1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:04,680 - [crumbling] - [dramatic chord strike] 2 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:11,960 ♪ 3 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:18,400 [Parker] I'm just trying to figure out 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:19,680 if we can just sluice everything. 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,520 Two extremely tiny pieces. 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:27,440 I'm depressed. 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,680 Some gold needs to start coming out of the ground, 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,759 and I'll come out of my state of depression. 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:37,000 [narrator] Four weeks in, Parker Schnabel's season 10 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:39,520 is starting to unravel. 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:44,039 He made a strategic decision to sluice top gravels, 12 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:47,440 dirt with inconsistent gold concentration, 13 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,839 through his four wash plants. 14 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,399 But so far, it's not paying off. 15 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:59,080 Delivering just 820 ounces towards his 13,000-ounce goal. 16 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,319 I mean, it's dog [bleep], 17 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:06,279 but to waste it means 18 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,720 dedicating a lot more resources in here in the short term. 19 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:11,160 We don't really have any spare... 20 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:15,399 capacity to move so much dirt. 21 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,840 That adds quite a burden onto the trucking crews, 22 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:22,239 so we might just sluice it all. 23 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,040 Let's just eat it as quick as we can, get through it. 24 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,440 We're here to gamble, so we may as well gamble. 25 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:32,440 There's starting to be some pretty good rock 26 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,520 coming out of here, 27 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:36,039 so that's a good sign. 28 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,280 But one thing we can't control-- double whammy of 29 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:40,719 fuel prices being very high 30 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:42,680 and gold prices going down sucks. 31 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,080 They're down $500 from their peak. 32 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:49,680 It's very simple-- gold price goes down, company goes broke. 33 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,280 With the gold price dropping $500 per ounce 34 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,199 in the last five weeks, 35 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,320 Parker needs to hit the higher-pay gold layer soon, 36 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,600 and is praying this is the week it changes over. 37 00:02:10,640 --> 00:02:14,079 Parker's got a huge gold total, and he's hoping for 38 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,400 4,000 ounces of that to come out of the Quagmire Cut. 39 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,720 And that is a huge ask of this ground. 40 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,040 Rocksand's first cleanup was definitely a disappointment. 41 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,000 You know, 26.8 ounces, 42 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,239 hopefully this one's a little bit better. 43 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,800 In Parker's Quagmire Cut, foreman Mitch Blaschke is doing 44 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:36,960 his second cleanup on Rocksand. 45 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,160 Real excited to see what kind of gold we got on 46 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:47,280 that pile over there. 47 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:50,800 [hiss] 48 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:00,560 The hydraulic oil? 49 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,080 That's not good. Well, let's go have a look. 50 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,440 A hydraulic hose has burst, 51 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,080 leaking oil over the sluices 52 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,879 directly under the shaker deck. 53 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:18,960 We're just trying to determine 54 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,279 where the oil is coming from, where the leak is. 55 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,119 So, I'm going to turn it on here real quick 56 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:24,280 while Bill has a look. 57 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,799 - [Mitch] You ready, buddy? - [Bill] OK. 58 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:30,840 [Mitch] Here we go. 59 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,040 [hissing] 60 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:37,839 [Bill] That is why you wear safety glasses. 61 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:38,840 Yeah. 62 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:45,480 So, the hose was just obviously rubbing on a piece of the frame 63 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:47,840 and it wore through the hose. 64 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,719 And when the pressure come on it-- it blew. 65 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,160 The reason this is a bad thing is because hydraulic oil can 66 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:55,920 make the gold want to float. 67 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,520 And we're here to catch it, not to make a big, oily mess. 68 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,200 So, this is going to be quite the process for Chris to try 69 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:11,039 and get all this cleaned up. 70 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,479 We're going to take the tanks back to the gold room. 71 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:16,640 - I can soap them there. - [Mitch] OK. 72 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,280 And clean the tank without getting oil all over the ground 73 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:21,120 here and contaminating this machine. 74 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,079 - OK. - [Bill] I got soap coming. 75 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,719 So, before we fire back up, we're going to soap 76 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:27,720 the whole thing and run a bunch of water through it... 77 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:29,479 - Thank you. - ...so that we're trying to 78 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,359 prevent as much as we can when we fire back up. 79 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,359 Wash plant Rocksand has a sluice box directly under 80 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,440 its shaker deck that is moved up and down 81 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,039 by a hydraulic system. 82 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,400 When its hose burst, it sprayed oil all over 83 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,280 the gold-rich concentrate, 84 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:49,440 contaminating the wash plant 85 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:51,440 and the captured gold. 86 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,079 To get sluicing again, Bill will replace 87 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:57,719 the broken hose. 88 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,760 Then Mitch will decontaminate the wash plant with 89 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,359 soap and water until all traces of the hydraulic oil 90 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:06,360 have been removed. 91 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,160 One little drop of oil just causes all kind of chaos. 92 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:15,400 We have a lot of drops. 93 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:17,480 We got our new hoses. 94 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:21,480 Got them made back at the shop. Boys made them for me. 95 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,839 New hose, crimped some new ends on. 96 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:25,960 So, we'll get these in place. We'll get Mitch up and running here. 97 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,880 It's an easy fix, but causes a lot of... 98 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:36,279 a lot of downtime. And downtime is money lost. 99 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:38,760 Biggest concern we have right now, we got a... 100 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:41,999 We got some oil to clean up. 101 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,639 You know, the good thing is it's a vegetable base. 102 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,400 So, it's not bad for the environment, but it is 103 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:49,440 bad for floating the gold down the runs. 104 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:52,680 Everything is in the clamps or spacing. 105 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,079 So, we shouldn't have this issue again. 106 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:57,480 This is gonna be a good fix. 107 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:05,800 [Mitch] Well, there we go. 108 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:11,240 The process now... 109 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,160 is to try to get all the oil 110 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,200 covered in some soap so that when the water hits it, 111 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:20,800 it'll flush it down through. 112 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:22,999 So we're going to go ahead and fire up our water pump 113 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,000 here, start running some water through Rocksand. 114 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:26,439 We've got some soap. 115 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:28,440 We're going to start spraying this thing down, give it a good 116 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,039 car wash here, and she'll be back good as new. 117 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:32,480 All righty, here we go! 118 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:43,000 [water running] 119 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,159 - That'll work. - Yeah. 120 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,440 Oh, yeah. Look at that. 121 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:54,560 [Bill] Oh, yeah. 122 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,199 [Mitch] Oh, look at that. I like it. 123 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,439 You just brought a whole new meaning to washing the rocks. 124 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,600 [laughing] 125 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,680 Rocksand is all fixed up here. It's gotten the bubble bath. 126 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,280 We're ready to get back washing rocks. 127 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:13,919 Here we go. 128 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:19,519 After a five-hour shutdown, Rocksand is back on the gold. 129 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:20,680 Let's throw some dirt out of here. 130 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:25,440 You're going to have the cleanest rocks 131 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:26,800 in the Yukon. - Perfect. 132 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:45,680 Yeah. 133 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:50,920 [Nick] Yeah, that should be doable, I think. 134 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,160 - Of course. - [Tony speaking] 135 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:58,360 Come on. 136 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,000 - Yeah. - No sweat. 137 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:04,440 [Tony speaking] 138 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:07,400 [Nick] We will. 139 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:11,360 I'll get the D11 and tow it over there. 140 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:17,520 King of the Klondike, Tony Beets, 141 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:19,200 is chomping at the bit. 142 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,279 After water issues 143 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:24,400 and a massive stripping operation 144 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:26,400 in the Midas Cut set him back, 145 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,840 last week's gold haul of 440 ounces proved 146 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:34,559 the new cut has been worth the wait 147 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:37,279 and brought him within striking distance 148 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:38,800 of rival, Parker. 149 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,080 We're dragging it to the other side of the property. 150 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,159 I have to go right through camp. 151 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,920 There's no other way. It's a little bit narrow there. 152 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:31,320 [Cody] Give it a kiss for good luck. 153 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:34,400 - [Taylor] Let's do this. - [Cody] All right. 154 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:40,360 Let's go. 155 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:48,639 Wash plant Find-A-Lot has sat idle 156 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:50,960 at Tony's old Corner Cut all winter. 157 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,440 Nick needs to drag the 45-ton plant 158 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:57,960 two and a half miles northwest 159 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,520 down a treacherous single-track dirt road 160 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:05,799 through Tony's tightly packed Indian River camp, 161 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,760 then over a narrow bridge to its final position 162 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,320 next to Sluice-A-Lot in the Midas Cut, 163 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:16,880 where he has to get at running pay by the end of the week. 164 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:19,999 Everything OK, Cody? 165 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,520 [bleep] yeah! 166 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,120 [Nick] It's new for me, dragging such a big thing 167 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:28,720 behind the cab. 168 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,279 This plant cost over a million dollars. 169 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,040 I don't want to have it stuck in a ditch... 170 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:35,280 or tip over. 171 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,799 We had some rain last night, so that didn't help. 172 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,759 The roads are some places very muddy. 173 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:47,200 So, yeah, we might also get stuck 174 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:49,040 if we don't watch it. 175 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:56,440 Having moved safely down the dirt track, 176 00:10:58,040 --> 00:10:59,840 Nick now needs to maneuver 177 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:03,679 the 32-foot-wide plant through camp. 178 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:05,959 [Nick] It's very narrow over here. 179 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:07,960 We've got a motorhome and a mobile home 180 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,600 on the other side. It's fitting by millimeters. 181 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:27,000 The motorhome is fine, I think. 182 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:28,520 I didn't touch it. 183 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:30,760 Was close enough, though. 184 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:37,880 I have to get around the corner, and with 185 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,520 so much weight behind the CAT, 186 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:42,720 it's hard to steer this thing. 187 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:43,960 So, uh... 188 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:47,119 I got sea... 189 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,960 sea cans on one side, and I got trucks on the other side. 190 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,200 I have to be a little bit careful over here, 191 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:55,680 so I don't hit anything. 192 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:02,440 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that was close. 193 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:05,639 I thought I would have a little bit more space to come through, 194 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:07,320 but this was a close one. 195 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:13,319 Now we're going for the bridge. 196 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:16,759 That's the next narrow spot we have to go through, 197 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:18,040 so we'll see how that goes. 198 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,000 [scraping] 199 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:34,679 Whoa, wait, [bleep]! Hold on! 200 00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:35,600 Wait a second! 201 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:37,280 [indistinct chatter] 202 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,399 It's just too narrow to get this sluice plant 203 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,680 through there, so I'll better dig this out. 204 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,880 Tony's brother Nick has smashed wash plant Find-A-Lot 205 00:12:58,000 --> 00:12:59,639 into a bank. 206 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:04,759 Gonna dig this dirt bank out of the way so we can 207 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:08,159 keep on going. That's all downtime. 208 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:12,199 That's all time we didn't sluice, so no good. 209 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,200 We're late by four, five weeks already. 210 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,959 We got our first sluice box going, so we want to get 211 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:20,520 our second sluice box going. 212 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:23,200 We're good to go. 213 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:31,120 We should be home free, start [bleep] pumping 214 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:32,279 down the road again, 215 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:34,080 get this thing set up to start sluicing. 216 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:44,240 Yeah, we're good. We're going. 217 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:49,200 That was a little bit of excitement. 218 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,320 It didn't fit, we dug it out. 219 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,400 [bleep], we're back in business. Let's go. 220 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:15,560 Well, that's it. That's our final... 221 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,000 spot where she will sit for a while. 222 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,279 We'll hook her up to the water, let her go, 223 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,520 wash some rocks, make our 13,000 ounces, right? 224 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:52,919 Right now, we're so far in the season, and I mean, 225 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:54,960 haven't even sunk a bucket into the ground yet. 226 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:58,359 A hundred miles away, 227 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:01,680 Rick Ness is hanging on by a thread. 228 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:05,080 Vegas Valley is where we... 229 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:08,120 could be, should be right now, mining. 230 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:09,560 Now, all I can do is look at it. 231 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:15,679 In this little area right here, we've taken over 232 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,120 a couple thousand ounces out of here, 233 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:19,400 which is a lot of [bleep] money. It's a lot of gold. 234 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:21,520 And there's more in here, too. 235 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:26,759 Rick's not even allowed to run the stockpile of pay 236 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:28,999 from last season. 237 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,759 This is our stockpile from, you know, the end of last year. 238 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:33,759 We couldn't get it all through, so it was like, "Well, at least 239 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:35,839 we'll have a nice spot to start in the spring." 240 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:37,560 There's a good two days of running here. 241 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:39,960 But there's hope. 242 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,720 Rick's brought in a mining engineer, Adam Mickey, 243 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:48,560 to assess Duncan Creek and draw up a plan to get him 244 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:50,080 permission to mine. 245 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:53,799 Hey, how you doing? Must be Rick. 246 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:54,760 I'm Rick. 247 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:56,120 - Adam. - Adam, nice to meet you. 248 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:57,319 Nice to meet you. Thanks for coming. 249 00:15:57,320 --> 00:15:59,320 - Yeah, no problem. - Adam, you made it. 250 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:01,640 - Nice to see you. - Good to see you. 251 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:03,039 - Yeah. - Glad you made it out here. 252 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,439 Maybe we'll start at the top, start at Rally Valley first. 253 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:07,239 - Yeah, that works. - [Jason] OK. 254 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:08,640 [Rick] Give you the nickel tour. 255 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:10,200 - Yeah. - All right. 256 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:11,320 - [Adam] I'll follow you. - Cool. 257 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:19,240 I don't like this. 258 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:23,360 Last season, Rick's crew were mining 200 feet down 259 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,079 in Vegas Valley. 260 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:26,959 [Rick] I'm just wondering if it's too dangerous. 261 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:28,719 Hey, Bailey, finish loading. 262 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:29,760 I don't know what I was thinking, man. 263 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:31,559 Let's get the [bleep] out of here. 264 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:34,800 With the cut unstable, in the off-season, 265 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,040 mining authorities shut down his operation. 266 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,520 We cannot mine until we employ an engineer 267 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,199 on this site. - [Rick] That's bad. 268 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:46,480 That's really bad. 269 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:49,600 [Jason] We have no people and we can't mine. 270 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,520 So this is the upstream side of Rally Valley here, 271 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:58,759 kind of the very first deep cut that we did. 272 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:00,079 I think if we get over this berm here, 273 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:01,759 we can kind of see down, 274 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,199 down into it pretty well. 275 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,160 - [Adam] Part of the job, billy-goating everywhere. - [Rick] Yeah. 276 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,559 Rick's pulled out almost 3,000 ounces 277 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:10,400 of gold from Rally Valley. 278 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:12,959 For me, the biggest thing, I want to continue mining this 279 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,279 at some point, or mining up to it at least, 280 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,639 but how can we do that? 281 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:19,999 What's the elevation from water to the top? 282 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:21,319 Have you measured it? 283 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:23,080 From basically the road level to bedrock was, 284 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,279 I think it was 205 feet. 285 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,480 You can't put anybody down here at risk. 286 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,280 I can definitely see them wanting you to have a plan to 287 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:33,080 not do this again on a future cut, so... 288 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:34,960 - Sure. - [Adam] And then we can come up with a plan 289 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:36,599 for reshaping the slope 290 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,800 in a way that that doesn't compromise a worker's safety 291 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,000 up there. And then a monitoring program 292 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:43,759 to assess and make sure 293 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:45,759 nothing's about to fail. - [Rick] OK. 294 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,239 [Adam] Like, look for tension cracks, look for signs of 295 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:49,839 slope instability. - [Rick] Yep. 296 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,480 [Adam] It all depends on what is going to satisfy them, 297 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,239 but it could be in a week to get something approved or it 298 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:56,880 could take a little bit longer if have to do 299 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:58,840 more detailed analysis for them. 300 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:00,520 This isn't meant to stay open forever. 301 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:02,319 It's meant to stay open long enough for you to 302 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,080 get the gold out and then move on. - Yeah. 303 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,199 The shorter-term goal here is to get mining this year. 304 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:13,159 [Adam] It's going to be difficult to deal with this, but this might 305 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:15,799 be able to just be left as-is for now and then see if, 306 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,200 like, at least get you back working on other locations. 307 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,399 Sure, and that would be the best-case scenario. 308 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,320 Yeah, because that's exactly what we're looking to do. 309 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:26,800 Start a fresh cut, stay far enough away from this, 310 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:28,880 no worker safety problems... - Yeah. 311 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,879 ...and deal with this and, you know, 312 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,520 whenever you have to. - Yeah, yeah. 313 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,160 I think maybe you've got to see when I can have a meeting 314 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,360 with the inspector, get things moving on, call it 315 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,720 lower-risk areas, where you're not doing cuts like this. 316 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:46,999 So, safety overrides everything else. 317 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,200 [Rick] Yeah. 318 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:50,399 Well, that's the thing, too, is that we've got a stockpile 319 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:52,800 sitting there as well that we, you know, from the end of 320 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:54,839 last year, it's got pretty good gold in it that we'd like to 321 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:56,439 get in the-- get through the plant as well. 322 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:57,879 Shouldn't prevent you from washing 323 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,279 if you're not touching these areas. - [Rick] Sure. 324 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:04,039 Yeah, and then we worry about this as a thing to be ready for 325 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,320 next year if that's kind of what you're thinking. 326 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:07,440 Yeah, exactly. 327 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,080 - I appreciate your help. - Yeah, well, it's short season. 328 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,280 Yeah. And you know that, so I'm glad. 329 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:16,640 Yeah. 330 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,919 Adam now has to submit a mining plan to 331 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,600 the authorities and hope it's enough for Rick 332 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,199 to start mining again. 333 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,879 There are over-steepened slopes that definitely could 334 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,239 have a risk of failure. 335 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,680 It all depends on what is going to satisfy the inspectors. 336 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:37,239 You know, this could go either of two ways. 337 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:38,520 Either this could be the actual real start 338 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:40,080 of us mining, or it could be the end. 339 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,280 Parker said he wanted a wash plant a week. 340 00:19:58,400 --> 00:19:59,680 And we've delivered. We have three running 341 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:01,880 on Dominion and Mitch is set up 342 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,359 and running at Ken and Stuart's. 343 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:06,959 So, you know, we just got to keep them going now is 344 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:08,000 the biggest thing. 345 00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:11,160 In charge of Parker's three Dominion plants, 346 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,159 foreman Tyson Lee is pushing through 347 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,839 top gravels to reach the gold-rich 348 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:18,000 pay dirt beneath. 349 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:19,440 You know, sluicing more material 350 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,080 just puts more demand on everything. 351 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,040 More demand on people, more demand on the equipment. 352 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:25,680 Hopefully, it's the right decision 353 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:27,000 and we don't regret it. 354 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:35,079 That doesn't look right. 355 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:36,560 In the Airstrip Cut, 356 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,119 mechanic Alec Kelly oversees 357 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:40,720 wash plant Golden Goose. 358 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:43,600 Hey, Liam, we'll shut the plant down here 359 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:44,720 and take a look at this. 360 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:55,520 Let's take a peek. 361 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,639 - [Liam] It looks like it moved. - [Alec] Oh, it has. 362 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,279 It's moved a lot. 363 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:04,119 We have movement between our interface 364 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:05,360 of the bearing here and the shaft. 365 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:08,960 That's the movement. Try that. 366 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:10,080 Take a look. 367 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,920 We're gonna have to replace the shaft, which involves 368 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:16,160 a complete teardown. 369 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,960 The Golden Goose's conveyor drum is wobbly. 370 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,639 The rotating shaft driving the drum has come loose. 371 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,480 If left unchecked, this will lead to the conveyor belt 372 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:32,679 tearing itself apart. 373 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,279 To fix it, Alec will loosen the belt, 374 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,280 remove the gearbox and drum assembly, 375 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,120 then replace the head drum, 376 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,399 re-tension the belt, and fire up the plant, 377 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:46,320 and get back on the gold. 378 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:55,600 Going up. 379 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:03,240 Bringing the conveyor down into service mode here. 380 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:04,680 Gets it closer to the ground where we can 381 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,000 actually work on it. 382 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:14,280 That's pretty well our entire day. 383 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,040 It's just changing out that whole brick of parts. 384 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:22,240 I'm just pulling up to Goose here. 385 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:25,960 Last thing we need is this plant turning off. 386 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:33,320 The hell is going on here? 387 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,319 Oh, welcome to the land of broken equipment. 388 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:39,760 - What happened? - We got... 389 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,959 our shaft and bearing interface problem here. 390 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:45,519 For [bleep] sakes. 391 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,560 [Alec] Basically, we got to tear the whole thing apart. 392 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:48,760 [Tyson] How long do you guys think? 393 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:52,120 - [Alec] Today at least. - [bleep]. 394 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,600 All right, I'll get out of your guys' hair, try and get it back 395 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,159 running as soon as possible, but you guys know that, so. 396 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:00,080 Yeah, come on, Jarv. Let's go. 397 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:03,839 [Tyson] Sucks the plant's down and hopefully they can 398 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,320 get this thing back up and running. 399 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:08,479 Hey, Liam! 400 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:10,840 - Let's get this lifted! - Winch up. 401 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,320 Now, we just toss the box off. 402 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:17,960 Winching up this side. 403 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:21,880 - Yep. - Winching up. 404 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,400 - Oh, here we go. - It's coming out. 405 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:29,360 Well, I'm not going to get in the way of this thing. 406 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:31,120 It probably weighs a good 400 pounds. 407 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:35,520 [Liam] Just let me know when to stop. 408 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,840 Nice and careful now. Easy. 409 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,880 - You're almost out. - Going up? 410 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,840 Yeah. Get the [bleep] out of my wash plant. 411 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:50,920 There you go. 412 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:52,040 Drop her down. 413 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,319 Yeah, just drop her down next to the new one there. 414 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,399 - [Liam] Yeah. - Whoo! 415 00:23:58,400 --> 00:23:59,519 I think that was the easy part. 416 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,200 Putting this new drum in is going to be a fight. 417 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,039 And then I'll need to pull the belt out to give us 418 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,240 as much room as possible to slide in the new drum. 419 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:10,600 It's going to be ugly trying to get it in. 420 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:11,720 Careful. 421 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:14,880 I've never done this before. 422 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:16,799 We don't have an owner's manual to figure out how to 423 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,040 do this, so we're just figuring it out as we go. 424 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:20,160 One shot. 425 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:24,680 Coming down. 426 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,280 Hey! We're resting on the far side. 427 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:32,280 We can slide it right into the frame slots there. 428 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:35,119 [Liam] Winching down. 429 00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:38,400 This is going good, boys and girls. 430 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:39,520 We're almost in. 431 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:42,439 Look at this. 432 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:44,159 - [Liam] Nice. - We're in place. 433 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,639 - Look at that. - [Liam] Whoo! 434 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,599 - Beautiful. - Throw some bearings on, 435 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:48,800 we're back in action. 436 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,280 [drilling] 437 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,439 - Hurrah! - Hurrah! 438 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:58,920 - [Liam] Gearbox on. - [Alec] Here we go. 439 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:00,040 We're unfolding. 440 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:04,960 It's a dinosaurus erectus. 441 00:25:10,120 --> 00:25:11,639 - We're done. - We're done. 442 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:12,640 Fire it up. 443 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,959 [Tyson] Nice work, fellas, looks like you got her back together. 444 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,200 - [Alec] We're ready to hit go. - [bleep] yeah, well, let's do her. 445 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:20,640 - Sweet. - Hit the genny. 446 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:21,880 - Nice work. - Nice work, Liam. 447 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,080 I'm gonna hit the water, throw some rocks in it. 448 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,600 The plant's been down for only four and a half hours, 449 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:40,600 but it still cost Parker 450 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,839 over $16,000 in lost gold production. 451 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:46,360 First scoop going back in. 452 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,240 You know, it's really good that those guys 453 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:52,800 got that fixed up. 454 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,239 And we're back sluicing up here at Goose. 455 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,519 Hopefully that's it for issues for a while, because we need 456 00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:58,840 some steady gold coming in. 457 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:08,920 ♪ 458 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:12,640 [Tony speaking] 459 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,079 At the Midas Cut, Tony Beets is eager to get 460 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:28,200 a second wash plant sluicing. 461 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,240 Find-A-Lot's pump is already set up next to the intake pond. 462 00:26:33,360 --> 00:26:37,439 Next step, attach the output hose to the pump that will 463 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:39,080 supply water to the plant. 464 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:41,479 Go down a little bit more. 465 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,480 [Tony speaking] 466 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:48,159 [Andrew] OK. 467 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:49,160 Nope. 468 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:50,320 Other way. 469 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:51,520 - Yeah, there you go. - Oh, yeah. 470 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:56,559 [Andrew] OK, whoa, whoa, whoa. 471 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:57,879 OK, we're in a good spot there now. 472 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,360 [drilling] 473 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:05,480 - [Andrew] Are we good? - [Tony speaking] 474 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,880 Now, Tony's crew need to drag the output pipe 475 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:10,040 to Find-A-Lot. 476 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:14,880 [Tony speaking] 477 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:43,279 Tony's only money-making wash plant lies in the path of 478 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,960 the water pipe that will supply Find-A-Lot. 479 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,879 So, he's shut it down and will now raise it using 480 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:56,760 built-in hydraulic jacks, providing a 24-inch gap beneath 481 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,999 so the 12-inch pipe can be dragged under and connected 482 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,440 directly to Find-A-Lot, getting the second plant 483 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,880 fired up by the end of the day. 484 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:09,880 So, we're gonna hook an excavator to this end 485 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:11,199 and pull the pipe all the way through? 486 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:13,440 - Yeah, that's the idea, yeah. - [Andrew] OK. 487 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:17,519 As wash plant Sluice-A-Lot jacks up, 488 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,880 the pressure shifts to Nick's second-in-command, 489 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,119 Andrew Moran, to start moving the pipe. 490 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:26,519 We'd better hurry up, but don't break anything, 491 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,400 so we have to be careful, but... 492 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:29,800 - Take it slow. - Yeah, there we go. 493 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:31,960 - No, go, go, go, go, go! - Sorry, sorry, sorry. 494 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:36,560 [Tony speaking] 495 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:42,679 [Nick] Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, 496 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:43,680 keep going. 497 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:55,160 You ready, Andrew? 498 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:57,679 Yeah, go ahead. 499 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:01,720 OK, just slowly pull her towards you, OK? 500 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,280 OK, lift her up higher. Lift her up higher. 501 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:14,279 OK. Yeah, keep pulling, 502 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,399 keep pulling. Swing to the left. 503 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:18,119 Swing to the left. 504 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,720 Keep pulling. 505 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:22,879 Keep her pulling. 506 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:24,719 Oh, that is going very nice like this. 507 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,480 Yeah, keep her going, Andrew. 508 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:28,159 Perfect, man, perfect. 509 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:29,720 Slowly, steady. 510 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:31,359 Go a little bit to the right, maybe. 511 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:32,559 Swing a little bit to the right. 512 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:33,559 Yeah, OK. 513 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:35,120 - [clang] - Whoa! 514 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:38,759 I'd like to have a look on the other side. 515 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:39,960 I'll be there. I actually don't know 516 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:41,799 what's happening because I can't see [bleep]. 517 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:43,040 There's buckets in my way. 518 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:44,240 [Nick] Very [bleep] up. 519 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:57,680 [Nick] OK, pull it tight again. 520 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:04,080 Yeah, keep on going, keep on going. 521 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,280 Keep on going. OK, hang on. 522 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:08,720 There is a hole in that pipe, I see now. 523 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:10,479 No question about that. 524 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:14,120 While hurrying to set up their second wash plant, 525 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:18,360 the Beets crew has busted open the plant's water pipe. 526 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,480 - Well, that pipe is [bleep]. - [Andrew] Is it? 527 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,320 - Yeah, it is. - [Andrew] On this, like, from me? 528 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:24,600 [Nick] Yeah, from you, yeah. 529 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:25,720 [Andrew] I'll take the blame for that one. 530 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,760 - [Andrew] Sorry about that, Nick. - Just pull... 531 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:31,080 nice and slowly again. 532 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:41,239 Hang in, Andrew. Hang in. 533 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:42,240 That's good. 534 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,479 There, I'll show you where you [bleep] up. 535 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,000 - [Nick] Yeah? - [Andrew] Sorry about that, Nick. 536 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:53,480 Hey, Cody, fire up the pump. 537 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:54,680 OK, get her going. 538 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:01,039 Nick fires up Sluice-A-Lot to get the gold flowing, 539 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,840 but still needs to fix Find-A-Lot's pipe. 540 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:09,600 No, not yet. We have a hole in a water pipe. 541 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,879 Yeah, will do and then we got her up and running. 542 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:15,680 - [Tony speaking] - Yeah. 543 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:18,960 Yeah. 544 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:23,880 [Mike] Yeah? 545 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:33,640 [Mike] I can go do that, Dad. 546 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:41,039 Tony's 36-year-old son, Mike, has left his operation at 547 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,880 Paradise Hill to take charge of the pipe fusing. 548 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:46,880 [Mike] I am the expert when it comes to fusing. 549 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,640 I'm not saving my dad. I'm just saving him a [bleep] headache. 550 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,439 Most people around here aren't as experienced 551 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:53,880 with this as I am. 552 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,959 We're going to cut this about the length of 553 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,719 the connecting piece. I'm going to fuse that. 554 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,960 I'm going to slide it over, hook it all up. 555 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:03,080 It's good to go. 556 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,640 First, Mike removes the damaged section of pipe. 557 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,240 [buzzing] 558 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,119 We just got the pipe cut, and all we gotta do is get 559 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,560 the fusing machine in here, and I can get started. 560 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:33,119 He then clamps the two ends into place to ensure 561 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:34,600 they are perfectly aligned. 562 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,400 I'm shaving it off so it's smooth, so when I melt it, 563 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:42,799 it connects. It's a clean, good connection. 564 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:47,000 A 400-degree heater plate melts the two ends, 565 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:49,960 and finally, they are pressed and fused together. 566 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,239 Once this is fused, they can be connected 567 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:59,840 up to there, and then the pump can deliver water to the plant. 568 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:02,280 Pull it up. 569 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:36,120 [indistinct]. 570 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:42,320 Yeah. 571 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,599 Now it's fused. My dad can get sluicing. 572 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:49,600 Start it up. 573 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,240 OK, Jasmine, keep feeding the plant. 574 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:16,799 We have two plants running side by side now, 575 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:18,360 which is good. It's always a nice sight. 576 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,640 Hopefully, the two of them run flat out and there's no issues, 577 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,760 and we can just make lots of money this year. 578 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,040 There's one more step in the right direction. 579 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:33,680 There's number two running. 580 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:35,240 Let's go, go, go, go! 581 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:51,120 [Rick] The gold prices keep dropping. 582 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:53,320 I mean, that just means more gold that we have to get to 583 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:54,759 make this a successful season. 584 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,640 And, you know, we're running out of time. 585 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:02,280 Rick Ness's entire Duncan Creek mining operation 586 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,479 is still at a standstill. 587 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:08,079 But if his engineer can get a mining plan approved 588 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,039 by the authorities, he can start sluicing 589 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:13,840 a pile of pay dirt from last season. 590 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:15,360 [Rick] Adam, our engineer, he's going to be calling me 591 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:16,760 in a little bit. He's got an answer 592 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:18,679 on whether or not we can go forward, 593 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:19,880 so I'm nervous as hell about it. 594 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,280 [phone ringing] 595 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:29,800 Hello? 596 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:31,920 [Adam on phone] 597 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:40,599 What's going on? Don't leave me hanging. 598 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,920 What's the news here? We got good news or bad news? 599 00:35:58,320 --> 00:35:59,320 So common sense? 600 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:02,799 All right. 601 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:04,839 We should talk about, yeah, the long-term plan 602 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:05,880 and all that stuff. 603 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:16,240 I mean, I'm just happy we can start. 604 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:18,239 Like, I can go outside and start right now. 605 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:19,640 - Finally. - [Adam speaking] 606 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:24,360 Yeah, I wanted to, um, 607 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:25,800 no, I just-- waiting on the word. 608 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:30,760 Hell yeah. [bleep]. 609 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:32,400 Oh, you made my day. 610 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:33,560 All right, thanks, buddy. 611 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,600 We can go mining, and that's all I need to know. 612 00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:38,720 Time to go get to work. 613 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,679 The deep-walled cuts are off-limits for now, 614 00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:48,000 but Rick wastes no time getting back on the gold. 615 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:51,480 I don't feel anything but good about firing up right now. 616 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,039 I mean, it's been waiting around for this, and this is 617 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:56,559 the latest in the season, I think, that we've ever 618 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,360 gotten started sluicing, but it is what it is. 619 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:00,760 We'll deal with it, you know. 620 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:02,919 At least we're gonna get some gold today. 621 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:03,920 Here we got water. 622 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:11,800 Two, one, go. 623 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:16,000 Bingo. [bleep]. 624 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:19,480 There we go. We're making power. 625 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:21,760 We're just going to switch it on. 626 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:29,840 Bingo. 627 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,440 [Jason] It's been a while since we've been shut down, 628 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:45,039 and we're good to go. It's exciting. 629 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:46,040 It's an exciting day. 630 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:50,399 That's the noise we like to hear. 631 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:52,840 It's loud, it's annoying, 632 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:55,000 but it means we're getting gold. 633 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:02,319 We're off to the races now, 634 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,440 and I just gotta appreciate that fact, you know. 635 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:07,320 We gotta open up new ground. 636 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:09,120 I'm gonna need more crew for that. 637 00:38:09,240 --> 00:38:11,719 We got work to do, and we got a long ways to go, 638 00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:13,040 but we're gonna make it. 639 00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:31,360 We should be able to see our first gold of the season. 640 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:34,599 After two days of sluicing, 641 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:39,080 Rick has run through his entire stockpile of leftover pay 642 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,640 and shut down Monster Red 643 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:44,079 for his first cleanup this season. 644 00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,919 I see little specks in there. There's a... oh, 645 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:48,719 look at that. 646 00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:49,720 I think I got one here. 647 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:52,280 Oh, yeah. 648 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:54,680 Another guy. 649 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:57,480 Well, that's the first piece of gold of the season. 650 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:00,560 Let's keep that one. That's the lucky-- that's the lucky one. 651 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:03,920 Nice. Hopefully he's got buddies in there. 652 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:05,240 Oh, yeah, looky there. 653 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:06,360 Got another. 654 00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:09,440 He does have a buddy. 655 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:12,199 Hopefully we get a decent amount of gold out of this. 656 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:14,480 That's it. Clean up and see what we got. 657 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,440 That'll be hopefully enough gold to pay the bills 658 00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:20,840 and keep us, give us a little jump-start, keep us going here. 659 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,479 And there's gold in the box, so there's a reason to 660 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:28,360 smile tonight. We got gold. 661 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:38,760 Hello. 662 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:41,040 How's it going? 663 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,039 A scale? That's exciting. 664 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:47,599 - No fire. - No fire, no people. 665 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:48,600 Yeah, no [bleep], dude. 666 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:51,479 The first gold weigh of the season. 667 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:53,279 I mean, what, did we run two days? 668 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:54,320 So it's not a lot, but... 669 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:55,640 [Jason] Yeah, a couple days running, 670 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:57,519 and we have permission to mine now. 671 00:39:57,520 --> 00:39:59,360 [Rick] Oh, that's the big thing. 672 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,960 [Jason] Well, that's the end of the pay pile, and we don't know 673 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:04,479 what else is coming in. 674 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:06,600 It's true, but we have the ability to go mining, 675 00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:09,800 and I was starting to wonder if we were gonna be able to do that at all. 676 00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:11,799 So, I mean, I'm happy. 677 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,800 Here we are, we've got gold right away, 678 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:18,079 and what more can you ask for? - [Jason] Just more gold. 679 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:19,200 [Rick] Starting to feel like mining. 680 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:21,480 So, yeah, better late than never. 681 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:22,640 - Yes. - [Heather] We're getting there. 682 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:24,519 Well, what do we get? 683 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:26,560 Let's check it out. All right. 684 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:31,200 Haven't handled gold in a while. 685 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:33,520 All right, let's see what we got. 686 00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:36,680 We got 687 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,320 5, 10, 688 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:43,519 20, 25, 31, 689 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:45,440 32, 33... 690 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:46,760 [tapping] 691 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:48,560 33.40. 692 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:52,039 Worth over $150,000. 693 00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:55,039 - Hmm, it's something, though. - [Heather] It's a solid start. 694 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,679 Yeah, especially with being so late getting going. 695 00:40:57,680 --> 00:40:58,719 - [Rick] Yeah. - Yeah. 696 00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:00,519 That keeps us alive. I mean, I think that 697 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:02,119 that should give us confidence to go 698 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:03,080 into whatever's next. 699 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:04,320 That's a step in the right direction. 700 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:05,880 You know, I guess that's the way to look at it, 701 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:07,519 and you know, we've got gold. 702 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:10,319 We've got the ability to mine, and now we just need 703 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,399 a spot to go and some people, 704 00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:14,160 and then we get more gold. 705 00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:16,159 All we gotta do is go get after it. 706 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:17,160 - [Jason] Let's do it. - Hell yeah. 707 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:20,800 A little less than we thought it would be, 708 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,120 but something's better than nothing, so I'm happy with it. 709 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:25,999 A week ago, we weren't going to be able to mine, 710 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:27,879 and here we are. We've got some gold. 711 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:30,080 - A future. - We've got the go ahead to mine. 712 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:31,680 We've just got to go do it. 713 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:32,800 And that's what we're going to do. 714 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:45,719 - [Monica] Age before beauty. - Thank you, ma'am. 715 00:41:45,720 --> 00:41:48,120 - [Monica] You're older than I am, buddy. - Yeah, come here, Nick. 716 00:41:48,240 --> 00:41:50,159 - Come here. - [Tony speaking] 717 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:52,400 - Aw, my favorite uncle, eh? - [Monica] Hi. 718 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:56,959 So what did you guys do this week? 719 00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:59,280 Well, we moved Find-A-Lot, 720 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:02,000 so it's on its final destination. 721 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:08,520 So last year you had the son, and now you've got the father. 722 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:09,760 How's that? 723 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:22,119 You do seem more comfortable just, like, leaving 724 00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:23,120 when Nick's here. 725 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:31,599 Tony's crew ran Midas Cut pay through both plants, 726 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:33,800 but only cleaned out Sluice-A-Lot. 727 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:36,639 So maybe we should see what we have this week. 728 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:38,519 Sounds good. Who's going to count? 729 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:40,240 - [Mike] I'll count. - [Monica] OK, ready? 730 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:44,319 Last week, it delivered over 440 ounces. 731 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,479 50, 70, 80, 732 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,720 90, 100, 120, 150, 733 00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:50,320 160, 170... 734 00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:51,600 [tapping] 735 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:55,759 190, 220, 230, 736 00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:57,600 260, 290, 737 00:42:57,720 --> 00:42:59,359 310, 340, 360, 738 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:01,199 380, 400, 410, 739 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:03,440 420... - [tapping] 740 00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,079 426.58. 741 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:09,400 Worth almost $2 million. 742 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:10,680 That's not bad. 743 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:17,079 [Minnie] That'd be cool. 744 00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:19,840 That makes your grand total 867.56. 745 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:27,640 - OK, bye. - Bye. 746 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:38,240 For the first time this season, Tony has overtaken 747 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:41,080 his rival by 47 ounces. 748 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:43,079 Yo, yo! 749 00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:46,479 Parker needs this to be the week his numbers 750 00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:47,480 start to climb. 751 00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:48,919 [Mitch] Well, that was quite the week. 752 00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:49,880 Yeah. 753 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:51,679 Had to give old Rocksand a bubble bath there 754 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:54,520 after blowing that hydraulic hose on the cleanup. 755 00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:56,959 - How did it go down here? - [Chris] Miserable. 756 00:43:56,960 --> 00:43:59,400 We ran all our equipment with soap, obviously, and then went 757 00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:01,599 back and cleaned everything again. 758 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,159 One drop of oil down here just raises havoc. 759 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:06,600 [Tyson] Yeah, well, at Goose this week, I pulled up to the plant 760 00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:10,439 and I saw Alec and Liam had the head drum folded right up. 761 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:11,520 - On the elevator? - [Tyson] Yeah. 762 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,999 Our numbers running this top gravel and stuff, 763 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:17,839 they've just been pathetic. 764 00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:21,039 We really haven't really hit it good yet. 765 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:23,480 Yeah, well, we'll run out of gravel at some point. 766 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:25,919 Let's hope it's before we run out of money. 767 00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:28,159 - Yeah. - [Chris] Well, you want to see how Rocksand did, Mitch? 768 00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:29,320 - Yeah, bud. - Yeah. 769 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:30,680 All right. 770 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:35,359 To reach its 4,000-ounce season goal, Rocksand needs to 771 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:38,400 deliver around 200 ounces a week. 772 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,400 Last week, it was less than 27. 773 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:45,040 He's got a big jar there, a big thermos. 774 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:47,799 - Yeah. - Yeah, it's a trick. 775 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:49,239 You can see the way he's holding it. 776 00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:50,200 [Mitch] It looks pretty light. 777 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:53,679 We got 7, 20, 778 00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:55,960 30, 40... 779 00:44:57,560 --> 00:44:59,360 50 ounces, dead on. 780 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:01,960 Ugh. 781 00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:04,559 - [Chris] Not much. - That's depressing. 782 00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:07,999 OK, tie this to Goose with your downtime. 783 00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:14,200 So far, Goose's average gold production is 136 ounces. 784 00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:16,840 Let's see if we manage to find anything this week. 785 00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:17,960 Here we go. 786 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:22,200 10, 30, 787 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,040 50, 70, 788 00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:28,040 81.9. 789 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,360 - That's actually not terrible. - [Chris] Yeah. 790 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,359 - And with the downtime you had... - Yeah. 791 00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:37,880 ...you probably could have got into triple digits. 792 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,119 But, I mean, it's better than wasting it. 793 00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:41,319 [Chris] Yeah, for sure. 794 00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:43,000 Well, he's got a giant thermos there, so-- 795 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,759 He's moving it around like it weighs nothing. 796 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:46,839 Well, look at this guy. 797 00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:48,600 He's been moving gold for how many years? 798 00:45:48,720 --> 00:45:50,599 [Chris] Ready? Here we go. 799 00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:52,639 See how Bob did in the Bridge Cut. 800 00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:56,239 Bob's weekly average is 56 ounces. 801 00:45:56,240 --> 00:45:59,160 [Tyson] We've got 20, 30, 40. 802 00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:02,080 Is that it? 803 00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:04,480 - That's all she got, man. - 48.6. 804 00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:09,160 - [Mitch] They're all consistently bad. - [Tyson] Yeah. 805 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:12,720 Last and least, Big Red. 806 00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:15,400 Here we go. 807 00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:19,240 Big Red is averaging 45 ounces. 808 00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:22,760 [Tyson] See if it improved. We got 10, 30, 809 00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:24,800 40, 45, 810 00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:27,520 53.8. 811 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:33,039 [Chris] And the bleeding doesn't stop there. 812 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,319 At least we're consistent, because last week we had 813 00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:37,239 230 ounces. 814 00:46:37,240 --> 00:46:41,080 This week we have 234.3 ounces. 815 00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:44,360 Worth just over a million dollars. 816 00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:46,360 [Tyson] We need that per plant. 817 00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:50,520 So our season total is 1,054.35 ounces. 818 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:56,199 This time last year it was 2,034. 819 00:46:56,200 --> 00:47:00,840 This week last year our weekly cleanup was 808 ounces. 820 00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:02,039 Jeez. 821 00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:05,160 We started out really hot and good last year. 822 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:07,200 Not this year. 823 00:47:08,720 --> 00:47:10,160 No, this year's been really [bleep]. 824 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:12,880 [Chris] It's been difficult. 825 00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,160 Yeah, I mean we're creeping up on the need to do, like, 826 00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:17,480 a thousand ounces a week at a certain point. 827 00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:20,240 - Yeah. - We have 12,000 ounces to go. 828 00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:24,559 Gonna have to start changing pretty soon to even 829 00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:26,240 get on track. - [Parker] Yeah, that's... 830 00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:29,840 You know, slow turn in a big ship. 831 00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:33,080 I don't know what to say. 832 00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:38,679 Parker's gold total is now ahead of Tony's, 833 00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:41,320 but by just 200 ounces. 834 00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:42,840 There's just not a lot of gold in the dirt. 835 00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:46,479 All the plants are still chewing through a lot of 836 00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:48,279 top gravel and that's one of the problems. 837 00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:50,960 So, it just puts pressure on the back end of the season to 838 00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:53,160 actually get through all of the main pay. 839 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:55,440 But the cleanups are going to get better at some point. 840 00:47:56,720 --> 00:47:58,159 If they don't, we're in real trouble. 841 00:47:58,160 --> 00:47:59,160 But they will.