Endless Time and Jewelry Blog
April 3rd, 2013
Animal Planet's brand new series, “Ice Cold Gold,” spotlights a spirited team of miners who are among the first Americans to prospect for precious metals and gems in parts of Greenland where humans never have set foot before.

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Beginning April 21, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), the six-part series follows eight men who leave behind their families, friends and homeland to strike it rich against all odds while struggling to survive against the harshest of conditions.

Under the glacial ice sheets of Greenland sits an immeasurable amount of mineral wealth, including gold, silver, platinum, sapphire, rubies and other precious gemstones.

Over the past decade, global warming has awakened Greenland from its mysterious, cold isolation. Once completely inaccessible to speculators, the treasures are now within reach as glacial ice has receded, revealing mineral-rich rock that had been undisturbed for more than 400,000 years. The prospectors have only two months to explore this new mining frontier before winter returns and the ice cap thickens.

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Because of Greenland’s strict environmental regulations, miners are forced to use basic tools, such as shovels, chisels and pans, to do their prospecting. What results is a dramatic battle between man and nature, where daily landslides can suddenly rain boulders the size of cars and snowstorms can blow in with 70 mph winds at a moment’s notice.

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The new show was filmed last summer in the capital city of Nuuk, as well as in a remote area of fjords known as Storø. The producers believe that the Storø location was so far off the beaten path that no human had even been there before.