Gold Rush: Dave Turin's Lost Mine

1 00:00:00,660 --> 00:00:02,930 Plaster mining for over 10 years. 2 00:00:03,030 --> 00:00:04,570 It's getting harder and harder. 3 00:00:04,670 --> 00:00:07,470 Is there a future in gold mining? 4 00:00:07,570 --> 00:00:08,840 There is. 5 00:00:08,940 --> 00:00:12,670 But I need to find out if it's above ground or underground. 6 00:00:12,780 --> 00:00:14,880 Narrator: Last year, veteran gold miner 7 00:00:14,980 --> 00:00:17,640 dave turin proved there's still gold 8 00:00:17,750 --> 00:00:19,810 in america's abandoned mines. 9 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:20,850 Dave turin: 80 ounces. 10 00:00:20,950 --> 00:00:21,650 Woo! 11 00:00:22,950 --> 00:00:25,390 Narrator: This season, dave is investigating 12 00:00:25,490 --> 00:00:28,020 a different kind of lost mine. 13 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,890 Dave turin: I believe my future is underground. 14 00:00:30,990 --> 00:00:32,530 Narrator: It's a high risk strategy-- 15 00:00:32,630 --> 00:00:33,830 dave turin: Oh [bleep] 16 00:00:33,930 --> 00:00:36,930 it could cost thousands of dollars to open these mines. 17 00:00:37,030 --> 00:00:39,500 Narrator: --With potential for massive reward. 18 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:41,370 If I could find the mother lode,-- 19 00:00:41,470 --> 00:00:42,600 boom! 20 00:00:42,710 --> 00:00:44,770 --It'll make a better future for all of our families. 21 00:00:44,870 --> 00:00:47,440 Look at the frickin' gold in there. 22 00:00:47,540 --> 00:00:50,840 [theme music] 23 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:57,520 I don't know anything about going underground. 24 00:00:57,620 --> 00:00:59,450 So that's why I need you. 25 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,260 Narrator: In montana, dave turin is with tunnel 26 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,660 safety expert nick laviolette. 27 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:05,790 Dave turin: Well, here's the deal. 28 00:01:05,900 --> 00:01:08,160 You get me in there, keep it safe, 29 00:01:08,260 --> 00:01:09,200 and I'll try to find the gold. 30 00:01:09,300 --> 00:01:10,230 I'll get you in there, buddy. 31 00:01:10,330 --> 00:01:11,370 Ok. 32 00:01:11,470 --> 00:01:12,700 I want to see some gold. 33 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,570 [music playing] 34 00:01:16,970 --> 00:01:18,540 narrator: They're traveling through the belt mountain 35 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,540 range, so dave can prospect his first ever hard rock 36 00:01:22,650 --> 00:01:24,610 mine inside miller mountain. 37 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:28,580 According to the old drill logs, 38 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:30,320 the best gold is still in the ground. 39 00:01:30,420 --> 00:01:31,790 Hopefully we find something to pan. 40 00:01:31,890 --> 00:01:32,920 Yeah. 41 00:01:33,020 --> 00:01:35,960 I believe possibly my future is underground. 42 00:01:36,060 --> 00:01:37,220 Right. 43 00:01:37,330 --> 00:01:38,990 Dave turin: There's a guy up here named bill stiles 44 00:01:39,100 --> 00:01:41,630 and he owns the miller mountain mine. 45 00:01:42,930 --> 00:01:43,900 Nick laviolette: Oh, is that it? 46 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:44,700 That's it. 47 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:45,530 Right on. 48 00:01:45,630 --> 00:01:46,330 There we go. 49 00:01:50,110 --> 00:01:51,540 Hey, bill. 50 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:52,340 Bill stiles: Dave. 51 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:53,310 How you doing, man? 52 00:01:53,410 --> 00:01:54,210 Good to see you again. 53 00:01:54,310 --> 00:01:55,710 Dave turin: You, too. 54 00:01:55,810 --> 00:01:56,780 This is my buddy, nick. - Hey. 55 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:57,580 How do you do? 56 00:01:57,680 --> 00:01:59,210 Nick, this is bill stiles. 57 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:00,380 You've got quite the operation. 58 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:04,720 My dad bought a half interest in it in 1954. 59 00:02:04,820 --> 00:02:07,520 Narrator: The plaster deposits below miller mountain 60 00:02:07,620 --> 00:02:13,090 were discovered in 1864 by four paroled confederate soldiers. 61 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,130 It was one of montana's richest gold strikes 62 00:02:16,230 --> 00:02:18,370 at over half a million ounces. 63 00:02:18,470 --> 00:02:20,770 The source of that gold is buried 64 00:02:20,870 --> 00:02:22,600 deep inside the mountain. 65 00:02:22,710 --> 00:02:25,140 And bill believes the mother lode is 66 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,310 still waiting to be discovered. 67 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:29,280 How much gold came out of this one? 68 00:02:29,380 --> 00:02:32,210 They have records from the smelter at east helena. 69 00:02:32,310 --> 00:02:37,650 They took 9,100 ounces out between 1919 and 1942, 70 00:02:37,750 --> 00:02:40,590 an average of 7.95 ounces a ton. 71 00:02:40,690 --> 00:02:42,260 So almost eight ounces per ton. 72 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:43,060 Per ton. 73 00:02:44,930 --> 00:02:46,590 That's what we need. 74 00:02:46,700 --> 00:02:49,600 These numbers bill's talking about are huge numbers. 75 00:02:49,700 --> 00:02:53,470 They're way higher than anything I've seen in plaster mining. 76 00:02:53,570 --> 00:02:57,070 All of the easy gold above ground, it's been picked over. 77 00:02:57,170 --> 00:02:59,210 But the majority of the gold on this planet 78 00:02:59,310 --> 00:03:01,140 remains underground. 79 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:02,880 This is the one rock that they took out. 80 00:03:04,850 --> 00:03:06,150 Nick laviolette: Oh, wow. 81 00:03:06,250 --> 00:03:07,250 Dave turin: Holy cow. 82 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:10,380 Nick, look at the frickin' gold in there. 83 00:03:10,490 --> 00:03:11,920 I'm gonna be a mess if we find it. 84 00:03:12,020 --> 00:03:12,720 Oh, boom. 85 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:14,920 Nick, look at that. 86 00:03:15,020 --> 00:03:15,920 Nick laviolette: That serious. 87 00:03:16,030 --> 00:03:17,590 Dave turin: That's all through this. 88 00:03:17,690 --> 00:03:19,760 Why hasn't somebody been mining this, bill? 89 00:03:19,860 --> 00:03:21,360 Bill stiles: We're pretty remote up here. 90 00:03:21,460 --> 00:03:24,330 The type of gold that's in here is tough to get. 91 00:03:24,430 --> 00:03:27,200 I'd love to get somebody that knows what they're looking at 92 00:03:27,300 --> 00:03:29,000 to really go after that stuff. 93 00:03:30,940 --> 00:03:33,270 Dave turin: If I find the right mine with the purity 94 00:03:33,380 --> 00:03:36,510 of gold underground, I could hit hundreds, even 95 00:03:36,610 --> 00:03:38,450 thousands of dollars a ton. 96 00:03:38,550 --> 00:03:40,080 It's high risk. 97 00:03:40,180 --> 00:03:42,050 It's also high reward. 98 00:03:42,150 --> 00:03:44,450 [music playing] 99 00:03:46,420 --> 00:03:47,320 graham: Watch your head, guys. 100 00:03:53,860 --> 00:03:55,760 Dave turin: Oh my gosh. 101 00:03:55,860 --> 00:03:57,730 It's a whole different world. 102 00:03:57,830 --> 00:04:00,130 I'm definitely out of my element. 103 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,300 Un-frickin' believable. 104 00:04:04,470 --> 00:04:06,140 Narrator: Over millions of years, 105 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,640 superheated liquids, rising from deep in the earth, 106 00:04:09,750 --> 00:04:12,150 created the sulfurous gold-rich quartz 107 00:04:12,250 --> 00:04:13,410 veins in miller mountain. 108 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:19,590 Miners chased these veins around 1,000 feet underground. 109 00:04:19,690 --> 00:04:24,260 Dave is going to travel to the end of the old timers' tunnels, 110 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,330 hoping to discover hundreds of millions of dollars 111 00:04:27,430 --> 00:04:28,460 worth of hidden gold. 112 00:04:31,300 --> 00:04:34,400 Going this deep underground, death 113 00:04:34,470 --> 00:04:36,270 could be around any corner. 114 00:04:36,370 --> 00:04:37,670 Dave turin: Show me that sign. 115 00:04:37,770 --> 00:04:39,170 Danger, drowning hazard. 116 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:42,510 Narrator: But the greatest danger 117 00:04:42,650 --> 00:04:45,180 is the loose rock overhead. 118 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:46,850 [splash] 119 00:04:46,950 --> 00:04:48,320 nick laviolette: Whoa! 120 00:04:48,420 --> 00:04:49,550 That got me wet. 121 00:04:49,650 --> 00:04:51,020 That right there could have been a serious headache. 122 00:04:52,190 --> 00:04:53,250 These guys know what they're doing. 123 00:04:56,660 --> 00:04:59,290 Something like that drops and hits somebody in the head, 124 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:00,730 we're dragging them out of here. 125 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:08,074 126 00:05:10,370 --> 00:05:11,070 Dave turin: All right. 127 00:05:12,740 --> 00:05:13,810 Dave turin: That doesn't look good. 128 00:05:15,380 --> 00:05:16,240 Nick laviolette: Ah. 129 00:05:16,350 --> 00:05:17,680 [bleep] 130 00:05:21,220 --> 00:05:23,950 narrator: Over 500 feet into the mine, 131 00:05:24,050 --> 00:05:26,120 the old timbers supporting the tunnel 132 00:05:26,220 --> 00:05:29,690 have collapsed, bringing down a huge section of rock. 133 00:05:36,630 --> 00:05:38,800 Narrator: The whole area is unstable 134 00:05:38,900 --> 00:05:42,370 and too unsafe for the large group to move past. 135 00:05:42,470 --> 00:05:44,000 Dave turin: No, you need to look at this, graham. 136 00:05:44,110 --> 00:05:45,040 Graham: Oh, I see. 137 00:05:45,140 --> 00:05:46,010 Dave turin: See what we're looking at? 138 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:47,740 That doesn't look good. 139 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:48,880 Nick laviolette: Yeah, I agree. 140 00:05:48,980 --> 00:05:51,010 Dave turin: We've got timbers falling down. 141 00:05:51,110 --> 00:05:52,410 Nick laviolette: What do you think, man? 142 00:05:52,510 --> 00:05:53,650 Dave turin: Graham, I think you and your crew 143 00:05:53,750 --> 00:05:54,880 ought to get out of here-- graham: Ok. 144 00:05:54,980 --> 00:05:56,480 Dave turin: --And head out. 145 00:05:56,620 --> 00:05:58,220 And then the three of us will head through. 146 00:05:58,320 --> 00:05:59,620 And we'll just keep going. 147 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,320 All right, gentlemen, onward we go, now with three. 148 00:06:03,430 --> 00:06:04,120 Ok? 149 00:06:04,230 --> 00:06:05,330 We good? 150 00:06:05,430 --> 00:06:08,800 We're gonna go alone, hopefully get to the end. 151 00:06:08,900 --> 00:06:09,860 Good. 152 00:06:09,970 --> 00:06:10,960 Ah, whoa. 153 00:06:11,070 --> 00:06:11,770 Back to the water. 154 00:06:13,870 --> 00:06:16,270 [bleep] 155 00:06:16,370 --> 00:06:19,410 tried to get up this one spot, but the crazy thing 156 00:06:19,510 --> 00:06:22,240 is your brain starts doing crazy stuff. 157 00:06:22,340 --> 00:06:23,710 Your brain's saying, you've got a million 158 00:06:23,850 --> 00:06:27,450 pounds rock above your head, you're in a confined space. 159 00:06:27,550 --> 00:06:29,820 And then you start to panic. 160 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:31,120 Oh, [bleep] 161 00:06:31,220 --> 00:06:33,120 then all of a sudden, it's dangerous. 162 00:06:33,220 --> 00:06:34,020 It's real [bleep] in here. 163 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:35,020 It scares the hell out of you. 164 00:06:36,490 --> 00:06:38,960 Why is this tunnel narrowing up and getting smaller? 165 00:06:39,060 --> 00:06:40,290 Nick laviolette: Chasing the vein. 166 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,600 Dave turin: So this is the gold-bearing veins here. 167 00:06:42,700 --> 00:06:43,860 Nick laviolette: This is it. 168 00:06:43,970 --> 00:06:45,970 Dave turin: So they only took as much as they had to. 169 00:06:46,070 --> 00:06:47,030 Nick laviolette: That's correct. 170 00:06:48,770 --> 00:06:52,440 Narrator: Deep underground, dave begins his search 171 00:06:52,540 --> 00:06:55,780 for the gold rich quartz vein, using a mini metal 172 00:06:55,880 --> 00:07:00,510 detector to pinpoint gold inside layers of sulfur and minerals. 173 00:07:02,050 --> 00:07:02,950 Nick laviolette: Oh, yeah. 174 00:07:03,050 --> 00:07:05,290 See that quartz right there. 175 00:07:05,390 --> 00:07:06,690 All this mineralization. 176 00:07:06,790 --> 00:07:07,490 Dave turin: Holy crap. 177 00:07:07,590 --> 00:07:08,360 Look at this. 178 00:07:08,460 --> 00:07:10,660 There should be gold in this. 179 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:12,530 You've got this granite, and you've got 180 00:07:12,630 --> 00:07:14,160 the quartz right at this zone. 181 00:07:16,100 --> 00:07:17,300 This is where all the minerals come up. 182 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:23,240 Nick laviolette: It sure looks good, doesn't it? 183 00:07:23,340 --> 00:07:24,170 Dave turin: We heading out. 184 00:07:24,270 --> 00:07:25,310 Nick laviolette: We're heading out. 185 00:07:25,410 --> 00:07:26,510 Dave turin: Ok. 186 00:07:26,610 --> 00:07:27,770 Nick laviolette: I'll give you the [inaudible].. 187 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:29,210 Ok 188 00:07:29,340 --> 00:07:32,210 narrator: Dave now has to haul the rock sample a quarter 189 00:07:32,310 --> 00:07:33,910 mile back to the surface. 190 00:07:34,020 --> 00:07:35,380 Dave turin: All right, you guys, here we go. 191 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:36,320 Nick laviolette: All right. 192 00:07:36,450 --> 00:07:37,350 Sunshine! 193 00:07:37,450 --> 00:07:38,150 Woo! 194 00:07:39,050 --> 00:07:39,950 Man: All right. Sunshine. 195 00:07:40,060 --> 00:07:40,750 Man: [inaudible] 196 00:07:40,860 --> 00:07:42,220 man: Woo! 197 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:43,260 Hey, brother. 198 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:44,060 What's happening? 199 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:44,890 How'd it go? 200 00:07:44,990 --> 00:07:46,660 Here's the crew coming out. 201 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:47,890 Woo! 202 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,330 We went to the center of the earth. 203 00:07:50,430 --> 00:07:51,130 Right here. 204 00:07:51,230 --> 00:07:51,930 Great. 205 00:07:53,700 --> 00:07:54,500 Dave turin: Good job, guys. 206 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:55,440 That was fun. 207 00:07:55,540 --> 00:07:56,370 You find something? 208 00:07:56,470 --> 00:07:57,500 I think the gold's in there. 209 00:07:57,610 --> 00:07:58,910 I mean, I know what gold looks like, 210 00:07:59,010 --> 00:08:00,070 but when it's in a rock form-- 211 00:08:00,180 --> 00:08:01,110 bill stiles: It's different. 212 00:08:01,210 --> 00:08:02,180 Dave turin: I think if we crush it-- 213 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:03,140 bill stiles: You'll find out. 214 00:08:05,910 --> 00:08:07,080 Dave turin: Bill, let's weigh this up. 215 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:11,150 33 pounds. 216 00:08:11,250 --> 00:08:11,950 All right, guys. 217 00:08:12,050 --> 00:08:13,150 We've got 33 pounds of ore. 218 00:08:13,260 --> 00:08:14,790 Let's see if there's any gold in it. 219 00:08:16,230 --> 00:08:19,490 Narrator: To extract the gold from the hard rock, 220 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:21,530 dave must break it down. 221 00:08:21,630 --> 00:08:23,300 First, it's fed into a jaw crusher. 222 00:08:24,670 --> 00:08:27,870 The next stage is a pulverizer, reducing 223 00:08:27,970 --> 00:08:30,200 the floor to a fine powder, which is 224 00:08:30,310 --> 00:08:32,910 processed on bill's gold table. 225 00:08:33,010 --> 00:08:37,210 Before the results come through, dave crunches the. Numbers. 226 00:08:37,310 --> 00:08:40,610 Nick, what do you think it would cost to fix that tunnel 227 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:41,950 up, so you're safe going in. 228 00:08:42,050 --> 00:08:44,120 Nick laviolette: Just the invert alone, probably 50 to 100. 229 00:08:44,220 --> 00:08:45,620 Shoo. 230 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:47,850 You've got to have a generator up here to probably constantly 231 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:49,390 be pumping fresh air. 232 00:08:49,490 --> 00:08:53,560 The other thing that we don't have is exploratory drilling. 233 00:08:53,660 --> 00:08:55,630 With that kind of an investment, I'd have 234 00:08:55,730 --> 00:08:59,730 to see like 300 bucks a ton. 235 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:03,800 [hawk calling] 236 00:09:06,410 --> 00:09:08,480 nick laviolette: It's my first gold pulled out of a tunnel, 237 00:09:08,580 --> 00:09:09,440 but it's not bad. 238 00:09:11,380 --> 00:09:12,850 Yeah, I'm looking at that. 239 00:09:12,950 --> 00:09:14,610 I'd say that's a little less than a quarter 240 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:15,650 of a gram of gold. 241 00:09:15,750 --> 00:09:16,720 Bill stiles: Yeah. 242 00:09:16,820 --> 00:09:17,850 Dave turin: If you start doing the math,-- 243 00:09:17,950 --> 00:09:19,090 bill stiles: Yeah. 244 00:09:19,190 --> 00:09:20,390 Dave turin: --I I think it's about 100 bucks a ton. 245 00:09:20,490 --> 00:09:21,190 Nick laviolette: Yeah. 246 00:09:22,660 --> 00:09:24,190 Dave turin: In a place like this, 247 00:09:24,290 --> 00:09:27,730 I think you've got to have $300. 248 00:09:27,830 --> 00:09:31,970 The way I see it, bill, is, for me, I'm out. 249 00:09:32,070 --> 00:09:33,130 It's a no for now. 250 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:34,330 But we'll keep it in mind. 251 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:35,540 Ok? Thank you, bill. 252 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:36,770 Bill stiles: Glad, glad you came out. 253 00:09:36,870 --> 00:09:38,200 - Really appreciate it. - Good to meet you guys. 254 00:09:38,310 --> 00:09:39,270 It's been a pleasure. 255 00:09:39,370 --> 00:09:40,070 Dave turin: All right. 256 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:43,940 That was crazy. 257 00:09:44,050 --> 00:09:46,450 At first, underground scared the hell out of me. 258 00:09:46,550 --> 00:09:47,980 I gotta hand it to the old timers. 259 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:50,220 It takes a special guy to crawl underground 260 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:51,790 and do that kind of work. 261 00:09:51,890 --> 00:09:54,520 I still believe there's gold in these underground mines. 262 00:09:54,620 --> 00:09:56,260 I think it could change the game. 263 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:57,320 I'm gonna keep looking. 264 00:09:57,430 --> 00:10:00,360 [music playing] 264 00:10:01,305 --> 00:11:01,346 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm