"Gold Rush" Melt Down

1 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,074 Do you want subtitles for any video? -=[ ai.OpenSubtitles.com ]=- 2 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:19,990 [Parker] Got a lot going on right now, 3 00:00:20,070 --> 00:00:24,030 and hopefully we're not biting off too much. 4 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,310 [narrator] Twenty-seven-year-old Parker Schnabel 5 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,910 is planning something he's never done before, 6 00:00:31,990 --> 00:00:35,870 run two mining operations in different countries, 7 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,310 one in the Yukon and a new one in Alaska. 8 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:41,900 [Parker] It's really dangero 9 00:00:41,900 --> 00:00:45,030 having that big of a battle on two different fronts. 10 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:49,230 Getting people, getting parts is gonna be a real challenge. 11 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:53,270 [narrator] But before Parke can move resources to Alaska 12 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:59,790 he wants his Yukon crew to strip a mammoth 90 acres of ground at the Airstrip. 13 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:02,510 [Parker] We have so much ground to get through 14 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,550 that just stripping is the main issue 15 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:08,070 with just how spread out we're gonna be. 16 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:09,950 Everybody's gonna have to step up. 17 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,310 [narrator] To amp up the pressure even more, 18 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:21,830 Parker's water license at the Airstrip runs out at the end of this season. 19 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,350 He needs to extract all the gold, 20 00:01:25,430 --> 00:01:28,110 or it will stay in the ground forever. 21 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,470 So we're getting really close to being done with the Keyhole Cut. 22 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,630 Crew's working pretty hard to make sure that the next one is ready. 23 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:38,710 [Tyson] Guys, we're almost there. 24 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,950 [narrator] Five weeks into the season, wash plant boss Tyson Lee 25 00:01:43,030 --> 00:01:49,110 has pulled out 975 ounces of gold from the 14-acre Keyhole Cut. 26 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,670 We're getting to the bitter end of the first cut of the season here. 27 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:56,590 I'm loading up the last bit of pay. 28 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,630 So these are the last few truckloads, getting it up to Big Red. 29 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,030 This cut is over and done with. 30 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,590 You're good. My horn is [bleep] again. 31 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:10,310 Hey, you're good. You're loaded. 32 00:02:10,390 --> 00:02:12,630 [woman 1 speaking] 33 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:15,030 [Tyson] Trucker go. Trucker go. 34 00:02:15,110 --> 00:02:17,590 [woman 1] I feel like I'm keeping up at the moment, which is good. 35 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:20,150 I just hope I don't [bleep] it up. 36 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:23,390 [woman 2 on radio] You're doing great. 37 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,230 I think that's it. 38 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,590 [woman 1 on radio] Hey, Justin. 39 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:37,510 [Justin] One last bucket. 40 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:39,790 Here we go. 41 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,270 All righty, guys. Time to shut Big Red down. 42 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,310 The next step is Easy Street 43 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:52,590 [narrator] Just upstream from the Keyhole Cut, 44 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:54,670 Parker's crew has already stripped 45 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:59,310 the 11-acre Easy Street Cut down to pay dirt, 46 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,390 ground they hope can delive over $1 million in gold. 47 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,710 We're stripping down here at the Airstrip. 48 00:03:08,790 --> 00:03:10,750 Everybody's asking, "Why are we calling it Easy Street?" 49 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,310 And I think it's because it's only gonna get tougher from here. 50 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,310 [narrator] To mine out the new cut, 51 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:22,270 Parker needs Big Red moved and running pay dirt before night shift 52 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,310 takes over in just ten hours' time. 53 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:29,470 [Parker] Hopefully, we can nail these transitions, 54 00:03:29,550 --> 00:03:31,990 like we have so much ground to get through that, 55 00:03:32,070 --> 00:03:34,350 you know, smoothly transitioning from one pit 56 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,110 to the next is going to be a critical part of this. 57 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:39,590 And we have a lot of them to do. 58 00:03:39,670 --> 00:03:42,630 If we lose a couple of days per plant move, 59 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,670 it's going to throw a wrench in the works for the whole season. 60 00:03:45,750 --> 00:03:50,510 This is going to be on Tyson getting Big Red moved from the setup it's in to... 61 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,550 to the next one because he needs to get comfortable doing it on his own 62 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,230 because Mitch is dealing with the stripping crew. 63 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,790 [Mitch] Right now it's just Tyson over there on his own 64 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:05,110 and, you know, we're relying on him to be able to keep that plant going. 65 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,070 So we're all done with Big Red here at this setup. 66 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:11,670 We're ready to get back sluicing with the wash plant in the cut. 67 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,710 Trying to do this myself. So wish me luck. 68 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,110 This is the first time I've set Big Red up by myself. 69 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,830 So we just want to be careful not to flip the thing over 70 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:28,950 so it's pretty well-concreted into the ground. 71 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:32,310 Stand back. 72 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:40,230 Yee-haw! 73 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:54,870 [Tyson] So this is probably the sketchiest part of the whole pole. 74 00:04:54,910 --> 00:04:57,310 There's a narrow culvert crossing in the road 75 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:00,470 and Big Red flips over, that's game over. 76 00:05:00,550 --> 00:05:02,190 It's looking pretty tight. 77 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,710 Don't know if we're gonna make or [bleep]. 78 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:11,910 [bleep], that was tight. 79 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:22,710 [narrator] The last step, drag the plant up a steep ra 80 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,110 to the top of the 30-foot high pad. 81 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:33,830 [James] It's all fluff. 82 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:37,350 The plant's dug in. 83 00:05:37,420 --> 00:05:40,910 When you're building a wash plant pad, you need compaction. 84 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,110 That's what we're fighting against right now. 85 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:48,950 The plant's not level. 86 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,590 We have to level the plant before everything else is built around it. 87 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:57,510 I just need to, like, unbury it now. 88 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:01,990 I mean, the plant will do its thing and it'll probably settle, 89 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,510 but it's more of the sluice runs with the river flowing off 90 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:06,230 that I'm concerned about. 91 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,270 [narrator] Tyson now has jus six hours to get the sluices 92 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:14,310 pump and generator ready to fire up for the night shift. 93 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:19,390 [Parker] How's things looking? 94 00:06:19,470 --> 00:06:21,590 When are you firing up, tonight? 95 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:22,860 Hopefully. 96 00:06:22,940 --> 00:06:24,470 I was hoping to just get it prepped behind-- 97 00:06:24,550 --> 00:06:26,390 I don't give a [bleep] how you do it. 98 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:28,350 I just don't want to worry about it. 99 00:06:28,430 --> 00:06:29,950 I'm worried about stripping. 100 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:31,550 That's why I haven't [bleep] been here. 101 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:33,190 No, it's all good. 102 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:34,350 You don't have to worry about it. 103 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:35,830 -Thanks, man. -[Tyson] Thanks. 104 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:40,990 We're dealing with an uncompacted pad, 105 00:06:41,070 --> 00:06:43,150 so we're gonna need good water distribution, 106 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:45,550 and that involves having a chute. 107 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,350 [narrator] Two years ago when Tyson set up a wash plant... 108 00:06:49,430 --> 00:06:51,510 [Parker] Where's all this water coming from? 109 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,750 [narrator] ...water from the sluices undermined the pad... 110 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:57,390 [Parker] Holy crap! 111 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,350 [narrator] ...and nearly toppled the wash plant. 112 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:02,430 -[Tyson] Holy [bleep]. -[Parker] Tyson! 113 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:06,030 [narrator] This time he plan to divert the water runoff 114 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,110 with a 35-foot long steel chute. 115 00:07:09,190 --> 00:07:10,830 [Tyson] We gotta get this trough 116 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,510 and we gotta get it back up to Big Red 117 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,110 because there's still hope of Big Red running tonight. 118 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,550 Any day we're not sluicing means another day 119 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:20,310 we have to sluice into October, November. 120 00:07:20,390 --> 00:07:25,670 [narrator] It's a four-mile journey downstream to where they last used it. 121 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,310 Parker is really counting on me to get Big Red up and going, 122 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,310 so I'm gonna do my best to have it running by the end of the day. 123 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:33,630 [Tyson] What the [bleep]. 124 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:36,510 [bleep]. [bleep] you. 125 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:41,630 This is the last thing I wanted to see right now. 126 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:44,110 Our road's washed completely out. 127 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:45,870 I'm gonna have to pack material in 128 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,950 and get that water going through that culvert. 129 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,710 It must have just been roaring through here. 130 00:07:50,790 --> 00:07:54,550 Move your bum. Go on. 131 00:07:54,630 --> 00:07:58,670 Last year we had this happen and man it took six, seven different pieces of equipment 132 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,030 and people and damn near a whole day to rebuild this road. 133 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:04,030 And that's time I don't have. 134 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,190 [Fred] I could be in serious trouble. 135 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,070 I've got fuel bills coming in and I only have so much money. 136 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,670 So once that money runs out, 137 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:34,030 if we don't have gold coming in, well, we're screwed. 138 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:36,070 I mean, our house is up for grabs on this. 139 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:37,830 We're walking a tightrope right now. 140 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,270 [narrator] Forty-six miles west of Dawson, 141 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,550 in the wilderness of California Creek, 142 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:50,510 combat veteran Fred Lewis is chasing a record 500-ounce season gold. 143 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:55,910 But five weeks in, he's stil not mined a single ounce. 144 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:57,670 [Fred] We're just trying to get the mindset running 145 00:08:57,680 --> 00:09:00,030 so money can start coming in instead of going out. 146 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:01,970 We just got to keep pushing 147 00:09:01,980 --> 00:09:04,390 and get to where we need to be to start sluicing. 148 00:09:04,470 --> 00:09:08,630 [narrator] The long, harsh winter has dealt Fred a crippling blow. 149 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,990 A quarter-mile-long ice shee still stands between him 150 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,190 and his gold-rich pay dirt. 151 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,790 [Fred] This ice is really [bleep] everything. 152 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,150 We're trying to uncover as much as we can and get this mine site moving. 153 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:31,430 [narrator] Last week, Fred resurrected an ancient 90-yard-an-hour wash plant. 154 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,190 [man 1] There it is. 155 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:39,470 [narrator] But it's useless until Fred can dig down to pay. 156 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:44,390 And so far, his attempts to melt the ice have failed 157 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,070 [Stuart] We are so far behind schedule at this moment in time, 158 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,230 you know, that we don't have any time to wait. 159 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:55,230 So we have to take action and take control of the creek. 160 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,510 [Buzz] Hey, Fred, man. What's going on? 161 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,630 -Well, this ice has got to go, man. -Yeah. 162 00:10:02,710 --> 00:10:04,630 We don't have any other way to do it, I think. 163 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:06,230 But to go up there and, uh... 164 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,190 and try and make the creek go back where it belongs somehow, 165 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:11,790 and that should facilitate melting the ice on the right side. 166 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,590 If we can't do that, we really don't have anything else to get it to go. 167 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,390 -I feel like you've got the skill to do this. -Yeah. 168 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:21,870 I think my best bet is for me to walk along the berm, 169 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,030 as you're going up there and just spot it for you. 170 00:10:25,110 --> 00:10:27,990 -All we can do is try, right? -We can't sit here and wait. 171 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,950 We got to try. Let's pound some of that ice out. 172 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:34,430 -Okay. Let's do it. -You got me on the radio? 173 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,990 -[Buzz] Yes, I do. All right -All right, I'll be on the bank. 174 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:44,710 [narrator] Fred's plan, create a 20-foot-long ice da 175 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:50,590 across the narrowest point of the creek to divert wate 176 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:55,070 onto the ice sheet to help melt the snow and ice 177 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:59,030 covering the gold-rich pay dirt left over from last season. 178 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,470 [Fred] So we got to try. It's worth the risk. 179 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:09,350 Hey, Buzz, this is probably the fastest running water 180 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,710 -at this, uh, choke point. -Yeah. 181 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:15,830 [Fred] It's just a little bit risky. 182 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:19,030 If we, if we sink this 220, we're freaking done. 183 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:24,190 Let's take our time and make sure nothing bad happens to it, right? 184 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:28,910 [Fred] All right. Your tracks are about... 185 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:32,390 Oh, man, you're almost submerged completely. 186 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:35,190 It's not pushing you at all, is it? 187 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,150 [Buzz] Take this corner a little bit. 188 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,630 [Fred] Hey, Buzz, that ice is awful beautiful, 189 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:49,830 but we're gonna have to kill it. 190 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:51,590 Sounds like a good plan, man. 191 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:01,470 [Fred] Oh! Wow! 192 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,470 That's like 20,000 pounds of ice you just broke. 193 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,390 Yeah! Come on now, it's massive. 194 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:16,350 Whoo! 195 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:22,550 Oh, yeah. There we go. 196 00:12:22,630 --> 00:12:24,990 You've got a little bit of ice that's holding. 197 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:29,230 Doesn't look that way. Fingers crossed it works. 198 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,230 [Buzz] We need to make an ice jam. 199 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:35,390 [Fred] There we go. 200 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:37,790 [Buzz] That's a lot of weight. 201 00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:42,990 [Fred] Wow. 202 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,110 I got a pretty good ice jam here. 203 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:49,030 [Fred] You know, you're actually getting close to the top of that ice. 204 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:50,430 If you can get it over the top, 205 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:52,430 that would actually melt it really well. 206 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,110 [Buzz speaking] 207 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,110 -[Fred] Just be really careful. -[Buzz] Mm-hmm. 208 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:02,190 [Fred] Oh. Whoa, whoa, whoa. 209 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:06,030 [bleep]. 210 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:11,870 [Fred] There we go. 211 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:14,030 [narrator] At California Creek... 212 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,270 I got a pretty good ice jam here. 213 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,270 [narrator] ...Fred Lewis is battling an ice sheet 214 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:21,230 that's stopping him from mining. 215 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,790 [Fred] Just be really careful. Oh. Whoa, whoa, whoa. 216 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:28,830 [bleep]. 217 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:33,470 So there goes the ice dam. 218 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:34,870 [Buzz] That's not feasible. 219 00:13:34,950 --> 00:13:38,310 We're gonna have to figure something else out because... 220 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,670 this is definitely not going to work. 221 00:13:44,750 --> 00:13:47,150 [bleep], dude. We don't have a backup plan. 222 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:48,590 That means we got nothing. 223 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:49,990 Is that what you're telling me? 224 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:52,790 Right at this point in time. 225 00:13:55,560 --> 00:13:57,350 [Fred speaking] 226 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,350 [narrator] If the cold spring continues 227 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:06,870 the ice may never fully melt 228 00:14:06,950 --> 00:14:10,590 Destroying Fred's dream of a successful season. 229 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:14,150 [Stuart] Hey, man. 230 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:16,190 [Fred] I don't have anything else to throw at this. 231 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:18,950 [Stuart] I know. Sorry. Well, but it's one of those things. 232 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:20,910 We're not gonna go home, we're not gonna quit. 233 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:22,510 [Fred] I'm gonna run out of money. 234 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:25,510 It's a possibility, but it's also a possibility 235 00:14:25,590 --> 00:14:29,190 that we're gonna hit the motherlode and walk out here, [bleep], 236 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:31,350 be able to go back and buy Bentleys. You know what I'm thinking? 237 00:14:31,430 --> 00:14:33,190 [Fred] And usually that is all I'm thinking about. 238 00:14:33,230 --> 00:14:36,430 But lately it just seems like, just some puppet... 239 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,470 puppeteer pulling my strings and making [bleep] go wrong. 240 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:40,750 And it's like, how much can you take? 241 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:41,910 How much can you take? 242 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:43,430 And I just want to cut the [bleep] string. 243 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:45,710 Yeah. I'm just at the end of my rope, man. 244 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,950 [Tony speaking] 245 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,070 [narrator] King of the Klondike, Tony Beets, 246 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,510 is digging deeper than ever before, 247 00:15:12,590 --> 00:15:16,190 opening up two monster cuts in the hunt 248 00:15:16,270 --> 00:15:21,030 for Paradise Hill's gold-ric White Channel pay streak. 249 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:24,710 [Tony speaking] 250 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:35,190 [narrator] But after five weeks 251 00:15:35,270 --> 00:15:38,430 fighting deep frozen ground in both cuts, 252 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:42,070 Tony's banked less than 500 ounces, 253 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,910 way short of the 200 ounces a week he needs. 254 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,670 [Mike] I'm gonna be ripping in here for a good chunk of the day, 255 00:15:49,750 --> 00:15:51,550 probably a good chunk of tomorrow, 256 00:15:51,630 --> 00:15:54,790 because it's frozen pay is just pain in the ass. 257 00:15:54,870 --> 00:15:57,190 [narrator] Tony's charged youngest son, Mike, 258 00:15:57,270 --> 00:16:00,350 with managing the cuts and bringing in the gold. 259 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,390 [Tony speaking] 260 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,550 [narrator] Mike has already opened up nearly two-thirds 261 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:23,950 of the nine-acre Cold Cut where he faces a 60-foot deep frozen pay lay. 262 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:31,070 Now in the six-acre Blue Cut he's ripping permafrost 263 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:35,070 with a D11 dozer to expose it to sunlight. 264 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:40,510 If it doesn't defrost in tim the stockpile of thawed pay dirt will run out, 265 00:16:40,590 --> 00:16:42,710 forcing them to shut down. 266 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,150 [Mike] Getting this all ripped up. 267 00:16:46,220 --> 00:16:50,230 Let's hope it all thaws out and we have a lot of pay ready to sluice then. 268 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:53,490 [narrator] The only other machine 269 00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:55,870 in Tony's arsenal powerful enough 270 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:03,030 to dig through frozen pay, the $1.1 million 950 excavator. 271 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,870 With the 950 being one of the biggest earth movers 272 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,630 and the biggest one Tony has, it's... 273 00:17:08,710 --> 00:17:11,110 it definitely is a lot of pressure. 274 00:17:11,190 --> 00:17:13,310 And I don't want to break it or break something with it 275 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:17,030 because it'd be a lot of downtime. 276 00:17:17,070 --> 00:17:21,110 [narrator] Mike's tasked James Rhyno, a Beet's crew veteran, 277 00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:24,710 with digging out the pay dir to thaw at the pay pile. 278 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,110 It's pretty frosty in here this morning. 279 00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:30,350 Um, a lot of frozen ground in here. 280 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:35,550 Driving me [bleep] crazy. 281 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:38,630 It'd be nice to get a full bucket. 282 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:45,710 [bleep], this ground is hard. 283 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,710 Holy. Hey, Tony. You copy? 284 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:55,790 [Tony speaking] 285 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:57,830 Yeah. This ground is really hard. 286 00:17:57,910 --> 00:18:00,150 Um, can we come up with another plan? 287 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:03,710 [Tony speaking] 288 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:04,990 Okay. 289 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,590 [Tony speaking] 290 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,710 [narrator] Tony's plan, remove the 950's 28-foot boo 291 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:26,950 and replace it with a 24-foot boom. 292 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:33,710 The shorter arm will generate more force and concentrate digging powe 293 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:37,270 We already took the stick and bucket off. 294 00:18:37,350 --> 00:18:39,350 Now we're gonna pull the main boom pin out. 295 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:44,030 [narrator] In charge of the swap, mechanic, Sam Aftanas. 296 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,070 [Sam] [bleep] sakes. In the pin 297 00:18:46,150 --> 00:18:49,230 stock in here it's just being up [bleep]. 298 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:55,030 [Tony speaking] 299 00:18:55,110 --> 00:18:59,150 [Sam] So I foresee pulling that pin out is going to be a pain in the ass. 300 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:00,630 [Tony speaking] 301 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:02,630 [Sam] Me. 302 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:03,670 [Tony speaking] 303 00:19:03,750 --> 00:19:04,750 [James] Yeah. 304 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:06,950 [Tony speaking] 305 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:11,070 [James] Run around them? 306 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:12,830 [Tony speaking] 307 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:21,670 [James] It's not going to work with the slip hook, is it? 308 00:19:21,750 --> 00:19:25,190 [Tony speaking] 309 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,430 [James] Fifty-four and a half. And that is five. 310 00:19:35,510 --> 00:19:37,870 [Sam] I'm hoping that pin doesn't jump out of there 311 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:38,990 Frig. 312 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,870 [Tony speaking] 313 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:43,230 [Sam] Okay. 314 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:44,790 [Tony speaking] 315 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:49,390 [Sam] Oh. 316 00:19:58,120 --> 00:19:59,590 [bleep], that's sweet. 317 00:19:59,670 --> 00:20:01,510 [Tony speaking] 318 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:02,710 [Sam] Yeah, I do. 319 00:20:02,790 --> 00:20:03,870 [Tony speaking] 320 00:20:03,950 --> 00:20:04,950 [Sam] Yeah. 321 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,310 [Tony speaking] 322 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,110 [Tony speaking] 323 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,990 [Tony speaking] 324 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:36,190 Whoa. 325 00:20:36,270 --> 00:20:37,790 [Sam] Put some good pressure on it. 326 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,950 [Tony speaking] 327 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:52,150 [Tony speaking] 328 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:08,790 [Sam] Okay. Yeah. 329 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:15,510 [Tony speaking] 330 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,510 [Sam] Takes over when it's easy. 331 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:24,430 All right, we're in the other side. 332 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:26,390 [Tony speaking] 333 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:28,230 -[James] That went really well. -[Sam] [bleep] yeah. 334 00:21:28,310 --> 00:21:29,430 [Tony speaking] 335 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:30,590 [James] That was pretty slick. 336 00:21:30,670 --> 00:21:32,790 Good job. Whoo! 337 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:39,190 [Tony speaking] 338 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,030 I was just explaining to the boys if they ever wonder why I like working with you. 339 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:49,710 He might be a gruff old [bleep], 340 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:51,390 but [bleep] he knows what he's doing. 341 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:52,590 [Sam] Yeah. 342 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,070 [Tony speaking] 343 00:21:55,150 --> 00:21:56,870 [Mike] Oh, [bleep] yeah. 344 00:21:56,870 --> 00:21:58,190 Should be able to start getting full [bleep] buckets for a while. 345 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,710 [Tony speaking] 346 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,550 [narrator] With the 950 bac in the Blue Cut... 347 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,510 [James] My old girl, I gotta get her back in the dirt. 348 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,110 [narrator] ...it should tear through the concrete, 349 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:13,630 hard frozen ground and keep the trommel fed with thawed pay dirt. 350 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:23,110 Holy [bleep]. 351 00:22:23,110 --> 00:22:25,670 It does do a lot better than that long boom. 352 00:22:25,750 --> 00:22:27,630 Just tears through that frost. 353 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,310 Nice, full scoops. 354 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,310 It actually picks the bucket up. That is a nice change. 355 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,350 It's gonna be a little bit different getting used 356 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:41,620 to having trucks closer to you, 357 00:22:41,620 --> 00:22:43,270 'cause you're gonna have to keep them nice 358 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:44,710 and tight to be able to reach them. 359 00:22:44,750 --> 00:22:47,230 But I like the way it digs. 360 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,030 We're gonna have a lot better time keeping up with trucks 361 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,390 and moving a lot more dirt with this thing. 362 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,830 I'm getting a bit stressed out because we're so spread out. 363 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,110 -[Mitch on radio] Yeah. -And this is so much to do. 364 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:17,750 [narrator] At the Airstrip, Parker is racing to mine ou 365 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:21,550 90 acres of ground in just one season. 366 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,430 With this water license expiring 367 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:24,750 and so much ground to get through, 368 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:26,710 we're having to really just plow hard 369 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,270 into getting everything as opened up as we can. 370 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,830 You know, we don't have another season after this with the water license, 371 00:23:32,910 --> 00:23:34,930 so everything has to be sluiced. 372 00:23:34,940 --> 00:23:38,470 [narrator] Parker has nearly all his crew focused on stripping, 373 00:23:38,550 --> 00:23:42,670 leaving plant boss Tyson Le on his own to get Big Red 374 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:47,110 running before night shift takes over in three hours' time. 375 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,070 You know, we're just so strung out on guys this year 376 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:56,310 that no one's had time to come down here and see how the roads are. 377 00:23:56,390 --> 00:24:01,230 [narrator] He needs to collect a metal chute to shore up Big Red's pad, 378 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:05,510 but a blown-out road has no put him behind the eight bal 379 00:24:05,590 --> 00:24:07,390 [Tyson] If these roads weren't washed out, 380 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,430 Big Red would be running right now. 381 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:12,350 This is the last scoop here. 382 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:14,990 Is the quick bush fix good enough to get our chute? 383 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,190 And hopefully, I'll come back in time and the road's still here. 384 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,590 And here we are, finally at our chute. 385 00:24:23,670 --> 00:24:26,310 This thing looks like something you'd find in a scrapyard, 386 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,990 but it definitely makes everything go that much smoother. 387 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:37,990 Found our chute, and we just gotta get it upstream. 388 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:39,590 Let's go. 389 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:44,820 This chute's pretty wide. 390 00:24:44,820 --> 00:24:47,830 It's got to be damn near 35 feet long. 391 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:52,190 So just having to dodge my way around trees and hills 392 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:54,630 and don't want to catch it on an edge 393 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:56,470 and have it fall out of the bucket. 394 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:58,830 I am going very slowly through this. 395 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:01,590 Oh... 396 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:04,210 [bleep]. 397 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:13,390 Here we are, at Big Red, last piece of the puzzle can be put in place. 398 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,710 We just got to get this bank armored up. 399 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,830 There is two metric [bleep] tons of water 400 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,070 going to be flowing over these sluice runs, 401 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,230 and it's metric [bleep] ton. 402 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,430 It is a scientific term in the Redneck Book of Math. 403 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,310 Hey, you know, Big Red's all set to go. 404 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,390 First scoop of Easy Street going in. 405 00:25:50,470 --> 00:25:52,870 [Justin on radio] All right, boy. Show time. Let's go. 406 00:25:52,950 --> 00:25:54,930 Let's do it. 407 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,110 You know, I'm really happy I can find the diverter trough and get it up here, 408 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:14,590 because as you can tell, it's really saving our ass right now. 409 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,590 I just came down here to take a look at Big Red and see how she's running. 410 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:48,910 I see Mitch is up here doing his rounds, 411 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:52,030 so I want to see what he thinks of my setup. 412 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,510 -What's happening? -[Tyson] How's it going? 413 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:00,390 It's looking really good. 414 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,710 -[Tyson] How's our bank doing? -The bank's holding up nice. 415 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,470 -Looks good. Good job, man. -Thanks, Mitch. 416 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,630 [narrator] Big Red is back on the gold 417 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:15,230 The race is on to mine out the Airstrip before the end of the season. 418 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,950 [Tony speaking] 419 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:36,190 [narrator] Tony's running 300 yards an hour of white channel 420 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,070 pay dirt through his trommel 421 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,150 To keep it fed. 422 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,910 It needs a constant flow of thawed pay dirt from the two monster cuts. 423 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,390 [Mike] We're running out of good thawed pay right now. 424 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,230 It's this damn dozer [bleep] loading trucks like crazy, man. 425 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:52,990 They're tearing up that dirt. 426 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,910 [narrator] In the Cold Cut, Ruby Mahoney is taking her 427 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,390 first turn in the 950 excavator... 428 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:03,870 A lot shorter eh? 429 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,190 [narrator] ...with its new short boom. 430 00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:11,790 [Ruby] We have a new boom from the 950. 431 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:15,070 It's about five feet shorter than the one we had before. 432 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:17,270 And it'll be a little bit more faster 433 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,390 and a little bit more powerful what it should be. 434 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,070 I don't mind driving rock truck every once in a while. 435 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:32,190 [narrator] Tony's nephew, known as Cousin Mike, 436 00:28:32,270 --> 00:28:37,230 is in a relationship with Ruby, who's loading his rock truck 437 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,030 When I do it for too long, it gets boring, 438 00:28:39,110 --> 00:28:42,350 but I get to work with Ruby, which is nice. 439 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,510 Sometimes, you just want to hang out with your girlfriend. 440 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:51,510 [Ruby] It definitely helps that I have somebody to go home 441 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:53,470 to at the end of the day 442 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:58,510 that understands everything that we go through throughout the day. 443 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,790 So I came to the Yukon, to mine for gold, 444 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,910 and, um, I ended up finding a diamond. 445 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:13,950 [Michael on radio] So, Ruby, you have to drive forward a little bit. 446 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,310 [Ruby] What are we trying to accomplish here, babe? 447 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,310 [Michael on radio] Sorry. What was that? 448 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:22,430 Oh, [bleep]. What was that? 449 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,630 [Ruby] What the [bleep]. 450 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,150 Are you okay? 451 00:29:32,230 --> 00:29:34,750 [Ruby] I'm fine. I just [bleep] clipped the corner of your [bleep] truck, though. 452 00:29:34,830 --> 00:29:36,390 [Michael] Oh [bleep]. 453 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,110 It doesn't look good. 454 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:50,110 [Ruby] What are we trying to accomplish here babe? 455 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:51,910 [Michael] Sorry. What was that? 456 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:53,190 [machine crashing] 457 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,270 Oh [bleep]. What was that? 458 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,230 [Ruby] What the [bleep]? 459 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,350 [narrator] Battling to dig up frozen pay. 460 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:07,750 Ruby has crashed Tony Beets 950 excavator into a rock truck. 461 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,630 [Ruby] Kevin, do you copy? Kevin? 462 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:13,830 [Kevin] Yes, Ruby. Can I help you? 463 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:15,830 [Ruby] I [bleep]. 464 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:20,190 The end of my excavator clipped the corner of the rock truck, 465 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,430 and unfortunately, I bent [bleep] out of the door, 466 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,350 and I feel absolutely horrib about it. 467 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:37,590 [Kevin] No. 468 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:41,710 So yeah she kind of [bleep]. 469 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:43,270 [narrator] Back at the wash plant. 470 00:30:43,350 --> 00:30:45,950 The stockpile is shrinking fast. 471 00:30:46,030 --> 00:30:49,390 If Kevin can't get the 950 back in action, 472 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:54,670 Tony could be forced to shut down, costing $3,000 an hour. 473 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:56,310 [Kevin] There we go. 474 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,030 The doors in my [bleep] way. 475 00:31:01,110 --> 00:31:02,110 Meaning? 476 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:03,510 The door's got to [bleep] go. 477 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:10,030 That should be attached. 478 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,110 Also, that should also be attached. 479 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:15,470 It hit here. 480 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:17,150 You can see where the paint has come off, 481 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:18,910 causing this piece here to [bumping sound] 482 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,390 Snapping all four bolts off cleanly. 483 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,710 [narrator] Ruby's crash has sheared off the bolts, 484 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,110 holding the hydraulic valve body 485 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:32,790 that controls all the hydraulics on the $1.1 million machine 486 00:31:32,870 --> 00:31:34,750 [Kevin] Hydraulics is what drives the entire machine. 487 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:36,710 Without the hydraulic system being sealed, 488 00:31:36,790 --> 00:31:40,110 you can't fire it up in any capacity to move it or anything. 489 00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:43,390 For [bleep]. 490 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,510 It is one of our biggest excavators. 491 00:31:45,590 --> 00:31:48,430 It is always important to have it [bleep] fixed. 492 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,030 We don't have time for any of this downtime or [bleep]. 493 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,150 [Tony speaking] 494 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,030 [Kevin] This unit that I pulled off here, 495 00:31:56,110 --> 00:31:58,750 bolts are sheared off entirely. 496 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,870 We got the right bolts, but longer. 497 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:05,710 Now, we're gonna see if I'm able to modify these ones enough 498 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:07,870 to make them work till we get the proper ones. 499 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:09,470 [Tony speaking] 500 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,350 And I know we have bolts on order, 501 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:16,310 but we need the 950 back in production ASA [bleep] P. 502 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,030 So I'll make something that'll work. 503 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:23,710 [narrator] Kevin's bush fix cut half an inch off the bolts 504 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:28,910 and hope they still secure the valve body in place. 505 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,710 [Kevin] Essentially, it needs to be about half an inch shorter. 506 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:37,590 That turned out pretty well. 507 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:42,190 So. 508 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:48,950 Yeah. Perfect for laughing. 509 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,270 This is the last bolt. 510 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:52,750 And it's just hooking up the hoses. 511 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,510 And then she's [bleep] done. 512 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:57,910 Time to fire it up. 513 00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,790 [engine revving] 514 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,430 Doesn't look like anything's leaking. 515 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:08,950 It's good to go back to work. 516 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,150 [narrator] The 950 back running. 517 00:33:12,230 --> 00:33:14,710 Ruby can get back to digging pay 518 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:17,430 before the pay pile runs out at the trommel. 519 00:33:17,510 --> 00:33:19,550 [Tony speaking] 520 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,390 [Ruby] I've worked for Tony for six years, 521 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:40,510 and this is my first big mistake. 522 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,390 You know, I try to do the best of my ability 523 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:48,230 and try to pay as good as attention to everything as I can. 524 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,150 Probably gonna be overly cautious for the next little while. 525 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,550 So right now I'm trying to break up some ice to get the creek 526 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:09,590 diverted back to where it needs to be going. 527 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,390 [narrator] At California Creek, Fred Lewis's crew 528 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,870 is still battling the quarter-mile long ice sheet 529 00:34:16,950 --> 00:34:20,750 that has frozen them out from mining gold. 530 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,430 [Christopher] We're trying to get down to dirt to pull gold from, 531 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,710 but the ice is stopping us from getting what we need to get done. 532 00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:29,630 [narrator] Leading the charg in the 220 excavator, 533 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:32,830 Fred stepson Christopher Parker. 534 00:34:32,910 --> 00:34:34,910 [Christopher] Once I'm done breaking up some of this ice 535 00:34:34,990 --> 00:34:36,790 I can start fixing [blee. 536 00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:44,750 Whoa! Holy [bleep]. What is that? 537 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:47,590 It's what I think it is. 538 00:34:47,670 --> 00:34:50,310 Yo, Freddy, you need to come check this [bleep] out real quick, man. 539 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:55,750 [Fred] What's up? 540 00:34:55,830 --> 00:34:57,710 [Christopher] Look where my bucket is. 541 00:34:57,720 --> 00:34:59,830 [Fred] What am I looking at? 542 00:34:59,950 --> 00:35:01,510 Let me go, look. 543 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:06,910 Oh, wow. 544 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:11,030 Quartz, quartz, quartz, quartz, quartz. 545 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:12,270 Look, look. 546 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:13,510 It's a vein. 547 00:35:13,550 --> 00:35:15,350 Wow. 548 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:17,710 Give me your headset. We're gonna get Buzz over here, like, right now. 549 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:19,190 Buzz, Buzz, this is Fred. 550 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,190 I need you to come to the 220 ASAP. 551 00:35:21,270 --> 00:35:24,870 It looks like we may have found a quartz vein. 552 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:29,910 [narrator] A quartz vein indicates gold deposits could be close by. 553 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:31,710 [Fred] This is a big ass quartz vein. 554 00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:34,750 I don't know how big it is, but it goes all the way, at least to here. 555 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:37,430 [Buzz] Yeah. It looks [bleep] good, man. 556 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:39,750 [Fred] But look, it's also got a lot of iron in it. 557 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:40,830 [Buzz] Yeah. 558 00:35:40,910 --> 00:35:42,550 [Fred] All that brown. All that iron. 559 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:46,110 So that means there's a lot of heat that forced this up. 560 00:35:46,190 --> 00:35:47,910 [narrator] Millions of years ago, 561 00:35:47,980 --> 00:35:51,430 Magma containing gold forced its way up through faults 562 00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:53,190 in the earth's crust. 563 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:58,910 It cooled and crystallized into veins of quartz and gol 564 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,270 If Fred's small quartz vein is gold-rich, 565 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:08,110 it could mean he's on track for a big payday. 566 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:14,150 And possibly even lead him to find the motherlode at California Creek. 567 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,150 [Fred] It doesn't look like it continues much more here. 568 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:19,510 -It might go underneath, but it's going that way. -[Buzz] Yeah. 569 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:21,470 [Fred] Right with this bedrock. 570 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,670 What do you think, Buzz? 571 00:36:23,750 --> 00:36:26,110 We'll cut and try to pulverize some of it [bleep]. 572 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:27,510 See what's in it. 573 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:29,070 Do some science. 574 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:30,830 All right, check it out. 575 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,030 [Fred] You and Chris wanna gather up some rock? 576 00:36:33,110 --> 00:36:34,910 Put it in his bucket. 577 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,390 Good find. Hey, really good find. 578 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,390 Hey, Buzz, where do you want me to take all this? 579 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,030 Yeah, it's a pretty good sample there. 580 00:36:47,110 --> 00:36:48,310 Let's take that on up. 581 00:36:48,390 --> 00:36:50,350 Bring it to the Gold Room. 582 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:51,750 Roger that. 583 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:55,950 We're gonna accurately pull out gold. 584 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:57,590 We don't just mine the entire creek. 585 00:36:57,600 --> 00:36:59,790 We use these signs to get us to it. 586 00:37:03,240 --> 00:37:05,630 [narrator] To see if the quartz is rich in gol 587 00:37:05,710 --> 00:37:07,110 All right. Safety first. 588 00:37:07,110 --> 00:37:10,750 [narrator] Fred plans to pulverize the hard rock 589 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,710 with five-pound solid steel ball bearings. 590 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:17,790 We're gonna break up just about anything. 591 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:22,710 -All right. You guys ready? -[Buzz] Sure. 592 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:24,390 See how loud this is gonna be? 593 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:30,830 [Fred speaking] 594 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,510 All right, if we crush that up and there's not a worthless pile of rock 595 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:40,710 and there's even a speck of gold, 596 00:37:40,790 --> 00:37:43,150 the pay could have a hell of a lot of gold in it. 597 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:51,990 [Brandon] We're dead in the water, so we ain't making any money 598 00:37:52,070 --> 00:37:54,830 We got a call from our good friend back home, 599 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,670 and he says he needs help and he's willing to pay us cash. 600 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,390 [narrator] With very little money to mine, 601 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,750 the Clayton brothers are looking for a quick cash injection. 602 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:06,350 Hi, how are you? 603 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:10,110 -We're here to give you a hand today. -That's awesome. 604 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:11,950 We might as well come, make money, work for yous. 605 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:13,190 Not if I [bleep] pay you. 606 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:14,430 [Matt] Yeah. 607 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:16,830 [narrator] Today's job. 608 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:20,310 Install a new boom on a neighbor's excavator. 609 00:38:20,390 --> 00:38:22,670 Does this come with limited warranty? 610 00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:24,710 Yeah. Yeah, as soon as you lift it. 611 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,110 All right. Go ahead and everybody's clear. 612 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:35,990 No! 613 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:40,150 [Al] That's not cool. 614 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:43,510 [man 1] Yeah. I'd lift up now. 615 00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:46,470 -[Matt] Look Square. Hey. -[man 1] Yeah. 616 00:38:46,550 --> 00:38:47,750 [Matt] Try it. 617 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:49,030 [man 1] Okay. 618 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,270 Put constant pressure on this pin. 619 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,030 -[Matt] There we go. -[man 2] [bleep] yeah. 620 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,350 [Matt] Okay, we got it. 621 00:38:55,430 --> 00:38:56,630 Nailed it. 622 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,350 Just got the boom together. 623 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,070 She's all done. 624 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:02,230 Well, I guess I've got to give you a little money now. 625 00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:03,430 I [bleep] hate to. 626 00:39:03,510 --> 00:39:04,910 -[Matt] Oh, wow. -[Al] Here you go, Matt. 627 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:06,950 -[Matt] Thank you, Al. -[Al] Thank you. 628 00:39:07,030 --> 00:39:08,430 [Matt] I appreciate it. See ya. 629 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:09,990 He paid us three grand. 630 00:39:10,070 --> 00:39:12,950 That three grand can go towards fuel, the groceries. 631 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:14,710 It couldn't have worked out better. 632 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:27,390 [narrator] At California Creek, 633 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,030 Fred Lewis has struck a vein of quartz, 634 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,270 which he hopes will lead him to the gold. 635 00:39:33,350 --> 00:39:38,390 After letting the five-poun ball bearings beat up the quartz for an hour, 636 00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:40,910 it's time to check the material. 637 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:42,390 [Fred] Let's go do it. 638 00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:49,070 Now let's find if we got a catch. 639 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:50,870 [Stuart] Yeah. 640 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,030 Oh. 641 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:54,710 Yeah. 642 00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:56,950 [Fred] I did a better job with my [bleep] hammer. 643 00:39:58,040 --> 00:39:59,910 You know, I was kind of hoping we pull this thing open. 644 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:01,910 There'd be a bunch of powder in there. 645 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,470 I know there are certain ways that we can do it. 646 00:40:04,550 --> 00:40:05,870 I really like what they did in Papua New Guinea. 647 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:07,730 -It just took a long time. -[Stuart] Yeah. 648 00:40:07,740 --> 00:40:11,510 So all they did had a solid pipe inside of a pipe, the base in it. 649 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:13,580 So you couldn't-- Nothing got out. 650 00:40:13,580 --> 00:40:15,470 -They threw the rock in there and they smashed it by hand. -Smashed it [bleep]. 651 00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:17,490 Bam, bam, bam. 652 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:22,670 [narrator] Fred's new plan to construct a low-tech rock crusher 653 00:40:22,720 --> 00:40:26,590 he first saw on a gold prospecting missio with Parker 654 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,110 in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. 655 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:34,550 So we're basically gonna find like this right here. 656 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,870 We're gonna find a pipe, we're gonna make it so it has a floor 657 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:40,710 and another pipe that's gonna go inside of it 658 00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:42,950 and crush it just like a post pounder. 659 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:52,310 [Fred] Woohoo! 660 00:40:52,390 --> 00:40:53,870 Let's go there and try this [bleep] out. 661 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:55,430 See if we can crush this [bleep]. 662 00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:58,470 [Fred] All right, so I've only done this once. 663 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:00,190 -[Stuart] Yeah. -[Fred] Let's start. Yeah. 664 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:16,830 [narrator] After some brute force. 665 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:19,590 It's time to see if the quartz vein running 666 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,670 through his claim is rich in gold. 667 00:41:23,750 --> 00:41:28,950 If it is, Fred could have hit the motherlode and the ground next to it 668 00:41:29,030 --> 00:41:32,030 could be the richest in California Creek. 669 00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:43,110 Um. I'm seeing gold, buddy. 670 00:41:43,190 --> 00:41:45,110 [Stuart] Yeah. No, there's gold in. There's gold. 671 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:46,910 [bleep] 672 00:41:46,990 --> 00:41:49,990 [Fred] Holy, [bleep] wow. 673 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:51,390 -And a piece there. -[Stuart] Yeah. 674 00:41:51,470 --> 00:41:52,470 [Fred] And a piece there. 675 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:53,750 [Stuart] A piece up top, right there. 676 00:41:53,830 --> 00:41:55,630 -[Fred] And a piece there. -[Stuart] Yeah. 677 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:57,190 -I mean, that was a handful. -[Stuart] I know. 678 00:41:57,260 --> 00:41:59,830 [Fred] We got three colors and a lot of little fine stuff. 679 00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:02,150 It's the first goal we found this season that tells us 680 00:42:02,230 --> 00:42:05,510 there's a vein carrying gold running up the middle 681 00:42:05,590 --> 00:42:06,830 of our [bleep] claim. 682 00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:08,750 Yeah. 683 00:42:08,790 --> 00:42:10,150 I [bleep] needed this. 684 00:42:10,230 --> 00:42:11,950 -I... I'm hurting. -I know, man. 685 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:13,830 You know, it's just [bleep]. 686 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:15,470 That's just the way that this, you know, 687 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:17,110 this profession is. I've noticed that. 688 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:21,110 I mean, the highs are high and the lows are really, really low. 689 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:22,390 You ain't lying. 690 00:42:22,390 --> 00:42:23,990 This is about the best I felt this season. 691 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,350 We have a source producing the gold. 692 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:29,630 The potential that there could be a quartz vei 693 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:33,310 that has gold bearing richness through it 694 00:42:33,350 --> 00:42:35,270 kind of fires us up a little bit, 695 00:42:35,340 --> 00:42:38,630 and it's just giving us a little bit more fuel to keep exploring this creek 696 00:42:38,710 --> 00:42:41,950 and find out where it is, because the source is somewhere 697 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:44,110 and it's coming from somewhere and we're gonna find it. 698 00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:00,310 [growling] 699 00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:02,030 [Minnie] Oh, you've got the ugly face. 700 00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:04,150 [all laughing] 701 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:10,190 [narrator] After a week battling frozen ground, the Beets family gather 702 00:43:10,230 --> 00:43:12,750 to find out if their hard work has paid off. 703 00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:15,910 -[woman 2] Hi, Faith. -[Tony speaking] 704 00:43:15,990 --> 00:43:18,070 -[woman 2] You took long enough. -Sorry. 705 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,590 -[Tony speaking] -[Michael] Yeah. 706 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,710 -[Tony speaking] -[Michael] Both cuts. 707 00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:25,430 [Tony speaking] 708 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:27,190 Yeah. [bleep] hard too. 709 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:29,350 [Tony speaking] 710 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,430 Yeah. Well, if you didn't buy that last year, 711 00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:33,150 we'd be in big trouble this year. 712 00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:36,830 So anything else exciting happens. 713 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,750 Ruby was trying to squeeze by Cousin Mike in a rock truck. 714 00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:42,510 It wasn't quite enough room. 715 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:45,470 I bet she felt just awful. 716 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:47,710 Oh, she did just [bleep]. 717 00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:49,590 -At least she cares. -Oh, yeah. 718 00:43:49,670 --> 00:43:51,510 [Tony speaking] 719 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:56,270 So, with that being said, we should probably pour some gold. 720 00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:57,300 -[Tony speaking] -Yeah. 721 00:43:57,300 --> 00:43:59,750 Okay, let's do this thing, folks. 722 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,430 [narrator] Tony has less than 500 ounces in the bank 723 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:08,030 and needs over 200 a week to hit his 5000 ounce goal. 724 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:10,110 [Kevin] Three, two, one. Let's go. 725 00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:13,750 Fifteen. 726 00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:16,550 Sixty-five. 727 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:18,750 Seventy-five, 85. 728 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:26,230 A hundred and twenty, 130, 140, 729 00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:28,710 150, 160. 730 00:44:31,400 --> 00:44:34,790 162.42. 731 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,950 [narrator] Worth nearly $300,000. 732 00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:46,910 [Tony speaking] 733 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:53,870 But you know what? It's better than nothing. 734 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:55,470 -[Tony speaking] -[Mike] Yeah. 735 00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:57,190 [Tony speaking] 736 00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:08,150 We'll talk to you guys later. 737 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:32,460 [Chris] Hey, T-bird. 738 00:45:32,460 --> 00:45:34,110 -[Tyson] How's it going, Doumitt? -Good. How you doing, buddy? 739 00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:35,790 Pretty good. Thanks. 740 00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:44,710 Well, we finished one, we started another. 741 00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:46,230 Thank you guys for getting that pit done. 742 00:45:46,240 --> 00:45:48,310 But it's one of many. 743 00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,270 [Tyson] Yeah. 744 00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:56,150 And Tyson, you got your first big experience there of moving Big Red. 745 00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:57,510 -Yeah. -New safer lot. 746 00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,350 But what do you think about Big Red? 747 00:45:59,430 --> 00:46:00,790 It's different. 748 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:02,510 [Parker] It's a lot easier getting it where you want it. 749 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:05,870 It's kind of fun, like every move having to be spot on. 750 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:08,710 And you even had a point in the right direction the first time, huh? 751 00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:10,630 Yeah. 752 00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:12,350 Good for you, T. 753 00:46:12,430 --> 00:46:14,710 -You want to see how the Keyhole finished up? -Let's do it. 754 00:46:14,720 --> 00:46:17,030 Why we're here, Doumitt. We want to see some gold. 755 00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:18,590 Keyhole right here. 756 00:46:18,630 --> 00:46:20,750 -I'll take this one. -All right. 757 00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:24,110 So this is the last sluicing Big Red did before we moved it. 758 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:26,710 All right. 759 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:33,790 [Mitch] Twenty, 40, 60, 80, 760 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:40,110 100, 120, 140, 150. 761 00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:46,070 Keep going, 174.05. 762 00:46:46,150 --> 00:46:50,390 [narrator] Worth over $310,000. 763 00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:52,990 That's not bad. 764 00:46:53,070 --> 00:46:54,790 I mean, when you look at the amount of runtime it had. 765 00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:56,710 [Chris] Exactly. 766 00:46:56,780 --> 00:46:59,550 So the big question, Chris, that's two days of running at the Keyhole cut, 767 00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:01,430 -finishing that off at 174. -Right. 768 00:47:01,510 --> 00:47:04,990 How did we do at Easy Street with two days of running? 769 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:08,390 Well, there's not a lot of hours on this thing, right? 770 00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:09,550 -Yeah. -Here we go. 771 00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:11,030 -Let's do it. -Oh, no. 772 00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:14,110 -One. -He tipped a long way before anything came out. 773 00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:19,510 [Tyson] Thirty, 35, 38, 774 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:22,990 40, 55.8. 775 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:26,310 [narrator] Another $100,000 776 00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:33,390 So for the week it's 229.85. 777 00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:37,910 And for the season, we just brought 1200 and 1204.45. 778 00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:39,250 That wasn't a bad week. 779 00:47:39,260 --> 00:47:40,910 Knowing we moved the wash plant in the middle. 780 00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:42,070 -[Mitch] Yeah. -[Parker] Yeah. 781 00:47:42,150 --> 00:47:44,990 And what, a total of four days running? 782 00:47:45,070 --> 00:47:46,510 All this going on? 783 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:48,150 I think we did okay. I think we did good. 784 00:47:48,230 --> 00:47:49,190 [Tyson] Yeah. 785 00:47:49,270 --> 00:47:50,630 [Mitch] We got a long way to go. 786 00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:52,950 All right, Chris, thank you for that. 787 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:54,110 [Chris] Yup. 788 00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:55,790 See you next week. Thanks, man. 789 00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:57,190 [Parker] Thanks, Chris. 789 00:47:58,305 --> 00:48:58,482 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm