Bering Sea Gold’s Emily Riedel crowdfunding for new super dredge

We’ve been big fans of aspiring opera singer and gold dredging sensation Emily Riedel ever since she made her reality show debut on the first season of Bering Sea Gold back in 2012. Since that first season as a greenhorn deckhand (and awkward object of affection) for Zeke, Emily has blazed her own trail, and she now captains her own gold mining dredge, the Eroica.

But Emily’s never been much for small dreams, and now she has her sights set on something a wee bit more substantial: a “mega dredge” that “will be 4 times larger than the Christine Rose!” And she needs your help to get it!

On April 24, Emily made the announcement on her website, explaining that she wants to team up with Safonatt Services, LLC on the dredge. Safonatt helped build the Eroica and operate a number of mining dredges, including “the largest gold mining suction dredge in the United States.” The company has access to over 3,200 acres of State of Alaska offshore mineral leases around Nome, Alaska from both the 1999 and 2011 lease auctions. “So now they need a second, much larger, dredge to work all those thousands of acres,” Emily writes. “But the leases were very expensive, so they need some help coming up with the money to build the dredge, a few years sooner than they could with just profits from the existing operation.”

Emily explains, “This new mega dredge will be 4 times larger than the Christine Rose. Like the existing prototype it will be able to work at any depth. It uses an underwater excavator, remote controlled, with an underwater washplant.”

But, Emily has to pay her way into a partnership, so to speak. “If I can raise enough money, then I can be a partner in the new operation,” she says. “So I’m turning to you, my fans, through Crowdfunding.” She explains that it would only take half of her current 29,000 Facebook fans to invest an average of $100 each. “And you get cool rewards in raw Bering Sea gold that alone is equivalent to the backing amount,” she explains, “plus other bonuses that get better and better at the higher levels.”

And she’s right! The incentives range from one pound bag of Bering Sea paydirt for a $100 investment, to 21 days on the new dredge with Emily, 200 troy ounces of raw Bering Sea placer gold, and a photo of yourself hung on one of the interior walls of the dredge for a mere $240,000. Here is a complete list along with the intro from Emily’s website:

For a limited time, we are allowing the average person sitting at home to be a part of one of the most successful offshore Nome mining operations. With your help, we will expand our operations and you can reap the rewards.

Check out these excellent rewards for our project backers

$100 One pound bag of Bering Sea paydirt, with guaranteed 1 gram of gold. Autographed photo of Emily. Only 1,000 Available.

$200 1/8 troy ounce of raw Bering Sea placer gold. Autographed photo of Emily.
Only 4,000 Available.

$350 1/4 troy ounce of raw Bering Sea placer gold. Autographed photo of Emily.
Only 4,000 Available.

$500 Five pound bag of Bering Sea paydirt, with guaranteed 5 gram of gold. Autographed photo of Emily.
Only 1,000 Available.

$650 1/2 troy ounce of raw Bering Sea placer gold. Autographed photo of Emily.
Only 4,000 Available.

[We ask that backers at the levels below contact us for instructions on how to mail a check or wire the money to us, to avoid the 3% credit card fee.]

$1200 1 troy ounce of raw Bering Sea placer gold. Autographed photo of Emily.
Only 2,000 Available.

$12,000 10 troy ounce of raw Bering Sea placer gold. Your name and photo up on the wall of the new dredge. Autographed photo of Emily.
Only 200 Available.

$60,000 50 troy ounce of raw Bering Sea placer gold. Your name and photo up on the wall inside the new dredge. Spend 5 days on the new dredge,with Emily as your guide, includes travel to/from Seattle, and 6 days food, lodging, and transportation in Nome. Autographed photo with Emily.
Only 40 Available.

$120,000 100 troy ounce of raw Bering Sea placer gold. Your name and large photo up on the wall inside the new dredge. Spend 10 days on the new dredge with Emily as your guide, includes travel to/from Seattle, and 11 days food, lodging, and transportation in Nome. Autographed photos of and with Emily.
Only 20 Available.

$240,000 200 troy ounce of raw Bering Sea placer gold. Your name and large photo up on the wall inside the new dredge. Spend 21 days on the new dredge with Emily as your guide, includes travel to/from Seattle, and 22 days food, lodging, and transportation in Nome. Autographed photos of and with Emily.
Only 10 Available.

UPDATE – I began this post a while back, and when I went to finish it up and publish it today I noticed that Emily’s website now redirects to a sign-in page requiring a password. I assume this is just a glitch of some sort, but I felt I should mention it in case you encountered the same issue. (It could be that the fund-raising campaign has been suspended. However, Emily has made no such announcement on Twitter or Facebook.)