1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,480 This time on Aussie Gold Hunters... 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:06,040 Woo, we have blower! 3 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,720 ..the Gold Retrievers work through the night to escape 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:11,320 dangerous summer heat. 5 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,760 A lot of guys go home this time of year, but we can't slow down. 6 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,040 But the decision pushes them to the brink of disaster. 7 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:19,800 I'm right on the edge here. 8 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,440 The Poseidon Crew make a break-through on Catto's Paddock. 9 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:27,480 I didn't expect this big block of virgin ground, not the size of it. 10 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,520 The time is running out to find the big nugget 11 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,080 that will save their season. 12 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:36,960 We're going to end up with the worst gold-tally season ever. 13 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:38,680 He needs money like we all do. 14 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:43,640 Survey results for the Goldtimers reveal a potential hot spot. 15 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,320 We might dig in this gully and find the start of a gold reef. 16 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,960 The duo struggle through scorching temperatures 17 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,440 to recover the biggest hole of their season. 18 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:59,120 I reckon this is our year, bro. We're making some money, man! 19 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:11,840 It's stinking hot - about 50 degrees in this cab right now. 20 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,560 Air con's not working, given up the ghost. 21 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,960 The old morale at the camp is down a little bit at the moment. 22 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,200 We've got at least 6oz to get before the end of the season, 23 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:24,840 and it's coming up quick. 24 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,160 Got a lot of work to do to get there. 25 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,640 On their Devil's Cut lease in Western Australia's interior, 26 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,680 the Gold Retrievers, Brad McGhie and Chris Smith, 27 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,600 are excavating soft pay dirt near a quartz reef. 28 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,600 Going through water today like it's going out of fashion. 29 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,560 There's a reason we have a mining season - 30 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,920 three months of the year, it is so hot, you cannot work. 31 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,800 We try and cram it all into nine months. 32 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:57,200 Really have to push now. 6oz is going to be difficult with the heat, 33 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,440 but we can't slow down. 34 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,760 We're doing the same speed, we're just doing it tough. 35 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,520 We're doing 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for our families, 36 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:08,720 that's the reason we're here. 37 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,000 We've set this target of 30oz for a reason. 38 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,840 We want to show our families we can do this, 39 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:18,120 not have to worry about bills at the end of the day. 40 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,640 We've put about 250,000 into machinery costs 41 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,560 and the camp set-up and leases. 42 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:28,160 It's a huge amount, we need to get some of that back. 43 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,960 Brad, how's your machine going, mate, in this heat? 44 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:37,840 Not real good, mate. She's starting to get pretty hot, eh. 45 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:41,200 I'm starting to overheat myself too. 46 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,000 What do you reckon we give them a rest for a while, 47 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,640 but we can't let them sit all day, we've got work to do. 48 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,440 Nah. Nah, that's right. 49 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,480 Pull up and have a bit of a chat about it, eh. 50 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,840 Weather here changes dramatically from winter to summer. 51 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,600 You can get very, very cold days and nights, 52 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,000 but summer, it's stifling hot. 53 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,560 It's killing the machines and it's killing us. 54 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:08,920 I'm thinking we do a bit of night work. 55 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,760 Yeah, I'm keen. I need a break, it's too hot. 56 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,240 It's stinking hot. Let's do it, that'd be good. 57 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,680 Absolutely. We'll get into it when it cools down a bit. 58 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,920 The only good thing about the heat, it's drying out the ground. 59 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:24,880 I'll commission the dry-blower. 60 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,080 You need superdry soil to go through. 61 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,960 If it's any dampness, it'll block it up. 62 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,480 It runs a screen deck. 63 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,960 This takes all of the bigger rocks and pushes them to one side 64 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,240 so they don't get caught in our hoppers. 65 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:42,280 Hoppers catch the finer soil, 66 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,560 it runs down the hoppers through a feed tube, 67 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:47,800 then into our riffle trays. 68 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:53,000 Vibrating riffle trays and airflow separate the fine gold from dirt. 69 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,040 The lighter dirt particles run down the trays 70 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,560 and are discarded using a conveyor belt, 71 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:03,560 while the heavier gold is left trapped in the riffles' grooves. 72 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,760 Since we found the quartz fault, we found lots of specks of gold there. 73 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:12,880 This machine will pick up finer gold than our metal detectors will. 74 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,720 If we get something out of that, that's a whole new ballgame. 75 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,360 We're going to hook the dry-blower up, get it into position, 76 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,400 do what we've got to do, then we can start mining. 77 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:28,480 How's that look, Brad? Looks good, mate - perfect. 78 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,000 I'm excited to see it work. 79 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,760 We can run the dry-blower and see what we've got. 80 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:36,440 Righto, mate, fire her up. 81 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,360 Yeah, boy! (LAUGHS) All righty! 82 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,160 We have blower! All right, we've got three machines going. 83 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,160 I'm in the digger, Chris is in the loader. That's awesome. 84 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,640 How's she looking over there, Chris? 85 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:56,000 It seems to be feeding really well. Yeah? That's awesome, man. 86 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:57,640 Finding gold, boy! 87 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:02,160 Let's hope there's plenty of gold in this fine stuff, eh? 88 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,880 I'm stoked we've got this dry-blower running. 89 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,880 7 tonne an hour, putting good pay dirt through. 90 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,720 I'm confident we'll find really good, fine gold in there. 91 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:16,200 Only a couple of weeks left in the season, we've got to smash it out. 92 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:18,880 Brad uses a 25-tonne digger 93 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:23,000 to excavate pay dirt from the trench they've been digging 94 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:27,880 before Chris feeds it into their dry-blower using a front-end loader. 95 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,680 Brad and I are smashing out all the tonnage. 96 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,200 We've found a lot of small gold, 97 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:36,880 but we're sure there's a sign of fine gold in amongst it. 98 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,440 The gold we're looking for won't be picked up by a detector. 99 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,840 Oh, what's going on there? Jeez. 100 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,920 I'm going to jump out and check that driveline - 101 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,200 there's something wrong with it. 102 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:51,760 Copy. 103 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:03,800 Hey, Brad, you got a copy? 104 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,080 Yeah, mate. 105 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,720 Just had a blow-out on the blower. 106 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,320 You're kidding me? Nah. The rivets are letting go 107 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,680 on the riffle boxes. It's still a fairly new machine. 108 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,560 Right. I'll pull up, come and have a look. 109 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,120 These things go through extreme vibration, 110 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,200 that works riffle trays down. 111 00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:27,480 We'll get it repaired, but down-time is losing us gold, 112 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:29,240 so we'll be as quick as we can. 113 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,640 That's going to take us off finding gold for a bit - 114 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:34,440 that's a couple hours' job. 115 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:39,600 Let's pack it up for the night and try and get some sleep. Yeah. 116 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:42,840 Get into it again tomorrow. No worries. 117 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:46,920 It's down-time that we really didn't need right now. 118 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,520 All right, boys, ready to roll? Yeah, mate. 119 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,320 A late start to our season, 120 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,000 but we've got to make hay while the sun shines. That's the plan. 121 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:00,840 Let's get started, finally get some good gold. 122 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,640 Get in that machine and get it going. You get started too. Here! 123 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:07,960 In the state of Victoria's famed Golden Triangle, 124 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,120 the pressure is mounting on the Poseidon Crew 125 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,520 to recover a major haul from Catto's Paddock. 126 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:16,960 There's been nuggets found up to 1,700oz 127 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,960 in this vicinity, where we are right now, so, who knows. 128 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:24,600 Until you get it in your hand, it is not proven. 129 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:27,080 Doesn't matter how high your hopes are, 130 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,920 if it doesn't show up, it's not there, simple. 131 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,840 I've been working ground for 20 years, 132 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,000 every bit of ground is different. 133 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:37,200 This is no exception. 134 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,920 We're just going to have to spend the time 135 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,160 and adjust little things as we go. 136 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:47,680 The 50,000-square metre property hasn't been mined in 150 years, 137 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,640 but the giant nuggets it produced 138 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:55,640 once lured thousands of 19th-century fortune-hunters. 139 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:58,560 That's not bad. That's probably a 4-grammer. 140 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,560 This ground, the old-timers have hammered it, 141 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,360 dug it all over from surf to bottom, looking with their eyes, 142 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,320 but as our technology evolves, more gold can be found. 143 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,720 It's so turned over, we have to take it all out and detect it 144 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,000 because there could be gold 2 foot off the bottom 145 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:18,680 or 10 foot off the bottom, we don't know. 146 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:20,760 Brent uses a 50-tonne digger 147 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:24,520 to excavate dirt from the bottom of the pit. 148 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,640 Yeah, off you go, Eth. 149 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,440 This is pad material, mate - pad material. 150 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:32,400 Roger. 151 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:37,520 Brent's brother-in-law, Ethan, trucks pay dirt in their 40-tonne dump truck 152 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:42,360 before spreading it with a bulldozer into 15cm-thick pads 153 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,560 for his father, Paul, to detect on. 154 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:47,640 Oh! (LAUGHS) 155 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,760 Well, that's nice. That has to be 18 grams. 156 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:55,640 This is why I like being out here. 157 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:59,600 I like helping the boys, but I just love finding gold. 158 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:03,520 Last week... I've been dreaming about this moment. 159 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,280 That dream is going to become reality. 160 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,080 ..the Poseidon Crew finally broke ground 161 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:13,080 under the watchful eye of the property owners, the Catto family. 162 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,320 The Cattos have high expectations. 163 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:19,360 They didn't give this paddock up easy for the last 150 years. 164 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,880 But they found barely enough gold to cover costs, 165 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,160 and with just four weeks left to their season, 166 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:30,040 the race is on to find the big gold they desperately need 167 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,000 to make target. 168 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:35,600 There is a possibility the old blokes grabbed all the big gold 169 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:39,920 and left us with tiny bits, bits that aren't worth digging for. 170 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:44,120 I don't know what sort of gold we're going to find here 171 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,560 on a continual basis, and it costs a lot of money to do all this. 172 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,680 You've got to have a lot of gold starting to come out of the ground. 173 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:56,760 Hey, boys? The majority of this hole looks like virgin ground. 174 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,800 I thought they would have done the death over this ground. 175 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,800 Jump out and have a quick look at this, mate. 176 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,360 That is what is sitting on the bottom, the pay layer. 177 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,640 Your gravel is right up here, look at these gravels. 178 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:14,520 That could be a nugget. 179 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:19,400 All the gravel layers are evenly compacted and haven't been touched. 180 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,320 I didn't expect this big block of virgin ground. 181 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:23,920 Not the sheer size of it. 182 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,480 This is what I wake up for, this is what gets me out of bed. 183 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:30,960 I live to see stuff like this. 184 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:33,520 I'll try not to get too excited now 185 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,520 cos, never count your chickens before they hatch. 186 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:41,800 I can understand why Brad is excited right now, 187 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,000 because he's come across virgin ground 188 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:47,480 right where big nuggets were found. 189 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:51,560 Pauly, you better get your gear ready, go low, swing low, 190 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:55,080 go slow, because this is our chance to clean up. 191 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:57,760 We need to see some gold real quick. 192 00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:58,250 2 00:10:59.920 -- 00:11:03.080 align:middle line:65% position:50% ROB: Man, it's so hot out here, I don't know. 193 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:09,120 You watch this, mate. (LAUGHS) Oh, bro, look at that! 194 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:10,920 You want some breakfast? 195 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,800 I'll get the bacon, eh? Oh, man! What are we doing? 196 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,480 That's going to be us if we're not careful - we'll be cooking too. 197 00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:19,720 We need to look after ourselves. 198 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,360 The Goldtimers, Rob Dale and Rob "Turbo" Linton, 199 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:27,000 are working their Kookynie Lease in remote Western Australia, 200 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,920 battling dangerous summer temperatures 201 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,520 as the end of their season closes in. 202 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,760 Two weeks to go and we've got... 8oz to find. 203 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,640 That's 4oz a week. We've got to hit this target this season. 204 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:41,880 (MOBILE RINGS) It might be Paddyo. 205 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,280 Yeah, it is Paddy. Results are in, bro. 206 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:47,520 Hey, Paddy! Hey, mate. 207 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:52,480 G'day, Rob and Turbo. How are youse doing? Good, mate, how are you? 208 00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:57,720 Four weeks ago, Rob and Turbo hired geologist Paddy Reidy 209 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:01,200 and his sons to carry out a drone survey on their lease. 210 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:02,960 We'll have it fly on a grid, 211 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,160 give us an X-ray of what's underneath the ground, 212 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,040 hopefully pick up any hot spots or structures that contain gold. 213 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:12,000 Using a magnetic sensor, 214 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:16,160 it generated raw data that's being used to create a map 215 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:21,000 to reveal any subsurface metal deposits. 216 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:25,360 Good news, Rob. The processing, that is all done. 217 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,360 All right, mate. We've been waiting for this, 218 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:30,400 we have been waiting for this! 219 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,880 All right. What's really interesting is that 220 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,000 there's breaks in the rocks. 221 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,360 A lot of gold in goldfields is associated with faults. 222 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:43,520 Oh, wow. All throughout that zone I've marked out 223 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:45,600 and the creeks either side 224 00:12:45,680 --> 00:12:48,880 might be worth a shot for you guys to look at. 225 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,200 Awesome. This is where we'll go next. 226 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:55,000 We can't thank you enough for everything you've done. 227 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:58,320 Good luck, and I'll be hoping to see some good nuggets. 228 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,600 No worries, mate. We'll head down there right now. 229 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:05,920 We've had this done to increase the value of our leases. 230 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,880 We'll send the results to mining companies interested in this area, 231 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:11,440 and see what hits we get. 232 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:13,920 Let's go, eh? No time like the present. 233 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:18,280 Meantime, we'll do some mining based on the results. 234 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:21,640 I'm excited about this. Yeah. 235 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:25,400 These next couple of weeks are pretty important. 236 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,960 We've got to work our arses off and hopefully hit our target this year. 237 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:34,280 My missus won't have have me home if we don't hit target. 238 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,680 I could end up living out here. 239 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,240 We've fallen short the last couple of years. 240 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:41,800 This ain't happening this year. 241 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:43,640 We've got over 8oz to find, 242 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:47,000 and we need to at least find half of that this week 243 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,960 to make this remotely possible to achieve this target. 244 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:54,160 We've got the loader, push-detect. 245 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,640 It's showing that ironstone ridge. 246 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:58,920 That creek runs towards the end of that. 247 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:00,960 This could be exciting. 248 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:07,320 Around 2.5 billion years ago, fault lines formed across this region 249 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:09,880 when layers of rock collided. 250 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:12,160 Then, hot, pressurised fluid 251 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,680 carrying gold and quartz from the earth's mantle 252 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,320 travelled towards the surface, where it cooled and hardened, 253 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,560 forming gold-bearing quartz veins. 254 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,080 Turbo's going to take some cuts in through this creek line, 255 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,880 and I'll get in here and start detecting it, see how we go. 256 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:35,200 The results from the drone survey tells us this could be an area 257 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,520 where there could be a gold reef. 258 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,840 We might dig in this gully and find the start of a reef. 259 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:47,240 Their 8-tonne front-end loader strips layers of dirt, 260 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:50,680 exposing virgin ground, which hopefully holds nuggets 261 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:52,240 from the reef. 262 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:54,760 When it gets as hot as it does out here, 263 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,080 we try to work smarter, not harder. 264 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,800 Often, the heat of the day dedicates our detecting hours 265 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:05,840 to the cool areas amongst the trees, means we can keep working 266 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,200 and hopefully, keep finding gold. 267 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,760 (DETECTOR OSCILLATES) Oh, there's a good target there. 268 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,360 Oh, there's an even bigger target there! (LAUGHS) 269 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:19,360 I've got two targets right next to each other, you should come. 270 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:20,960 I will, man. 271 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:24,440 One there, and listen to that! 272 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,400 Have a listen. 273 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,240 I've got one here, and then, listen to that. 274 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,800 Oh, I like the sound of that, mate! Yeah, good one. 275 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,680 It's hard to scoop this stuff. I know. 276 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:38,560 That's a big noise. 277 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:42,280 I can see it. Check it out, look at that! 278 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,640 That's probably 3 grams, man! 279 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,240 Yeah, for sure. Look at that, man! 280 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,920 It's not quite a patch, but two close together like that, far out! 281 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,280 Wicked, man! Oh, mate, what a great start! 282 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,000 Well, chuck him in the jar, bro. 283 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:00,640 Let me hear that, let me hear it. (CLINK) 284 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:02,840 That one was louder. 285 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:07,360 I felt it too then! Cool. On the board, bro, we're on the board! 286 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:11,840 I'll jump back in the loader. Yeah, mate. I'll keep at it. 287 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:13,640 Hopefully, we're on a roll. 288 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,040 Two nuggets, hopefully we find another 2,000 nuggets 289 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,640 that size or bigger - we want bigger ones. 290 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:23,240 It's is our third season, and we haven't hit our target yet. 291 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,800 This is it - third-time lucky, we'll hit our targets. 292 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,520 Tell you what - it's bloody hot out here. 293 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,720 I smell something, eh. (SNIFFS) 294 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:37,360 Oh, man, something's burning. We don't need this. 295 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,080 What's going on? I smell something burning. 296 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,560 I'm coming over. Extreme hot weather can overheat engines, 297 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:48,400 causing them to stop moving and eventually seize. 298 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:52,840 What should we do? If the motor's seized, our season is over. 299 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:57,160 I've replaced the pop rivets that broke through the vibration. 300 00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:59,160 I've replaced them with bolts. 301 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,080 Hopefully, we don't have that problem any more. 302 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,280 How's it going, Bradley? I've done the repairs. 303 00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:09,360 I don't know how good it's going to be, to be honest with you. 304 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,880 We'll just have to hope that she works. 305 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:14,440 The machines are fuelled up. Cool. 306 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:16,120 We're good to go? Yeah. 307 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:17,680 All right, sweet. 308 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,600 In the heart of Western Australia's goldfields, 309 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,680 the Gold Retrievers are ready to restart their dry-blower 310 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:26,920 after a costly shut-down. 311 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,760 Fire in the hole! Roger. 312 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,200 The dry-blower is up and running. 313 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:36,280 Looks like it's going all right, so it's time to go and find gold. 314 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:40,800 We need to make up time. The dry-blower, Chris will feed that. 315 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,960 I'll jump in the digger and keep digging pay dirt out. 316 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:48,400 Making target this season is absolutely do-or-die. 317 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,920 That's the bare minimum we need to cover costs. 318 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,480 If we don't make target, we need to make some serious decisions 319 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,480 about whether this is for us. 320 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:00,200 Hey, Chris, you on-channel? 321 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,240 This section I'm digging seems to just be big chunks of quartz. 322 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,560 That's going to give us problems with the dry-blower. 323 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,520 Yeah. I'll go and have a look, eh. 324 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:12,320 All right. Let us know, eh. 325 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:16,960 If the quartz-heavy pay dirt chokes their dry-blower, 326 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,040 the motor could fail. 327 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:23,760 You need fine dirt to run these, you can't use the quartz-heavy dirt. 328 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,760 All the chutes are blocked. If I open out the vents any more, 329 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:32,080 it'll dump a load of dirt, and gold will flow off the riffles. 330 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:34,360 Hey, Brad, you copy? 331 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,560 Yeah, mate, got you. 332 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,880 I've had to shut it down again, it's just not working for us. 333 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,520 We'll have to push into detecting. 334 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,960 We've got to find gold, we can't stop working. 335 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,360 Having to shut down the dry-blower was a huge blow. 336 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:54,160 The season is coming to an end, we don't need these set-backs. 337 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,520 It's the most efficient way for us to find gold. 338 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:01,000 We've got to continually adapt to the changes in the ground, 339 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:02,560 and stop wasting time. 340 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:07,840 With the dry-blower sidelined, the only option left for Brad and Chris 341 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:12,960 is to spread excavated dirt into pads and detect them for nuggets. 342 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:15,840 (DETECTOR OSCILLATES) 343 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,760 Oh, there's a nice-sounding target! 344 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,160 Something's in there. 345 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,880 Ooh, it's in there. That's a very clear sound. 346 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:31,240 Oh, there it is. 347 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:33,000 Look at that. 348 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:37,840 It's very coarse gold, so it hasn't moved far at all. 349 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,560 There could be a lot more where this came from. 350 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,920 What have you got there, old fella? Oh, very nice! 351 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,960 Funny-looking, isn't it? Was that embedded in rock? 352 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,280 It looks like we cracked it out of some rock. Wow. 353 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:52,760 We're finding gold, that's the main thing. 354 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,400 I'll get back to it. Keep finding gold! 355 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,800 The stuff I'm digging out here is hard rock. 356 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:01,360 That gold looks like it's come out of rock. 357 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,200 I'm getting more of that stuff out now, 358 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,160 so let's hope that that's full of gold. 359 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,680 You're in some of the biggest nugget-producing ground 360 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:17,320 on the planet, and you've got a massive chunk of virgin ground. 361 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,360 How could you not get excited? 362 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,600 Over 2,000km south-east, at Catto's Paddock, 363 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:27,640 the Poseidon Crew have discovered a patch of untouched ground 364 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:29,560 after two weeks of mining. 365 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:34,320 Brent is so excited about it, but it hasn't yielded. 366 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,040 Hey, Pauly, how's it going over there, mate? 367 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:40,560 To be honest, I'm doubting my abilities. 368 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,400 What, so, you've got nothing? 369 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,200 Mate, I'm sorry to burst your bubble. 370 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:49,680 I can't believe that! 371 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,800 There's still a chance, still a bit of a pad to go. 372 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,360 There could be a big chunk sitting there. 373 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,040 Generally, virgin ground is our best shot. 374 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:02,320 It happened with us at Slip Up, where out popped at 45-ouncer. 375 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,280 It happens time and time again. 376 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:07,320 It's been alarming for me, 377 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,480 but more alarming for Brent and Ethan, that's their livelihood. 378 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,200 I'm glad I'm not the one that's paying the bills 379 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,480 or picking up the pieces. 380 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:27,280 How're you going, you got anything? 381 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:30,240 No, buddy - nothing at all, pal. 382 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:32,560 No good. 383 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,240 Bit of a disappointment, Brent - nothing yet. 384 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:39,400 Gold mining, I don't know - sometimes it can test you. 385 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,080 You've got nothing off this, Paul? No, mate. 386 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:47,240 I can't believe this! Most of that was virgin ground, not a piece. 387 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:51,200 I'll get in the hole, maybe there's something there. 388 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:53,240 Hopefully, buddy, hopefully. 389 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:57,240 There should have been gold, should have been a lot of it. 390 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:01,160 There was that much virgin ground, we should have been getting gold. 391 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,920 This is starting to tell a story. 392 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,080 What I'm seeing is starting to set alarm bells off. 393 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,320 Eth, do you want to come down here? I want to show you something. 394 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:13,760 Yeah, mate, I'm on my way now. 395 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,920 In some of the richest gold ground in the world, to not get a piece, 396 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:19,480 I can't believe it. 397 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,720 Yeah, buddy? See that line run through there? 398 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,360 That is all virgin gravels. Yeah. 399 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,800 They've sunk their shaft all the way down there. 400 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,440 See the edge? Virgin ground, dug ground. 401 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:35,440 They've taken dirt off the bottom, checked it for gold, 402 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:37,080 and there's nothing there. 403 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,280 I believe, if we don't get gold around this area here, 404 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:42,760 we've got to go back where we started. 405 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:47,000 There's no gold now, but 10', 15' over there, there could be. 406 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:49,120 Just keep going. 407 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:51,880 I tell you what, we'll keep digging this ground, 408 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:56,080 but if gold don't turn up very shortly, we're going back. 409 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,720 We've got piss-all gold this season, I want to get some gold. 410 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,240 It's never going to be a great time to dig with no gold, 411 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,280 but while we're there, let's keep going. 412 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:10,680 I don't think Ethan understands the pressures I'm under. 413 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,640 I've sold a big licence to come here. 414 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,520 I need to find out what's really here. 415 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,240 What's going on, man? 416 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,160 It's overheating. Is it? Oh, I can smell it. Far out. 417 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,720 Ah, I'm spewing. 418 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:27,720 Let it run for a while. 419 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:31,440 It's just hot. We'll get it going when it cools down. 420 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,520 At the Goldtimers' Kookynie Lease, 421 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,560 high temperatures are causing the team's front-end loader 422 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:40,360 to overheat. 423 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,160 I was in the cab, and I could smell this burning smell. 424 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,400 Raced around, and all the coolant's coming out of the overflow. 425 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:52,200 We don't want this to blow up, that's the last thing we need. 426 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,360 If I didn't notice it, we would have ran out of coolant, 427 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:57,400 and that motor would have seized. 428 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,920 I'm not surprised - it's over 40. We're struggling. 429 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,680 It's a couple of hours we won't be pushing. 430 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,520 Who knows how much gold we won't be finding? 431 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:10,200 We've got to find something else to do, so we'll do some sampling. 432 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,800 This is our 151 dry-blower. It's easy to get around, 433 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:17,160 and you can do a tonne an hour, gives a good sample. 434 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,960 By processing stockpiled dirt, they're hoping to identify 435 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,600 the richest areas of their new target site. 436 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,920 We're shovelling dirt into the hopper here. 437 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,200 That's feeding down into the riffles. 438 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,880 That's where we'll catch gold if there is any. 439 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:37,400 Getting hot out here, eh? Yeah, mate, I'm sweating already. 440 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,360 She's about 40 degrees at the moment. 441 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,720 We'll take this in turns, keep an eye on each other, 442 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,400 make sure we don't get heat exhaustion. 443 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,560 I'll get us both a drink. It's stifling out here. 444 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:53,520 Got to be 40-plus. We've got to keep our fluids up. 445 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:58,520 You don't want to pass out out here, you'll end up in a world of trouble. 446 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:02,200 We're motivated to keep working cos we've got families 447 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,640 relying on us to bring home some money. 448 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,520 One good score could pay our mortgages off. 449 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:09,880 We'll shut him down, eh? OK. 450 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:11,960 See how we went. 451 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,760 We can make quite good money out of .3 of a tonne. 452 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:23,920 Process a lot of tonnage, it adds up to a lot of gold really quickly. 453 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,480 We'll know shortly if there's anything going on here. 454 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:34,120 Nada. 455 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,760 Yep. Well, it is what it is, mate. 456 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,200 We can at least tick it off the list. 457 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,240 It's disappointing. We put about a tonne through, 458 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:47,000 and there was nothing in there um, spewing. 459 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:51,240 All right. Well, I need to go and get a drink. Yeah, for sure. 460 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,120 Well, that's a bust. 461 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:59,160 The unsuccessful dry-blowing stint has cost Rob and Turbo three hours. 462 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:01,960 A hell of a lot of hard work, in the heat. 463 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,240 It can reach nearly 50 degrees out here. 464 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,560 We don't have too much left in this season. 465 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,320 It's just getting too hard to work. 466 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:15,520 CHRIS: Just starting up the lighting tower, it's getting dark now. 467 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,600 We'll get some light on the subject and continue on. 468 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:25,040 Boom! Hey, Brad, can you see clearly now the darkness has gone? 469 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:28,280 I'll just keep digging, and make it easy for you, shall I? 470 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:30,440 Back to work, you've got no excuses. 471 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:32,680 On their second night shift this week, 472 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,160 Brad and Chris have gone back to spreading pads to detect 473 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:41,320 after the ground became too coarse for their dry-blower. 474 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,440 I'm going to detect this while Brad's stockpiling for me. 475 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,000 A lot guys go home this time of year because it is so hot. 476 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,160 It drops up to 10 degrees at night, 477 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,320 just good enough for machines to run all night. 478 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,560 I'm not prepared to lose money. 479 00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:00,520 I've got a family and kids, so making target is do-or-die. 480 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,440 (DETECTOR OSCILLATES) Oh, I've got a target! 481 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:09,040 We had a really quiet period where we weren't finding much, 482 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:12,840 but switching to the night shift and getting more energy, 483 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,960 we're finding a few more pieces, which is really nice. 484 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,280 Tiny little piece but it makes a big sound. 485 00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:22,560 No time like the present. 486 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:27,920 Let's lay more dirt out and see if I can pull a few more nuggets. 487 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,000 I'm getting out of the cab, get a bit of fresh air. 488 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:32,960 It's early in the morning now. 489 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,720 Got to be careful - it's easy to get complacent. 490 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,720 Working at night, your body clock's not used to it, 491 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:40,280 so your body gets tired. 492 00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:42,680 There's a signal there. 493 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,680 Most of the gold we're finding seems to be embedded in this rock. 494 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:51,040 It looks a lot different to the other stuff we're finding. 495 00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:53,560 I've got it in the scoop now. 496 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,680 There it is there, stuck on a bit of rock. 497 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:04,800 Oh, look at that. It looks so different. 498 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,040 That's about, I don't know, 3, 4, grams there. 499 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:10,520 Yeah, starting to make some money. 500 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,760 The latest find could add over $300 to their tally. 501 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,760 It looks like we're getting back on track. 502 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,120 I'll keep moving, this is great. 503 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:21,960 (CLUNK) 504 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,400 Hey, Brad? I think I've hit the edge of the pit. 505 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,960 Hang on, just wait there. Hurry up, dude. 506 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,800 Jesus, mate! I'm right on the edge here, aren't I? 507 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:47,120 Yeah, you're off the edge, eh. Argh! Can you get out? 508 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,680 Yeah, I'll get out the other side. 509 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,840 Just be careful, cos that wheel's off the ground. All right. 510 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,920 Jeez! I don't know what happened with the lights, 511 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,560 it must have tripped out. 512 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,680 That's the scariest time I've had out here. 513 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:07,440 If you were 2 metres this side, this thing would upside-down in there. 514 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:10,160 Yeah. Let's call it a night, mate. 515 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:17,120 We've been digging for absolutely no gold at all - at all. 516 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,640 That virgin ground, there was no gold. 517 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,560 It's just the way the cookie crumbles. 518 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:27,760 After a full day's mining, the Poseidon Crew have found no gold, 519 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:34,080 and are still over $600,000 short of their 350oz season target. 520 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:38,160 Where we started, we're getting gold consistently on every pad. 521 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,360 Since then, it's absolutely turned to crap. 522 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,880 We've got storms rolling in. Hopefully, it misses us. 523 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,840 It makes the ground superwet and muddy to dig. 524 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:49,760 We've got a few challenges. 525 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:53,360 CAYDEN: Dad's got me here cos Pop can't be here at the moment. 526 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:55,960 I'll try to fill Pop's shoes, out detecting. 527 00:29:56,040 --> 00:30:00,360 Multiple pads, and we haven't gotten a single bit of gold. 528 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,680 That pad's just done. 529 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:04,960 Nothing off it? 530 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:07,520 Yeah, no gold. 531 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:12,800 Not good enough. I'm going to make a change, make it fast. 532 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,320 Righto, that hole's done, mate. 533 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,560 We're going to go back to that start. 534 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,200 As it stands, we'll end up with the worst tally season ever. 535 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,680 We need to get on the gold. 536 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:30,400 Just one of them things. 537 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,800 He needs gold, and needs money, like we all do. 538 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,000 The gold through here was sort of scattered, 539 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,680 there was no pattern to it. 540 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:42,640 We've got to get that out of the ground, 541 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,080 I think this is our best chance. 542 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:49,560 Over a week ago, the team broke ground at the lease's midpoint 543 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,640 and dug westward, filling the excavated dirt back in 544 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,560 after detecting. 545 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,600 We're finding the edge, where we first started digging. 546 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,760 But Brent has now returned to that starting point 547 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,480 to dig in the opposite direction. 548 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,240 I'm getting electrical interference. 549 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,560 They can make it take double the amount of time 550 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:13,240 it usually would take 551 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:17,480 cos you hear a sound, and you've got to double-check it, 552 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:19,040 things like that. 553 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:24,440 The increased static electrical charge in storm clouds 554 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,080 can trigger metal detectors to create false signals. 555 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,200 I'm going to detect the overburden over here. 556 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:36,520 I've jumped on this pad to help Cayden get through it. 557 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,920 Those storms could hit any moment and wash us out. 558 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,000 (DETECTOR OSCILLATES) 559 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,720 It's not moving around - there. Give us a listen, Cayd. 560 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:49,920 That sounds all right. 561 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,240 Hack at it, in case it is a piece of gold. 562 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,320 It should be out now, you're into the old pad. 563 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,080 Surely. 564 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,000 Well, it's out. 565 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:05,320 I see it. It is a bit of gold! 566 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,840 Hey, hey! There we go, finally. That's gold, Ethan. 567 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:10,680 That's a nice piece. 568 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:13,800 What's that, you reckon? Just under an ounce. 569 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,200 Well done! I reckon you're about right. 570 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,840 Look happy, mate. You look stunned! It's good. 571 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:22,080 He hasn't seen it for days. Finally! 572 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,880 If we get that off every hole, we'll be laughing. 573 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:29,640 We have to keep giving the machine a rest. 574 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,440 We're good for a cut or two, 575 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:35,160 then it's safer for us to park the machine and let it rest. 576 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:36,720 We can risk killing it. 577 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,680 Over 2,000km north-west, the Goldtimers are struggling 578 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:44,240 to keep their overheating front-end loader running. 579 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:48,040 It's not good for the machine to be working it in 40 odd-degree heat, 580 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,160 especially old machines like this. 581 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,480 It overheats, then bang, your motor's blown up. 582 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,360 Our season could be over. 583 00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:01,520 We've got 8oz to find in two weeks. The pressure's on for us. 584 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:05,360 Whoa - that's a big target! 585 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,440 That's a BIG noise. 586 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:17,320 She's out. 587 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,160 Oh, it sounds good. 588 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,800 Oh, there it is. (LAUGHS) Look at that chunk! 589 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:29,040 That's got to be 7 or 8 grams, I reckon. 590 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:32,120 Bro, I just found nuggy! 591 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:33,880 Yeah, boy! How big? 592 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,360 I reckon it's 7 or 8 grams. 593 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,240 That's awesome, man. This feels great. 594 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:43,120 We're working our butts off in the heat, it's just amazing. 595 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:45,600 We can see that this target is reachable. 596 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,000 This is the year we're going to hit target. (RATTLES JAR) 597 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:52,280 It's sounding really good. Awesome. 598 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,680 Three of them a day, we'll be on target. 599 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,920 We've only just started opening this ground up, 600 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:00,960 we've got a lot of ground to open up. 601 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,040 That's a good signal! 602 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:13,400 (GRUNTS) 603 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,160 I need some water. 604 00:34:18,240 --> 00:34:21,440 There's big risks, working out here in the heat. 605 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:23,720 You can easily go down with heatstroke. 606 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,520 It's really harsh conditions. You've got to keep your water up. 607 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:32,160 This is ridiculous - one of us is going to end up getting sick. 608 00:34:32,240 --> 00:34:35,120 I need to get this nugget out. 609 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:40,840 Even just digging a hole from detecting, just that extra effort 610 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,320 can really take its toll on you. 611 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,760 It's not the ideal weather for doing what we're doing, 612 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:51,520 but we've got a target to chase, and we're determined to reach that. 613 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:53,640 It's out. 614 00:34:53,720 --> 00:34:56,160 It sounded like a good nugget. 615 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,000 Oh, my God! 616 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:03,360 Far out! 617 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,120 That is one clean, worn-to-worn bit of gold. 618 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:12,320 Got to be at least 6, 7 grams. That is beautiful. 619 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,960 I've got another piece, man - a really nice piece, about 7 grams. 620 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:20,480 That's awesome. I'm absolutely wrecked, I don't know about you. 621 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,760 I was watching you have a dig over there. 622 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:25,840 It's hot out there, it's hot now. 623 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,920 It's hard on your body and your machines as well, 624 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,440 but when you're pulling out nuggets, it's all worthwhile. 625 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:35,250 2 00:35:36.160 -- 00:35:39.640 align:middle line:90% position:50% That's a good sign that we need to call it quits for the night. 626 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:44,160 I'm going to try and get this thing out, I'll be real careful. 627 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:49,840 Chris has had a narrow escape that's left his 12-tonne loader stranded 628 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:51,920 over the pit's edge. 629 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,320 I really don't want it hanging on the edge all night. 630 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:58,040 I'll give it a go, but I've got to be careful. 631 00:35:58,120 --> 00:35:59,600 This close to the edge, 632 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:04,480 the ground could collapse underneath the machine's weight... 633 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,720 Keep it straight, mate - keep it straight. 634 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,080 ..causing Brad to fall 10 feet into the pit. 635 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,200 Keep her coming, keep her coming. 636 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,240 Keep it coming. 637 00:36:23,720 --> 00:36:26,080 Yeah - yeah, you're up. Woo! 638 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:28,160 Yeah, boy! 639 00:36:28,240 --> 00:36:31,880 Anyway, let's call it a night, eh? 640 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:35,400 You got very lucky tonight, someone's watching over you. 641 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:39,080 Someone has to be watching over me. I need a beer. 642 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,000 (BIRDSONG) 643 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,920 Bit cooler today - perfect opportunity 644 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,920 to go through these finds. 645 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:53,880 There's hours' worth of concentrate there. Yeah. 646 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:57,440 The pair rinse out the material trapped in the sluice mats 647 00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:00,520 before panning it off to check for gold. 648 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:05,120 We're doing something to try and shore up a future for our families. 649 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,480 Hopefully, it pays off. 650 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:11,440 We're pulling out all stops - everything we've got, we're using. 651 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,440 Trying a bit of everything, aren't we? 652 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,240 There's one. 653 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:26,800 Give me more. Coming right up, buddy. 654 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:28,880 More gold, please! 655 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,480 Wow, look at all that! That's just one mat. 656 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:40,360 We've still got bottom-level stuff to go through. 657 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:42,560 Finer stuff should be there. Yeah. 658 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:46,040 We've got four or five concentrate boxes to go through. 659 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:48,880 I reckon this will be a good weigh-in. Great sign. 660 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:53,720 The amount of effort we put in, doing the night shift, is huge. 661 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:58,560 We'll run the rest of it through, and go and do a weigh-up, eh? Yeah. 662 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:01,840 Sounds like a plan. That's awesome, man. 663 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,640 It was a very challenging week-and-a-bit, 664 00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:09,680 I'll tell you that right now. 665 00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:13,440 It started off all right. Then it turned to frustration, 666 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:15,000 I can assure you. 667 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:19,040 Over 2,000km east, the Poseidon Crew have failed 668 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:23,600 to break their big-nugget drought at Catto's Paddock 669 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:27,760 with just three weeks left before the end of their season. 670 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,360 All right, for the small boys, 671 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:36,880 we've got 1.62 - yeah, 1.62. 672 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:41,040 Cayd, you got the bigger ones, mate? I do. 673 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:43,800 There you go. All right, that's Pop's one. 674 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,280 Yep. That then brings it up to 675 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:51,040 2.23, yeah? Yeah. 676 00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:57,880 Then, throw that one on, brings it to 3.05. 677 00:38:57,960 --> 00:38:59,640 Yeah. 678 00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:01,720 That's not fantastic. 679 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:04,200 We've got to get better results than this. 680 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:07,480 With one nugget, it could be anything, it really could. 681 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:10,040 The haul barely covers their running costs, 682 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:16,200 and still leaves them a long way off their 350oz season target. 683 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:20,040 With the results we're getting, we ain't going to get there. 684 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,520 Something's got to happen, we're going to make it happen. 685 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:26,400 Great work, mate - it's coming in. 686 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:29,360 Same as always - you're doing a good job. I'm off. 687 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:31,440 Well done, boys. 688 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:38,800 Oh, bro - water! (LAUGHS) 689 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:43,120 Give us some. Oh, yeah. 690 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:44,840 Woo! 691 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,600 It's good water. (LAUGHS) It is. 692 00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:51,320 Rob and Turbo have one week left before rising temperatures 693 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:53,360 make it too dangerous to continue. 694 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,160 Time to do the weigh-up. It sure is. 695 00:39:56,240 --> 00:39:58,680 They need at least a 4oz return 696 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:02,400 to stay on track for their 20oz season target. 697 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:05,120 Do the honours, man. 698 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:12,840 1, 2, 3. 699 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,600 It's looking good, it's looking good! 4. 700 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,160 That's just under 4.8. 701 00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:23,040 Hang on a minute, I forgot about these three. (LAUGHS) Dude! 702 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,120 Yeah. That's 4.8. 703 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:30,800 Man, that is our biggest-ever weigh-in! Making some money! 704 00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:34,400 That's got to be nearly six grand each, man! (SIGHS) 705 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:39,040 3oz to go or something. Just over 3ozs, we might hit season target. 706 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:42,960 I reckon this is our year, bro - this is our year. 707 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:45,880 The phone call home is going to be a special one. 708 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,840 We made about 12 grand between us this week. 709 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:52,000 That's our biggest payday out here yet. 710 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:55,200 All this hard work, it's finally paid off. 711 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,040 Can't wait to give the missus and boy a ring, 712 00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:00,240 let them know how much we made. 713 00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:02,280 We made six grand each this week. 714 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,880 That's going to help pay a few bills back home, so, happy days. 715 00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:11,760 I'll lift this up, open that Esky up, grab us a couple of beers. 716 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:16,760 Well, mate, I think we have well and truly deserved this. Definitely. 717 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:20,840 Whew! Cheers, mate. Cheers, my bros. 718 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:22,920 (LAUGHS) Mm! 719 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,160 Hey, big fella. How'd you go, mate? 720 00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:32,960 Got some pretty good results out of that panning. Good to hear, mate. 721 00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:34,720 I found a couple of nuggies. 722 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:36,760 Did you? Yeah, some hooters! 723 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:39,240 We're doing all right! Check that out. 724 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:41,800 Aw, that's awesome! They're good. 725 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:45,120 Good-sized nuggets, those ones. Yeah, man. 726 00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:47,240 Stunning. Let's do a weigh-up. 727 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:50,800 You got the stuff from panning? Absolutely. 728 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:53,360 I've got our stuff from detecting. 729 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:55,360 After four hours of panning, 730 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:59,720 Brad and Chris are ready to check the results of a challenging week. 731 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:01,720 This is going to be exciting. 732 00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:05,840 I think you'll be surprised, what we got out of the pan. Ready? 733 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,000 This is from detecting. Yeah. 734 00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:11,080 (LAUGHS) 735 00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:12,920 Hang on. 736 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:18,120 90 just out of the detector. 737 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:21,160 That's all right. Impressive, really good. 738 00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:23,120 Wait for it. 739 00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:25,160 This is all dry-blower, eh? Yeah. 740 00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:28,840 140... 152! 741 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,120 That's awesome, man. (LAUGHS) 742 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,880 That nightshift work paid off. 743 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:35,720 Definitely paid off. 744 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:39,760 Brad and Chris now need just over half an ounce of gold 745 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:43,760 in their final week to hit their $75,000 target. 746 00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:46,520 That's really got us back on track now. 747 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:50,400 I think we're going to make it, but we need to keep pushing. 748 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:53,920 We can't get complacent, we've still got a lot to do. 749 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:58,040 We really need to keep pushing hard and try and make target. 750 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:02,240 Good week, man. Absolutely. Let's go and have a beer. 751 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:15,880 subtitles by Deluxe