Dave's entire season comes down to the final 24 hours and a bold risk that threatens to shut down his operation and force him out of the gold game for good.

Dave faces a nightmare scenario when the ground he's mining goes cold and no one knows why; with his season hanging in the balance, the pressure mounts for Dave to get them back on the gold.

Dozer Dave bets his life savings that he can unearth piles of gold from an abandoned mine using salvaged equipment and a team of amateur miners.

Former "Gold Rush" miner Dave Turin sets out on his own prospecting for an abandoned gold mine to reopen; when an investor backs out, Dave has to decide if he's willing to risk his family's life savings on his ability to bring home the gold.

Back where their gold-mining adventures began, "Gold Rush" alumni Dakota Fred and son Justin persevere in the face of long odds, risking their lives for a fortune they may never realize. Assisted by a team of intrepid divers, mountaineers and bush mechanics, the Dakota Boys explore the white water rapids of McKinley Creek in Alaska, diving deep in raging torrents with a suction dredge. Not only could one wrong move prove deadly, but the guys also face wild animals, extreme temperatures and hypothermia.

Although the state's mention in the title was dropped after the first season, Alaska still plays a major role in Discovery Channel's top-rated show. It follows gold miners, inexperienced as some may be, hoping to strike it rich in the wilds of The Last Frontier and beyond. For their first effort, a crew led by Todd Hoffman and his father, Jack, sunk $250,000 into their dream and came away with just $20,000 worth of gold. The dismal summer was filled with injuries, malfunctioning equipment and constant fighting among the greenhorn miners, yet their serious case of gold fever trumps any talk of giving up and leads to new operating plans in order to salvage their dream. The series also keeps tabs on the efforts of brash youngster Parker Schnabel, veteran Dakota Fred and longtime Yukon resident Tony Beets to hit the mother lode at separate sites.

In Discovery Channel's top-rated show "Gold Rush," gold miners, inexperienced as some may be, hope to strike it rich in the wilds of Alaska and beyond. Some dismal summers result, filled with injuries, malfunctioning equipment and constant fighting among the greenhorn miners, yet serious cases of gold fever always trump any talk of giving up and sometimes leads to dreams being salvaged. The companions series "The Dirt" presents the inside scoop on behind-the-scenes relationships between such miners as brash youngster Parker Schnabel and longtime Yukon resident Tony Beets, as the quest to hit the mother lode never stops.

Renowned gem hunter Guy Clutterbuck has put together an elite team to mine rubies, emeralds, sapphires and all manner of precious stones. The group of strangers -- an Aussie miner, an American engineer, an American gold prospector and explosives expert, and a British ex-Army mechanic -- risks their own money, time and reputations on Clutterbuck's promise of adventure, gems and big profits. Traveling from muddy pit mines of Madagascar to mountain caves of Colombia to the Arctic landscape of Greenland, the team takes on the elements, terrain, and even each other on their epic mission.

"Yukon Gold" follows four gold-mining crews who have merely four months in Canada's wild Yukon to earn a big payday. Fighting an impossibly short mining season and with their savings on the line, they work against difficulties to dig the precious ore out of the ground. The crews battle mechanical breakdowns, the elements and 18-hour days under the midnight sun -- all because of gold fever -- and it keeps them coming back year after year for another chance to wager it all.