Plot Synopsis

In this half-hour reality series, precious metal hunters Dave Varabioff and Rich Pyle travel across America, as they search for and recover gold, silver, and platinum from the most unlikely places. Whether they're buying old mining equipment to find dirt and rock residue with gold dust or scavenging old catalytic convertors for platinum, Dave and Rich are a new breed of urban treasure hunters who melt their finds to make a profit. Each 30-minute episode of MELTDOWN follows Dave and Rich as they separately embark on different metal-finding missions, including: an old building that is being gutted and rehabbed, which might contain precious metals; a robotic arm from an old auto assembly line that may contain precious metals in the old components; a former jewelry store and workshop that might have gold hidden in and under the carpeting; old rocket parts that might be made with precious metals to withstand the intense heat; a photo processing filter used to recover silver found on photo paper; broken solar panels for the silver components inside; used dental X-ray fixer solution from local dentists; old equipment from a high-school chemistry lab; spark plugs from vehicles in an auto yard; and many more items and objects that may contain trace amounts of precious metals that can be recovered, melted, and sold for profit.