Steve Pomrenke is one of the most successful gold miners in Nome, Alaska. In 2010, Steve and his team scooped three million dollars in gold off the ocean floor.

 

Now, the Pomrenkes find they have to compete with other excavator operations, some run by billionaires. But no one has been able to compete with his crew's gold-finding skills.

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Steve grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota, became and mechanic, and then, in the 1990s, owned his own open pit gold mining operations.

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Gruff and no-nonsense, Steve drives his dredging team -- especially his son, Shawn -- very hard. He and his wife Christine are trying to pass the torch on to Shawn, but they don't yet have full trust in the younger Pomrenke. A river miner at heart, Steve would love to mine inland and leave the Bering Sea to Shawn.