This time on Aussie Gold Hunters...
Salty!
Half ouncer! (LAUGHS)
..gold adventurers Alan Williams and Salty Davenport...
What madman would come here?
Not many, mate. Not many. Just us.
..target untouched ground in the extreme wilderness.
Here we have my underwater detector.
Ideal weapon of choice.
But their unique search method could end in failure.
I cannot see anything down there.
The Gold Retrievers call in family to save their season.
Hey, darl. How are you?
Good.
Are you serious?
Babe, come and look at this.
Whoo.
But engine trouble could be the final straw for Chris.
It's broken down.
I am so over this.
And the Ferals are forced to defend their patch...
Gotcha. Light this area up.
Ready?
Yup.
..to finally bring in the biggest haul of their careers.
No way!
Got a monster.
Mate, how much further is the spot?
10, 15ks maybe.
I hope so because I threw in my mining job for this
and we need this to pay off and quick.
Where I'm taking you, you wait till you see this landscape.
It will blow your mind.
With your knowledge prospecting, these kind of areas,
we've given ourselves the best chance
at finding those alluvial nuggets.
Like you just said, the gold knowledge I've got
and your Bush knowledge,
that's gonna get us to the spots
where no one's swung a detector before.
It's one of the best hunting grounds for our first trip.
Rookie prospecting team Alan Williams
and Kaleb Davenport, AKA Salty have made a gruelling 1,000km trek
across Western Australia from Perth to the East Pilbara region.
One of the harshest places to find gold on the planet.
Blasted by plus 40 degree heat and scorching desert winds.
This is one of the hardest tracks to get to up here.
Right, here we go, mate.
This is the hectic bit.
Yo, that's nuts.
Steady, steady.
There's one rock here that we want to stay clear of.
Start turning to your left now.
Follow that line.
Real slow, real slow.
Dude, are you sure about this?
Real slow.
Yeah, one sharp rock will blow a tyre.
We will literally be ended up stranded out here.
That back tyre's about to drop.
Head towards me about here.
Right tyre.
Oh, no!
Keep coming. Keep coming.
Real slow, real slow. Slow it down.
Yup, yup, you're good.
Whoo hoo hoo!
Oh, mate, good stuff.
We got there.
We know there's gold a few kilometres north
in those goldmines.
I can imagine, mate, with all this landscape,
it acts like a beautiful funnel for any monsoon or downpours will wash
everything on down into those creek beds
and into these waterholes where we're going.
And you, you crazy (BLEEP) thinking about diving in there.
I got my diving gear with me.
Who brings a dive unit out to the desert?
Me.
Here it is, mate.
Wait till you see this joint.
Man, this is epic.
Look at this.
Just imagine what's hiding down there.
Let's find some gold.
Alan Williams and Salty Davenport
teamed up after meeting in an online prospecting forum.
Alan has spent four years learning the gold game,
working as a hired hand on a Kalgoorlie goldmine.
We are on the gold.
Outback survival expert Salty has led
exploration trips to some of Australia's wildest locations.
Ya ha ha!
Together, build target extreme gold ground
in the hunt for a life changing haul.
This is the spot.
Yeah, it is.
We have to figure out the season target.
Being the first season for the both of us, I'm thinking 15oz.
What does that work out to?
Best part of 20 grand. Each.
That will get me where I want to be.
That'll get me upscaling and getting some leases and more machinery.
Mate, 20 grand will definitely help me.
Dream block of land down south.
That's the dream. Deal?
Done. 15 it is.
Now we just need to find some gold.
Just get into it.
Get you to punch all through this area.
Yup. Looks quite nice.
Just stick to that creek bed?
Yes. Even the track we came in on.
I'm gonna head down there.
Here we have my underwater detector.
Ideal weapon of choice
for this waterhole down here.
Got some underwater headphones with it and all your cables here.
There's no spots where water can get in.
This waterhole you're being so tough to get to,
I highly doubt anyone's detected it.
So here we have the dive unit.
It's like a snorkel.
It's got a little compressor and it was a little air reservoir
and down you go with a hose and regulator.
Fingers crossed it finds us some goodies.
Alan's underwater detector can operate at depths of 60m
and has special signal boosting technology
to detect gold that could be buried at the bottom of the waterhole.
I'm just going to head straight to these spots down here and work
my way back to Alan and hopefully we find something in the middle.
So we spent hours getting in here.
I'm really hoping we can pull something together today
and get, at least get something on the board.
That's just too murky.
I cannot see anything down there.
Freezing cold but I spent all this money on getting up here.
I don't know if this is going to work.
I'm stoked to be out here with Sunny
and you and we can spend some time together and catch up.
It's really good having you out here.
I don't miss home because you guys are here.
It's great.
And we're on some serious gold now as well
so we need to start protecting this lease a little bit more.
We had that drone flying the other day so it kind of got us
a little bit nervous about people coming in when we are not here.
All right, let's go find where we're going to set up these cameras.
Over 500km west on the Mount Shovel lease,
Bridget and Levi North are heading to the Ferals' dig site.
With rookie team member eight-month-old Sunny.
The stakes are really high, Bridge.
Kim wants 10oz a week.
With a 70/30 split.
70 our way so we need 60 ounces for the season
and hopefully we can clean up.
What in the world?
Look at that!
Last week, the team more than doubled their weekly target.
Our biggest weigh-in in Feral history.
20.5 ounces for a week's work.
But an unknown drone has put the crew on high alert.
They are not just flying around.
They are coming in to steal gold off us, mate.
Two entry points into the lease come into one.
Yeah, I think somewhere here would be good.
Yeah, this is the track cam.
We got someone to make it up for us.
It records, motion sensor as well.
Everything you could need in trying to catch a poacher.
Put this on here.
Bridge!
Phone.
Hello!
Yup, I got that recording.
OK, let's go.
Back to work.
Now we've set that camera up, we can get back to site.
You're pretty happy out here, aren't you?
Little bush boy.
Couple of days getting dusty and finding gold.
Yeah.
I'll leave you to it. Say bye dad.
See you, son.
Hi, fellas, Bridge and I just finished setting up those cameras.
Good work, mate.
That just gives us so much more peace of mind.
We can keep our heads down.
Keep detecting, looking for gold.
Time is not our friend out here.
It's amazing to have Bridget out here.
We got extra security and an extra set of eyes.
There's so much gold in the ground here,
we can't risk losing it to poachers.
So just getting back into it now, getting stuck into another cut.
Using the team's 28 tonne front-end loader,
Levi strips away 15cm layers
of topsoil to expose the gold bearing ground beneath,
ready for teammates Ryan and Nathan to detect in search of nuggets.
There's still a fair bit of dirt left
on top before we get down to the basement
where the big gold's sitting.
We are starting to hear a few bigger nuggets.
Heavy minerals like gold sink until they are trapped
above the hard bedrock layer but that can vary from less
than a metre underground to depths beyond the reach of an excavator.
Whoa. (MACHINE WAILS)
Got a nice little target here.
When they're deeper, they're a bit harder to lock down but...
Oh, yes.
There it is. Check that out.
Ha ha.
Whoo... Whoo.
The heat is getting insane.
Worst thing is you got to be wrapped up
so you don't get fully cooked by the sun.
Better to be hot than torched and burnt.
It's not summer yet
but it's already above 35 degrees Celsius in the Pilbara.
It's the middle of the day at the moment and it's too hot right now.
That's why we've just got to start doing
a bit of late afternoon, nightshift.
Perfect time to catch some gold.
Sun is just about to set.
Everything's cooled down.
The gold's easier to catch because
we don't have the sun beating down on your back.
Into the night, Ferals.
Let's get some gold.
So nice and cool, no flies.
Heaps of nuggys. Whoo hoo hoo.
Getting a bit hard with the loader
as we get deeper so just been extra careful, especially at night.
You don't want to do any damage.
I don't want to hurt anybody.
Just so you guys know, I can't see any of yous.
We will stand well clear, brother.
(MACHINE WAILS)
(LAUGHS)
This is so good.
(LAUGHS)
Oh, that's a bloody ripper.
Look at that.
What a gorgeous piece.
Boys, there is gold everywhere here.
This is incredible.
That's gold.
I tell you what, I'm going to end up
with an arm like a professional tennis player.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Aha. There it is.
That's probably only about 0.2, 0.3 of a gram.
$20 note sitting on the ground.
You're not going to walk past it.
Oh, Levi's stopped.
Hey, fellas.
You right, mate?
Did you break down, bro?
I just got an alert on the camera.
Oh, you're kidding me.
Yeah.
No way. Give me a look at this.
Look, look, look.
Look at that.
They got a detector and everything.
Gotcha.
That's it, mate. Let's go.
Let's go.
Come on. I'm over this.
I got an idea, man.
I tell you what.
This has been the worst start to a season yet.
We've still got a long way to go
to make 50oz to make our target this season.
I don't know if there's any gold left.
I really don't.
I've spoken to a mate and he's
offered an interesting opportunity to us that may just save our season.
I'll have a word to Chris
and see if I can convince them I think this might be the way to go.
I'm not ready to give up.
I'm definitely not ready to give up yet.
In the arid scrub lands outside Coolgardie the Gold Retrievers,
Brad McGee and Chris Smith have found just 10%
of their 50oz season target.
How are you going there, Chris?
I'm pretty much done, mate.
I'm ready to pack up and go home.
I'll be honest, mate.
I was feeling the same.
Out of money, out of gold.
You're not going to like my next suggestion then.
You know Mark, does the drone mapping?
Yeah.
He's offered to drone map out the lease
for half his original price which is 10,000.
He will do it for 5,000.
Where are we going to get five grand from?
We just need to find gold to pay it.
2oz, mate.
That's all it's going to cost us.
He's coming through in the next three days.
He doesn't have much time, mate. He's just passing through.
So we've got three days to find gold where we can't find gold?
We've touched 10% of this lease, man.
We've got 200ha, mate.
He can drone map this whole thing
and overlay all the drill results,
everything, all the fault lines
and it's just going to narrow everything down precisely
to where we need to go.
All right.
Only if we find enough gold to pay for it.
Yup, I agree.
Let's just get on the detectors, leave this at the moment.
If we can find 1oz each then that pays for it.
Get the survey done,
I think it's gonna turn our season around, I really do.
So this is going to be make or break I think.
While Brad's in his excavator up there having a dig,
I'm going to clear the pad now so I can do some detecting.
With no dirt to run through their wash plate, Brad and
Chris's only chance at finding the 2oz of gold is to push and detect.
This is our last ditch effort.
Fingers crossed it pays off.
Brad excavates paydirt from a pit using a 25 ton digger before
Chris spreads it into 15cm thick pads with the team's front loader.
Ready to be detected for nuggets.
We are clutching at straws now.
If we don't get anything out of this droning
and we don't start putting money in the bank, that's it for us.
I think that will be our season done.
Last week, at the halfway point of their season,
This is vitally important.
We've invested all our money into this.
The Gold Retrievers ran tests to
identify fine gold using their $75,000 wash plant.
Absolutely nothing.
But it came up empty.
Leaving them unsure of their future.
I don't know where we go from here, mate but things aren't working.
This little push that I've done here
doesn't seem to be producing anything.
I'm beginning to think that maybe there's not a lot more out here.
I think I've had enough of this area.
I'll just work into the night and move in further.
Getting a little bit desperate.
Normally we'd be knocked off by now
but still haven't found any gold
so we're just going to work into the night.
I'm just going to do another push,
detect it and hopefully get a bit of gold to warm myself up.
Freezing out here.
It's down to zero degrees at the moment.
Working this close to the desert, we've got the two extremes.
It can be superhot and then at night be so cold,
even with the cab shut and the heater going,
I can still feel the cold coming through.
(ENGINE CUTS OUT)
Oh, what?!
Un (BLEEP) real.
What can go wrong will go wrong.
I just can't win today.
I'm broken down.
And it's not obvious why.
Batteries seem fine.
Copy, Brad?
Brad, copy?
Unbelievable.
(SIGHS)
And a dead radio.
I am so over this.
PRODUCER: Where are you going, Chris?
Where do you think I'm going? I'm going home.
Looks like they've come down through the Hidden Valley,
that was the Hidden Valley camera.
Out the back here.
Out the back. I'm over chasing poachers.
There you go, bro.
Let's light up the sky.
We know he's that way.
That's where the camera was.
I'll go right there, boys. Ready to go?
Yup.
Ready?
Send it!
Send it. Light up.
Where is he?
Where are you?
Looks like someone may be there.
No way.
There he goes.
(TYRES SKID)
There he goes.
We can see you! You (BLEEP) poacher.
We got to get that gold out of the ground
and clean this up and let your uncle know.
Let's go get some more nuggys, fellas.
# Run, little poacher
# Run little poacher.
# Run little poacher, run away... #
After chasing off poachers,
the pressure is on to recover all the nuggets
from the team's gold rich patch as fast as possible
and a young Feral has joined the operation for the first time.
Welcome to the team, Sunny.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Mum's on another one.
So good to be finding heaps of gold.
All the little bits are adding up.
That dream of buying a block one day is slowly getting there.
This is epic.
Yeah, have a piece of gold, Sunny.
Oh, yeah nice.
Daddy's looking for gold.
It's amazing to have Bridget out here.
She's got little Sunny, even better.
Levi made some big sacrifices,
leaving a new baby and his wife at home to come out here and dig gold.
Fingers crossed it pays off in the end.
That's what it's all about.
Getting a few, hey?
Yeah, got a couple.
Come and hang out with Mama for a bit.
Good work on the nugs.
It's nice to be back out again.
Ryan's got a bit of a target over there too.
Righty ho. That's out.
Come on, baby.
Oh, yeah.
In the scoop.
Hey.
Nice nuggy.
There she is.
Definitely a little bit bigger than what we've been finding
so that's got to be about 2g worth of gold in that.
Yeah, if you don't mind coming down and giving a bit of a push here.
Roger that.
Right now, time is of the essence.
We've got to keep those poachers away.
This ground is so rich.
If we hadn't been here, it would be
them digging up those massive pieces.
We need to make the best of our time
out here and find as much gold as we can.
Hey, boys. I'm on a stinger.
Whoo!
He's got a chunk.
She is heavy, hey?
I'm coming down.
(LAUGHS)
Bro.
(BLEEP)
I'm not even joking.
(LAUGHS)
Ryano!
Ryan, you got to see it, man.
Catch.
What a find, bro.
(LAUGHS)
Mate.
You're kidding me.
No, man. Wow.
Wow, that's a massive one, man.
That's got to be about 5oz at least, mate.
Nathan's find could be worth over $12,000.
Makes my guts just fill with butterflies.
Come on, let's go. I got to keep digging.
Oh, my gosh.
(BIRD CALLS)
In the remote high country of the Pilbara region,
rookie team Alan and Salty are still searching
for their first find of the season.
This is super murky.
I'm going to have to basically spend a bit of time down there,
try and pinpoint appropriately
and if I can, grab a handful of dirt
and bring it up and fingers crossed it's in it.
I'll mark a start point with a rock.
From that start point, I'm just gonna spiral around the waterhole
so that way, I don't miss any gold.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Fingers crossed the gold's in here.
I seriously hope I got a nugget sitting in here.
The visibility was terrible.
Having to hold onto a rock,
let the silt settle then grab a bit more and detect.
Oh, look, there it is. There it is.
Got a copy there, Salty?
Yeah, mate.
You're not gonna believe it. We're on the gold finally.
Are you joking?
No, mate. I'm definitely not joking.
(LAUGHS) Whoo-hoo.
That's exactly my thought too.
It definitely wasn't easy but it's paying off.
I'll see if I can get a couple more.
Working these clay beds you've got this big run-off,
I'm hoping that tree roots act as a bit of a barricade as well
to stop whatever is coming down the hill during rains.
Millions of years ago, the Pilbara region lay under the ocean.
As the water level dropped, rivers cut their way
through the landscape creating gorges that acted like giant sluices,
carrying gold from deposits on higher ground
and trapping them at its lowest points.
Today, Alan and Salty are hoping some of that gold collected
at the bottom of untouched water holes and in dried out creek beds.
(MACHINE WAILS)
I think we are on.
This cannot be rubbish here, surely.
This can well and truly be my first find of this trip.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Come on, come on.
(LAUGHS)
That's it.
Oh, what a relief. The first bit of gold for me.
We need many more of these.
Knowing that there's targets down there
that obviously no one's done this before was pretty incredible
but it's bloody cold.
Best case scenario today is coming out with some gold.
Worst case is no gold and hypothermia which,
if I keep standing here like this, yeah, it's gonna come.
(MACHINE WAILS)
(MUFFLED) I can see it. I can see it.
Oh.
You beauty. I've got it.
I can actually see that one.
Yeah I've got to get out.
This is freezing.
So happy I found that.
Probably 4-5g.
Just under 500 bucks but it's getting ridiculously cold.
If I stay in there any longer, hypothermia is going to set in.
I think I'm going to have to call it on this one.
I will go see how Salty is going.
Hey, mate.
It's cold. I'm freezing down there.
It looks bloody cold.
It is.
I just ended up with a whole heap of rubbish really.
Bullet, bottle caps...
..and a couple of dirty rocks.
Dirty rocks.
You cheeky boy.
Look at you, mate. You're shivering.
I am. I'm cold. Wicked, man.
Mate, you get dry. I'm going to cook us some tucker.
Sounds good.
Yesterday, I drove the loader
all the way to the other end of the lease.
When the light is down, no work gets done.
I can't push.
On their remote Devils Cut lease, the Gold Retrievers are hunting
for 2oz of gold to pay for a vital drone survey of their lease.
What's going on?
It died on me last night.
I got lights but no ignition.
It could be that starter solenoid.
Let's lift the bonnet and have a look.
The solenoid is an electromagnet
that engages the engine when the key's turned.
If it fails, the loader won't start.
Solenoid's stuffed, mate.
(BLEEP)
We're gonna have to order another one.
That's a week away.
At least.
Don't look like you're going to be doing any more pushing.
I don't feel like doing much of anything, mate.
Everything is just going wrong in my book.
Mate, in all honesty, we're not that far off.
Look, you've done a bit of pushing.
We may as well detect that.
We might get lucky, Chris.
Yeah, right.
Right. Let's not give up, eh?
Last-ditch effort, mate.
Let's give it a go.
Chris was pretty much ready to give up and look, I get that.
When you have a really bad start
to the season like this, it's tough on everyone.
It is because you've still got bills to pay
and things like that.
I speak to my wife Wendy every night.
She's feeling the pain as well.
She's gonna come up and give us a bit of a hand
so the more hands on deck,
the better chance we have of actually finding some gold.
Who's that?
There's my beautiful wife.
I haven't seen her in ages.
It's gonna be awesome.
G'day. Hey, darl. How are you?
Good. Missed you.
Oh, I missed you too.
Good to see you. Yeah, you too.
So what's been going on?
Wendy McGhee has made a 500km drive from Perth to help the team.
I got a couple of days to find 2oz of gold.
Right.
I've got Mark coming in to do some droning
and we need the money.
That's why you're here.
So no cup of tea? No nothing? Straight into it?
No nothing. Straight into it.
Let's go and get you a detector.
Let's do it.
Me and Brad have been together for 20 years.
We used to go out a lot detecting when we first got the lease.
I loved it. I was addicted to it.
Brad supported me while I was getting my diploma for two years.
For us, it's very important to do the things we want to do.
That's why, whenever I get the chance, I'll come and help him.
It is a risky business because nothing is guaranteed.
You could be up here for days and find nothing.
Feeling quite daunted actually.
I can't believe how much has gone wrong on this trip.
Brad's been a bit of a rock. He's kept a really good attitude.
I know deep down he's getting worried
we're not finding enough gold as well.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Ooh. Sounds promising.
Still in here.
Oh, it's in my hand.
Holy crap.
Oh, my God.
Look at the size of that.
Babe!
Come and look at this.
Hey, she's found one.
Whoo-hoo.
That's probably one of the biggest nuggets I've found.
You are the lucky charm, darl.
A third of an ounce.
Well done, darl. That's bloody awesome.
We've been over this area a million times
haven't found anything and you rock up.
That's unbelievable.
I told you you were good luck.
Keep going.
Got to find some more.
So good to see you, mate.
Thanks for all the good luck you brought with you.
Oh, yes.
Bye, daddy.
Bye bye.
Bye.
Sorry we couldn't stay longer.
It's alright. I'm stoked you came out.
It's given me that extra boost.
Just keep going. See you, bubba.
Sleep well.
Bye.
You know what, I'll do one more cut.
(LAUGHS) Just one more.
We are just taking up so many of the small pieces all in this layer.
Levi's done a really good cut through this area.
It's the last day of a gold rich week
that should keep the Ferals' boss lease owner Kim North happy too.
Kim's given us an amazing deal.
70% our way. 30% his way.
He's providing us with a big machine.
If we don't make that 10oz target a week,
Kim is going to kick us off this lease.
We need to pull all the gold out of the ground that we can.
I've done a nice fresh cut down
where we are picking up these chunks so pretty excited.
I just feel like there's going to be more.
Time is ticking.
(MACHINE WAILS)
This place is out of control.
(LAUGHS)
There's another four, 500 bucks there.
Look at that. There's just so many.
And all within a small area.
This ground is just littered with it.
Kim's really put us on the spot here.
The geology is super amazing.
It's got everything you could possibly want in...
(MACHINE WAILS)
This is either a huge nugget
or a big piece of shard off the bucket
so I'm not going to get too excited yet.
(MACHINE WAILS)
(LAUGHS)
No way.
Boys!
We've got a huge piece!
Are you on, bro?
We got a monster.
Look at this. Huge.
You're kidding me. (LAUGHS)
Look what we found.
You are kidding me.
We've done it.
We've done it again.
So many big chunks.
That's our biggest piece.
Ever.
This is like 13oz
so it's got to be at least 30 or 40 grand in this of gold.
Couldn't have asked for a better day.
Let's go, fellas.
We are killing it.
(WHOOPING AND CHEERING)
The Ferals. We are on the gold, baby!
I always try and force myself
to make the most of the environment around me.
Looking for bush tucker.
If you're at a waterhole,
it's really not that hard to throw in a line and see what's in there.
Oh, oh.
Getting hits.
We are on.
Fresh tucker. How good.
We need a few of these obviously.
They're not the biggest perch in the world.
All right, I'm coming in.
Fire's on.
Finally got some on the board, mate.
That's as good as it gets in my opinion.
Yeah. It's unreal.
Alan and Salty have been living off the land for the past week
helping them extend their gold hunt in the remote East Pilbara region.
I'm so stoked on this. Geologically perfect spot for gold.
You get these torrential downpours
and the water will come racing through here.
This hard rock bed acts as a natural sluice
for the gold so that's what we are hoping for.
Is that there's still stuck at the bottom of these waterholes.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Oh.
I like the sound of that.
That's got to be a handful I reckon.
Got him.
Fingers crossed.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Oh, ho, ho.
You're kidding.
That's a half-ouncer.
That's the biggest piece on the trip so far.
That's unreal.
Yo, Salty. Half-ouncer.
Your shot next.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Ooh.
Come on, come on.
Please don't be rubbish.
I know it's just here, whatever it is.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Right, we are on.
Who-hoo-hoo.
Oh, my God.
You beautiful little thing.
Hey, mate. You got a copy?
Salty-licious, mate. I've got a copy.
I don't know if you can see that gold nugget from here but we're on.
This is paying off.
We just got to keep finding these.
Yeah, been out here for a few days now.
Gold's starting to run out unfortunately.
That's what happens.
Never last forever.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Oh, hello. Let's give that a scratch.
She's out.
Got that nice echo to it.
There.
Let's have a look. Oh...
No way.
I didn't even have to separate out.
Oh, my God.
Look at that ripper.
Probably a couple of grand easy.
Salty, we're on the gold brother
Really? Again?
This one is unreal.
We are on the gold.
Whoo-hoo.
Things are starting to get really desperate now.
We're running out of time.
Mark's gonna be here soon.
We don't even know if there's any gold left on this lease.
In the Coolgardie goldfields, Brad
and Chris are targeting an unexplored area of their Devils Cut lease in
a race to find the 2oz of gold needed to pay for a drone survey.
Chris is gonna detect the bit that he's pushed
and I'm going to wander through the bush here
and hopefully I'll get lucky.
We've still got another ounce to find.
I don't know that we're going to get there.
We are burning daylight hours as it is.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Oh, that sounds nice.
Have you got something, Chris?
Sounds like it, mate.
It's in my scrape.
You gonna get some nuggy.
I found a fair bit of rubbish around here.
(MACHINE WAILS)
Still in there, mate. Whoo-hoo.
Oh, please don't be rubbish.
Oh, mate, I can see it already.
Check that out.
(LAUGHTER)
That's awesome, man. That's a bloody good nuggy.
I reckon that's nearer an ounce.
I reckon we've almost done it.
What do you reckon we get Wendy over here and do a bit of a weigh-in?
Hey, how are you going? How do you go, darl?
Yeah, good. How are you going, Chris?
I had a bit of win.
How did you do?
I did pretty good I think. Yeah?
I think I'm a natural. It's not hard, really, is it?
Well, obviously.
I don't know what yous are all complaining about.
Well, I'm hoping we got close to the small target that we had.
I reckon, we're going to be bloody close.
Only one way to tell.
OK.
You go first.
This one.
1.24.
So I think we need about another 0.8.
How does this look?
2.14oz.
Boom.
That's so good.
There's a bit of quartz in that
but I think that's well and truly over 2oz, mate,
So I think Mark's going to be happy with that.
I tell you what, we need a win right now.
Hope that drone shows some good results.
With the $5,000 for the drone survey secured,
the Gold Retrievers can call in Mining surveyor Mark Askham.
Hey, boys.
Hey, buddy.
G'day, Wendy. How are you going, Mark?
Got the gold for you mate. There should be 2oz and there.
Feels good. Yeah.
Real happy, real happy. Deal's a deal.
I'll get to it.
Fly and survey the lease and, yeah,
we'll come up with a map and a bit of a plan
and where we are going to dig.
Perfect.
The drone will capture images
that allow Mark to build a 3D map of the lease
which will be overlaid with historic information
from drill results and surveys.
It could reveal hidden geological features
like fault lines that contain gold.
Mate, please tell me you've found something.
What's the verdict, mate?
I droned your lease and have
actually plotted it all into a map for you.
I know you've been working Devils Cut and it's produced some gold
but it's also not producing enough, what you need.
I've actually come up with a different location for you
which I believe you should be digging.
So I got the drone map showing you
the top West corner of your lease at the moment.
So what's all this?
The green light itself as an intersect line
running between old-timers' diggings.
I've overlaid also some known gold finds in the past.
I've plotted as well.
As for the picture of what I believe is a restructuring
that's running through the bottom corner of your block.
If it was me, and it was my lease, I'd definitely be digging there.
So your thoughts, do you reckon we should stay or go?
Mate, don't go home. No way.
Don't go home.
It could be a lost opportunity
and you sit there at home at night and go, what if?
What do you reckon, Brad?
Mate, I'm in. I'm in.
I'm not ready to give up yet.
It's narrowed everything down for us. We know exactly where to go.
I think I feel a little bit more confident now.
Thank you very much, mate.
Boys. Good luck.
Thank you. Let's get into it.
Mate, what a week.
It's been absolutely unreal, hasn't it?
I don't think we've left one bit of earth unscathed around here.
Yeah, bit of a rough start, cold water,
murky bottom and even that truck on the way in.
That track, I was a little bit sceptical.
The young car got a few extra pinstripes on it.
Look, that's the price you got to pay
to get to the spots to get the gold.
Speaking of gold, mate...
Well, I reckon it's still on.
2.8.
Oh. Mate.
Whoo-hoo-hoo.
That's wicked.
Oh, bro, what a week.
Man, that is unreal.
For the rookie team, it's a good first step
towards their 15oz season target.
With over $7,000 worth of gold.
I'm happy with that. I'm over the moon.
There you go, mate.
How good is this, mate?
This is unreal.
Our favourite time of the week, fellas.
Yes, it is.
Weigh-in time, boys.
This one is looking pretty.
(LAUGHTER)
Chunky monkeys. 21oz last week.
Let's see what we can put on scales this week.
Blow it away.
Let's lay this on the scales.
Oh, yeah, this is gonna be so good.
Send it in there, brother.
Oh, look at that.
We are going to climb.
12.4 bloody ounces.
That's amazing.
That's insane.
That's without the big girl on there.
Let's clean that off and put the big chunk on.
See what this chunky monkey does.
(LAUGHTER)
(WHISTLES)
12oz on the nose.
You little beauty.
24.5oz, mate.
That is our biggest weigh-in ever.
The smaller finds combined
with Levi's 12oz nugget are worth over $63,000.
More than double their weekly target.
We've nearly got our 60oz season target already.
We've broken $100,000 in the last two weeks.
And 70% of that comes to us.
Gold on the table.
More gold in the ground.
Grins all round.
Let's keep riding that golden wave, hey?
Captioned by Ai-Media ai-media.tv