The Biggest Mistakes Rookie Miners Make According To Gold Rush's Freddy Dodge And Juan Ibarra

Over the past decade-plus, few reality series have proven as utterly engrossing as Discovery's gold-fever drama "Gold Rush." Set largely in Alaska's Yukon Territories, the series follows several teams of mining crews who've staked their lives and reputations on being able to dig the prized element from the bowels of the Earth. With over 200 episodes under its belt, and more undoubtedly on the way, the "Gold Rush" fandom has arguably seen the gold game break as many would-be mining stars as it has make them.

When things have gone wrong for "Gold Rush" crews, many have sought help from veteran miner Freddy Dodge who, along with partner Juan Ibarra (who joined the show in 2015), has become the de facto mining "fixer" throughout the series' lengthy run. Along the way, the pair have understandably developed some strong opinions about what it takes to make an honest go of it in the mining game, and recently offered some sage advice to prospective miners looking to get in on the potentially lucrative action.  

Freddy Dodge and Juan Ibarra offered their advice during a Facebook Watch interview with fellow Discovery star Josh Gates, doing so when prompted about the most common mistakes they see mining newbs make. Ibarra was quick to offer encouragement to prospective miners, confirming, "There's money to be made in the industry."

Encouragement aside, Ibarra made it clear that you should only get into gold mining after you've properly studied-up on the business: "People need to be smart. You gotta make sure you do your homework... it shouldn't be an emotional decision, it should be a business decision. Gold fever does crazy things. It'll make a man spend all kinds of money on nothing. And that's the wrong move."

Dodge then chimed in with his own take on mining rookies, noting they also need to watch out for dodgy real estate hucksters looking to dupe them into buying "salted" land, stating, "And not get tricked by people too. Because Juan and myself have both seen people salt their ground." Dodge went on to explain exactly what "salting" is, offering, "salting is someone putting gold in the dirt so another person can test it and say 'Oh look at all this gold!' and you know, that happens a lot."

Needless to say, if you'd never heard the term "salting" before, you're probably not ready to make it rich in mining. Luckily, you can always study up by watching "Gold Rush" on Discovery.