Last season,
the Hoffmans faced the richest...
Yeah, that's crazy gold.
...but toughest mine of their career.
Shut it down! Shut it down!
Stop!
I don't think we're gonna make it.
But they rose to the challenge...
Come on, baby!
And won.
You guys out there, did it, man.
Now, they're back to get the gold.
This year, I brought a killer crew.
Only the best.
This is almost like, going to war.
You got your army and The Holy Roller is like your tank.
And this season, the risk...
I am way out on a limb, financially.
...is all on Todd's shoulders.
Todd has thrown it all on the line.
We need a lot of gold.
But there's one obstacle he didn't see coming.
His son, Hunter.
Me and my Dad has totally different styles of how we operate, how we work.
- Cut down. - Just be quiet. Let me back drag it.
After years of clashes...
- He died. I don't know why. - Why?
...Hunter Hoffman sets out on his own.
This is my tenth season. I've always wanted to run my own plant.
If we have two plants going,
we have a better chance of hitting our goal.
All I'm asking is for you to give me a chance.
I hope you know what you're getting involved into.
My mind is already made up.
It's a big gamble. It's a huge, huge risk.
The Hoffmans may have finally hit the motherload.
Look at Tater's hand.
- All gold, man. - Is that amazing or what?
This is the richest ground that I've ever mined on.
Popping nuggets left and right.
But will this season tear them apart?
You guys said you will bring the 650 here.
Don't ever call me a liar.
'Cause I'll fight you right out here in this pay pile.
If we can't do it now, we're in deep, deep trouble.
And me in financial ruin.
♪ Yeah, come on, Give it to me ♪
♪ Yes, come on, now, Give it to me ♪
♪ Yeah, now, come on, Give it to me ♪
♪ Give it to me ♪
♪ Come on, give it to me ♪
Look at these, guys.
- Wow. - Holy cow!
That's a lineup, boys.
I got a lease for all new equipment.
- Do you see that? - Yeah.
You said new equipment. That's insane.
Dude, this sick!
Pow.
Everything has auto-greasers.
What do you think, Jack?
Oh, my gosh, Todd.
We've never ever had equipment like this.
New bucket, new teeth, new cutting edges.
New cab. It's like a new car.
This is crazy.
For ten years... Hunter, my dad and I,
we've been looking for a mine
that is rich and hasn't been picked through.
And I think we found it right here at Mammoth Valley.
We know that Mammoth Valley mine is loaded with gold.
- Holy! - Oh!
Let 'em see that.
- That is gold. What? - That is crazy!
5.1 ounces per hundred.
Holy great!
It worked out to 70 ounces per 100 yards.
That's just out of this world.
Last year, we barely scratched the surface.
This is the type of drone we've been looking for.
But now, we're back to finish what we started.
Okay, what's the plan. Andy!
How are we gonna get across this freaking river?
That bridge will not hold these machines.
No.
But we know, last year, we never would have made it across.
It's just too deep.
We had a drier year.
The water is as low as we've ever seen it.
Hopefully, it's low enough.
This is our best opportunity.
I'll jump in the shortest machine, the 360.
I feel my way across it
and once I get across,
then everybody can just follow the exact the same route.
Guys, these machines are like, the best machines
that we've ever had a chance to run.
And I'm financially on the hook on these babies,
so let's not stick one out here in the river
and ruin the dang thing.
Last season was a disaster.
There's a hole in the slurry line.
It's got a torque converter overheat issue.
One excavator has a leaky hose.
Massive oil leak. You can't open the door.
The fuel truck blew the engine.
This tire is junk. No good.
All the equipment broke down.
It doesn't have enough hydraulic power to pull itself out.
Lot of smoke.
We actually spent more time repairing it than running it.
We're gonna be working around the clock.
Not this year.
To succeed up here, you cannot have breakdowns.
Come on, Andy. Let's fire it up.
Let's bring that 360 out here.
Okay, fire it up.
You have to have the best equipment
and that's what I paid for.
Look how much lower Andy is
- than a driver in one of those rock trucks. - Yeah.
We're gonna bring Andy out with the 360
which is our shortest machine.
If we don't get these machines across that river,
we're screwed.
- It is truly sink or swim. You know? - Yeah.
Come on, baby.
Andy is poking around, he's feeling around.
He's looking for the hole,
just to make sure he's gonna be safe.
Ooh, it's looking deep already.
Damn, where my bucket is, it looks like it will be
right at the flipping top of the house.
Gonna be really close.
Yeah, I don't like that.
You're gonna throw water up into the electronics and everything else.
Getting deeper.
You're in the house now, Andy.
Ooh. Uh-oh.
It's getting a lot deeper.
- We better get going. - Oh, man.
Oh! Holy cow!
I gotta be getting close to coming up the road.
Careful!
Careful, Andy.
Oh, my God.
Come on. Little further.
Okay, my bucket is on shallower ground.
Going for it.
Go. Go, go, go, go, go.
We got it. We got it.
Oh, man. I thought it was going down.
He freakin' made it.
No way.
He did it. He made it across.
Come on, Tater.
Coming through, you guys.
Follow that path, Tater.
Don't veer off of it.
Copy.
I am way out on a limb, financially.
This mine is in the Seward Peninsula of Alaska.
80 miles off of Nome, so we're completely off the grid.
Wow, it's getting deep.
So my equipment and transportation costs
are north of $750,000.
We got 'er.
Labor and fuel costs are at about $150,000 each.
Ooh, she's getting deep.
I'm look at 600 ounces, give or take
just to break even.
Hudson's coming through now.
But a good mine gives you a profit
that you can take home
and it leaves enough gold to put into next year.
That's our last truck.
So, I'm looking for thousand ounces of gold
to call this season a win.
Okay, don't turn yet.
Going through. We're going through.
It's kinda slipping. It's slipping.
Hey, that truck is slipping.
Hold up, hold up. Don't carry it up.
I'll get behind him. I'll tell you when I'm there.
When you feel me touch your headache rack,
then you start going. Okay?
Ten-four.
There you go, boys. That's how it's done, baby.
Nice job.
All right!
Yee-haw! We got her.
Love you, baby.
We did it. We got it. We're good.
- Nailed it. - Made it.
This year, I brought a killer crew.
I need a hug.
- I need a hug. - We win!
Awesome, man.
Need a pair of underwear.
I brought only the best.
I got my son, Hunter. I got my son, Cub.
Andy and his son Dakota.
Even Sparky.
And I brought in a couple of experts, Framer and Tater.
Those guys can run anything that we have.
Okay, let's get these things to the mine.
- Yeah. - And let's get 'em going.
Let's go!
Great job, baby!
Here we are.
Last year, the equipment was just constantly breaking down
and Randy just stepped up and just tried to keep everything going.
I'm glad that he's back.
It's been a long time. I'm ready.
It was a tough seven months.
Knowing what we have here and waiting to get back here,
it was enough to drive you crazy.
It's great to be back.
I hate this washplant. I hated everything about this washplant.
And then, there were the washplants last year.
The Z plant was basically a trainwreck.
It throws its belts off and then,
we have to shut down and fix it, obviously.
The hot mess broke down
every other day.
It's a big piece of crap.
Our most reliable plant was the slowest.
- Get over here. - The little test plant.
The whole trommel just jumped.
But this year,
we have an ace up our sleeve.
Give me a honk.
Yeah!
And that is The Holy Roller.
This is almost like, going to a war.
You got your army and this is, like, your tank.
Just you, your tank, your equipment
against the world. You know?
Can't believe it's actually here, Todd.
Oh, yeah!
If I'm going to win,
I needed the best washplant that I ever owned.
But she wasn't cheap.
This is the time that we're gonna actually find out
what The Holy Roller is made of.
But we gotta get it off this truck.
And it's about 50,000 pounds with this tube in the center.
So, Framer, what do you think, man?
You hauled it in.
I think four excavators, one in each corner and...
hope we can pick it up. It's heavy.
Four excavators. We gotta work as a team.
One guy screws up, the thing flips over
and bends a tube, and then, we're screwed.
- Okay? - Yeah.
All right, let's go.
Right here, Hunter.
So, people have heard me claim before,
"Hey, we're on the best gold ever."
That's one of the best goldbeds I've seen in a long time.
We got some big hopes on this paydirt right here.
Maybe some of the best dirt we've ever ran.
- It doesn't get any better than this. - It doesn't get any better.
- What'd you find? - The best pad I've ever had out here.
This is a lot of freaking old.
This ground is freaking awesome.
- Here we go. Huh? - Holy frick!
And there's always some reason why you come up short.
We busted our ass, Todd. That ground is [bleep].
But we know that gold is here
right beneath our feet.
We've redesigned the screen section.
We've redesigned the sluice boxes
after being around the paydirt last year
in that clay.
I think we have the right combination
to actually get all this gold.
I think this is our secret weapon.
The Holy Roller's design and size is the perfect match
for the mine's tough clay-rich soil.
The spray bar's 80,000 PSI jets push water
and erode nearly 300 yards of paydirt
every hour.
But weighing in at nearly 50,000 pounds,
getting it unloaded will require their arsenal of excavators.
- Work together. - Here we go.
And a steady hand
as one wrong move could damage
which could end their season before they get started.
Framer, you call it.
All right. Up in the front. Go ahead.
Nice and easy.
Come on up. Come on up. Come on up.
Hold that. Holding.
Ah, we got about five... four-five inches on this side.
Go up about an inch and a half and see how it looks.
Ready? Come on up.
Come on up. Easy.
Easy.
- Oh. - All right.
Let's take the back up another two and a half inches or so.
And then, we'll do the front.
Up on her. Dakota, more.
Tater, you're low.
Come up.
It's a very tricky pick.
Dakota, you're down.
I'm out on my boom.
Hunter, slow down.
Easy. Easy.
You're good. Right there.
Okay, everybody, hold up.
Okay. We're off. We're off.
- All right. - Mikey, get it out of here.
Drive it!
Go, Mikey. Go.
Easy. Easy.
Good going, Mike. Go!
Go, Mikey. Go!
Am I clear?
Yes, you're clear.
Okay, everybody, go slow. Bring it down.
Everybody, watch your corners.
Gotta be very careful with this thing.
This year, this feels different.
Hold up, Hunter.
Easy. Easy.
I have the best equipment.
I have the best crew.
And if we are truly on the best gold,
then there's no excuse. This is it.
If we can't do it now,
we're in deep, deep trouble.
And me in financial ruin.
- Yo. - Get down.
Yeah! Woo!
Oh, yeah!
Nice work, guys.
Man, we did it. Good job.
All right, boys, good job.
This may not seem like a lot to a lot of people,
but for us to get The Holy Roller
from where it started
as an idea
to, in the field...
Uh, it's a big deal.
So, for us, it's a win.
And hopefully,
gets a lot of gold.
Now, let's get this plant running.
Go right.
You're good.
So, while I focus on The Holy Roller, to get that thing going,
Andy and the guys are actually stacking pay from ancient river channel.
It's about one to two and half ounces per 100.
Yeah.
And then, Cub and Hunter are gonna go prospect a promising site
up there at Atlas Creek.
- Got everything? - Yup.
I'm back this season.
Part if it is 'cause my grandpa really wanted me to come back.
But part of it is, I still wanna know what kinda gold is out here.
Still a little bit of mystery.
Here's the deal.
The Dog Creek Valley is good, but it's... Nothing compares to this.
That's why I wanna bring you out here, I want you to see this stuff.
I've done some crazy pans over at Atlas.
Right now, we're standing on Atlas Creek.
There used to be 300 people living out here.
If they came all the way out here...
I mean, they were risking their lives
and if they were willing to do that,
had to have been a good gold.
I think it's a ounce a yard.
We all need to come back here and go find out what's out there.
This is how I knew, this was the mine.
And this is why I'm back.
Yeah, this is it, man.
This is crazy.
I'm really glad to have my little brother up here.
This is gonna be a chance for me and him to actually
mine, side-by side.
And I wanted to take Cub to Alice 'cause
I want him to see where our future in goldmining may be.
Isn't this crazy?
- How old is this? - I don't know, but...
Did you ever see wrenches that look like this?
No, I have never.
This is the first time I've been mining, since I was a kid.
The reason I joined the team is 'cause I have a wife and a baby at home
and I want to provide for them.
Look at this.
You don't want any of this?
I might.
I'm excited for this mine. I know it's really good gold.
I'm excited to work with my brother.
This is the type of stuff these guys were using in the mine. Okay?
So, if they were getting enough gold
with something like this,
- it's probably pretty good. - Yeah.
I had a meeting, privately with my dad before this season.
And I made some things very clear
that were non-negotiable things for me.
And part of it was me having,
you know, some more leadership,
more responsibility, a little bit of say
at what's going on here.
'Cause I've been doing this every year since I was ten,
so this is all I know.
You know, most kids grew up playing in summer and...
with their friends or whatever,
but I was just running machinery.
So, I feel like I'm an asset to the team.
I feel like I need to be listened to
and I'm hoping my dad has what it takes to succeed this year.
I think he deserves it.
And I think every single person on this team deserves the win.
Either way...
there's a lot of stuff out here which is a good sign.
I've never wanted to win, ever,
as bad as I do right now.
I'm 100 percent in.
I'd lose a finger
for us to go on a win.
I think grandpa will like this thing. Isn't it?
- Oh, yeah. - He'll love it.
I'm gonna give it 100 percent.
And we're gonna go all the way and see what we can do.
Okay. Let's get out of here.
For eight years, this mine has been struggling.
Last year, we came in to help them get to their break-even point.
But that's not gonna cut it for us.
We need to take this operation to profitability.
So, I'm looking for a thousand ounces this year
or there won't be a next.
Jimmy, you're getting pretty good in that thing.
Thank you.
So are you.
I'm hoping, we can at least build for a big, big future.
You're literally building the infrastructure, the road.
We're trying to get the plant setup.
It's gonna be difficult.
First thing on my list...
is pull all these old washplants out of the way.
Out with the old, in with the new.
The Z plant would take months to fix,
so we're taking that out of operation.
Sixty years old. Granny should have stopped shaking a long time ago.
And my nemesis... The Hot Mess is a huge
pile of crap that was leaking gold.
The end of the trommel
where it looks like there's pay spilling out the end.
This is one place they're losing gold.
So, we're gonna pull that off the hill,
but we're gonna find out how much gold
is right underneath it.
Gonna be tearing apart the whole Hot Mess.
Trying to get it out of here.
We gotta clear this whole area
to set up our new ponds and everything else for the new plant, so...
We can't do anything until this is gone.
The sooner the team can get the Hot Mess removed from the site,
the sooner they can get The Holy Roller up and running.
And producing the gold they desperately need
to combat their startup costs.
Todd has given the team an ambitious 72-hour deadline
to start processing paydirt.
To get The Holy Runner running,
we gotta get the Hot Mess out.
We need this gravel underneath it.
Plus, we just wanna see what we got here in this paydirt
right underneath it.
What do you wanna do next?
Trommel.
The whole frame, hopper,
feeder is all welded to the frame.
- So, it's all coming out one piece or-- - Good.
Yeah. [bleep] drag it off the hill. That's what I think.
Hook me up on the front.
Hook it up?
Watch the show, baby.
I would recommend standing as far back as possible.
We'll see what happens.
I'm gonna carefully unhook
and maybe, push it from the back.
No. Can't.
I would not unhook.
Unhook me.
Let's just keep it simple, man.
Drag it off the hill in one piece.
It's way less work all of us.
Unhook me!
He's gonna do it his way.
Man...
This isn't the way I'd do it.
You wanna fire him?
Me and my dad have totally different styles
of how we operate, how we work.
Just my opinion.
It's really frustrating when my dad disregards what I say.
Me and my dad have had pretty serious issues
working together in the past.
I have my opinions, he has his.
All I can do is control what I can control
which is my emotions and...
I'm gonna try to keep a cool head.
I'm gonna give you, like, two more minutes
and then, I'm gonna have to replace you with Hunter. Okay?
Dude, you gotta stop digging a hole here though.
Seriously. It's making it worse.
Try what?
Why don't you to track around to the other side.
Hook it up and then elevate it
while you track backwards and just slide it down the hill.
Okay.
Let's try it.
Right now, I feel like we're wasting valuable time.
This should have been a three-hour project.
It's turned into an all-day thing.
But right now, we need to get The Holy Roller put together.
Little things like this add up
and it bites you at the end of the season.
So, my dad doesn't wanna listen to me
and actually, it's costing us a lot of time.
Everybody, heads up.
Is it going at all?
It will go. Just stick up as you back up.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Keep rolling. Keep rolling. - There we go.
Here we go.
It's starting to wiggle its way out.
You're gonna hit a tipping point,
and it will start coming down the hill.
There you go. See?
Wow, look at that.
Keep doing that. Keep doing it.
Back, track. Track backwards.
Oh, my God!
Yay!
I'm really hoping that my dad will listen to my suggestions this season.
I think it will be to his own benefit.
I don't really know why
he wouldn't wanna listen to me.
There we go, good work.
I don't if it's a father-son pride, ego thing.
Okay. Go and set her down.
Okay, let's disconnect.
But hopefully, it's not to his downfall.
With The Hot Mess now out of the way,
the Hoffmans are ready to turn their focus on The Holy Roller.
Are you ready? Can we bolt this now?
I'm just gonna hook it for him.
Let him bang it in there. We'll just try to get bolts in it.
We're just trying to get all the sluice pieces bolted together.
Everything in mining, it's all kinda, like, rough and kinda rudimentary,
but once you get down to the sluice box,
it's a fine science to make sure that it's working right.
But we've installed tons of sluice boxes at this point.
Hold that corner.
We gotta get it just right.
That is perfect there.
So, should go together with no issues.
The Holy Roller is at a critical phase.
The Hoffmans are installing the sluice in five pieces.
Each must align and maintain a consistent fall
or the gold won't be trapped.
Did you wanna wire wheel that or not or do anything?
I wouldn't.
- No? - I don't know why.
Gonna bolt 'em together really tight and caulk it again at the top, so...
So, I'm gonna throw a little silicone in here.
Get a little bit more of a seal just to prevent any leaks.
'Cause overtime it will erode underneath your sluice box.
Get it unlevel and then you're not catching gold as good.
I think, last year the plants were only recovering 50 percent.
You know, we know there's good pay here
and it's just wasteful, honestly.
So, this year, you know, we like to get our boxes where we can recover
90 percent or more.
So, that's what we're hoping for.
Make sure there's no extra room underneath the sluice box.
Most crucial to a well-operating sluice box
is the angle of descent.
The team needs the box to slope
two inches per foot of fall.
I think we're gonna have to dig it out a little bit.
I told him, they've done this like this before.
Three inches.
We gotta come up on this end.
And it was wrong.
And then, we do it again.
Todd's issue here is that the ground layer where the box will go
has not been sufficiently prepared.
It will need to be the perfect depth
and rigged properly
in order for water to flow through the sluice box correctly.
You don't dig the ground out
where it's like a freaking perfect foundation under the sluice box.
I like to crib it
where you put it on legs and you bring it up to where you want it.
Yup.
How much do you think we need to dig it out?
Three, four inches or...
The diverter box needs to go down six inches
right now to be at two inches per foot.
So, probably a foot.
Yup, ten-four.
Let's slide it back out and let's take it
and set it up there by that other nugget trap.
The amount of material going down the box,
the water, the angle,
everything is extremely crucial to how much gold you're gonna actually catch.
They always wanna talk about efficiency
and they do everything where it takes you three-four tries.
If we do [bleep] like this all season,
we deserve to get no gold.
Another of the mine's most important sites
is almost up and running.
Jack's goldroom.
I'm the gold cleaner-upper.
This is my goldroom, this is my equipment.
I got, kinda setup last year.
I fine-tuned it a little bit more this year.
And I'm ready to rock and roll.
Just adjusted the water.
Getting ready to fire that up.
Thurber has been my longest
running friend in this goldroom.
What it's doing is pushing up water pressure.
I've spent more time with the Hoffman family than my own
in the last 14 years.
Maybe I need a special award for that, I don't know.
Obviously, there's good times, there's horrible times.
I always joke that it's Todd's dream
and it's our nightmare.
Let's put these in here.
I created this situation that we're in.
I started the mining, I started the...
the family. I started all that.
So, it is my responsibility.
Dad! Why are you trying to make another road out here?
I'm not! I'm just trying to get rid
- of this material. - I don't understand your master plan.
We mined in the Yukon. We mined in a jungle.
We've mined a lot of different places.
Gotta get some pay.
We've had so many times where we just didn't come up to the mark.
You are freaking kidding me!
Just leave me alone.
But I am so looking forward to this season.
Todd has thrown it all on line.
So, having said that,
we need a lot of gold.
After a failed attempt at positioning The Holy Roller's sluice box,
Todd has decided to dig out a foot of earth
and adjust the grade of their foundation
in order for the slope to be perfect.
I'm excited for The Holy Roller to be up and running
and we'll see what happens once I get this setup
and get everything level.
I can't believe this is taking us all day.
Hey, we gotta set it, flip it.
Got a bolt.
Now, one more bolt over there.
Look at this guy.
You know what would be nice right now?
If we had a time for a nap.
That would be nice, right?
Hey.
So lucky.
It's kinda fun working with him,
but it's also hard because
we argue and fight a lot on these types of things.
So, he got his ideas, I got mine,
so it's bittersweet.
It's fun at one point,
but also sometimes, we get into spats. You know?
Come down a bit.
Down.
To get The Holy Roller sluice box up and running,
Todd, Hunter and Framer
are working to lock in each panel.
It's a process that involves big objects
and little room for forgiveness.
Communication is paramount to success.
Right. Hold up, boom down.
- Boom down. - Sticks out.
If he booms down, it should come to us.
- How much you need? - A lot more.
Down.
Come down a little bit.
Down little bit.
- Why does he keep picking up? - That's more up. I don't know.
I don't know.
He just is, like, whatever the [bleep] he thinks.
No. He's...
What are you doing?
You're hitting the bolt.
What... What's going on?
I've said things to you for days
and you completely disregard everything I said.
Okay, then be respectful. Knock it off.
[bleep] I'm leaving.
I don't even wanna be a part of this.
I can't do this anymore.
I've said things to you for days
and you completely disregard everything I said.
Okay, then be respectful. Knock it off.
[bleep] I'm leaving.
I don't even wanna be a part of this.
I can't do this anymore.
It's extremely frustrating working with my dad.
He's just beating up his own washplant.
Beating up his own sluice box.
Which we only have one of.
So, it doesn't really make sense to me.
That's the way he wants to do it...
then, that's the way it's gonna be, I guess.
All right. There you go. Come on up.
Keep coming. Keep coming.
There you go.
Framer. Check the fall on the box. We might be good.
Styled, dialed and profiled right there.
I don't know where Hunter went.
But we're good. We're done.
Honestly, I'm just, I'm frustrated because
my dad's kinda just brushing me to the side, not listening to me.
You know, we're not gonna be successful if this continues,
so I need to talk to my dad and Andy,
otherwise it's gonna hurt all of us.
Andy Spinks is my right-hand guy.
And, you know, Hunter's mined, but he's never mined like Andy.
Okay, what's on the plan?
Certain people aren't being listened to.
We all need to throw in our ideas in the hat.
I don't think you listened to me one time
since we've been here
when we're working together.
And then you're like, "Why do you have a bad attitude?"
If you have this disrespectful attitude,
there's gonna be a cancer in the camp.
And I don't want that cancer to start with you and your attitude.
You can say, I'm starting a cancer in the camp,
but I can say the same thing.
- 'Cause I don't think you listen-- - Maybe I don't listen,
but one thing you'll never, nobody will ever accuse me of...
is being a cancer.
Because everyday I get up and I'm positive.
I'm not a negative person.
So, there's a difference between
the negativity
and then me expressing that I think that this is the wrong way to do it.
Or that... You know what I mean?
Despite how you feel about what I know,
there is things I do know.
And there's things where I'm like this is the wrong way to do it.
And we've already this year, repeated some mistakes from the past
and that's why I get frustrated.
Because I know that we don't have other shots at this.
So, what's your point?
I don't know anything about being a father. Right?
But me looking at 'em, like, I would put my kids in those positions
and then they would grow into it and they would learn.
And then after a couple of weeks or a season,
they're at that level.
You know, give us young guys little bit of area
to freaking grow into these shows you want us to fill.
You gotta give us a little bit of room to fly.
Sometimes I feel like, when I was 14,
I was given more responsibilities than I do now.
And that's where I'm like, "Why is that?"
I don't think that I'm gonna go out here and do everything perfectly.
But if I don't even get a chance to do it,
that's how... I'm never gonna learn.
Okay.
You're gonna get more responsibility.
You gotta show up.
Because I'm gonna call you on it if not.
And he's gonna call you on it.
You guys should be thinking, "How can we utilize these guys the best?"
Hey, don't push it.
- That's it. - What do you mean, don't push it?
- If you don't want me here, just say that. - Did I say that?
- No. - Okay.
- All of us want you-- - I feel though
you're a little volatile and I need you to be
- more of a team player. - It's 'cause I'm passionate about what we're doing.
I want all of us to win.
You gotta be more level on this stuff.
So, when you take responsibility, you gotta have big shoulders.
Just know that moving forward.
Can you do it? Yeah, I think you can do it. 100 percent.
But with the responsibility comes the burden
of crap coming your way.
I think Hunter is super-talented.
But there's things that he doesn't know
that he thinks he knows.
But you don't find that out without doing it.
Well, here's what I want you to do.
Go with Thurber and get that pump.
And I want you to pump that lake out.
I would set it and pump through
the culvert that we just put in.
Pump in from this end over the circuit.
- Yeah. - Yeah, let's do that.
- All right. - Just one thing at a time.
- We'll just knock 'em out together. - Okay.
Help your fat dad up.
Let's go.
You know, I hope my dad is genuine
when he says he's gonna clue me in.
And he either is or he isn't.
But I think, for his benefit,
I would include me.
Or it's gonna be another one of those seasons
where we came up short, so...
we'll see what happens.
You want to just set it.
And then, have 'em come in and dig a place for the suctions.
Yeah, I don't know how long the suction line is.
But we gotta
actually put the tongue towards you,
so that discharge goes out the culvert.
Yeah, ten-four.
Todd's tasked Hunter with setting up the Barco pump,
which will draw water from the large pond
through the culvert
and up to The Holy Roller,
filling what's called the water circuit.
That pump we got last year...
And it's pretty awesome. It has dual 12-inch suctions on it,
so it pumps a lot of water.
If they can fill up the water circuit,
they'll know they have enough water on hand
to keep The Holy Roller operating this season.
I don't think we have enough water. Hopefully, we do.
We'll pump in to see where we're at.
Hopefully, it fills the circuit
and then we can run it.
- This will work. - You think that won't disappear too much?
I think she'll hold.
Sitting now.
Hey, Hunter, do you copy?
Yeah, go ahead.
Why do you tell me to do it like this?
By pumping into the bottom of the water circuit,
the slope of the culvert will fight any attempt
Hunter and Thurber make to fill it to the top.
Just another step.
You do the wrong step, you'll have to undo a bunch of steps
and start over, so it's a lot of work.
You gotta get water to it. You gotta get power to it.
You gotta...
Yeah, there's just a ton of work to be done. So...
I was just doing what you guys...
want me to do.
Thanks for giving us that little bit of information when we're about done.
I don't know what else to tell 'em.
Thanks for setting us up for failure, jackass.
That's what they do to me constantly.
After a series of constant delays
attempting to get the mine operational,
the crew's latest setback
could make their 72-hour deadline out of reach.
We just spent this time getting this pump set
and soon as we did, they're saying,
it's probably not gonna work, so...
I'm not really sure what's going on, but we're just wasting time.
We're not working efficiently
and it's starting to add up.
Dude, I'm getting worried that we're gonna it up again.
Everyday is a test.
Hey.
Come on in.
- Can I talk to you? - Heck yeah.
- Grab a chair. - All right.
What's going on?
I just... I needed to get your advice.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, me and my dad's relationship.
You know that we haven't worked together well in the past.
- Yeah. - You know?
I know that, too.
But this year has just been like...
It's been just super-difficult
to be here and to work with him.
I think worse than maybe any other year.
And I don't know why that is.
And we're just getting started.
But I thought this would be the year
that he would start letting go a little bit.
It's hard for your dad to let go.
I feel so disrespected.
I don't want to resent
doing things with my dad.
- I would like to have a good relationship with him. - Yeah.
I feel like, I wanna keep mining.
- So-- - I'm glad you do.
That's why I want to ask you, do you think I should keep mining, even if I'm not
doing this side-by-side with my dad?
Why not?
You grew up.
You're your own man.
You gotta cut your own path.
You can take charge right now.
You're not second rate.
You're number one.
I think you know what you need to do.
- Yeah. - Okay.
Okay, well freaking... Man.
It's hard not to... You almost made me cry there. So...
Freak me, Grandpa.
I really appreciate it.
Well, we love you.
- I love you, too. - Yeah.
You don't have to sweat that. You know?
Thank goodness.
- Okay. - Okay.
- All right. - All right.
Okay.
Okay. I'm gonna get back out there.
All right.
Hey, I need you to cut these beams off.
- Okay? - Okay.
You cut that one right there.
Oh, we're having a cut-off, I'm loving it.
You go first.
About time, this old dog.
Starting to throw some metal out of there.
You ready?
Well, who won?
It was pretty dang close.
Whoo! Okay.
Be scientific about it.
Ooh, nice.
Okay, you lost.
You got a half inch gap on the top.
It's not even square.
Hey, be a good loser. You did good.
Bring it in, bring it in, bring it in.
All right, get in here.
It's gonna be a loss, dude.
Back at the cleanup room,
after running 300 yards of dirt
from beneath the old washplants,
Jack and Jim are nearly finished with their cleanup.
Well, right now,
this task was maybe an hour.
And we got quite a bit of gold.
Soon, they'll know just how much gold
was spilling from The Hot Mess and Z plant.
It's called the sound of silence.
The rest of the team waits for Jack and Jim's results.
Okay. We ran the dirt
underneath the Z plant.
And we ran the dirt underneath The Hot Mess.
I think that it was leaking gold.
Yeah, I mean, it had holes all over in it.
So, I mean, we know it was dribbling gold out of holes.
- Well... - That's less than... my guess.
Why don't you pour it.
See what we got.
Two ounces.
- 3.1. - 3.1.
It's still an ounce a hundred.
Look how big that gold is.
That means the holes were huge.
Despite a less than a stellar test cleanup
from last season's scrap paydirt,
the extra money earned is just enough to keep the Hoffmans solvent
and focused on the main objective,
getting The Holy Runner running
and their 1,000 ounce goal.
All right, so here's the deal.
We're gonna do things right.
We're gonna do things differently
than what has been done in this mine.
'Cause we're trying to build pieces for a future here. Right?
So, these are some of the goals I'd like to hit.
600 ounces.
That would break us even,
give or take a couple hundred grand.
Now, a thousand would be a hell of a lot better.
The minute we hit a thousand, we're calling it,
we're getting the hell out of there.
I don't want these machines to break.
I don't want Holy Roller busted.
What I wanna do
is come in, do what we gotta do,
get out of here before we break stuff.
Bottom line is...
Everyday we need to be focusing on the 1,000 ounces.
Whatever we need to do to keep on track,
that's what we're gonna have to do.
- Yeah. We got some paydirt coming in. - Yup.
- We cut some ground. - Okay.
Let's get back to work, guys.
All right, thanks.
Let's get it.
In order to reach their 1,000 ounce goal,
the Hoffmans must average 90 ounces of gold per week
around $140,000.
- I need to talk to you about something. Right? - You got it.
Where I'm at is, I've been doing this with you
for ten years now.
I've always respected you.
I've always worked under you.
I feel like, the boss-employee relationship
is destroying our father-son relationship.
And I wanna have a good relationship with you.
But we don't have a good working relationship.
And I just don't think we should be working with each other.
You think that I'm not proud of you or something,
I am proud of you.
And I know you feel like I don't respect you
or this, that and the other,
and you know what?
I feel bad about that.
Do you know I love you. Right?
It's not about love.
You know, ever since I've been little,
all I wanted is to be included, have my own plant.
And I've never really gotten that opportunity.
And I feel like, you never, like, passing the reigns,
like, passing the torch to me.
And I'm wondering, when is that time?
When is that gonna come?
I'm basically asking you, if I can run my own washplant?
Take Cub, Sparky.
Dakota.
Dude, I have barely got mine setup.
Here's the deal.
The reason why I don't have a lot of guys
is I can't afford it.
And you know what's going on in the world.
Fuel's going up.
There's a lot of thing to consider. Would be hard.
Logistically, I know it's hard to pull off,
but what I'm thinking is, we setup two plants side-by-side,
use the same pond, they're close together.
We were already gonna be having the same amount of guys.
We're having the same amount of machines
which are gonna be burning the same amount of fuel.
And we'll get as much yards to the plants as we can.
I think that this is gonna be beneficial for the whole team.
I think we're gonna get a lot of gold
and it all goes into the same gold total.
I'm not here to get mediocre gold.
You know, this year, I wanna win for my dad's sake, for everybody's sake.
And ultimately, we're here to make money.
So, I think I'm a huge asset to the team.
But you know, for me to be able to help,
I'm gonna have to have some of this be on my terms.
I'd like to end this summer
with me and you having a good relationship
and everybody going home with gold.
Me, too.
More yards we can jam through,
we're gonna catch more gold.
I agree.
But I need to think about this before I just say yes.
So, all I'm asking is for you to give me the chance
to prove myself.
You gotta give me a day to think about it.
Okay.