[theme music plays]
[Rick] This year has been a tough one.
It's showing on everybody, really.
I mean, me especially.
I mean, we're halfway through the season right now,
and our 1,800 ounce goal seems about a million miles away.
We have a bad season
and I can't really recover from that, you know?
It's, uh, the business would fail,
so I can't let that happen.
[narrator] Over halfway through the season, when the gold
should be flowing, Rick Ness's operation is at a standstill.
After leaving Lightning Creek, he moved back to Vegas Valley,
but it proved too dangerous to mine.
Now, he only has a million dollars left
in the bank and is weighing up his next gamble.
Vegas Valley, it -- it --
we've got some pay down there, but it's just, I just didn't
like how that was going. That's why I stopped it.
The way that I'm thinking is this, we've got to expand.
We've got to expand it big.
Vegas Valley is right here.
There is an easy spot if we went a little bit backwards
from Vegas Valley and catch what I see is the channel
turns into here.
The only problem with that, is there we have no drill holes.
There's no guarantee there, and a lot of dirt.
Basically be moving a mountain.
Last season, Rick removed a mountain of dirt to dig down
nearly 200 feet at Vegas Valley and pull out 800 ounces of gold
worth $2 million.
But last week, after running only two truckloads of pay,
he abandoned the treacherous cut.
Now, instead of just expanding the pit to make it safer,
Rick wants to dig out a new four-acre cut, shifting over
a million yards of overburden in just six weeks
to reach gold he's gambling will deliver a bigger payday.
-[Kai] What's up, Rick? -[Rick] What's going on?
[Jason] Morning.
I know we were talking about what direction
we're gonna head in.
I think we're just gonna go big.
We're gonna go after
an extension there in Vegas Valley
and really open it up.
We're gonna have to move a ton of dirt to do it,
but we gotta blow it wide open.
[Kyle] How big are you going?
Probably twice the width of Vegas Valley to start with.
You have enough time to open up a cut that big?
We've got more time than we did last year.
Might have more time than we did last year.
We don't have more money than we did last year.
-Yeah. -I mean, this time last year,
we were sitting at about 1,000 ounces in the bank,
and we don't even have half that at this moment.
Yeah.
It seems like we're moving a mountain.
How long do you think that's gonna take?
It's gonna take several weeks before we see any gold, but...
What about Lightning Creek?
The gold's not bad, but it's not anywhere near
what it is, you know, in these deep cuts.
So is there any, like, drill results right close by
where you want to expand at, that you know that
the pay's gonna be good or not? -That's another thing.
No, there's not. You know, gold...
[Ryan] It's not a slot machine
you put 25 cents in and [bleep] walk away.
[Rick] I know, I know, and trust me, I don't like that,
but this is the only option we have.
You know, if we do this, we're not just risking our gold
bonuses or your gold, but it could be the end
of the company as well.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're not wrong.
Um...
It seems like I've been in that spot a lot.
[chuckles]
Yeah.
We've all had your back, but man, this is a...
is a pretty big [bleep] shift.
And for all of us to hope to God we go home with something,
I mean, we got a lot on the line here.
Yeah, I know this is big. I know it's a lot to ask for.
But the only way it works is if you guys are all in.
And I guess I'll just ask it. Are you in?
I mean...
I'm in, but it doesn't mean I want to be in.
But I'm here.
[Rick] I'll take it.
Yeah, I don't know, man, but you just point where
I gotta go, I guess. -Yeah, I will.
You're gonna have a lot of dirt to move,
but I know you can do it.
Heather, you didn't answer.
We believe in you, so I'm reluctantly in.
That's awesome.
I mean, I've been in every other time, so why stop now?
[Rick] Not even gonna ask you, Kyle, I know.
I'm in, but I'm skeptical.
I'll be watching the bills pretty close on this one.
This is, again, the biggest risk we've ever
taken here. I'm glad you're in.
I know you're skeptical, but that will change,
and we will get to the bottom of this,
and we'll get all that gold.
We'll get 1,800 ounces this year.
No problem. It's down there.
Let's do it. So we're all in?
-[Rick] We're all in. -How have you thought of a name for it?
I heard a song by a band called Storm Warrior.
-It was called "Valhalla." -[Heather] All right, so "Viking Heaven."
-[Rick] Yeah. -Sounds great.
-Valhalla. -[Bailey] Sweet, dude,
it better be heaven when we get to the bottom, then.
It will be. Right?
-Let's do it. -All right.
Thanks, guys. You're the best.
I knew the crew was gonna push back a bit, you know,
be skeptical. It's a risk.
It's a big risk. Biggest one we've ever taken.
But, you know, they trust me. They're with me,
and we're gonna make this work.
[tense music plays]
All righty, here we go.
First tree going down.
[whoosh]
Boom, boom.
-[rustling] -[thump]
It's a long ways to get down to pay,
but hopefully we can get this job done for Rick.
[Rick] The way I see it in my head,
I think we're in pretty good shape.
Bailey's got a good start on it.
I think we're gonna get a month of sluicing
at the end of it, and that's all we'll need.
But we just got to stay focused, you know.
We know the gold's down there, we just got to make sure we get
to it before we get froze out.
That's a long way to go.
Scary.
[dramatic chord strike]
[ominous tone plays]
[Tony over radio]
-[rumbling] -[gushing]
After more than 40 years in the Klondike,
Tony Beets' gold fever is burning hotter than ever.
With gold prices at an all-time high, he's already banked
$14 million and has no plan of slowing down.
[Tony speaking]
Tony's rattling rocks with two washplants
in the 46-acre Corner Cut, where there's
enough gold-rich ground to mine 24-7 until winter hits.
While Indian River fires on all cylinders,
40 miles north at Paradise Hill,
nothing is running, including
the 350-yard-an-hour trommel.
[Tony speaking]
[Mike] The trommel will eventually run.
The thing is, my dad took a bunch of my people
and equipment, which is fine.
He's the one who pays the bills, he's the boss.
But it makes it so I can't do [bleep].
[Tony speaking]
[Mike] Yup.
[Mike] Sure. I would like to see
what's the plan with the pond, actually.
[Tony speaking]
Yeah, yeah.
[Tony speaking]
Yeah, I know.
[Mike] Yes, I know.
The Beets' trommel sits on top of Paradise Hill and has
previously been fed water from a feeder pond a mile downhill.
But the long distance was too much for the pump,
leading to multiple breakdowns.
Before they fire up the trommel, Tony wants
to create a new feeder pond.
First, Mike needs to build up and widen the dike road
to give him better access,
then clear the trees, dig out the pond,
and flood it with water from the nearby creek.
Finally, move the three-ton pump into position.
And Tony wants this all done by the end of the week.
The only problem --
Tony's taken all the experienced crew
to the Indian River, leaving Mike with rookies.
Very dangerous job you four are gonna have.
Building up the dikes.
You're gonna be driving down that dike dead center.
Very, very slow, please.
Because remember, you go off this way,
you're gonna roll two, three times.
You're going to probably be pretty [bleep] up.
You roll this way, you're gonna go into the mud.
And there's no way in hell I'm gonna be able to get there
with enough equipment fast enough to save you.
Yeah.
I'd rather none of you get hurt or killed.
You're also still learning. You're still learning.
Ashley, as the one I've worked with the longest and the most
experienced truck driver I have here right now, if you don't
feel too safe doing it, let her know.
And same with you, right? Let her know.
She'll [bleep] hop in with you.
I'd rather you all just take your time, OK?
[Ashley] Yeah, Mike told me I was the most experienced
rock truck driver he's got this morning.
I've been driving trucks for a long time.
Like, I've driven bigger trucks than this, but it's a lot
of weight, and when you're that close to the edge,
it's -- I don't know, it's weird to say,
like, it's -- I've been driving for a long time, but my anxiety
right now is, like, I'm scared.
-[tense music plays] -[crumbling]
-[creaking] -[rumbling]
[crashing]
Oh [bleep]. Mike, Mike, copy Mike.
Mike, Mike, do you copy Mike?
Yes, go ahead.
[Ashley over radio] Hey, Mike, we got a problem.
The D6 just went over the edge.
[Mike] Sounds like a case of a scared driver
in a [bleep] spot.
So I'm gonna go over there and have a look.
Racing to raise the dike road next to the new feeder pond,
rookie operator Garrett Dalwood
has crashed his D6 Dozer.
I was just backing up to come around this pile here,
so I could push it out and widen up the sides.
But on my way up, the ground gave out over here
and I slid probably about four or five feet down the side.
[tense music plays]
All right, we're just gonna grab the ass
and [bleep] swing him out.
He's gonna give you a pull.
A little pull, and then you're gonna basically lock that track
and try to turn with that track.
We're gonna see how that goes.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Mike] Let's go. It's starting to slide.
Lift up -- up!
Because you lost tension.
[suspenseful music continues]
Back it up.
[beeping]
-[Colby] Hey, he's sliding down. -[Mike] Stop.
[suspenseful chord strike]
-Yeah. -[laughing]
See if you can keep tension.
Walk your way over this way, because now you're gonna
have to pull him completely.
-[Mike] Don't move. -Yeah.
-[Colby] Want me to try that? -[Mike] Keep working this way.
[clanking]
[revving]
We're gonna try to pull him straight.
-[Mike] Then he might -- -[Colby] Yeah.
Because right now he's in a right precarious spot.
[Colby] I know.
[Mike] Slowly back it up.
[beeping]
[rumbling]
[Mike] Stop.
She's good to go.
Y'all can return to your rock trucks.
-Let's go, Colby. -Perfect.
[Mike] Actually went pretty smooth.
[Colby] I mean, it could have went smoother.
It could have not went over the edge in the first place.
[Parker] You've gotta be kidding me.
For [bleep] sake.
[tense music plays]
Hey, Jay, you got a copy?
Jay, in the fuel truck.
[Jay speaking]
Hey, you just drove past a frayed cable in the road,
when you see that kind of stuff, could you please pick it up?
It's a really good way of taking a tire out.
[Jay speaking]
[Parker] That goes for everybody that can hear me.
It's like there's a piece of steel or a cable
or a big [bleep] rock in the middle of the road.
Just take the 30 seconds it takes to pick it up
and move it, please. Tires are expensive.
Parker Schnabel's crew are frantically trying to bank
a record 10,000-ounce gold haul,
and are right on target.
With four washplants sluicing, they have already pulled out
over $20 million of gold.
We have four plants running, three of them on Dominion.
Right now there's a lot of pressure on the Golden Mile,
and so Mitch is helping out with that, which leaves Brennan
looking after things at Ken and Stuart's.
Hopefully he's getting down to pay.
We just need to continue keeping these four washplants
running because we need to do at least 400 ounces a week
to hit our goal.
I'm gonna grab my pan.
[Brennan speaking]
-Yo, how you doing? -[Brennan speaking]
-[Parker] I'll wash this real quick. -[Brennan] OK.
[sloshing]
-[Parker] Four little flakes. -[Brennan] Mm-hmm.
-[Parker] Yeah. -[Brennan] Oh, yeah.
[Parker] One, two, three,
four.
So, yeah, nothing too interesting, but you're close.
I would bet that the bottom of this ditch is on pay.
Like, given that pan that I just did, because that was
about at the bottom of your ditch level.
-OK. -So, with a little bit of effort, you'll have this
section on pay, which needs to happen, because we're gonna
start sluicing here in, like, three days.
At Ken and Stuart's 8-acre Pit One
Brennan's crew were sluicing
with washplant Roxanne, and have three days
of stockpiled pay left before they run out.
Half a mile away, in the 15-acre Pit Two,
Parker wants Brennan down to pay
by the end of the week so that he can move
Roxanne in as soon as Pit One is done.
We're getting pretty close to the pay layer,
but with a green crew and you're having to train as you go,
so everything is feeling like it's on my shoulders,
and it's just always feeling like you're behind.
This is the first time I've ever been to the Yukon.
The newest member on Brennan's crew is rookie Billy Abbott.
Brennan seems great.
We're just trying to get the cut down to pay here
by the end of the week so they can start sluicing.
So it's crunch time.
[loud bang]
What the [bleep] was that?
[tense music plays]
[bleep] sakes.
Hey, Brennan, you got a copy?
Yup, go ahead.
Yeah, I just blew a tire here.
[groans] Are you serious right now?
[Billy over radio] Yeah, sorry, man.
I hit a hole in the tire here.
[bleep].
I don't have time for downtime, for [bleep] sakes.
[Brennan over radio] Hey, Janko, you got a copy, Janko?
[Janko over radio] Yeah, go ahead, Brennan.
Hey, pal, I got a downed rock truck here.
Sounds like a tire went flat.
Can you come down and fix that for me?
[tense music plays]
[Janko] It's quite the puncture there, eh?
I'm just gonna have a peek over here.
I don't believe that was rock that punctured that tire.
Just gonna check their path here, where they drive.
[Brennan] This is devastating.
You know, you've got to think that's 10, 12 loads in behind
now in this race trying to get this cut ready.
So, it really hurts.
[Janko over radio] Copy, Brennan.
Hey, Janko.
Hey, man, I found some steel in the runway here
for their loading path.
Pretty sure that's what punctured this tire.
Un-[bleep]-believable.
Running over a piece of [bleep] steel down here.
[bleep] that makes my blood pressure go through the roof.
If someone was paying attention,
they definitely could have seen it.
Oh, man. Not good.
Especially after Parker just told us
to look out for that [bleep].
[bleep].
Oh, I hope I don't get fired from this.
[dramatic chord strike]
[clattering]
With this truck being down, it's definitely gonna put
a strain on the production over here.
With a rock truck down, Brennan struggles to keep up
his breakneck pace, getting down to pay in Pit Two.
[Brennan] This is devastating to see a truck go down right now.
You know, you've got to think in an hour, I could probably
get an extra 10, 12 loads out on that one truck at least.
And that's 10, 12 loads I'm behind now in this race
trying to get this cut ready, so it really hurts.
-[whirring] -[Janko] There we go.
Put that in. Nice, freshie tire.
[thunk]
[drilling]
Done!
Hey, Brennan, I just finished working up this tire.
-You can come grab this truck. -OK, pal.
-I really appreciate that. -Yeah, no problem.
Just make sure your guys, like, pay attention to where
they're driving, eh, because this could
have been prevented. -All right, buddy.
Well, yeah, I'm gonna have to get out here and go
[bleep] talk to them.
Hey, Billy, how's it going, buddy?
[Billy] Not good.
[Brennan] You know, I need my guys watching
what they're doing out here.
-OK. -There's a lot going on.
It's hard to get a mechanic down here.
It's an hour away for them, and they're so [bleep] spread thin
with the other things going on, you know.
So any downtime really sucks.
You know, you see the size of that cut.
But we got till the end of the week to get this cut done.
OK.
So your truck's ready so you can hop back in and get
going out there. -[bleep] yeah.
[Brennan] Thanks, bud.
[Billy] Yeah, you know, I was a bit scared there.
But he was pretty understanding about it, so.
Everyone makes mistakes.
But only real idiots make them twice.
[bear grunts]
[Tony speaking]
[Mike] The pump itself is gonna have to basically sit
right here, and then we can put the fuel tank over there.
No, I'm just letting you know.
Because I don't want you to show up and say,
"I don't like that. Switch it around."
To get Paradise Hill's trommel closer to sluicing, Tony's son,
Mike, has completed the dike road, cleared trees,
dug the feeder pond,
and filled it with water from the creek.
[Tony speaking]
Now, all Mike needs to do is move the pump
180 feet into position.
I'm not gonna pump from here when my water's over there,
so I gotta put my pump where my water is.
Oh, Leonard just wanted to use the pipe layer.
I just don't I don't usually like hauling something that big
with a pipe layer for the sheer fact that one [bleep] up,
that thing starts swinging, and then you have a very
expensive and dangerous thing flying.
Fair.
[Mike sighs heavily]
OK, I'm gonna do it my way.
I'm gonna drag this [bleep].
Len, do you copy? Len?
-[Len over radio] Yes? -You gonna come down
and look at your pump being moved?
Are you gonna lift it with the pipe layer?
[Mike] No, I'm gonna drag it with 3.9.
[Len over radio] I think we should put it in the pipe layer.
That's how we lifted it before and it worked perfect,
so I don't see why we should change it.
I don't even want to [bleep] talk to him about it.
That's what I've done several times.
I don't know why Len has such an aversion to it.
He's supposed to be down here if he don't like it, next time
he can be down here. -Fair enough.
Keep going. Pull that [bleep].
-[revving] -[rumbling]
Don't try to turn with weight.
Turn this way.
[clattering]
[Len over radio] Mike, do you have a copy, Mike?
Wait for me.
[clanging]
[Mike] Ah [bleep].
Something's not right. Colby, stop.
-What's wrong? -[Mike] Take the chain off.
Change of plans, since this thing ain't working
and I don't have time to [bleep] around with it.
I say, [bleep] it.
Tell Len that he can go move it himself.
They can wait for all I care.
[ominous tone plays]
[Noah] I don't have a clue what's going on.
[bleep] [bleep]show.
Anywhere and everywhere.
What's the plan, Len?
We're going to lift it with the pipe layer.
They dragged the pump, and then it got
stuck or whatever they did with it.
A lot of people think they know what they have to do,
and then they [bleep] it up even more.
Sometimes frustrating, but it's what it is.
And those two to the other side.
That's good.
Perfect.
Good, good. All right.
Yeah, up a little bit.
[whirring]
[Noah] We have liftoff.
[Len] Oh, up a little bit.
-Oh, whoa, whoa. -[banging]
[Noah] Easy does it, Colby.
[Colby] There's no fast pace on this thing.
If you can move it over there a little bit.
It's nice when it wants to work.
[Len] Yeah.
-[Mike] Put it down. -[Colby] What?
Put it down. I am in charge here.
Oh my [bleep] [bleep] [bleep].
[Colby] He wants me to put it down.
All right, put it down.
[clang]
It's one of those jobs I wanted to be around for,
because I'm the one who wants to pick
where the [bleep] pump goes,
not where everyone else wants it.
You might want to boom up a bit.
It's always nice to start a project and finish a project,
and then start a new one,
but that's not how it works over here.
In the end you say, "Ah, [bleep] it,
whatever they want."
[Mike] The pipe layer with the slings on it
actually worked out just perfect.
[upbeat music plays]
We're gonna have to find a piece of pipe
that can connect with a [bleep], count, uh...
Flanges.
Flanges, yes.
For some [bleep] reason, I cannot remember the name...
for today.
It just literally goes in one ear, out the other.
-So that'll work. -Start of Alzenheimer?
-Alzheimer's? -Parkinson's? I don't know.
-Alzenheimer's, I guess. -Alzenheimer's?
Yeah, you don't know what Alzenheimer is?
-What the [bleep]? -Oh, you don't.
-You mean Alzheimer's? -No, Alzenheimer.
That's...I know I forgot it. Maybe I've got it.
[laughing]
For some reason, I can't [bleep] remember "flanges."
For some reason, I just cannot remember today.
But no, that's perfect.
We're good to go.
I'll start putting these pieces together and the pipe itself.
Then I'll have a pump ready, which means I'll be
one step closer to sluicing.
[tense music plays]
[Bailey] Still stripping away here,
working our way slowly to the bottom.
We got Ryan, Jason, and Chris in rock trucks.
We're moving along pretty good, I think.
Rick Ness's crew are moving a mountain in a gamble to hit
pay in their new cut, Valhalla.
You know, it worries me that we're gonna have something
go down because this equipment and these trucks, they're gonna
be working non-stop and it's gonna be every bit
of a month, month and a half worth of overburden
before we even see pay, so.
I hope that pay's worth it.
-[knocking] -[dogs barking]
Hello.
Hey, so we should probably talk about something.
-Yeah. -[Jason] I did some quick calculations
and we're looking at at least
a million in order to do what you want to do.
-And -- and... -Are you saying we don't have enough to do it?
Enough to cover it right now?
Right now, I think, with the gold we brought in
this season, it's gonna be extremely tight.
A million dollars, yeah, that's, I mean, a lot.
But, I mean, I don't know what else we do.
[Jason] Are you confident we have enough gold
at the bottom of this project
to make it worthwhile?
I think we can make it work because of the gold prices
being where they are, and...
It looks good in my head.
I'm sure it looks terrible on paper.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, I don't want us to go bankrupt, I don't want to send
everybody home without gold, but there's risks that have
to be taken out here.
All right, I'll catch up with you again later.
-Cool. -Let you know how we're doing.
-Thanks, Jason. -[Jason] All right.
We'll make this work. We'll make this work.
Rick's Valhalla gamble means he's hemorrhaging thousands
of dollars a day on fuel and wages, and needs to hit pay
in six weeks before he runs out of cash.
Does Rick make the right decision every time?
Maybe, maybe not, but at the end, we've been
pretty lucky going home with gold in our pockets and I hope
this year is no different.
[loud crashing]
[rumbling]
Ugh! Ah!
-[bleep]! -[rattling]
What the hell is that noise?
[rattling, creaking]
Hey, Ryan, can you come see me here for a minute?
I hit something or something fell off the truck,
or something sounds like a grinding on the back end.
[Ryan over radio] All right, Jason.
I'll be over there as soon as I can.
[Jason] All right. I'll see you in a minute.
[tense music plays]
Sounds like something coming from the back end, so...
I'm not the expert on this. It's going to be Ryan, so...
[Ryan] Yeah, [bleep]. Our driveline has spun off.
It has destroyed the driveline, the companion flange,
and we have neither one of those in stock.
A rock truck down,
Rick is behind the eight ball, just days into the project.
[Ryan] So we're down a rock truck,
and Rick's not gonna be happy about that.
So right now, biggest thing
is we've got to get [bleep] parts ordered.
[dramatic chord strike]
[crumbling]
[Brennan] Whoo!
Hey, guys, Pit Two is done and ready to be sluiced.
We got the last load of overburden out of here,
so we're ready to set up a washplant.
While Rick falls behind, at Ken and Stuart's Pit Two,
Brennan Ruault is on the pay.
And in Pit One, operator Sean Holcroft
is racing to sluice the last of the gold through Roxanne.
Trying to get as much of this through as we can here
so we can go get started on Cut Two.
But each day I've been frigging around
with this stupid feeder here.
The belt's walking back and forth.
It's starting to fray.
It's giving me issues every day.
Oh, for [bleep] sakes, this belt's walking again.
I'm gonna have to shut her down.
This thing's really starting to [bleep] piss me off now.
[engine powers down]
For [bleep] sakes.
[rumbling]
Just checking the belt out here.
It was starting to fraying a bit.
Some up here.
There's a bigger chunk up there.
And right where the belt joins together, it actually catches...
on some of these bottom rollers,
it goes in beside these frames.
When the belt gets too close,
it'll catch on that and it'll just rip it to [bleep].
Sean calls in father and son mechanics, Bill and Justin,
to investigate.
-[Sean] What's going on, boys? -[Justin] Oh, not much, buddy.
[Sean] It's been walking back and forth, that discharge belt.
You can kind of see a little frays on the belt already.
[Bill] And you're at the end of your adjustment now?
-[Sean] On this side, yeah. -On this side, so OK.
-[Sean] Yeah. -The belt is basically loose
and it's just walking around doing whatever it wants to do.
Maybe what we can do, I think make some blocks --
Yeah, for the tail pulley, and then actually just
unbolt the tail pulley off the bearing,
and then put a space in between that.
Roxanne's conveyor belt has
stretched over time and become loose,
moving side to side, causing its edges
to catch and fray.
If not repaired, the rubber belt will tear apart
and need to be completely replaced.
Bill and Justin's bush fix is to install spacers at
the bottom of the belt between the tail pulley and bearing,
creating additional tension that will pull the belt tight
and stop sideways movement.
[drilling]
Just popped the bolts out of this bearing to run this tail
pulley back and it fell right where I need it to be.
I'm gonna put this piece of square tube in that I made
as a spacer
and then this side will be back together in no time.
[whirring]
OK, there we go. That's that side.
-Let's get the other side done. -[Justin] OK.
Squeeze this stuff all in there.
We're one bolt away.
I think that's gonna work out good.
All right.
Well, let's give Sean a holler here and tell him to get some
dirt flying through this thing.
[Sean] So we'll start the conveyor up.
We'll get this thing running.
We'll go up, get the plant shaking.
I should be good to go to get back to sluicing.
Everything seems to be good now, so hopefully we can get
to washing rocks. I see the boss here, Parker.
He's in the loader right now, so pretty awesome to see.
[Parker] We just lost a pretty big chunk of time,
which is rare for us.
And I think this might be my first time
feeding a washplant this year.
And at the moment, it is working, so back to sluicing.
I'm really hoping that it doesn't become
a total [bleep]show
around here with four plants running.
[Ryan] Let's get the driveline out of the way real quick.
At Duncan Creek, the new rock truck driveline part
has arrived.
Now, mechanic Ryan and operator Kai are rushing to get
the truck back to work in the new Valhalla Cut.
[Ryan] Basically, what we're going to do is rip this out, get a new
one put in, put in a new companion, and go from there.
-[Kai] Up? Or down? -[Ryan] No, you're pulling down.
-[drilling] -[Kai] Yep.
-We'll slide it out the back. -[Kai] Yeah.
Ready?
Got it.
Oh.
[Ryan] All right, we'll pull this middle section off
really quick.
[drilling]
All right.
As you can see here, bolts came out,
and what this does is it splines in
to this companion shaft, and right now,
there's no spline, so it'd be riding on just bolts.
So now the new one, when you put it on,
will actually interspline correctly.
These trucks are extremely vital to getting pay
or overburden out of that hole.
Having one down,
that's gonna be a huge blow to
Bailey being able to accomplish what he needs to get done.
[drilling]
Beautiful.
New companion's already installed.
Now it's time for the driveline.
Can we get a nut and bolt?
Try to get this right in the splines before we just
hammer on her.
Watch your eyes and...
-[drilling] -[Ryan] All good?
-[Kai] Yep. -[Ryan] We can put everything down and go for a drive.
Back to full strength, Rick's crew have a fighting
chance of hitting Valhalla pay within six weeks.
[Ryan] Thanks for the help, man.
No problem.
These things kind of screws us all, trying to get up to
1,800 ounces, but, you know,
we'll all jam together and we'll make it work.
The kids are gonna bring us some gold, I hear.
[Tony speaking]
-Hello. -[Minnie] Hello.
[Monica] Hi.
-[Mike] Yes. -I don't know if that would have worked.
[Mike] That or you have a lot more Kevins.
So this Corner Cut, do you think it's bigger than
the Mega Cut, Mike and Kevin?
[Monica] Yeah?
[Minnie] Oh, for [bleep] sakes.
Hm...kay.
-So what have you been doing? -[Tony speaking]
[Monica] You don't even have a trommel going.
I'm slowly plugging away at it,
doing as best as I can with what I got.
-He's a bit stubborn. -[Minnie] Oh, yeah.
But I'm in charge, likes it or not.
-That's how it works. -Yeah.
I'm hoping one or two weeks, but you know how things go.
I think we should weigh up some gold.
Yeah, I'd like to see how much there is.
Tony has recently been averaging 400 ounces
of gold a week.
All right, seeing as we usually start with Sluice-A-Lot,
let's see if Sluice-A-Lot sluiced a lot.
[Tony speaking]
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 80, 90, 100
110, 130, 150, 160, 170, hundred...
180, 230, 240, 250,
260, 270, 280,
300, 330
3 -- 339.92.
Worth nearly $1.2 million.
[Tony speaking]
-OK, let's weigh up the other one. -[Tony speaking]
[Monica] So, Mike counted Sluice-A-Lot,
are you counting Find-A-lot? -[Minnie] I guess so.
10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 90, 100,
20, 40, 60, 68,
200, 40, 60, 80, 300,
332.62.
Bringing this week's total to 673 ounces,
more than $2,300,000.
[Tony speaking]
-That will be all good. -[Tony speaking]
[Mike] Oh, yeah.
Just over halfway through the season, the Beets
have already pulled in 4,611 ounces,
only 2,000 short of their target.
So if we do this consistently, we're gonna reach your goal
sooner rather than later. -[Tony speaking]
[Minnie] Are you gonna up your goal?
[Mike] Yep.
-Hi, Doumitt. -Hey, T.
-[Chris] Speaking of having a bad day. -What?
-[Chris] Hey, Junior. -[Brennan] How's it going, Pops?
Bad day, [bleep]. I didn't wreck nothing today.
-[Chris] Hey, Parker. -[Mitch] What's happening?
-[Brennan] Mitchy boy. -[Chris] Hey, Mitchell.
We're gonna take advantage of the nice weather, when we're
getting our way out here tonight.
[Brennan] Nice.
Get us little fresh air and sunshine.
[Brennan] Beautiful.
Parker still needs over 4,000 ounces to hit
his $35 million target.
Last gold weigh, he pulled in 505 ounces.
This week, Parker wants to see more.
We're still a long ways from our goal.
Well, if you could keep Roxanne running,
possibly we'd have a chance of hitting this thing.
-[laughing] -Yeah.
I think four washplants is pushing.
Not only just the operators, but all the machines,
the washplants.
Like, trying to keep up with four is...
a challenge.
We can throw some gold on the scale and I can show you
what's going on. -Yeah, let's do it.
Roxanne pulls in an average of 130 ounces a week from Pit One.
[Chris] Big Roxanne.
-OK. -[Chris] Let's weigh her up first.
A little bit of downtime this week.
[Chris] Yeah, here we go.
All right, we got 15, 30,
70, 90.
-[Chris] I'll keep going. -[Mitch] That's about...
[Chris] That's all we got, bud.
100.35.
Worth over $350,000.
[Mitch] A little bit down from last week.
[Chris] Obviously, had downtime, makes sense.
But hopefully with her running a full week, maybe next week's
numbers will come up.
-[Parker] Yeah, let's do Dominion. -[Chris] Bridge Cut.
Well, here we go. See how Bob did.
We got 20, 40, 60, 80...
105.2.
Worth over $360,000.
I thought maybe we were doing, like, a bit of a switcheroo,
like, "Oh, things were looking bad,"
and then we were gonna have, like, 800 ounces.
[Chris] We need 800 ounces to do that.
Parker now needs Sluicifer and Big Red to deliver
a combined 300 ounces to beat last week's total.
[Chris] Here's the Golden Mile.
You got two plants down there.
Yeah, two plants, so hopefully this one's a little better.
40, 80, 100,
140, 160, 200,
247.45.
Worth $866,000.
[Parker] Where we at?
[Chris] Well, last week, we had 505 ounces.
This week we have 453.0.
We've dropped roughly 50 ounces.
And a lot of that could be because Roxanne was broken.
So that gives us a season total of 6,308.9.
All right. Well, we'll get there.
Slowly but surely, we'll get there.
-[Chris] Yep. -They're not as fun when they're...
I mean, we're a little spoiled with 800, 900 ounce cleanups.
-[Brennan] Yeah. -[Chris] Yeah.
Well, I think the real key is just four plants running.
-[Parker] Yeah. -That's a whole...
That's the foundation right there.
Yeah, not a great week, but...you know, we're still
fighting some downtime, but this is what happens
with four plants.
With four plants running this week, you know, we only got 400
and some ounces, not what we'd like to see, but we had a lot
of trucks down, we had plants down,
so hopefully next week's better.
We get back on those 800 ounce weeks because we need them
to hit our season target.