What happened to Hiro on Yukon Gold

Gold Rush Fans Are Ecstatic To See Big Al Again In Season 13

By Brandon Shoaff/Nov. 7, 2022 12:57 pm EST

The pursuit of gold is not only a great personal motivator to brave the wilds, but it also makes for some pretty interesting reality television. The original "Gold Rush" show started in 2010 on the Discovery Channel, and due to its overwhelming popularity, several spin-off series were created, like "Gold Rush: White Water," "Gold Rush: Winter's Fortune," and "Gold Rush: Parker's Trail," to name a few. Although the locations of these series can change depending on the format of the television show, all "Gold Rush" properties deal with placer mines, which according to NPS, involve extracting gold and other precious minerals from sand or gravel.

"Yukon Gold" is a Canadian reality television series that found itself a broadcast home on the National Geographic Channel in the United States. Similarly to "Gold Rush," this show also follows people as they utilize the placer mining technique, and it was even filmed in the same location as the original "Gold Rush" — Dawson City, Yukon. Big Al McGregor is one of the stars of "Yukon Gold," and as noted by IMDb, he appears in episodes during the show's entire run, which ended in 2017. Back when "Yukon Gold" first premiered in 2013, McGregor was asked by HuffPost how long he hopes to be mining, and he replied, "At least 10 years. This is my dream. So tell me, when do you tire of a dream? Probably never." Luckily for fans of the gold mining genre, Big Al popped up in an episode of "Gold Rush," and they certainly couldn't contain their emotions.

Fans hope to see more of Yukon Gold's Big Al in future episodes of Gold Rush

A former star of the History Channel's Yukon Gold program has pled guilty to four environmental violations.

B.C. resident Ken Foy was not in territorial court Tuesday afternoon, so his lawyer Mike Reynolds entered guilty pleas on his behalf.

Three of the charges are under the Placer Mining Act.

Court documents say Foy "failed to leave areas disturbed by mining in a condition conducive to successful revegetation," and is guilty of "failing to re-slope, contour or otherwise stabilize all areas disturbed during the mining operation" and of "failing to remove everything from the site at final decommissioning."

He also pleaded guilty to one violation of the Environment Act for "did unlawfully dispose of solid waste other than at a waste disposal facility or in a container placed for the purposes of collecting solid wastes."

Four other related charges will be spoken to at Foy's sentencing on Oct. 5. 

Vehicles buried at placer mine site

Foy's legal troubles resulted from his placer operation on Moose Creek west of Dawson City from 2012-14.

The government says he was warned that he must clean up the site when he was finished there, but he did not comply with the regulations.

An agreed statement of facts filed with the court says unusable vehicles were buried at the site and a trailer, outhouse and two shacks were left behind.

Waste steel, 45 gallon drums and other garbage also remain.

Foy is no longer listed as a cast member on Yukon Gold's website, but in the past, CBC News reported that the site noted Foy's successive seasons working the "cursed Moose Creek" has "taken a financial and emotional beating" and "left him with nothing."

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