NARRATOR: This time on Aussie Gold Hunters...
There is no way through here.
..Alan and Salty take their remote search
into the depths of the tropical Kimberley region...
Four hours driving down this road to get to this.
Won't make it back before the dark.
..but after hitting a dead end the pair rallied back.
Get out!
..finding life changing nuggets...
That's our biggest yet by far.
..in the flooded state of Victoria...
Mate, we've got to get some gold and we're not getting it here.
Vince, Bibbi and Murray are forced to open up new ground...
There's nothing but steel.
Are you kidding me?
..but a gold drought causes tempers to flair...
Reality is starting to set in.
I'm not digging like this.
Honestly, I'm over it.
..and with the Gold Retrievers struggling to run
their gold processing plant...
Oh!
If we snap the chain we're in a world of hurt.
This is the last thing we need at the moment.
Nothing's going right for us.
We should be finding gold. Not fixing things.
..it's up to Wendy to keep the gold coming in.
Holy crap. Oh, my god!
That's one of the biggest ones I've found.
That is huge.
(THEME MUSIC)
We've made it mate. We have, we have.
Halls Creek.
Welcome to the Kimberley.
I feel like we've been driving for weeks just to get up here.
Oh, absolutely stoked to be here.
It's pretty special geology out here.
Oh, it's absolutely unreal and, uh, that's the reason
why I've dragged us out here.
So, you've got some spots eh? I do.
But first, just at the end of this track,
there's something cool that I want to show you.
Gold Adventurers
Alan Williams and Caleb "Salty" Davenport
have taken their hunt for gold
to the tropical wilderness
of Western Australia's Kimberley region.
Oh, is this it? Look at that.
It actually looks like a wall. That is insane.
Man, I've never seen anything like that before.
That'd be the biggest quartz reef I've ever seen.
Surely there's been people literally on that wall.
I know there has been a lot of people out here
prospecting over the years.
How's that, how's the shape of it?
It's just unreal.
It's like manmade. Yeah.
They say there's no straight lines in nature
but this is about as straight as a wall is ever gonna get.
This might look fake but uh she's definitely not.
This is a quartz vein,
all the other basalt and everything here
has weathered down but the quartz hasn't.
The reason is, it's so much harder than everything else around
and for this to be here a big occurrence happened,
way back God knows when.
It's a good sign.
This natural wall
was formed hundreds of millions of years ago
when minerals like gold and quartz
were pushed up from the earth's core.
Over time softer materials eroded away
leaving the harder quartz and gold behind.
Alan and Salty
are hoping to discover a new gold bearing quartz reef
like this one on virgin ground.
These big occurrences,
this is exactly what we want to come here for.
And this is close to town. It is. Imagine what's further.
OK.
I found a few spots, a bit hairy to get to.
Really?
It looks like an old horse and cart track I reckon.
Really?
But I reckon, uh, I reckon it's definitely...definitely doable.
Alright, mate, the gold's not going to find itself.
Definitely not. Are you ready?
Let's go.
Alan and Salty
are on a mission to explore
the most remote gold grounds
in Western Australia.
We've both taken
such a big gamble to go further
than anyone's gone to find gold
and to find virgin ground
that no one's been to.
Last week in the Pilbara...
Look at that!
..they recovered gold
near an ancient water hole.
Woo-hoo-hoo!
Get out, ha, ha, ha.
Man, this is getting us closer
to our target so much quicker.
Now, they're heading to a remote spot 80km
outside the town of Halls Creek
but they've only found
a third of their 15-ounce target.
Fingers crossed that we find
some gold to,
uh, start covering our costs
because a couple of grand
already in fuel.
We're in the hole.
We need to fill it in and get out of it.
The pressure is back on, mate.
We've been driving all day and every day
we're driving is a day
we're not earning and finding.
The detector in the back
is screaming at me, saying.
"Hurry up, get me on the ground, Alan".
What have we got left?
Just...just under 10 ounces. 10 ounces.
You're honestly one swing, one swing and that could do it.
Really? You feeling? Yeah. I reckon.
I want to out do my personal best.
Right, well, it should be just up here
around this bend.
Are you kidding?
There is no way through here. No way.
All of that effort.
We can only get through on foot there.
Mate, that is well and truly impassable.
I could have sworn on those maps I was looking at,
it looked like you could take a car through there.
This is not what I wanted.
Another waste of a day. I don't know, man.
We won't make it back before the dark.
Camping here I reckon, eh?
Mate, we've got no bloody choice.
We had a lot of rain last night. Yeah, I know.
It started to get a bit disheartening, right?
It's too wet to run a wet plant.
You can't run it in the rain, you got all the electrics, I just...
I don't know. Just can't seem to have a win.
You can't give up. You just gotta keep going.
I'm not ready to give up,
it's just, you know, we sort of put all of our money
last season into this wet plant
if we can't get this up and running, darl.
Well, we'll deal with whatever happens.
You know I have 100% faith in you both.
Yeah, way to put the pressure on me.
Sorry. (LAUGHTER)
So, if I fail it's my fault.
Well, I had faith in ya.
I don't know where you went wrong.
Well, hopefully, our luck will turn around.
Well, I hope so.
You know, it's gonna have to sooner or later, doesn't it?
Yeah. Yeah. What else could go wrong?
Seriously like...
Don't say that. (LAUGHS)
In remote Western Australia,
The Gold Retrievers have been hit by two days of heavy rain,
threatening their plans to run their wash plant.
Pissed down last night, eh?
Yep, always our luck, aren't we?
Water everywhere else
except for in the dam.
Yeah, except for where we want it.
I don't want to feed anything wet through that hammer mill.
Mate, I tell you what, I mean there's a bit of sunshine out now,
so, we really need to get cracking and get it up and running
but, um, if it starts raining again I don't think we can run in that.
Let's give it a go.
Alright, let's get crackin'. Yep.
Alright.
This machine's classed as a wet plant but half of its dry.
If we put wet dirt in the hopper it just clogs it up.
Now, we've got electric motors
on just about every piece
of product here
and they've been sitting out
in the weather.
I'm hoping when we press go it actually goes.
Things aren't going
according...according to plan
at this stage,
so, we've got to try and salvage something.
We're halfway through the season.
We're not hitting target, that's for sure.
So, we're going to have to pick up our game otherwise
um, you know, it could be the end of us, it really could.
Is everyone ready? Yep.
(ENGINE REVS)
Woo! One.
Conveyor's goin'.
Alright, I'm going to fire the rest up, OK?
Two. Ball mill.
Three. Beautiful.
Last week
The Gold Retrievers finally got their $75,000 wash plant running...
It's taken us all season to get to this stage.
..and recovered their biggest gold haul of the season.
Ho. Woo-hoo!
How's that? 7.29.
But they'll need to keep the same pace
to have any hope of reaching their $125,000 target.
At this stage everything looks like it's working the way
it should be working,
so, Chris will go get some dirt now, run it through the system,
see how we go.
The last step is to run a test bucket full of dirt
to see if the plant holds up.
So, she fired up alright.
She's feeding water. See if we can't find some gold.
I think, the chain's jumped off the cog.
Yeah, I'll have to shut it down.
If we snap the chain we're in a world of hurt.
The chain moves the conveyor belt, which feeds the wet plant.
Without it their wet plant won't run.
That chain's binding up, Chris.
I think, it's jumped off the cog.
Is it going to be easy to get to?
Uh, no.
It's broken the weld, Brad. Look there.
So, we're going to have to pull it all apart
and try and get that chain back on that cog.
Man, that's a big job.
Yeah, this is the last thing we need at the moment.
Machines down, sun's out, we should be working.
That should be pumping lots of ore through there.
Having Wendy here sort of certainly helped
but, um, I've invested all of our life
savings into this so she needs to see results.
So, what we need to now is we need to pull all that apart
and then try and get that chain back on that sprocket,
so, that it'll drive the belt.
There is no way we can get material
to the crushing gear without this conveyor going.
Yeah, this is downtime we don't need.
No, we should be finding gold.
Alright.
(MACHINE WHIRS)
I've cut a piece of metal there.
There was a bit of this housing coming down
and actually hitting the chain and pushing the chain off the cog,
so, um, fingers crossed,
once we put it all back together a bit of welding,
it should be back up and running.
You know, we wanted to feed a tonnage,
hopefully, see some nice colour
but obviously, she's not going at the moment
and it's going to take a little while longer to get it going
so uh we're wasting daylight, we're wasting sunshine.
Everything seems to be drying out nicely
but, uh, we can't feed it.
Alright, I reckon that's done, mate.
Well, let's fire it up, see if it stays aligned.
Alright.
Fire in the hole.
Righto, mate.
(ENGINE REVS)
Hey, hey! Turning.
Hey, it's looking much better.
It's not binding up, which is really good.
What's that doing?
What's it catching on?
(DARK MUSIC)
Is that the cog?
Oh! (BLEEP)
No, it's skipping.
Man, you've got to be kidding me.
Man, I'm over it. This is crap.
Yeah, this is not working, mate. We're going to go broke.
This is un...unbelievable.
I can't believe our luck. And here comes the rain.
(LAUGHS). Yep.
I don't know how much further we can go with it.
You know, we're not making any money and then we're putting all our time
and effort into this and we're not finding gold.
Nothing's going right for us.
I'm over it. We're done, eh?
Yep. Alright, let's get out of the rain.
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
So, where is it you want to dig here?
Oh, anywhere through here where these old- timers' holes are.
Oh, yeah, but look at the water, mate.
Yeah, I know, mate.
Yeah, we open up a hole here
the water's just going to flow straight into it,
while you're digging it.
Surely we can put a trench or two down here
and divert this water, you know.
No, we can't trench this water out.
We're just wasting our time.
We've only got 13 ounces so far, mate.
We've gotta get some gold in the hand...
Yeah, I know. ..and we're not getting it here.
Yeah.
In Victoria's Golden Triangle, rookie miner Vince Malacria,
his partner Bibbi Gerali and veteran miner Murray Cox
have struggled all season to keep their heads above water,
dealing with record-breaking rainfall.
Now, they're moving to higher ground,
hoping to avoid more flooding.
Halfway through the season
only 13 ounces out
of our 40-ounce target.
We need at least 10 ounces to get
this show back on the road
so gonna get out there and dig some gold.
It's all dry up here and it's so much easier to pull gold
out of the ground.
We really have to get onto some gold
and I believe this is the area up here
we should get it out of.
Oh, this is a disaster.
Look how much water's in the hole.
We cannot go down the bottom end.
It is too (BLEEP) wet.
So, what? We're just going to dig here where there's no gold?
The pressure of the catastrophic
weather has added
to conflicts over strategy.
Well, I've got this data,
it's showing good gold down there.
I'm not totally convinced
about this area.
I know you're not.
I'm more convinced in the area up here, mate.
It can get quite frustrating that Murray believes
that there's gold up here.
He's got the experience.
I've got to go with him, you know.
Right, Vince, jump in and give her a roughy.
Some nice looking quartz in there.
Yeah, this is around about the depth every now
and again one of those (BLEEP) 4 or 5 ounce pieces tend to come up.
Oh, beautiful.
Murray, he's very experienced
and so, we just listen
and we learn and we love it.
It's great.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Well, that seems like there's a target there.
Hoping it's gold but I can see it already.
It's just a splint off the bucket there.
A big bit of steel.
With all this quartz in the ground being so sharp,
the teeth are wearing down a fair bit
but that's part of gold digging you know.
You take the good with the bad.
I've been in the gold business a long time
and I understand how it works.
There'll be a patch here and there'll be a patch there.
We just got to persist.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Ooh, that sounds nice.
Damn it!
More steel. Are you kidding me?
These teeth are just so blunt.
It'd be nice to get those teeth changed.
We're here to dig gold, not steel.
We've really rushed this because of all the...
uh, wet weather we've had.
And we should have changed the teeth before we started
and now, we're paying the price for it.
Simple as that.
Cast bucket teeth are made from tempered iron
to provide maximum resistance to wear and tear.
A new set of teeth will cost the team over $1,300,
the equivalent of 0.5 ounce of gold.
And there it is again.
Another piece of steel.
Absolutely frustrating.
What was it, Vinnie? Mate, there's nothing but steel.
Nothing but steel. Again?
It's killing me.
The pressure's definitely on.
$250,000 is a lot of money to be in debt
so I'm going to do everything I can to make that money back
and dig us back out.
Not finding gold, that frustrates me a lot.
The time and effort you put in, the money.
Money's running out.
Better bring something out of it, I'm telling you what.
Hey, Bibbi! Yeah.
Tools down, Hun. Can't dig like this.
At the moment they're spending too much time
digging up chips and not enough time digging up gold.
Put new teeth on is going to reduce
the amount of steel going on the ground.
We definitely haven't found enough gold
to be changing these teeth over
but we can't keep running the way we are.
Hopefully, we find gold to cover it.
Look at the difference there. Yeah.
That's how much we've worn off 'em. Let's do it.
We've got to work together as a team.
You gotta trust each other.
He trusts me with the gold and the hammer.
Who said I trusted him with the gold?
I trust him even less with the hammer.
Get out of the way.
All done, mate. Beauty.
Get back into it eh?
All we gotta do now is find some gold to pay for them.
You're not wrong.
Mate, I'm pretty much over this, eh?
Mate, I'm hearing ya.
We've spent more time fixing this (BLEEP) thing
than we have running it
so, I'll give it one more go and that's it.
Let's see how we go, man.
Last try.
On the Devil's Cut lease in Western Australia,
the rain finally stopped,
leaving the Gold Retrievers are racing to fix their wash plant.
Yeah, it's all time that we're not finding.
We need to find the gold and we need to get told
into that concentrator at the end and process through.
This motor's jumping, it's skipping.
Well, I hope Wendy's having more luck finding some gold
that we are.
The boys aren't having much luck, so, I'm going to grab the detector
and try and turn this week around.
Hopefully find some gold.
It's hard watching everything break down
and nothing go right, you know.
That sounds alright.
If I find a bit of gold in here, that would be fantastic.
Oh, I can see it there.
Fantastic.
Look at that! It's not huge but that's great.
To find one straight away, that's awesome.
Hopefully, I can find some more.
This plate, we should have put back on.
It's basically a stiffener plate.
So, if we get that stiffener plate back in it will hold
that nice and steady.
Alright. Fire in the hole.
There she goes. It's looking good.
Everything's up and running.
We're all systems go, by the look of it.
Finally, we're getting some pay dirt through.
We've got to get onto this while it's dry.
We really need some gold out of this.
This dirt's gotta start paying off.
This has been a life dream of Brad's,
to come out here and find gold.
I want this to be successful
because if that's the case I'll shut up my business
from home and I'll come up and help him,
you know, full time, which is, um...
Ooh, great target.
Yep, there it is and it's gold.
So, oh, my god, that's great.
It's so exciting when you find a piece of gold.
There's nothing like it really.
I can see how Brad says it's so addictive.
I just want to get out here and...
Ooh, and find some more.
Alright, that sounds great.
Holy crap!
Oh, my god!
That's one of the biggest ones I've found.
Oh, my god!
That's probably about 1,700 right there.
That's crazy.
To find three pieces on the pad is amazing.
We've got four hours to get back to that bloody main road
and we haven't even swung the detectors.
I know, I know. Not very ideal.
Here mate, have a cuppa and we'll get the hell out of her
because we've got a long drive to go.
In the remote Kimberley region Alan and Salty have hit a dead end.
Their target site
is on the other side of a huge ridgeline
and the path they'd hope to take is blocked.
Driving around it will mean another full day of travel.
Yeah, I was looking at the maps last night,
still nothing I could find
but I was thinking we might get the drone up,
send it just either side of this ridge
and hope there might be a new track.
What if we lose the drone? Well, then I'll wear that one.
We're not looking for it? Well, we don't have time to.
Alright, send it up.
Ten minutes, out of here. Alright.
We don't have time for this
but it's four hours back to the main track.
Hopefully, there's, uh, there's no more delays
because we can't afford it.
That's all it is, we can't afford it.
We're already out this far, we're already going to be travelling
half the day back.
What's an extra half hour?
Oh, look, is that a spot?
Look, look. See that track? Get out!
I told you, didn't I? I said there was that possibility.
Mate, I think, you've done it.
That looks like a road, alright, alright.
Let's do it. Bring her down. Alright. I'll bring her back.
(DRONE WHIRS)
Yahoo! I've found a track. Let's see where it goes.
Hurry up. Get in, mate.
I'm coming, I'm coming alright. I'm coming. Let's go.
Oh, mate, if this track pulls through
you're an absolute legend.
Yep, I know.
If it doesn't, you're never gonna forget it.
I know, I know. Yeah, this way. Should head down.
Yeah, that's the one.
Oh, I think, I can see the gap you found mate.
Whoo-hoo-hoo! That's our way through.
Man. Look at that!
That looks absolutely unreal.
(LAUGHS)
Yes!
Good job, Al.
Man...
The detectors are actually gonna have some use today.
Yeah.
Mate, we did it.
We made it. Is this it?
Yeah, we made it.
And the maps here
are putting us right where we need to be.
You legend.
It's a good day for it.
Oh, bringing out the big boy. Yeah, of course.
Come on mate, I'm itching. Alright, let's get into it.
This is it, mate. Mate, this is beautiful.
We're finally going to put these detectors to use.
Yeah, finally. Where are you gonna go?
Uh, see that ridge line over the back there?
Yep.
We'll follow that creek bed up, up there, that's where I'll be.
Alright.
I'm gonna try actually, try my luck in this water hole.
Yeah, sounds good.
So, this detector here is actually waterproof,
perfect for this kind of varied landscape
where we do actually come across beautiful little water holes
as well as detecting on the, um, dry rocky beds and creek beds.
Just walked a couple hundred metres up the hill,
spotted this on the maps a while ago.
Lots of quartz around.
There's quartz blows and stuff everywhere...
or quartz loads as you want to call it
and, uh, just looks like a nice place to start.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Good to finally get the coil on the ground
after that uh delay we had with that dead-end.
Wasn't really ideal
but I'm finally swinging, which is good.
Fingers crossed we can get back on track.
No more dramas and start knocking off that target.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
We got something here. That sounds like gold to me.
Yeah, gonna be super relieved
if we can finally get...get some gold in this area.
Very dull. Oh, look at that.
Now, that is what we're here to find.
After all this trouble we've had so far
and all the kilometres
and all the money, we're in the hole.
That is what we're after.
Oh, about time.
I think, there's something wrong with my detector.
The lights have turned off.
Only just noticed it, might have been happening
for a couple of minutes.
The detector's still on.
If this has stopped working,
if I've accidentally flooded the battery compartment,
that's this trip done for me and we're a long way
from...from a town that will store,
that will sell these,
so I need to get this out of the water right now
and try and dry it out before I open it up
and see what the problem is.
Not even a sound.
No lights.
I can't afford for this to happen because like we only just got here.
This is a $5,000 detector.
We haven't got any gold so I can't pay for a new one.
I'm gonna get Alan. See if he's got some advice.
You got a copy, Alan?
Yeah, mate, gotcha.
Mate, I might have really stuffed up here.
Um, I may have flooded the detector.
Have you got any advice?
It's ah, there's no lights coming up
and it's on and the battery's in there.
Oh, no. Oh, man, I really hope not.
The only way that I've seen
is that the back door for the battery.
If it's not latched properly it can get a drip of water in there
and that might be the issue.
If that's the case, pull her out, wipe her
and maybe leave it in the sun for a bit,
see if that'll work.
If he's ruined his detector, he might as well just go home.
There's a bit of moisture on the battery.
I need to dry this out right now.
I really can't afford this right now.
I need to get this dry straight away.
It's the end of my trip otherwise.
These new teeth are chomping through really, really well.
It's just getting to the, uh, nitty gritty quickly.
Murray's just exposed the bottom and thrown all the gravels up
on top and we'll spread them out and detect them.
The bottom's just a pipe clay bottom.
There's no more gravels any more so it just turns into a clay
so, you know, that the gold will be sitting on top of that clay,
or slightly in it.
If there's any gold here.
To cover the cost of the digger's new teeth,
Vince, Bibbi and Murray
need to find an extra 0.5-ounce of gold.
Righto, Bibbi, come on down, let's do the bottom of the hole.
OK.
While Vince and Bibbi check the but for nuggets,
Murray spreads out the excavated gravels
into 15cm thick pads ready to be detected.
That's just all ground noise.
Another disappointing hole, Hun.
No gold in the bottom of this one either.
Honestly, I'm over it.
Oh, well, let's get out of here. Alright.
Bibbi and Vince haven't been in the game
as long as I have and I don't think they quite understand.
I think, they thing that when you dig a hole in gold country,
you're automatically going to get gold
but it's not that way at all
and I think, reality is starting to set in.
But look, we could open up a hole tomorrow,
there might be a hundred-ounce piece in it
and you watch the attitudes change.
Yeah, bit of a waste of time here.
It might have been worth going to tackle
that water down the bottom there.
Nah, mate, definitely not.
We'd have machines bogged, that would be hopeless.
Yeah, well we're not having a lot of luck here, are we?
Look, it's definitely not an old river bed anymore.
I think, the glacial action here has moved all the gravels around,
just broken it up in big chunks and everything else
and that's why we haven't got a line of gold to follow.
An ancient river once ran through here
depositing gold
in the slower flowing points
of the waterway.
Over millions of years,
these gold-rich deposits were scoured form the riverbeds
by glacial movements
over multiple ice ages.
What we've got to do
is just continue digging holes
for one of you's to keep detecting down here.
Uh-huh.
And then we'll start another one up here,
instead of just following the one set of holes all the time.
Yeah. I like the sound of that.
OK. Well, let's do it.
Come on Pops, start digging a hole.
Yep, right get down the hole please.
Alright, you ready? Yep.
New area. I'm excited.
Let's do it. Oh, it's nice and firm.
Yeah, beautiful looking gravels in here darling.
It's really, really good.
Yeah, you can see
where a bit of bottom's coming up here
so you're very close to the gold.
If there's anything big in there
you'll definitely here it from there.
Yeah, good. OK, that's what we want.
Have a listen to that.
That's either a big chip or...
Nah, you won't get chips that big, now we got new teeth, mate.
No way. Oh, beauty.
Oh, that sounds good, mate.
(ROCK MUSIC)
We finally got the wet plant up and running
and we're finally getting some tonnes through it,
which is absolutely fantastic
and that's we've been trying to do all season.
No, shut it off.
What now?
That chain's come off again at the top.
Oh, you're kidding me. Nup.
Yeah, this is all time we should be finding gold
and we keep getting breakdowns.
Is that off? Yep.
Oh, mate, nah, pull it out, mate. That's just snapped.
That gearbox has snapped.
She's snapped.
That's the main support for the, uh...
For the drive.
It's cast iron too, mate. Can't even weld it back on.
Now, the mounting point for the motor has snapped,
there is no way for them to run the conveyor.
That's just going to keep snapping.
Game over for the conveyor.
Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.
Mmm.
Maybe we're just not meant to uh be running this sort of gear.
I don't know.
I think, we're done, mate.
Oh, I got another target. One there.
It sounds like there's one there as well.
So, I've got two targets.
I have never found this much gold before in one patch.
This is, um, unbelievable.
Oh, my goodness, I can see it right there.
Look at that. That's incredible. There's some big gold here.
So, I will put it with the rest
and I think, I've got another target here too,
so, I'll give that a go.
Yeah, that sounds great as well.
So, hopefully, it is gold. See what we've got.
It's in the scoop.
Oh, my god, I can see it.
There it is. Another huge piece.
This is incredible. I can't believe it.
I'll go back and tell the boys and tell them the great news.
How are you guys going?
Oh, it's not looking good, Darl.
This thing is out of action completely.
Just snapped off the whole housing.
Well, I've got a bit of good news that might cheer yous up.
Hope so. Some good ground out there.
(LAUGHS) Have a look at that.
Holy crap. That looks heavy.
Holy crap. Yeah, that's incredible.
Jesus! I know.
That's a few ounces in there. Well done!
Thank you. Well done, Darl.
You may have saved our (BLEEP) day.
I'll tell you that. Wow!
Yeah, there's some big pieces in there.
I couldn't believe it.
You know, I mean we've still run a fair bit
through this concentrator, man.
Quite a few tonnes in there. That puts a smile back on my face.
Well done, Darl. Great.
(MACHINE BEEPS) Well, this might be something.
Where is it? Track it down, darling.
Ooh, that's, get...
ooh, oh.
That's inverted a little bit too. Ah-ha.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Ooh, that sounds good, mate.
(LAUGHS) Oh, my goodness.
She's nice and hard, it's crunchy
and there's some bottom there, Murray.
It's gotta be, it's gotta be gold, mate.
Dig right around it, Vinnie. Yeah, mate.
Don't damage it. Ooh! It's out.
Woo. Swing over it, darlin'.
Alright. Oh, first grab.
I can see it from here. Oh, my god!
Wow! Look at it!
Oh, my goodness.
Hang on, I'm coming down there.
Mate, it's got quartz in it, eh. It's a beauty!
Oh, yeah, that's got some weight in it.
That's a pretty piece. Yep.
Just look at it, mate. Nice and heavy too.
Unreal. Unreal. Ripper.
Good on ya, Bib. Well done, Murray. Yes.
About time.
That nugget's going to save the week, mate.
Oh, you're not wrong.
Yeah, so, let's get into it and us see if we can get some more.
Well done, Honey. Well done, Babe. This is amazing.
Unreal.
Well, that shows you a bit of promise for the project.
I'm glad we came up here now.
Come on, baby, bring us some luck. Yep.
Need to get that target.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Oh, wow! Oh, that's a big target.
Yeah, that sounds really, really good.
Oh, yeah. That's an inverted signal.
110% sure sign of gold. Yes.
Where is it? I can feel weight in here, honey.
Can you? Oh, my god!
Oh, there it is. Where?
Look at that. Oh, my god.
Look at that! Nugget! Oh.
(LAUGHS) Oh, yes!
Ripper! Look at it.
Oh, my goodness.
2 ounces closer to that 40 ounce, honey.
Exactly. Well done.
Alright, let's get moving. Come on. Come on.
Let's keep going. Come on, let's do it.
(MACHINE BEEPS) Dig that one, Bibbi.
Hear that from there, mate? Yeah, I can.
(GASPS) I can see some colour there.
There it is. Oh, yeah.
Nice huh? You beauty.
Bloody beautiful piece of gold. That might go 1.5 once.
Good work! Uh, good work!
I'm getting sick of slapping your hands today.
It's been a good day, hasn't it?
Ever since we moved into this new spot.
We could be down there in that (BLEEP) wet water hole,
getting bogged.
(LAUGHS) Ha, nup, nup, we're on the gold up here, mate.
You might be right after all.
It's gonna get closer to our season target.
We might've made some money this week.
(LAUGHTER)
In a minute I'm going to pull out my T-shirt,
put the battery in and fingers-crossed she ticks over
and I can get back to work
because I'm not getting paid to sit around.
This detector issue and that dead end
that we had yesterday is really putting us behind.
We really need to get out of this rut we're in.
I really didn't think we'd run into this many issues
so quickly in the season.
Uh, you know, I can't afford it.
Alan can't afford it.
You know, we as a team can't afford it.
In the desolate Kimberley region,
Salty Davenport is desperate to dry out
his waterlogged detector and continue his gold search.
(SIGHS)
I'm nervous. I'm actually nervous.
Alrighty, here we go, mate.
(SIGHS)
Moment of truth.
Come on now, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
(LAUGHS)
Oh, my god that's a beautiful sound.
Hey, Alan, have you got a copy, mate?
Yeah, man, gotcha.
Hey, you want to hear something? Show me. Listen to it.
Go on, do it.
Hoo-hoo! (LAUGHS)
Yes, you fixed it.
So, happy to hear that sound, man.
So, happy to hear that sound.
I think, maybe you should get up here
and join me on this beautiful gold patch.
Yeah, mate, I might give the water a miss
for a minute, alright?
And I'll come join ya.
Oh, you beauty. Phew!
I think, I just didn't seal it properly.
Uh, had a little bit of moisture in there,
was enough maybe just to trigger it, to turn off,
probably just like a safety mechanism
and uh and sure enough we're back in action.
Beautiful thing!
Yeah, it cost Salty and meself a fair bit
to get up here.
Definitely need to get some gold in the uh, in the bank account
so we can get that target knocked over.
So, I'm going to head down this little creek bed here
and turn around and work my way back up to Al.
It was really looking pretty dismal and depressing for a while there
but I think, we're back on, back on the good track.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Yeah, there's definitely something here.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Oh, you ripper.
Look at that.
That's probably 7gm, maybe even a little bit more.
Oh, the relief.
Oi! I know that sound.
Oh, unreal.
This is such a relief.
This is what we do it for.
Oh, there's something
and now it's just a matter of trying to find it
without having to pull out this whole riverbank.
Oh, oh.
(LAUGHS)
Look at this.
Ee, ee, oo, look at that.
Oh, another one!
I can add to the little pocket full of gold I've got now.
I think, it's time for some water
and have a weigh up this arvo with Alan.
A good eight hours in this sun is enough for anyone.
Hey, Al, have you got a copy, mate?
Yeah, man, got ya.
Guess what, mate?
Got a pocketful of gold but, ah, this sun down
in this creek bed is starting to get to me.
How are you feeling?
Yeah, understandable.
Oh, well, at least you're coming back
with gold, mate.
That's exactly what we come here for.
Legend, mate. Let's do it.
I like the sound of that.
This sun beating down on me is just becoming just unbearable.
I'm running out of water as well.
Marco. Hello. I see you.
Hey. Oi!
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Come on, mate. Get out. This sounds big too.
How good will it be if it's a big chunk?
Whoa, imagine that.
Just right in the middle of that. Still under there.
Don't hurt it, whatever you do.
Ah, ha, ha, hoo.
(LAUGHTER)
Mate!
Finders diggers, eh?
(BLEEP) in your dream.
Man...
Holy. ..that is a beautiful piece.
That's our biggest yet, by far.
Now, that is going to put a big dent in our tally.
Alright, there's our finds, mate. Alright.
That's quite a heavy cup,
so, I'm hoping for a couple of ounces out of that.
Let's do it, eh? What do you reckon?
Absolutely. No time like the present.
Alrighty.
Despite this week's wet plant troubles,
the Gold Retrievers have recovered enough fine gold for a gold pour.
Beautiful. Beautiful. Every little bit.
Tap it on the bottom. Alrighty.
20 minutes, mate. Baking a cake.
So, we've poured the last of the concentrate in there
that's holding the gold
so we wait for this to get to 1,150 degrees,
which will melt the gold and then we can pour a gold bar.
So, what I'm doing now, I'm just preheating the mould.
Make the gold sit in there better
and it just gives it a better finish.
How are we looking? 138.
I reckon it must be almost at temp.
Thunderbirds are go. Alrighty.
Alright, are we ready? Go for it?
Everyone clear. Alright, here we go guys.
Beautiful.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
No way!
Oh, wow!
Check that out! That looks amazing.
That's unreal. That looks great.
You know, still amazes me though,
the amount of dirt we had to put through
to get that tiny little thing but I mean that thing
is just worth so much, isn't it?
That's not tiny, mate.
It's tiny compared to the amount of dirt
we put through.
Nah, that is absolutely amazing.
Let's go do a weigh in.
Yeah, I reckon we, um...
That sounds like a plan. Yeah.
Grab the nuggets that you found and we weigh that in
and, um, see where we're at.
Hooly-dooly. Let's do it.
Awesome. That is so good.
Woo!
Not a bad week, hey, team? Yeah, great.
No, not a bad week at all.
Alright, let's put these on the scales
and have a look.
OK, 1.687.
Alright. Well, I'll go next.
I've got a couple of nice chunks for the week.
Yep.
That beauty. 5.753. Yep.
Get it on there. What have we got? Let's see what she says.
Woo-hoo-hoo. 7.218.
With $18,500 worth of gold found
just this week,
the team are finally
over halfway towards their target.
Woo! A good week's work.
Woo! Well done, team.
You might have made a good call this week, Murray.
I was a bit doubtful but...
Yeah, but look we still got to go back to your spot yet, mate.
It might even be better. Yep. Let's hope.
And for this to be a profitable project
that has to continue.
It can't just be this one week.
No. Every week.
Yeah. Absolutely.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
What a spot to wrap it up, mate.
Yeah, this is unreal.
What a week, mate!
Not wrong there.
Man, we did it.
All that research.
I'm glad I did it 'cause it put us on the ground.
Few setbacks but hey, we got there.
Should we do this? I reckon.
Alright, let's go.
Look at that. 2.66.
Oh, that is huge.
(LAUGHS) That's unreal.
That's what we're here for.
It is.
Alan and Salty's haul of nuggets
has boosted the pair's season tally
to over 7 ounces.
That's just under 7 grand
for the week.
Well, on our way to our target.
I reckon, we, ah, we do another week.
Another week? Yeah, another week.
The research that I put into it is paying off.
We finish off that area
'cause there's days of walking through there
and if that's what it's producing in a week.
There's months there, mate.
Yeah, definitely. We could spend months.
Yeah.
What you say we get out of here?
Crack a couple of cold beers and, um, plan the next week ahead.
I reckon that sounds good.
A couple of cold ones on you, eh? Yeah, 'cause I got the biggest.
Alright, that sounds alright.
The thing is you can't afford it with your little ones.
(LAUGHTER)
It's been a bloody tough week.
It has. Again.
I think, we've been doing more fixing than processing.
Well, for all the downtime that we had we still managed to get
some good tonnage through.
Yeah, you did really well. I did.
Yeah.
Yeah, that was some good ground out there.
You think you saved the day, hey? I hope so.
Let's see what we've got. Absolutely.
I'm pretty excited about it.
Gee, there's some good size nuggets in there, isn't there?
1.5 ounces, mate. You're welcome.
(LAUGHTER)
No, you've done well. What else you got there?
Alright, we've got a few. This the little stuff eh?
Yeah. Wow.
Holy crap! 3.6.
Well done. Let's see what the gold bar weighs.
So, this clean up worked really well.
What have we got? 7.16.
Wow.
(LAUGHTER) Amazing!
Yeah! Well done.
I'm stoked with that, hey. Yeah, that's so good.
And I'll tell you what, all the problems we had
with that (BLEEP) conveyor...
Yep.
..to still end up with a good chunk of gold at the end of it,
is absolutely awesome.
Combined with the nuggets,
the 3.5 ounce gold bar
from the wet plant
has made this,
their biggest haul so far
giving their season
a much-needed boost.
We're almost halfway to our target
but we're over halfway
through the season.
I think, that once we get this up and running properly,
this wet plant, I think, we're going to find a lot more gold
than we're finding right now.
Alrighty. Very good.
Let's go and have a beer, guys. Well done.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Captioned by Ai-Media ai-media.tv