Mine Hunters

Ended Tuesday / 7:00pm National Geographic 60 min.
Renowned gem hunter Guy Clutterbuck is on a mission to find the world�s most precious gems. To do this, he has assembled a specialist squad; an Aussie miner, an American engineer, an American gold prospector and explosives expert, and a British ex-Army mechanic. Together they�ll travel to the farthest reaches of the globe to source small scale gem mines that produce rubies, emeralds, sapphires and all manners of precious stones. But gem mining has a shady reputation so Guy and his team plan to do things differently. They will find ethical mines, and working alongside the local miners, they�ll combine their Western know-how with local knowledge to find these precious rough gems that the team can then buy, cut and sell for a profit. This is a high-stakes gem hunt that could make them, and the local communities working with them, a lot of money. Each mission is high risk, full of real life jeopardy and extreme environments. From the muddy pit mines of Madagascar and the spectacular emerald rich mountain caves of Colombia to the barren Arctic landscape of Greenland where blood red rubies spill across the rocky wasteland, the team will take on the elements, terrain, and even each other on their epic mission � crucially putting their own money and reputations on the line. Using Guy�s extensive connections, built up across 30 years of sourcing and selling gems around the world, in each episode the team will be after a specific precious gem whether the Arctic Ruby that can only be mined in summer in Greenland once the ice sheet has melted away to reveal them in the rocks, the Zambian Amish Emerald, a rare crystal as pure and clear as water, or the Padparadscha Sapphire of Sri Lanka, a legendary gem that adorns Maharaja�s crowns and that is so rare it has to be lab tested to prove it has the specific types and amount of colours to qualify for the name. But only an ethically run mine will do. It�s a business model Guy is proud of. Not only does his team of West

Season 1

8 Episodes

The Mine Kings are in Zambia�s wilderness to find a small-scale mine that could produce the clearest and purest of emeralds.
Mar 08 2016
The Mine Kings are in Australia on the hunt for a mine that could produce one of the rarest and most valuable opals on the planet � the Black Opal.
Mar 01 2016
The Mine Kings travel to Zambia to find an ethical small-scale mine producing the highly elusive double blue aquamarine.
Feb 23 2016
The Mine Kings travel to Masai land in Tanzania on the hunt for a small-scale ethical mine that produces Africa�s infamous pink garnets.
Feb 16 2016
The Mine Kings travel to the south of Sri Lanka on the hunt for a small-scale ethical mine that could produce one of the rarest sapphires of all � the legendary Padparadja.
Feb 09 2016
The Mine Kings touch down on the top of the world: Greenland. For the first time, locals are permitted to mine their own land.
Feb 02 2016
The Mine Kings travel to Madagascar, to one of the few places in the world where a single mine can produce sapphires of every color of the rainbow.
Jan 26 2016
The Mine Hunters are in Colombia, traveling to the cloud-covered mountaintop emerald mines of the Chivor district.
Jan 19 2016