NARRATOR: This time on Aussie Gold Hunters.
Our chances of hitting that target are a little bit now.
Marcus, Linden and Dale desperately need new ground
before intense heat shuts down their operation.
Ha-ha! Giddy-up! Look out now.
But a 90-tonne loader
and a close friend's lease could save their season.
Ha-hey! (LAUGHS)
Yeah!
In Victoria, the Poseidon crew's hopes
for a 1,000-ounce nugget are slipping through their fingers...
This could end up being our worst season ever.
..as they hit yet another setback.
Wait!
Can't take a trick at the minute. No gold, but now a puncture.
She's all yours. In the final weeks of their season,
Shane and Russell take a huge gamble.
You just bought a gold mine. We just bought a gold mine, Russell.
But their plan to hit season target...
Shane! Shut her down, shut her down!
..comes to a grinding halt.
Oh, you're joking. Broken a shaft.
(WIND WHISTLING)
Have a look at that. There's a right big head under there.
It's kind of hard to imagine the old-timers were actually down
and under here 150 years ago,
toiling away, working away with pick and shovel.
There's a good indication the old boys might have been onto something here.
We've got a real advantage. What took them weeks,
we can do just in hours. We're doing this with excavators
and modern equipment. I'm just really hoping they've left
something behind for us. We definitely need something badly right now.
NARRATOR: In the Golden Triangle region of Victoria
are the Poseidon crew,
Brent Shannon and his brother-in-law Ethan West.
They're just in front of you there, Eth.
Yeah, keep coming, Cayden. Perfect, mate.
With time running out, they've drafted Brent's
15-year-old son Cayden to help excavate
the historic Catto's Paddock.
Thanks for coming out and giving us a hand today, Cayden.
We need as much hands as we can get on deck, mate,
to get as much gold out of the ground. No problem, Dad.
Hopefully a big nugget turns up sooner rather than later.
With the results we're seeing right now here at Catto's
and what time we've got left, this could end up being
our worst season ever.
I ain't got much time left in this season
and I've gotta find a lot of gold to even make a half-decent target.
It's high risk, high reward.
You can go, you know, broke in a heartbeat out here.
It's not an easy game.
Are you all right, Kade, to keep coming, mate?
Righto. I left behind a lot
to live this dream out. This is a huge gamble.
We're searching now for the biggest pay day of our lives.
We're looking for a needle in a haystack.
Expectation is really high.
This is huge nugget ground.
But getting that gold, you start doubting everything.
NARRATOR: This season, Brent's took the biggest chance
of his mining career when he sold
his million-dollar wash plant operation
and remaining gold leases to help secure
the five-hectare Catto's Paddock site.
Catto's Paddock has got a massive gold history.
Nearly one third of all of Victoria's largest nuggets
have been found in this paddock, in the join.
And to get a chance to dig it with modern equipment
and nobody else has dug it before, we are in a massive chance
to find some massive gold.
But for the past few weeks, they've struggled just to cover costs.
Three-point-zero-five.
I can feel the season slipping away right now.
That tally, you know, he wants a 1,000-ounce nugget, whatever,
it's not a living.
Right now the pressure is on big time.
Burning though about 400 bucks a day
between the excavator and dump truck running around.
Plus, there's land owners to pay, there's Ethan to pay.
You know, it costs a lot of money to do all this.
And, uh, you know, you've gotta have a lot of gold
start coming out of the ground. I've put a lot eggs in one basket
with this paddock. If this gets continues like this,
we're gonna be in trouble.
Hey, Cayden, just out of the truck, mate. I wanna show you something.
Yeah, righto.
We're working a big, wide and ancient riverbed.
OK? There was water flowing through here
millions and millions of years ago.
It's all been sedimented over and created the landscape we've got now.
Yeah. What do you see through that wall through there?
All the same dirt. Boring, nothing. Yeah.
But more importantly, what don't you see?
You don't see any gravels. Nothing. No...
Why don't you see that? They've...
The old boys went through it all, got it all. To get the gold out of it.
The gold's on the bottom of that river-washed crevice.
Now have a look at this.
Have a look at that. So that is untouched ground.
Virgin ground. They've left us that there, untouched ground,
and we're about to find out what's in it.
This guarantee us gold, but guess what it does.
Give us a big chance. It raises the chances
from down here to up here.
It's exciting. It's exciting all right.
When I see that I get rather excited, I can tell you.
(LAUGHS)
Game on now. I believe we're in for a chance here,
but in big nugget country like this,
a bit of ground missed
could be a fortune for us.
Ethan, you got a copy there, mate?
Yeah, mate, I do. This ground is virgin ground, OK?
Virgin ground? Yeah, mate.
If there's anywhere there's gonna be gold, it's gonna be on this one.
Yeah, right, Cayden, take that all the way, mate.
Righto. This could be the moment we're waiting for.
Any time, any tick of the clock, any bucket,
there could be a life-changing nugget.
(AIR HISSING)
Dad, I think we've got a puncture.
Yeah, I can hear it, I can hear the air coming out.
Well, keep going, mate. Don't let it go flat.
Go take it over to the pad. I'll come over now.
Keep going, keep going.
(AIR HISSING)
Wait!
Yeah. Side wall puncture, mate.
It is a side wall? Keep going, mate. Go back.
Loaded tyres can often crack with age.
I can't believe it. A process accelerated
by UV rays, water and weather extremes.
Can't take a trick at the minute. No gold...
but now a puncture.
Tyres this size usually cost 6,000 dollars.
Take it forward a bit, Cayd. And the team have recently used
their only spare.
Hold her there for a second.
Yeah, right here, Eth. So when the tyre goes around,
it balloons out the bottom and the split opens up
and lets air out.
We're gonna have to just hopefully get some gold
to pay for time. It's just one thing after another, mate.
Never-ending at the minute. No gold, machinery.
I just can't believe it.
So where are you taking me, Shane? The season's nearly over, mate.
It's gonna 50 degrees out here very shortly.
Some of the biggest gold deposits in the world are here.
NARRATOR: Over 2,000 kilometres northwest,
near the town of Leonora,
prospecting partners Shane Calegari
and Russell Nash are on the hunt for new ground
as time runs out on their season.
We've got a couple of weeks left and it's getting stinking out here now - 48-50 degrees.
We are miles behind on where we should be.
Heard about a tenement for sale around here
from a mate of a mate of mine.
It's just down the road from the Goana Patch,
where some prospectors in the '80s
found 2,000 ounces in a very short period of time.
And it's also next to a very large open cut mine,
which only the other day I heard they found a piece of gold there
worth about 80,000 dollars.
So I think it will be a big win for us.
Hopefully he's right cos we need a change of fortunes
because at this stage we're going downhill big time.
So we need some good country with some good gold.
(CAR DOOR OPENS)
Oh! (CAR DOOR CLOSES)
This is the tenement. It's 300-odd hectares.
Got a PAW, it's got absolutely everything we need
to start prospecting. We can just start digging.
As soon as I cut the deal with the bloke, we can start playing around.
NARRATOR: Shane's POW, or programme of work,
it's official approval from the Mines Department
to use machinery to dig ground.
I've got a bit of money. I don't mind contributing that to it.
It's not your responsibility. It's all my responsibility
and that's the end of the story. I don't want to be dying wondering.
I'm quite prepared to pay my dough. I just haven't got time at my age.
I've got to get on with stuff. And that's his nest egg,
that's his retirement and it puts some pressure on me.
It means I've got to try and provide
and make it a windfall for us both.
I hope you're right. I am right.
There's no tomorrows. We've got to do it.
It's very, very important that we succeed.
A, to be loyal to Russell.
He's done the whole journey with me and now it's my turn to reciprocate.
I'm at the end of my career. Russell's still got
a good many years to go. He's got bills, he's got family to support
and he's got to look after his future.
All right. See you, guys. See you! Be safe.
Be good. We're off. Love you.
NARRATOR: This season the pair left their families in the city of Perth
to navigate a 3,000-kilometre expedition
through Western Australia's most isolated goldfields.
The further you go up in this country,
the bigger the gold deposits are because most people prospect
closer to the city. But despite some successful weigh-ins...
1.966.
..the pair are still a long way from their 20-ounce target.
Yeah, we've got nine ounces. It's a lot of gold, but it's not enough.
By the time we start paying for cars and fuel and food,
it's not even paying my wage.
That's him there.
Well, we'll see how we go.
How you going, guys? All right.
How you going, Neville? Shane Calegari.
Russell Nash. How you going, Russ? Nice to meet you. How are you?
Good. Good to meet you. Your place, is it? Yeah, mate.
I've had it for about four years.
There's gold here? Oh, there's gold here all right, mate.
I found about 30 pieces down through here.
And, er... over the back -
I haven't even been over there.
I've got an old grader blade over there.
You can have that, you know? The whole lot's going.
That's it. I just want to retire.
OK, well, let's cut to the chase, Neville. What do you want for it?
Well, I'm looking at ten grand for it.
You know, there's still stacks of gold here, mate.
We haven't had a particularly good season,
but we're here now. I can find you 6,000.
(SIGHS) 6,000 dollars.
Whatever is on this tenement belongs to us
and that's the end of the story.
Hmmm.
Yeah, OK.
Done deal. I wanna get rid of it, so she's all yours.
OK. You just bought a goldmine.
I just bought a goldmine. We just bought a goldmine, Russell!
Well done. OK, Nev. Thank you, Nev.
Thanks very much. Not a prob. We haven't got a lot of time left.
It's been a long haul but it's not over
and hopefully in the next week,
Shane and I can make some good numbers.
(BIRD CAWS)
There's a little bit of steel. (METAL DETECTOR WHOOPS)
It sounded good, too. Hmm.
Things were looking quite up at the beginning of the season.
We got some nice nuggets, and before you know it,
um, things have just taken really a turn for the worse.
NARRATOR: In the goldfields of Western Australia,
Marcus, Linden and Dale are back detecting
publicly available ground
with just two weeks left in their season.
More rubbish.
It's been flogged, it's been used, it's been abused.
What are we doing out here, except wasting our time?
Getting to the point where it's pretty crucial times.
We've been here for a few hours now
and, er, she's really starting to warm up.
In just two weeks, intense summer heat
could reach almost 50 degrees Celsius
and force them to shut down their season for months.
It's gonna be a hard slog in these next couple of weeks.
But right now we've got no other option. We've just got to try
to find some gold.
Oh, gold, come on.
This is our third season
and we're so far away from our target it's not funny.
This could be the end. This could be the -
could be the last dance. You know, we're back at square one now.
It's almost as if we've taken five steps forward
and now 15 back.
Coming from an operation where we had machinery
and now, you know, having to walk again,
um, sort of breaks your spirit.
Just like cutting through butter.
(LAUGHS)
NARRATOR: Earlier this season, the team borrowed an eight-tonne loader.
Hey! (LAUGHS) ..to uncover gold on a private lease in Ora Banda.
(ALL LAUGHING)
Oh, look at that thing, man. It's looks like this pushing pad
is gonna be paying off. But they had to return the loader
to friend Dave Askew after just four weeks...
Yeah, I'm really sorry, boys. Nothing much I can do about it.
I've got to make a living, too, so. Yeah. Yeah, that's right, make.
..leaving the team with no choice but to return to detecting
overworked public ground.
Our options are pretty slim now.
(EXHALES) (TEXT ALERT)
Dave.
Yeah, Dave's just said, you know,
"Meet me ASAP at the Ora Banda lease.
You need to get there now."
I hope everything is all right. We've only just given the machines back.
Yeah, just got a message from Dave
saying that we have to get back to the Ora Banda lease ASAP.
I hope you didn't break anything.
Yeah, now you've got me thinking about it, too.
It doesn't sound good and if something is damaged,
this is more costs. Costs that we can't cover right now
because we haven't found any gold.
Let's get over and see what the problem is. Yeah, for sure.
I hate to think what Dave's got to say to us
once we get over, man. Let's just wait and see.
I know that when I dropped that loader back
that it was in perfect working condition.
If something is wrong, we're skint, we can't pay for nothing.
I've got a family and-and-and, you know,
Dale's got expenses, too. Linden does.
You know, feeling the pressures financially.
If something is broke, it could be very expensive.
Fellas. How you going? (INDISTINCT)
Hey, man. Good to meet you. What's happening? What's going on?
What's happening, brother? Marcus. Come to check you out.
How you going, Dave? Dale, how are you doing? Good, mate.
Good to see you. So I suppose you're wondering why I called you out, eh?
Yeah. Yeah. Did he break something?
Remember before when I said if you break it, you own it? Yeah.
Well, you didn't break it. (LAUGHS) Oh, thank God!
See? Told you that, eh? The loader's good, man. (LAUGHTER) See?
We're a bit strapped for time before the heat comes. Yeah.
So I really need someone to help me do some pushing.
We need about a week. You'll be in a loader,
Linden and Dale on the detectors. Mm.
Big girl here... Yeah!
..we're gonna be pushing with that.
So you guys are gonna be run off your feet.
I've got to ask you now how much you're gonna want.
This thing hold 1,500 litres of fuel. Yeah. Mm-hm.
And she's gonna use a bit of fuel. How about - how about we -
because we're using your machine,
your lease, your ground.
You decide. You decide. We're happy with that.
If we don't make a lot, we can't pay a lot. Yeah.
But we'll put it on a sliding scale.
50% as we start making more money.
This is after cost, don't forget. We've got to pay for the fuel.
Yeah. Yep? It sounds good. Yeah? Sounds good. Yeah. Yeah.
All right. Yeah, yeah, all good.
Dale. Thanks, mate. (LAUGHS)
I'm thinking the worst and-and...
before you know it, I mean, it's turned into,
I suppose, one of the best opportunities.
Yeah, how you going? It's Ethan West.
We normally bring in those very large tyres to you to get fixed.
We're just wondering, by any chance do you have any around?
MAN: No, sorry, mate. We're completely out of stock.
Oh, that's frustrating. Can't take a trick at the minute.
This could be a tyre puncture
that might keep us down for two or three days.
It's not going down immediately.
It's just every time the tyre rotates, it swishes the sidewall
and let's all the air out of it and it closes up again.
Right now we haven't got a spare and it's hurting us badly.
I've been ringing around now for some time
and I haven't been able to source anything anywhere.
We can get this tyre repaired, but it's gonna take two to three days.
We'll have to keep operating on this puncture for the time being
and get as much virgin ground up as we can
before we send this tyre off.
Yeah, that'll do us. Cayden, go and suit up, mate.
Get ready for detecting. Yeah, righto.
Hey, Eth, do you wanna take over in the dump truck, mate?
We've gotta get as much of this dirt out as we can. Yeah, mate.
Just spade it up.
Right now the pressure is on, big time.
We're coming across a little bit of virgin ground,
which lifts the chances.
They keep leaving ground like this,
one of these days they're gonna make a mistake
and leave a monster nugget behind.
And we're in the game as long as we can keep digging.
Pressure's mounting on Dad cos he's got money going out
left, right and centre, but he's got no money coming in.
So I'm hoping I can find something for the boys.
All right, take that one away, Eth. Roger.
We've got to get back on the gold. I need to prove this ground
for myself and we need to find gold,
cos that is our business.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING AND BEEPING)
It's a good sound.
Hey, Dad, have a listen to this target.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING AND BEEPING)
All right. All right, I'm coming over.
That might be good.
I'm getting really excited about this target.
All right, mate. I tripped over. (LAUGHS)
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING AND BEEPING) Come on.
All right, give me a pick. Righto, Dad.
Do the honours. Oh, I hope it's a nice little piece.
We do need it.
Go on, mate.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING AND BEEPING) Oh, gold!
It is gold! Beauty. It is.
Ho-hoy!
There we go. (LAUGHS) Hey, you!
God! You're our lucky charm, my boy! (LAUGHS)
There we go. Finally.
I reckon you've hit the run of gold, Dad.
Oh, we're starting to hit some gold, Eth.
We're gonna start paying for some dump truck tyres.
NARRATOR: The nugget is worth around 1,900 dollars,
but the crew will need at least three more like this
just to pay for a new tyre.
I know it's not massive, but...
(LAUGHS) ..any gold at the moment is good.
Well, good-o! All right, let's get back to work. Righto.
We have to just keep chewing through the ground
and hopefully we can land one or two big bits,
or even three or four would be nice.
This is the grade of blade that he said.
But he said he's never used it, so we'll see how we go, but...
The thing he threw in as a so-called bonus - is that right? Yeah. It'll work.
Just hook it behind your toe ball. Yep. Hook it up behind the truck, put a heap of weight onto that.
Tow it along and that will clear the scrub for us.
It basically gives an opportunity to prospect where others haven't been. Exactly.
In Western Australia, Shane has gambled 6,000 dollars
of his retirement fund on the purchase of a new lease.
All right, Shane, bring it over. They are hoping that an adapted
grader blade, once used on a small excavator for surface levelling...
Here comes the drum roll! ..will give them an advantage
as they hunt for the 11 ounces they still need to make target.
It's a very large tenement. Over 300 hectares.
There's large nuggets around here somewhere,
and we can make our target if we can find a few of those.
Give it a whack. (INDISTINCT) the top out of the drum,
and then we put a heap of rocks and put some weight in that.
And that'll help the grader blade dig into the dirt and move the dirt out of the way.
Detectors have been around for 40 years, so a lot of people have walked around here.
So if we can get down a bit, just take out all the vegetation off the top,
it's becomes fresh, where no one has been and that's what we need.
Are you all right with this or what? You'll be all right? Yeah, I'm all right. That's good.
All right, Shane, I'm gonna put some weight on the back of this thing.
The more weight, the more depth you'll get. OK, Russell.
I reckon I can get 100 kilo in this. Just load it up,
then I can get cracking.
It's getting hotter here every day.
It's gonna be tough. It's got to be at least 42-43 at the moment.
Next week's forecast is even more, so.
We haven't long left in the season - two weeks - so every hour counts.
Just got to keep moving dirt - that's the key.
We need a bit of a reward here, so we can hopefully find some colour.
If not, we're in trouble. OK, mate, get into it!
Let's go!
It's dragging along.
Oh, that's working fantastic, that is.
This is a great idea.
Go wide, Shane, and then start running in closer.
We're just gonna go three of 400 mil.
Put a detector over it and see how we go.
Yeah, looking absolutely fantastic, even if I say so myself.
(METAL DETECTOR GENTLY HUMMING)
Come on, magic wand!
Find me some gold.
Yeah, it is pretty stressful. We are miles behind on where we should be.
We've only got half the target and it's not enough.
Really we need a minimum of ten grams a day.
That's only just. That's just keeping us alive.
That's - that's floating, that's not swimming.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
I've got a sound here. I like it.
I just hope there's a nice bit of gold.
It will be nice to get the first bit of gold
after a scrape, you know? Just put that scraper to work
and it's worth the exercise
and spending time getting it all made up.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING) That's out.
It could be in this scoop here. I'm hopeful.
(DETECTOR WHOOPING LOUDLY)
I think it's in my hand.
(DETECTOR WHOOPING)
There it is! First bit of gold I've found
since we scraped. But this is two grams.
Probably worth about 160-180 dollars.
Nice piece of gold and I'm gonna find some more
of his brothers and sisters.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING) Ha-ha!
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING) Hello. (LAUGHS)
Look at that. That's at least five or six, that is.
It's what we want. The nugget could be worth
up to 480 dollars.
Look at that. Beautiful piece of gold.
That's money in the bank straight away, that is.
You beauty. Well done, Russell.
You know the rule, don't you? Where's the two, there's four!
OK, well, just keep going. That's very good.
I'm liking this lease.
2 00:24:13.880 -- 00:24:15.880 align:middle line:90% position:50% Over there, Marcus.
Yeah, mate, we're all good. Thanks for coming out here again,
but it's the end, eh? Always a pleasure, brother.
NARRATOR: 240 kilometres south-west,
Marcus, Linden and Dale are helping push and detect
a friend's lease before blistering summer heat
shuts all mining down.
I'm looking forward to seeing that big loader in action there.
Well, at the end of the day you'll see this thing push.
You'll be galloping across...
(LAUGHS) Giddy-up! Look out now.
Looking back at that - the size of that thing there.
Reminds me of back in the day from when we were all up the mines.
NARRATOR: The 90-tonne loader boasts a five-metre-wide bucket
capable of shifting 11 cubic metres of dirt
with every push.
We're gonna need to be just really, really punching it,
pushing out the work, because Dave's on a time schedule
and so are we. I mean, we are almost at the end of the season.
Yeah, so, Dave, where do you want me to start, mate?
Just get those windrows out and just, er... flatten them out.
Otherwise I'm using 200 litres an hour.
It's costing me too much. Yeah, no.
All good, brother. I'll start that.
Marcus creates a level surface to detect
by flattening the windrows -
ridges of turned up dirt left by the big loader.
This machine, man, she's pushing quick.
Dale or Linden, this one is ready for you to come down
and have a quick look. Yeah, Dave's gonna be putting
the pressure on a bit, so let's go.
Let's get busy. We've still got a long way to reach our target.
So hopefully we can pull something out.
That's a - that's a big snake track there.
Right through there. Look at that.
You can see where it's come from. That side.
NARRATOR: Australia is home to 20
of the 25 most venomous snakes in the world.
Dave may have scared it off.
But, I mean, they are out here.
It just means that we've got to be on high alert
because, I mean, one bite from one of these - from...
Oh, man. This cord.
Sorry, man. I'm... (LAUGHS)
Oh. One bite from these things and we're gone, man.
We're - we're so far away and we are out in the bush.
The closest hospital is like hundreds of kilometres away.
I mean, we're talking some of the most venomous snakes in the world.
I've seen more snakes this year than I've seen the last ten years.
King Brown, you'd be dead in half an hour. If you've got...
a reasonably fit body, you might get away with it a bit longer,
but you haven't got a lot of time.
Come over and get into it, eh.
Just coming behind you now. Right.
(BLEEP) It's coming this way!
Far out. That's one of the most venomous snakes
in Australia.
Oh, man.
Dale, do you copy?
Yo. Um...
..I've seen a you-know-what over here.
Is that why you are standing still?
(CHUCKLES) Yes. Oh.
Just by taking a bit of scrub off,
you know, that's where usually the snakes hide -
under sticks and all that. And Linden is petrified of them.
Where?
See there?
Far out.
Gone.
You'll be all right. It can't stop you from looking for gold, bruv.
You've got to keep going.
Marcus, Marcus, where are you, man?
Yeah, right on my way down.
Pretty crucial times now. You know, for the season
we've had two-and-a-half ounces. It's - it's not enough at all
with the 20-ounce target that we set.
We've just got to keep going.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
That sounds all right.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
(CHUCKLES) Look at that.
(CHUCKLES) That's the first bit of gold.
It's only small,
but small things can lead to big things.
NARRATOR: The one-gram nugget is worth around 80 dollars.
Hey, boys, just letting you know I've found a small one up here.
Ah, good stuff!
Hey, Linden, do you wanna come over here and, um...
start walking these pads?
Yeah, I'll come over there in a minute.
I'm just, um... I'm just waiting till my nerves
settle a bit
and I'll come over there.
Oh, Linden. (CHUCKLES)
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING) Someone hasn't been there.
It's nice. Plenty of signal, that.
So there might be another one here, too.
NARRATOR: At their newly-purchased lease near Leonora, Shane and Russell
are on a run of nuggets... Oh! Look at that!
..after clearing the surface of vegetation
with an old grader blade.
Oh, she's out. The grader's done a great job for us
and that's given us a big head start.
Oh, here it is. (LAUGHS)
Another one. That's why we do it - because of that.
The colour of gold. That's got to be a couple of grams at least.
NARRATOR: The nugget could be worth up to 160 dollars.
That nugget has been worn, so there's been a lot of dirt
travelled pass that, and that's washed the gold off.
So all the finer gold is gonna be further down the hill.
So we'll start working down the bottom there. I'll get the dry blower setup.
I'll do a big scrape down here. That'll hopefully give us another ten or 20 grams at least.
That's what we need. We haven't got a great deal of time left.
The dry blower gives us a bit of bread and butter, gives us fine gold.
And I think it will be a big win for us.
You ready to eat some dust? Yeah, I'm ready. Come on, Rusty,
let's get on with it. (MOTOR RUNNING)
Whoa! Whoa! First go! (LAUGHS)
Well done, Rusty! You beauty.
Let's get into it.
We need 11 ounces and that's a big call.
But we've got the equipment, the detectors, the dry blower,
we've got the machine so we can shift some dirt,
hopefully find some gold. We need it.
NARRATOR: Paydirt is fed into the dry blower's hopper.
It then passes into a series of riffle trays
that use air and gravity to trap heavier gold particles,
while excess, lighter dirt is blown away.
We've got a couple of weeks left and I've got family at home
and the daughter has got a birthday coming up, which is pretty big,
and I've got to be home for that. And it's getting stinking hot out here now. 48-50 degrees.
So hopefully I'll find some gold, some good gold.
If this goes well, which it should do,
a couple of tonne an hour easy.
Let's make some good money.
(RATTLING) Shane!
Shut her down, shut her down! OK!
Shut her down, shut her - Yeah, not yet.
(MACHINE POWERING DOWN)
You are joking. You see that?
It's broken a shaft.
Oh, you're joking. It snapped, is it?
It's knocked the shaft out. Yep, straight through.
It's hot. It's 47-48 degrees.
Running on the pulley.
Only way I can fix that is to weld it, or get another shaft.
You've only got a couple of weeks left. Yeah, we've got nine ounces, but it's not enough.
We need 20. That was our goal and that's where we need to be.
Um, and the way we are going at the moment, we're not gonna see it.
You can take it into town and get it welded. You can do that.
Two hours there, two hours back. That's four hours it's down for.
Yeah, I mean, big setback. Without a dry blower, we are in big trouble.
So I'll try and see how I can get that fixed.
We can't afford to be down, not with two weeks of the season left.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
Hey, there it is! It's another bit of gold!
15-18 grams, somewhere around that.
I've only done about a quarter of the pad
and I've already gotten this good result so far.
I'm excited now we are actually seeing some gold out of here.
It's not monstrous, but little bits add up.
NARRATOR: At Catto's Paddock, the Poseidon crew are racing
to remove as much dirt as possible
before a slow puncture makes their dump truck undriveable.
Right now we're working on borrowed time.
We've got a tyre puncture that's slowly going down
every time we roll around on it. And I'm not too sure exactly
how much longer it's gonna last.
Basically all we can do is just keep going
until, uh... until it goes flat.
Any time you've got to stop digging,
it's money you're losing.
It's opportunities that you're not gonna get.
Yeah, I can go, Eth. Roger.
The only chance we've got in finding 1,000 ounces
is to keep digging this ground. Each bucket we pull out
is the next bucket we're closer to finding that big nugget.
That glory nugget, that thousand ounces that I'm dreaming
and I'm not gonna give up the chase.
I think this tyre is done for now.
Yeah, look, that's knackered.
That's knackered. If I keep going on it,
what I could do is basically, um - it's just gonna rip off the rim.
And if the tyre falls off the rim, or comes off the rim, it's gonna be a nightmare to get off.
And, you know, it's just gonna be more frustration, more time waste.
Best bet is I'll just jump on the pad now,
go detect, help Cayd now.
It's not ideal in a time sensitive operation out here at all.
But you've just got to adapt and do the best you can.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
All right. It's another good sound.
Ah-hey! It's another nice bit of gold, too.
Around tennish grams, I would say, for this one.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
Hoping this is gold.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING) It sounds good, Eth.
It does sound good, Cayden.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
There you go! Shane's got a target now.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
Yeah, that is gold. Ah, that's good!
See if I've got a bit, too.
Should be out now.
There it is!
Beautiful!
Yeah, a bit of gold, Eth! About 15-16 grams.
Somewhere around that. Good job, buddy.
NARRATOR: The nugget adds a much-needed 1,200 dollars
to their tally. Hey, Dad.
Yeah, buddy? I just got a pretty nice bit here.
About 15-16 grams, somewhere around that.
Oh, you ripper, mate. Keep 'em coming.
It's good. That's really good.
It's just good to see a little bit of colour come through.
It keeps the bills ticking along till we land the monster nugget.
2 00:34:53.040 -- 00:34:56.840 align:middle line:90% position:50% Hey, Marcus, just go around behind it, mate. Push it back.
Yeah, no worries, brother.
The temperature is starting to pick up.
It's so important that we keep an eye on each other,
that we look out for ourselves and we stay well-hydrated.
You know, we are careful not to get any heatstroke.
NARRATOR: Marcus, Linden and Dale
have spent the week working their friend Dave Askew's lease,
desperate to have a shot at making target
before summer heat shuts them down.
They're feeling the pinch. I don't want them to end their season
without making any money, so I've offered 50% after costs.
It's so important that, you know,
we get in here and we really do as much as we can,
because, you know, time is against us.
And, er, we need to start getting on some gold.
Uh, Dave, you got a copy there, bruvs?
Yo. Yeah, man, she's running really warm,
looking at the gauge. She's going up around the 100 mark.
I think I'm gonna have to shut her down. I don't want to cause any damage.
You can jump on a detector for us, then.
We're getting a bit behind here.
Yeah, no worries.
We are at a critical point in the season
where, you know, it's literally make or break time.
Come on, gold, where are you?
If we don't find gold, we are gonna have to really question
whether or not we are gonna continue.
Just got to keep it nice and low.
(METAL DETECTOR HUMMING)
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING AND BEEPING)
Ho-ho! (CHUCKLES)
That sounds good. There's a strong chance
that we're on to gold here. Let's go.
It's now or never.
Oh, it's not for the fainthearted.
Come on. (METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING AND BEEPING)
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING) Oh, yeah!
Oh, that sounds cool.
This could be something
that'll put us up on the board.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING) Ho-ho!
Oh-ho! Heh-heh-hey!
(LAUGHS)
Whoo-hoo! I reckon about half an ounce.
NARRATOR: Linden's first nugget for the week
is worth more than 1,200 dollars.
Look at that. That was just waiting for me
to come and pick her up. Oh.
(LAUGHS)
That's a decent nugget.
Can feel a bit of weight to that. Maybe just shy of an ounce.
This is what it's about right here. (LAUGHS)
Hopefully this is just a sign of bigger things,
bigger and better things to come.
That's what you call a gold nugget, baby.
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
Whoo-hoo!
Yeah! (LAUGHS)
Here we come!
NARRATOR: 150 kilometres outside of Leonora,
Russell has returned from a four-hour round trip
to fix a broken driveshaft from their dry blower.
Couldn't weld it. It kept on busting.
But guess what. (LAUGHS)
Brand-new one. I'm gonna go sort this out,
bolt everything onto it, away we go. OK, well, go fit it.
Give me an hour. I'll go and detect.
Have you been finding gold? I'm going well, Russell.
We're on the gold! You beauty. Let's get into it.
We need the dry blower to work. That's our bread and butter.
We should be able to get at least 20 grams a day with this thing, at least.
And that's what we need. To make target, that's what we need.
I just have to bolt all the pulleys on and we're back in business,
and make some money. (METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING)
I've got a sound here.
I hope this is a decent bit of gold.
(METAL DETECTOR WHOOPING AND BEEPING)
Right, I've got it in hand.
Look at that!
That's a nice piece of gold. Six or seven grams.
NARRATOR: The nugget is worth around 500 dollars.
It's a really decent-sized bit of gold.
That's it. Ready to go. Ready to rock 'n' roll.
Come on.
(MOTOR RUNNING)
(LAUGHS)
We are back in, Shane! Back in!
Let's go!
I'm pretty happy with that, Shane. It's looking good.
That's working better than it's ever worked.
We haven't got a lot of time left, but we can still make it. I'm not gonna give up yet.
Let's start lighting at up! Let's light her right up!
It's all about the tonnes. The dirt we can shift, the dirt we can put in the dry blower.
Go most of the night
and see how we go.
Have you got the gold, Cayd? Yeah, sure do. You beauty.
NARRATOR: In Victoria at the legendary Catto's Paddock lease,
the Poseidon crew's operation has been hampered
by a damaged tyre. OK.
Let's throw some gold on the scales. Here you go.
OK.
1.26 of smalls. Of smalls. All right, which is all right.
Where's the bigger ones, mate?
Right here. Throw it on.
So that's 1.75.
What's he doing? And...
the last bit.
That brings it to 2.52.
Considering the weight with that, mate,
I don't think that's really that bad. Yeah.
NARRATOR: This week's haul adds 6,300 dollars to their tally.
From where my expectations are... Yeah.
..it's really poor. Yeah.
Like, really poor. Expectations versus reality.
It's... But we are in big nugget country.
I think it's just a waiting game, mate. This will get us through,
but we're really waiting for that big one to pop out. Yeah.
And that's what's getting us through. It's nowhere near where we want to be, right?
We've got a 350-ounce target now, which I still think
could be achievable, and I believe we can achieve that in five seconds.
We're just gonna have to keep digging and keep digging. Yep.
And the nuggets will come. That's the way we've got to tackle it, mate.
Let's get going, eh? Righto. All right.
Eh, second last weigh-in. Let see how we went.
NARRATOR: Shane and Russell are about to find out
if the 6,000 dollars Shane spent buying their new Leonora lease
has paid off.
Hey, it feels pretty good to me. Give us a little feel.
I don't know if you got your money back yet. Come on, just have it out, Rusty! See how we go.
There's one.
There's two. Three. Look at that.
And there's my piece.
4.318.
Just under 11,000 dollars. Well, that's a very good effort.
That's not bad. That's our best ever, for sure.
Paid for the lease already. I've never seen so much gold.
It's fantastic. We are on the gold, and if we can stay on it
we're gonna make some money. It's great.
Don't forget we've got to make target, mate. Don't boast yet.
We have another seven ounces to find. It's gonna be a big week.
I think we deserve to go and have a drink and a nice feed.
Do you mind? Absolutely. Let's pack it up and let's get out of here.
Hey, you fellas! Hey, how are you? How you going, guys?
NARRATOR: Marcus, Linden and Dale
have spent the week working a lease owned by their friend Dave Askew,
desperate to have a shot at making target
before the summer heat shuts them down.
Thanks for coming and giving me a hand, eh.
No worries. Thanks for letting us come out. I've seen youse jumping around a lot.
You must have found a bit of gold. I reckon let's chuck it up on the table and see what we got.
Let's see what the numbers have to say.
Here you go! Look at that!
Wow! Look at that.
2.97.
(ALL CHEERING)
(LAUGHTER) Hey! Cool, mate!
Whoo-hoo! Everyone's happy. Yeah!
Everyone's happy. Thanks, mate. Good, good.
Very close to seven-and-a-half thousand dollars.
NARRATOR: After covering their 1,000-dollar weekly running costs,
the team's 50% split
adds 3,200 dollars to their tally.
That's all right. That's all right. That's what it's all about. Yeah!
Good sizes there, guys. I appreciate the opportunity, Dave.
Thanks again, mate. Yeah. Thank you.
No worries.
I've got your phone number. You're on speed dial.
(INDISTINCT) Yeah. (LAUGHS)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
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