Discussion
youngsyr said:
ikarl said:
pretty sure that Tony's dredge operation is profitable, did he not state previously that the running cost of the dredge per day was less than $200 (excl staff of course)
Well, that's the thing though - once you look at all the costs, things start to look a lot less profitable.Not only do you have to add in the cost of the staff, but also the cost of the equipment, he spent $1.5m alone on the dredge (as per the narrator in the last episode), financing that even at a reasonable rate is going to be north of $100,000 per year. Plus you've got various pumps, excavators and bulldozers to move the thing around to add on to that.
Then you've got the cost of the claim itself, Tony must have either bought it outright (which would be a significant upfront cost) or be leasing it, again at a considerable cost.
Tony mentioned when they hit $1M that the first dredge was now 'paid for' - so whatever money/finance they used is now covered. They are now into profit from that dredge, which I assume over the next 12-24 months will cover the costs of moving and recommissioning the second dredge. After which they will be able to run 2 dredges with just a few family members and lower grade dirt movers to clear a path etc. Good business. Also remember it looks like Tony has at least 1 other mining operation going on as well as Parker's and his dredge (shown in previous series).
RE: Tony's Dredges
I don't really understand how, or why they're so valuable - or were when he bought it.
He paid $1m for the first one, whoever owned it presumably has done so for the 30 years it lay dormant rusting away, who does that? Nothing that's been sat abandoned for 30 years is worth $1m unless it's a building or land.
More to the point, what is it? It's effectively a floating wash plant. Even the monster ones they're using this season are costing $300k new, so why is a rusting 50 year old one that's tiny in comparison (size of trommel etc) worth more than 3 times as much because it's sat on a rusting hulk of pontoons.
I don't buy it, if there was still a market for Dredges it wouldn't have sat idle for decades, if, as I suspect there wasn't one before Tony wanted one, then it's value would be all but scrap.
I don't really understand how, or why they're so valuable - or were when he bought it.
He paid $1m for the first one, whoever owned it presumably has done so for the 30 years it lay dormant rusting away, who does that? Nothing that's been sat abandoned for 30 years is worth $1m unless it's a building or land.
More to the point, what is it? It's effectively a floating wash plant. Even the monster ones they're using this season are costing $300k new, so why is a rusting 50 year old one that's tiny in comparison (size of trommel etc) worth more than 3 times as much because it's sat on a rusting hulk of pontoons.
I don't buy it, if there was still a market for Dredges it wouldn't have sat idle for decades, if, as I suspect there wasn't one before Tony wanted one, then it's value would be all but scrap.
Comedy gold (excuse the pun): http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/gold-rush/videos...
youngsyr said:
The mere existence of machines like that says it all - all of the rich pickings of gold have long since been mined and the chances of any of these guys hitting it big (or even making a profit in the Hoffman's case) are next to zero.
When you take the running costs and TV freebies into account, I doubt even Parker or Tony's operations are particularly profitable.
Tony was profitable before TV arrived, and he's a switched on cookie. Parker? Who knows... his family are miners although probably earn similar money to what a decent City job will pay rather than a multi-million pound take home.When you take the running costs and TV freebies into account, I doubt even Parker or Tony's operations are particularly profitable.
The big machine is used in coal and iron ore mining, when you have a few meters of overburden over the coal, machine does one or 2 runs to clear the overburden and then can excavate the coal - often straight onto waiting vessels. Incredible investments to make.
For what its worth (or not!) an Indian power company are spending AU$16bn on the biggest coal mine in Queensland Australia. When a company is investing that much money, explains what tiny operations those on Gold Rush really are.
The problem with the dredge is finding suitable ground that hasn't already been dredged.
If Tony has enough of a claim to maintain the running of the dredge for a 10 years then he's in the cash. If however he only has enough for a couple of years, then he's going to have to buy more ground. I would imaging that gold bearing ground has been highly mined before, and only pockets remain.
Much of the ground that they've been mining the last few years has been frozen and I would think unsuitable for dredging.
If Tony has enough of a claim to maintain the running of the dredge for a 10 years then he's in the cash. If however he only has enough for a couple of years, then he's going to have to buy more ground. I would imaging that gold bearing ground has been highly mined before, and only pockets remain.
Much of the ground that they've been mining the last few years has been frozen and I would think unsuitable for dredging.
So where the hell did Tony get all that gold from? It would have taken more than half (of a good!) season for a crew to pull that much in just a couple of years ago?! The programme was noticeably vague about how they managed it - only stating that Kevin had been working 16 hour days (like other crews haven't worked around the clock in the past!).
Parker's crew seem to be cutting some unnecessary and potentially dangerous corners (yeah, let's just ram the lorry under the feeder on uneven ground and hope it engages nicely!). I hope their arrogance doesn't end up wrecking some machinery and their season, or worse!
I also wonder about the decision to do it whilst being filmed - mine inspectors will be paying close attention to the programme and surely won't be happy with what they saw?
Parker's crew seem to be cutting some unnecessary and potentially dangerous corners (yeah, let's just ram the lorry under the feeder on uneven ground and hope it engages nicely!). I hope their arrogance doesn't end up wrecking some machinery and their season, or worse!
I also wonder about the decision to do it whilst being filmed - mine inspectors will be paying close attention to the programme and surely won't be happy with what they saw?
re Tony's clean out, I think they said it was for 2 weeks, which whilst still an amazing amount of money to pull out the ground, is probably right based on the week-to-week pull they take. PLUS Tony was away sorting the new dredge so not creating mayhem at the working dredge?
Looks like Dave finally loses the plot and goes for Todd
Looks like Dave finally loses the plot and goes for Todd
Borroxs said:
Well that was a little disappointing..... an episode without the content promised on the trailer.....
I feel ripped off, conned.
Yes, it was like they had got the trailers and episodes mixed up?I feel ripped off, conned.
Calamity Todd is still failing spectacularly scratching around in the pre mined tailings convinced he's going to hit gold.....again for the 7 th time, moaning at his best mate of 7 years for leaving when he's 'down' .Theyve had half a season of failure im suprised the rest didnt go?.He must be up to his neck in debt just in fuel bills.
Todd acting like a spoilt child thinking the world is going to end, even though he's still getting clean ups and not too far behind, he's trying to do it with less staff too and that looks like its showing with rick struggling to do the work of two people.
Tony, well he's just tony, I was expecting Gene Cheeseman to be fired from what I saw on the trailer?.
I too was a bit disappointed that I didn't see the chaos and fighting from the trailer. They have obviously deemed that footage to be so juicy that they are going to string it out for a couple of weeks before letting us see it.
Parker seems to have reached the stage he gets to each season where he lashes out, behaves like a spoilt brat, and treats everyone like absolute dirt.
Todd lunches from one failure to another, which shouldn't really surprise anyone.
Gene has obviously made it clear that he doesn't really want to be a main character this season, and who can blame him? He comes across as an extremely clever, talented and utterly straight forward guy who probably thinks reality TV is complete and utter nonsense that gets in the way of people doing their jobs.
Parker seems to have reached the stage he gets to each season where he lashes out, behaves like a spoilt brat, and treats everyone like absolute dirt.
Todd lunches from one failure to another, which shouldn't really surprise anyone.
Gene has obviously made it clear that he doesn't really want to be a main character this season, and who can blame him? He comes across as an extremely clever, talented and utterly straight forward guy who probably thinks reality TV is complete and utter nonsense that gets in the way of people doing their jobs.
chrisgtx said:
And Gene seems to be the type of guy that wants to do things properly, which is the complete opposite of what tony generally does.
Why did he buy that tug boat and spend a fortune on it, as gene said it was known to of capsized, surely renting one would be cheaper?
That tug boat was the opposite of an iceberg. 90% of it was above water, and 10% below.Why did he buy that tug boat and spend a fortune on it, as gene said it was known to of capsized, surely renting one would be cheaper?
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