It's not often that the worlds of reality television and
environmental regulatory enforcement collide. However, recently, a
Yukon-based company became subject to an environmental prosecution
by committing an environmental offence in a reality television
episode.
Tamarack, Inc. engages in placer mining in the Dawson district
of Yukon territory. Anton Beets is one of its directors. Both Beets
and Tamarack are participants in the Discovery Channel reality
television program Gold Rush. Gold Rush depicts
the mining of gold placer deposits performed by various teams of
miners.
Following the airing of an episode in March 2015, Yukon's
office of the Chief Mining Inspector received a complaint that
during the episode, Beets had allowed a contractor hired by
Tamarack to pour gasoline approximately 1 to 1.5 gallons of into a
dredge pond and lit it on fire.
