Antero, while Amanda Adkins discovers thieves at her dig site. Documentary series following people as they begin their seasonal hunt for gems and crystals in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. | |||
2 | "A Dangerous Prospect" | March 26, 2013 | |
Two miners rappel down a sheer cliff in their search for aquamarine on Colorado's Mount Antero, while a prospecting family makes a valuable find. | |||
3 | "A Hail of Boulders" | April 2, 2013 | |
One gold hunter dares to mine under a moving wall of rocks, while a dangerous boulder threatens to ruin another digger's plans. | |||
4 | "The Mountain Shakes" | April 9, 2013 | |
Steve Brancato thinks he found a large pocket of aquamarine; the Busse family tries to make their claim safe enough to mine; a lightning strike causes a rockslide on Amanda Adkins' dig. | |||
5 | "Claimjumpers" | April 16, 2013 | |
In their annual visit to Mount Antero in the Colorado Rockies, the Dorris family gets caught in a thunderstorm, miles from safety; Amanda Adkins, Steve Brancato, and Daniel Barkus race to catch potential thieves. | |||
6 | "Thunder Snow" | April 23, 2013 | |
The Dorris family continues to hunt for topaz, while Rich Fretterd mines for crystals. Meanwhile, on Mount Antero, the Busses family gets caught in a dangerous whiteout. | |||
7 | "Out of Reach" | May 14, 2013 | |
Amanda's dig site on Mount Antero threatens to collapse when a snow storm hits. Meanwhile, Rich spots a blue topaz and must decide whether it is worth risking his life for it. | |||
8 | "The Mother Load" | May 21, 2013 | |
On Colorado's Mount Antero, Steve Brancato must survive a sudden storm carrying thundersnow; the Busse family launches a search and rescue mission; the Dorris family makes the find of a lifetime. | |||
9 | "A Monster Pocket" | May 28, 2013 | |
Amanda and Rich check out a secret location near Lake George, while the Dorris family uncovers a huge and unexpected pocket of gems. |
No. | Title | Original air date | |
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TBA | "The Sea 1son Begins" | October 27, 2013 | |
The miners return to the mountains in Colorado in the Season 2 premiere, as Amanda and Dwayne are after aquamarine, and the Dorris family look for amazonite and smoky quartz. Meanwhile, Rich scopes out his next dig site. | |||
2 | "Intruders" | November 3, 2013 | |
Amanda finds aquamarine in a dangerous place; Steve and Rich confront unwelcome visitors on their claims; the Dorris family make a spectacular find. | |||
3 | "Legendary Topaz" | November 10, 2013 | |
Summertime in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado brings daily thunderstorms, which force Joe to abandon a promising pocket, while the Busse family must leave their dig site. Elsewhere, Steve digs for amazonite near Lake George; and Rich finds a lost cache of topaz. | |||
4 | "High Alert" | November 24, 2013 | |
Evidence of claim-jumping forces the miners to go to extremes to protect their investments, including Joe, who pulls an all-nighter, while Amanda sets a trap on Colorado's Mount Antero. | |||
5 | "New Prospects" | December 8, 2013 | |
Rich takes time off from mining to honor the memory of his brother with a donation; Amanda and her partner hunt for aquamarine on Colorado's Mount Antero; Brian's injuries present a new set of challenges. | |||
6 | "Risky Business" | December 15, 2013 | |
Heavy rains create dangerous mining conditions; Amanda introduces Travis to her father; and Rich tunnels back into his topaz pocket. | |||
7 | "The Big Gamble" | December 22, 2013 | |
Amanda digs for aquamarine in a dangerous spot; the Dorrises dig for topaz near Lake George; and Steve hunts for blue barite on the plains as the miners take bigger risks near the end of the season. | |||
8 | "The Big Score" | December 29, 2013 | |
The arrival of autumn marks the beginning of the selling season for the Dorris and Busse families, but the quest for a big payday continues for the other miners, including Steve, who strikes a deal to mine a promising claim, and Amanda, who finishes cleaning out a lucrative aquamarine pocket. |
No. | Title | Original air date | |
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1 | "Behind.the.Scenes#1" | October 27, 2013 | |
Special Episode 1 | |||
2 | "Behind.the.Scenes#2" | December 25, 2013 | |
Special Episode 2 | |||
3 | "Jackpot" | December 29, 2013 | |
Special Episode 3 |
No. | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | "Ridin' the Pain Train" | December 7, 2014 | |
In the Season 3 premiere, Amanda hits it big, even as tornadoes are bearing down on her and threatening the Dorrises' claims. Meanwhile, Dwayne teaches two new associates about mining; and the Busses' camp is vandalized. | |||
2 | "Poppin' Rocks" | December 14, 2014 | |
Rich risks being buried alive while working beneath an overhang, the Cardwells use an excavator on Mount Antero, the Dorrises' operating costs may exceed their earnings, Dwayne's discovery could make history. | |||
3 | "Tommyknockers" | December 21, 2014 | |
Brian saves the day on Mount Antero, the Dorrises discover rare specimens, Dwayne's dreams come true, Amanda finds her site vandalized and later senses the presence of a mythical Tommyknocker. | |||
4 | "Night Shift" | December 28, 2014 | |
Amanda looks for topaz, the Busses hunt for aquamarine at night, the Cardwells suspect they've got company at their camp, Dwayne teaches his grandson the tricks of his trade. | |||
5 | "Money Pit" | January 11, 2015 | |
Rich gets soaked in the rain while digging for topaz, Brian suffers an injury that could end his season, the Dorrises use explosives to reach gems underground, Amanda tries to stay focused in the presence of an unwanted visitor. | |||
6 | "Lightning Rod" | January 18, 2015 | |
The Dorrises set off a blast at their amazonite claim, the Cardwells have a life-threatening scare, Homer finishes his work with Dwayne. | |||
7 | "Rain, Rain, Go Away" | January 18, 2015 | |
The Busses deal with hail while digging for aquamarine, the Dorrises try to avoid cave-ins on their quest for fluorite, Dwayne's friend brings beginner's luck, Amanda mulls her future on Mount Antero. | |||
8 | "Payday Stone" | January 25, 2015 | |
Brian looks for aquamarine that could be the biggest haul of the year for the Busses, Travis searches for a surprise for Amanda's wedding ring, Rich and the Dorrises hunt for topaz before the gem shows. | |||
9 | "Million Dollar Rocks" | February 1, 2015 | |
The Busses go underground to find gold, Dwayne carves a statue of Mount Antero's namesake, Chief Antero of the Uintah band of Utes, the Dorrises reveal their largest amazonite and smoky quartz combination; the Cardwells find their biggest pocket yet. | |||
10 | "Topaz Envy" | February 9, 2015 | |
Rich gets good news at the gem shows, Dwayne makes what could be his last trip to the Blue Rose; the Dorrises leave their machines to look for aquamarine. | |||
11 | "Jackpot 2 [8] " | 2015 | -02-18|
look back at some of the scariest moments on the mountain, dig deeper into how gems make it out of the earth, and marvel at the best finds. |
No. | Title | Original air date | |
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1 | "Rock Beats Blizzard" | December 7, 2015 | |
Dwayne joins two veteran miners underground in order to investigate a silver ore vein. Amanda starts off the mining season with a fresh start, and a brand-new mining partner. The Dorris family begin the season on their topaz claim, with good results. | |||
2 | "500 Carats by Lunch" | December 14, 2015 | |
The Cardwell family begin their mining season with a good start. Rich heads back to his topaz claim. Dwayne brings a new team up to assist him in looking for the second half of his "Royal" pocket. The Busse family begin a promising season. | |||
3 | "Mining in the Clouds" | December 21, 2015 | |
The Dorris family head back to their Smoky Hawk claim, soon discovering a pocket of amazonite and smoky quartz combos. Brian is hindered by his injury from last season, but still leads to a great week for the Busse family. The Cardwell family discovers crystals left, right, and centre. Dwayne and crew hunt for a potential aquamarine pocket, with their efforts paying off. | |||
4 | "Cripple Creek Crystals" | December 28, 2015 | |
The Dorris family strikes a pocket of amazonite early on. Amanda returns to a trashed camp, but that doesn't stop the crystals from flowing in. Rich investigates an unusual combination of crystals, deep within a mine shaft. | |||
5 | "Phantom Fluorite" | January 4, 2016 | |
Rich returns to the Buck Tunnel Gold Mine, searching for a rare quartz crystal. Amanda and partner, Jessica, head up to Mt. White for the first time this season, making an arrangement to dig on another miners claim. The Dorris family moves to one of Tim's claims, hoping to find a fruitful mining site when the Smoky Hawk claim dries up. Dwayne's crew tunnels into an underground vault, only to have his spoils snatched away. | |||
6 | "Widow Maker" | January 11, 2016 | |
Dwayne and crew focus on his caved in pocket, determined to get down to the aquamarine. The Dorris family come to the realisation that the Smoky Hawk claim is fully played out. Rich continues in his discovery of the rare quartz in the Buck Tunnel mine. | |||
7 | "Blue Moon Mining" | January 18, 2016 | |
The prospectors work through the night under the light of a blue moon; the Busse family discovers their best aqua yet; the Cardwells open up an old pocket found by Craig's grandfather; and Rich is back at the Agnus Dei toiling for topaz. | |||
8 | "Colorado Kryptonite" | January 24, 2016 | |
Rich sets upon his topaz claim with fresh determination after receiving some important information. The Cardwell's strike it lucky with a large pocket. Dwayne finishes up on 'The Blue Rose'. | |||
9 | "Ladies Love Aqua" | January 31, 2016 | |
The Dorris family start production on a new claim, with promising results. Amanda and Jessica finish off the season on Mt. White with their largest aquamarine pocket to date. Rich finishes up on his topaz claim with a couple last minute finds. | |||
10 | "Thank You Rockhounds" | February 14, 2016 | |
Everyone has some last minute digging to finalise their produce for the Denver mineral show, and receive some very good valuations. |
In August 2013, a hearing was held before the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board to address the issue of reclamation permits. Steve Brancato and Amanda Adkins appeared at the hearing. Brancato is fighting state permitting requirements. Adkins stated she didn't realize she needed the permit and agreed to file for one for her Last Laugh claim. Fretterd and Busse were also ordered to get reclamation permits, but reached an agreement with the state before the hearing. [9]
Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek αμέθυστος amethystos from α- a-, "not" and μεθύσκω methysko / μεθώ metho, "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness. Ancient Greeks wore amethyst and carved drinking vessels from it in the belief that it would prevent intoxication.
Beryl ( BERR-əl) is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminium silicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2Si6O18. Well-known varieties of beryl include emerald and aquamarine. Naturally occurring, hexagonal crystals of beryl can be up to several meters in size, but terminated crystals are relatively rare. Pure beryl is colorless, but it is frequently tinted by impurities; possible colors are green, blue, yellow, pink, and red (the rarest). It is an ore source of beryllium.
Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the Mohs scale. Most emeralds are highly included, so their toughness (resistance to breakage) is classified as generally poor. Emerald is a cyclosilicate.
A gemstone is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks and occasionally organic materials that are not minerals are also used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity and notoriety are other characteristics that lend value to gemstones.
A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires. Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems, alongside amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and diamond. The word ruby comes from ruber, Latin for red. The color of a ruby is due to the element chromium.
The City of Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,633 at the 2020 census. It is situated at an elevation of 10,158 feet (3,096 m). Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States and is surrounded by two of the tallest 14,000 foot peaks in the state.
Placer mining is the mining of stream bed (alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment.
Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite, caused by small amounts of vanadium. Tanzanite belongs to the epidote mineral group. Tanzanite is only found in Simanjiro District of Manyara Region in Tanzania, in a very small mining area near the Mererani Hills.
Phenakite or phenacite is a fairly rare nesosilicate mineral consisting of beryllium orthosilicate, Be2SiO4. Occasionally used as a gemstone, phenakite occurs as isolated crystals, which are rhombohedral with parallel-faced hemihedrism, and are either lenticular or prismatic in habit: the lenticular habit is determined by the development of faces of several obtuse rhombohedra and the absence of prism faces. There is no cleavage, and the fracture is conchoidal. The Mohs hardness is high, being 7.5 – 8; the specific gravity is 2.96. The crystals are sometimes perfectly colorless and transparent, but more often they are greyish or yellowish and only translucent; occasionally they are pale rose-red. In general appearance the mineral is not unlike quartz, for which indeed it has been mistaken. Its name comes from Ancient Greek: φέναξ, romanized: phénax, meaning "deceiver" due to its close visual similarity to quartz, named by Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld in 1833.
Tsavorite or tsavolite is a variety of the garnet group species grossular, a calcium-aluminium garnet with the formula Ca3Al2Si3O12. Trace amounts of vanadium or chromium provide the green color.
Mount Antero is the highest summit of the southern Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The prominent 14,276-foot (4351.4 m) fourteener is located in San Isabel National Forest, 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest by south of the Town of Buena Vista in Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. The mountain is named in honor of Chief Antero of the Uintah band of the Ute people.
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States.
The National Mining Hall of Fame is a museum located in Leadville, Colorado, United States, dedicated to commemorating the work of miners and people who work with natural resources. The museum also participates in efforts to inform the public about the mining industry.
The Leadville mining district, located in the Colorado Mineral Belt, was the most productive silver-mining district in the state of Colorado and hosts one of the largest lead-zinc-silver deposits in the world. Oro City, an early Colorado gold placer mining town located about a mile east of Leadville in California Gulch, was the location to one of the richest placer gold strikes in Colorado, with estimated gold production of 120,000–150,000 ozt, worth $2.5 to $3 million at the then-price of $20.67 per troy ounce.
Ammolite is an opal-like organic gemstone found primarily along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of North America. It is made of the fossilized shells of ammonites, which in turn are composed primarily of aragonite, the same mineral contained in nacre, with a microstructure inherited from the shell. It is one of few biogenic gemstones; others include amber and pearl.1 In 1981, ammolite was given official gemstone status by the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), the same year commercial mining of ammolite began. It was designated the official gemstone of the City of Lethbridge, Alberta in 2007.
Gemstones have been found in Greenland, including diamond, ruby, sapphire, kornerupine, tugtupite, lapis lazuli, amazonite, peridot, quartz, spinel, topaz, and tourmaline. Most of Greenland's ruby and sapphire occurrences are located near the village of Fiskenaesset/Qeqertarsuatsiaat on the southwest coast.
Hiddenite, North Carolina, United States, is a centre for the mining of gemstones. Three larger mines found there are Adams Mine, NAEM and the Emerald Hollow Mine. They are collectively known as the Hiddenite Gem Mines.
Kelsey Lake Diamond Mine is a defunct diamond mine in Colorado, USA. It is located in the State Line Kimberlite District, near the Wyoming border, and consists of nine kimberlite volcanic pipes, of which two were open pit mined.
Yogo sapphires are blue sapphires, a colored variety of corundum, found in Montana, primarily in Yogo Gulch in Judith Basin County, Montana. Yogo sapphires are typically cornflower blue, a result of trace amounts of iron and titanium. They have high uniform clarity and maintain their brilliance under artificial light. Because Yogo sapphires occur within a vertically dipping resistive igneous dike, mining efforts have been sporadic and rarely profitable. It is estimated that at least 28 million carats of Yogo sapphires are still in the ground. Jewelry containing Yogo sapphires was given to First Ladies Florence Harding and Bess Truman; in addition, many gems were sold in Europe, though promoters' claims that Yogo sapphires are in the crown jewels of England or the engagement ring of Princess Diana are dubious. Today, several Yogo sapphires are part of the Smithsonian Institution's gem collection.
Mount White is a 13,667-foot (4,166 m) mountain summit in Chaffee County, Colorado, United States.
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