The AU Grabber (pronounced as: ''Gold Grabber'';
["Au" is the chemical symbol for ]gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
) is a self-propelled barge
excavator
Excavators are heavy equipment (construction), heavy construction equipment primarily consisting of a backhoe, boom, dipper (or stick), Bucket (machine part), bucket, and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house".
The modern excavator's ...
dredge
Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing ...
used to mine
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...
placer gold deposits in the region around
Nome, Alaska
Nome (; , , also ''Sitŋazuaq'', ''Siqnazuaq'') is a city in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough, Alaska, Unorganized Borough of the US state of Alaska. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula c ...
, USA. It is owned and operated by Richard Schimschat and featured in the
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience.
It init ...
USA mining reality TV show ''
Bering Sea Gold''.
It cost $600,000 to buy.
In 2017 a 120-lb two-week-old
seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, also called "true seal"
** Fur seal
** Eared seal
* Seal ( ...
was found on the dredge.
Hank Schimschat retired from mining in 2019, and hired out the AU Grabber.[ Though no longer part of the show, in 2020, the dredge once again appeared on Bering Sea Gold, still mining in the Nome region.] At the end of the 2020 season, while pulling out the dredge, it was improperly supported, bending the boat, ending its journey. The equipment of AU Grabber was moved to a new barge, the Mistress
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a female lover of a married man
** Royal mistress
* Maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress of a ...
(stylized as ''Mistre$$''), for the 2021 gold season.
Specifications
[
:Vessel 1031061
* Launch date: 1995
* Length:
* Width:
* Depth:
* Net tonnage:
* Gross tonnage:
]
See also
* Myrtle Irene
* Tuvli 160
* Christine Rose (dredge)
* Viking Dredge 1
* Viking Dredge 2
* Bima (dredge)
Notes
References
External links
* Boat Database (boatdb.net
Nome, AK port boats
Bering Sea Gold
Dredgers
Barges of the United States
2020 disestablishments in Alaska
{{Alaska-stub