GOLD MINERS DESCEND BELOW THE ICE ON "BERING SEA GOLD: UNDER THE ICE": NEW SERIES FROM THE CREATORS OF "DEADLIEST CATCH"

New Friday Series from Thom Beers Premieres on August 24 at 9PM ET/PT

The winters are brutal in Nome, Alaska, a frontier town in a world where few such curiosities remain. There's a new kind of gold rush going on here, and it's unlike any other. Daring gold miners set their sights on gold far beneath four feet of solid ice on the Bering Sea floor. Fierce conditions won't deter these gold-hungry men and woman, and after cutting through the ice to reach the black sea waters below, the adventure begins. Only an omnipresent fear of death and the physiological and psychological effects of cold water diving under solid ice, including hypothermia, hypoxia, hypercapnia, vertigo, and frostbite separate these miners from their fortunes. From Thom Beers' Original Productions, the creators of the Emmy(R) Award-winning DEADLIEST CATCH, comes a new five-part series, BERING SEA GOLD: UNDER THE ICE, premiering on Discovery Channel Friday, August 24, at 9 PM/ET.

The Bering Sea has high concentrations of gold that can be attributed to numerous sources, including gold rich rivers that flow into it, erosive forces that strip continental rocks of its gold and carry it to the sea, and bedrock sources that push auriferous debris up to the sea floor. However, the solid ice that covers roughly two miles of the Bering Sea during the winter months has always protected this valuable and highly sought-after precious metal. Until now. BERING SEA GOLD: UNDER THE ICE tells the stories of these real ice hole gold miners who risk it all to go beneath the ice.

"The American Dream is very much alive, though, as you can see on BERING SEA GOLD: UNDER THE ICE, people are finding it in the most unlikely and challenging places." said Nancy Daniels, Executive Vice President, Production and Development, Discovery Channel. "Cutting a hole through four feet thick ice and diving to the bottom of the Bering Sea, these modern-day gold miners show their determination and grit, and the depths they will go to earn a living."

BERING SEA GOLD: UNDER THE ICE follows three gold mining teams run by driven dredge captains whose very livelihoods depend on mining this wet and frozen gold. Split second thinking, extreme focus, and team work are key to staying alive under the ice. The risks are great, and the payoff even greater.

BERING SEA GOLD: UNDER THE ICE is produced for Discovery Channel by Original Productions, a Fremantle Media company. For Original Productions, executive producers are Thom Beers, Philip D. Segal, Jeff Conroy, John Gray, Sheila McCormack and Cameron Glendenning. For Discovery Channel, executive producer is David Pritikin with Tara Hunter.