NARRATOR: This time on Aussie Gold Hunters...
ETHAN: 20 bucks worth. When you're doing it professionally, that ain't gonna cut it.
After securing some of Victoria's most valuable gold ground,
The Poseidon Crew struggled to find the big gold they were banking on.
We've got everything here, we're all waiting. We thought was gonna happen today.
And permit delays leave their excavation plans in ruins.
We should be digging today. I know that. That's the problem.
We're always close, but never there. And this is the issue, mate.
SHANE: Let's just get the (BLEEP) hell out of here.
In Western Australia, a torrential downpour
forces Shane and Russell to hunt for new ground...
(RUSSELL SPEAKS)
..that ends in disaster when Russell takes a fall.
Oh, man. Oh, Russell.
RYAN: We need to find gold before it gets too hot.
In the sun-blasted Pilbara region, The Ferals are forced to work 24/7
and finally uncover a rich patch of gold.
Woohoo! You ripper. BRIDGET: That's not gonna fit in my container.
But the harsh conditions finally push Bridget to the limit.
Hey, Levi, Bridget's just gone down, mate. Bridget's gone down. (DOG BARKS)
BRENT: How's it feel? We're actually about to start Catto's Paddock.
You got a lot riding on you now, mate. It's a...
You've talked it up that much. Now we need some proof.
Mate, I can assure you, somewhere here
we're gonna get a lottery day like you would not believe.
I'm hoping it does pay off, buddy.
More large nuggets have been found in this area than anywhere else in the world.
Over one third of the world's largest nuggets have been found right in this location.
A 1,700 ouncer and a 800 ouncer has been found just up here, so...
we might just literally find
the largest nugget that's been found in Victoria, if not Australia, if not the world.
And this is the place to do it.
In Victoria's golden triangle, at the legendary Catto's Paddock,
Poseidon Crew, Brent Shannon and brother-in-law Ethan West,
are about to break ground, turning a long-held dream into reality.
We're gonna hit the ground running,
get some ground moved, all the top soil pushed off, start detecting a bit.
This is actually the start of mining again.
This is a dream come true, I can assure you.
I've been dreaming about this paddock for a long time.
Six weeks ago, Brent made the biggest deal of his mining career.
We just got Catto's Paddock. (CHUCKLES)
Catto's Paddock has remained in the same family for over 150 years.
And to get a chance to dig it with modern equipment
where nobody else has ever dug it before,
we are in a massive chance to find some massive gold.
But to help finance it, they sold their multi-million-dollar mining operation,
leaving behind the consistent fine gold it produced.
I'm like everyone else out there,
I need money to basically pay my way through life.
And, you know, reasonably young family,
got another one on the way,
and by walking away from gold and throwing me back into the unknown,
it's hard for me to do.
I don't wanna chase big nuggets. I wanna make an income.
A livelihood. I know, believe me. That's what I'm thinking about.
This decision could affect us for the rest of our lives. It really could.
We're here. All the machines are here, mate.
The pair have brought in over half a million dollars worth of heavy-duty digging machinery
for the job ahead.
How far is that call off? That's coming now, is it?
It's supposed to be. Should get that phone call any minute.
It's just a phone call or an email from the department confirming that we can start digging.
That's what I've asked them for.
It's all regards to the bond, and the time of when we can start.
Just gotta wait for that, and once we do, we've a right to go.
This is actually called a rehabilitation bog.
And what it means is that when you dig the paddock,
you pay money upfront. Cos if something happens to you,
you go broke, The Mines Department's responsibility
is to come in and clean that entire site up.
Right, now we're finally here, Eth. Maybe it's time to revise our season target.
To what, mate? We haven't even started digging yet.
We're about to start today, so...
I reckon we set a target of 350 ounces.
Just as long as we get gold and keep going upwards.
All I'm after, mate.
I reckon we start dead smack centre and work our way back, eh?
We'll grid a 50 square metre area here,
and as soon as we get this phone call or email, mate, I wanna get started.
I've reinvested a considerable amount of money into this site,
but Ethan's on a percentage.
He started a young family, and that puts a lot of pressure on me to deliver.
You're not finding gold, you're not making a living.
And we've all got bills to pay. Brent's got bills, I've got bills.
Brent's bringing the machine over now, so hopefully,
he's coming over with a bit of good news that we can finally get digging.
It's kind of at that point in my life where it's make or break.
I wanna go for gold basically, and I wanna try and get as much as I can out.
Anything yet? You heard off them? Nah, not yet, mate.
Gonna give 'em a call or something? Or...?
Do something?
Today was the day.
I know. Don't tell me about. I know, I know.
I'll give 'em a ring, then. Yep.
They put you at the bottom of the queue if you keep annoying them.
What other option do we have, mate? I'll give 'em a ring.
(PHONE RINGING)
Brent Shannon. How are you?
Yeah.
I'm just chasing up that bond to see if it's... We're all right to go.
Right.
You're kidding? I thought you...
Well...
Just cos we've got everything here and we're all waiting...
We thought it was gonna happen today.
Right. So, you reckon what...?
Couple days? "By the end of the week."
Cheers. Bye, bye.
Eth.
What is it now? Well, it's probably not gonna be today. Why?
It won't be today. It's been referred to Melbourne.
Couldn't even understand exactly why it's going to Melbourne now. Mm-hm.
It's probably not gonna be today, or won't be today.
Hopefully, by the end of the week. So they reckon.
It's out of my hands. We've heard this before. That's the problem.
It's happened to us before. "At the end of the week, at the end of the week."
It's an ever moving goal post. I know that.
What can I do about it? We should be digging.
Not looking around, "What are we gonna do next?"
We've got everything ready to go,
and this is where we are. I'm sorry, mate.
I feel it a lot too, don't you worry about that.
The problem is, Brent, we're always close, mate.
We're always close but never there. And this is the issue, mate. Every time.
Our problem is Brent promises the world, and here we are. We're not digging.
I can feel the season slipping away right now.
That tally, you know. He wants a 1,000 ounce nugget, whatever.
We can't get that nugget if we can't dig.
It's all disappearing really (BLEEP) fast, and I'm pissed off.
Ethan, you know, he's my biggest concern
cos he's the one that works on a percentage, and...
while there's no gold coming in, he's not getting paid much.
That's just out of my control.
I can't do much about it.
All's we can do is look for another plan while we wait again.
SHANE: Let's just get the hell out of here.
Just stay on the high ground, Shane. We get stuck here, we're in trouble.
It's choppy and I don't like it.
You imagine another hour of this? If we get stuck here, we could be here for a month.
Over 2,500 kilometres northwest of Victoria,
near the outback town of Meekatharra,
a sudden downpour has forced prospecting partners,
Shane Calegari and Russell Nash,
to abandon gold rich ground.
We're halfway through the season.
We're nowhere near our target, where we should be.
It's not going well at all.
Don't go too fast, Russell. I'm struggling a bit.
Hasn't been the most successful trip.
Should have half the target, but it's not even paying my wage.
As long as we can find some gold,
and do some work. That's all we gotta be doing.
Just keep working at the target.
Two months ago, the pair set out on a 3,000 kilometre road trip
to Australia's most isolated gold fields,
hauling their dry blower and digger across the vast outback.
We're looking real good, Russell.
And last week at Kallara Station,
they pulled their biggest haul so far.
1.169. That's $2,900 worth.
But now, torrential rain has forced them to move
before the dirt tracks flood, and leave them stranded.
Well, I can't believe we got out of there just in time.
I thought we would be towing vehicles out there.
A friend of Shane's has put the pair in touch with a prospector
who owns a lease two hours'' drive south.
I spoke to Liam,
he put me onto a mate of his down south at Cue.
And we'll go down there and have a crack at doing some metal detecting
and sluicing, if we can cut a deal with this guy.
We can't do much else. There'll be no dry blowing for at least a month.
We can't use the dry blower cos the ground's too wet.
It won't have time to dry out, and...
this guy's got a sluice, and Shane and I know how to sluice.
If we can start sluicing, we should be on the money.
This is it. This is Cue.
I'm here to make a dollar.
If I'm not making a dollar I'm not gonna be here. It's that simple.
How you going, fellas? How you going there, Dave? Shane Calegari.
This is my mate, Rusty. Good day, mate.
Been speaking to your mate, Liam. Yep. He said that you've got a sluice.
And we've come to see if we can make some arrangement
or hiring it off you, something along those lines. Yep.
I've gotta go to Perth to fix my excavator. It's down right now.
I'll be back in a week or so.
We can come to some sort of agreement. OK. Tell you what. If you let us use this,
I'll come back here, spend two days with you, tell you where we get the gold from.
I'll be on the machine, you can be on the loader. We'll smash some tonnes out. Yep.
That'll work? Yep. You're on.
I can give you a quick course on how to use it.
I'm gonna do a couple of days work for him, so it won't cost me a lot,
but hopefully, in the next week, Shane and I can make some good numbers.
The pair will get access to the lease and sluice,
which uses water and a spinning trommel
to recover heavier gold from paydirt.
The main things you wanna keep an eye on is dirt in here.
It builds up in here eventually.
It will wear the chain out in no time, so keep an eye on that.
You want one man keeping an eye on the tailings coming out the end.
They don't come out fully, you gotta help 'em. Just shovel them out.
That will definitely be my job. Anything basic I'll be winning.
That sounds pretty good.
Cheers, mate. Yeah, no drama.
Good returns will depend on locating gold-rich ground to process
on the two-square-kilometre lease.
What we need to do is find some very good paydirt
with heavy concentrations of gold, and we're right back in the game.
2 00:10:57.760 -- 00:10:59.400 align:middle line:90% position:50% LEVI: The pressure's on this week.
Now we've got this big digger,
we better come through with the goods to get that four ounces. Absolutely.
If we fail, we're gonna be out of a job.
NARRATOR: In Western Australia's scorching Pilbara region
are guns for hire prospectors, The Ferals.
Ryan Peters, with husband and wife, Levi and Bridget North.
We're halfway through the season, and we've got nowhere near enough gold in our pockets.
This is a better upgrade from the digger we're using.
It'll be twice as efficient,
three times as powerful, and hopefully, the nuggets are ten times as big.
The team's new digger has been sent by Levi's uncle,
mining magnate, Kim North.
He's hired the team to explore his remote leases,
but will take a 30 per cent cut of any gold they find.
Kim wants four ounces a week, non-negotiable.
It's his machinery, his leases, so if we're not finding gold
and it's not really worth his while, then he's gonna make that call.
I'm a bit worried about how much oil is coming out of the arm of this digger.
That's not good at all. But there's no fixing that here.
Last week, the team battled mechanical issues
that ruined their hopes of hitting their four ounce weekly goal.
Not quite there. He's definitely gonna move us on, mate.
Putting them at risk of getting fired for a second time by their boss, Kim.
(KIM SPEAKING)
Yeah. KIM: All right. We won't let you down, mate.
We have definitely got time pressure on us.
We haven't got long before it gets real hot up here.
It's always a bit hot, and then it gets hotter.
The Pilbara is one of the hottest regions on Earth.
In summer, temperatures radiating off the outback dirt
can hit 50 degrees Celsius.
Listen, honey, I know you're a hard worker,
but you need to look after yourself and the baby out here.
Just be very conscious of the heat. Thanks, Lev. I know.
Levi and I are really excited that we're having a baby,
but being pregnant, the risks are a lot higher working out here in the heat.
So, that's why we're gonna start doing a bit of late afternoon, night shift.
I don't want Bridge getting too hot out here.
Her safety is my number one priority.
Hey! Ah, finally we're here.
Hey, look at that. Made it. (CHUCKLES)
That's incredible. Ah, awesome.
Anyway, I picked up a couple little bits. That's not too bad. Nice work, mate.
About 4 or 5 grams there. Perfect.
I'm gonna get up in this digger and start moving some dirt. No worries.
To help Bridget avoid the dangerous midday heat,
The Ferals plan to work through the cooler night-time temperatures.
So, Bridge is up there on the little eight-tonner doing some pushing.
Ryan's flat out detecting. I'm just slowly cutting four inches off at a time.
Detect. Cut it again.
With the new 20-tonne excavator,
Levi can dig one-and-a-half tonnes of dirt in each bucket,
before Bridget spreads it out into 15-centimetre-thick pads,
ready to be detected.
The pressure's on. We can't waste any time.
Every minute's gotta be spent on the ground either digging,
detecting, but most importantly, finding gold.
We really do need to find a lot of gold
so that we have enough money to support our little family.
How you feeling over there, Bridge? You all good?
Yeah. It's one last cut here,
and I'll get out and cover some ground with the detector. Yeah, Bridgie.
Come on, nuggies.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) Ho-ho-ho. Got a good sound, target here.
The machine at the moment is just coil blanking.
Sounds like a really nice piece of gold this one.
Need some nice chunks tonight.
(DETECTOR BEEPS) Oh, it's out of the hole. All right.
Any moment, we can hit the motherload,
and I'll earn more money than I can make in a lifetime.
Ho-ho-ho-hoo.
Looks like you're onto something pretty good there, Ryan.
Sounds like a ripper, mate. It's coil blanking. Yeah, lad.
It's in the hand.
(CHUCKLES)
Mate, it is a nice chunk, eh? It's about seven grams.
Wa-ho-hoo.
That's our biggest piece in a while.
Hey, there you go. Goes to show, mate.
You get that bigger machine in, you get down to that layer. We're laughing. We're on the gold.
Over $500 worth of gold is a solid start,
but The Ferals will need 19 more nuggets like this
to reach their vital weekly target.
Better get on with it. If we don't get four ounces, Kim's gonna kick us off the lease.
We are onto a good few pieces of gold,
but the gold can run out at any time.
We really hope it keeps going.
ETHAN: So, we should be in the machine digging,
and trying to find gold,
but detecting this whole paddock.
In Victoria's golden triangle,
the Poseidon Crew's only option is to detect Catto's Paddock
while they wait for a permit to start digging with heavy-duty machinery.
BRENT: Something I don't wanna be doing, but I have to
until we can get these licences through.
It's frustrating. You've got a lot riding on being able to mine, and we're not.
Every day you're not digging is basically another dollar lost.
Look, do I believe Catto's gonna be worth it?
I've got no option but to believe it.
I have to, cos if I don't believe it's gonna be worth it,
I may as well go pack up and do my own thing right now.
This area has got the richest history for producing nuggets
anywhere in the world.
In the mid-1800s, tens of millions of dollars worth of gold
was extracted from Catto's Paddock in just a few years.
Basically, we'll grid this whole paddock.
What we do, we run a string line through
and we'll work in roughly 15 metres
to the other line, which we're using as our barrier there.
Until we get these permits through, all we can do is detect the surface,
look for what the old boys threw out from 15 foot below our feet.
Brent is hoping that when old-timers uncovered huge nuggets
four meters down, discarded dirt containing smaller gold
could have been left within the surface range of their detectors.
And hopefully, we get enough for the scales for the end of this week
to put a smile back on Ethan's face.
He works on a percentage, and he needs as much gold as he can.
Well, we all need as much gold as we can. But...
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Nice gentle little tone here.
This is my first target.
There's a lot of pressure on me to make this work.
You know, I've talked it up,
I believe there's good gold here, and now I've got to deliver.
There's a lot riding on this for me.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) It's still there, which is a good thing.
If I can't make this work,
and I can't find the gold here, we could go backwards in a real, real fast fashion.
We're down now to just over a foot.
This actually could be a reasonable bit of something.
Hopefully, it's out. Sounds like it is.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
(CHEERS)
My first bit of gold in Catto's Paddock.
It's actually not a bad piece. 11 or 13 grams.
Their first find is worth just over $1,000.
Nice chunk. Ain't that a beautiful thing?
Hey, Eth. Got a nice little bit over here, bud. Yeah? How big?
I reckon about maybe 13 grams.
A bit short of your 1,000 ounces, isn't it?
Yeah, well, it's a start.
It's a start. From all small things, big things grow, mate.
In all honesty, it's actually probably not a bad bit.
We can't be complaining too much.
Until we get this bond through, all's we gotta do is keep gridding
and detecting this paddock, and just pray
we get the approvals through so we can actually start digging.
RUSSELL: I'll speak to ya. SHANE: See you later. Have a nice time on your own.
Righto. I'll go metal detect.
See you in about an hour. OK.
Near the outback settlement of Cue,
Shane and Russell have secured access to a two-square-kilometre lease and sluice.
They must locate the best ground to dig and process
before they have to move on in just a few days.
We haven't got long here. If we can start digging dirt that's not paydirt,
well then that's trouble. We can't afford to waste days.
We need the right dirt. That's the main thing.
There's been some big gold found out here, so I wanna make sure we get the best dirt.
In 1892, a huge reef of gold was discovered in this area,
and prospectors hoping for similar discoveries
have been coming here to work the ground ever since.
Russell's gone for a bit of a ride with his bike, get a bit of detecting.
And while he's away, I'm gonna detect in the camp,
and see if we've got any larger gold here.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) There's something there.
I've got a sound here.
Signal's good.
Right. It's promising.
OK.
It's a piece of gold. Look at that.
Russell will be pleased with that when he sees that.
Might weigh three, four, five grams, I don't really know.
Worth up to $400, the nugget is the largest they've found this season.
It's nowhere near what our tally should be, but it will add to it.
You never know. There might be another two or three pieces among this.
I'm gonna keep going.
(RUSSELL SPEAKS)
Yes, Rusty. What's going on?
(RUSSELL SPEAKS)
You've crashed? (RUSSELL SPEAKS)
He's fallen off the poky bike.
I don't know whereabouts. He headed that way,
so I don't really know.
First aid kit. I better get out there as quickly as I can.
Don't know what could be wrong with him. He could be concussed or any damn thing.
OK, Rusty. I'm on my way.
Russell's got a history of hurting himself on motorbikes.
Consequently, they'll be parts of his body that can still be fragile from it.
Well, he could be pretty injured. I'm more worried about whether he's got er...
he's concussed or something like that.
I mean, he has broken his back before, so that's not good.
I'll start tooting the horn, and you can ring me back when you can hear me.
(HORN BLARES)
(RUSSELL SPEAKS)
OK, Rusty. I'm getting out of the vehicle.
Is that you near the trees? Yep.
Hurry up.
Ah, man. Oh, Russell.
What's the matter? Can you move? Just clear some stuff behind me so I can roll over.
Just cut it off. If you can't undo it just cut it off. I can get it off.
I'll buy another one.
OK.
Ah, my collar bone. I hope I haven't done it again.
What'd you hit? No, I rode down the creek and went over the bars.
It's not hurting too much.
Just take a deep breath, Rusty. Just take your time.
I'll be all right. You'll be all right?
Come on, Rusty. Let's try getting you up. Gonna be dark shortly.
Just slowly come up. Slowly come up.
Yeah, motorbikes have been a big part of my life.
I've won a few state titles.
Right. You up? Yeah.
I've had three broken necks,
been wheelchair bound for three months at one stage.
I've had six broken ribs. So, I've broken a lot of bones in my life,
and had a few long stays in hospital.
Don't worry about the (BLEEP) motorbike.
Very inconsiderate of you messing up my metal detecting.
Come on. Oh, man.
We're miles behind where we should be.
We've only got three and a bit ounces, and it's not enough. We need to find gold.
And lots of it.
BRIDGET: Had a big late-night last night.
Didn't have as much sleep as usual,
but it was worth it. We found a good bit of gold, and really motivated for today.
NARRATOR: In Western Australia's sun-baked Pilbara region,
The Ferals are back working the honey hole lease,
only hours after finishing an exhausting night shift.
It's over halfway through the season and we still need 32 ounces.
We've got no other option but to be out here working as hard as we can.
RYAN: Right, that last straight you've done up here,
you've exposed the ancient creek that used to run there.
Hopefully, the gravels that are in it are holding some nice big nuggies for us.
Mate, we can only hope, and we can only try.
Ryan's been hunting the Pilbara gold fields for over five years,
and believes an ancient creek once flowed through here,
carrying gold that could have become trapped in its gravel bed.
Over time, the creek bed dried up
and was covered by layers of dirt,
hopefully trapping the gold below.
I'm just gonna pull this dirt back, and then you'll have a nice area to detect. Sounds great. Thank you.
We need to find four ounces a week.
We're really hoping that we can recover six ounces a week now we've got the big machine,
but you just never know.
(DETECTOR BEEPING SOFTLY)
Got a bit of a target here.
There's something there. I'm still learning
and still practising. I am pretty new to detecting.
It's really important that I'm nice and thorough,
and not missing anything. Just don't know about this one.
Hey, Ryan. I've got a bit of a signal over here that I'm not too sure about.
Oh, you've made a decent scratch, mate, so if there's still a sound there then...
might be onto something.
It's only a faint sound, but there's definitely something there, Bridget.
Yeah, cool. If you wanna hold that for me,
I'll put my back into it. (LAUGHS)
Come on.
Surely it'll be out by now. That's a fair bit there.
(DETECTOR BEEPING LOUDLY) What? That's still in the ground.
That's getting so much louder.
I can hear that from here, and you've got the headphones on.
We might actually have to get Levi over to get into this, mate. Hey, Levi.
We've got a really deep target here, I'm gonna need you to help us dig it out.
All right. Out of the way.
Little pocket of clay in there. That's insane.
Clay or silt deposited by the water current millions of years ago,
is a sign they're close to the creek bed.
Let's have a listen.
(DETECTOR BEEPS) It's here.
It's absolutely blanking, that's so loud.
Screaming, eh? Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
Have a listen. Ho-ho-hoo!
(LAUGHS) You little ripper! How good. Whoa!
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, you see it? Woo-hoo! You little ripper!
Go on. Give us a look.
I can see it from here, mate. Oh, my goodness.
Put it here, Bridget.
Oh-ho-ho! Bridgie.
That's a nugget.
That's a good ounce and a half, for sure.
I'm really shaking.
The 1.5 ounce nugget will boost their tally by nearly $4,000.
I don't think that's gonna fit in my container. (LAUGHS)
Well done. Well and truly the biggest piece of gold I've ever found.
Guess we can't stop now. Nah. Let's keep at it. Gold like that in the ground.
More work, less talk. Sounds like a plan.
Good work. Good work. Good stuff, Ryan.
Bridge, good effort. Lovely work, Bridge.
Thank you. I'll get back in the digger. Call me over anytime for a bit of gold like that.
All right.
ETHAN: Hey, Brent. BRENT: Yeah? Catto's here, mate.
I think it's him. You're right. Thanks, mate.
He was expecting us to be digging the other day, so...
Gonna be interesting to see how he feels about it, I suppose.
At Catto's Paddock, the Poseidon Crew still don't have permit approval
to start digging.
Land owner, Matt Catto, has arrived to check on progress.
Yeah, good there, mate. How are you?
We hoped to have started there the other day, but...
I'm hoping by the end of this week, if not early next week, we can make a start digging.
I was promised Monday but... Fingers crossed.
I haven't even met this bloke yet,
and I already feel like I've let him down.
Got machines laying idle and we can't do a thing about it.
It's our time to deliver and we can't right now.
While the team are stuck detecting for surface nuggets,
Matt Catto's share of the lucrative gold returns
will be delayed even longer than first expected.
I'll keep going and I'll let you know when we're actually allowed to start digging.
All right, mate. Thanks, mate. Cheers.
I'm starting to feel the pressure myself because I've got to deliver
not just for myself, but also for the Catto family.
I'm entrusted to dig this paddock and dig it properly.
He's a little bit disappointed. I could see it in his face. I just hope...
end of this week doesn't blow out to the end of next week,
then blow out to the week after.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Got a good little strong signal here.
We're only a few metres away from my last target, so it'll be interesting to see what it is.
What I generally do, I just try and take off the top grass.
Once I do that then I see if it's still there. Ah, it's out.
(GRUNTS) Where is it?
There you go. It's just on the bottom of the grass.
Probably only 0.2, 0.3. Twenty bucks worth.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful for finding gold ever,
but when you're doing it on a professional level,
and to actually make money, that ain't gonna cut it. At all.
We're probably about halfway through the paddock. We've been at it for a few days.
It's not monstrous gold we're finding.
We're just over halfway through the season and...
every week that passes not mining, it really puts that target under a bit of pressure.
It's gold, but not enough of it, unfortunately.
I've gotta keep the gold rolling in, otherwise
we could go backwards in a real, real fast fashion.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) Got a target here.
I'm praying it's a bit of gold, but...
you never know. Could be an old chain-link, or a little pick head, or...
Could be anything.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) Oh, God. Kidding me.
This is the deepest hole we've dug in this paddock.
This coil is about 24 inches long,
and that's indicating that's probably 20 inches deep.
That's a decent hole. It's gonna be a decent target.
We should have it now, I reckon.
It's out of the hole.
(DETECTOR BEEPS) This is the exciting part.
(DETECTOR BEEPS) Right in my hand.
A bit of gold. (CHUCKLES)
Woohoo.
Our first decent chunk.
Ah, look at that.
Solid flat piece.
It's gotta be around about an ounce.
The nugget could be worth up to $2,500.
Hey, Eth! Eth!
I think we just got our first ounce bit, mate.
You got a bit, buddy? Mate, it's our first good bit. Have a look at that.
Ripper. Ah, buddy. This is what we need.
This is good. There's gonna be more of them to come.
I'm hoping so. And there should be one here a thousand times bigger than this.
I'm rapt. There you go.
Our first chunk at Catto's.
One of many to come.
This is only gonna be a tiddler compared to what we should get here.
In the searing Pilbara region,
temperatures are still climbing on The Ferals' honey hole lease.
It's pretty hot out here now.
It's well above 40 degrees.
So, just trying to do the best we can.
RYAN: We just need to find as much gold as we can
before it gets too hot.
To counter the heat, they've been working longer hours in the cool of night.
Think I might have a little signal here. Today has been a massive day.
Last night was huge.
Woohoo.
It's just been non-stop, but we've been finding gold, so we're just keeping on.
There it is. Maybe a gram and a half?
How good. We've got big dreams with what we wanna do with the gold we find.
You know, we're about to start a family in a few months.
I think we've gotta do some renovations in the bus to make room for the baby first.
For the past year,
Levi and Bridget have lived in a 37-year-old bus,
ideal for off-grid prospecting trips.
Six months after knowing each other we'd woke up on a Monday morning,
and spontaneously decided to buy
a 56-seater school bus.
And three years later, with a whole lot of hard work and determination,
we now have a tiny house on wheels.
So, we spent everything we had on the bus.
Finding gold's sort of getting us back on track.
So, we're working really well as a team at the moment.
I'm just slowly cutting this honey hole down.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) Oh, Ryan's on a target.
In the scoop.
Hey, Levi, Bridget's just gone down, mate. Bridget's gone down.
(DOG BARKING)
Hey, you all right?
You've been overdoing it? I'm good. What's going on?
I'm just feeling nauseous. You want me to grab water? You wanna bring the car?
No worries, mate. I'll be back. You good?
Just take some deep breaths.
Take your time. Mm.
Did you have a fall? I missed it.
Mm-hm.
Yeah, I don't feel good. I just feel really nauseous.
Oh.
Let's get you back up to the bus, OK? OK. And you can just rest.
Get some fluids into you.
Yeah.
You're pushing it too much, honey.
Maybe I overdid it a little bit.
There's some water. Thanks, dude.
I've got the air-con running in the car too, mate,
and the seat laid back. All right, thanks. You all good, Bridge?
Come on.
All right, buddy. Just throw it in the back, mate. I'll sort this stuff out. All good.
I'll grab that water off you. Cheers, man.
Here, Bridge.
Man, I hope she's OK.
I'm really hoping that she's just a little bit worn out.
She's got a baby in her belly, so she's looking after two people at the moment.
I don't feel good.
We're all looking after her, and we've all got our eyes on her.
But, um, things can change in a drop of a hat out here.
2 00:34:20.280 -- 00:34:22.440 align:middle line:90% position:50% NARRATOR: In the gold mining outpost of Cue,
Russell has escaped serious injury
after yesterday's motorbike fall.
Now the pair are targeting promising ground to run through the sluice.
Let's continue on, maybe a bit bruised and slower,
find a bit of gold, that'll change everything.
How's it looking? Going well, Russell. Going well.
The pair have just two days left to work the two-square-kilometre lease,
before owner, Dave, returns.
We haven't got time. We just keep putting tonnes through the machine.
This machine is fantastic.
Paydirt is fed into the hopper,
where it travels into a rotating trommel
that uses jets of water to wash away excess dirt.
Small stones and heavier gold is captured in the sluice mats below,
while larger rocks are forced out the end into the overburden pile.
That's about it. We're out of dirt.
Check the mats and see how we've gone.
Hopefully, we made some money.
Kill it, brother.
Shut the pump down, Shane. That's it.
No gold? We're going home, brother.
No gold, no Russell. That's how it's gonna work.
I've still got bills at home. I'm still a dad.
Still got a couple of kids. Still got mortgages.
If it doesn't turn out, there's gonna be trouble. We need minimum 10 grams a day.
That's just enough to keep our head clear.
Well, it's the moment of truth. I'm about to give it a swirl, Russell.
You know what? You better start hoping.
Well, we need it. We're a mile behind in bills to pay.
Oh, Rusty. I've got a colour. Yeah, so have I.
Look, look, look, look. (CHUCKLES)
Yep. Fantastic. Look at that. Couple of grams there, at least.
Yeah, yeah. That's real good. That's real good.
That's a lot of gold, that is.
I'll tell you one thing, it's got one larger piece in there
which all makes it worthwhile. And it gets better. Look at this.
We might have done all right this week. Yeah. Might get us back on track.
Sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get another load in.
Let's go put some more through, eh? Yep. Let's go.
LEVI: Bridget's resting up now in the bus.
She's feeling a bit better. I think the heat just got to her.
It's still 40 out there.
The Ferals are a team member down
after Bridget was forced to take a break
from the suffocating heat.
RYAN: We can't expect Bridget to be out here in this heat, but we still need to find gold,
so there's no time for stopping.
All we have to do now is keep working the ground methodically,
going down layer by layer, a few inches at a time. We don't wanna miss any of the gold.
Today is the team's last chance to reach the four-ounce target
set by lease owner, Kim North.
He's the boss. If we don't achieve four ounces a week,
we're definitely going. We'll be off his lease,
and he'll have someone else that can achieve that.
Gonna do one last cut here,
then I'm gonna come out and have a swing with Ryan.
(DETECTOR BEEPING)
Another target, Ryan? Got another target, bro. In the ground. You ripper.
Come on. I know you're down there.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) Sounds still there. It's getting louder.
Got a target here. Right, I think we might have double hook-up, mate.
Look at us go, nuggie buddies. I'll race you to the bottom. (CHUCKLES)
Probably one of the richest spots that we've come across.
We've found other spots with big nuggets, little nuggets,
but this is just consistently gold, gold, and more gold.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) Oh. Can you hear that?
How good's that sound? (MIMICS METAL DETECTOR)
Sing to me, baby.
She's out of the ground.
(DETECTOR BEEPING) In the scoop.
(CHUCKLES) You beauty.
I beat you, Levi.
Another ripper. Maybe a gram or two.
There it is. Oh, that's a gram. Easy.
100 dollar bill all day long.
(BLEEP) good when you're on a patch.
Got gold probably a hundred metres now. All in a straight line.
Who knows how far this is gonna go, but we're frothing.
The Ferals draw the nuggets, Levi.
Here we go, baby. You little ripper. (BOTH CHEER)
ETHAN: Got the gold, Brent. BRENT: Beautiful.
Due to permit delays,
Brent and Ethan have only been able to detect the legendary Catto's Paddock
for surface gold this week.
I know it's not exactly how we thought we'd start the week.
I would have rather be digging, but we've got half the paddock detected, and you know what?
We're here at Catto's, we're finding gold. I agree.
Let's see what we got. Not too bad, mate. That's the small gold.
So, all the small stuff, mate, comes to 1.04.
Where's the big one, mate? It's bigger than that. That's a nice piece of gold, isn't it?
Isn't that beautiful? So, that comes now, mate, to 2.07.
You know, look...
It's not bad considering roughly $2,500 an ounce. That's $5,000 worth of gold.
Puts us up to 80, nearly 90 ounces.
That's a good push in the right direction, but...
What are we? Still 250 short of your target, mate. That's...
Oh, well, look. If we get the go ahead maybe in the next day or two,
can change things in an instant. We can actually go from (BLEEP) all...
Literally. ..to large amounts of gold just like that.
Hopefully shortly, we'll be starting digging.
Smell that. I can smell the gold. it's coming.
SHANE: We'll see what we've got, eh?
We've come back to Dave's place to melt down some gold,
and see how much we've made over the last week, hopefully enough.
Shane and Russell staked their hopes this week
on recovering fine gold with a borrowed sluice
outside the historic mining settlement of Cue.
It looks impressive. It's a good stack, isn't it? I'm gonna put borax over the top.
Borax is a flux chemical that helps to remove contaminants from gold.
It's gonna form a crust on top with this borax... Yep.
..and it'll heat it all up and start to melt.
Gold melts at 1,064 degrees Celsius,
and sinks to the bottom, leaving the layer of impurities above.
This could be a payday, this one, Shane. Well, I hope so.
Our season's hanging on it.
I budgeted that we'd have to get a little bit better than 10 grams a day.
That's close to a couple of ounces a week.
You got your fuel, you got the value of the machines.
If we don't find that target, it's not worth it. It's just not financially viable.
All right. I reckon we can shut it down. OK. Shut it down.
It's gold.
(CHUCKLES) Look at that, Shane. Big button.
(CHUCKLES) That's gold.
Congratulations, Russell, on that. Good effort.
Heads and tails, you know? (CHUCKLES)
Beautiful piece of gold. What'd you reckon it weighs? No idea.
Here we go. OK.
1.966. That's not bad. That's nearly two ounces.
It's just under $5,000 worth. Well, that keeps us back in the game, doesn't it?
That's a fantastic one. That's a very good effort, Russell.
That's our very best weigh-in we've had so far.
Find some more. Some bigger stuff? Yep. Let's go. You're on. I'm on. I'm happy.
That's a good week, that is.
BRIDGET: Let's do it. RYAN: Beautiful.
This week, The Ferals have battled killer temperatures on the honey hole lease
to uncover multiple nuggets.
Let's weigh up these nuggies, Levi.
The moment of truth, mate. Yep.
But they don't know if it's enough to satisfy the four-ounce minimum
set by lease owner, Kim North.
Kim's a business man. It needs to be financially viable out here for us to continue.
We need to get to that four-ounce target, at least.
Anything less isn't gonna cut it.
I think we may have redeemed ourselves.
(CHUCKLES) Have a look at that, Bridge.
(CHUCKLES) Put that in your hand.
Well, I don't know but I think that feels like four ounces to me.
I reckon it's pretty close to four ounces.
Well, we ready? I'm ready. Let's do it.
One, two... Three. ..three...
..four. (CHUCKLES) 4.9 ounces.
All right. You're gonna have to throw that on now.
6.55 ounces. You beauty.
You little ripper. Woohoo!
We smashed it. You little beauty.
Yes! That's so good.
Well done, Bridge. You absolutely smashed it.
Ryan, top effort, mate. Legend.
That's our second-best weigh-in ever. Yep.
All in all, once Kim gets his cut, we just made $11,500 in a week.
Not bad going. Such a good effort, everyone.
Definitely gonna be keeping Kim happy. Yep.
Well, I'm chomping at the bit. Let's go get some more gold. Sounds good.
Another week means another four ounces, mate.
We're on the gold, baby.
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