"Gold Rush" Paydirt Playbook: Gold Rush Special

1 00:00:01,700 --> 00:00:02,430 It is show time! 2 00:00:02,530 --> 00:00:03,800 Narrator: On this "Gold Rush"... 3 00:00:03,900 --> 00:00:06,300 - Show me the money! - Show me the money! 4 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,170 Narrator: ...Over 10 years, the miners have pulled in 5 00:00:09,270 --> 00:00:12,910 almost $70 million worth of gold. 6 00:00:13,010 --> 00:00:15,840 We broke the scale! [ Laughs ] 7 00:00:15,940 --> 00:00:18,180 Narrator: Along the way, some have struck out... 8 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:19,420 Man #12: We're all gonna be broke. 9 00:00:19,450 --> 00:00:22,580 Todd: You are freaking kidding me! 10 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,020 We're on the road to trouble actually. 11 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,650 Narrator: While others... 12 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:29,620 Scored massive paydays. 13 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:31,430 We're washing rocks, baby! 14 00:00:31,530 --> 00:00:34,090 Every gold miner's looking for stuff like this. 15 00:00:36,130 --> 00:00:37,930 Look at all that good stuff. 16 00:00:38,030 --> 00:00:39,470 - Whoa. - [ Laughs ] 17 00:00:39,570 --> 00:00:43,440 Narrator: Now we reveal the secrets to striking it rich. 18 00:00:43,540 --> 00:00:45,640 Shake your moneymaker right there. 19 00:00:45,740 --> 00:00:46,810 From prospecting... 20 00:00:46,910 --> 00:00:48,740 It's [bleep] garbage, and it's good stuff. 21 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:50,280 That's the [bleep] bottom line. 22 00:00:50,380 --> 00:00:53,410 You're all millionaires. The only thing is you got to 23 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:54,650 get it out of the ground. 24 00:00:54,750 --> 00:00:56,460 Narrator: ...To running massive machinery... 25 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:57,720 Parker: Yeah, baby! 26 00:00:57,820 --> 00:01:01,760 ...and gold-catching monsters, 27 00:01:01,860 --> 00:01:03,160 the definitive guide... 28 00:01:03,260 --> 00:01:04,290 Ohh-ooh! 29 00:01:04,390 --> 00:01:05,760 ...to gold mining. 30 00:01:05,860 --> 00:01:07,930 - Can get used to that. Whoo! - [ Laughs ] 31 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:15,074 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm 32 00:01:19,470 --> 00:01:20,740 Money. 33 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:22,780 Ooh-aah. There's gold. 34 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,810 Narrator: For more than 6,500 years, 35 00:01:25,910 --> 00:01:30,080 humans have hunted and mined this rare and precious metal. 36 00:01:30,190 --> 00:01:31,550 That's a hell of a lot of gold. 37 00:01:31,650 --> 00:01:32,950 Narrator: In all that time, 38 00:01:33,050 --> 00:01:37,020 just 197,000 tons have been mined. 39 00:01:37,130 --> 00:01:42,200 This gold would only fill four Olympic swimming pools. 40 00:01:42,300 --> 00:01:43,660 Man #2: Look at that big guy. 41 00:01:43,770 --> 00:01:47,170 With an estimated 54,000 tons of gold 42 00:01:47,270 --> 00:01:48,870 still left in the ground, 43 00:01:48,970 --> 00:01:51,770 the race to find it and bank millions 44 00:01:51,870 --> 00:01:54,480 drives prospectors to the ends of the earth. 45 00:01:54,580 --> 00:01:57,740 It's gonna be a treasure hunt. I'm super excited. 46 00:01:57,850 --> 00:01:59,750 Narrator: Tracking down gold-rich ground 47 00:01:59,850 --> 00:02:02,080 is their first challenge. 48 00:02:02,180 --> 00:02:04,120 I think I found something! 49 00:02:04,220 --> 00:02:06,320 There's some gold right there. 50 00:02:09,220 --> 00:02:13,160 Every gold miner's dream is to hit a mother lode, 51 00:02:13,260 --> 00:02:16,200 the geological term for the source of gold. 52 00:02:16,300 --> 00:02:19,270 Finding one could mean billions. 53 00:02:19,370 --> 00:02:23,170 After mining for five years with mixed results, 54 00:02:23,270 --> 00:02:25,610 Todd Hoffman swings for the fences, 55 00:02:25,710 --> 00:02:27,110 taking his father, Jack, 56 00:02:27,210 --> 00:02:29,080 and son, hunter, on a treasure hunt 57 00:02:29,180 --> 00:02:32,450 up the Yukon's legendary Eldorado creek 58 00:02:32,550 --> 00:02:36,320 in search of the mother lode. 59 00:02:36,420 --> 00:02:38,750 Jack: Guys, this is it. 60 00:02:38,850 --> 00:02:41,790 The history of this creek, hunter, is that there's 61 00:02:41,890 --> 00:02:45,030 more gold here than any place else in the Yukon. 62 00:02:45,130 --> 00:02:48,560 Eldorado. It's got a lot of history. I'll tell you that. 63 00:02:48,660 --> 00:02:49,960 What are those? 64 00:02:50,060 --> 00:02:51,600 Those are stamp-mill parts right there. 65 00:02:51,700 --> 00:02:53,070 - A drill bit. - Yeah. 66 00:02:53,170 --> 00:02:55,300 Yeah, that's an old drill bit. 67 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,170 Narrator: In August 1896, 68 00:02:57,270 --> 00:03:00,040 less than three miles down creek, 69 00:03:00,140 --> 00:03:03,080 prospectors found piles of gold nuggets. 70 00:03:03,180 --> 00:03:04,780 Since their discovery, 71 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,710 miners have pulled out over 6 million ounces, 72 00:03:07,820 --> 00:03:11,990 making Eldorado one of the richest claims in the Klondike. 73 00:03:12,090 --> 00:03:16,320 And many believe there's a lot more to be found. 74 00:03:16,420 --> 00:03:18,390 The Hoffmans meet claim owner 75 00:03:18,490 --> 00:03:22,660 and expert geologist Peter Tallman. 76 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,530 Look at that hat. 77 00:03:24,630 --> 00:03:26,700 We've been hearing about this creek 78 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:28,140 since we were kids. 79 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,710 How much gold do you think is really left up in this area? 80 00:03:31,810 --> 00:03:34,470 The second-largest nugget in the Klondike 81 00:03:34,580 --> 00:03:37,880 was recovered just right there. 82 00:03:37,980 --> 00:03:41,580 This particular rock is coming from bedrock 83 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,880 with a chunk of gold in it. 84 00:03:43,990 --> 00:03:45,920 Are you freakin' kidding me? 85 00:03:46,020 --> 00:03:50,760 The fault is providing a source for what's in these creeks. 86 00:03:50,860 --> 00:03:54,930 Narrator: Gold is formed when stars explode. 87 00:03:57,670 --> 00:03:59,830 Four and a half billion years ago, 88 00:03:59,930 --> 00:04:04,540 the dust of dead stars combined to form the earth 89 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,440 with gold at its core. 90 00:04:07,540 --> 00:04:10,040 When magma containing this gold 91 00:04:10,140 --> 00:04:13,280 is forced up through faults in the earth's crust, 92 00:04:13,380 --> 00:04:17,280 it cools and crystallizes into veins of quartz and gold 93 00:04:17,390 --> 00:04:19,950 known as a mother lode. 94 00:04:20,050 --> 00:04:23,490 Mining this is called hard-rock mining. 95 00:04:23,590 --> 00:04:27,390 But over time, streams erode the mother lode, 96 00:04:27,500 --> 00:04:30,430 carrying gold into the valleys below. 97 00:04:34,270 --> 00:04:36,700 The heavy gold then sinks through the mud 98 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:38,040 and gathers on bedrock 99 00:04:38,140 --> 00:04:41,410 in the placer deposits the Hoffmans are looking for. 100 00:04:41,510 --> 00:04:44,850 There is gold here in the creeks, 101 00:04:44,950 --> 00:04:49,780 and it's still available to be mined. 102 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:51,790 There's a million ounces in the rocks somewhere. 103 00:04:51,890 --> 00:04:54,150 There's been 20 million eroded out of the rocks, 104 00:04:54,260 --> 00:04:57,160 so somewhere there's got to be some of that left. 105 00:04:57,260 --> 00:04:59,430 It's one of the last areas on the planet 106 00:04:59,530 --> 00:05:02,560 where nobody's been able to find the bedrock source. 107 00:05:02,660 --> 00:05:05,430 This would be a treasure hunt of all treasure hunts. 108 00:05:05,530 --> 00:05:08,300 Jack: So this might be our future right here. 109 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:10,140 [ Laughter ] 110 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:11,940 Todd: Hey, you think we can come 111 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,980 to some kind of a deal on this place? 112 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:19,180 I'd be open to it. We'll work something out. 113 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:21,420 Sounds like a deal, man. Thanks. 114 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:23,350 Right on. 115 00:05:25,890 --> 00:05:29,620 Narrator: Todd spent six weeks and thousands of dollars 116 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,260 in search of a monster pay day. 117 00:05:33,930 --> 00:05:37,600 Jack: I don't want just a little bit of gold. I want crazy gold. 118 00:05:37,700 --> 00:05:41,070 Narrator: But he never did find Eldorado's mother lode. 119 00:05:41,170 --> 00:05:43,600 How's it look? 120 00:05:43,710 --> 00:05:45,910 This is not what I expected. 121 00:05:46,010 --> 00:05:48,740 There is absolutely nothing here. 122 00:05:51,350 --> 00:05:53,910 Eldorado is dead. 123 00:05:54,020 --> 00:05:57,680 Narrator: Todd gambled everything on one spot and lost, 124 00:05:57,790 --> 00:05:59,390 but there is another way. 125 00:05:59,490 --> 00:06:01,990 Old-school digging! Like, real digging. 126 00:06:02,090 --> 00:06:04,560 Prospect on many different spots 127 00:06:04,660 --> 00:06:07,230 and test for gold before you dig... 128 00:06:08,930 --> 00:06:11,630 ...by panning... Metal detecting... 129 00:06:11,730 --> 00:06:13,070 [ Beeping ] 130 00:06:13,170 --> 00:06:16,240 [ Chuckles ] That's so crazy. 131 00:06:16,340 --> 00:06:19,310 ...or reading the land with ground-penetrating radar 132 00:06:19,410 --> 00:06:22,110 and aerial mapping. 133 00:06:22,210 --> 00:06:25,780 Miners rely on the clues these techniques provide 134 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:27,410 to find the best spot. 135 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:32,350 Look how this valley opens up right there. Look right here. 136 00:06:32,450 --> 00:06:34,490 See where it just fans out right there? 137 00:06:34,590 --> 00:06:37,590 That should be an alluvial fan. 138 00:06:37,690 --> 00:06:39,690 I think our best gold is right here. 139 00:06:39,790 --> 00:06:42,430 Narrator: And for one man, there's only one way 140 00:06:42,530 --> 00:06:45,230 to identify a gold-rich pay streak. 141 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:58,180 In 2013, 18-year-old Parker Schnabel 142 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:02,280 decides to mine in the Yukon for the first time. 143 00:07:02,380 --> 00:07:05,320 As soon as he arrives, he gets a lesson in drilling 144 00:07:05,420 --> 00:07:09,590 from his new landlord, mining legend Tony beets. 145 00:07:16,830 --> 00:07:19,530 Sounds good to me. 146 00:07:21,740 --> 00:07:25,470 We're good to go! 147 00:07:25,570 --> 00:07:29,510 Narrator: Tony's plan... Drill a series of test holes 148 00:07:29,610 --> 00:07:31,410 through worthless overburden 149 00:07:31,510 --> 00:07:34,410 in search of a pay streak of gold-rich gravel 150 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:36,650 that has settled on the bedrock. 151 00:07:45,460 --> 00:07:47,690 How many holes should I drill? 152 00:07:50,060 --> 00:07:52,800 They're looking for rounded gravel, 153 00:07:52,900 --> 00:07:55,040 which would indicate an ancient riverbed 154 00:07:55,170 --> 00:07:57,570 where gold would have gathered. 155 00:07:57,670 --> 00:08:00,270 How deep are we at right now? 156 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:06,850 That's no good. 157 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,430 I would much rather drill something and find out 158 00:08:18,530 --> 00:08:21,700 that there's no gold rather than just dig holes 159 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:23,430 and guess where we're going. 160 00:08:23,530 --> 00:08:25,470 Normally, I would have stripped this whole thing 161 00:08:25,570 --> 00:08:28,400 and mined it and found nothing, right? 162 00:08:28,500 --> 00:08:32,140 So now we can move on and find gold elsewhere. 163 00:08:36,010 --> 00:08:38,210 Starting to look pretty different. 164 00:08:38,310 --> 00:08:41,650 Hopefully this thing is on some pay dirt right now. 165 00:08:43,950 --> 00:08:47,150 What does that sound like to you? 166 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,060 How deep are we at right now? 167 00:08:53,730 --> 00:08:56,060 Right on. 168 00:08:59,970 --> 00:09:02,040 Yeah, baby! 169 00:09:12,950 --> 00:09:14,550 Sounds good to me. 170 00:09:22,020 --> 00:09:23,890 Right on. 171 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:43,710 - Right there. - Look at that. 172 00:09:43,810 --> 00:09:45,710 A bunch of little flakes. 173 00:09:54,790 --> 00:09:57,320 Yeah. And I have been spending a lot of it. 174 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:05,800 [ Laughter ] 175 00:10:05,900 --> 00:10:08,600 Narrator: Coming up, getting down to the gold 176 00:10:08,700 --> 00:10:11,910 on the richest cuts in "gold rush" history. 177 00:10:12,010 --> 00:10:14,470 - Oh, no way, man! - I don't think anybody 178 00:10:14,580 --> 00:10:17,680 would have guessed there was much gold in that ground. 179 00:10:24,290 --> 00:10:27,990 Narrator: On this "gold rush," we reveal the secrets 180 00:10:28,090 --> 00:10:29,860 to making millions mining for gold. 181 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,090 Man #3: So, now that you've got my interest... 182 00:10:32,190 --> 00:10:34,130 Once you've found where the gold is... 183 00:10:34,230 --> 00:10:36,330 This is gold country. That's what this is. 184 00:10:36,430 --> 00:10:39,500 ...you need to dig down to the gold-rich pay layer. 185 00:10:42,370 --> 00:10:45,710 Every gold miner's looking for stuff like this. 186 00:10:45,810 --> 00:10:49,440 We've got river rock, and then you got bedrock. 187 00:10:49,540 --> 00:10:52,550 Right where those two meet is where all the gold is. 188 00:10:52,650 --> 00:10:55,220 Narrator: But getting down to the rich pay layer 189 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:57,880 is never as easy as it looks. 190 00:10:57,990 --> 00:11:00,720 It's no joke moving this amount of dirt. 191 00:11:04,630 --> 00:11:06,990 Narrator: "Gold rush's" most profitable cut? 192 00:11:07,060 --> 00:11:10,260 The last cut. 193 00:11:10,330 --> 00:11:13,000 Over three seasons, Parker pulled out more than 194 00:11:13,100 --> 00:11:16,970 10,000 ounces of Klondike gold, 195 00:11:17,070 --> 00:11:19,810 worth nearly $13 million. 196 00:11:19,910 --> 00:11:21,570 [ Laughter ] 197 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:25,310 Parker: The last cut is the best ground that we've ever mined. 198 00:11:25,410 --> 00:11:28,150 Narrator: Rewind to 2017... 199 00:11:28,250 --> 00:11:30,150 [ Tape whirring ] 200 00:11:30,250 --> 00:11:31,750 [ Indistinct shouting ] 201 00:11:31,850 --> 00:11:33,820 ...and all that gold 202 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:38,560 was buried under millions of tons of dirt 203 00:11:38,660 --> 00:11:42,230 across an area twice the size of Ellis island. 204 00:11:46,030 --> 00:11:47,900 Parker: All right. Here's the first push. 205 00:11:51,340 --> 00:11:53,740 This cut that we're opening up, is, you know, 206 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,740 the last piece of ground that I intend on mining for Tony. 207 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,480 So we're calling it "the last cut." 208 00:12:00,580 --> 00:12:03,780 Narrator: To get to the pay layer 20 feet down, 209 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:09,760 Parker breaks out a d10 dozer to strip the virgin ground... 210 00:12:09,860 --> 00:12:12,730 While his crew brings in excavators 211 00:12:12,830 --> 00:12:14,560 and a fleet of rock trucks 212 00:12:14,660 --> 00:12:19,300 to remove waste overburden from the cut. 213 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:21,480 Man #4: Things are starting to shape up down here pretty good, 214 00:12:21,500 --> 00:12:22,670 though, eh? 215 00:12:22,770 --> 00:12:25,170 Yeah, man. It's looking good. 216 00:12:25,270 --> 00:12:27,440 Narrator: But six feet down... 217 00:12:27,540 --> 00:12:29,840 - [ Thud ] - [Bleep] 218 00:12:29,940 --> 00:12:33,080 Hear that? That's the sound of me hitting frozen ground. 219 00:12:35,850 --> 00:12:37,780 ...Parker's crew member, Brennan, 220 00:12:37,890 --> 00:12:39,920 has hit permafrost, 221 00:12:40,020 --> 00:12:44,220 ground that's been frozen solid for thousands of years. 222 00:12:46,530 --> 00:12:48,630 Hey, Rick, I got a little problem down here. 223 00:12:48,730 --> 00:12:50,800 You mind coming down, take a look? 224 00:12:57,610 --> 00:13:00,270 So, like, this whole area is pretty much frozen? 225 00:13:00,370 --> 00:13:02,910 Yeah. We can see the ice in it, so... 226 00:13:03,010 --> 00:13:05,310 [Bleep] Frost, man. 227 00:13:05,410 --> 00:13:07,610 Holy [bleep]. 228 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:09,920 You're just gonna have to scrape up what you can get. 229 00:13:10,020 --> 00:13:12,220 I'm gonna have to talk to Parker. 230 00:13:13,820 --> 00:13:16,560 Parker: I hate going into a cat when everything's frozen. 231 00:13:16,660 --> 00:13:19,760 This is a lesson on how not to mine. 232 00:13:19,860 --> 00:13:24,000 Your only two options are to let it thaw or to rip it. 233 00:13:26,130 --> 00:13:29,970 Narrator: Parker's plan... Use d10 dozers 234 00:13:30,070 --> 00:13:33,940 to break the permafrost into chunks to melt... 235 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:37,780 Then strip away the thawed ground to expose the gravels 236 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:39,780 where the gold is concentrated. 237 00:13:49,090 --> 00:13:51,790 Mitch: First thing I'm gonna do is throw a rip in it. 238 00:13:51,890 --> 00:13:54,370 We're gonna get some air down in it, get some sunlight on this, 239 00:13:54,430 --> 00:13:56,800 and hopefully it'll thaw out. 240 00:13:58,770 --> 00:14:01,500 Narrator: The d10's 7-ton steel ripper... 241 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:03,440 There you go. You got it. 242 00:14:03,540 --> 00:14:06,710 ...is engineered to tear through concrete. 243 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:10,640 Mitch: We'll crush this ground together 244 00:14:10,740 --> 00:14:12,250 and get it done as quick as possible, 245 00:14:12,350 --> 00:14:16,020 and then the sun can take over and do what it's got to do. 246 00:14:21,820 --> 00:14:25,890 One step closer to paydirt. You betcha. [ Laughs ] 247 00:14:31,130 --> 00:14:34,270 Narrator: The deeper the crew dig through the layers of dirt, 248 00:14:34,370 --> 00:14:36,740 the further back in time they go. 249 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,340 What is that? 250 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:50,920 Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a tusk. 251 00:14:51,020 --> 00:14:52,620 I've never dug one out before. 252 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:54,390 Brennan's found a few small ones. 253 00:14:54,490 --> 00:14:58,020 Narrator: 12,000 years ago, during the last ice age, 254 00:14:58,130 --> 00:15:02,530 Parker's claim was an open plain filled with streams... 255 00:15:02,630 --> 00:15:04,260 The perfect habitat... Come on, baby. 256 00:15:04,370 --> 00:15:05,630 ...for woolly mammoths. 257 00:15:05,730 --> 00:15:08,640 Oh, no way, man! [ Laughs ] 258 00:15:08,740 --> 00:15:12,270 That is definitely a tusk. That is unreal! 259 00:15:12,370 --> 00:15:15,280 Look at that thing. 260 00:15:15,380 --> 00:15:17,440 Can you imagine having this hanging off your face, 261 00:15:17,540 --> 00:15:19,380 walking around out here? 262 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,320 You know, some people think that if you find a mammoth task, 263 00:15:22,420 --> 00:15:24,120 there's gonna be a lot of gold there. 264 00:15:24,250 --> 00:15:25,950 It's extremely dense, extremely heavy. 265 00:15:26,050 --> 00:15:27,320 You know, much like gold. 266 00:15:27,420 --> 00:15:29,860 So there is a chance that, you know, 267 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,290 possibly some gold was washed in there at the same time. 268 00:15:35,860 --> 00:15:37,430 Narrator: 20 feet down, 269 00:15:37,530 --> 00:15:39,970 the crew's still not hit the prize... 270 00:15:40,070 --> 00:15:42,300 Gold-rich gravels. 271 00:15:45,370 --> 00:15:47,740 We're into the overburden, but nobody has any idea 272 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:49,040 how deep it is. 273 00:15:49,140 --> 00:15:53,050 Could be [bleep] 30 feet of overburden. 274 00:15:53,150 --> 00:15:55,450 We almost done? 'Cause I'm hungry. 275 00:15:55,550 --> 00:15:57,530 Another couple of minutes here. Let me flatten this off 276 00:15:57,550 --> 00:15:58,990 and back in here. 277 00:15:59,090 --> 00:16:01,120 We'll call it a day. 278 00:16:07,460 --> 00:16:09,700 Hold on. 279 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,170 Just hold on. Ahh. 280 00:16:13,270 --> 00:16:16,440 You know, that kind of feels a bit different, though. 281 00:16:20,870 --> 00:16:22,310 [ Groans ] 282 00:16:22,410 --> 00:16:24,610 Oh, yeah. 283 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,380 You know, when we start to see bigger rocks like this... 284 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:32,420 I think that's what we're looking for. 285 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,890 And it's thawed, so I think we might be in business here. 286 00:16:35,990 --> 00:16:39,190 Narrator: The crew's worked around the clock for eight weeks 287 00:16:39,290 --> 00:16:41,330 to get to this point. 288 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,430 It's time for Parker to do a test pan for gold. 289 00:16:45,530 --> 00:16:47,980 Parker: Yeah, I mean, a good pan should have at least 10 colors. 290 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,300 So it's kind of what we're looking for. 291 00:17:04,050 --> 00:17:06,850 Come look at this. 292 00:17:06,950 --> 00:17:08,890 - [Bleep]. - That's one pan. 293 00:17:08,990 --> 00:17:11,360 What?! [ Chuckles ] 294 00:17:11,460 --> 00:17:14,030 - Dude, look at that chunk. - 16 colors? 295 00:17:14,130 --> 00:17:17,000 No way. Dude, normally you can't pan a flake, either, 296 00:17:17,100 --> 00:17:19,500 and there's like 2,000 ounces in a catch, so... 297 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:21,600 If you can get that, it must be really good. 298 00:17:21,700 --> 00:17:22,870 That's awesome. 299 00:17:22,970 --> 00:17:24,340 - And that's big stuff. - Yeah. 300 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:26,510 The last cut may not be the last cut 301 00:17:26,610 --> 00:17:28,270 if it holds out like this. 302 00:17:28,380 --> 00:17:30,410 "Just joking. I'm back!" 303 00:17:30,510 --> 00:17:32,010 [ Laughter ] 304 00:17:32,110 --> 00:17:34,110 Narrator: After spending weeks 305 00:17:34,210 --> 00:17:37,020 and hundreds of thousands of dollars on fuel 306 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:38,380 to get to pay... 307 00:17:38,490 --> 00:17:39,990 It is show time! 308 00:17:40,090 --> 00:17:44,020 ...it's time to see how much gold the ground holds. 309 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:45,990 Load her up with some dirt, Tyson. 310 00:17:46,090 --> 00:17:47,930 - Whoo! - [ Laughter ] 311 00:17:48,030 --> 00:17:50,930 - Shaking his first rocks. - It looks good! 312 00:17:55,700 --> 00:18:00,440 Narrator: To score big in mining first means finding the gold. 313 00:18:00,540 --> 00:18:02,240 Can't be that complicated. 314 00:18:02,340 --> 00:18:04,810 Narrator: After hitting a gold-rich pay layer... 315 00:18:04,910 --> 00:18:06,750 Fire it up! Let's make some gold. 316 00:18:06,850 --> 00:18:09,620 Narrator: ...It's time to separate the precious metal 317 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:11,780 from the worthless dirt. 318 00:18:11,890 --> 00:18:13,970 This is the big, beautiful bastard that's gonna catch 319 00:18:14,050 --> 00:18:16,060 all the gold for us this year. 320 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,060 A gold wash plant has one goal, 321 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:21,360 and that's to extract a little bit of gold 322 00:18:21,460 --> 00:18:24,800 out of hundreds, thousands, or tons of material. 323 00:18:24,900 --> 00:18:27,670 You need to get the material fed into it, 324 00:18:27,770 --> 00:18:30,000 it needs to wash the rocks, 325 00:18:30,100 --> 00:18:32,110 and it needs to recover the gold out them. 326 00:18:32,210 --> 00:18:35,040 Narrator: No piece of equipment is more important 327 00:18:35,140 --> 00:18:38,140 than a wash plant. 328 00:18:38,250 --> 00:18:41,580 Everything rides on it sifting out the tiny flakes 329 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,650 of gold scattered among thousands of tons of dirt. 330 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:56,600 Some miners use a rotating screened Trommel. 331 00:18:56,700 --> 00:19:02,030 Others use vibrating screens in a shaker deck. 332 00:19:02,140 --> 00:19:04,200 Shake your moneymaker right there. 333 00:19:04,300 --> 00:19:05,940 We're washing rocks, baby! 334 00:19:12,750 --> 00:19:16,850 [ Horn blares ] 335 00:19:16,950 --> 00:19:18,680 Narrator: The most productive wash plant 336 00:19:18,790 --> 00:19:20,590 in "gold rush" history? 337 00:19:20,690 --> 00:19:24,220 Parker's custom-built $600,000 shaker 338 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:25,990 that goes by one name. 339 00:19:26,090 --> 00:19:29,000 Parker: Sluicifer! 340 00:19:29,100 --> 00:19:31,160 There she is! 341 00:19:34,430 --> 00:19:37,300 Doesn't that just look sexy? 342 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,070 Narrator: Parker's secret weapon 343 00:19:39,170 --> 00:19:42,410 can run 250 yards of dirt an hour 344 00:19:42,510 --> 00:19:46,080 and deliver $20,000 of gold a day. 345 00:19:46,180 --> 00:19:48,210 [ Chuckles ] This is bitchin'. 346 00:19:50,220 --> 00:19:53,150 I like that it's nice and new. That's the best part. 347 00:19:53,250 --> 00:19:55,560 Man #5: It's gonna be a shame to run dirt through it. 348 00:20:01,330 --> 00:20:04,260 Narrator: Parker has already opened his cut 349 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:09,070 and stockpiled a mountain of paydirt. 350 00:20:09,170 --> 00:20:14,010 Now he'll drag Sluicifer onto a berm 60 feet high, 351 00:20:14,110 --> 00:20:18,410 set up a conveyor to feed pay into the plant, 352 00:20:18,510 --> 00:20:22,220 and attach a water supply to wash the rocks, 353 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,850 sending the waste tailings and muddy water 354 00:20:24,950 --> 00:20:28,320 out into a disused old cut. 355 00:20:31,460 --> 00:20:34,830 - Well, I guess this is it, huh? - Let's do it. 356 00:20:34,900 --> 00:20:37,200 Don't drop it! 357 00:20:37,300 --> 00:20:39,700 No problem. 358 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,370 The monster wash plant Rick's maneuvering 359 00:20:42,470 --> 00:20:44,770 weighs 45 tons. 360 00:20:47,710 --> 00:20:49,980 Wheelie time. 361 00:20:52,050 --> 00:20:53,850 Whoo. 362 00:20:57,380 --> 00:21:00,620 Easy! Rick! Rick! 363 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:02,190 Holy [bleep], bud. 364 00:21:02,290 --> 00:21:05,020 - What? - It's waving all over the place! 365 00:21:05,130 --> 00:21:06,830 Oh. Gotcha. Sorry. 366 00:21:06,930 --> 00:21:08,640 Parker: Rick's a little aggressive there, you know? 367 00:21:08,660 --> 00:21:10,170 And this is our first time moving the thing. 368 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:13,370 You'd think he'd take it a little easy. 369 00:21:13,470 --> 00:21:15,530 Easy. Easy, easy, easy. 370 00:21:21,510 --> 00:21:22,710 It is show time! 371 00:21:22,810 --> 00:21:25,540 Hopefully, this thing runs as good as it looks! 372 00:21:25,650 --> 00:21:27,180 Well, here's the moment of truth. 373 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,050 Fire it up! Go. 374 00:21:30,150 --> 00:21:32,490 [ Whirring ] 375 00:21:35,590 --> 00:21:39,860 Narrator: Sluicifer runs up to 3,300 gallons of water a minute. 376 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:41,760 - You guys ready for some dirt? - Yeah. 377 00:21:41,830 --> 00:21:43,730 Load her up with some dirt, Tyson. 378 00:21:43,830 --> 00:21:45,330 Narrator: Down in the cut, 379 00:21:45,430 --> 00:21:48,200 the crew loads paydirt into a hopper. 380 00:21:48,300 --> 00:21:51,540 A conveyor takes the pay up to a prewash. 381 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,440 Here, water jets blast 382 00:21:53,540 --> 00:21:57,680 the gold and fine material off the rocks. 383 00:21:57,780 --> 00:21:59,780 Inside the shaker, 384 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:03,950 a series of screens separate out the waste rocks, 385 00:22:04,050 --> 00:22:06,620 allowing fine, gold-bearing material 386 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,660 to flow down into the sluice boxes 387 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:10,960 where the heavier gold 388 00:22:11,060 --> 00:22:15,130 settles between the ripples and into the mats. 389 00:22:15,230 --> 00:22:17,160 - Whoo! - [ Laughter ] 390 00:22:17,260 --> 00:22:19,970 - Shaking his first rocks. - It looks good! 391 00:22:20,070 --> 00:22:23,570 Parker: This is the best wash plant that I've ever seen. 392 00:22:23,670 --> 00:22:26,840 And it's gonna find us a lot of [bleep] gold. 393 00:22:26,910 --> 00:22:29,110 Narrator: To date, Sluicifer has captured 394 00:22:29,210 --> 00:22:34,910 nearly 14,500 ounces of gold, worth over $20 million. 395 00:22:35,020 --> 00:22:37,420 But even a wash plant as powerful and efficient 396 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:41,820 as Sluicifer can only run with one key ingredient. 397 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,590 Parker: We can't sluice without water. 398 00:22:44,690 --> 00:22:48,330 Narrator: Water is the lifeblood of a placer mine. 399 00:22:48,430 --> 00:22:51,130 From panning and monitoring... 400 00:22:51,230 --> 00:22:53,400 Parker: Water's the best way to thaw things out. 401 00:22:53,500 --> 00:22:54,800 That's full flow! 402 00:22:54,900 --> 00:22:56,600 Narrator: ...To a wash plant's prewash... 403 00:22:56,700 --> 00:22:58,070 Yeah, we got water, bud. 404 00:22:58,170 --> 00:23:00,070 Narrator: ...And sluices... 405 00:23:00,170 --> 00:23:02,310 - [ Laughter ] - Whoa! 406 00:23:10,550 --> 00:23:13,720 What in the [bleep]? There's no [bleep] water. 407 00:23:13,820 --> 00:23:16,090 ...keeping water flowing to the plant... 408 00:23:16,190 --> 00:23:17,990 I ain't got no water! 409 00:23:19,660 --> 00:23:21,630 ...is critical. 410 00:23:27,630 --> 00:23:30,470 Plants draw water from intake ponds 411 00:23:30,570 --> 00:23:35,210 filled up from nearby creeks or rivers. 412 00:23:35,310 --> 00:23:36,880 Losing access to water 413 00:23:36,980 --> 00:23:39,980 is a gold miner's worst nightmare. 414 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,350 - What's up, dude? - We're in deep, deep trouble. 415 00:23:42,450 --> 00:23:44,180 What do you mean? Something broke? 416 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:45,790 They got our water shut down. 417 00:23:45,890 --> 00:23:48,020 What do you mean your water's shut down? 418 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:50,490 Basically, we got served an injunction by the state. 419 00:23:50,590 --> 00:23:53,760 We can't use those ponds. We have no water right now. 420 00:23:53,860 --> 00:23:56,930 In Colorado, when Freddie's intake ponds 421 00:23:57,030 --> 00:24:01,870 were ruled off limits, he was forced to get creative. 422 00:24:01,970 --> 00:24:05,810 Here's our only option. Our cut from last year. 423 00:24:05,910 --> 00:24:08,640 Line it and get it filled with water. 424 00:24:11,550 --> 00:24:12,950 Narrator: Freddie's plan... 425 00:24:13,050 --> 00:24:16,180 Turn an old cut into a giant holding pond 426 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:22,290 by lining it with 70,000 square feet of polyethylene sheets. 427 00:24:22,390 --> 00:24:25,620 He'll then fill it with 4.5 million gallons 428 00:24:25,690 --> 00:24:29,930 of fresh water pumped from a nearby river. 429 00:24:30,030 --> 00:24:32,330 - Okay. We good? - Good. 430 00:24:32,430 --> 00:24:34,570 Loader coming in. 431 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:41,470 I want to be filling this pond up tonight. 432 00:24:41,580 --> 00:24:44,910 And go over this way in front of the excavator. 433 00:24:45,010 --> 00:24:47,210 Well, that's the first piece of many. 434 00:24:47,310 --> 00:24:49,010 Two, three. 435 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:56,360 Whew. 436 00:24:56,460 --> 00:24:59,490 We got to figure out a way to do this a little bit faster. 437 00:25:01,730 --> 00:25:05,130 Narrator: Freddy swaps manpower for horsepower. 438 00:25:06,770 --> 00:25:08,370 Here goes nothing, guys! 439 00:25:08,470 --> 00:25:09,740 Man #6: This is the last time 440 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,270 you all are gonna see Freddy dodge. 441 00:25:19,250 --> 00:25:22,550 Oh, [bleep]. [Bleep]. 442 00:25:22,650 --> 00:25:25,480 [ Laughter ] 443 00:25:25,590 --> 00:25:28,050 One down! 444 00:25:28,150 --> 00:25:31,460 That's a steep [bleep]. 445 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,990 Makes my butthole pucker. 446 00:25:40,100 --> 00:25:42,330 Man #7: Oh, my [bleep] 447 00:25:47,870 --> 00:25:53,480 Narrator: After the liner, next up, the waterproof plastic. 448 00:25:53,580 --> 00:25:55,510 Okay, Freddy. You're hooked up. 449 00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:58,850 Load it! 450 00:26:01,660 --> 00:26:04,560 That's all right. Keep going! 451 00:26:04,660 --> 00:26:09,660 Got it. Get your foot on it. Get some rocks on there. 452 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,230 This is the only time when 300 pounds helps. 453 00:26:19,310 --> 00:26:21,670 We're ready to roll. All we need's water. 454 00:26:21,780 --> 00:26:24,010 Thurber, go ahead and fire that pump up. 455 00:26:24,110 --> 00:26:26,280 [ Engine starts ] 456 00:26:30,020 --> 00:26:32,080 Freddy: Water! Water! 457 00:26:32,190 --> 00:26:34,790 [ All cheering ] 458 00:26:34,890 --> 00:26:37,360 - Yeah. - Hoo! 459 00:26:43,300 --> 00:26:44,930 Fire it up. 460 00:26:45,030 --> 00:26:47,230 [ Engine starts ] 461 00:26:47,330 --> 00:26:49,230 Here it comes, Kev. 462 00:26:51,500 --> 00:26:55,140 We got water coming, Fred. 463 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:56,810 Freddy: It feels damn good. 464 00:26:56,910 --> 00:27:00,250 That water right there, that means gold. 465 00:27:03,150 --> 00:27:04,380 Narrator: Coming up... 466 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,990 Man #8: They're just filthy, dirty with gold. 467 00:27:07,090 --> 00:27:08,320 Looking at a big one. 468 00:27:08,420 --> 00:27:11,590 ...the moment all the hard work pays off. 469 00:27:11,690 --> 00:27:14,030 Holy smokes! Look at that thing! 470 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,200 Narrator: The secrets to making a fortune... 471 00:27:21,300 --> 00:27:23,100 - Whoo-hoo! - Yeah! 472 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,740 Narrator: ...From 10 years of gold mining. 473 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:27,940 I'm a little bit excited. 474 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,540 In the frozen north, 475 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:34,210 miners encounter many types of gold. 476 00:27:34,310 --> 00:27:35,450 Oh-ho-ho! Oh, baby! 477 00:27:35,550 --> 00:27:38,020 Up-mountain, near the mother lode, 478 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:41,350 chunky nuggets and pickers. 479 00:27:41,450 --> 00:27:43,860 That'll look good. On a necklace. 480 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:46,790 Down valley in ancient stream beds, 481 00:27:46,890 --> 00:27:51,100 flakes and super-fine flour gold. 482 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,800 Man #9: Without question, this is the hardest gold to capture. 483 00:27:54,900 --> 00:27:57,000 Narrator: To catch all this gold, 484 00:27:57,100 --> 00:28:00,670 wash plants rely on one vital part. 485 00:28:00,770 --> 00:28:04,710 Man #10: This is our moneymaker. This is our sluice box. 486 00:28:04,810 --> 00:28:08,310 Narrator: At the top of the sluice's chute, 487 00:28:08,420 --> 00:28:12,350 angled riffles are designed to trap large chunks, 488 00:28:12,450 --> 00:28:16,420 while further down, smaller, expanded metal riffles 489 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,560 should recover the finer gold. 490 00:28:19,660 --> 00:28:21,760 Man #11: A piece of gold that likes one situation 491 00:28:21,860 --> 00:28:23,300 doesn't like another. 492 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,200 Big red' sluice box. Right here. 493 00:28:25,300 --> 00:28:28,030 Narrator: Setting up sluices is a fine art, 494 00:28:28,130 --> 00:28:29,770 and if they're not right, 495 00:28:29,870 --> 00:28:32,910 a miner can lose millions of dollars. 496 00:28:33,010 --> 00:28:37,210 Remember one thing, Todd. Slick plates can't catch gold. 497 00:28:37,310 --> 00:28:39,680 I'm just blowing my gold right frickin' down the creek. 498 00:28:39,780 --> 00:28:41,280 Correct. 499 00:28:46,350 --> 00:28:50,460 Narrator: 2013... Parker is on good pay dirt 500 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,230 but suspects his old wash plant, little blue, 501 00:28:54,330 --> 00:28:57,500 is losing gold out of the end of the sluice box. 502 00:28:57,600 --> 00:28:59,500 We want our gold dropping way up there 503 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:01,970 in the first three feet. 504 00:29:02,070 --> 00:29:05,470 Narrator: The only time a miner doesn't want to find gold 505 00:29:05,570 --> 00:29:07,840 is in fine tailings 506 00:29:07,940 --> 00:29:11,810 because that means it's not being caught in the sluices. 507 00:29:11,910 --> 00:29:14,750 We've got some problems. Gold. 508 00:29:14,850 --> 00:29:16,920 Ah [bleep]. 509 00:29:19,420 --> 00:29:22,790 Last thing you want to do is piss gold out. 510 00:29:22,890 --> 00:29:25,990 The ground around here has a lot of garnets, 511 00:29:26,090 --> 00:29:27,860 and that's all this, like, red stuff. 512 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:29,630 And what it looks like is happening 513 00:29:29,730 --> 00:29:32,870 is the garnets are packing these riffles up, 514 00:29:32,970 --> 00:29:35,670 and there's no spot for the gold to drop. 515 00:29:44,010 --> 00:29:46,250 See that? Garnets. 516 00:29:48,310 --> 00:29:50,980 What do you think we're doing wrong here? 517 00:29:54,690 --> 00:29:56,760 Narrator: Normal riffles work 518 00:29:56,860 --> 00:30:00,630 because gold is 19 times denser than water. 519 00:30:00,730 --> 00:30:02,800 It drops and gets trapped 520 00:30:02,900 --> 00:30:06,600 while lighter dirt washes up and away. 521 00:30:06,700 --> 00:30:10,270 But the garnets are almost as heavy as the gold 522 00:30:10,370 --> 00:30:14,940 and are clogging up the riffles, causing gold to wash out. 523 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,280 Tony's plan... Install hydraulic riffles, 524 00:30:18,380 --> 00:30:21,810 which create vortices to agitate the garnets, 525 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,380 allowing the heavier gold to settle on the bottom 526 00:30:25,490 --> 00:30:28,050 while the garnets collect on top. 527 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,430 Parker: It's the magical cure. 528 00:30:38,530 --> 00:30:39,830 What do you think, man? 529 00:30:39,930 --> 00:30:42,030 I think they should drop right in. 530 00:30:42,140 --> 00:30:43,970 You know how to set these up? 531 00:30:44,070 --> 00:30:46,240 Can't be too complicated. Water goes in there 532 00:30:46,340 --> 00:30:48,470 and comes out... I don't know... everywhere. 533 00:30:48,580 --> 00:30:50,340 These hydraulic riffles are kind of a gamble. 534 00:30:50,380 --> 00:30:52,210 And to be perfectly honest, 535 00:30:52,310 --> 00:30:54,710 we had something that was working. 536 00:30:54,810 --> 00:30:56,420 We know it wasn't working 100%, 537 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:01,390 but now we have something that... we have no clue. 538 00:31:01,490 --> 00:31:06,190 And I don't like not knowing what's going on with my money. 539 00:31:06,290 --> 00:31:08,530 Ready for water, boys! 540 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:18,670 We won't know until we run some dirt on it, 541 00:31:18,770 --> 00:31:20,910 so let's throw a few buckets in, huh? 542 00:31:33,350 --> 00:31:35,430 It looks like the hydraulic riffles are working pretty well, 543 00:31:35,460 --> 00:31:39,560 but we won't really know until our next clean-out. 544 00:31:39,660 --> 00:31:43,360 Narrator: After a 12-hour shift, Parker shuts down 545 00:31:43,460 --> 00:31:46,300 to see if the hydraulic riffles have worked. 546 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,270 You seeing any color in there? 547 00:31:53,370 --> 00:31:55,940 I mean, all the garnets. That's a [bleep] pile of garnets. 548 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:57,310 Huh? Yeah. 549 00:31:57,410 --> 00:31:59,610 It's not really clearing them. 550 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:04,980 Yeah. There's a lot of them. 551 00:32:24,940 --> 00:32:27,170 - It's a nice chunk of gold. - [ Laughs ] 552 00:32:27,270 --> 00:32:29,070 That's pretty nice. 553 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:33,080 - Yeah. - Huh? 554 00:32:33,180 --> 00:32:34,480 Nice gold in the mat. 555 00:32:34,580 --> 00:32:36,780 Let's get this shift out of here and... 556 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:40,990 The box looks good. You know? 557 00:32:41,090 --> 00:32:43,990 The viking even had a bit of a smile on his face. 558 00:32:50,700 --> 00:32:53,870 Narrator: Checking the sluices is a miner's first chance 559 00:32:53,970 --> 00:32:56,400 to see if they're on the gold. 560 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:06,080 But until they've pulled the mats and cleaned the gold, 561 00:33:06,180 --> 00:33:09,410 they won't know if all the hard work has paid off. 562 00:33:12,620 --> 00:33:17,490 The mats contain all the gold and fine heavy material. 563 00:33:17,590 --> 00:33:19,930 Next, the miner must wash out the gold 564 00:33:20,060 --> 00:33:22,230 with more precise equipment. 565 00:33:22,330 --> 00:33:24,330 In their second season mining, 566 00:33:24,430 --> 00:33:27,970 the Hoffmans invested in a gold table and a jig 567 00:33:28,070 --> 00:33:31,540 and called on gold-recovery expert Freddy dodge. 568 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:33,110 We're ready. 569 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:38,010 Freddy loads concentrate from the mats 570 00:33:38,110 --> 00:33:41,710 into a mini wash plant called a duplex jig. 571 00:33:46,890 --> 00:33:48,620 Freddy: Just try to keep a constant feed 572 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:50,960 of our materials in our feeder. 573 00:33:51,060 --> 00:33:53,090 We're putting it into a slurry. 574 00:33:53,190 --> 00:33:55,130 Then it's going down to the screen deck. 575 00:33:55,230 --> 00:33:57,100 Our screen deck's cleaning our material 576 00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:59,530 and getting our fine material out. 577 00:34:01,330 --> 00:34:04,170 Narrator: The fine material flows into the jig 578 00:34:04,270 --> 00:34:09,940 and onto a pulsating bed of steel shot on a fine screen. 579 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:11,940 Only the heaviest material, 580 00:34:12,050 --> 00:34:16,380 black sand and fine gold, falls through. 581 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,920 It's a simple process that works extremely well. 582 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:28,860 What is that going right through the bottom? 583 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:30,660 Is that gold coming through here, Fred? 584 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:32,360 Yeah, you can see some gold in there. 585 00:34:32,470 --> 00:34:33,570 Oh. Sweet. 586 00:34:33,670 --> 00:34:35,970 Here's our fine gold. 587 00:34:36,070 --> 00:34:40,140 So, now we've got a majority of our heavies 588 00:34:40,240 --> 00:34:41,670 and our gold. 589 00:34:41,770 --> 00:34:43,880 You can see the gold in it. 590 00:34:43,980 --> 00:34:48,180 This is, uh, fan-damn-tastic, you know? 591 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,980 Todd: Let's get the table rolling, huh? 592 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:52,560 Freddy: See what's in your fine stuff, Todd. 593 00:34:52,590 --> 00:34:56,760 Jack: Yeah. This is the big-time. 594 00:34:56,860 --> 00:34:59,560 Narrator: The final step... 595 00:34:59,660 --> 00:35:02,130 Feed the super concentrated material 596 00:35:02,230 --> 00:35:04,200 onto the oscillating gold table. 597 00:35:04,300 --> 00:35:06,330 Freddy: These grooves are catching our material 598 00:35:06,430 --> 00:35:09,000 so I'll be able to cut the gold right out of it 599 00:35:09,100 --> 00:35:11,170 and we'll get rid of the rest of them. 600 00:35:20,050 --> 00:35:21,310 Is that it, dad? 601 00:35:21,410 --> 00:35:23,580 That's it. That's the first chunk. 602 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,620 It came down, dropped down and went back up here. 603 00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:27,720 It's coming down. 604 00:35:27,820 --> 00:35:29,320 There we go. 605 00:35:29,420 --> 00:35:31,590 There it goes, it's in the bucket. 606 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:36,130 Hey, guys, let's see what you did. 607 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:47,370 There we go, Todd. See how much gold you've got. 608 00:35:55,250 --> 00:35:58,250 - 4 ounces. - Yee-haw! 609 00:35:58,350 --> 00:36:00,050 Good lord. [ Laughs ] 610 00:36:05,420 --> 00:36:06,790 Narrator: Having cleaned up, 611 00:36:06,890 --> 00:36:08,860 all that's left is to weigh the gold... 612 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:09,860 Man #13: Wow. 613 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,630 [ All cheering ] 614 00:36:12,730 --> 00:36:16,000 ...and turn it into cold hard cash. 615 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:26,510 Narrator: Once a cut is mined out, 616 00:36:26,610 --> 00:36:28,580 gold miners are required by law 617 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,050 to restore the land to its natural state. 618 00:36:31,150 --> 00:36:33,100 Rick: You've got to dig up a lot of ground to get gold, 619 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:37,190 but that doesn't mean we got to leave it, you know, a mess. 620 00:36:37,290 --> 00:36:39,860 Parker: I feel proud of what we've done here. 621 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,430 It's an area that we've mined and reclaimed. 622 00:36:42,530 --> 00:36:44,730 We spent a lot of time building a whole new creek bed 623 00:36:44,830 --> 00:36:47,370 and putting infrastructures and... 624 00:36:47,470 --> 00:36:50,000 And building the banks right and all the slopes right, 625 00:36:50,100 --> 00:36:52,640 and it's a complicated thing. 626 00:36:52,740 --> 00:36:54,070 And it looks good. 627 00:36:54,170 --> 00:36:56,440 Not only does it look good, but it's good habitat, too. 628 00:36:56,540 --> 00:36:57,690 You know, we've done a good job 629 00:36:57,710 --> 00:37:00,280 of putting things the way they should be. 630 00:37:00,380 --> 00:37:02,180 You're welcome, otters! 631 00:37:04,580 --> 00:37:05,720 They love it here. 632 00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:14,330 Narrator: For miners, the gold weigh is everything. 633 00:37:14,430 --> 00:37:17,430 Man #14: Are we rich beyond our wildest dream? 634 00:37:17,530 --> 00:37:20,770 Narrator: The moment months of backbreaking work pay off. 635 00:37:20,870 --> 00:37:23,240 - 120. - Oh! 636 00:37:23,340 --> 00:37:25,600 Rick: Hundred and... what the [bleep] 637 00:37:25,710 --> 00:37:28,970 We broke the scale! 638 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:30,740 - Yeah! - That's what we need! 639 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:32,040 Man #15: Look at that. 640 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:38,150 [ Laughter ] Yeah. 641 00:37:38,250 --> 00:37:41,250 Jack: 1,000, 1,644. 642 00:37:41,350 --> 00:37:43,490 3,032. 643 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:47,060 Parker: We're perfectionists, 644 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,360 and every year we get a little more perfect. 645 00:37:51,460 --> 00:37:55,370 Narrator: To turn impure gold dust into legal tender 646 00:37:55,470 --> 00:37:58,070 involves one final process. 647 00:38:04,540 --> 00:38:07,080 In his second season, Parker Schnabel 648 00:38:07,180 --> 00:38:11,720 goes to specialist Don Kinsey to smelt his first-ever bar 649 00:38:11,820 --> 00:38:14,490 of pure gold bullion. 650 00:38:14,590 --> 00:38:17,720 Don puts a mixture of gold and flux 651 00:38:17,820 --> 00:38:20,530 into a heat-resistant crucible. 652 00:38:20,630 --> 00:38:23,700 This is soda ash, 653 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:27,770 and the other material I'll add is borax, 654 00:38:27,870 --> 00:38:30,000 which is a soap. 655 00:38:30,100 --> 00:38:33,910 So once again, you're cleaning the gold. 656 00:38:34,010 --> 00:38:37,540 Don transfers the gold and flux mixture, 657 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:43,150 then puts it in a furnace that he heats to over 2,500 degrees. 658 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:54,130 I never, never watched gold being melted or poured 659 00:38:54,230 --> 00:38:57,160 or any of that kind of stuff before. 660 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,900 Narrator: The soda ash and borax, known as flux, 661 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:10,240 react with the impurities in the inert gold to form waste slag. 662 00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:23,420 Don: Stay calm, nobody panic. 663 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:27,730 As the gold cools, 664 00:39:27,830 --> 00:39:30,530 a dark crust forms on the surface. 665 00:39:38,340 --> 00:39:40,070 Okay, here we go. 666 00:39:40,170 --> 00:39:45,140 This slag contains iron and a trace of silver. 667 00:39:54,250 --> 00:39:59,190 All season, we work to get that, and it's pretty cool. 668 00:40:01,530 --> 00:40:04,530 Narrator: Parker has since become an expert smelter 669 00:40:04,630 --> 00:40:06,230 in his own right. 670 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:10,270 Chris: Don't spill it. 671 00:40:12,940 --> 00:40:14,610 Parker: Oh, my table's leaning. 672 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:17,780 Thanks, Chris. 673 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:19,740 I'm here to help you, Parker. 674 00:40:19,850 --> 00:40:22,110 Each bar weighs 100 ounces. 675 00:40:22,210 --> 00:40:27,850 In 2015, one was worth $110,000. 676 00:40:27,950 --> 00:40:30,860 But five years later, rising gold prices 677 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:35,290 mean it's worth $60,000 more. 678 00:40:35,390 --> 00:40:36,830 Oh, geez. 679 00:40:39,470 --> 00:40:42,300 I'll sit home alone at night and cry and clean gold bars. 680 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:43,500 Clean gold bars. 681 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,470 Yeah, what a horrible thing for you to do, 682 00:40:46,570 --> 00:40:48,870 sit home alone on a Friday night 683 00:40:48,970 --> 00:40:50,840 polishing your bars, huh? 684 00:40:50,940 --> 00:40:53,080 And crying. 685 00:40:53,180 --> 00:40:54,380 Don't forget the crying. 686 00:40:58,050 --> 00:41:00,820 To get to a gold bar 687 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:03,520 from virgin ground 688 00:41:03,620 --> 00:41:06,760 takes ingenuity, hard graft, 689 00:41:06,860 --> 00:41:08,330 and a little luck. 690 00:41:08,430 --> 00:41:10,460 For a bunch of idiots, we did pretty good. 691 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,800 Can you imagine once we figure out what we're doing? 692 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:17,270 And if you're up for the challenge... 693 00:41:17,370 --> 00:41:20,070 There's gold from here to eternity! 694 00:41:20,170 --> 00:41:21,840 Narrator: ...You, too... Ding! 695 00:41:21,940 --> 00:41:24,640 ...can end up with millions in gold. 696 00:41:26,050 --> 00:41:29,750 [ All cheering ] 697 00:41:29,850 --> 00:41:31,320 Jack: You're all millionaires. 698 00:41:31,420 --> 00:41:33,890 The only thing is you got to get it out of the ground. 698 00:41:34,305 --> 00:42:34,940