This time on Aussie Gold Hunters.
The Gold Devils fire up a new rock breaker
to find a fresh supply of gold rich pay dirt.
We really need to hit something really good here.
But bad weather...
If it rains, the whole thing stops.
It seems like everything's against us.
Alex, stop, turn it down.
..and breakdowns threaten to end their season.
I don't think this season wants us to produce any gold.
In tropical Queensland,
Jacqui and Andrew prospect on a remote mountain
with a rich history...
Whoa! Ow! Jacqui!
We're too far out for a broken leg or something.
..and treacherous terrain.
Gold seriously makes you do some crazy things.
Come on, mate. We need to be moving.
You're getting up me, right?
Ain't gonna make it go any faster, mate.
Tensions flare as a new deal...
He wants 15 ounces a week now.
Mate, that's another 50% on top of what we're getting.
..and machinery breakdowns...
Come on. Hey, this digger's not starting.
..leave the Ferals divided.
Get back in there, mate... I'm doing it.
..and sort it out.
But one team's change of fortune leads to a massive haul of gold.
So, Levi's in the loader at the moment
and he's just clearing this ground out for us
and getting us down to some virgin ground.
And what's beautiful about that loader is
it pushes nice flat areas
so we get the maximum out of this detector that we're using.
We know that there's a lot of gold in the ground here,
there's a lot of little gold that we're picking up
but we need to get deeper and get to that big gold.
This is pretty hard with the loader at the moment.
This ground's super hard.
It's really struggling to push through this hard layer,
hard to get down to where the gold's sitting.
How you going over there, buddy?
Finding any nuggets, Nath?
Yeah, mate, got a couple of little nuggies here,
but it's pretty hard ground, eh.
Well, keep swinging, bro. Keep looking.
That's it, mate. It's all we can do.
More gold we find, the better it is for everybody.
In Western Australia's wild Pilbara region,
The Ferals, prospectors Levi North,
Ryan Peters and Nathan Moncrieff
are working boss Kim North's
200-hectare Mount Shovel mining lease.
So, we're working for Levi's uncle, Kim North
and he's the biggest private lease owner
in Western Australia.
And the deal we've got with Kim at the moment is a 70/30 split.
So, that's 70% our way,
so Kim wants ten ounces a week at the moment
to cover machinery and the fuel
and if we don't provide that, we're off the lease
and someone else will come in after us.
We met our ten-ounce target
last week, doesn't mean
we can take the foot off the pedal.
Gotta keep pushing hard, see how many nuggies we can get.
Try and get as much gold as we can.
Send the money home to the families, you know.
Just had a missed call.
Hey, fellas, just had a missed call from Kim.
Yeah, righty-o, mate.
You never know with Kim what you're going to get.
He's like a box of chocolates, that dude.
Normally it's not good news
when we hear from Kim out of the blue.
I'm going to go up to the hill
and give him a call
and hopefully we're not getting
kicked off the lease or anything silly like that.
You fellas just keep detecting. I'll be back.
A hill over a kilometre away is the only place
where Levi can get a mobile phone signal
for the vital call.
The pressure's always on out here.
Kim expects a lot of us
and if we don't provide that he's quite happy to move us on.
You know, there's no friends in the gold game,
it's all business.
I'm just going to give him a call.
(LINE RINGS)
Hey, how are you going?
Hey, Kim, you happy with the gold we found?
Yeah, very happy. Always happy.
I just want to lift the weights up a bit.
Oh, you want more, don't you?
Well, of course, that's gold. That's what gold does.
That's gold fever.
OK, what do you want now?
I'd like 15 ounces.
A week? A week.
And 100 ounces before the season finishes.
You kidding right? No.
The mob next door with the excavator are pulling out.
I won't go into details but you can have that excavator.
15 ounces gets me a little bit nervous, mate,
but if we can use that excavator,
we've got a good chance of getting it.
Yeah, you can grab that, mate.
Alright, mate.
We'll have a crack at getting you gold.
Good on you, buddy. Appreciate it.
15 ounces a week.
I'm not sure how the boys are gonna take this.
15 ounces a week and a hundred for the season
is a pretty massive task,
but we've got the excavator.
So, not all is lost.
Ah, just picked up the digger.
Pretty stoked.
We've got a 30-tonne excavator.
Hey Ryan, do you hear that noise?
Yeah man. That sounds like a machine coming.
Hey, fellas, guess what?
We've got a digger.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, baby.
Wow. Oh, you legend, Levi.
Whoo-hoo! Got a digger.
Yeah, good work, bro.
(LAUGHTER) Whoo!
How good's this? Oh, well done, bro.
You little ripper. Yeah.
Oh, it looks like the meeting went alright, bro.
Yeah, 30 tonner.
What a unit. I know.
Kim's pretty happy with the result so far.
He's given us the digger for now,
you know, so he wants a little bit more.
He wants 15 ounces a week now.
Yeah, rightio. That's a fair bit of gold.
Mate, that's another 50% on top of what we're getting.
I know.
But hey, we'd be able to get to the bottom.
Bro, we need it, you know, those big nuggies are down there
hiding in along those rock bars
and without this, we're not going to get to them.
Well, I'm pretty keen to rip in. Yeah, absolutely.
Mate, 15 ounces we gotta get,
so we might as well keep hitting the ground over here, man,
if you wanna open that up a bit.
Yeah, I'll open up this area and see what comes up, hey?
Yeah. Sounds like a plan.
Alright, fellas. We're rolling.
Go cash some, mate.
Yeah. Thank you, Uncle Kim.
Come on.
Too good to be (BLEEP) true, isn't it?
The digger's not even starting.
Alright. How's it looking?
Not really too happy with it,
but it's the last four days of operating.
And only one tube of gold. That's not where we need to be.
No. Anyway, let's see what's there.
15.785.
40g worth, I guess.
Not enough. No.
Half of what we should be getting.
We can't keep running like this.
At the moment we're just clawing away
at that 1,000-ounce target.
We're not gonna get there this season.
No. We need solutions.
Halfway through the season,
dwindling returns have left the Gold Devils,
Paul Mackie, Melanie Wood and Alex Stead
struggling to even cover their $50,000 a month running costs
at their Phoenix Project lease in remote Western Australia.
We've still got that dirt over the back there, near the pit.
It's real hard ground.
We haven't got anything that can get into that.
To do it, we're gonna need a rock breaker.
Well, do you reckon
what we've got here will cover a rock breaker?
I think it will. Uh, a second hand one.
If we could start chipping away at that hard rock
and pulling some fresh stuff out,
it might give us what we're looking for.
Alright. I'll pack up and jump in the truck
and head to Perth and see what I can find.
Alright... I'll leave yous with it.
Bye.
Not good. No.
So, yeah, at the moment, I'm doing a mercy dash.
You know, a 16-hour round trip
to Perth, pick up a rock breaker.
We've got to try anything and everything that we can
to put more gold on the table
because the season's just fading away from us
and we're a long way from our 1,000-ounce target.
Got good gold in the ground
and we can't dig it out
with the current set up of the excavator with the bucket.
We really need a rock breaker
to penetrate that top hard cap-rock seal
and get into the gold goodness underneath.
While Paul makes
the arduous 1,400km round trip to Perth,
back at their Phoenix Project site,
Mel and Alex,
along with Paul's cousin Darren,
are running both
their crushing circuit, Lloyd,
and their wash plant, Barnaby, in a bid to boost production.
Hit those 1,000 ounces,
we need both plants running at full speed.
Not only do we have
a huge 1,000-ounce target,
you know, our running costs every month are like $50,000,
so this has to keep running and it has to run smoothly.
We really need to be getting the gold,
so I'm basically up here keeping an eye on everything
to make sure it runs as fast and as smoothly as possible.
We're trying to put as much through as we can.
The crushing circuit is amazing at what it does.
It crushes rocks,
turns them from big rocks to little rocks to sand
and then we pull out the gold.
Large rocks fed into the hopper
are smashed by a cast steel jaw crusher.
A conveyor then transports the material to the impact crusher,
which uses 24 rotating hammers inside a cylindrical drum
to pulverise the smaller rocks into a fine dust
before the gold is then captured in the sluice.
How's that plant running, Mel? OK?
All good.
Just getting some of the big rocks off.
We get a lot of big rocks there.
It stops all the other dirt from going through.
That's when you need to grab one of these and smash them up.
Good job.
Get your teeth into that stuff.
This weather's getting quite bad.
Yeah, at the moment it is really windy.
Not liking the look of these clouds coming either.
If we get any wet weather,
we're not going to be able to run the crushing plant,
which means that we're gonna be down
and we won't be processing any gold.
So, it's a bit concerning at the moment.
The one thing it can't handle is bad weather.
If it rains,
the jaw crusher just gets clogged up
with clay and the whole thing stops.
Whoa! (BLEEP) Alex. Stop.
Shut it down.
That didn't sound good at all.
Hey, Adam, how's it going?
G'day, how are ya? Hey, mate.
Thought we'd find you here.
Yeah, yeah, always doing something around the yards.
Good to see you again, big fella. Yeah, how's your season been?
We haven't been punching massive numbers,
but we've been going pretty well.
Yeah, OK. We've got a lot of ground to search.
Like we're so grateful to be on the station.
There's heaps of areas here,
but I think we need to push into some new country.
We're going to go out into Mount Madden.
It's 360,000 acres,
so hopefully you can find something out there.
You'd think so.
(LAUGHTER)
No, well, that would be good if you're going up there.
We got a (INAUDIBLE)
A bull went over it
and it just need to fix it up.
I was wondering if there was any chance
while you're up there
if you could pull it up for us.
Too easy, mate. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah.
Alright. I'll get that sorted for you.
Not a problem. Thanks, mate. Yep, thanks. All good.
We'll catch up with you soon, alright?
See you later. Have a good arvo.
See ya.
In Far North Queensland,
exploration prospectors Jacqui Buzetti and Andrew Leahy
have secured access
to the 1,400 square kilometre Palmerville cattle station
this season.
The pair keep any gold
and provide the owner with location data
for future mining ventures.
So, here on the Palmerville Station,
we've got an agreement with the manager, Adam.
If he needs a hand around the station,
we'll jump in and help him out wherever we can
and in exchange we get access to ground
that other people don't.
Righto, that should do the fence. That will keep the cows in.
Come on, let's go. This is all good now.
Wicked. Now, we can actually get to work.
Yep.
Whoa, that's Mount Madden just up there now.
Oh, god.
There's gotta be good gold left in Mount Madden.
Everyone in the history books knows Mount Madden had the gold
and no-one's been able to get in here for years.
Mount Madden, at the heart of the Palmerville Station,
was the location of a huge gold rush in the 1870s
when over $3.3 billion was unearthed.
But the treacherous terrain
and suffocating tropical heat cost many lives,
forcing prospectors to abandon the area
and deterring anyone else from searching here...
until now.
I've got high hopes for this spot.
OK, sweet,
because I've been stressing heaps, mate.
We've only got 13 ounces
and we're over halfway through our season
with a 50-ounce target waiting for us at the end.
That means we've got 37 ounces to go
and find before the end of the year.
Yeah, that's a lot.
We're way behind where we need to be.
We need to find some decent gold soon.
Some of that chunky gold.
We need something big to put us up real quick
because our time's running out.
Well, let's just go to this spot and hope our luck holds out, eh?
Yeah. We need it.
This looks bad.
Hang on, just be careful with that. Yeah, just watch hard core.
This is the only way into Mount Madden, Andy.
This is a big wash out though. Yeah, this looks rough down here.
This is completely washed out.
I reckon we just fill this hole up,
chip that bank away and we'll get through, mate.
I'll grab the picks.
Let's try and fix this up a little bit.
Just grabbing the picks.
We're gonna try and clean up this wash out
so we can get through the haul road and cross the creek.
I reckon we'll get through there now, mate.
Alright, well, let's just see what happens.
Let's do this.
Alright.
Yeah, good on my side,
but it's more on your side that's the worry.
They're holding? They're holding.
Whoo!
Too easy, mate.
Good here. Good here. Nice one.
No road, we'll just build a road.
No road, no problem.
Alex, stop! Shut it down!
That can't be good.
Whoa! What was that?
Alex, there's a really loud noise coming up here
from the impact crusher.
If it's noise from there,
good chance something's gone through the impactor.
Could be in the sluice.
Uh, yeah, there's your problem straight away.
Mel!
Look at that. Oh, wow!
So, these have come through.
Oh, check that out.
Which is not a good sign.
The only place these bolts could have come from is
this impact crusher.
Something's let go and it's spat out a couple of bolts.
Best thing that we can do is open it up and get in there.
And the weather's not on our side either.
It's due to rain, so let's get into it.
Alright.
The sooner we find the problem,
the sooner we can fix it and get back running again.
Alright. OK.
Game on.
Alright, let's check inside this one.
Well, I think I can see the problem.
It's broken off the end of the bolts.
I can see wear plate in there.
I can see daylight right the way through.
So, we've got to replace the wear plate
and replace the bolts.
Pretty sure we've got those in stock,
so I'll go and grab them.
The wear plates line the impact crusher
and absorb the huge force of rocks being flung at high speed
against the walls of the crushing chamber
as they are broken down
by 24 rotating impact hammers.
The wear plates,
made from cast steel,
each weighing 20 kilos
are crucial to preventing damage to the rest of the plant.
It looks loose.
Getting there.
Alright, I got them.
Completely worn out. Whoo, it's a heavy one, isn't it?
So, that's the good one and that's the dead one.
It's one thing getting a plate out,
it's another thing to get it back in place
and they're not light.
OK, go for it.
There you go. I'll push the bolt through.
Alright.
It's in. It's good. Yes!
Good as a new one.
Well, that's what I like to hear.
Oh, that should do it.
OK. Ah, here comes Paul.
Oh, great, it's starting to rain. Hey, Paul.
Hello. G'day, Paul.
You brought the weather with you.
It's only just started?
Yeah, only just started. Yeah.
Well, this is nothing. Really?
Yeah, it's pouring down about 100Ks out.
I've been driving through it for the last three hours.
Heading this way. It's gonna come this way?
It's heading this way. Oh.
So, we're gonna be raining
probably for the next two days I'd say.
I don't think this season wants us to produce any gold.
Keep getting hit after hit after hit
and I'm (BLEEP) over it.
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
We're up against the time crunch then.
We've got a few hours to run
and then the weather's gonna slam us.
Well, that's Mount Madden just up there now.
We're within walking distance now, mate.
That's the end of the road. It's on foot from here.
Right at the heart of the station is Mount Madden.
Mount Madden's got a rich history.
The old timers found a lot of gold there.
There's been millions of dollars come off that mountain.
So, hopefully there's some left there
for Jacqui and I as well.
Mount Madden is 573m high,
created by huge shifts in tectonic plates.
It's believed that quartz veins rich in gold
were also thrust upwards creating gold reefs.
Over millions of years,
weathering caused the reef to fragment,
depositing gold nuggets
in ancient river systems and the surrounding soil.
We're right on the heart of the station now.
This is about as deep as we can go,
so if we're ever gonna get those 37 ounces of gold,
it will be right here I reckon.
And we have to get that 50 ounces. And we set that target for a reason.
It's because we want to do this full time, all the time,
and we need that 50 ounces to help us achieve that goal.
There's no falling back on other jobs or anything anymore.
They're gone.
It's either make money on the gold or go hungry.
Time isn't on our side. The heat's creeping in.
I can just feel it every day getting hotter.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Got a target there.
No matter what it is if that detector goes woo,
it's my job to dig it out.
Yeah, right...
it's a bit tricky doing this on the side of a hill,
but there it is.
That's gold, that's gold.
Awesome.
You can see that gold sticking out all around the edges.
That's a nice specimen there
and anyone who knows gold knows that
finding specimens on the side of a hill like this
is a really, really good sign.
That's a wicked piece.
What's going on, man?
No power. None at all?
No power whatsoever. She's dead.
Oh, man, this is not what we need, eh?
I know, this is the worst.
From hero to zero.
Do you mind having a look?
No, not at all, man.
Absolutely. I might carry on.
Leave me with it, bro. Alright.
Jump in the loader, go catch some gold
and yeah, I'll go over this thing and see what the hell's going on.
Alright, sounds good, mate. Alright, brother.
On their Mount Shovel lease in the remote Pilbara region,
the Ferals plan to locate bigger, deeper lying gold
with a 30-tonne excavator has come to a standstill.
We really need the excavator back up and running.
I hope Nathan and Ryan can fix it.
The loader's struggling to push
through this hard rock at the moment.
We're hoping we get this excavator back up and running
and we can get down to the bottom where the big gold's sitting.
What do you reckon, mate? How's she looking up there?
Yeah, look mechanically, she's good, mate, eh.
I'm just finishing off all the harnesses here.
They all look good.
Dude, we gotta get this going. Yeah, I know, right.
Mate, we are off this lease otherwise.
If we can't get down to that deeper gold, mate,
there's no way we are gonna find this 15 ounces a week.
Yeah, I know, man. I'm going as quick as I can, eh.
All the engine's sorted. It's sweet.
You know, we've been nearly two hours on this.
I'm just going through all the wires and harnesses now,
so I just need a bit of time to go through that.
We got to be as quick as we can, mate.
Nathan trained as a mechanic
spending decades working for mining companies in the area
before joining The Ferals.
Mate, we gotta find this fault.
We gotta get this thing going, mate. That's what I'm trying to do.
Come on, mate. We need to be moving.
Yeah, well, getting up me, right,
ain't gonna make it go any faster, mate.
I'm doing my best.
I know, mate, but it's not worth checking stuff
that isn't gonna be the issue.
I'm not checking nothing that's not gonna be the issue.
I'm doing all the wiring harnesses because that's where it is.
We gotta be finding gold and this ain't happening.
Right. I know that. Yep.
Far out.
Waste of time in there, you know. He's checking stupid stuff.
He's going through fuses that are for lights
and little harnesses
that ain't gonna shut this machine down.
Mate, there's no point just checking the lights.
You know, Kim's gonna kick us off this lease.
I'm not checking the lights.
I'm checking the (BLEEP) wiring harness, aren't I?
I'm checking the whole engine unit.
Well, you went through all the fuses, mate.
You didn't have to go through all of them.
You could check the main ones, that's it.
I didn't go through them all.
Have a look at what I actually went through.
I was down here watching, mate.
Wiggling (BLEEP) down here is not working.
Right, how about you get back in there?
How about you go and have a look and try and fix this thing.
That's not my job, mate. That's why we got you out here.
Yeah, and I'm doing it.
Get back in there, mate...
I'm doing it. ..and sort it out.
This is your chance to prove yourself.
That's right. And I'm doing it correctly.
So, get back in there. Oh, far out, mate.
Reckons, this is wasting time.
Alright, well, what's that?
Eh? A loose (BLEEP) harness.
The lock's not even on it.
And that's on one of our main wiring leads
and this is why you go through it methodically.
(ENGINE STARTS)
There you go. Your precious machine's working.
Hey, bro. Look. Nath, come here, mate.
The machine's going again.
You know, it's no good us getting cranky at each other.
Look, pressure's on. Kim wants more gold.
I'm sorry that I got annoyed, mate.
I know there's pressure and I know
there's (BLEEP) loads of pressure, man, on us.
Right.
But I mean, mate,
there is no need to talk to me like that.
I'm sorry, brother. I'm truly sorry.
You know, there's just a lot of pressure on.
We got the digger going.
Nathan's done a really, really good job
at getting it fixed.
So, we're back full mining now.
Ryan and myself are just in the machines
getting some pads ready for the next lot of detecting
and Nathan's just up the top detecting down
towards where we're working.
Hey, Levi, this loader's struggling a little bit, mate.
It seems to be breathing heavy,
but I've still got some dirt here to move, mate,
so I'm just gonna keep pushing and, yeah, see how it goes.
Nah, shut her off bro.
If she's pushing hard,
we really don't want another machine going down, man,
so shut her down, bro.
I'll come up and have a look at them.
Just trust me on this.
We don't want another one going down.
If it's pushing hard and breathing heavy,
she'll overheat, mate.
We don't want to boil it out here.
If filters don't get changed, motor's start to overheat,
you pop a radiator.
Oh, yeah. So much dust.
See how fine that dust is?
It blocks them up.
It's like your lungs if you can't breathe,
well, you're going to go down, aren't ya?
And as you can see...
it's a pretty simple fix.
All good, brother?
Yeah, bro, ready to go. Oh, you legend, mate.
Alright. Back in the big girl.
This is what we're out here for.
Keep moving the dirt. Keep finding the nuggies.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.
Yeah, that's a big target.
Lighting me up, baby.
I love that sound.
Yeah, I know gold when I see it.
(LAUGHS) Yoo-hoo-hoo!
I love finding these.
Oh, boys I found another one. Probably a good 10 grammar.
Oh-ho-ho-ho. You little ripper!
Ah, just picked up a lazy 800 bucks.
(LAUGHS)
Mate, how good is it having two machines going?
The (BLEEP) A-team.
This is mining, baby!
In the Pilbara region,
The Ferals are using a 30-tonne excavator
to break through hard ground
before spreading it into 10cm thick pads for detecting.
So, it's a pretty simple little plan.
Get to the gold, dig up, put it in a pile for the boys.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Mate, these things are everywhere.
Whoo!
There it is.
Oh, that's a bit better.
A nice little one.
Yeah, guys, I'm digging up so many nuggets down here, eh,
you're going to have to come down and give me a hand soon, eh?
I'll chuck a detector on and go and dig up some nuggies.
I can't let him have all the fun.
I get shaking with the excitement. I love this.
I'd have to be over an ounce this morning already.
So, we've still got probably just over 5 ounces to find
and not much time to do it,
so the more detectors we've got on the ground
at the moment the better.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) Sounds like a bit of a warbler.
So, it's either close or it's big.
I think it's in that bug chunk of clay there.
Break it up.
There it is. Look at that.
Another nice little piece.
You know, and we've still easily got probably 0.5m to go
to get down the bottom.
That's a little ripper.
Another gram there. Aha!
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Another target!
These sorts of runs of gold,
you lay there at night dreaming about them.
Nice.
Oh, actually, it's a nice little chunk.
Wow, man. That's gotta be... That's gotta be a gram.
Looks like our dreams are coming true at the moment
because there is so much gold in the ground here.
That's a big breaker.
Yeah, I'm glad it fits.
Well, we're finally ready to rock and roll.
Now, we've got the equipment to get stuck into this hole here.
It's a nice little patch of ore sitting right there
and I want to tunnel into that
and hopefully expose
the rich gold bearing dirt underneath.
At the Phoenix Project,
The Gold Devils have gambled $40,000
on a rock breaker attachment for their excavator
in a bid to break through hard ground,
but the looming weather is threatening to shut them down.
Let's get stuck into it, stop mucking around
and actually put some decent gold weigh-ins on the board.
Hopefully, you know, I can get this rock out of the hole,
get over to the jaw and get Lloyd fired back up
and get the gold.
Powered by the digger's hydraulic system,
the new rock breaker
can deliver over eight blows every second.
Basically, to turn our season around
we really need to hit something really good here.
Start pulling some dirt out and get some food for Lloyd.
We need some good quality rocks to get crushed,
loaded with gold
and we need them straight away.
Well, this is what we like to see.
This is the decomposed rock,
rich in iron and full of minerals and it's really heavy.
It's got a lot of weight to it.
You know what else has got a lot of weight to it?
Gold.
With this particular rock, we're digging out
we should be able to increase the production.
Once we crush it, process it,
melt it down and pour some gold bars, happy days.
Well, no time to mess around. The weather's coming.
Got to get fired up, crush those rocks...
get producing.
I'm hoping this weather stays back and we can keep processing.
We can't afford the down time.
It's full team effort right now.
We're all a bit stretched, but at the moment, it's working
because everyone's role is vital.
As Alex and Mel load fresh rock
from the pit into their crushing circuit,
Darren feeds the crushed pay dirt through their wash plant, Barnaby.
The weather looks like it's coming in pretty bad.
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
Plant's full?
Yep, she's pretty full.
So, fingers crossed it will run smoothly
'cause, yeah, it looks like it's gonna rain.
This is not what we need right now.
It seems like everything's against us all at once.
Working in these gullies
in this heat's just the worst.
There's no breeze.
It is so hot and so humid,
but this is where the gold is, so I don't really have a choice.
This is where I've got to work.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Alright...
let's see what this one is.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
It's a nice sound. I hope this one's gold.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) That sounds good.
There it is too.
Not a bad little nugget either.
There's a good gram of gold in that one.
Another one for the jar.
It's gonna take a lot of those to knock off 37 ounces,
but perhaps it will lead us to something better
and that's what we need right now, a decent run of gold.
In tropical far North Queensland,
Jacqui and Andrew are tackling the tough terrain
of historic Mount Madden
in punishing 40 degree Celsius conditions.
So, normally I wouldn't really detect
over these ridges like this,
but Mount Madden is actually super famous
for its high gold.
It came off the side of the mountain.
There were reefs all around this area
that they mined.
You can see the quartz just all shedding away here
and if one of those quartz reefs contain gold, then we're on.
Whoa!
Oh, ow!
I underestimated my footing there. This hill is really steep.
Hey, there you are.
Are you alright? I heard you yell out.
Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a bit of a slip.
That's a pretty dangerous slope you're working on there.
I just found a big nugget up here,
so they must be coming down into this gully.
There could be big ones along here, Andy.
You got to be careful there, mate.
We're too far out for a broken leg or something.
How else am I supposed to get the gold?
I've got an idea. I reckon come back up.
I'll go back to the car
and we can do this a much better way.
Once she gets onto gold like that, she's unstoppable.
Like she is not going to rest until that hill is searched.
So, I've got to do something to make it safe
because we can't have like broken legs
or anything like that up here.
Well, I'm glad to see you're still alive.
What is that?
It's a snatch strap to give you a bit of guide rope down there.
So, I'm going to tie it off a tree and we'll throw it over the edge
and at least you've got something to hold onto to steady yourself.
OK, let's do it.
Righto. Not a bad idea.
I'll give you that.
Pretty steep,
but I reckon this should be long enough.
Cool.
Righto, that's good, mate. That'll keep you safe.
No excuses now. Get that gold.
(CHUCKLES) Perfect.
Alright, well, I'm gonna go back down into the gully
and keep working up towards you
because I'm still getting them down there too.
Mate, you're getting them down here and I'm getting them up here,
we could be onto something good.
Let's get it. I'm excited. Let's go.
Figure out how I'm going to do this.
Gold seriously makes you do some crazy things.
This is nuts.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
It's working though.
Whoo!
This sounds loud whatever it is.
Get my little foot hole here.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Alright, she's in the scoop.
Yes! Whoo!
(LAUGHS)
Another big specimen.
This is awesome.
Whoo!
(DETECTOR BEEPING LOUDLY)
What the hell!
(LAUGHS)
That is so loud.
(LAUGHS)
Another good nuggie.
Found it in the side wall.
Whoo! (DETECTOR BEEPING)
Oh, yeah. Come on!
Oh, where'd it go?
Whoo-hoo!
Oh, she's in my hand!
Whoo-hoo-hoo! (LAUGHS)
Oi, Levi! Yo.
Bro, come and have a look at this one.
Whoo-hoo-hoo! Hey, Ryano! We got a corker.
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
We're gonna smash that 15-ounce target, mate.
What did you get? Oh, baby, it's good!
Big specie.
Grab your scoop and put a bit of water in it.
Yeah, man.
Give it a polish, mate.
Oh, yeah. Oh!
(LAUGHTER) Oh, yeah.
Oh, mate, that's loaded.
That is an absolute stonka.
Look at that. A big sheet of gold on top.
Hundred ounces, look at, we're coming for ya.
Well done, mate. Whoo-hoo!
Yeah, brother. Alright.
Go The Ferals, eh!
Oh, yeah.
Go The Ferals.
Whoo!
Yeah, Ryan. Oh, yeah, Nath.
Oh, fellas.
That time of the week again.
It's my favourite time of the week, bro.
Weigh up, pay day.
Let's see how much we got eh?
Get this gold on the table.
Get that gold on the scales.
Fire up these little beauties.
Come on, baby. Alright, here we go.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine...
15.5 ounces.
You little beauty!
(LAUGHTER)
What!
You little ripper, mate. There we go.
That's what Kim wants right there.
Yep, plus your specie. Plus this baby.
What do we got?
Oh, that's got a couple of ounces in it.
So, probably 17.5 ounces
for this week fellas.
Man, how good is that?
What a ripper week!
If you add that up,
we just made 45 grand in one week.
We get ten grand each for the week.
Ten grand in the pocket.
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
No way!
That's just next (BLEEP) level.
Whoo!
But hey, there's still plenty of gold down there.
Yep.
And it's not going to find itself, boys.
That's it, mate.
Let's go and get our hands on it again.
Boo, boo, boo! Let's go and get dirty!
Whoo-hoo! Let's go get more gold.
Pack it up, you Ferals, and let's get down there.
The weather's completely knocked us for six.
Lloyd, the rusher circuit is out of action.
At the Phoenix Project lease
heavy rain has forced the Gold Devils
to halt production
and switch to smelting their recovered ore
into gold bars.
A crucible will heat the material
to a temperature of 1,150 degrees Celsius.
High enough to separate unwanted metals and impurities.
Every time you're pouring gold, you want to make sure
that your mould that you're pouring into is warm.
This is at room temperature
and there's moisture coming out of the mould.
If I was to pour molten liquid into that, it'll explode
and you'll end up with gold all over the roof and all over me.
Ready whenever you are.
Once the 95% pure gold bars are poured, cooled,
and put on the scale...
Oh, that looks actually pretty good.
..the team will know exactly what the gold is worth.
Crushing circuit bar.
Let's see how that one goes.
That one's cleaned up OK.
Oh, yeah, nice.
A few ounces there.
Hey. Are you ready for a weigh in?
What have you got?
Wow, that's all your hard work there.
Nice. That's just Barnaby.
It's great to see that
being produced after the hell of a week we've just had.
Oh, my god!
Yeah, that week was definitely against us.
Whack it on! Yeah.
21.29. 21.29.
Nice.
Well, that's not everything.
The rock breaker actually made some gold too.
Yeah.
26.9. Wow!
The morale boosting haul
adds over $75,000
to the Gold Devils' total.
That was a hell of a run
and I didn't think we would get anywhere near this,
so yeah, I think we've all pulled together
and made it happen.
This week has shown us that we can get through anything
if we work as a team and we work really well together.
1,000 ounces might just be around the corner.
Let's get this to the mint
and get it sold and pay some bills and keep going.
Do it all over again.
Good work, team. Alright.
The Gold Devils.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Alright, moment of truth.
Where are you?
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
That's another bit of gold and that's a better size too.
Now, we're talking. That's 3 to 4g that one.
Really sharp gold. Little bit of rock in it too.
This is just looking great.
The further I go up this gully,
the bigger these bits of gold are getting,
so I'll just keep putting them away in my pocket
and hopefully we can put some weight in the jar
at the end of the day, but yeah, that's great.
Happy days.
Mount Madden paying the bills.
Jacqui. Another one?
Yeah, they just keep coming, mate.
Yes! This is good.
That's great.
Now, we're starting to sound like a day's wages.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
That could be another one.
Oh, yeah.
God, this is tricky, eh?
The things we do for gold.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Nice.
Oh, yes!
They're getting bigger!
Awesome, mate. Whoo!
We're tracking down that 50 ounces, mate,
one nugget at a time.
That's beautiful gold.
Righto, Jacqui, let's do this weigh in.
Alright, how are we doing this?
Well, we got the free gold in here,
so that's all 100% gold
and then we'll break the specimens
into a couple of groups and weigh them as well.
OK.
See how we went with this gold first.
That system had so much gold in it.
Mount Madden delivered. Whoa!
3.3 ounces, mate.
That's pretty good, eh?
Wow. Yeah.
That's impressive numbers. They just kept coming, hey?
Well, time to find out what the specimens weigh now, eh?
So, we'll see how we went.
So many.
Well, 3.79.
3.79.
That's about 2.6 ounces of gold there.
We needed this big time.
We did. We needed this pay.
Righto, let's see what the big ones go, hey?
These are around 50% gold and 50% quartz,
so about half of what the weight is.
3.1 ounces there as well,
so that's another 1.55 ounces of gold.
All up that's about 7.4 ounces of gold, mate.
Which means our total for the season so far's
just gone up over 20.
Yep. Yep. We finally got over 20. Yes, thank god!
This week's nugget spree
adds almost $20,000
to Jacqui and Andrew's tally.
We've still got a long way to go,
but we just knocked a fair bit off it too.
Yep.
If we keep going the way we're going,
that 50 ounces could actually be within reach.
That's my favourite part of the week.
Me too. Mount Madden paying the bills.
Love it. We did it, mate.
Well done. We got there.
Good job. Phew!
What a relief!
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Captioned by Ai-Media ai-media.tv