1
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,074
2
00:00:19,008 --> 00:00:21,180
[Parker] Got a lot
going on right now,
3
00:00:21,215 --> 00:00:25,111
and hopefully we're
not biting off too much.
4
00:00:27,043 --> 00:00:29,525
[narrator]
Twenty-seven-year-old Parker Schnabel
5
00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:33,180
is planning something
he's never done before,
6
00:00:33,215 --> 00:00:37,146
run two mining operations
in different countries,
7
00:00:37,180 --> 00:00:41,560
one in the Yukon
and a new one in Alaska.
8
00:00:41,594 --> 00:00:42,767
[Parker] It's really dangerous
9
00:00:42,801 --> 00:00:46,422
having that big of a battle
on two different fronts.
10
00:00:46,456 --> 00:00:50,732
Getting people, getting parts
is gonna be a real challenge.
11
00:00:50,767 --> 00:00:54,698
[narrator] But before Parker
can move resources to Alaska,
12
00:00:54,732 --> 00:01:01,008
he wants his Yukon crew to strip a
mammoth 90 acres of ground at the Airstrip.
13
00:01:02,180 --> 00:01:03,870
[Parker] We have so much
ground to get through
14
00:01:03,905 --> 00:01:06,663
that just stripping
is the main issue
15
00:01:07,801 --> 00:01:09,456
with just how spread
out we're gonna be.
16
00:01:09,491 --> 00:01:11,043
Everybody's gonna
have to step up.
17
00:01:16,249 --> 00:01:18,560
[narrator] To amp up
the pressure even more,
18
00:01:18,594 --> 00:01:22,974
Parker's water license at the Airstrip runs
out at the end of this season.
19
00:01:24,318 --> 00:01:26,594
He needs to extract
all the gold,
20
00:01:26,629 --> 00:01:29,180
or it will stay in
the ground forever.
21
00:01:31,594 --> 00:01:34,767
So we're getting really close to
being done with the Keyhole Cut.
22
00:01:34,801 --> 00:01:38,043
Crew's working pretty hard to make
sure that the next one is ready.
23
00:01:38,077 --> 00:01:40,180
[Tyson]
Guys, we're almost there.
24
00:01:40,215 --> 00:01:44,422
[narrator] Five weeks into the
season, wash plant boss Tyson Lee
25
00:01:44,456 --> 00:01:50,215
has pulled out 975 ounces of
gold from the 14-acre Keyhole Cut.
26
00:01:52,870 --> 00:01:55,905
We're getting to the bitter end of
the first cut of the season here.
27
00:01:55,939 --> 00:01:57,698
I'm loading up
the last bit of pay.
28
00:01:59,318 --> 00:02:02,905
So these are the last few
truckloads, getting it up to Big Red.
29
00:02:02,939 --> 00:02:05,146
This cut is over
and done with.
30
00:02:06,180 --> 00:02:08,732
You're good.
My horn is [bleep] again.
31
00:02:10,077 --> 00:02:11,560
Hey, you're good.
You're loaded.
32
00:02:11,594 --> 00:02:14,008
[woman 1 speaking]
33
00:02:14,043 --> 00:02:16,215
[Tyson] Trucker go.
Trucker go.
34
00:02:16,249 --> 00:02:18,732
[woman 1] I feel like I'm keeping
up at the moment, which is good.
35
00:02:19,629 --> 00:02:21,249
I just hope
I don't [bleep] it up.
36
00:02:23,284 --> 00:02:24,491
[woman 2 on radio]
You're doing great.
37
00:02:25,387 --> 00:02:27,353
I think that's it.
38
00:02:31,215 --> 00:02:32,732
[woman 1 on radio]
Hey, Justin.
39
00:02:37,387 --> 00:02:38,629
[Justin] One last bucket.
40
00:02:39,698 --> 00:02:40,905
Here we go.
41
00:02:45,387 --> 00:02:47,663
All righty, guys.
Time to shut Big Red down.
42
00:02:47,698 --> 00:02:49,422
The next step is Easy Street.
43
00:02:51,215 --> 00:02:53,939
[narrator] Just upstream
from the Keyhole Cut,
44
00:02:53,974 --> 00:02:56,043
Parker's crew has
already stripped
45
00:02:56,077 --> 00:03:00,594
the 11-acre Easy Street Cut
down to pay dirt,
46
00:03:00,629 --> 00:03:04,525
ground they hope can deliver
over $1 million in gold.
47
00:03:07,939 --> 00:03:10,111
We're stripping down
here at the Airstrip.
48
00:03:10,146 --> 00:03:12,043
Everybody's asking, "Why are
we calling it Easy Street?"
49
00:03:12,077 --> 00:03:14,422
And I think it's because it's
only gonna get tougher from here.
50
00:03:16,663 --> 00:03:18,663
[narrator]
To mine out the new cut,
51
00:03:18,698 --> 00:03:23,629
Parker needs Big Red moved and
running pay dirt before night shift
52
00:03:23,663 --> 00:03:26,387
takes over in just
ten hours' time.
53
00:03:29,111 --> 00:03:30,801
[Parker] Hopefully,
we can nail these transitions,
54
00:03:30,836 --> 00:03:33,284
like we have so much
ground to get through that,
55
00:03:33,318 --> 00:03:35,629
you know, smoothly
transitioning from one pit
56
00:03:35,663 --> 00:03:38,456
to the next is going to
be a critical part of this.
57
00:03:38,491 --> 00:03:40,974
And we have
a lot of them to do.
58
00:03:41,008 --> 00:03:44,077
If we lose a couple of
days per plant move,
59
00:03:44,111 --> 00:03:47,111
it's going to throw a wrench
in the works for the whole season.
60
00:03:47,146 --> 00:03:51,836
This is going to be on Tyson getting
Big Red moved from the setup it's in to...
61
00:03:51,870 --> 00:03:55,939
to the next one because he needs
to get comfortable doing it on his own
62
00:03:55,974 --> 00:03:58,456
because Mitch is dealing
with the stripping crew.
63
00:03:58,491 --> 00:04:02,077
[Mitch] Right now it's just
Tyson over there on his own
64
00:04:02,111 --> 00:04:06,180
and, you know, we're relying on him
to be able to keep that plant going.
65
00:04:07,974 --> 00:04:10,353
So we're all done with
Big Red here at this setup.
66
00:04:10,387 --> 00:04:13,008
We're ready to get back sluicing
with the wash plant in the cut.
67
00:04:13,043 --> 00:04:15,801
Trying to do this myself.
So wish me luck.
68
00:04:19,836 --> 00:04:22,456
This is the first time
I've set Big Red up by myself.
69
00:04:22,491 --> 00:04:25,974
So we just want to be careful
not to flip the thing over
70
00:04:27,387 --> 00:04:30,043
so it's pretty well-concreted
into the ground.
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00:04:32,111 --> 00:04:33,387
Stand back.
72
00:04:39,629 --> 00:04:40,905
Yee-haw!
73
00:04:53,456 --> 00:04:56,077
[Tyson] So this is probably the
sketchiest part of the whole pole.
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00:04:56,111 --> 00:04:58,560
There's a narrow culvert
crossing in the road
75
00:04:58,594 --> 00:05:01,767
and Big Red flips over,
that's game over.
76
00:05:01,801 --> 00:05:03,284
It's looking pretty tight.
77
00:05:04,905 --> 00:05:07,836
Don't know if we're
gonna make or [bleep].
78
00:05:11,525 --> 00:05:13,008
[bleep], that was tight.
79
00:05:20,077 --> 00:05:23,905
[narrator] The last step,
drag the plant up a steep ramp
80
00:05:23,939 --> 00:05:26,215
to the top
of the 30-foot high pad.
81
00:05:33,663 --> 00:05:34,974
[James] It's all fluff.
82
00:05:36,905 --> 00:05:38,284
The plant's dug in.
83
00:05:38,318 --> 00:05:42,111
When you're building a wash
plant pad, you need compaction.
84
00:05:42,146 --> 00:05:44,215
That's what we're fighting
against right now.
85
00:05:48,353 --> 00:05:50,284
The plant's not level.
86
00:05:50,318 --> 00:05:53,732
We have to level the plant
before everything else is built around it.
87
00:05:56,732 --> 00:05:58,594
I just need to,
like, unbury it now.
88
00:06:00,456 --> 00:06:03,284
I mean, the plant will do
its thing and it'll probably settle,
89
00:06:03,318 --> 00:06:05,905
but it's more of the sluice
runs with the river flowing off
90
00:06:05,939 --> 00:06:07,629
that I'm concerned about.
91
00:06:07,663 --> 00:06:11,560
[narrator] Tyson now has just
six hours to get the sluices,
92
00:06:11,594 --> 00:06:15,422
pump and generator ready to
fire up for the night shift.
93
00:06:19,215 --> 00:06:20,594
[Parker] How's things looking?
94
00:06:20,629 --> 00:06:22,939
When are you firing up, tonight?
95
00:06:22,974 --> 00:06:24,077
Hopefully.
96
00:06:24,111 --> 00:06:25,698
I was hoping to just
get it prepped behind--
97
00:06:25,732 --> 00:06:27,629
I don't give a [bleep]
how you do it.
98
00:06:27,663 --> 00:06:29,594
I just don't want
to worry about it.
99
00:06:29,629 --> 00:06:31,146
I'm worried about stripping.
100
00:06:31,180 --> 00:06:32,836
That's why I haven't
[bleep] been here.
101
00:06:32,870 --> 00:06:34,422
No, it's all good.
102
00:06:34,456 --> 00:06:35,663
You don't have
to worry about it.
103
00:06:35,698 --> 00:06:36,974
- Thanks, man.
- [Tyson] Thanks.
104
00:06:40,043 --> 00:06:42,180
We're dealing with
an uncompacted pad,
105
00:06:42,215 --> 00:06:44,594
so we're gonna need
good water distribution,
106
00:06:44,629 --> 00:06:46,905
and that involves
having a chute.
107
00:06:46,939 --> 00:06:50,491
[narrator] Two years ago when
Tyson set up a wash plant...
108
00:06:50,525 --> 00:06:52,767
[Parker] Where's all
this water coming from?
109
00:06:52,801 --> 00:06:55,870
[narrator] ...water from the
sluices undermined the pad...
110
00:06:56,870 --> 00:06:58,594
[Parker] Holy crap!
111
00:06:58,629 --> 00:07:00,732
[narrator] ...and nearly
toppled the wash plant.
112
00:07:00,767 --> 00:07:03,767
- [Tyson] Holy [bleep].
- [Parker] Tyson!
113
00:07:03,801 --> 00:07:07,353
[narrator] This time he plans
to divert the water runoff
114
00:07:07,387 --> 00:07:10,387
with a 35-foot
long steel chute.
115
00:07:10,422 --> 00:07:12,180
[Tyson]
We gotta get this trough
116
00:07:12,215 --> 00:07:13,870
and we gotta get it back up
to Big Red
117
00:07:13,905 --> 00:07:16,456
because there's still hope
of Big Red running tonight.
118
00:07:16,491 --> 00:07:18,870
Any day we're not
sluicing means another day
119
00:07:18,905 --> 00:07:21,698
we have to sluice into
October, November.
120
00:07:21,732 --> 00:07:26,974
[narrator] It's a four-mile journey downstream
to where they last used it.
121
00:07:27,008 --> 00:07:29,525
Parker is really counting on me
to get Big Red up and going,
122
00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:32,387
so I'm gonna do my best to have
it running by the end of the day.
123
00:07:33,629 --> 00:07:34,767
[Tyson] What the [bleep].
124
00:07:35,836 --> 00:07:37,629
[bleep].
[bleep] you.
125
00:07:40,629 --> 00:07:42,939
This is the last thing
I wanted to see right now.
126
00:07:42,974 --> 00:07:45,422
Our road's washed
completely out.
127
00:07:45,456 --> 00:07:47,180
I'm gonna have
to pack material in
128
00:07:47,215 --> 00:07:49,180
and get that water
going through that culvert.
129
00:07:49,215 --> 00:07:51,870
It must have just been
roaring through here.
130
00:07:51,905 --> 00:07:55,801
Move your bum.
Go on.
131
00:07:55,836 --> 00:07:59,905
Last year we had this happen and man
it took six, seven different pieces of equipment
132
00:07:59,939 --> 00:08:03,353
and people and damn near a
whole day to rebuild this road.
133
00:08:03,387 --> 00:08:05,146
And that's time I don't have.
134
00:08:23,284 --> 00:08:25,456
[Fred]
I could be in serious trouble.
135
00:08:25,491 --> 00:08:29,456
I've got fuel bills coming in
and I only have so much money.
136
00:08:29,491 --> 00:08:32,008
So once that money runs out,
137
00:08:32,043 --> 00:08:35,353
if we don't have gold
coming in, well, we're screwed.
138
00:08:35,387 --> 00:08:37,146
I mean, our house
is up for grabs on this.
139
00:08:37,180 --> 00:08:38,974
We're walking
a tightrope right now.
140
00:08:40,146 --> 00:08:42,732
[narrator] Forty-six miles
west of Dawson,
141
00:08:42,767 --> 00:08:45,974
in the wilderness
of California Creek,
142
00:08:46,008 --> 00:08:51,836
combat veteran Fred Lewis is
chasing a record 500-ounce season gold.
143
00:08:51,870 --> 00:08:57,146
But five weeks in, he's still
not mined a single ounce.
144
00:08:57,180 --> 00:08:58,939
[Fred] We're just trying
to get the mindset running
145
00:08:58,974 --> 00:09:01,146
so money can start coming
in instead of going out.
146
00:09:02,284 --> 00:09:03,353
We just got to keep pushing
147
00:09:03,387 --> 00:09:05,594
and get to where we need
to be to start sluicing.
148
00:09:05,629 --> 00:09:09,767
[narrator] The long, harsh winter
has dealt Fred a crippling blow.
149
00:09:11,767 --> 00:09:16,353
A quarter-mile-long ice sheet
still stands between him
150
00:09:16,387 --> 00:09:18,663
and his gold-rich pay dirt.
151
00:09:18,698 --> 00:09:21,180
[Fred] This ice is really
[bleep] everything.
152
00:09:21,215 --> 00:09:24,249
We're trying to uncover as much as
we can and get this mine site moving.
153
00:09:26,974 --> 00:09:32,836
[narrator] Last week, Fred resurrected
an ancient 90-yard-an-hour wash plant.
154
00:09:32,870 --> 00:09:34,111
[man 1] There it is.
155
00:09:36,215 --> 00:09:40,905
[narrator] But it's useless until
Fred can dig down to pay.
156
00:09:40,939 --> 00:09:45,525
And so far, his attempts
to melt the ice have failed.
157
00:09:47,180 --> 00:09:50,353
[Stuart] We are so far behind
schedule at this moment in time,
158
00:09:50,387 --> 00:09:52,560
you know, that we don't
have any time to wait.
159
00:09:52,594 --> 00:09:56,353
So we have to take action
and take control of the creek.
160
00:09:58,180 --> 00:10:00,836
[Buzz] Hey, Fred, man.
What's going on?
161
00:10:00,870 --> 00:10:03,905
- Well, this ice has got to go, man.
- Yeah.
162
00:10:03,939 --> 00:10:06,008
We don't have any
other way to do it, I think.
163
00:10:06,043 --> 00:10:07,629
But to go up there and, uh...
164
00:10:07,663 --> 00:10:10,525
and try and make the creek
go back where it belongs somehow,
165
00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:13,180
and that should facilitate melting
the ice on the right side.
166
00:10:13,215 --> 00:10:16,939
If we can't do that, we really don't
have anything else to get it to go.
167
00:10:16,974 --> 00:10:19,560
- I feel like you've got the skill to do this.
- Yeah.
168
00:10:19,594 --> 00:10:23,111
I think my best bet is for me
to walk along the berm,
169
00:10:23,146 --> 00:10:26,387
as you're going up there
and just spot it for you.
170
00:10:26,422 --> 00:10:29,353
- All we can do is try, right?
- We can't sit here and wait.
171
00:10:29,387 --> 00:10:32,318
We got to try.
Let's pound some of that ice out.
172
00:10:32,353 --> 00:10:35,629
- Okay. Let's do it.
- You got me on the radio?
173
00:10:35,663 --> 00:10:38,077
- [Buzz] Yes, I do.
All right - All right, I'll be on the bank.
174
00:10:41,905 --> 00:10:46,077
[narrator] Fred's plan,
create a 20-foot-long ice dam
175
00:10:46,111 --> 00:10:51,836
across the narrowest point
of the creek to divert water
176
00:10:51,870 --> 00:10:56,249
onto the ice sheet to
help melt the snow and ice
177
00:10:56,284 --> 00:11:00,215
covering the gold-rich pay dirt
left over from last season.
178
00:11:04,836 --> 00:11:07,767
[Fred] So we got to try.
It's worth the risk.
179
00:11:07,801 --> 00:11:10,629
Hey, Buzz, this is probably
the fastest running water
180
00:11:10,663 --> 00:11:13,836
- at this, uh, choke point.
- Yeah.
181
00:11:15,836 --> 00:11:17,043
[Fred]
It's just a little bit risky.
182
00:11:17,077 --> 00:11:20,353
If we, if we sink this 220,
we're freaking done.
183
00:11:20,387 --> 00:11:25,284
Let's take our time and make
sure nothing bad happens to it, right?
184
00:11:28,077 --> 00:11:30,008
[Fred] All right.
Your tracks are about...
185
00:11:31,353 --> 00:11:33,491
Oh, man, you're almost
submerged completely.
186
00:11:34,767 --> 00:11:36,318
It's not pushing you at all,
is it?
187
00:11:38,215 --> 00:11:40,249
[Buzz] Take this
corner a little bit.
188
00:11:46,698 --> 00:11:48,870
[Fred] Hey, Buzz,
that ice is awful beautiful,
189
00:11:48,905 --> 00:11:51,008
but we're gonna
have to kill it.
190
00:11:51,043 --> 00:11:52,698
Sounds like a good plan, man.
191
00:11:57,767 --> 00:12:02,732
[Fred] Oh! Wow!
192
00:12:02,767 --> 00:12:06,663
That's like 20,000 pounds
of ice you just broke.
193
00:12:06,698 --> 00:12:10,525
Yeah!
Come on now, it's massive.
194
00:12:16,111 --> 00:12:17,456
Whoo!
195
00:12:22,077 --> 00:12:23,905
Oh, yeah. There we go.
196
00:12:23,939 --> 00:12:26,249
You've got a little bit
of ice that's holding.
197
00:12:26,284 --> 00:12:30,422
Doesn't look that way.
Fingers crossed it works.
198
00:12:30,456 --> 00:12:32,353
[Buzz] We need
to make an ice jam.
199
00:12:35,318 --> 00:12:36,525
[Fred] There we go.
200
00:12:37,698 --> 00:12:38,939
[Buzz] That's a lot of weight.
201
00:12:42,801 --> 00:12:44,456
[Fred] Wow.
202
00:12:44,491 --> 00:12:46,215
I got a pretty
good ice jam here.
203
00:12:48,008 --> 00:12:50,353
[Fred] You know, you're actually getting
close to the top of that ice.
204
00:12:50,387 --> 00:12:51,629
If you can get it
over the top,
205
00:12:51,663 --> 00:12:53,767
that would actually
melt it really well.
206
00:12:53,801 --> 00:12:55,215
[Buzz speaking]
207
00:12:56,422 --> 00:12:58,215
- [Fred] Just be really careful.
- [Buzz] Mm-hmm.
208
00:13:01,318 --> 00:13:03,318
[Fred] Oh.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
209
00:13:05,801 --> 00:13:07,146
[bleep].
210
00:13:12,525 --> 00:13:13,974
[Fred] There we go.
211
00:13:14,008 --> 00:13:16,215
[narrator]
At California Creek...
212
00:13:16,249 --> 00:13:18,422
I got a pretty
good ice jam here.
213
00:13:18,456 --> 00:13:21,249
[narrator] ...Fred Lewis
is battling an ice sheet
214
00:13:21,284 --> 00:13:23,249
that's stopping him
from mining.
215
00:13:23,284 --> 00:13:26,767
[Fred] Just be really careful.
Oh. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
216
00:13:29,422 --> 00:13:30,801
[bleep].
217
00:13:33,629 --> 00:13:35,663
So there goes the ice dam.
218
00:13:35,698 --> 00:13:37,043
[Buzz] That's not feasible.
219
00:13:37,077 --> 00:13:40,215
We're gonna have to figure
something else out because...
220
00:13:43,318 --> 00:13:46,732
this is definitely
not going to work.
221
00:13:46,767 --> 00:13:49,249
[bleep], dude.
We don't have a backup plan.
222
00:13:49,284 --> 00:13:50,663
That means we got nothing.
223
00:13:50,698 --> 00:13:51,939
Is that what
you're telling me?
224
00:13:53,284 --> 00:13:54,767
Right at this point in time.
225
00:13:57,594 --> 00:13:59,215
[Fred speaking]
226
00:14:03,870 --> 00:14:06,387
[narrator]
If the cold spring continues,
227
00:14:06,422 --> 00:14:08,939
the ice may never fully melt.
228
00:14:08,974 --> 00:14:12,560
Destroying Fred's dream
of a successful season.
229
00:14:14,767 --> 00:14:16,387
[Stuart] Hey, man.
230
00:14:16,422 --> 00:14:18,284
[Fred] I don't have anything
else to throw at this.
231
00:14:18,318 --> 00:14:21,077
[Stuart] I know.
Sorry. Well, but it's one of those things.
232
00:14:21,111 --> 00:14:23,077
We're not gonna go home,
we're not gonna quit.
233
00:14:23,111 --> 00:14:24,422
[Fred] I'm gonna
run out of money.
234
00:14:25,767 --> 00:14:27,732
It's a possibility,
but it's also a possibility
235
00:14:27,767 --> 00:14:31,353
that we're gonna hit the
motherlode and walk out here, [bleep],
236
00:14:31,387 --> 00:14:33,525
be able to go back and buy Bentleys.
You know what I'm thinking?
237
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:35,215
[Fred] And usually that
is all I'm thinking about.
238
00:14:35,249 --> 00:14:38,594
But lately it just seems like,
just some puppet...
239
00:14:38,629 --> 00:14:41,525
puppeteer pulling my strings
and making [bleep] go wrong.
240
00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:42,801
And it's like,
how much can you take?
241
00:14:42,836 --> 00:14:43,905
How much can you take?
242
00:14:43,939 --> 00:14:45,491
And I just want to
cut the [bleep] string.
243
00:14:45,525 --> 00:14:47,663
Yeah. I'm just
at the end of my rope, man.
244
00:15:01,111 --> 00:15:03,905
[Tony speaking]
245
00:15:09,629 --> 00:15:11,974
[narrator] King of
the Klondike, Tony Beets,
246
00:15:12,008 --> 00:15:14,732
is digging deeper
than ever before,
247
00:15:14,767 --> 00:15:18,249
opening up two monster
cuts in the hunt
248
00:15:18,284 --> 00:15:23,146
for Paradise Hill's gold-rich
White Channel pay streak.
249
00:15:23,180 --> 00:15:26,663
[Tony speaking]
250
00:15:35,801 --> 00:15:37,318
[narrator]
But after five weeks
251
00:15:37,353 --> 00:15:40,456
fighting deep frozen
ground in both cuts,
252
00:15:40,491 --> 00:15:44,180
Tony's banked less
than 500 ounces,
253
00:15:44,215 --> 00:15:47,836
way short of the 200 ounces
a week he needs.
254
00:15:49,353 --> 00:15:51,801
[Mike] I'm gonna be ripping in here
for a good chunk of the day,
255
00:15:51,836 --> 00:15:53,732
probably a good
chunk of tomorrow,
256
00:15:53,767 --> 00:15:56,836
because it's frozen pay
is just pain in the ass.
257
00:15:56,870 --> 00:15:59,146
[narrator] Tony's charged
youngest son, Mike,
258
00:15:59,180 --> 00:16:02,560
with managing the cuts
and bringing in the gold.
259
00:16:02,594 --> 00:16:05,353
[Tony speaking]
260
00:16:17,077 --> 00:16:19,801
[narrator] Mike has already
opened up nearly two-thirds
261
00:16:19,836 --> 00:16:25,905
of the nine-acre Cold Cut where he
faces a 60-foot deep frozen pay lay.
262
00:16:28,422 --> 00:16:33,180
Now in the six-acre Blue Cut,
he's ripping permafrost
263
00:16:33,215 --> 00:16:37,180
with a D11 dozer to
expose it to sunlight.
264
00:16:37,215 --> 00:16:42,629
If it doesn't defrost in time, the
stockpile of thawed pay dirt will run out,
265
00:16:42,663 --> 00:16:44,663
forcing them to shut down.
266
00:16:46,422 --> 00:16:47,974
[Mike]
Getting this all ripped up.
267
00:16:48,008 --> 00:16:52,180
Let's hope it all thaws out and we
have a lot of pay ready to sluice then.
268
00:16:54,422 --> 00:16:55,594
[narrator]
The only other machine
269
00:16:55,629 --> 00:16:57,905
in Tony's arsenal
powerful enough
270
00:16:57,939 --> 00:17:05,146
to dig through frozen pay,
the $1.1 million 950 excavator.
271
00:17:05,180 --> 00:17:07,974
With the 950 being one
of the biggest earth movers
272
00:17:08,008 --> 00:17:10,629
and the biggest
one Tony has, it's...
273
00:17:10,663 --> 00:17:13,215
it definitely
is a lot of pressure.
274
00:17:13,249 --> 00:17:15,560
And I don't want to break it
or break something with it
275
00:17:15,594 --> 00:17:19,043
because it'd be
a lot of downtime.
276
00:17:19,077 --> 00:17:23,077
[narrator] Mike's tasked James
Rhyno, a Beet's crew veteran,
277
00:17:23,111 --> 00:17:26,801
with digging out the pay dirt
to thaw at the pay pile.
278
00:17:26,836 --> 00:17:29,146
It's pretty frosty in
here this morning.
279
00:17:29,180 --> 00:17:32,284
Um, a lot of frozen
ground in here.
280
00:17:35,732 --> 00:17:37,491
Driving me [bleep] crazy.
281
00:17:39,146 --> 00:17:40,594
It'd be nice
to get a full bucket.
282
00:17:45,836 --> 00:17:47,629
[bleep], this ground is hard.
283
00:17:51,836 --> 00:17:54,629
Holy. Hey, Tony. You copy?
284
00:17:56,043 --> 00:17:57,836
[Tony speaking]
285
00:17:57,870 --> 00:17:59,767
Yeah.
This ground is really hard.
286
00:17:59,801 --> 00:18:02,180
Um, can we come up
with another plan?
287
00:18:02,215 --> 00:18:05,767
[Tony speaking]
288
00:18:05,801 --> 00:18:06,939
Okay.
289
00:18:09,180 --> 00:18:12,525
[Tony speaking]
290
00:18:21,318 --> 00:18:25,974
[narrator] Tony's plan,
remove the 950's 28-foot boom
291
00:18:26,008 --> 00:18:28,870
and replace it with
a 24-foot boom.
292
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:35,663
The shorter arm will generate
more force and concentrate digging power.
293
00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:39,525
We already took the stick
and bucket off.
294
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:41,456
Now we're gonna pull
the main boom pin out.
295
00:18:41,491 --> 00:18:46,146
[narrator] In charge of
the swap, mechanic, Sam Aftanas.
296
00:18:46,180 --> 00:18:48,111
[Sam]
[bleep] sakes. In the pin
297
00:18:48,146 --> 00:18:51,180
stock in here
it's just being up [bleep].
298
00:18:55,456 --> 00:18:56,974
[Tony speaking]
299
00:18:57,008 --> 00:19:01,146
[Sam] So I foresee pulling that pin out
is going to be a pain in the ass.
300
00:19:01,180 --> 00:19:02,629
[Tony speaking]
301
00:19:02,663 --> 00:19:04,629
[Sam] Me.
302
00:19:04,663 --> 00:19:05,698
[Tony speaking]
303
00:19:05,732 --> 00:19:06,801
[James] Yeah.
304
00:19:06,836 --> 00:19:08,905
[Tony speaking]
305
00:19:12,111 --> 00:19:13,180
[James] Run around them?
306
00:19:13,215 --> 00:19:14,801
[Tony speaking]
307
00:19:21,870 --> 00:19:23,801
[James] It's not going to work
with the slip hook, is it?
308
00:19:23,836 --> 00:19:27,146
[Tony speaking]
309
00:19:33,215 --> 00:19:37,422
[James] Fifty-four and a half.
And that is five.
310
00:19:37,456 --> 00:19:39,905
[Sam] I'm hoping that
pin doesn't jump out of there
311
00:19:39,939 --> 00:19:41,008
Frig.
312
00:19:41,043 --> 00:19:43,870
[Tony speaking]
313
00:19:43,905 --> 00:19:45,249
[Sam] Okay.
314
00:19:45,284 --> 00:19:46,732
[Tony speaking]
315
00:19:49,939 --> 00:19:51,353
[Sam] Oh.
316
00:20:00,146 --> 00:20:01,594
[bleep], that's sweet.
317
00:20:01,629 --> 00:20:03,525
[Tony speaking]
318
00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:04,698
[Sam] Yeah, I do.
319
00:20:04,732 --> 00:20:05,905
[Tony speaking]
320
00:20:05,939 --> 00:20:06,974
[Sam] Yeah.
321
00:20:07,008 --> 00:20:09,215
[Tony speaking]
322
00:20:16,732 --> 00:20:20,043
[Tony speaking]
323
00:20:34,594 --> 00:20:37,111
[Tony speaking]
324
00:20:37,146 --> 00:20:38,215
Whoa.
325
00:20:38,249 --> 00:20:39,732
[Sam]
Put some good pressure on it.
326
00:20:41,353 --> 00:20:45,870
[Tony speaking]
327
00:20:50,215 --> 00:20:54,077
[Tony speaking]
328
00:21:09,077 --> 00:21:10,767
[Sam] Okay. Yeah.
329
00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:17,456
[Tony speaking]
330
00:21:19,215 --> 00:21:21,422
[Sam]
Takes over when it's easy.
331
00:21:24,698 --> 00:21:26,594
All right,
we're in the other side.
332
00:21:26,629 --> 00:21:28,491
[Tony speaking]
333
00:21:28,525 --> 00:21:30,318
- [James] That went really well.
- [Sam] [bleep] yeah.
334
00:21:30,353 --> 00:21:31,456
[Tony speaking]
335
00:21:31,491 --> 00:21:32,594
[James] That was pretty slick.
336
00:21:32,629 --> 00:21:34,767
Good job. Whoo!
337
00:21:36,594 --> 00:21:41,146
[Tony speaking]
338
00:21:47,180 --> 00:21:50,180
I was just explaining to the boys if
they ever wonder why I like working with you.
339
00:21:50,215 --> 00:21:51,732
He might be
a gruff old [bleep],
340
00:21:51,767 --> 00:21:53,353
but [bleep] he knows
what he's doing.
341
00:21:53,387 --> 00:21:54,629
[Sam] Yeah.
342
00:21:54,663 --> 00:21:57,043
[Tony speaking]
343
00:21:57,077 --> 00:21:58,456
[Mike] Oh, [bleep] yeah.
344
00:21:58,491 --> 00:22:00,318
Should be able to start getting
full [bleep] buckets for a while.
345
00:22:00,353 --> 00:22:02,905
[Tony speaking]
346
00:22:02,939 --> 00:22:05,560
[narrator] With the 950 back
in the Blue Cut...
347
00:22:05,594 --> 00:22:08,732
[James] My old girl, I gotta
get her back in the dirt.
348
00:22:08,767 --> 00:22:11,180
[narrator] ...it should
tear through the concrete,
349
00:22:11,215 --> 00:22:15,594
hard frozen ground and keep the
trommel fed with thawed pay dirt.
350
00:22:24,043 --> 00:22:25,146
Holy [bleep].
351
00:22:25,180 --> 00:22:27,698
It does do a lot better
than that long boom.
352
00:22:27,732 --> 00:22:29,594
Just tears through that frost.
353
00:22:33,767 --> 00:22:36,456
Nice, full scoops.
354
00:22:36,491 --> 00:22:39,249
It actually picks the bucket up.
That is a nice change.
355
00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:42,353
It's gonna be a little bit
different getting used
356
00:22:42,387 --> 00:22:43,698
to having trucks
closer to you,
357
00:22:43,732 --> 00:22:45,353
'cause you're gonna
have to keep them nice
358
00:22:45,387 --> 00:22:46,698
and tight to
be able to reach them.
359
00:22:46,732 --> 00:22:49,387
But I like the way it digs.
360
00:22:49,422 --> 00:22:52,215
We're gonna have a lot better
time keeping up with trucks
361
00:22:52,249 --> 00:22:54,318
and moving a lot
more dirt with this thing.
362
00:23:09,491 --> 00:23:13,939
I'm getting a bit stressed out
because we're so spread out.
363
00:23:13,974 --> 00:23:17,111
- [Mitch on radio] Yeah.
- And this is so much to do.
364
00:23:17,146 --> 00:23:20,491
[narrator] At the Airstrip,
Parker is racing to mine out
365
00:23:20,525 --> 00:23:24,422
90 acres of ground
in just one season.
366
00:23:24,456 --> 00:23:26,387
With this water license expiring
367
00:23:26,422 --> 00:23:27,767
and so much
ground to get through,
368
00:23:27,801 --> 00:23:29,801
we're having to
really just plow hard
369
00:23:29,836 --> 00:23:33,215
into getting everything
as opened up as we can.
370
00:23:33,249 --> 00:23:35,836
You know, we don't have another
season after this with the water license,
371
00:23:35,870 --> 00:23:37,767
so everything
has to be sluiced.
372
00:23:37,801 --> 00:23:41,560
[narrator] Parker has nearly all
his crew focused on stripping,
373
00:23:41,594 --> 00:23:45,698
leaving plant boss Tyson Lee
on his own to get Big Red
374
00:23:45,732 --> 00:23:49,870
running before night shift takes
over in three hours' time.
375
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,146
You know, we're just so
strung out on guys this year
376
00:23:54,180 --> 00:23:59,318
that no one's had time to come
down here and see how the roads are.
377
00:23:59,353 --> 00:24:04,215
[narrator] He needs to collect a metal
chute to shore up Big Red's pad,
378
00:24:04,249 --> 00:24:08,456
but a blown-out road has now
put him behind the eight ball.
379
00:24:08,491 --> 00:24:10,318
[Tyson] If these roads
weren't washed out,
380
00:24:10,353 --> 00:24:12,215
Big Red would be
running right now.
381
00:24:13,284 --> 00:24:15,387
This is the last scoop here.
382
00:24:15,422 --> 00:24:17,870
Is the quick bush fix good
enough to get our chute?
383
00:24:17,905 --> 00:24:20,974
And hopefully, I'll come back in
time and the road's still here.
384
00:24:23,836 --> 00:24:26,663
And here we are,
finally at our chute.
385
00:24:26,698 --> 00:24:29,318
This thing looks like something
you'd find in a scrapyard,
386
00:24:29,353 --> 00:24:33,767
but it definitely makes
everything go that much smoother.
387
00:24:36,146 --> 00:24:40,905
Found our chute, and we
just gotta get it upstream.
388
00:24:40,939 --> 00:24:42,387
Let's go.
389
00:24:46,491 --> 00:24:47,767
This chute's pretty wide.
390
00:24:47,801 --> 00:24:50,801
It's got to be damn
near 35 feet long.
391
00:24:50,836 --> 00:24:54,939
So just having to dodge
my way around trees and hills
392
00:24:56,249 --> 00:24:57,525
and don't want to
catch it on an edge
393
00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:59,215
and have it fall out
of the bucket.
394
00:24:59,249 --> 00:25:01,629
I am going very
slowly through this.
395
00:25:03,146 --> 00:25:04,353
Oh...
396
00:25:05,353 --> 00:25:06,870
[bleep].
397
00:25:11,353 --> 00:25:16,180
Here we are, at Big Red, last piece
of the puzzle can be put in place.
398
00:25:27,456 --> 00:25:29,698
We just got to get
this bank armored up.
399
00:25:29,732 --> 00:25:32,732
There is two metric
[bleep] tons of water
400
00:25:32,767 --> 00:25:34,974
going to be flowing
over these sluice runs,
401
00:25:35,008 --> 00:25:37,180
and it's metric [bleep] ton.
402
00:25:37,215 --> 00:25:40,215
It is a scientific term
in the Redneck Book of Math.
403
00:25:45,870 --> 00:25:48,043
Hey, you know,
Big Red's all set to go.
404
00:25:51,215 --> 00:25:53,215
First scoop of Easy Street
going in.
405
00:25:53,249 --> 00:25:55,663
[Justin on radio] All right, boy.
Show time. Let's go.
406
00:25:55,698 --> 00:25:57,318
Let's do it.
407
00:26:10,698 --> 00:26:14,249
You know, I'm really happy I can find
the diverter trough and get it up here,
408
00:26:14,284 --> 00:26:17,387
because as you can tell, it's
really saving our ass right now.
409
00:26:36,318 --> 00:26:39,353
I just came down here to take a
look at Big Red and see how she's running.
410
00:26:49,870 --> 00:26:51,939
I see Mitch is up here
doing his rounds,
411
00:26:51,974 --> 00:26:54,767
so I want to see
what he thinks of my setup.
412
00:26:56,077 --> 00:26:58,180
- What's happening?
- [Tyson] How's it going?
413
00:27:01,870 --> 00:27:03,180
It's looking really good.
414
00:27:05,043 --> 00:27:07,698
- [Tyson] How's our bank doing?
- The bank's holding up nice.
415
00:27:07,732 --> 00:27:10,629
- Looks good. Good job, man.
- Thanks, Mitch.
416
00:27:10,663 --> 00:27:13,491
[narrator]
Big Red is back on the gold.
417
00:27:13,525 --> 00:27:18,043
The race is on to mine out
the Airstrip before the end of the season.
418
00:27:26,801 --> 00:27:29,698
[Tony speaking]
419
00:27:35,663 --> 00:27:39,111
[narrator] Tony's running 300 yards
an hour of white channel
420
00:27:39,146 --> 00:27:41,215
pay dirt through his trommel.
421
00:27:41,249 --> 00:27:42,801
To keep it fed.
422
00:27:42,836 --> 00:27:47,974
It needs a constant flow of thawed
pay dirt from the two monster cuts.
423
00:27:48,008 --> 00:27:50,180
[Mike] We're running out of
good thawed pay right now.
424
00:27:51,594 --> 00:27:54,111
It's this damn dozer [bleep]
loading trucks like crazy, man.
425
00:27:54,146 --> 00:27:55,698
They're tearing up that dirt.
426
00:27:58,456 --> 00:28:01,801
[narrator] In the Cold Cut,
Ruby Mahoney is taking her
427
00:28:01,836 --> 00:28:04,146
first turn
in the 950 excavator...
428
00:28:05,318 --> 00:28:06,732
A lot shorter eh?
429
00:28:06,767 --> 00:28:08,318
It's so weird!
430
00:28:08,353 --> 00:28:09,974
[narrator]
...with its new short boom.
431
00:28:11,180 --> 00:28:14,767
[Ruby] We have
a new boom from the 950.
432
00:28:14,801 --> 00:28:18,077
It's about five feet shorter
than the one we had before.
433
00:28:18,111 --> 00:28:20,284
And it'll be a little bit
more faster
434
00:28:20,318 --> 00:28:23,180
and a little bit more
powerful what it should be.
435
00:28:28,974 --> 00:28:32,146
I don't mind driving rock
truck every once in a while.
436
00:28:32,180 --> 00:28:35,180
[narrator] Tony's nephew,
known as Cousin Mike,
437
00:28:35,215 --> 00:28:39,974
is in a relationship with
Ruby, who's loading his rock truck.
438
00:28:40,008 --> 00:28:42,043
When I do it for too long,
it gets boring,
439
00:28:42,077 --> 00:28:45,422
but I get to work with Ruby,
which is nice.
440
00:28:45,456 --> 00:28:49,422
Sometimes, you just want to
hang out with your girlfriend.
441
00:28:49,456 --> 00:28:54,525
[Ruby] It definitely helps that
I have somebody to go home
442
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:56,249
to at the end of the day
443
00:28:56,284 --> 00:29:01,284
that understands everything that we
go through throughout the day.
444
00:29:02,663 --> 00:29:05,870
So I came to the Yukon,
to mine for gold,
445
00:29:05,905 --> 00:29:08,663
and, um, I ended up
finding a diamond.
446
00:29:11,939 --> 00:29:16,801
[Michael on radio] So, Ruby, you
have to drive forward a little bit.
447
00:29:16,836 --> 00:29:19,043
[Ruby] What are we trying
to accomplish here, babe?
448
00:29:20,146 --> 00:29:22,043
[Michael on radio]
Sorry. What was that?
449
00:29:23,318 --> 00:29:25,318
Oh, [bleep]. What was that?
450
00:29:25,353 --> 00:29:27,422
[Ruby] What the [bleep].
451
00:29:33,008 --> 00:29:34,663
Are you okay?
452
00:29:34,698 --> 00:29:37,629
[Ruby] I'm fine.
I just [bleep] clipped the corner of your [bleep] truck, though.
453
00:29:37,663 --> 00:29:39,387
[Michael] Oh [bleep].
454
00:29:39,422 --> 00:29:40,870
It doesn't look good.
455
00:29:51,077 --> 00:29:53,836
[Ruby] What are we trying
to accomplish here babe?
456
00:29:53,870 --> 00:29:55,594
[Michael] Sorry.
What was that?
457
00:29:55,629 --> 00:29:56,905
[machine crashing]
458
00:29:56,939 --> 00:29:59,111
Oh [bleep]. What was that?
459
00:29:59,146 --> 00:30:00,870
[Ruby] What the [bleep]?
460
00:30:03,249 --> 00:30:06,146
[narrator] Battling
to dig up frozen pay.
461
00:30:06,180 --> 00:30:11,353
Ruby has crashed Tony Beets
950 excavator into a rock truck.
462
00:30:13,456 --> 00:30:15,353
[Ruby] Kevin, do you copy?
Kevin?
463
00:30:15,387 --> 00:30:17,525
[Kevin] Yes, Ruby.
Can I help you?
464
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:19,732
[Ruby] I [bleep].
465
00:30:19,767 --> 00:30:24,043
The end of my excavator clipped
the corner of the rock truck,
466
00:30:24,077 --> 00:30:27,146
and unfortunately, I bent[bleep]
out of the door,
467
00:30:27,180 --> 00:30:29,974
and I feel absolutely horrible
about it.
468
00:30:39,905 --> 00:30:41,215
[Kevin] No.
469
00:30:43,353 --> 00:30:45,525
So yeah she
kind of [bleep].
470
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,077
[narrator]
Back at the wash plant.
471
00:30:47,111 --> 00:30:49,732
The stockpile
is shrinking fast.
472
00:30:49,767 --> 00:30:53,111
If Kevin can't get
the 950 back in action,
473
00:30:53,146 --> 00:30:58,353
Tony could be forced to
shut down, costing $3,000 an hour.
474
00:30:58,387 --> 00:30:59,870
[Kevin] There we go.
475
00:31:02,836 --> 00:31:04,767
The doors in my [bleep] way.
476
00:31:04,801 --> 00:31:05,836
Meaning?
477
00:31:05,870 --> 00:31:07,111
The door's got to [bleep] go.
478
00:31:12,111 --> 00:31:13,732
That should be attached.
479
00:31:13,767 --> 00:31:16,698
Also, that should
also be attached.
480
00:31:17,974 --> 00:31:19,180
It hit here.
481
00:31:19,215 --> 00:31:20,939
You can see
where the paint has come off,
482
00:31:20,974 --> 00:31:22,732
causing this piece here
to [bumping sound]
483
00:31:22,767 --> 00:31:25,180
Snapping all four bolts
off cleanly.
484
00:31:25,215 --> 00:31:28,629
[narrator] Ruby's crash
has sheared off the bolts,
485
00:31:28,663 --> 00:31:30,974
holding
the hydraulic valve body
486
00:31:31,008 --> 00:31:36,594
that controls all the hydraulics
on the $1.1 million machine.
487
00:31:36,629 --> 00:31:38,663
[Kevin] Hydraulics is what
drives the entire machine.
488
00:31:38,698 --> 00:31:40,387
Without the hydraulic system
being sealed,
489
00:31:40,422 --> 00:31:43,698
you can't fire it up in
any capacity to move it or anything.
490
00:31:45,318 --> 00:31:47,249
For [bleep].
491
00:31:47,284 --> 00:31:49,318
It is one of
our biggest excavators.
492
00:31:49,353 --> 00:31:52,077
It is always important
to have it [bleep] fixed.
493
00:31:52,111 --> 00:31:54,560
We don't have time for
any of this downtime or [bleep].
494
00:31:55,732 --> 00:31:57,870
[Tony speaking]
495
00:31:57,905 --> 00:31:59,732
[Kevin] This unit
that I pulled off here,
496
00:31:59,767 --> 00:32:02,629
bolts are
sheared off entirely.
497
00:32:02,663 --> 00:32:05,698
We got the right bolts,
but longer.
498
00:32:05,732 --> 00:32:09,456
Now, we're gonna see if I'm
able to modify these ones enough
499
00:32:09,491 --> 00:32:11,629
to make them work
till we get the proper ones.
500
00:32:11,663 --> 00:32:13,353
[Tony speaking]
501
00:32:13,387 --> 00:32:15,146
And I know we have bolts
on order,
502
00:32:15,180 --> 00:32:20,111
but we need the 950 back
in production ASA [bleep] P.
503
00:32:20,146 --> 00:32:23,939
So I'll make something
that'll work.
504
00:32:23,974 --> 00:32:27,629
[narrator] Kevin's bush fix cut
half an inch off the bolts
505
00:32:27,663 --> 00:32:32,663
and hope they still secure
the valve body in place.
506
00:32:32,698 --> 00:32:35,318
[Kevin] Essentially, it needs to
be about half an inch shorter.
507
00:32:39,215 --> 00:32:41,215
That turned out pretty well.
508
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:45,801
So.
509
00:32:50,318 --> 00:32:52,663
Yeah. Perfect for laughing.
510
00:32:52,698 --> 00:32:54,939
This is the last bolt.
511
00:32:54,974 --> 00:32:56,422
And it's just hooking up
the hoses.
512
00:32:56,456 --> 00:32:59,180
And then she's [bleep] done.
513
00:32:59,215 --> 00:33:01,594
Time to fire it up.
514
00:33:01,629 --> 00:33:03,422
[engine revving]
515
00:33:08,663 --> 00:33:11,215
Doesn't look like
anything's leaking.
516
00:33:11,249 --> 00:33:12,525
It's good to go back to work.
517
00:33:13,905 --> 00:33:15,974
[narrator]
The 950 back running.
518
00:33:16,008 --> 00:33:18,318
Ruby can get back
to digging pay
519
00:33:18,353 --> 00:33:21,284
before the pay pile
runs out at the trommel.
520
00:33:21,318 --> 00:33:23,146
[Tony speaking]
521
00:33:37,801 --> 00:33:40,215
[Ruby] I've worked
for Tony for six years,
522
00:33:40,249 --> 00:33:44,422
and this is
my first big mistake.
523
00:33:44,456 --> 00:33:47,077
You know, I try to do
the best of my ability
524
00:33:47,111 --> 00:33:52,111
and try to pay as good
as attention to everything as I can.
525
00:33:52,146 --> 00:33:55,698
Probably gonna be overly cautious
for the next little while.
526
00:34:08,698 --> 00:34:11,215
So right now I'm trying to break
up some ice to get the creek
527
00:34:11,249 --> 00:34:13,180
diverted back
to where it needs to be going.
528
00:34:14,422 --> 00:34:17,215
[narrator] At California
Creek, Fred Lewis's crew
529
00:34:17,249 --> 00:34:20,801
is still battling the
quarter-mile long ice sheet
530
00:34:20,836 --> 00:34:24,663
that has frozen them out
from mining gold.
531
00:34:24,698 --> 00:34:27,284
[Christopher] We're trying to get down
to dirt to pull gold from,
532
00:34:27,318 --> 00:34:30,525
but the ice is stopping us from
getting what we need to get done.
533
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,560
[narrator] Leading the charge
in the 220 excavator,
534
00:34:33,594 --> 00:34:36,594
Fred stepson
Christopher Parker.
535
00:34:36,629 --> 00:34:38,663
[Christopher] Once I'm done
breaking up some of this ice,
536
00:34:38,698 --> 00:34:40,422
I can start fixing[bleep].
537
00:34:45,456 --> 00:34:48,387
Whoa! Holy [bleep].
What is that?
538
00:34:48,422 --> 00:34:51,249
It's what I think it is.
539
00:34:51,284 --> 00:34:53,870
Yo, Freddy, you need to come
check this [bleep] out real quick, man.
540
00:34:57,767 --> 00:34:59,422
[Fred] What's up?
541
00:34:59,456 --> 00:35:01,456
[Christopher]
Look where my bucket is.
542
00:35:01,491 --> 00:35:03,456
[Fred] What am I looking at?
543
00:35:03,491 --> 00:35:05,077
Let me go, look.
544
00:35:09,249 --> 00:35:10,491
Oh, wow.
545
00:35:12,146 --> 00:35:14,698
Quartz, quartz, quartz,
quartz, quartz.
546
00:35:14,732 --> 00:35:15,939
Look, look.
547
00:35:15,974 --> 00:35:17,180
It's a vein.
548
00:35:17,215 --> 00:35:18,698
Wow.
549
00:35:18,732 --> 00:35:21,491
Give me your headset.
We're gonna get Buzz over here, like, right now.
550
00:35:21,525 --> 00:35:23,008
Buzz, Buzz, this is Fred.
551
00:35:23,043 --> 00:35:24,905
I need you to come
to the 220 ASAP.
552
00:35:24,939 --> 00:35:28,663
It looks like we may have
found a quartz vein.
553
00:35:28,698 --> 00:35:33,767
[narrator] A quartz vein indicates
gold deposits could be close by.
554
00:35:33,801 --> 00:35:35,525
[Fred] This is
a big ass quartz vein.
555
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,629
I don't know how big it is, but
it goes all the way, at least to here.
556
00:35:38,663 --> 00:35:41,146
[Buzz] Yeah.
It looks [bleep] good, man.
557
00:35:41,180 --> 00:35:43,525
[Fred] But look, it's also got
a lot of iron in it.
558
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:44,698
[Buzz] Yeah.
559
00:35:44,732 --> 00:35:46,353
[Fred] All that brown.
All that iron.
560
00:35:46,387 --> 00:35:49,732
So that means there's a lot
of heat that forced this up.
561
00:35:49,767 --> 00:35:51,525
[narrator]
Millions of years ago,
562
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,249
Magma containing gold forced
its way up through faults
563
00:35:55,284 --> 00:35:56,767
in the earth's crust.
564
00:35:58,215 --> 00:36:02,491
It cooled and crystallized
into veins of quartz and gold.
565
00:36:03,594 --> 00:36:07,249
If Fred's small quartz vein
is gold-rich,
566
00:36:07,284 --> 00:36:12,008
it could mean he's on track
for a big payday.
567
00:36:12,043 --> 00:36:17,974
And possibly even lead him to
find the motherlode at California Creek.
568
00:36:18,008 --> 00:36:19,939
[Fred] It doesn't look like
it continues much more here.
569
00:36:19,974 --> 00:36:23,249
- It might go underneath, but it's going that way.
- [Buzz] Yeah.
570
00:36:23,284 --> 00:36:25,353
[Fred]
Right with this bedrock.
571
00:36:25,387 --> 00:36:27,387
What do you think, Buzz?
572
00:36:27,422 --> 00:36:29,801
We'll cut and try to pulverize
some of it [bleep].
573
00:36:29,836 --> 00:36:31,215
See what's in it.
574
00:36:31,249 --> 00:36:32,870
Do some science.
575
00:36:32,905 --> 00:36:34,525
All right, check it out.
576
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:36,767
[Fred] You and Chris
wanna gather up some rock?
577
00:36:36,801 --> 00:36:38,629
Put it in his bucket.
578
00:36:38,663 --> 00:36:41,043
Good find.
Hey, really good find.
579
00:36:46,836 --> 00:36:49,077
Hey, Buzz, where do you
want me to take all this?
580
00:36:49,111 --> 00:36:50,698
Yeah, it's a pretty
good sample there.
581
00:36:50,732 --> 00:36:51,905
Let's take that on up.
582
00:36:51,939 --> 00:36:54,077
Bring it to the Gold Room.
583
00:36:54,111 --> 00:36:55,284
Roger that.
584
00:36:57,629 --> 00:36:59,663
We're gonna accurately
pull out gold.
585
00:36:59,698 --> 00:37:01,456
We don't just mine
the entire creek.
586
00:37:01,491 --> 00:37:03,387
We use these signs
to get us to it.
587
00:37:07,008 --> 00:37:09,663
[narrator] To see
if the quartz is rich in gold.
588
00:37:09,698 --> 00:37:10,870
All right. Safety first.
589
00:37:10,905 --> 00:37:14,560
[narrator] Fred plans
to pulverize the hard rock
590
00:37:14,594 --> 00:37:18,284
with five-pound solid steel
ball bearings.
591
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,387
We're gonna break up
just about anything.
592
00:37:24,353 --> 00:37:26,456
- All right. You guys ready?
- [Buzz] Sure.
593
00:37:26,491 --> 00:37:28,043
See how loud this is gonna be?
594
00:37:32,836 --> 00:37:34,422
[Fred speaking]
595
00:37:39,767 --> 00:37:42,318
All right, if we crush that up
and there's not a worthless pile of rock
596
00:37:42,353 --> 00:37:44,387
and there's even
a speck of gold,
597
00:37:44,422 --> 00:37:46,767
the pay could have
a hell of a lot of gold in it.
598
00:37:54,284 --> 00:37:56,663
[Brandon] We're dead in the water,
so we ain't making any money.
599
00:37:56,698 --> 00:37:59,422
We got a call from
our good friend back home,
600
00:37:59,456 --> 00:38:03,146
and he says he needs help
and he's willing to pay us cash.
601
00:38:03,180 --> 00:38:05,939
[narrator] With very
little money to mine,
602
00:38:05,974 --> 00:38:09,422
the Clayton brothers are looking
for a quick cash injection.
603
00:38:09,456 --> 00:38:10,767
Hi, how are you?
604
00:38:12,284 --> 00:38:14,663
- We're here to give you a hand today.
- That's awesome.
605
00:38:14,698 --> 00:38:16,491
We might as well come,
make money, work for yous.
606
00:38:16,525 --> 00:38:17,767
Not if I [bleep] pay you.
607
00:38:17,801 --> 00:38:18,905
[Matt] Yeah.
608
00:38:20,111 --> 00:38:21,456
[narrator] Today's job.
609
00:38:21,491 --> 00:38:24,905
Install a new boom
on a neighbor's excavator.
610
00:38:24,939 --> 00:38:27,215
Does this come
with limited warranty?
611
00:38:27,249 --> 00:38:29,111
Yeah. Yeah,
as soon as you lift it.
612
00:38:30,594 --> 00:38:32,560
All right. Go ahead
and everybody's clear.
613
00:38:38,836 --> 00:38:40,422
No!
614
00:38:43,422 --> 00:38:44,594
[Al] That's not cool.
615
00:38:46,215 --> 00:38:47,870
[man 1] Yeah. I'd lift up now.
616
00:38:49,111 --> 00:38:50,939
- [Matt] Look Square. Hey.
- [man 1] Yeah.
617
00:38:50,974 --> 00:38:52,215
[Matt] Try it.
618
00:38:52,249 --> 00:38:53,594
[man 1] Okay.
619
00:38:53,629 --> 00:38:55,801
Put constant pressure
on this pin.
620
00:38:55,836 --> 00:38:57,491
- [Matt] There we go.
- [man 2] [bleep] yeah.
621
00:38:57,525 --> 00:38:59,836
[Matt] Okay, we got it.
622
00:38:59,870 --> 00:39:01,180
Nailed it.
623
00:39:01,215 --> 00:39:03,077
Just got the boom together.
624
00:39:03,111 --> 00:39:04,560
She's all done.
625
00:39:04,594 --> 00:39:06,870
Well, I guess I've got to
give you a little money now.
626
00:39:06,905 --> 00:39:08,008
I [bleep] hate to.
627
00:39:08,043 --> 00:39:09,525
- [Matt] Oh, wow.
- [Al] Here you go, Matt.
628
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:11,525
- [Matt] Thank you, Al.
- [Al] Thank you.
629
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:13,111
[Matt] I appreciate it.
See ya.
630
00:39:13,146 --> 00:39:14,629
He paid us three grand.
631
00:39:14,663 --> 00:39:17,560
That three grand can
go towards fuel, the groceries.
632
00:39:17,594 --> 00:39:19,146
It couldn't have
worked out better.
633
00:39:31,146 --> 00:39:32,905
[narrator]
At California Creek,
634
00:39:32,939 --> 00:39:35,698
Fred Lewis has struck
a vein of quartz,
635
00:39:35,732 --> 00:39:38,767
which he hopes
will lead him to the gold.
636
00:39:38,801 --> 00:39:43,801
After letting the five-pound ball bearings
beat up the quartz for an hour,
637
00:39:43,836 --> 00:39:46,284
it's time
to check the material.
638
00:39:46,318 --> 00:39:47,698
[Fred] Let's go do it.
639
00:39:52,939 --> 00:39:54,387
Now let's find
if we got a catch.
640
00:39:54,422 --> 00:39:56,215
[Stuart] Yeah.
641
00:39:56,249 --> 00:39:58,387
Oh.
642
00:39:58,422 --> 00:40:00,215
Yeah.
643
00:40:00,249 --> 00:40:02,180
[Fred] I did a better job
with my [bleep] hammer.
644
00:40:03,491 --> 00:40:05,387
You know, I was kind of hoping
we pull this thing open.
645
00:40:05,422 --> 00:40:07,422
There'd be a bunch of powder
in there.
646
00:40:07,456 --> 00:40:09,974
I know there are certain ways
that we can do it.
647
00:40:10,008 --> 00:40:11,629
I really like what they did
in Papua New Guinea.
648
00:40:11,663 --> 00:40:13,111
- It just took a long time.
- [Stuart] Yeah.
649
00:40:13,146 --> 00:40:17,180
So all they did had a solid pipe
inside of a pipe, the base in it.
650
00:40:17,215 --> 00:40:18,836
So you couldn't--
Nothing got out.
651
00:40:18,870 --> 00:40:21,111
- They threw the rock in there and they smashed it by hand.
- Smashed it [bleep].
652
00:40:21,146 --> 00:40:22,560
Bam, bam, bam.
653
00:40:24,456 --> 00:40:28,180
[narrator] Fred's new plan to
construct a low-tech rock crusher
654
00:40:28,215 --> 00:40:32,077
he first saw on a
gold prospecting mission with Parker
655
00:40:32,111 --> 00:40:34,387
in the jungles
of Papua New Guinea.
656
00:40:36,870 --> 00:40:39,801
So we're basically gonna
find like this right here.
657
00:40:39,836 --> 00:40:44,249
We're gonna find a pipe, we're gonna
make it so it has a floor
658
00:40:44,284 --> 00:40:46,043
and another pipe
that's gonna go inside of it
659
00:40:46,077 --> 00:40:48,146
and crush it
just like a post pounder.
660
00:40:56,525 --> 00:40:57,698
[Fred] Woohoo!
661
00:40:57,732 --> 00:40:59,284
Let's go there
and try this [bleep] out.
662
00:40:59,318 --> 00:41:00,732
See if we can
crush this [bleep].
663
00:41:01,870 --> 00:41:03,939
[Fred] All right,
so I've only done this once.
664
00:41:03,974 --> 00:41:05,456
- [Stuart] Yeah.
- [Fred] Let's start. Yeah.
665
00:41:20,525 --> 00:41:22,318
[narrator]
After some brute force.
666
00:41:22,353 --> 00:41:25,077
It's time to see
if the quartz vein running
667
00:41:25,111 --> 00:41:29,180
through his claim
is rich in gold.
668
00:41:29,215 --> 00:41:34,353
If it is, Fred could have hit
the motherlode and the ground next to it
669
00:41:34,387 --> 00:41:37,318
could be the richest
in California Creek.
670
00:41:45,870 --> 00:41:48,387
Um. I'm seeing gold, buddy.
671
00:41:48,422 --> 00:41:50,387
[Stuart] Yeah. No,
there's gold in. There's gold.
672
00:41:50,422 --> 00:41:52,284
[bleep]
673
00:41:52,318 --> 00:41:55,353
[Fred] Holy, [bleep] wow.
674
00:41:55,387 --> 00:41:56,767
- And a piece there.
- [Stuart] Yeah.
675
00:41:56,801 --> 00:41:57,836
[Fred] And a piece there.
676
00:41:57,870 --> 00:41:59,180
[Stuart]
A piece up top, right there.
677
00:41:59,215 --> 00:42:01,043
- [Fred] And a piece there.
- [Stuart] Yeah.
678
00:42:01,077 --> 00:42:02,663
- I mean, that was a handful.
- [Stuart] I know.
679
00:42:02,698 --> 00:42:05,215
[Fred] We got three colors and
a lot of little fine stuff.
680
00:42:05,249 --> 00:42:07,560
It's the first goal we
found this season that tells us
681
00:42:07,594 --> 00:42:10,836
there's a vein carrying
gold running up the middle
682
00:42:10,870 --> 00:42:12,215
of our [bleep] claim.
683
00:42:12,249 --> 00:42:14,146
Yeah.
684
00:42:14,180 --> 00:42:15,560
I [bleep] needed this.
685
00:42:15,594 --> 00:42:17,422
- I... I'm hurting.
- I know, man.
686
00:42:17,456 --> 00:42:19,284
You know, it's just [bleep].
687
00:42:19,318 --> 00:42:20,974
That's just the way
that this, you know,
688
00:42:21,008 --> 00:42:22,422
this profession is.
I've noticed that.
689
00:42:22,456 --> 00:42:26,560
I mean, the highs are high
and the lows are really, really low.
690
00:42:26,594 --> 00:42:27,801
You ain't lying.
691
00:42:27,836 --> 00:42:29,525
This is about the best
I felt this season.
692
00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:31,629
We have
a source producing the gold.
693
00:42:33,284 --> 00:42:35,111
The potential that
there could be a quartz vein
694
00:42:35,146 --> 00:42:38,939
that has gold
bearing richness through it
695
00:42:38,974 --> 00:42:40,698
kind of fires us up
a little bit,
696
00:42:40,732 --> 00:42:44,111
and it's just giving us a little
bit more fuel to keep exploring this creek
697
00:42:44,146 --> 00:42:47,215
and find out where it
is, because the source is somewhere
698
00:42:47,249 --> 00:42:49,318
and it's coming from somewhere
and we're gonna find it.
699
00:43:04,387 --> 00:43:05,732
[growling]
700
00:43:05,767 --> 00:43:07,698
[Minnie] Oh, you've got
the ugly face.
701
00:43:07,732 --> 00:43:09,043
[all laughing]
702
00:43:11,215 --> 00:43:15,560
[narrator] After a week battling
frozen ground, the Beets family gather
703
00:43:15,594 --> 00:43:18,043
to find out if their hard work
has paid off.
704
00:43:19,491 --> 00:43:21,353
- [woman 2] Hi, Faith.
- [Tony speaking]
705
00:43:21,387 --> 00:43:23,422
- [woman 2] You took long enough.
- Sorry.
706
00:43:23,456 --> 00:43:25,939
- [Tony speaking]
- [Michael] Yeah.
707
00:43:25,974 --> 00:43:29,077
- [Tony speaking]
- [Michael] Both cuts.
708
00:43:29,111 --> 00:43:30,767
[Tony speaking]
709
00:43:30,801 --> 00:43:32,663
Yeah. [bleep] hard too.
710
00:43:32,698 --> 00:43:34,801
[Tony speaking]
711
00:43:34,836 --> 00:43:36,905
Yeah. Well, if you didn't buy
that last year,
712
00:43:36,939 --> 00:43:38,732
we'd be in big trouble
this year.
713
00:43:38,767 --> 00:43:42,180
So anything else
exciting happens.
714
00:43:42,215 --> 00:43:44,974
Ruby was trying to squeeze by
Cousin Mike in a rock truck.
715
00:43:46,180 --> 00:43:47,698
It wasn't quite enough room.
716
00:43:49,180 --> 00:43:50,801
I bet she felt just awful.
717
00:43:50,836 --> 00:43:53,008
Oh, she did just [bleep].
718
00:43:53,043 --> 00:43:55,077
- At least she cares.
- Oh, yeah.
719
00:43:55,111 --> 00:43:56,698
[Tony speaking]
720
00:43:58,008 --> 00:44:01,663
So, with that being said,
we should probably pour some gold.
721
00:44:01,698 --> 00:44:02,801
- [Tony speaking]
- Yeah.
722
00:44:02,836 --> 00:44:05,249
Okay, let's do this thing, folks.
723
00:44:05,284 --> 00:44:08,836
[narrator] Tony has less than
500 ounces in the bank
724
00:44:08,870 --> 00:44:13,387
and needs over 200 a week
to hit his 5000 ounce goal.
725
00:44:13,422 --> 00:44:15,387
[Kevin] Three, two, one.
Let's go.
726
00:44:17,801 --> 00:44:19,043
Fifteen.
727
00:44:20,594 --> 00:44:21,974
Sixty-five.
728
00:44:22,008 --> 00:44:24,043
Seventy-five, 85.
729
00:44:26,422 --> 00:44:31,594
A hundred and twenty,
130, 140,
730
00:44:31,629 --> 00:44:33,974
150, 160.
731
00:44:36,801 --> 00:44:40,043
162.42.
732
00:44:41,629 --> 00:44:45,111
[narrator]
Worth nearly $300,000.
733
00:44:50,249 --> 00:44:52,077
[Tony speaking]
734
00:44:57,353 --> 00:44:59,180
But you know what?
It's better than nothing.
735
00:44:59,215 --> 00:45:00,870
- [Tony speaking]
- [Mike] Yeah.
736
00:45:00,905 --> 00:45:02,491
[Tony speaking]
737
00:45:11,698 --> 00:45:13,422
We'll talk to you guys later.
738
00:45:36,422 --> 00:45:37,663
[Chris] Hey, T-bird.
739
00:45:37,698 --> 00:45:39,594
- [Tyson] How's it going, Doumitt? - Good.
How you doing, buddy?
740
00:45:39,629 --> 00:45:41,008
Pretty good. Thanks.
741
00:45:46,939 --> 00:45:50,008
Well, we finished one,
we started another.
742
00:45:50,043 --> 00:45:51,525
Thank you guys
for getting that pit done.
743
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:53,801
But it's one of many.
744
00:45:53,836 --> 00:45:55,629
[Tyson] Yeah.
745
00:45:55,663 --> 00:46:01,594
And Tyson, you got your first
big experience there of moving Big Red.
746
00:46:01,629 --> 00:46:02,905
- Yeah.
- New safer lot.
747
00:46:02,939 --> 00:46:05,043
But what do you think
about Big Red?
748
00:46:05,077 --> 00:46:06,249
It's different.
749
00:46:06,284 --> 00:46:08,111
[Parker] It's a lot easier
getting it where you want it.
750
00:46:08,146 --> 00:46:11,249
It's kind of fun, like every
move having to be spot on.
751
00:46:11,284 --> 00:46:14,111
And you even had a point in
the right direction the first time, huh?
752
00:46:14,146 --> 00:46:16,180
Yeah.
753
00:46:16,215 --> 00:46:17,870
Good for you, T.
754
00:46:17,905 --> 00:46:20,111
- You want to see how the
Keyhole finished up? - Let's do it.
755
00:46:20,146 --> 00:46:22,491
Why we're here, Doumitt.
We want to see some gold.
756
00:46:22,525 --> 00:46:24,043
Keyhole right here.
757
00:46:24,077 --> 00:46:26,111
- I'll take this one.
- All right.
758
00:46:26,146 --> 00:46:29,387
So this is the last sluicing
Big Red did before we moved it.
759
00:46:30,801 --> 00:46:31,974
All right.
760
00:46:33,939 --> 00:46:39,180
[Mitch] Twenty, 40, 60, 80,
761
00:46:39,215 --> 00:46:45,491
100, 120, 140, 150.
762
00:46:45,525 --> 00:46:51,387
Keep going, 174.05.
763
00:46:51,422 --> 00:46:55,594
[narrator]
Worth over $310,000.
764
00:46:56,801 --> 00:46:58,284
That's not bad.
765
00:46:58,318 --> 00:47:00,111
I mean, when you look at
the amount of runtime it had.
766
00:47:00,146 --> 00:47:01,767
[Chris] Exactly.
767
00:47:01,801 --> 00:47:04,905
So the big question, Chris, that's two
days of running at the Keyhole cut,
768
00:47:04,939 --> 00:47:06,974
- finishing that off at 174.
- Right.
769
00:47:07,008 --> 00:47:10,422
How did we do at Easy Street
with two days of running?
770
00:47:10,456 --> 00:47:13,801
Well, there's not a lot
of hours on this thing, right?
771
00:47:13,836 --> 00:47:15,180
- Yeah.
- Here we go.
772
00:47:15,215 --> 00:47:16,387
- Let's do it.
- Oh, no.
773
00:47:16,422 --> 00:47:19,387
- One.
- He tipped a long way before anything came out.
774
00:47:20,629 --> 00:47:24,870
[Tyson] Thirty, 35, 38,
775
00:47:24,905 --> 00:47:28,422
40, 55.8.
776
00:47:28,456 --> 00:47:31,560
[narrator] Another $100,000.
777
00:47:34,180 --> 00:47:38,836
So for the week it's 229.85.
778
00:47:38,870 --> 00:47:43,422
And for the season, we
just brought 1200 and 1204.45.
779
00:47:43,456 --> 00:47:44,525
That wasn't a bad week.
780
00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:46,318
Knowing we moved
the wash plant in the middle.
781
00:47:46,353 --> 00:47:47,387
- [Mitch] Yeah.
- [Parker] Yeah.
782
00:47:47,422 --> 00:47:50,387
And what, a total
of four days running?
783
00:47:50,422 --> 00:47:51,870
All this going on?
784
00:47:51,905 --> 00:47:53,456
I think we did okay.
I think we did good.
785
00:47:53,491 --> 00:47:54,594
[Tyson] Yeah.
786
00:47:54,629 --> 00:47:55,939
[Mitch] We got
a long way to go.
787
00:47:55,974 --> 00:47:58,318
All right, Chris,
thank you for that.
788
00:47:58,353 --> 00:47:59,422
[Chris] Yup.
789
00:47:59,456 --> 00:48:01,111
See you next week.
Thanks, man.
790
00:48:01,146 --> 00:48:02,491
[Parker] Thanks, Chris.
790
00:48:03,305 --> 00:49:03,696
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