1 00:00:05,689 --> 00:00:07,172 [Mark] This is the biggest casino there is. 2 00:00:08,379 --> 00:00:11,689 You have no idea if there's anything beneath the surface or not. 3 00:00:11,689 --> 00:00:13,275 You're just hoping there is. 4 00:00:13,275 --> 00:00:15,310 [Trevor] I've watched enough guys on TV 5 00:00:15,310 --> 00:00:19,241 cleaning enough rocks to go, "I'll get this. I got this." 6 00:00:19,620 --> 00:00:21,172 Yeah, I was wrong. 7 00:00:21,172 --> 00:00:24,103 [Mark] We're 400,000 US dollars into this, 8 00:00:24,103 --> 00:00:25,241 we need to see gold. 9 00:00:26,620 --> 00:00:29,586 I got more in my teeth than we found last season. 10 00:00:29,586 --> 00:00:32,103 So you spend $1,000 in fuel digging hole, 11 00:00:33,413 --> 00:00:34,310 nothing in the hole. 12 00:00:34,310 --> 00:00:36,379 It was... it was so bad. 13 00:00:36,379 --> 00:00:40,068 Way tougher, way tougher than any of us expected. 14 00:00:40,068 --> 00:00:42,827 You can't stay mining up here, and, you know, 15 00:00:42,827 --> 00:00:45,793 pour money down into the hole for nothing. 16 00:00:45,793 --> 00:00:48,000 [Sacha] We're new to this, and we're rookies. 17 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,310 We're not quite getting it. 18 00:00:50,310 --> 00:00:52,413 [Trevor] If we don't get 100 ounces this year, 19 00:00:52,413 --> 00:00:54,724 that's it, it's over. The dream ends. 20 00:00:57,586 --> 00:00:59,586 [Freddy] Let's make some gold, guys! 21 00:00:59,586 --> 00:01:01,172 [narrator] Freddy Dodge... 22 00:01:01,172 --> 00:01:03,310 There's no guarantees in gold, buddy. 23 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:05,724 [narrator] ...and Juan Ibarra... 24 00:01:05,724 --> 00:01:07,379 All right. Well, let's do it, huh? 25 00:01:07,379 --> 00:01:10,827 [narrator] ...have mastered the art of getting gold out of the ground... 26 00:01:10,827 --> 00:01:12,275 [Juan] Look at that. 27 00:01:12,275 --> 00:01:14,586 [narrator] ...in the most rugged places on earth. 28 00:01:14,586 --> 00:01:16,586 [Juan] I'm feeling a little sick, Freddy. 29 00:01:16,586 --> 00:01:19,275 [narrator] Now they rescue struggling miners... 30 00:01:19,275 --> 00:01:21,103 - Ooh. - [Freddy] That's not good. 31 00:01:21,103 --> 00:01:23,448 [narrator] ...who've risked it all to be rich... 32 00:01:24,413 --> 00:01:25,793 Whoa, whoa, whoa! Shut it down! 33 00:01:25,793 --> 00:01:28,103 [narrator] ...but are about to lose everything. 34 00:01:28,379 --> 00:01:29,448 Eyeballs. 35 00:01:29,448 --> 00:01:31,896 [narrator] To revive these failing mines, 36 00:01:31,896 --> 00:01:34,689 Freddy and Juan engineered the impossible. 37 00:01:34,689 --> 00:01:37,068 [man] Well, I've never heard of an under sluice before. 38 00:01:37,068 --> 00:01:39,206 [narrator] Deliver some hard truths. 39 00:01:39,206 --> 00:01:42,275 This material you're digging now is totally worthless. 40 00:01:42,275 --> 00:01:44,517 [narrator] And track down the gold. 41 00:01:44,517 --> 00:01:46,275 That's what dreams are made of right there. 42 00:01:46,275 --> 00:01:50,482 [narrator] But if they don't at least double the miners' gold recovery, 43 00:01:50,482 --> 00:01:52,931 they won't take a dime in return. 44 00:01:52,931 --> 00:01:55,724 It's ten times the amount of gold. That's awesome. 45 00:01:58,310 --> 00:02:00,310 [opening theme music playing] 46 00:02:02,172 --> 00:02:03,827 [upbeat music playing] 47 00:02:09,793 --> 00:02:13,172 Hey, Juan, I sure hope this is the right road. 48 00:02:13,172 --> 00:02:15,482 [Juan] Yeah, he was saying it was down the logging road, right? 49 00:02:15,482 --> 00:02:17,586 So I'm imagining this is it. 50 00:02:17,586 --> 00:02:20,482 Do they have much experience mining, Freddy, that you know of? 51 00:02:20,482 --> 00:02:23,310 I don't think they have much experience mining at all. 52 00:02:23,310 --> 00:02:25,310 They started getting set up last year, 53 00:02:25,310 --> 00:02:28,172 and, uh, they just started to run a little bit. 54 00:02:28,172 --> 00:02:30,793 I think we may be in a tough situation here. 55 00:02:30,793 --> 00:02:32,000 Dang it. Okay. 56 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:33,827 We'll learn more shortly. 57 00:02:38,482 --> 00:02:41,413 [narrator] In the central interior of British Columbia, 58 00:02:41,413 --> 00:02:47,068 Freddy and Juan are answering a call for help from the Naver Creek mine. 59 00:02:47,068 --> 00:02:50,413 Located in an area with rich gold potential, 60 00:02:50,413 --> 00:02:54,000 during the Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858, 61 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,103 around 30,000 gold miners converged on the area. 62 00:02:58,103 --> 00:03:04,103 In only a nine-year period, they produced gold worth over $3 trillion 63 00:03:04,103 --> 00:03:05,620 in today's money. 64 00:03:09,482 --> 00:03:11,172 - [Juan] How we doing, gentlemen? - [Freddy] How's it going? 65 00:03:11,172 --> 00:03:12,206 You're a familiar face. 66 00:03:12,206 --> 00:03:14,103 - Jay. - Jay, nice to meet you. 67 00:03:14,103 --> 00:03:15,000 - Freddy. - Trevor. 68 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:15,896 Pleasure. 69 00:03:15,896 --> 00:03:16,931 - Trevor? - Yes. 70 00:03:16,931 --> 00:03:17,896 Trevor and Jay. 71 00:03:17,896 --> 00:03:19,000 Hi, I'm Sacha. 72 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:20,724 - Nice to meet you, Sacha. - Very nice to meet you. 73 00:03:20,724 --> 00:03:21,793 Hey, Sacha. Juan. 74 00:03:21,793 --> 00:03:23,172 - Hi, Freddy. I'm Mark. - Mark. 75 00:03:23,172 --> 00:03:25,000 Mark, Sacha, Trevor. 76 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,103 Well, it's great you guys are here. Welcome to Canada. 77 00:03:27,103 --> 00:03:29,103 [Sacha] We need you. [chuckles] 78 00:03:29,103 --> 00:03:30,275 Help. 79 00:03:30,275 --> 00:03:32,103 [Freddy] I'm not a psychiatrist. Just so you know. 80 00:03:32,103 --> 00:03:33,379 [Sacha] Damn, what we need. 81 00:03:33,379 --> 00:03:34,965 [laughter] 82 00:03:34,965 --> 00:03:37,413 [Juan] What did your season look like last year, as far as gold totals? 83 00:03:37,413 --> 00:03:38,896 [Sacha] Last year was a bust. 84 00:03:38,896 --> 00:03:40,206 Oh, really? 85 00:03:40,206 --> 00:03:42,379 [Trevor] It was a bad bust. We found about 3/4 of an ounce. 86 00:03:42,379 --> 00:03:46,103 I mean, digging through 30 feet of clay to try to get to bedrock. 87 00:03:46,103 --> 00:03:47,620 It was just... it was nasty. 88 00:03:47,620 --> 00:03:50,103 [Juan] So last year was bust, this year, how are you doing so far? 89 00:03:50,103 --> 00:03:51,620 We just got set up here. 90 00:03:51,620 --> 00:03:53,275 We've been running for about a week. 91 00:03:53,275 --> 00:03:54,275 Wow. Okay. 92 00:03:54,275 --> 00:03:55,758 This is what we got out of there. 93 00:03:56,413 --> 00:03:57,379 Sixth of an ounce. 94 00:03:57,379 --> 00:03:58,551 [Juan] Sixth of an ounce, yeah. 95 00:03:58,551 --> 00:04:00,172 [Mark] And I'll guarantee you, we lost half of it. 96 00:04:00,172 --> 00:04:01,068 Oh, yeah, guaranteed. 97 00:04:01,068 --> 00:04:02,517 [Freddy] That's it, huh? 98 00:04:02,517 --> 00:04:04,827 [Juan] So, so far, everything you've found is about that size then? 99 00:04:04,827 --> 00:04:07,310 - [Trevor] Yeah. - [Freddy] Not a lot of finds in it, huh? 100 00:04:07,310 --> 00:04:10,068 As far as financially, what do you guys have tied up in this? 101 00:04:10,068 --> 00:04:12,620 [Mark] From claims, machinery, maintenance, odds and ends 102 00:04:12,620 --> 00:04:13,793 that we've had to put together, 103 00:04:13,793 --> 00:04:15,724 total $400,000 US. 104 00:04:17,482 --> 00:04:20,137 And nobody's getting a paycheck unless we see some gold. 105 00:04:21,586 --> 00:04:24,551 I started gold mining with a friend one summer, 106 00:04:25,379 --> 00:04:26,413 and I got the bug. 107 00:04:26,896 --> 00:04:28,275 You've seen it on TV. 108 00:04:28,275 --> 00:04:30,103 It looks adventurous. 109 00:04:30,103 --> 00:04:32,413 It looks fun. It looks like it can be done. 110 00:04:33,172 --> 00:04:35,206 So you give it a shot. 111 00:04:35,206 --> 00:04:38,000 Last year we pulled together a couple of good buddies. 112 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,517 I asked Jay and Trevor and we said, "Let's do the adventure." 113 00:04:42,517 --> 00:04:44,931 We did not get very much though, not even an ounce. 114 00:04:45,482 --> 00:04:47,793 So it's a really tough year. 115 00:04:47,793 --> 00:04:50,896 I wanted to give it up. I really wanted to give up. 116 00:04:50,896 --> 00:04:53,206 [narrator] Last year, Mark Skakun 117 00:04:53,206 --> 00:04:57,413 met local gold enthusiast and claim owner, John Olsen. 118 00:04:57,413 --> 00:05:00,103 It's been a hobby of mine for many years, 119 00:05:00,103 --> 00:05:03,689 and these claims took me quite a while to acquire. 120 00:05:03,689 --> 00:05:07,000 I saw an opportunity and I grabbed hold of it. 121 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:12,172 But it soon overtook me and it became too big for me. 122 00:05:12,172 --> 00:05:16,000 I know there's better gold on here because I've found better gold here. 123 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:17,482 Some are fairly chunky. 124 00:05:17,482 --> 00:05:20,827 I had to make a decision, so I got the other folks involved 125 00:05:20,827 --> 00:05:23,931 and we're trying to make this work and make it worthwhile. 126 00:05:25,931 --> 00:05:28,793 Meeting with John, being good friends with him, 127 00:05:28,793 --> 00:05:32,689 and then seeing his property having a chance to help him, 128 00:05:32,689 --> 00:05:34,862 and we're all sharing the gold, what we find. 129 00:05:35,931 --> 00:05:39,172 [narrator] When John purchased the claim five years ago, 130 00:05:39,172 --> 00:05:41,793 it came with several mining relics 131 00:05:41,793 --> 00:05:44,172 and a broken wash plant. 132 00:05:44,172 --> 00:05:48,310 Located on 1,600 acres of dense, wooded terrain, 133 00:05:48,310 --> 00:05:53,103 Mark recently moved the operation to a more accessible area. 134 00:05:53,103 --> 00:05:55,413 There's actually dirt going through a trommel. 135 00:05:55,413 --> 00:05:56,620 It's being washed. 136 00:05:56,620 --> 00:05:58,620 We're actually seeing gold in a pan. 137 00:05:58,620 --> 00:06:02,137 Like, this is light-years ahead of last year. 138 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:04,586 [Juan] What's your season goal this year? 139 00:06:04,586 --> 00:06:06,137 We'll have the goal of 100 ounces. 140 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:10,103 This is the turning point 141 00:06:10,103 --> 00:06:12,482 whether we just tuck our tail between our legs. 142 00:06:12,482 --> 00:06:14,172 We don't want that. You know? 143 00:06:14,172 --> 00:06:15,517 That's why we're here, it's to help. 144 00:06:15,517 --> 00:06:17,827 Ah, and you know what, we need it. 145 00:06:17,827 --> 00:06:19,689 There's only one way to find out. 146 00:06:19,689 --> 00:06:20,896 Let's do a test run. 147 00:06:20,896 --> 00:06:21,896 Okay, let's do this. 148 00:06:24,793 --> 00:06:26,379 [Juan] They're just barely starting out, 149 00:06:26,379 --> 00:06:29,896 and they've got less than half an ounce of gold to a goal of 100 ounces. 150 00:06:29,896 --> 00:06:32,586 It's a lot. It's a massive undertaking. 151 00:06:32,586 --> 00:06:35,517 To be honest, I just don't know if that's even possible right now. 152 00:06:36,103 --> 00:06:37,517 - Fire it up. - [Juan] Fire it up. 153 00:06:41,103 --> 00:06:43,482 [narrator] Freddy and Juan will conduct a test run 154 00:06:43,482 --> 00:06:45,310 to identify problems 155 00:06:45,310 --> 00:06:50,137 and measure how much gold Mark's wash plant can catch in four hours. 156 00:06:52,206 --> 00:06:54,000 [Juan] There it is, Freddy, first bucket. 157 00:06:59,827 --> 00:07:02,482 Let's get some paydirt into there. 158 00:07:02,482 --> 00:07:07,448 [narrator] Trevor and Mark haul pay from a cut 600 yards from the wash plant. 159 00:07:09,103 --> 00:07:11,620 We'll take full loads here because we're now starting to move. 160 00:07:12,931 --> 00:07:15,586 [narrator] The pay is loaded into a hopper 161 00:07:15,586 --> 00:07:18,620 and drops into an 8-foot rotating trommel. 162 00:07:19,517 --> 00:07:21,724 A spray bar blasts the dirt, 163 00:07:21,724 --> 00:07:24,310 washing the small material and gold 164 00:07:24,310 --> 00:07:27,689 through the screen and down into the sluice box, 165 00:07:27,689 --> 00:07:30,310 where gold should be caught in the mess. 166 00:07:31,517 --> 00:07:32,827 I know there's a lot of people 167 00:07:32,827 --> 00:07:35,379 that only dream about living their lives this way, 168 00:07:35,379 --> 00:07:38,862 and here we are, playing the big sandbox. 169 00:07:39,896 --> 00:07:41,310 It's fantastic. 170 00:07:47,689 --> 00:07:50,000 [Mark] We've got to get the 100 ounces this year, 171 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,068 or we're not gonna have another season. 172 00:07:52,068 --> 00:07:54,724 I don't want to come back empty-handed. Not this time. 173 00:08:00,482 --> 00:08:02,896 [Freddy] From a distance, I don't like the look of the material 174 00:08:02,896 --> 00:08:04,275 they're running out of that pit. 175 00:08:04,275 --> 00:08:05,724 It's kind of a glacial till. 176 00:08:07,068 --> 00:08:08,413 Not much gold in it. 177 00:08:10,689 --> 00:08:13,206 [Juan] This little plant is not made for what they want to do. 178 00:08:13,206 --> 00:08:17,172 No, this is to drag around behind to pick up the test ground left. 179 00:08:17,172 --> 00:08:20,137 Not to mine. Not to try to make a living off of. 180 00:08:21,689 --> 00:08:24,172 The bucket is bigger than the plant, Juan. 181 00:08:24,172 --> 00:08:25,241 [Juan] Yeah. 182 00:08:26,310 --> 00:08:28,000 [Freddy] It's, kind of, missing. 183 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:33,275 Look at all that fine material that's getting spit out on the ground. 184 00:08:33,275 --> 00:08:36,344 [Juan] They're rookies to mining. You can tell there's a lot of inexperience. 185 00:08:39,586 --> 00:08:41,793 [Freddy] That sluice's running like crap. 186 00:08:41,793 --> 00:08:43,689 - [Juan] Not near enough water. - [Freddy] Not enough water. 187 00:08:43,689 --> 00:08:45,206 - Crooked. - [Juan] Yep. 188 00:08:45,206 --> 00:08:48,482 [Freddy] That's why we weren't seeing much fine gold in that jar. 189 00:08:48,482 --> 00:08:49,827 - Yeah. - Yeah. 190 00:08:49,827 --> 00:08:52,724 [narrator] The poorly-configured sluice box is uneven 191 00:08:52,724 --> 00:08:56,275 and doesn't have enough water to properly wash the rocks, 192 00:08:56,275 --> 00:08:59,275 causing material to build up on one side. 193 00:08:59,275 --> 00:09:01,379 [Freddy] Piling up at the top. 194 00:09:01,379 --> 00:09:05,206 [narrator] Both of which will cause gold to be lost. 195 00:09:08,896 --> 00:09:10,103 It's a mess, Juan. 196 00:09:10,103 --> 00:09:11,689 Yeah. I don't even know where to start, Fred. 197 00:09:11,689 --> 00:09:13,310 There's just so much going on here. 198 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,517 The plant has quite a few problems. 199 00:09:18,517 --> 00:09:20,137 These guys, they lack experience. 200 00:09:21,517 --> 00:09:22,724 [Freddy] Is that their pump? 201 00:09:22,724 --> 00:09:24,103 - [Juan] Small pump, huh? - [Freddy] Yeah. 202 00:09:24,103 --> 00:09:26,310 Lot of... and a lot of line 203 00:09:26,310 --> 00:09:27,931 going down through there. 204 00:09:27,931 --> 00:09:31,034 And half their water is going on the ground, not down the sluice box. 205 00:09:32,103 --> 00:09:34,379 They've hardly got any material through it. 206 00:09:34,379 --> 00:09:36,586 They're probably doing five yards an hour. 207 00:09:36,586 --> 00:09:39,206 It's like watching paint dry right now, though. 208 00:09:41,482 --> 00:09:42,620 Juan... 209 00:09:43,275 --> 00:09:45,000 - Yeah. - We're just here over four hours. 210 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:46,724 - Yeah, call it, Freddy. - Yeah. 211 00:09:47,827 --> 00:09:49,206 Last bucket! 212 00:09:51,482 --> 00:09:52,344 Copy that. 213 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:55,655 [Juan] That's it, shut it down. 214 00:09:59,379 --> 00:10:00,931 [dramatic music playing] 215 00:10:06,068 --> 00:10:07,793 [Freddy] There's some gold in it. 216 00:10:07,793 --> 00:10:09,793 Let's pull the mats and see what's in them. 217 00:10:09,793 --> 00:10:11,758 - [Mark] Let's pull the mats. - [Sacha] Let's do it. 218 00:10:13,379 --> 00:10:15,896 [Juan] You know, the plant in itself is an issue. 219 00:10:15,896 --> 00:10:17,310 - You know? - [Freddy] Everything. 220 00:10:17,310 --> 00:10:20,206 In order to make this plant viable, 221 00:10:20,206 --> 00:10:21,655 we're gonna have to take it all apart. 222 00:10:21,655 --> 00:10:23,827 - Everything. - It's still not going to do the amount of yardage 223 00:10:23,827 --> 00:10:24,862 - they'd need though. - No. 224 00:10:24,862 --> 00:10:26,103 [Juan] Well, that's not a production plant. 225 00:10:26,103 --> 00:10:27,689 This is definitely a test plant. 226 00:10:27,689 --> 00:10:30,103 - [Freddy] Yeah. - Ten yards an hour max. 227 00:10:30,103 --> 00:10:31,517 And that's not where they need to be. 228 00:10:31,517 --> 00:10:33,241 Exactly, Juan. 229 00:10:33,896 --> 00:10:37,172 These are probably the most inexperienced miners we've ever helped. 230 00:10:37,172 --> 00:10:40,310 Their goal of 100 ounces is unobtainable... 231 00:10:41,103 --> 00:10:42,137 the way they're running now. 232 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,206 [dramatic music playing] 233 00:11:00,793 --> 00:11:03,172 [Freddy] Well, it didn't look like very much gold, did it? 234 00:11:03,172 --> 00:11:04,793 [Juan] It didn't, Freddy. 235 00:11:04,793 --> 00:11:06,275 Well, we're gonna see what it is. 236 00:11:08,275 --> 00:11:11,275 [narrator] At the Naver Creek mine in British Columbia... 237 00:11:11,275 --> 00:11:13,172 This is my son, Dustin. 238 00:11:13,172 --> 00:11:14,241 [Freddy] Dustin? Nice to meet you, Dustin. 239 00:11:14,241 --> 00:11:15,517 - Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, Dustin. 240 00:11:15,517 --> 00:11:16,793 Nice to meet you, too. 241 00:11:16,793 --> 00:11:18,344 John. Fred. 242 00:11:18,344 --> 00:11:22,482 [narrator] Sacha's son, Dustin, and claim owner, John joined the crew 243 00:11:22,482 --> 00:11:25,586 to see the results from the four-hour test. 244 00:11:25,586 --> 00:11:28,000 Well, I guess there's only one thing to do now 245 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,103 at the moment, is weigh it up, huh? 246 00:11:30,103 --> 00:11:31,551 Let's see what we came up with. 247 00:11:32,689 --> 00:11:34,172 [Freddy] Every speck counts. 248 00:11:34,172 --> 00:11:37,689 [narrator] With approximately 100 days in the mining season... 249 00:11:37,689 --> 00:11:39,103 In this situation, it really does. 250 00:11:39,103 --> 00:11:40,034 Yep. 251 00:11:41,379 --> 00:11:42,931 [narrator] ...this four-hour test 252 00:11:42,931 --> 00:11:45,586 must deliver at least 0.4 ounces 253 00:11:45,586 --> 00:11:48,931 to hit their one ounce a day goal. 254 00:11:51,172 --> 00:11:53,551 0.02. Not good, guys. 255 00:11:54,689 --> 00:11:56,517 - [Juan] No. - [Trevor] Not good at all. 256 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,103 [Sacha] It's painful. 257 00:11:59,103 --> 00:12:02,000 That doesn't even pay for the fuel that you used on your plant. 258 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,206 - [Freddy] You said your goal was 100 ounces this year? - Yeah. 259 00:12:04,206 --> 00:12:06,241 - Yeah. - [Juan] So that means you gotta get an ounce a day. 260 00:12:06,896 --> 00:12:08,103 That's nowhere near it. 261 00:12:08,103 --> 00:12:09,482 [Trevor] No. 262 00:12:09,482 --> 00:12:13,206 0.02 was extremely disappointing. 263 00:12:13,206 --> 00:12:18,103 A lot of hard work and effort went into that, and it's a reality check. 264 00:12:18,103 --> 00:12:20,103 [Juan] What we're going to do is we're going to come up with a game plan. 265 00:12:20,103 --> 00:12:21,172 [Sacha] Hmm. 266 00:12:21,172 --> 00:12:22,172 What's that about? 267 00:12:22,172 --> 00:12:24,275 Do you have another plant in here then? 268 00:12:24,275 --> 00:12:26,793 [Trevor] I have no idea whether this thing works. 269 00:12:26,793 --> 00:12:28,379 None of us have ever seen it run. 270 00:12:28,379 --> 00:12:30,034 [Freddy] It's pretty rough. 271 00:12:31,310 --> 00:12:33,793 Well, let's go chat about it and see what we can come up with, Fred. 272 00:12:33,793 --> 00:12:35,586 Okay. We'll see you guys after a bit. 273 00:12:35,586 --> 00:12:36,793 [Sacha] All right. Thank you. 274 00:12:36,793 --> 00:12:38,000 Thanks, guys. 275 00:12:39,896 --> 00:12:41,620 Well, that wasn't very impressive. 276 00:12:42,103 --> 00:12:43,689 - 0.02. - Yeah. 277 00:12:43,689 --> 00:12:46,000 We could fix that small plant, but it's not like putting lipstick 278 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,000 on a pig for your eyes because they can't run enough material. 279 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,068 - It's way undermatched. - That's right. 280 00:12:51,068 --> 00:12:53,000 We're only here so many days. 281 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,413 Do we have the time to fix this bigger plant? 282 00:13:00,758 --> 00:13:02,000 There's no discharge chute. 283 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,103 But the hopper, the feed hopper, that's... 284 00:13:04,103 --> 00:13:05,137 The grizzlies are missing. 285 00:13:07,586 --> 00:13:09,000 You know, ideally, if we could see it run 286 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,000 for, you know, a day or for just a couple of hours 287 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:12,482 to figure out what the problems are-- 288 00:13:12,482 --> 00:13:14,103 [Freddy] There's no saying it'd run. It's in pieces. 289 00:13:14,103 --> 00:13:15,758 [Juan] It's completely unknown. 290 00:13:15,758 --> 00:13:18,689 You know, it might have a bad gearbox, may have bad rollers. 291 00:13:18,689 --> 00:13:20,862 We don't know until we actually get in there and run it. 292 00:13:20,862 --> 00:13:22,620 You know, it's a gamble, Freddy. 293 00:13:24,172 --> 00:13:27,068 [Freddy] What we've got here is a puzzle that might not have all the pieces. 294 00:13:27,068 --> 00:13:28,482 [Juan] Yeah. 295 00:13:29,275 --> 00:13:31,551 - Without it, they don't have a chance. - No, they don't. 296 00:13:32,793 --> 00:13:34,586 [Juan] We're gonna have to help them out with that bigger plant 297 00:13:34,586 --> 00:13:37,931 because, honestly, there's just no other way. 298 00:13:37,931 --> 00:13:40,068 You know, running six, seven, eight yards an hour 299 00:13:40,068 --> 00:13:42,482 is not going to cut it for these guys at all. 300 00:13:42,482 --> 00:13:44,862 Let's go put some rough numbers together, huh? 301 00:13:44,862 --> 00:13:46,206 Let's do it. 302 00:13:47,103 --> 00:13:49,482 [narrator] For the first time ever, Freddy and Juan 303 00:13:49,482 --> 00:13:54,103 will completely refurbish a plant that hasn't run in years. 304 00:13:54,103 --> 00:13:58,724 Their aim, quadruple the amount of pay that can be processed. 305 00:13:59,517 --> 00:14:00,758 To feed the plant, 306 00:14:00,758 --> 00:14:05,206 they will attach the hopper, install new grizzly bars 307 00:14:05,206 --> 00:14:08,103 and plumb in a pre-wash system. 308 00:14:08,103 --> 00:14:09,689 To power the trommel, 309 00:14:09,689 --> 00:14:11,896 they will replace the old electric motor 310 00:14:11,896 --> 00:14:14,896 with an entirely new gas-powered engine. 311 00:14:17,172 --> 00:14:22,103 Finally, the old sluice box will be modified with higher sides 312 00:14:22,103 --> 00:14:26,620 and given a new riffle and carpet set up to catch both course 313 00:14:26,620 --> 00:14:28,689 and fine gold. 314 00:14:28,689 --> 00:14:34,137 The goal, 100 ounces in the remaining three months of the season. 315 00:14:39,896 --> 00:14:41,620 Well, that's a lot of money, Juan. 316 00:14:41,620 --> 00:14:42,862 [Juan] Well, let's see what they say. 317 00:14:42,862 --> 00:14:44,172 How we doing? 318 00:14:44,172 --> 00:14:45,310 - [Sacha] Good! - Doing good. 319 00:14:45,310 --> 00:14:46,586 [Juan] Yeah? Okay. 320 00:14:46,586 --> 00:14:48,000 Getting organized? 321 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,379 Well, we, kind of, came up with some numbers. 322 00:14:50,379 --> 00:14:51,965 We wanted to see what you guys think. 323 00:14:51,965 --> 00:14:56,000 If you guys have any chance of being able to get the ounce-a-day goal, 324 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,068 - you're going to have to go to that bigger plant. - [Freddy] Yeah. 325 00:14:58,068 --> 00:15:01,758 But in order for that to happen, there's quite a bit we've got to do. 326 00:15:01,758 --> 00:15:03,137 A lot of cost involved in it. 327 00:15:03,379 --> 00:15:05,758 With motors, 328 00:15:05,758 --> 00:15:08,586 pumps, the steel, 329 00:15:08,586 --> 00:15:10,000 you know, we've got a rough estimate 330 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,000 of about $14,000, just in material. 331 00:15:14,172 --> 00:15:16,310 [Trevor] Wow, that's a bunch. 332 00:15:16,310 --> 00:15:20,172 But reality is, without that bigger plant running, 333 00:15:20,172 --> 00:15:22,931 you have no chance of being able to reach your goal. 334 00:15:22,931 --> 00:15:25,586 Well, on top of that, guys, we're going to have to bring 335 00:15:25,586 --> 00:15:28,103 other people in on this one to help us because there's no way 336 00:15:28,103 --> 00:15:30,172 we can get it done in the amount of time. 337 00:15:30,172 --> 00:15:34,517 So on top of the 14,000 in materials, six ounces of gold 338 00:15:34,517 --> 00:15:36,241 at the end of the season you pass. 339 00:15:36,758 --> 00:15:38,137 [Sacha] Wow. 340 00:15:38,137 --> 00:15:40,275 Because right now, you need an ounce a day to survive, right? 341 00:15:40,275 --> 00:15:43,103 And you think this mine can produce that? 342 00:15:43,103 --> 00:15:45,068 Gold's got to be in the ground, of course, 343 00:15:45,068 --> 00:15:47,482 but I'll find some better ground to run. 344 00:15:47,482 --> 00:15:49,758 - You can't keep running that stuff. - No. Clearly. 345 00:15:49,758 --> 00:15:51,000 Without you guys, we're stuck. 346 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:52,310 [Mark] Hold on a second. 347 00:15:52,310 --> 00:15:54,551 - I really need you to back up for a second. - [Freddy] Okay. 348 00:15:57,482 --> 00:15:59,827 So let me see if I got this understanding. 349 00:16:00,758 --> 00:16:02,896 There's... Right from the from the front, 350 00:16:02,896 --> 00:16:05,275 right from the grizzly right to the back end, 351 00:16:05,275 --> 00:16:06,896 there's a whole rework that has to be done. 352 00:16:06,896 --> 00:16:08,137 - A lot of stuff. - Yeah. 353 00:16:08,689 --> 00:16:12,379 14,000, plus six ounces of gold. 354 00:16:12,379 --> 00:16:16,620 I'll tell you what, we usually want to double the amount of gold, 355 00:16:16,620 --> 00:16:20,379 but in this situation, double of very little is still very little. 356 00:16:20,379 --> 00:16:22,586 If we don't get you 20 times the amount of gold 357 00:16:22,586 --> 00:16:25,482 in that first cleanup, which was not a lot, right? 358 00:16:25,482 --> 00:16:29,068 - [Trevor] Yep. - Then you don't pay us for labor. 359 00:16:29,068 --> 00:16:30,620 Still pay for the material. 360 00:16:30,620 --> 00:16:33,000 So 20 times more gold from what we had 361 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:34,931 on our first test run, that's nearly half an ounce. 362 00:16:34,931 --> 00:16:37,206 - [Freddy] Yep. - So it will get you to that half an ounce in four hours. 363 00:16:37,206 --> 00:16:39,000 So that gets you-- In 10-hour day, 364 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:40,689 you're roughly doing an ounce of gold a day. 365 00:16:40,689 --> 00:16:41,758 - [Juan] Yeah. - [Freddy] Right. 366 00:16:45,862 --> 00:16:47,413 - I'm good with that. - Okay. 367 00:16:47,413 --> 00:16:49,000 - All right, deal. - All right. 368 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:50,103 - [Trevor] Awesome. - [Freddy] Yep. 369 00:16:50,103 --> 00:16:52,103 - Thank you. - It means everything. Thank you. 370 00:16:52,103 --> 00:16:53,482 [Juan] So we're gonna call in some workers of ours 371 00:16:53,482 --> 00:16:54,551 to come and give us a hand. 372 00:16:54,551 --> 00:16:55,965 But we're still gonna need your guys to help. 373 00:16:55,965 --> 00:16:58,482 You tell us what we need to do, and we'll be getting it done. 374 00:16:58,482 --> 00:16:59,655 We'll go start planning stuff. 375 00:16:59,655 --> 00:17:01,689 Yeah, we gotta make some phone calls. Let's do it. 376 00:17:01,689 --> 00:17:03,413 All right. Sounds good, guys. See you in a bit. 377 00:17:03,413 --> 00:17:04,862 - [Sacha] Thank you. - All right. 378 00:17:04,862 --> 00:17:06,586 [upbeat music playing] 379 00:17:06,586 --> 00:17:10,482 [Mark] If we can get to that 20 times of what our cleanup was, 380 00:17:10,482 --> 00:17:12,793 this will actually start to pay for itself. 381 00:17:12,793 --> 00:17:15,379 But that's a great deal. It's a fantastic deal. 382 00:17:15,379 --> 00:17:17,275 [Juan] The issue is the time constraint that we have. 383 00:17:17,275 --> 00:17:19,206 You know, we're gonna have to do a lot of work here, 384 00:17:19,206 --> 00:17:22,172 so we need to get on the phone right away and call Travis and Alex. 385 00:17:22,172 --> 00:17:23,620 Have them start heading this way. 386 00:17:32,793 --> 00:17:35,000 [Juan] Whoa! 387 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,620 [narrator] The first step for Freddy and Juan's complete mine makeover... 388 00:17:39,379 --> 00:17:41,620 It's a pretty heavy steel, Juan. 389 00:17:41,620 --> 00:17:43,793 [narrator] ...unload the 30-foot trommel 390 00:17:43,793 --> 00:17:46,275 so that they can assess the work ahead. 391 00:17:46,275 --> 00:17:47,413 This plant's been sitting in the field 392 00:17:47,413 --> 00:17:50,517 for the last 20, 30 years, so no one's seen it run. 393 00:17:50,517 --> 00:17:52,275 Well, we're going to try to revive it. 394 00:17:52,275 --> 00:17:53,689 We're going to get it on the ground. 395 00:17:53,689 --> 00:17:55,482 Start getting all the measurements and figure out what exactly 396 00:17:55,482 --> 00:17:56,931 we need to make this thing run. 397 00:17:57,689 --> 00:17:58,827 [Freddy] Come closer this way. 398 00:18:01,931 --> 00:18:02,862 That's good right there! 399 00:18:02,862 --> 00:18:04,000 [Sacha] Right there, Trevor. 400 00:18:10,103 --> 00:18:11,655 He's gonna pull out! 401 00:18:17,275 --> 00:18:19,896 [Trevor] Great to see that thing on the ground, I tell you. 402 00:18:20,517 --> 00:18:22,551 One step closer. It's exciting. 403 00:18:33,689 --> 00:18:36,172 [Freddy] Hey, Trevor, let's have a look in your pit here. 404 00:18:36,172 --> 00:18:40,000 [narrator] While prep continues on the trommel, Freddy wants to get eyes 405 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:41,896 on the paydirt they've been running. 406 00:18:41,896 --> 00:18:46,793 I mean, the amount of gold that was in that cleanup for four hours was miserable. 407 00:18:46,793 --> 00:18:49,000 [Trevor] I mean, we're trying to get down to bedrock in here. 408 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,275 Well, there's just something in here that doesn't look good to me. 409 00:18:51,275 --> 00:18:53,931 The rocks aren't really shingled really well, right? 410 00:18:56,758 --> 00:18:59,586 [narrator] Shingled rocks are smooth and round 411 00:18:59,586 --> 00:19:03,793 as a result of being constantly rolled in running water. 412 00:19:03,793 --> 00:19:08,103 Their presence indicates the location of ancient riverbeds, 413 00:19:08,103 --> 00:19:12,448 where they act like riffles in a sluice box, collecting gold. 414 00:19:15,758 --> 00:19:17,758 [Freddy] This hasn't had any erosion on it. 415 00:19:17,758 --> 00:19:20,103 It never gets re-sluiced by nature, right? 416 00:19:20,103 --> 00:19:23,275 This is just an exercise in futility, really. 417 00:19:23,275 --> 00:19:25,172 I wouldn't play with this anymore. 418 00:19:25,172 --> 00:19:27,482 Let's leave this alone and let's find you some better gold. 419 00:19:27,482 --> 00:19:28,758 [Trevor] Let's do it. 420 00:19:29,482 --> 00:19:31,000 [Freddy] I don't like the look of the material 421 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,310 they're running out of that pit. 422 00:19:32,310 --> 00:19:33,482 No matter what we do to their plant, 423 00:19:33,482 --> 00:19:35,724 if there's not enough gold, there's not enough gold. 424 00:19:44,655 --> 00:19:46,620 [upbeat music playing] 425 00:19:49,137 --> 00:19:50,241 [Juan] Mark, how you doing, buddy? 426 00:19:50,241 --> 00:19:51,620 Pretty good. Pretty good. 427 00:19:51,620 --> 00:19:54,655 [narrator] At the Naver Creek mine in British Columbia... 428 00:19:54,655 --> 00:19:56,241 Give you a hand on anything? 429 00:19:56,241 --> 00:19:59,793 [narrator] ...Juan's first challenge on the wash plant renovation, 430 00:20:00,275 --> 00:20:02,586 install the new engine. 431 00:20:02,586 --> 00:20:04,482 - We pulled off that electric motor. - Yep. 432 00:20:04,482 --> 00:20:07,275 [Juan] We're gonna go with the gas 20 hp V-twin motor. 433 00:20:07,275 --> 00:20:09,482 So it's gonna be a little different design than what you guys had before. 434 00:20:09,482 --> 00:20:12,034 It's gonna be hopefully, a little more reliable. 435 00:20:12,034 --> 00:20:13,793 [narrator] The new gas-powered engine 436 00:20:13,793 --> 00:20:15,689 will be connected to the gearbox 437 00:20:15,689 --> 00:20:17,137 by an adjustable belt. 438 00:20:17,137 --> 00:20:21,379 Juan must build a custom mounting plate to hold it in place. 439 00:20:21,379 --> 00:20:23,344 So what I'm going to do is I'm actually gonna put the motor 440 00:20:23,344 --> 00:20:25,068 - right where the old motor used to be. - Okay. 441 00:20:25,068 --> 00:20:26,896 It's kind of guarded underneath that hopper. 442 00:20:26,896 --> 00:20:29,586 But what I'm doing is I'm building a new base plate for the motors. 443 00:20:29,586 --> 00:20:33,344 You're doing your own washers and you're doing your own shims. 444 00:20:33,344 --> 00:20:35,827 Yeah, that's everything. Yeah, we'll send it over to the table. 445 00:20:36,241 --> 00:20:37,137 And now let's cut it. 446 00:20:37,137 --> 00:20:38,586 We'll just hit start on the machine. 447 00:20:38,586 --> 00:20:39,689 [upbeat music playing] 448 00:20:39,689 --> 00:20:40,862 [Mark] Nice. 449 00:20:40,862 --> 00:20:41,896 So there we are. 450 00:20:42,482 --> 00:20:43,965 [Mark] Part number one. 451 00:20:43,965 --> 00:20:46,482 [narrator] Juan's computer-aided design table 452 00:20:46,482 --> 00:20:51,586 precisely cuts the 10 base plate components in under six minutes, 453 00:20:51,586 --> 00:20:54,896 saving hours of manual labor. 454 00:20:54,896 --> 00:20:56,413 [Juan] Well, that's it. 455 00:20:56,413 --> 00:20:58,000 We'll pull them all out and I'll have you help me get them cleaned up. 456 00:20:58,000 --> 00:20:59,689 - Sure. - [Juan] I'll start putting it together. 457 00:21:03,586 --> 00:21:05,000 [machine whirring] 458 00:21:14,275 --> 00:21:16,034 Seems like everyone's got a little bit of money into it, 459 00:21:16,034 --> 00:21:19,137 but it sounds like you've got a little bit more than everyone else, huh? 460 00:21:19,137 --> 00:21:22,586 Everything from all the machinery, the fuel, 461 00:21:22,586 --> 00:21:24,137 any repairs, 462 00:21:24,137 --> 00:21:26,482 - everything came out of my wallet. - Oh, really? 463 00:21:26,482 --> 00:21:29,000 So this is your money on the line, huh? 464 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:30,517 Yeah, it is. 465 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:33,896 There's no extra check coming in, 466 00:21:33,896 --> 00:21:35,689 but we've put a little bit away, 467 00:21:35,689 --> 00:21:39,172 so we'll survive while we're out here and cover costs. 468 00:21:39,172 --> 00:21:41,137 We need to see gold. 469 00:21:41,137 --> 00:21:45,482 [narrator] The new wash plant could run up to four times the amount of pay, 470 00:21:45,482 --> 00:21:49,862 giving Mark a fighting chance at making his money back. 471 00:21:49,862 --> 00:21:52,586 It's got great bones, you know, she's a little older. 472 00:21:52,586 --> 00:21:55,862 But I think with what we've got, it's a good start. 473 00:21:55,862 --> 00:21:59,000 Oh, yeah, if you want to get that going, I'll keep on plugging along. 474 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:00,586 - We've got a lot to do, so. - Not a problem. 475 00:22:00,586 --> 00:22:02,655 Thanks for your help, Mark. 476 00:22:02,655 --> 00:22:06,827 Mark has $400,000 invested into this operation, and that's a lot of money. 477 00:22:07,655 --> 00:22:09,655 I'm hoping that we can get their plants set up, 478 00:22:09,655 --> 00:22:10,758 get them on some better material, 479 00:22:10,758 --> 00:22:12,344 so that way they can turn that around. 480 00:22:12,344 --> 00:22:15,724 And this can be a viable operation, not just a dream. 481 00:22:21,068 --> 00:22:23,758 Well, let's have a look at your maps, John. 482 00:22:23,758 --> 00:22:27,172 The material we ran the first test run, it's no good. 483 00:22:27,172 --> 00:22:29,000 So now the pressure is on me. 484 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,068 Hopefully, I can find some better material. 485 00:22:32,068 --> 00:22:33,448 Where are we at right now, John? 486 00:22:33,448 --> 00:22:36,689 [John] This is the whole area that we're in 487 00:22:36,689 --> 00:22:40,793 and where we are mining is just down in here. 488 00:22:40,793 --> 00:22:42,896 [narrator] On the hunt for better ground, 489 00:22:42,896 --> 00:22:47,793 Freddy looks over old maps of the area with claim owner John Olsen. 490 00:22:47,793 --> 00:22:50,896 - So that's the stuff they ran right here. - Right there. 491 00:22:50,896 --> 00:22:51,793 - Right here? - Yeah. 492 00:22:51,793 --> 00:22:52,827 Okay. 493 00:22:53,275 --> 00:22:54,758 That's no good. 494 00:22:54,758 --> 00:22:56,689 - Is this a creek here? - [John] Yes, it is. 495 00:22:56,689 --> 00:22:58,172 - That's a little neighbor. - Okay. 496 00:22:58,172 --> 00:23:00,482 - Where the plants are set up. - [John] Where the plants are set up. 497 00:23:00,482 --> 00:23:04,758 The old creek bed for a little neighbor creek 498 00:23:04,758 --> 00:23:08,172 comes along and meanders down through this valley. 499 00:23:08,172 --> 00:23:12,344 I've panned all the way down into the creek here. 500 00:23:12,344 --> 00:23:16,379 There was gold found there, and some of it can be, you know, fairly chunky. 501 00:23:16,379 --> 00:23:18,448 You know, looking at the map, there should be better gold there. 502 00:23:18,448 --> 00:23:19,931 Oh, yes. 503 00:23:19,931 --> 00:23:22,103 So I'd like to go down here because it's more of a creek bottom. 504 00:23:22,793 --> 00:23:24,103 But there's only one way to find out. 505 00:23:24,103 --> 00:23:25,344 - That's right. - Let's dig a hole in it. 506 00:23:25,344 --> 00:23:28,103 - I think that's a good plan. - Thank you very much, sir. 507 00:23:28,103 --> 00:23:29,482 Thank you, Fred. 508 00:23:30,551 --> 00:23:32,689 So once the river was here and now the river is here. 509 00:23:32,689 --> 00:23:36,068 So if that's the case, if that's the case, 510 00:23:36,068 --> 00:23:39,275 then there could be a virgin layer of gold-bearing material 511 00:23:39,275 --> 00:23:40,206 left there. 512 00:23:40,206 --> 00:23:42,275 It may be 10 feet thick, maybe a foot. 513 00:23:42,275 --> 00:23:45,000 The only way to find out is to go down there and dig a hole. 514 00:23:45,965 --> 00:23:48,827 [upbeat music playing] 515 00:23:52,586 --> 00:23:55,379 - The creek would have been up here, right? - Yep. 516 00:23:55,379 --> 00:23:57,896 [narrator] With the information from John's map, 517 00:23:57,896 --> 00:23:59,482 Freddy recruits Trevor 518 00:23:59,482 --> 00:24:04,241 on a hunt for the ancient creek channel near the small wash plant. 519 00:24:04,241 --> 00:24:07,172 I can see right now this has got a really rounded rock in it, 520 00:24:07,172 --> 00:24:08,689 so that's a good sign. 521 00:24:08,689 --> 00:24:12,103 So through erosion, they get rounded out, and glaciers. 522 00:24:12,103 --> 00:24:16,586 [narrator] Rounded rocks could indicate an old stream once flowed here, 523 00:24:16,586 --> 00:24:21,344 leaving behind gold concentrated in the gravel. 524 00:24:21,344 --> 00:24:23,482 Let's punch a hole here and just see what it looks like. 525 00:24:23,482 --> 00:24:26,000 All right, let's get in the machine. Let's get this done. 526 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:27,827 [mechanical rumble] 527 00:24:37,275 --> 00:24:38,896 [metallic clanking] 528 00:24:38,896 --> 00:24:41,482 Trevor, take one more scoop there. 529 00:24:41,482 --> 00:24:43,379 One more? Okay. 530 00:24:45,586 --> 00:24:49,344 One of the biggest things we can do here, besides working on the plant, 531 00:24:49,344 --> 00:24:51,275 is to teach these guys how to prospect, 532 00:24:51,275 --> 00:24:54,000 what material to look for in the future. 533 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,517 Without doing that, then they're never gonna make their 100 ounce gold. 534 00:24:59,275 --> 00:25:02,103 Trever, you want to hop out with me and let's have a look at this. 535 00:25:02,103 --> 00:25:04,344 Yeah, you betcha. 536 00:25:04,344 --> 00:25:08,000 Well, that's not that far down the bedrock, Freddy. That's kind of exciting. 537 00:25:10,689 --> 00:25:14,655 My hope here is it's an ancient old bench channel up here 538 00:25:14,655 --> 00:25:17,379 - or an old river bench creek bench. - Yeah. 539 00:25:17,379 --> 00:25:20,310 And then it would have concentrated the gold. 540 00:25:21,482 --> 00:25:23,689 I think it's an old stream bed. 541 00:25:23,689 --> 00:25:26,000 You know, the stream's cut its way to where it's at now, right? 542 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:27,034 Yeah. 543 00:25:27,034 --> 00:25:30,068 But at one time, the stream bed was up here. 544 00:25:30,068 --> 00:25:33,172 And then erosion happens. Picture the Grand Canyon. 545 00:25:33,172 --> 00:25:35,862 - Yeah. - Right? We're eroded a mile deep now. 546 00:25:35,862 --> 00:25:37,172 Well, same with these canyons. 547 00:25:37,172 --> 00:25:40,793 So, as that erodes down, it can leave those upper benches. 548 00:25:40,793 --> 00:25:44,517 And you may have some other benches this way to some old ones. 549 00:25:46,482 --> 00:25:51,034 [narrator] A bench deposit forms when gold settles in a river bank. 550 00:25:51,034 --> 00:25:57,689 As the creek cuts a new path, it leaves behind an area of concentrated gold. 551 00:25:57,689 --> 00:26:00,448 How important is it to make this mine operational? 552 00:26:00,448 --> 00:26:03,896 I mean, it's about making money. It's about a lifestyle. 553 00:26:03,896 --> 00:26:05,379 You know, even going back right now 554 00:26:05,379 --> 00:26:08,448 wouldn't really make much of a difference if I was back in the city. 555 00:26:08,448 --> 00:26:10,896 It's no work there anyway, so. 556 00:26:10,896 --> 00:26:12,379 [mellow instrumental music playing] 557 00:26:12,379 --> 00:26:16,000 I work in the film industry in the Transport Division. 558 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,586 I haven't worked this year. 559 00:26:17,586 --> 00:26:20,965 Due to the writer's strike going on, the whole industry is down. 560 00:26:20,965 --> 00:26:23,103 Ninety percent of the people are laid off right now. 561 00:26:23,103 --> 00:26:27,896 It's bad, you know. That kinda screws up your life. 562 00:26:27,896 --> 00:26:30,034 I don't want any of that ever again. 563 00:26:30,034 --> 00:26:32,655 Gold mining. It's hard. 564 00:26:32,655 --> 00:26:36,482 It is hard on the body. 565 00:26:37,275 --> 00:26:39,724 But it is so easy on the mind. 566 00:26:40,172 --> 00:26:41,827 For me, this is paradise. 567 00:26:45,482 --> 00:26:47,241 - That's a neat way of life. - It is. 568 00:26:47,241 --> 00:26:48,793 - It's incredible. - You can't keep throwing money at something, 569 00:26:48,793 --> 00:26:49,758 if it's not making money, 570 00:26:49,758 --> 00:26:51,620 [intense music playing] 571 00:26:53,689 --> 00:26:57,068 - Look at that. That guy. - Look at that. 572 00:26:57,068 --> 00:26:58,448 - That guy. - Yeah? 573 00:26:58,448 --> 00:27:02,000 That guy. Well, there's gold there. That's for dang sure. 574 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:03,172 That's some good gold there. 575 00:27:03,172 --> 00:27:04,689 - I like it. - Yeah. I like it, too. 576 00:27:04,689 --> 00:27:07,379 My thoughts are we dig our pond there for the bigger plant. 577 00:27:07,379 --> 00:27:08,689 - So you have more water. - Yep. 578 00:27:08,689 --> 00:27:13,379 Then we sluice up. We're killing two birds with one stone. 579 00:27:13,379 --> 00:27:17,896 [narrator] The gold bearing bench is next to the old wash plant pond. 580 00:27:17,896 --> 00:27:22,103 Freddy's plan, dig out the pay and stockpiling, 581 00:27:22,103 --> 00:27:24,482 then fill up the cut with water 582 00:27:24,482 --> 00:27:26,758 to create a settling pond system 583 00:27:26,758 --> 00:27:29,931 to provide clean water for the larger wash plant. 584 00:27:31,379 --> 00:27:33,896 [Trevor] I'm learning a lot from him. 585 00:27:33,896 --> 00:27:35,586 He's an amazing teacher. 586 00:27:35,586 --> 00:27:37,758 His wealth of knowledge is incredible. 587 00:27:37,758 --> 00:27:39,482 You can tell he's been doing this a long time. 588 00:27:39,482 --> 00:27:44,000 These guys are only here for a few more days. It's go time. 589 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:45,482 And we've got to make it happen now. 590 00:27:45,482 --> 00:27:47,827 [upbeat music playing] 591 00:27:59,689 --> 00:28:01,862 [reporter on TV] This morning, over 400 wildfires 592 00:28:01,862 --> 00:28:04,172 are raging across British Columbia. 593 00:28:04,172 --> 00:28:07,275 Huge areas to the north of the province have been evacuated. 594 00:28:07,275 --> 00:28:08,862 In parts of the central interior, 595 00:28:08,862 --> 00:28:10,896 residents are being advised to stay indoors 596 00:28:10,896 --> 00:28:12,965 as thick smoke has caused the air quality 597 00:28:12,965 --> 00:28:14,620 to reach its highest level of alert. 598 00:28:24,068 --> 00:28:25,206 [car honks] 599 00:28:25,206 --> 00:28:27,379 - Looks like we're made today. - [Alex] Yeah. 600 00:28:27,379 --> 00:28:30,068 [narrator] 30 miles south of the fires... 601 00:28:30,068 --> 00:28:31,482 This must be it. 602 00:28:32,689 --> 00:28:34,689 [narrator] ...Freddy and Juan's reinforcements, 603 00:28:34,689 --> 00:28:39,068 Alex and Travis arrived, with much needed supplies. 604 00:28:41,448 --> 00:28:43,482 [Juan] Well, we got a bunch of work ahead of us, guys. 605 00:28:43,482 --> 00:28:45,689 We're going to have to bust ass on this one. 606 00:28:45,689 --> 00:28:47,586 [Juan] We've got a complete drive system we've got to build. 607 00:28:47,586 --> 00:28:49,896 We've got to rebuild the hopper, the grizzlies on that. 608 00:28:49,896 --> 00:28:52,034 Freddy is rebuilding the sluices right now. 609 00:28:52,034 --> 00:28:55,655 And then on top of that, we've got to get it in place, get water around to it. 610 00:28:55,655 --> 00:28:56,689 We've got to dig out ponds. 611 00:28:56,689 --> 00:28:58,241 - It sounds good. - All right. 612 00:28:58,241 --> 00:28:59,793 So let's get all that steel and everything unloaded. 613 00:28:59,793 --> 00:29:01,275 - Yeah. - Copy that. All right, guys. Thanks. 614 00:29:01,275 --> 00:29:02,275 All right. 615 00:29:02,275 --> 00:29:04,000 [Juan] We're gonna put him right to work. 616 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,448 Hopefully, with our help, we'll be able to get everything we need done. 617 00:29:06,448 --> 00:29:08,379 [narrator] No strangers to a mine site, 618 00:29:08,379 --> 00:29:12,448 Travis Stockman and Alex Voight have helped out before. 619 00:29:12,448 --> 00:29:14,379 When they give us a call, you know they're far behind. 620 00:29:14,379 --> 00:29:17,034 Travis and I are always willing to help these guys. 621 00:29:17,034 --> 00:29:21,689 [narrator] In 2022, when Freddy left a rescue for a medical emergency, 622 00:29:21,689 --> 00:29:24,551 the guy stepped in to help military veterans Mark 623 00:29:24,551 --> 00:29:31,000 and Rick increase their gold recovery by a huge 1300 percent. 624 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,620 Back a little. We'll just set it sideways. 625 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:37,413 Better work here on now. 626 00:29:42,241 --> 00:29:43,275 [machine whirring] 627 00:29:43,275 --> 00:29:44,931 Hey, Freddy. 628 00:29:46,034 --> 00:29:46,896 How's it going? 629 00:29:46,896 --> 00:29:48,413 [narrator] Behind the trommel, 630 00:29:48,413 --> 00:29:52,379 Freddy prepares the sides of the old sluice for an upgrade. 631 00:29:52,379 --> 00:29:55,689 Just getting started grinding these old bankers down. 632 00:29:55,689 --> 00:29:58,379 So I'm going to put higher sides on it. 633 00:29:58,379 --> 00:30:00,965 And then we'll put a different wedge system in it. 634 00:30:00,965 --> 00:30:03,551 - Okay. - I'm gonna remodify everything on here. 635 00:30:03,551 --> 00:30:04,965 [man coughs] 636 00:30:04,965 --> 00:30:08,068 - Man, it's smoky. - Yeah, we've got forest fires burning nearby. 637 00:30:08,068 --> 00:30:09,448 Coughing all the time. 638 00:30:09,448 --> 00:30:11,379 Yeah, we've got one far away, but a new one's just popped up, 639 00:30:11,379 --> 00:30:12,965 - so we'll keep our eye on it. - Okay. 640 00:30:12,965 --> 00:30:15,034 - We've got all our heads on a swivel. - Yeah. 641 00:30:15,034 --> 00:30:16,310 Anything you need me to do? 642 00:30:16,310 --> 00:30:19,000 Just keep an eye out so I don't catch something on fire. 643 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:20,275 Copy that. 644 00:30:20,275 --> 00:30:22,000 And then I'll probably have your help put the plates on. 645 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:23,827 - You got it. - Thanks, sir. 646 00:30:26,793 --> 00:30:29,103 [Jay] All right. It's really tinder dry right now. 647 00:30:29,103 --> 00:30:30,551 There's a lot of fires in the area, 648 00:30:30,551 --> 00:30:33,068 and there's a lot of particulates in the air, 649 00:30:33,068 --> 00:30:35,448 so it's a little hard on the lungs. 650 00:30:35,448 --> 00:30:37,344 [Freddy] Just hold it for me and I'll mark it. 651 00:30:37,344 --> 00:30:39,586 - Okay. I got it. - [Freddy] Perfect. 652 00:30:39,586 --> 00:30:41,586 Eyeballs. 653 00:30:41,586 --> 00:30:46,689 [narrator] Alex and Jay help Freddy weld high steel sides onto the sluice box 654 00:30:46,689 --> 00:30:48,517 so they can run more material. 655 00:30:51,068 --> 00:30:52,241 [Juan] We've got to clean the inside of this 656 00:30:52,241 --> 00:30:54,172 because this is gonna slide inside there. 657 00:30:54,172 --> 00:30:57,344 So once we mount the motor onto this plate, we can adjust it. 658 00:30:57,344 --> 00:31:01,310 [narrator] At the plant, Juan and Travis installed the new motive. 659 00:31:03,379 --> 00:31:08,551 The 20 hp V twin gas engine has the torque capability 660 00:31:08,551 --> 00:31:14,586 to turn the drum fully loaded with rocks at 20 revolutions per minute. 661 00:31:14,586 --> 00:31:17,793 Get it here, get it in place, line it up and weld it. 662 00:31:17,793 --> 00:31:19,068 Yeah. 663 00:31:19,068 --> 00:31:20,413 Hopefully I'll get it running before the end of the day. 664 00:31:30,379 --> 00:31:33,137 I'm very happy looking at some monster motor. 665 00:31:33,862 --> 00:31:35,000 This is gonna be beautiful. 666 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:35,965 [Juan] Just weld it. 667 00:31:35,965 --> 00:31:37,689 [upbeat music playing] 668 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:42,379 I'm really happy the way it's coming together. 669 00:31:42,379 --> 00:31:44,000 We got it in. 670 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,586 It's lined up properly and we've got the mount that we designed installed, 671 00:31:46,586 --> 00:31:49,724 so that way we can adjust it and it should be good. 672 00:31:57,103 --> 00:32:00,758 So the carpet is catching all the fines, right? 673 00:32:00,758 --> 00:32:02,586 [narrator] Sluice welds complete, 674 00:32:02,586 --> 00:32:08,586 Freddy shows mine operator Jay how to assemble the box for maximum gold recovery. 675 00:32:08,586 --> 00:32:10,965 We're using this carpet to trap the gold, 676 00:32:10,965 --> 00:32:14,172 but we're also using different mannerisms 677 00:32:14,172 --> 00:32:16,241 in how we put this box together. 678 00:32:16,241 --> 00:32:17,965 You want to grab one of those riffles? 679 00:32:17,965 --> 00:32:19,896 - Can do. - Yep. 680 00:32:19,896 --> 00:32:22,034 I've made these, so they'll tip in. 681 00:32:22,034 --> 00:32:24,172 - So see how they tip in now? - Okay. 682 00:32:24,172 --> 00:32:25,758 - For speed, right? - Yeah. 683 00:32:25,758 --> 00:32:29,413 So now we'll take our short boards there and get some wedges. 684 00:32:30,586 --> 00:32:33,482 We've got six different changes in this sluice box. 685 00:32:33,482 --> 00:32:34,896 Every piece of gold is different, right? 686 00:32:34,896 --> 00:32:36,241 - [Jay] Yeah. - So you're a piece of gold, 687 00:32:36,241 --> 00:32:39,172 it doesn't like this situation for some reason. 688 00:32:39,172 --> 00:32:41,896 - You may not like that little first change. - Right. 689 00:32:41,896 --> 00:32:43,551 You may keep skipping down the box 690 00:32:43,551 --> 00:32:46,068 and find that this is the change, get hung up in there. 691 00:32:46,068 --> 00:32:48,965 - It's always something different. - Oh, that totally makes sense. 692 00:32:48,965 --> 00:32:51,172 Did you grow up in a Cornell area or? 693 00:32:51,172 --> 00:32:53,241 No, it's a city. I'm strictly a city guy. 694 00:32:53,241 --> 00:32:56,689 My brother, he introduced me to this area. 695 00:32:56,689 --> 00:32:58,689 When I was impressionable. 12 years old. 696 00:32:58,689 --> 00:33:01,896 - Yeah, it was good times as a kid. - Yeah. 697 00:33:01,896 --> 00:33:03,551 Did he do a lot of prospecting? 698 00:33:03,551 --> 00:33:05,172 Yeah, he did. He did a lot of panning up here. 699 00:33:05,172 --> 00:33:08,172 So you and your brother still go out gold panning? 700 00:33:08,172 --> 00:33:11,103 I lost my brother a few years ago, 701 00:33:11,103 --> 00:33:15,000 but ever since that time, I've always wondered about gold. 702 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,137 I'm sorry to hear about your brother. 703 00:33:17,137 --> 00:33:20,000 Yeah, it just sort of stays with it. You just move on, right? 704 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:21,068 Yeah. 705 00:33:21,068 --> 00:33:22,551 He's a good man. 706 00:33:22,551 --> 00:33:24,000 [somber instrumental music playing] 707 00:33:26,172 --> 00:33:28,793 I took after him in a lot of ways. I looked up to him. 708 00:33:28,793 --> 00:33:33,000 He was 10 years older than me, so he was like a father and brother. 709 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,172 When this opportunity came up, it was just after my brother's death 710 00:33:36,172 --> 00:33:39,482 and I jumped on it because it just felt right. 711 00:33:39,482 --> 00:33:42,344 When I'm here, I feel him everywhere. 712 00:33:42,344 --> 00:33:45,068 I know he would just be in his element here, 713 00:33:45,068 --> 00:33:46,931 and I know he'd be proud of me. 714 00:33:47,758 --> 00:33:50,137 [hammer thudding] 715 00:33:50,137 --> 00:33:52,793 Let's get all the stuff in. It looks like a nice sluice box, huh? 716 00:33:52,793 --> 00:33:54,034 [Jay] You betcha. 717 00:33:54,034 --> 00:33:56,137 Well, if you wanna knock the wedges in, 718 00:33:56,137 --> 00:33:58,379 I'm gonna go get busy fabricating stuff. 719 00:33:58,379 --> 00:33:59,379 [Jay] Okay, Fred. Got it. 720 00:33:59,379 --> 00:34:00,931 - See you in a bit. - [Jay] You bet. 721 00:34:04,551 --> 00:34:06,896 Every mine you go on, people are people, right? 722 00:34:06,896 --> 00:34:11,000 You're gonna find out a lot more about a person by working with them. 723 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,000 He got into prospect as a kid with his brother. 724 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:17,689 He's out here, you know, living his dream and his brother's dream. 725 00:34:22,689 --> 00:34:25,000 [soft music playing] 726 00:34:31,172 --> 00:34:34,172 This plant, to my knowledge, hasn't been ran in a lot of years. 727 00:34:34,172 --> 00:34:36,034 So, you know, it's kind of a mystery 728 00:34:36,034 --> 00:34:37,896 whether that gearbox is good or not. 729 00:34:37,896 --> 00:34:39,517 So we're going to find out. 730 00:34:39,517 --> 00:34:43,586 [narrator] The gearbox reduces the revolutions per minute of the motor 731 00:34:43,586 --> 00:34:46,482 and rotates the trommel at the correct speed. 732 00:34:46,482 --> 00:34:50,172 If seized, the trommel won't turn. 733 00:34:50,172 --> 00:34:53,000 If that gearbox is bad, we've got to start from scratch again. 734 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:54,379 We'll have to get a new gearbox, 735 00:34:54,379 --> 00:34:56,620 and I don't know if we can source one in time. 736 00:35:01,793 --> 00:35:04,793 Well, Freddy, moment of truth. I'm gonna start it up, see what it does. 737 00:35:06,172 --> 00:35:07,172 Fire it up, Juan. 738 00:35:11,137 --> 00:35:12,689 Uh-oh. 739 00:35:18,896 --> 00:35:20,379 Impressive. 740 00:35:21,793 --> 00:35:23,724 [all laughing] 741 00:35:25,068 --> 00:35:26,068 This is great. 742 00:35:26,068 --> 00:35:28,103 [Trevor] Oh, isn't that pretty? 743 00:35:28,103 --> 00:35:31,103 [machine churning] 744 00:35:31,103 --> 00:35:33,551 That's it. It runs. 745 00:35:33,551 --> 00:35:35,896 Beautiful. Beautiful. 746 00:35:35,896 --> 00:35:39,482 I can't believe it did run. This is excellent. This is really nice. 747 00:35:39,482 --> 00:35:41,586 [Juan] It's been sitting in the field for 20-plus years. 748 00:35:41,586 --> 00:35:43,000 [Mark] No, it's fantastic. 749 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:44,241 It actually can run. 750 00:35:44,241 --> 00:35:46,000 Well, I'm gonna get on to other things. 751 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,034 [Juan] Yeah, me too. Thanks, Freddy. 752 00:35:48,034 --> 00:35:50,379 I didn't know what kind of conditions the gearbox was in. 753 00:35:50,379 --> 00:35:52,689 But now that we've actually seen it run, 754 00:35:52,689 --> 00:35:56,172 its spinning on its own power, the RPMs are proper, that's half the battle. 755 00:35:56,172 --> 00:35:59,103 Now, we kind of see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. 756 00:36:07,551 --> 00:36:09,931 [soft music playing] 757 00:36:15,137 --> 00:36:18,344 Smoke warnings here on the indexes, it goes one to ten. 758 00:36:18,344 --> 00:36:23,206 It's over a ten in terms of smoke in the air and it being unhealthy. 759 00:36:26,344 --> 00:36:27,344 [Juan] Dang, Freddy. 760 00:36:27,344 --> 00:36:28,965 Well, this morning we got out to the trucks 761 00:36:28,965 --> 00:36:30,689 and they were just all full of ash. 762 00:36:30,689 --> 00:36:35,344 [narrator] With just 48 hours remaining at the Naver Creek mine... 763 00:36:35,344 --> 00:36:39,482 - [coughs] Smoke's worse here. - Yeah, it is, way worse. 764 00:36:39,482 --> 00:36:42,862 [narrator] ...a change in wind direction brings the air quality index 765 00:36:42,862 --> 00:36:44,862 to dangerous levels. 766 00:36:44,862 --> 00:36:47,275 - This is kind of rough breathing this in all day. - Yeah. 767 00:36:47,275 --> 00:36:51,517 [narrator] If conditions worsen, it could shut down the rescue. 768 00:36:56,551 --> 00:36:57,793 [Freddy] I'm tipping it forward. 769 00:36:57,793 --> 00:36:59,103 [narrator] First task of the morning... 770 00:36:59,103 --> 00:37:01,000 - [Sacha] Yeah. - I'm trying to put all the gold. 771 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:02,758 There's no corner in a round pan, 772 00:37:02,758 --> 00:37:03,965 but I'm going to call it the corner. 773 00:37:03,965 --> 00:37:05,034 - Okay. - That's the corner. 774 00:37:05,034 --> 00:37:06,965 - Yeah. - [narrator] ...class is in session 775 00:37:06,965 --> 00:37:11,379 as Freddy gives greenhorn Sacha a lesson in panning for gold. 776 00:37:11,379 --> 00:37:13,482 [Freddy] I want that gold right in the corner of the pan. 777 00:37:13,482 --> 00:37:14,827 - Right there. - Right. 778 00:37:14,827 --> 00:37:17,172 - So in your mind, picture it dropping right there... - Okay. 779 00:37:17,172 --> 00:37:18,586 ...with the angle of your pan and stuff. 780 00:37:18,586 --> 00:37:21,586 - Bigger ones like that, get rid of him. - Yeah. 781 00:37:21,586 --> 00:37:24,862 - Wow. That's quite a bit, eh? - Really... 782 00:37:24,862 --> 00:37:28,241 Well, there's a lot of pie right there, too, that you're seeing. 783 00:37:28,241 --> 00:37:31,000 So how are you to tell the difference? 784 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,896 - Gold never sparkles. It's always a dull yellow. - Right. Okay. Got it. 785 00:37:34,896 --> 00:37:38,000 - Yeah. Look at your rings and your jewelry. Right? - Right. 786 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:39,793 - This guy here is a piece of gold. - Right. 787 00:37:39,793 --> 00:37:42,034 Well, those are a piece of gold. All this is pyrite. 788 00:37:42,034 --> 00:37:43,482 Okay. 789 00:37:43,482 --> 00:37:46,862 It's not fantastic, but we'll know more when we run it, I guess. 790 00:37:46,862 --> 00:37:49,758 - Yeah. - But yeah, we wanted to test different layers. 791 00:37:49,758 --> 00:37:51,448 - Okay. - Like the stuff right on bedrock, 792 00:37:51,448 --> 00:37:53,896 the stuff in the decomposed bedrock that far down 793 00:37:53,896 --> 00:37:55,137 and some like that far down. 794 00:37:55,137 --> 00:37:56,689 - Okay. - This is what we want to do there. 795 00:37:56,689 --> 00:37:57,689 Right? 796 00:37:57,689 --> 00:37:59,689 So what got you into gold mining out here? 797 00:37:59,689 --> 00:38:03,448 I came up last year with my kids just to get away. 798 00:38:03,448 --> 00:38:05,275 Is that right? 799 00:38:05,275 --> 00:38:09,586 The first time I saw gold, those little specks, those little beautiful specks, 800 00:38:09,586 --> 00:38:11,689 I was hooked. 801 00:38:11,689 --> 00:38:14,965 Trevor and I are dating, and he suggested I come up here 802 00:38:14,965 --> 00:38:18,068 and just be part of the crew. 803 00:38:18,068 --> 00:38:23,586 I've just struggled for so long with two children, raising them, 804 00:38:23,586 --> 00:38:26,379 trying to support them as best I could. 805 00:38:26,379 --> 00:38:31,172 So to prosper in gold financially would be amazing. 806 00:38:31,172 --> 00:38:35,551 [narrator] This year, Sacha's 22-year-old son, Dustin, has joined her 807 00:38:35,551 --> 00:38:37,068 in the gold fields. 808 00:38:37,068 --> 00:38:39,482 Dustin is working on the machines. 809 00:38:39,482 --> 00:38:44,586 He's doing whatever needs to be done. He just loves to be useful. 810 00:38:45,448 --> 00:38:47,793 I don't have a retirement plan, 811 00:38:47,793 --> 00:38:52,000 and if this is successful, 812 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,379 it'll be a game changer. 813 00:38:56,000 --> 00:39:00,275 I'm circling, but I'm also taking material out of the pan at the same time. 814 00:39:00,275 --> 00:39:01,551 - You see those rocks going out? - Okay. 815 00:39:01,551 --> 00:39:05,689 Yeah. I think I'm too timid with how I've been panning. 816 00:39:05,689 --> 00:39:06,862 [Freddy] Yeah. 817 00:39:06,862 --> 00:39:09,482 - You see me? I don't mess around. - No, you don't. 818 00:39:09,482 --> 00:39:11,000 You get the job done. 819 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,344 Here we go. That's looking better. 820 00:39:13,344 --> 00:39:14,793 Oh, good. 821 00:39:14,793 --> 00:39:17,241 - These guys. That's a good-sized piece there, - Nice. 822 00:39:17,241 --> 00:39:18,896 another piece there 823 00:39:18,896 --> 00:39:21,586 and a whole bunch of little guys out through here. 824 00:39:21,586 --> 00:39:24,103 Oh, beautiful. I love it. 825 00:39:24,103 --> 00:39:27,689 Well, there's one good sign right there. I'm gonna get back to welding. 826 00:39:27,689 --> 00:39:30,137 - See you in a bit. - Thank you, Freddy. 827 00:39:30,137 --> 00:39:32,379 By giving these guys little tricks, you know, 828 00:39:32,379 --> 00:39:35,103 after we leave, they'll still have those tricks. 829 00:39:35,103 --> 00:39:36,758 And they can, you know, do it on their own 830 00:39:36,758 --> 00:39:39,689 without having to worry about Juan or myself helping them out. 831 00:39:41,379 --> 00:39:44,551 [Juan] Dang, Freddy. It's really bad down here. 832 00:39:44,551 --> 00:39:47,172 [narrator] As the rest of the crew begin their day, 833 00:39:47,172 --> 00:39:49,862 concerns about the smoke worsen. 834 00:39:49,862 --> 00:39:51,896 One thing that we've got to take into consideration, too, 835 00:39:51,896 --> 00:39:54,689 it's not just us, you know, we've got an entire crew with us, too. 836 00:39:54,689 --> 00:39:59,241 [narrator] The rescue takes place in what is now the worst wildfire season 837 00:39:59,241 --> 00:40:01,000 in Canada's history. 838 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:05,551 Over 10,000 square miles of forest burns in British Columbia, 839 00:40:05,551 --> 00:40:09,275 with one blaze less than 20 miles from the claim. 840 00:40:09,275 --> 00:40:10,551 There's the man. 841 00:40:10,551 --> 00:40:11,689 What's your call? 842 00:40:11,689 --> 00:40:15,793 The air quality index is ten out of ten. 843 00:40:15,793 --> 00:40:17,172 You can see right now, it looks like it's snowing 844 00:40:17,172 --> 00:40:18,586 and it's just ash coming down on us. 845 00:40:18,586 --> 00:40:20,482 Yeah, I know you guys got a lot of work to do, 846 00:40:20,482 --> 00:40:24,586 but for the safety of everyone here and the crew, We have to evacuate. 847 00:40:24,586 --> 00:40:26,103 - Yeah. - Okay. 848 00:40:30,655 --> 00:40:32,137 We gotta go. 849 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,275 - You ready, Juan? - All right, let's go. 850 00:40:35,275 --> 00:40:40,413 [narrator] As smoke and ash descend on the valley, rescue shuts down for the day. 851 00:40:42,586 --> 00:40:45,103 [Juan] Already on a really, really tight timeline. 852 00:40:45,103 --> 00:40:46,793 We don't have enough time to lose a day. 853 00:40:46,793 --> 00:40:49,896 No. We didn't have enough time to lose half a day. 854 00:40:49,896 --> 00:40:51,206 [bleep] 855 00:41:05,068 --> 00:41:07,310 [soft music playing] 856 00:41:18,586 --> 00:41:20,896 Right now, the smoke's cleared out quite a bit. 857 00:41:20,896 --> 00:41:25,000 You can actually see blue sky. We've just got to get this done. 858 00:41:27,655 --> 00:41:30,482 [narrator] The rain overnight has dampened down the smoke 859 00:41:30,482 --> 00:41:33,172 and the team is back on site. 860 00:41:33,172 --> 00:41:35,931 If we make it on time here, it'll surprise me. 861 00:41:36,862 --> 00:41:39,137 Well, I'm getting the settling pond, 862 00:41:39,137 --> 00:41:40,689 getting bed carved out, 863 00:41:40,689 --> 00:41:42,689 and then fill that thing up with water. 864 00:41:42,689 --> 00:41:44,758 Everybody is racing today 865 00:41:44,758 --> 00:41:46,379 and for the next few days. 866 00:41:46,379 --> 00:41:48,896 So under the gun is an understatement. 867 00:41:48,896 --> 00:41:50,655 [Juan] We're way behind schedule now. 868 00:41:50,655 --> 00:41:52,586 We're trying to make up all that time we missed. 869 00:41:54,689 --> 00:41:57,172 [Freddy] So you need some help on this, Juan? 870 00:41:57,172 --> 00:42:00,000 [narrator] Twenty-four hours remaining in the rescue, 871 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,793 the team must fix and attach the hopper, 872 00:42:02,793 --> 00:42:04,379 fabricate a spray bar 873 00:42:04,379 --> 00:42:07,103 and complete a new pond system. 874 00:42:07,103 --> 00:42:08,275 Yeah, if you wanna help me, Freddy, 875 00:42:08,275 --> 00:42:10,034 you can start putting those grizzly bars together. 876 00:42:10,034 --> 00:42:10,965 Weld the tops on them 877 00:42:10,965 --> 00:42:12,000 and I'll start getting all this ready. 878 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:13,068 I'll build the bars. 879 00:42:13,068 --> 00:42:14,758 - [Juan] Okay. - You build the support for it. 880 00:42:14,758 --> 00:42:15,896 Let's do it. 881 00:42:16,965 --> 00:42:18,310 How much gap do you have there? 882 00:42:18,862 --> 00:42:20,413 [Freddy] Oh. Half inch. 883 00:42:21,896 --> 00:42:23,931 Work, work, work. Weld, weld, weld. 884 00:42:25,103 --> 00:42:28,275 [narrator] While Alex helps Freddy fabricate the grizzly bars, 885 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:29,896 Juan and Travis 886 00:42:29,896 --> 00:42:32,275 weld the supports into the hopper. 887 00:42:33,241 --> 00:42:34,379 What we want to do is make sure that 888 00:42:34,379 --> 00:42:36,172 the material that's going through the grizzlies 889 00:42:36,172 --> 00:42:38,655 into the hopper and into the trommel 890 00:42:38,655 --> 00:42:40,241 are under eight inches 891 00:42:40,241 --> 00:42:41,896 because we don't want anything big getting in there 892 00:42:41,896 --> 00:42:42,931 and getting it clogged up. 893 00:42:46,793 --> 00:42:47,965 I got the frame ready to go. 894 00:42:47,965 --> 00:42:49,689 I'm gonna start getting a line where they need to go 895 00:42:49,689 --> 00:42:50,724 and get them welded in. 896 00:42:51,586 --> 00:42:52,689 We're out of time. 897 00:42:52,689 --> 00:42:54,000 We've gotta get this done today. 898 00:43:03,034 --> 00:43:05,379 Travis, let's clean that up real quick. 899 00:43:05,379 --> 00:43:07,034 This is the last grizzly bars we've got to do. 900 00:43:07,034 --> 00:43:08,517 We're gonna get them welded in place. 901 00:43:09,379 --> 00:43:10,586 [Travis] Okay. Where we at? On yours? 902 00:43:10,586 --> 00:43:11,586 [Juan] Right there. 903 00:43:12,172 --> 00:43:13,310 Perfect. 904 00:43:19,689 --> 00:43:21,172 We got the grizzly all welded up. 905 00:43:21,172 --> 00:43:22,275 We're gonna lift it up right now. 906 00:43:22,275 --> 00:43:23,379 We're gonna get it in place. 907 00:43:24,586 --> 00:43:25,586 It's kinda the moment of truth. 908 00:43:25,586 --> 00:43:26,724 Hopefully it fits right. 909 00:43:27,172 --> 00:43:28,310 Yeah. That's good. 910 00:43:29,448 --> 00:43:30,586 Watch yourself, Travis. 911 00:43:40,655 --> 00:43:42,413 - Watch your hands, Alex. - Yeah. 912 00:43:44,034 --> 00:43:45,517 Watch your fingers. Coming down. 913 00:43:50,137 --> 00:43:51,103 Get out of there. 914 00:43:52,034 --> 00:43:53,620 Hold on. Hold on. 915 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:04,896 [Juan] We're going to strung that guy. 916 00:44:04,896 --> 00:44:06,586 Go around out front, Alex. 917 00:44:06,896 --> 00:44:07,931 [Alex] There you go. 918 00:44:07,931 --> 00:44:09,448 [Juan] All here on the front. 919 00:44:09,448 --> 00:44:10,931 [Travis] Did the chain just go? 920 00:44:10,931 --> 00:44:12,034 Our hook came loose. 921 00:44:12,862 --> 00:44:14,413 [narrator] At the Naver Creek mine, 922 00:44:14,413 --> 00:44:15,931 one of the four chains 923 00:44:15,931 --> 00:44:18,379 lifting the 2000 pound hopper 924 00:44:18,379 --> 00:44:19,931 has become unhooked. 925 00:44:21,862 --> 00:44:23,379 Right now, I don't need any distractions 926 00:44:23,379 --> 00:44:24,482 is what I'm thinking. 927 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:28,068 Okay. We're gonna have to get back up there 928 00:44:28,068 --> 00:44:29,068 and hook that back up. 929 00:44:33,310 --> 00:44:34,379 Okay. Coming back up, guys. 930 00:44:34,379 --> 00:44:35,551 - Watch out. - [Alex] Okay. 931 00:44:38,551 --> 00:44:39,448 [Alex] How's it look on that side? 932 00:44:39,448 --> 00:44:41,172 [Travis] It's so above over there. 933 00:44:41,172 --> 00:44:42,827 - [Juan] Travis, that's good. - He's got it on this side. 934 00:44:42,827 --> 00:44:44,413 You got it? 935 00:44:44,413 --> 00:44:46,413 [narrator] For the hopper to feed correctly, 936 00:44:46,413 --> 00:44:49,000 the square pillars must insert vertically 937 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:51,241 into matching pockets on the frame. 938 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:54,965 [Juan] Is it there? 939 00:44:54,965 --> 00:44:56,724 It's real close. 940 00:44:57,172 --> 00:44:58,310 Come on down a little. 941 00:45:00,620 --> 00:45:02,000 - This side's in. - [Juan] There you go. 942 00:45:08,448 --> 00:45:10,551 It's in. Perfect. 943 00:45:10,551 --> 00:45:12,172 And it's tied up against the trommel. 944 00:45:12,172 --> 00:45:13,655 [chuckles] Nice. 945 00:45:14,310 --> 00:45:17,241 That's a big relief right now, and we've got the hopper on. 946 00:45:17,241 --> 00:45:18,551 And that's a major part of the trommel. 947 00:45:18,551 --> 00:45:19,689 Still got a lot of plumbing to do, 948 00:45:19,689 --> 00:45:20,620 but we're that much closer 949 00:45:20,620 --> 00:45:21,965 to being able to get this down 950 00:45:21,965 --> 00:45:23,655 to the site and getting it hooked up. 951 00:45:25,965 --> 00:45:27,862 [upbeat music playing] 952 00:45:30,137 --> 00:45:32,103 These guys are pretty green. 953 00:45:32,103 --> 00:45:35,793 So, you know, it's always good to put an eye on stuff 954 00:45:35,793 --> 00:45:37,758 before it gets too out of hand. 955 00:45:37,758 --> 00:45:39,379 [narrator] With the clock ticking, 956 00:45:39,379 --> 00:45:41,000 the miners have been tasked 957 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:42,551 to dig out pay 958 00:45:42,551 --> 00:45:44,655 and create a new pond. 959 00:45:44,655 --> 00:45:46,034 It looks like we're almost ready 960 00:45:46,034 --> 00:45:47,620 to start putting water into this thing. 961 00:45:49,103 --> 00:45:51,103 [Mark on radio] Hey, Trev, we're gonna be coming in. 962 00:45:51,931 --> 00:45:52,862 Freddy is with us. 963 00:45:53,758 --> 00:45:55,655 Yeah, I'm just down in the hole here. 964 00:45:57,965 --> 00:46:00,482 [narrator] Freddy checks in on the progress of the dig. 965 00:46:02,103 --> 00:46:03,965 [Freddy] You're gonna need more pay than that. 966 00:46:03,965 --> 00:46:05,793 We've got to get all that pay out of there. 967 00:46:05,793 --> 00:46:07,034 I thought you already had it done 968 00:46:07,034 --> 00:46:08,724 or I'd have been out here yesterday. 969 00:46:08,724 --> 00:46:09,931 Try it deeper in bedrock. 970 00:46:09,931 --> 00:46:12,275 Let's say go six inches into that bedrock. 971 00:46:12,275 --> 00:46:13,724 - All right? - Okay. 972 00:46:13,724 --> 00:46:15,310 Sounds good. 973 00:46:15,310 --> 00:46:17,344 [narrator] More pay must be dug out. 974 00:46:17,896 --> 00:46:19,206 Freddy's plan, 975 00:46:19,206 --> 00:46:22,413 once the pay has been removed and stockpiled, 976 00:46:22,413 --> 00:46:25,000 use the new cut as a settling pond. 977 00:46:26,068 --> 00:46:27,000 Get it all ready 978 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:28,586 so we can start filling it with water. 979 00:46:28,586 --> 00:46:29,862 [Trevor] All right, let's get her done. 980 00:46:29,862 --> 00:46:31,413 - Let's get to it. - [Freddy] I'm gonna get the welding. 981 00:46:31,413 --> 00:46:32,724 All right, man. Thank you. 982 00:46:36,620 --> 00:46:38,241 [Freddy] Well, one thing's for sure. 983 00:46:38,241 --> 00:46:40,034 Without water, we won't run. 984 00:46:40,034 --> 00:46:41,551 So we've got to dig those ponds out, 985 00:46:41,551 --> 00:46:42,482 get water in there. 986 00:46:42,482 --> 00:46:43,896 We've just got to get it done. 987 00:46:44,482 --> 00:46:46,344 This has got me really stressed out. 988 00:46:46,344 --> 00:46:48,862 Those guys gotta be out of here real soon, 989 00:46:48,862 --> 00:46:51,275 and we're still digging a pond. 990 00:46:59,517 --> 00:47:00,931 We don't have a new piece of four inch pipe, 991 00:47:00,931 --> 00:47:02,413 so I'm gonna reuse what they had. 992 00:47:02,413 --> 00:47:04,034 I had to cut all the little different plugs 993 00:47:04,034 --> 00:47:06,103 that they had on there and all the adapters. 994 00:47:06,103 --> 00:47:07,448 We're going to turn this into the spray bar 995 00:47:07,448 --> 00:47:08,655 in the hopper. 996 00:47:08,655 --> 00:47:10,137 We're actually gonna put a jet on the back 997 00:47:10,137 --> 00:47:11,310 of the hopper itself. 998 00:47:11,310 --> 00:47:13,172 What that's gonna do is push that material down 999 00:47:13,172 --> 00:47:14,344 into the trommel. 1000 00:47:14,344 --> 00:47:15,965 We're gonna call it the pipe with many patches 1001 00:47:15,965 --> 00:47:17,310 that my grandpa gave to me. 1002 00:47:18,448 --> 00:47:19,482 It's all cobbled together. 1003 00:47:19,482 --> 00:47:21,068 I had to put a bunch of patches on it. 1004 00:47:21,068 --> 00:47:22,586 But it will work. 1005 00:47:22,586 --> 00:47:23,827 It's a sexy piece of pipe, huh? 1006 00:47:23,827 --> 00:47:24,655 It's a sexy one. 1007 00:47:24,655 --> 00:47:25,862 - [Juan] Oh, yeah. - It's sexy. 1008 00:47:25,862 --> 00:47:27,379 [Juan laughs] 1009 00:47:27,379 --> 00:47:29,172 All right, let me get up there and see if I can weld it in. 1010 00:47:32,620 --> 00:47:34,103 That's it. Done. 1011 00:47:39,068 --> 00:47:41,896 Yeah, but I think we can start filling this thing with water. 1012 00:47:41,896 --> 00:47:44,482 I mean, it's as deep as I can make it. 1013 00:47:44,965 --> 00:47:46,965 Okay. So, Sacha, Dustin, 1014 00:47:46,965 --> 00:47:49,034 if you guys can get the pump fired up. 1015 00:47:49,034 --> 00:47:50,068 [Sacha] Copy that. 1016 00:47:50,896 --> 00:47:52,000 [pump revving] 1017 00:47:53,034 --> 00:47:54,413 [Mark] Everybody is racing. 1018 00:47:54,413 --> 00:47:56,034 All of us are moving. 1019 00:47:56,034 --> 00:47:57,793 Well, Freddy, Juan, 1020 00:47:57,793 --> 00:47:59,448 our team doing our part. 1021 00:47:59,448 --> 00:48:01,620 [Sacha] Working the pressure go up the line. 1022 00:48:01,620 --> 00:48:03,275 [Mark] Okay. One second. 1023 00:48:04,172 --> 00:48:06,068 Okay. We're good. We've got water. 1024 00:48:06,413 --> 00:48:07,551 Good job, guys. 1025 00:48:07,551 --> 00:48:08,724 Thank you. 1026 00:48:12,862 --> 00:48:14,379 [upbeat music playing] 1027 00:48:18,206 --> 00:48:19,275 [Mark] That's a good angle right there. 1028 00:48:19,275 --> 00:48:20,586 - Yeah, I know, it works. - [Mark] That looks good. 1029 00:48:20,586 --> 00:48:22,758 [narrator] With both ponds now full of water... 1030 00:48:22,758 --> 00:48:24,931 Let's just backfill it from here. 1031 00:48:24,931 --> 00:48:27,137 [Trevor] We've got a pipe now going from our tailings pond 1032 00:48:27,137 --> 00:48:28,068 over to our settling ponds. 1033 00:48:28,068 --> 00:48:30,413 What it does is recirculates the water. 1034 00:48:30,413 --> 00:48:32,172 We don't have to keep pulling in fresh water. 1035 00:48:33,103 --> 00:48:34,862 [narrator] The new settling pond system 1036 00:48:34,862 --> 00:48:36,000 is in place. 1037 00:48:37,551 --> 00:48:39,620 The dirty water will exit the trommel 1038 00:48:39,620 --> 00:48:42,034 with the tailings into the first pond. 1039 00:48:42,965 --> 00:48:45,482 As it slows and the heavy silt 1040 00:48:45,482 --> 00:48:47,172 sinks to the bottom, 1041 00:48:47,172 --> 00:48:49,344 clean water flows downstream 1042 00:48:49,344 --> 00:48:51,862 through the culvert into the second pond. 1043 00:48:52,344 --> 00:48:54,310 From here, the clean water 1044 00:48:54,310 --> 00:48:57,379 can be recirculated back into the plant. 1045 00:49:02,827 --> 00:49:04,724 They're definitely bigger than our other pumps. 1046 00:49:04,724 --> 00:49:06,896 Yeah, no doubt. 1047 00:49:06,896 --> 00:49:08,724 [narrator] A new four inch pump 1048 00:49:08,724 --> 00:49:09,758 will move almost 1049 00:49:09,758 --> 00:49:12,241 five hundred gallons of water a minute 1050 00:49:12,241 --> 00:49:13,862 to the trommel. 1051 00:49:13,862 --> 00:49:16,862 It's a bit of a push to get it all set up 1052 00:49:16,862 --> 00:49:18,655 but I think we can do it. 1053 00:49:18,655 --> 00:49:20,482 We're all working really hard. 1054 00:49:20,482 --> 00:49:22,965 Yeah, so what we'll do is we'll unwrap this. 1055 00:49:22,965 --> 00:49:24,620 - This one goes into the pond. - [both] Okay. 1056 00:49:25,655 --> 00:49:27,413 - [Trevor] There you go there. - [Dustin] Nice. Don't fall in. 1057 00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:29,379 There you go. 1058 00:49:30,379 --> 00:49:33,793 I was up at, I think, 6:30 to turn on the little pump 1059 00:49:33,793 --> 00:49:35,931 and from there, 1060 00:49:35,931 --> 00:49:38,137 it's just been nonstop go, go, go! 1061 00:49:38,137 --> 00:49:40,000 I can't believe this huge pump 1062 00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:41,655 is gonna make a huge difference. 1063 00:49:41,655 --> 00:49:42,862 Way bigger than the ones 1064 00:49:42,862 --> 00:49:44,413 - we've got already. - [Sacha] Oh, my God. 1065 00:49:45,724 --> 00:49:47,448 Hey, Trevor, just across here? 1066 00:49:47,448 --> 00:49:49,275 [Trevor] Yeah, buddy. Yeah. That's great. Thank you. 1067 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:52,206 [Trevor] We got her. It's done. 1068 00:49:52,206 --> 00:49:53,206 Nice. 1069 00:49:53,931 --> 00:49:55,068 Okay. What do you think? 1070 00:49:55,068 --> 00:49:56,931 Literally, the trommel is the next thing in place. 1071 00:49:56,931 --> 00:49:58,068 Other than that, everything's done. 1072 00:49:58,068 --> 00:49:59,517 - I think we're there. - [Sacha] I love it. 1073 00:49:59,517 --> 00:50:00,655 - [Sacha] Perfect. - Good job. 1074 00:50:00,655 --> 00:50:02,068 - Thanks guys. - [Sacha] Yay! 1075 00:50:03,137 --> 00:50:04,137 [Trevor] And all of a sudden you're 1076 00:50:04,137 --> 00:50:05,689 starting to think more like a miner 1077 00:50:05,689 --> 00:50:08,000 and feeling more successful in what we're doing. 1078 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:08,965 We're gonna do this. 1079 00:50:08,965 --> 00:50:09,965 We're gonna make it work. 1080 00:50:23,586 --> 00:50:25,551 [Freddy] Okay, Juan, you done on your end? 1081 00:50:25,551 --> 00:50:26,655 [narrator] With a few hours 1082 00:50:26,655 --> 00:50:28,965 remaining on the Naver Creek mine rescue... 1083 00:50:28,965 --> 00:50:30,620 I'm all done, Fred. We're ready to go. 1084 00:50:30,620 --> 00:50:34,000 [narrator] ...the team must maneuver the newly tricked out trommel 1085 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:37,551 to its position on the pad 600 yards away. 1086 00:50:37,551 --> 00:50:39,724 I can go grab Mark and get his big loader, 1087 00:50:39,724 --> 00:50:41,275 - get him in it. - Let's do it. 1088 00:50:46,379 --> 00:50:48,000 Okay, Juan, if you can let me know how close 1089 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:49,758 they get when I back up. 1090 00:50:49,758 --> 00:50:51,379 We don't have any time for any mess ups. 1091 00:50:51,379 --> 00:50:53,344 I'm just hoping we can get it down there in one piece. 1092 00:50:56,655 --> 00:50:58,379 [Freddy] You can probably get over this way 1093 00:50:58,379 --> 00:50:59,482 quite a bit, Mark. 1094 00:51:02,482 --> 00:51:03,689 [Juan] Let's go. 1095 00:51:05,724 --> 00:51:08,241 - [Freddy] Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! - [alarm beeping] 1096 00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:10,896 [narrator] The 10,000 pound machine 1097 00:51:10,896 --> 00:51:12,758 is too big for the road. 1098 00:51:12,758 --> 00:51:14,344 [Freddy] Trev, you got that chainsaw? 1099 00:51:14,344 --> 00:51:16,344 Let's knock that one down, huh. 1100 00:51:16,344 --> 00:51:18,344 Well, we're about to get into a tree here. 1101 00:51:20,034 --> 00:51:22,103 The last thing we want to do is work this hard on something 1102 00:51:22,103 --> 00:51:24,103 and bend it up putting it in place. 1103 00:51:26,931 --> 00:51:29,034 - [Freddy on radio] You ready, Mark? - Ready to go. 1104 00:51:29,034 --> 00:51:30,379 [Freddy] Slow and easy. 1105 00:51:35,172 --> 00:51:36,689 Okay. We're getting into a pinch point here. 1106 00:51:36,689 --> 00:51:38,000 It's gonna be a little tight. 1107 00:51:45,724 --> 00:51:47,310 That's good there, Mark. That's good. Right there. 1108 00:51:47,310 --> 00:51:48,620 Stop there. Stop there. 1109 00:51:50,620 --> 00:51:52,137 Now we gotta hook up all the plumbing, 1110 00:51:52,137 --> 00:51:53,827 get the pumps hooked up, sluices. 1111 00:51:53,827 --> 00:51:55,448 - Let's do it. - [Juan] Sounds good. 1112 00:51:58,000 --> 00:51:59,586 [thunder rumbling] 1113 00:51:59,586 --> 00:52:01,034 [Jay] These are the final measurements 1114 00:52:01,034 --> 00:52:03,379 that he's doing that really decides 1115 00:52:03,379 --> 00:52:06,172 whether you catch gold in the sluice box or not. 1116 00:52:11,827 --> 00:52:15,103 [Freddy] Come up a little more. Easy. 1117 00:52:15,103 --> 00:52:17,758 It's amazing how it's all come together. 1118 00:52:18,724 --> 00:52:20,689 [Trevor] We're gonna be running dirt tomorrow. 1119 00:52:20,689 --> 00:52:22,655 This is the dream that's coming together. 1120 00:52:23,310 --> 00:52:24,448 [Freddy] The sluice is in. 1121 00:52:24,448 --> 00:52:26,793 We're just ready to hook up that last water line 1122 00:52:26,793 --> 00:52:27,758 and we're ready to go. 1123 00:52:27,758 --> 00:52:28,896 [Freddy] Okay. 1124 00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:32,413 [Jay] Completion is another step 1125 00:52:32,413 --> 00:52:34,137 towards where we gotta go. 1126 00:52:34,137 --> 00:52:36,034 I mean, look at this thing. It's a behemoth. 1127 00:52:37,137 --> 00:52:38,137 [Freddy] We haven't even got to see 1128 00:52:38,137 --> 00:52:39,379 this trommel run yet. 1129 00:52:39,379 --> 00:52:41,862 You know, we've put a hell of a lot of work into it. 1130 00:52:41,862 --> 00:52:43,827 Tomorrow morning is the moment of truth. 1131 00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:47,241 [upbeat music playing] 1132 00:52:56,896 --> 00:52:58,862 [soft music playing] 1133 00:53:00,724 --> 00:53:02,000 [Juan] Well, it's a big day, Freddy. 1134 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:03,655 [Freddy] Yep. Get that plant running. 1135 00:53:03,655 --> 00:53:04,827 You know, I'm a little nervous about it, though. 1136 00:53:04,827 --> 00:53:06,931 You know, these guys are gonna have to hustle more... 1137 00:53:06,931 --> 00:53:07,965 - Yeah. - ...with this plant 1138 00:53:07,965 --> 00:53:09,275 and the smaller trommel. 1139 00:53:09,275 --> 00:53:10,586 Yeah, right now, it's going to be 1140 00:53:10,586 --> 00:53:12,379 more important than ever for them to be organized 1141 00:53:12,379 --> 00:53:13,655 in what they do. 1142 00:53:14,482 --> 00:53:17,137 [narrator] Previously, the mobile wash plant 1143 00:53:17,137 --> 00:53:19,275 maxed out at 10 yards per hour. 1144 00:53:20,931 --> 00:53:24,965 Now, Freddy and Juan have reignited a mining relic, 1145 00:53:24,965 --> 00:53:27,965 a giant 40 yard per hour wash plant, 1146 00:53:27,965 --> 00:53:29,724 complete with new ponds 1147 00:53:29,724 --> 00:53:31,068 and water system. 1148 00:53:32,034 --> 00:53:34,068 Well, Juan, show them around, huh? 1149 00:53:34,068 --> 00:53:35,965 Yeah, let's do it. 1150 00:53:35,965 --> 00:53:38,000 You guys saw what we were doing with the grizzlies. 1151 00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:39,931 We actually put some bigger grizzlies on there. 1152 00:53:39,931 --> 00:53:41,379 [Freddy] Properly spaced. 1153 00:53:41,379 --> 00:53:42,793 [Juan] We put an electric start motor, 1154 00:53:42,793 --> 00:53:44,379 so that way you're not in there 1155 00:53:44,379 --> 00:53:45,862 trying to pull a pull cord. 1156 00:53:45,862 --> 00:53:47,172 The big thing, too, is now 1157 00:53:47,172 --> 00:53:49,517 we've got a four-inch water line coming to your plant. 1158 00:53:49,517 --> 00:53:51,482 We redid all this. It doesn't look that sexy, 1159 00:53:51,482 --> 00:53:52,724 - but it's gonna work. - [Sacha] Yeah. 1160 00:53:52,724 --> 00:53:54,103 I got to say, this thing looks strong. 1161 00:53:54,103 --> 00:53:56,068 [Freddy] Well, you can see the sluice box, guys. 1162 00:53:56,689 --> 00:53:58,379 We reconfigured one of yours. 1163 00:53:58,379 --> 00:54:00,137 - [Juan] Yep. - Different sides, 1164 00:54:00,137 --> 00:54:02,103 completely different lockdown systems. 1165 00:54:02,103 --> 00:54:04,551 So, it's set up to catch fine gold 1166 00:54:04,551 --> 00:54:05,724 or coarser gold as well. 1167 00:54:05,724 --> 00:54:07,517 [Juan] Yeah, you'll be surprised how much more gold 1168 00:54:07,517 --> 00:54:08,551 you'll actually see 1169 00:54:08,551 --> 00:54:09,448 in different riffles, you know. 1170 00:54:09,448 --> 00:54:10,758 [Sacha] Wow. 1171 00:54:10,758 --> 00:54:12,241 [Freddy] Well, let's fire it up, guys. 1172 00:54:12,241 --> 00:54:13,344 [Juan] Yeah. 1173 00:54:16,413 --> 00:54:17,758 [Trevor] The trommel's ready to go. 1174 00:54:17,758 --> 00:54:19,206 I think we're ready to go. 1175 00:54:19,206 --> 00:54:21,137 We can't wait to start it up. 1176 00:54:21,137 --> 00:54:23,793 [Sacha] I'm pretty nervous about the four hour test. 1177 00:54:23,793 --> 00:54:27,310 This is definitely a pivotal moment for us miners. 1178 00:54:27,310 --> 00:54:30,068 Okay, ladies and gentlemen, fire in the hole. 1179 00:54:30,068 --> 00:54:31,586 - Golden sluice. - [motor starts] 1180 00:54:31,586 --> 00:54:33,034 You know, Freddy, it's really hard because, 1181 00:54:33,034 --> 00:54:34,965 you know, we watched a little plant run. 1182 00:54:34,965 --> 00:54:36,206 We didn't get to watch this one run, 1183 00:54:36,206 --> 00:54:38,068 so we really didn't know what it was gonna need. 1184 00:54:40,689 --> 00:54:42,482 You ready, Jay? First bucket. 1185 00:54:42,482 --> 00:54:44,344 All set for the first bucket. 1186 00:54:46,655 --> 00:54:47,931 [Freddy] It's a huge difference in there 1187 00:54:47,931 --> 00:54:50,275 compared to the first test. Different plant. 1188 00:54:50,275 --> 00:54:51,793 The guys have more knowledge now, 1189 00:54:51,793 --> 00:54:54,827 a better recovery system, so we'll see what happens. 1190 00:54:59,551 --> 00:55:02,310 And we are moving so much more material. 1191 00:55:02,310 --> 00:55:03,931 [narrator] Two hours into the test, 1192 00:55:03,931 --> 00:55:07,137 the team have churned through 80 yards of dirt, 1193 00:55:07,137 --> 00:55:10,724 four times the amount of pay from the previous run. 1194 00:55:12,827 --> 00:55:14,517 Honestly, for a shot in the dark, 1195 00:55:14,517 --> 00:55:15,379 I think we did all right. 1196 00:55:15,379 --> 00:55:16,413 Yeah, I think so, too. 1197 00:55:16,413 --> 00:55:17,758 The sluice is running good. 1198 00:55:17,758 --> 00:55:19,655 - [Juan] Yeah. - The water system's running good. 1199 00:55:19,655 --> 00:55:20,793 The grizzlies are working good. 1200 00:55:21,551 --> 00:55:23,103 I mean, what a difference. 1201 00:55:23,103 --> 00:55:24,758 This is really moving material. 1202 00:55:26,241 --> 00:55:27,793 [Freddy] That worked, hey Juano! 1203 00:55:27,793 --> 00:55:28,827 [Juan] First time running, 1204 00:55:28,827 --> 00:55:30,655 - I'm happy with it. - I am as well. 1205 00:55:31,620 --> 00:55:34,103 [Mark] This wash plant was a complete unknown. 1206 00:55:34,103 --> 00:55:36,310 We didn't know how it was really going to run. 1207 00:55:36,310 --> 00:55:37,689 But it's going great. 1208 00:55:38,172 --> 00:55:39,275 Nothing's holding us up. 1209 00:55:40,620 --> 00:55:42,724 [Freddy] Now we've got the flow of that water, 1210 00:55:42,724 --> 00:55:44,689 see it's moving all the way across, 1211 00:55:44,689 --> 00:55:47,034 and now that water has to make a long journey 1212 00:55:47,034 --> 00:55:48,758 before it gets to your other pond, 1213 00:55:48,758 --> 00:55:50,206 - it makes the silt drop out. - [Juan] Yep. 1214 00:55:51,620 --> 00:55:52,862 They're running a lot more material. 1215 00:55:52,862 --> 00:55:54,793 The material coming off the end of the trommel. 1216 00:55:54,793 --> 00:55:55,793 Clean. 1217 00:55:56,827 --> 00:55:58,517 [Jay] Very proud, very happy. 1218 00:55:59,103 --> 00:56:01,275 And excited to see 1219 00:56:01,275 --> 00:56:02,758 what's gonna happen at the end of this. 1220 00:56:02,758 --> 00:56:04,000 That's what it's all about. 1221 00:56:04,896 --> 00:56:06,758 [Juan] They're a lot smoother as a crew now. 1222 00:56:07,655 --> 00:56:09,689 I wouldn't say a well-oiled machine just yet, 1223 00:56:09,689 --> 00:56:11,241 but they're doing pretty good. 1224 00:56:11,241 --> 00:56:13,896 - Lightly oiled. - Lightly oiled. 1225 00:56:13,896 --> 00:56:15,034 I think they're getting the general gist 1226 00:56:15,034 --> 00:56:16,379 of how it's supposed to go down. 1227 00:56:17,172 --> 00:56:18,413 They're doing good, though. 1228 00:56:20,206 --> 00:56:21,655 [Trevor] Looking good, buddy, looking good. 1229 00:56:23,827 --> 00:56:24,965 [Freddy] Well, Juan... 1230 00:56:25,862 --> 00:56:26,620 [Juan] Last bucket, huh? 1231 00:56:26,620 --> 00:56:28,793 - Four hours. - That's the run. 1232 00:56:29,655 --> 00:56:30,689 Hey, Jay. 1233 00:56:31,137 --> 00:56:32,103 Last bucket. 1234 00:56:32,655 --> 00:56:34,379 Copy that. Last bucket. 1235 00:56:34,379 --> 00:56:36,517 To see how much gold's in the sluice box. 1236 00:56:38,586 --> 00:56:40,241 [Trevor] That's it. Shut her down. 1237 00:56:48,137 --> 00:56:49,241 [Trevor] Hopefully, it's in the mats. 1238 00:56:49,241 --> 00:56:51,137 - [Sacha] Mm-hmm. - [Freddy] Yep, buried in there. 1239 00:56:51,827 --> 00:56:53,413 We'll let you guys get it cleaned up. 1240 00:56:53,413 --> 00:56:55,000 All right. 1241 00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:56,586 [Freddy] I always like to see a lot of gold 1242 00:56:56,586 --> 00:56:58,586 when you shut down on the mat. 1243 00:56:58,586 --> 00:57:00,068 I didn't see a lot. 1244 00:57:00,068 --> 00:57:02,172 Sluice box didn't look great at all. 1245 00:57:02,172 --> 00:57:04,827 So I don't know if we made the right call going 20 times 1246 00:57:04,827 --> 00:57:06,482 from what we had on our first test run. 1247 00:57:06,482 --> 00:57:08,000 Freddy said it, so we gonna stick to it. 1248 00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:10,206 But maybe that was the wrong call. 1249 00:57:17,310 --> 00:57:18,965 - You wanna see something cool? - [Juan] What's up? 1250 00:57:18,965 --> 00:57:20,896 Well, somebody made something for you 1251 00:57:20,896 --> 00:57:21,965 that I'm supposed to give you. 1252 00:57:22,310 --> 00:57:23,379 - Really? - Come here. 1253 00:57:23,379 --> 00:57:25,000 I'll show you what it is. 1254 00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:28,103 Well, your wife already made your bulldog a custom cape. 1255 00:57:28,103 --> 00:57:30,482 Yeah, it's pretty sweet. I like it. 1256 00:57:30,482 --> 00:57:32,793 - Another friend of yours made you... - [Juan] No kidding. 1257 00:57:32,793 --> 00:57:35,034 - ...a hat. Hat and cape. - [Juan] That is awesome. 1258 00:57:35,034 --> 00:57:36,413 It even matches my hard hat. 1259 00:57:36,827 --> 00:57:37,758 Exactly. Look at that. 1260 00:57:37,758 --> 00:57:40,000 - Probably, smells less. - [Juan laughs] 1261 00:57:41,689 --> 00:57:42,724 [Juan] Does it fit? 1262 00:57:42,724 --> 00:57:44,413 - Oh. Fits perfect, too. - [Freddy] Oh, yeah. 1263 00:57:44,413 --> 00:57:46,551 [Juan] I like that. He looks more distinguished now. 1264 00:57:46,551 --> 00:57:47,862 That's pretty cool, Juan. 1265 00:57:47,862 --> 00:57:49,310 It's perfect, Fred. 1266 00:57:49,310 --> 00:57:50,379 Absolutely perfect. 1267 00:57:51,620 --> 00:57:52,758 [Freddy laughs] 1268 00:57:59,206 --> 00:58:01,034 [soft music playing] 1269 00:58:02,655 --> 00:58:05,275 [Jay] It takes five minutes just to fill up these little pans. 1270 00:58:06,206 --> 00:58:08,034 [narrator] At the Naver Creek mine, 1271 00:58:08,034 --> 00:58:10,379 the crew begin their cleanup. 1272 00:58:10,379 --> 00:58:13,103 - [Freddy] I'm sorry about just jumping in. - [Trevor] No, no, no. 1273 00:58:13,103 --> 00:58:15,172 [Sacha] Thank goodness. 1274 00:58:16,448 --> 00:58:18,655 [narrator] But the gold bearing concentrate 1275 00:58:18,655 --> 00:58:21,241 is still filled with other heavy minerals. 1276 00:58:22,103 --> 00:58:23,448 What are you doing, Freddy? 1277 00:58:23,448 --> 00:58:25,137 Right now, we're just using this magnet 1278 00:58:25,137 --> 00:58:27,068 to get the magnetic heavies out of it 1279 00:58:27,068 --> 00:58:28,310 so we don't have to deal with them. 1280 00:58:28,310 --> 00:58:30,482 - Right. - [Freddy] So we are fighting our way 1281 00:58:30,482 --> 00:58:31,586 through them to get to the gold. 1282 00:58:31,586 --> 00:58:32,724 [Sacha] Yep. 1283 00:58:32,724 --> 00:58:34,793 [Juan] Here, I got my contractor's license, Fred. 1284 00:58:35,448 --> 00:58:37,620 [Sacha] Oh, so you can release. 1285 00:58:37,620 --> 00:58:39,241 [narrator] Freddy's mining hack, 1286 00:58:39,241 --> 00:58:41,862 use the magnet through a piece of plastic 1287 00:58:41,862 --> 00:58:45,000 to quickly release the worthless heavy metals. 1288 00:58:45,931 --> 00:58:49,275 - Fantastic, you guys. - [Sacha] Thank you. 1289 00:58:49,275 --> 00:58:51,379 [Juan] Even though they're novice to mining, 1290 00:58:51,379 --> 00:58:53,034 they're not novice to hard work. 1291 00:58:53,034 --> 00:58:54,517 If you have a crew that you enjoy being with 1292 00:58:54,517 --> 00:58:56,275 and you can work with and work hard with, 1293 00:58:56,275 --> 00:58:58,551 you know that's worth its weight in gold. 1294 00:58:58,551 --> 00:59:02,344 I mean the University of Gold by Freddy and Juan, 1295 00:59:02,344 --> 00:59:04,793 we've got our two professors there 1296 00:59:04,793 --> 00:59:07,620 teaching us what gold mining is. 1297 00:59:07,620 --> 00:59:09,241 [Sacha] Getting rid of all this. 1298 00:59:09,586 --> 00:59:10,724 Wow. 1299 00:59:11,137 --> 00:59:12,482 In five minutes 1300 00:59:12,482 --> 00:59:14,000 I already learned so much. 1301 00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:15,620 With the magnet 1302 00:59:15,620 --> 00:59:17,620 that was a game changer. 1303 00:59:17,620 --> 00:59:21,172 We cut from nine hour clean-up to one. 1304 00:59:21,172 --> 00:59:22,310 [chuckles softly] 1305 00:59:22,310 --> 00:59:23,448 So that's huge. 1306 00:59:31,103 --> 00:59:32,931 [Sacha] Got it all cooked up. 1307 00:59:32,931 --> 00:59:34,586 [Freddy] When I looked in that sluice box, 1308 00:59:34,586 --> 00:59:36,655 - my heart sank. - [Juan] Mine too. 1309 00:59:36,655 --> 00:59:37,724 - [Juan] Yeah. - [Sacha] Really? 1310 00:59:38,689 --> 00:59:41,482 [narrator] To hit Freddy's 20 times gamble, 1311 00:59:41,482 --> 00:59:43,241 and put the miners on course 1312 00:59:43,241 --> 00:59:45,793 for their 100 ounce season goal, 1313 00:59:45,793 --> 00:59:47,206 from this test, 1314 00:59:47,206 --> 00:59:50,551 they need at least 0.4 ounces. 1315 00:59:50,551 --> 00:59:53,000 - It looks better than the first one. - That's looks a lot better. 1316 00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:54,103 Oh, yeah. 1317 00:59:56,310 --> 00:59:58,413 Okay. We just went past your first run. 1318 00:59:58,413 --> 00:59:59,793 [laughter] 1319 01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:02,068 Wow. 1320 01:00:02,620 --> 01:00:03,551 Uh-oh. 1321 01:00:03,551 --> 01:00:06,896 Look at there. There's 0.4 right there. 1322 01:00:06,896 --> 01:00:08,620 - There's 20 times. - Twenty times. 1323 01:00:08,620 --> 01:00:10,517 - There's 20 times. - [Sacha] Yeah. 1324 01:00:10,517 --> 01:00:12,482 There's a little more of gold left. 1325 01:00:12,482 --> 01:00:13,586 - 0.49. - [Sacha cheering] 1326 01:00:15,724 --> 01:00:17,896 [Freddy] 0.49. 1327 01:00:17,896 --> 01:00:19,172 Dang. Near to a half an ounce. 1328 01:00:19,172 --> 01:00:20,896 As far as I'm concerned, that's a half ounce. 1329 01:00:20,896 --> 01:00:23,310 - [Juan] Half an ounce in a four hour run. - Thank you. 1330 01:00:23,310 --> 01:00:24,724 So realistically, in a full day, 1331 01:00:24,724 --> 01:00:25,965 you can do an ounce. 1332 01:00:25,965 --> 01:00:27,000 - [Mark] Yeah. - [Juan] Well, that puts you on target 1333 01:00:27,000 --> 01:00:29,413 - for your 100 ounce season, right? - Yeah. 1334 01:00:29,413 --> 01:00:30,620 [Juan] You know, quite an ambitious goal 1335 01:00:30,620 --> 01:00:31,862 of a 100 ounce for the season. 1336 01:00:31,862 --> 01:00:33,896 With the gold weight we just had right now, 1337 01:00:33,896 --> 01:00:35,137 that's a possibility. 1338 01:00:35,137 --> 01:00:37,551 But more than anything, they have a future here. 1339 01:00:39,034 --> 01:00:40,827 [Freddy] Well, guys, I couldn't be more happy. 1340 01:00:40,827 --> 01:00:42,000 I mean, look at the difference. 1341 01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:44,931 - Your guidance has been huge. - [Freddy] Thank you. 1342 01:00:46,379 --> 01:00:47,517 You guys take care. Okay. 1343 01:00:47,517 --> 01:00:48,896 - Thank you. - [Mark] Thank you so much. 1344 01:00:48,896 --> 01:00:51,068 - [Jay] Thank you guys. - It was a pleasure. 1345 01:00:52,103 --> 01:00:53,068 [Trevor] It means everything. 1346 01:00:53,068 --> 01:00:55,931 It means I get to live the life 1347 01:00:56,827 --> 01:00:57,862 of a gold miner. 1348 01:00:58,655 --> 01:00:59,931 [honking] 1349 01:00:59,931 --> 01:01:02,448 [John] It proves my theories about this claim. 1350 01:01:02,448 --> 01:01:04,413 I'm more than happy with everything. 1351 01:01:05,241 --> 01:01:07,206 You question, "Am I gonna get a return on this?" 1352 01:01:07,206 --> 01:01:08,344 Freddy gave us a good path. 1353 01:01:08,344 --> 01:01:10,517 Juan showed us a good path and it's working. 1354 01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:13,034 We're getting our money back 1355 01:01:13,034 --> 01:01:14,965 out of what we put our heart and soul into. 1356 01:01:17,241 --> 01:01:19,689 [upbeat music playing] 1357 01:01:29,517 --> 01:01:31,000 Hey, Freddy, Juan, 1358 01:01:31,000 --> 01:01:33,793 just want to give you guys a little update here. 1359 01:01:33,793 --> 01:01:36,000 [Jay] The first snowflakes started to fall. 1360 01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:36,965 But we've made it back, 1361 01:01:36,965 --> 01:01:38,655 and we do have some good news for you. 1362 01:01:38,655 --> 01:01:40,793 Freddy, you showed me how to prospect. 1363 01:01:40,793 --> 01:01:42,689 We managed to open up some other cuts 1364 01:01:42,689 --> 01:01:45,344 and we really have some great success with it. 1365 01:01:45,344 --> 01:01:47,724 But we can't believe what you guys did for us. 1366 01:01:47,724 --> 01:01:49,896 I was really running there at the end of the season. 1367 01:01:49,896 --> 01:01:52,482 The sluice box, it's working amazing. 1368 01:01:52,482 --> 01:01:55,068 Now we're getting all the gold at the top end. 1369 01:01:55,068 --> 01:01:56,517 You guys want to know what our total was? 1370 01:01:57,137 --> 01:01:58,551 You guys, you nailed it. 1371 01:01:58,551 --> 01:01:59,724 You crushed it with us. 1372 01:01:59,724 --> 01:02:01,724 117.3 ounces 1373 01:02:01,724 --> 01:02:03,517 - Freddy, Juan... - [Sacha] We love you. 1374 01:02:03,517 --> 01:02:05,000 [Mark] We're coming back next year. 1375 01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:06,655 That's the most important thing there is. 1376 01:02:06,655 --> 01:02:09,310 - [Trevor] Here's to next year. - [Jay] We're coming next year. 1377 01:02:09,310 --> 01:02:11,758 - [Mark] We're coming next season. - Thanks, Freddy and Juan. 1378 01:02:11,758 --> 01:02:14,103 - Thanks guys. - Thank you so much.