1 00:00:02,896 --> 00:00:04,517 [narrator] Two weeks into gold season, 2 00:00:04,551 --> 00:00:08,000 the Hoffman's are behind with only 76 ounces. 3 00:00:08,034 --> 00:00:10,827 We've kind of fallen back, but we're going forward. 4 00:00:10,862 --> 00:00:13,689 [narrator] Now they must average 92 ounces a week 5 00:00:13,724 --> 00:00:16,103 to hit their 1,000 ounce benchmark. 6 00:00:17,068 --> 00:00:19,137 We haven't seen rain in a long time. 7 00:00:19,172 --> 00:00:22,379 [narrator] But extreme weather threatens to bring a sudden end... 8 00:00:22,413 --> 00:00:26,241 Super worried about the water. If we can't sluice, we can't catch the gold. 9 00:00:26,275 --> 00:00:27,586 [narrator] ...as drought conditions... 10 00:00:27,620 --> 00:00:29,137 We could use a good rainy day. 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,482 [narrator] ...turn to heavy rains... 12 00:00:33,517 --> 00:00:35,310 Look at it. Oh my gosh. 13 00:00:35,344 --> 00:00:38,896 [over radio] 14 00:00:38,931 --> 00:00:40,931 Everybody shut down. All hands on deck. 15 00:00:40,965 --> 00:00:42,862 [narrator] ...that threaten to wipe the mine... 16 00:00:42,896 --> 00:00:45,241 All the water is just pouring down Doll! 17 00:00:45,275 --> 00:00:46,379 [narrator] ...off the map. 18 00:00:46,413 --> 00:00:48,586 A month and half worth of work right down the drain. 19 00:00:48,620 --> 00:00:50,241 [over radio] 20 00:00:50,275 --> 00:00:54,655 [narrator] It's all hands on deck for a battle of biblical proportions... 21 00:00:54,689 --> 00:00:56,068 We got a situation! 22 00:00:56,103 --> 00:00:59,068 [narrator] ...where everything is on the line. 23 00:00:59,103 --> 00:01:02,068 If this water gets into that cut, we're screwed. 24 00:01:28,413 --> 00:01:30,827 Last year we had unseasonable rain. 25 00:01:31,931 --> 00:01:34,206 Highest amount of rain on record. 26 00:01:34,241 --> 00:01:38,241 This year is just the total opposite. We haven't seen rain in a long time. 27 00:01:38,275 --> 00:01:39,723 [bird screeches] 28 00:01:39,758 --> 00:01:42,068 Now we've got fires coming through. 29 00:01:42,103 --> 00:01:45,448 And, ah, there's a beautiful mountain range over there, 30 00:01:45,482 --> 00:01:47,344 but you can't see it because of all the smoke. 31 00:01:53,137 --> 00:01:56,000 Most of our foliage is pulled back, away from our domes and everything, 32 00:01:56,033 --> 00:01:59,068 so we're okay if the fire should come through. 33 00:01:59,103 --> 00:02:02,344 I really hope it doesn't happen, 'cause that's a bad day. 34 00:02:04,413 --> 00:02:08,103 My only fear is, is that we won't have enough water. 35 00:02:08,137 --> 00:02:10,620 Uh, we're running out, real quick. 36 00:02:10,655 --> 00:02:14,034 There is rain in the forecast, but it's a ways out. 37 00:02:14,068 --> 00:02:16,931 And, uh, boy, we could use just a good rainy day. 38 00:02:17,517 --> 00:02:19,482 The river is way down. 39 00:02:19,517 --> 00:02:24,034 And I'm a little worried this is, this is only July, 40 00:02:24,068 --> 00:02:26,379 and we've got a long ways to go. 41 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,517 I'm super worried about the water. We've got a drought going on. 42 00:03:00,551 --> 00:03:05,379 I am running. It is, uh, it's hot and dusty, 43 00:03:05,413 --> 00:03:09,448 but how long we can run? I don't know. 44 00:03:15,137 --> 00:03:17,241 We don't have enough water to sluice, 45 00:03:17,275 --> 00:03:19,586 and if we can't sluice, we can't catch the gold. 46 00:03:22,103 --> 00:03:24,344 [Micah] This new pay is gonna go so fast. 47 00:03:24,379 --> 00:03:26,586 It's dry. It's running quick. 48 00:03:27,793 --> 00:03:29,103 [Todd] I've never seen it like this. 49 00:03:30,551 --> 00:03:32,000 Usually it's raining. 50 00:03:32,034 --> 00:03:34,172 [narrator] With the Black Pearl still disassembled 51 00:03:34,206 --> 00:03:36,379 and weeks away from being operational, 52 00:03:36,413 --> 00:03:40,310 Todd will keep the Holy Roller going until they run out of water. 53 00:03:40,344 --> 00:03:42,103 I really want to get a thousand ounces. 54 00:03:48,310 --> 00:03:51,034 The Holy Roller is running two eight-inch suctions, 55 00:03:51,067 --> 00:03:55,689 with an eight inch out to the manifold system. 56 00:03:55,724 --> 00:04:01,034 That pump in itself will probably move about 3,000 gallons a minute. 57 00:04:01,068 --> 00:04:02,896 That is a ton of water. 58 00:04:02,931 --> 00:04:05,586 This truck holds a thousand gallons. 59 00:04:05,620 --> 00:04:10,689 Now imagine moving this truck every minute, three times. 60 00:04:10,724 --> 00:04:15,034 So we're trying to pull water from everywhere we can. 61 00:04:21,172 --> 00:04:23,862 This water that I'm getting today is going on the roads of camp. 62 00:04:25,275 --> 00:04:26,827 The roads are as dusty as can be. 63 00:04:28,620 --> 00:04:34,551 So we need to keep that dust down so that we don't have any silica dust in our lungs. 64 00:04:34,586 --> 00:04:36,172 But I had to come to the river to get it, 65 00:04:36,206 --> 00:04:39,931 because there wasn't enough in the Doll to fill the tank. 66 00:04:41,862 --> 00:04:44,275 This drought is serious. 67 00:04:44,310 --> 00:04:48,827 Where I'm standing at right now, I would have been 15 feet underwater right here. 68 00:04:50,379 --> 00:04:54,965 But not this year. This year, we're only at four feet. It's ridiculous. 69 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,862 I'm a little worried that we're gonna have water to make it through the year. 70 00:04:58,965 --> 00:05:03,275 We have one of the finest trommels I've ever seen. 71 00:05:03,310 --> 00:05:06,379 But, if we don't have any water to run through the sluices, 72 00:05:06,413 --> 00:05:08,310 or enough water to run through the sluices? 73 00:05:09,793 --> 00:05:10,931 We can pack it up and go home. 74 00:05:12,103 --> 00:05:14,034 No water? No gold. 75 00:05:18,655 --> 00:05:19,586 Here we go. 76 00:05:23,172 --> 00:05:26,448 Now that I've got the thousand gallons of water, 77 00:05:26,482 --> 00:05:29,724 add in an extra 8,000 pounds and I've gotta get it up the hill. 78 00:05:36,275 --> 00:05:40,241 We all woke up this morning to the smoke that blew in from the forest fire. 79 00:05:40,275 --> 00:05:43,379 And you're breathing it all day. It's not easy. 80 00:05:43,413 --> 00:05:45,448 But there's absolutely nothing that's gonna stop me 81 00:05:45,482 --> 00:05:47,448 from working on the Black Pearl and getting it running. 82 00:05:47,482 --> 00:05:52,655 [narrator] Hunter recently purchased a large wash plant he nicknamed the Black Pearl. 83 00:05:52,689 --> 00:05:56,862 In order to haul it to the mining site, he had to cut it into three pieces. 84 00:05:56,896 --> 00:06:00,068 The base, the trommel, and the hopper. 85 00:06:00,103 --> 00:06:04,862 Now, Hunter and Sparky must refurbish each part before they can reassemble it. 86 00:06:17,344 --> 00:06:19,793 -What's up, my brother? -What's up, G? 87 00:06:19,827 --> 00:06:21,620 [Sparky] So after we've cleaned up these rings, 88 00:06:21,655 --> 00:06:25,758 maybe we can fix that support beam where the old guys [bleep] up bad. 89 00:06:26,827 --> 00:06:30,172 -Dude, that's so fricking bent. -Yeah. 90 00:06:31,586 --> 00:06:33,275 [Hunter] Some of the older guys came in, 91 00:06:33,310 --> 00:06:37,413 for whatever reason, they felt like it was their job to unload all of our wash plant. 92 00:06:37,448 --> 00:06:40,137 -Whoa! -Hold on! 93 00:06:40,172 --> 00:06:41,655 -Whoa! -Stop! 94 00:06:41,689 --> 00:06:43,413 I can't even look at this [bleep]! 95 00:06:43,448 --> 00:06:45,724 -Hang on! -Hold on and we'll get that [bleep]! 96 00:06:45,758 --> 00:06:47,172 How are we going to weld it back together, 97 00:06:47,206 --> 00:06:48,689 -when you're dragging it on the ground? -Don't worry about it. 98 00:06:50,896 --> 00:06:52,965 [Sparky] Now we have to take more work time, 99 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,965 more time that we could have been building on this frame. 100 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,551 -Building that divider that we need to do. -Yeah. 101 00:06:58,586 --> 00:07:02,206 Like, and these guys, like, it felt like they didn't care about our stuff. 102 00:07:02,241 --> 00:07:05,068 Like, I genuinely don't appreciate that. 103 00:07:05,103 --> 00:07:07,000 Well, I already brought it up with them. 104 00:07:07,034 --> 00:07:09,655 And I already expressed to them how I feel about them doing this. 105 00:07:09,689 --> 00:07:13,758 And it is what it is. It's like, we're just gonna fix it. And, you know. 106 00:07:13,793 --> 00:07:15,344 The victory is going to be sweeter. 107 00:07:19,724 --> 00:07:23,413 [Hunter] Nobody on our entire crew, not my dad, not Andy, 108 00:07:23,448 --> 00:07:27,103 not any of these guys, They've never taken a trommel this size, 109 00:07:27,137 --> 00:07:30,310 cut it completely apart, trucked it all the way out to the middle of nowhere, 110 00:07:30,344 --> 00:07:32,379 reassembled it, and gold mined with it. 111 00:07:32,413 --> 00:07:36,172 And that's what I'm about to do. So I can't wait to see this thing running. 112 00:07:44,620 --> 00:07:47,275 [female reporter over radio] 113 00:08:03,689 --> 00:08:04,379 [Sparky] Dude. 114 00:08:08,620 --> 00:08:10,758 [Jack] You know, I prayed about things. 115 00:08:10,793 --> 00:08:14,034 I said, "God, we need water." 116 00:08:14,068 --> 00:08:17,275 Now I'm having to say, "God, turn it off, please." You know? 117 00:08:18,137 --> 00:08:20,379 Right now, we've got too much water. 118 00:08:22,068 --> 00:08:23,517 [narrator] As the storm builds, 119 00:08:23,551 --> 00:08:26,827 the fear of potentially not having enough water to run the mine 120 00:08:26,862 --> 00:08:30,310 quickly turns to anxiety that there's too much water. 121 00:08:33,379 --> 00:08:35,275 [over radio] 122 00:08:35,309 --> 00:08:36,517 Yeah, I got a copy. 123 00:08:36,551 --> 00:08:37,551 [over radio] 124 00:08:42,861 --> 00:08:45,379 Is it really that much water coming down, huh? 125 00:08:45,413 --> 00:08:47,275 [over radio] 126 00:08:47,310 --> 00:08:50,000 Okay, everybody shut down. All hands on deck. 127 00:08:50,034 --> 00:08:54,551 [narrator] Todd knows that too much water can end the season in an instant. 128 00:08:54,586 --> 00:08:57,275 He mobilizes all crew members. 129 00:08:57,310 --> 00:09:02,310 I just got a call from Andy, he says all the water is just pouring down Doll. 130 00:09:02,344 --> 00:09:05,000 The ancient river bed is flooding. 131 00:09:05,034 --> 00:09:07,000 We're gonna go up there and just see what we can do. 132 00:09:29,931 --> 00:09:32,862 [Todd] Look at this. It's already come up at least a foot. 133 00:09:32,896 --> 00:09:34,000 It hasn't even begun. 134 00:09:35,034 --> 00:09:36,724 And we've got two inches of rain coming. 135 00:09:36,758 --> 00:09:42,310 So what happens if Doll Creek, I use that term loosely. 136 00:09:42,344 --> 00:09:45,000 That's a river. It's gonna be a river in a minute. 137 00:09:45,034 --> 00:09:47,793 What happens if that breaks into that pay dirt? 138 00:09:47,827 --> 00:09:51,965 It's gonna dilute it. It's gonna wash most of it downstream, dilute it all out. 139 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:53,620 Put mud in on top of it. 140 00:09:53,655 --> 00:09:58,448 We go to four to five ounces a hundred to, I don't know. An ounce, half ounce? 141 00:09:58,482 --> 00:10:02,206 All we can do is, uh, start putting in overflows. 142 00:10:02,241 --> 00:10:03,551 Whatever we've gotta do to save the cut. 143 00:10:06,206 --> 00:10:12,551 Oh, dang. We go from drought to tropical rains. 144 00:10:12,586 --> 00:10:16,379 It was Jack's fault. He started praying really hard. 145 00:10:16,413 --> 00:10:18,344 Yeah, maybe tell him to back off a little bit. 146 00:10:18,379 --> 00:10:19,793 I'm gonna have him back off on those prayers, 147 00:10:19,827 --> 00:10:24,896 because if this water gets into that cut, we're screwed. 148 00:10:24,931 --> 00:10:29,379 We need to get more berms. Put in some overflows, 149 00:10:29,413 --> 00:10:33,310 and if you need help, we'll put all hands on deck and let's just fight for it. 150 00:10:34,379 --> 00:10:36,586 Okay, we've got our work cut out for us. 151 00:10:36,620 --> 00:10:38,103 All right. Good luck. Stay in touch on me. 152 00:10:38,137 --> 00:10:39,517 All right. 153 00:10:39,551 --> 00:10:42,724 You know, Todd has put a lot of responsibility on me. 154 00:10:42,758 --> 00:10:44,413 I don't know how to do everything. 155 00:10:44,448 --> 00:10:47,241 There's a lot of things I get in and start doing and I figure it out. 156 00:10:47,275 --> 00:10:50,034 This is one that could be way over my head. 157 00:11:01,517 --> 00:11:03,206 [narrator] With the floodwaters rising, 158 00:11:03,241 --> 00:11:07,655 Andy has his hands full trying to protect the ancient riverbed. 159 00:11:07,689 --> 00:11:10,275 [Andy] I don't know how high up the water level is gonna go, 160 00:11:10,310 --> 00:11:13,655 so I'm gonna put some dirt on these berms, try to get them a little bit higher. 161 00:11:14,344 --> 00:11:17,655 And hope for the best. 162 00:11:17,689 --> 00:11:20,689 [narrator] If floodwaters wash into the ancient riverbed, 163 00:11:20,724 --> 00:11:24,172 their one thousand ounce gold may wash away with it. 164 00:11:24,206 --> 00:11:26,758 [Todd] What are you gonna do, pack it in there, Andy? 165 00:11:26,793 --> 00:11:29,206 Yeah, we'll get these things built up as best I can. 166 00:11:29,241 --> 00:11:31,793 [over radio] 167 00:11:31,827 --> 00:11:35,655 [narrator] With the team spread out, the Holy Roller remains shut down, 168 00:11:35,689 --> 00:11:38,206 and Todd moves further behind. 169 00:11:38,241 --> 00:11:42,137 They move quickly to save their water system and their season. 170 00:11:42,172 --> 00:11:44,482 All we wanna do is build these berms up, 171 00:11:45,517 --> 00:11:48,000 because if we get a flash flood down here, 172 00:11:48,034 --> 00:11:50,689 it's gonna go up over the top, boom! 173 00:11:50,724 --> 00:11:53,586 If this sucker runs over into that cut right there, 174 00:11:53,620 --> 00:11:55,793 we might as well just pack up and go home. 175 00:11:55,827 --> 00:11:57,896 It's a lot of weight on Andy's shoulders. 176 00:12:00,206 --> 00:12:02,034 I've gotta make sure this stuff is done right. 177 00:12:05,655 --> 00:12:09,517 [Todd] So Andy's dipping into some of our best paydirt right there, 178 00:12:09,551 --> 00:12:14,034 to actually go and put it on the berm, because it's actually waterproof. 179 00:12:14,655 --> 00:12:18,482 [over radio] 180 00:12:18,517 --> 00:12:20,344 Yeah. This stuff's fresh, but it packs good, 181 00:12:20,379 --> 00:12:24,689 so we'll use it to save the cut. We can get it back later. 182 00:12:24,724 --> 00:12:28,448 I can't believe we're using this rich paydirt right here for the berm, 183 00:12:28,482 --> 00:12:33,551 but, I don't know. I think it's the less of two weevils, bud. 184 00:12:35,655 --> 00:12:37,379 [over radio] 185 00:12:38,034 --> 00:12:40,000 Got it? All right, good, 186 00:12:40,034 --> 00:12:42,000 because I don't want to put any more of that pay dirt on there. 187 00:12:44,103 --> 00:12:50,586 Everything is about water. Managing water. Keeping dirty water here. Clean water here. 188 00:12:50,620 --> 00:12:53,482 And no water in the cut. 189 00:12:53,517 --> 00:12:56,965 And right now, I'm not so sure we're gonna be able to pull this off. 190 00:13:01,586 --> 00:13:05,931 [Todd] I don't know, dude. Can we do it? Are we gonna do it? 191 00:13:05,965 --> 00:13:10,275 I hope so. It's all we can do. I don't know what else to do. Berm it up? I don't know. 192 00:13:10,310 --> 00:13:12,103 We'll just see how much rain comes tonight. 193 00:13:12,137 --> 00:13:13,413 We're ready as good as we can. 194 00:13:13,448 --> 00:13:16,896 Hey, keep your radio on. We'll just monitor it. 195 00:13:16,931 --> 00:13:19,655 It goes up a couple more feet, we might be in trouble. 196 00:13:19,689 --> 00:13:21,586 We can't always pick our weather. 197 00:13:21,620 --> 00:13:24,206 -[Andy] No. -Hey, at least we got rain. 198 00:13:24,241 --> 00:13:27,793 I just hope the rain doesn't destroy what we've got cooking here, you know? 199 00:13:27,827 --> 00:13:29,000 Yeah, for sure. 200 00:13:29,034 --> 00:13:31,379 -[Todd] All right, good job. Let's go. -All right. 201 00:13:31,413 --> 00:13:34,344 [narrator] While Todd and Andy monitor the ancient river cut, 202 00:13:34,379 --> 00:13:38,517 [Sparky] Flipping soaking wet. Earlier, it was pouring down. 203 00:13:38,551 --> 00:13:41,827 [narrator] Hunter starts working on the Black Pearl's hopper. 204 00:13:41,862 --> 00:13:46,034 -[Hunter] I might flip that hopper over right now. -[Sparky] Yeah. 205 00:13:46,068 --> 00:13:48,000 I'm gonna come in here with the excavator, 206 00:13:48,034 --> 00:13:49,724 and I'll pick that up, bring it over here, 207 00:13:49,758 --> 00:13:52,620 tip it over and then we'll rig it, pick it up, 208 00:13:52,655 --> 00:13:54,965 and crib underneath, so that we get those legs off the ground. 209 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,000 And I'll just start [bleep] going on it. 210 00:14:00,413 --> 00:14:04,379 [narrator] Using chains, Hunter and Sparky will attempt to carefully tilt the hopper 211 00:14:04,413 --> 00:14:08,103 onto its back, so they can repair the bent support legs, 212 00:14:08,137 --> 00:14:10,862 before reassembling the entire wash plant. 213 00:14:12,379 --> 00:14:15,586 [Hunter] This is a lot of work for two guys to do in the rain, 214 00:14:15,620 --> 00:14:18,379 that I've never done this before. 215 00:14:18,413 --> 00:14:22,413 Yeah, stay back a little bit, I'm gonna see if I can get it off the ground. 216 00:14:22,448 --> 00:14:25,482 Working in the rain makes everything much more difficult. 217 00:14:25,517 --> 00:14:28,103 On top of that, it's just miserable. You're soaked to the bone. 218 00:14:28,137 --> 00:14:31,620 Makes everything much more hazardous and much more difficult. 219 00:14:31,655 --> 00:14:33,551 But right now, we don't have a choice. 220 00:14:37,862 --> 00:14:39,137 I'm gonna just keep it low to the ground. 221 00:14:41,344 --> 00:14:42,655 I'm gonna set it down right here. 222 00:14:42,689 --> 00:14:44,068 I want you to throw a chain, 223 00:14:44,103 --> 00:14:47,655 see that little, that little ring that's welded on that left? Yep. 224 00:14:47,689 --> 00:14:49,413 -Throw that chain in there. -Gotcha. 225 00:14:49,448 --> 00:14:53,034 [narrator] Hunter wants to lay the hopper on the most level ground possible, 226 00:14:53,068 --> 00:14:56,896 and it's Sparky's job to rotate it into just the right position. 227 00:14:58,758 --> 00:15:01,206 [Hunter] Okay, go around that way, Sparky. 228 00:15:01,241 --> 00:15:03,379 Go around that way and see if it'll spin. 229 00:15:04,413 --> 00:15:07,724 [Sparky grunts] 230 00:15:07,758 --> 00:15:08,517 [Sparky] It's a little heavy! 231 00:15:10,551 --> 00:15:13,586 I can set it like this too, and we'll tip it this way. 232 00:15:13,620 --> 00:15:15,482 Pull it as far as you can and I'll drop it. 233 00:15:16,862 --> 00:15:18,379 [Sparky grunts] 234 00:15:18,413 --> 00:15:19,896 And this will help, you ready? 235 00:15:23,862 --> 00:15:24,724 -[Sparky grunts] -[metal clangs] 236 00:15:26,758 --> 00:15:28,068 Let's pull the chains off. 237 00:15:28,103 --> 00:15:29,448 I'm going to use the bucket. I'm going to tip it. 238 00:15:30,758 --> 00:15:32,689 [Sparky] Just gonna tip this hopper forward. 239 00:15:32,724 --> 00:15:34,586 The chain's gonna be a safety catch. 240 00:15:35,931 --> 00:15:37,103 [Hunter] Go for it? 241 00:15:37,137 --> 00:15:37,965 [Sparky] I think go for it. 242 00:15:42,517 --> 00:15:44,551 Stay back. It's gonna get a little squirrelly, man. 243 00:15:48,379 --> 00:15:52,137 I'll lift those legs up, and we'll shove those big timbers underneath it. 244 00:15:52,172 --> 00:15:53,241 [Sparky] Okay. 245 00:15:54,275 --> 00:15:55,068 That's plenty. 246 00:15:57,103 --> 00:15:59,758 -Is that enough to slide those under? -[Sparky] Yeah. 247 00:16:01,551 --> 00:16:04,551 [Hunter] Right now, I'm not gonna let anything stop us getting this plant running. 248 00:16:04,586 --> 00:16:06,862 You know, it's pouring down rain, but there's a lot of work to be done, 249 00:16:06,896 --> 00:16:08,965 so we're just gonna work through it. 250 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,206 We have to keep plugging away on this plant. 251 00:16:11,241 --> 00:16:13,620 And, you know, if we can get it running, I think we're gonna make a lot of money. 252 00:16:15,413 --> 00:16:17,586 -[Hunter] Ready? -[Sparky] Keep going, keep going. 253 00:16:21,379 --> 00:16:23,793 [Hunter] Try to get that other one in. I'm not gonna move. 254 00:16:26,551 --> 00:16:27,413 [Sparky] It's plenty. 255 00:16:28,551 --> 00:16:30,068 We've just dropped the hopper on its side, 256 00:16:30,103 --> 00:16:32,586 we're going to put some cribbing underneath it for safety precautions. 257 00:16:32,620 --> 00:16:34,655 Other than that, we can attack this project now. 258 00:16:34,689 --> 00:16:37,689 -[Hunter] I like this. -[Sparky] Yeah, this is sick. 259 00:16:37,724 --> 00:16:41,310 [Hunter] How I wanted it to go. Instead, it went not good. 260 00:16:41,344 --> 00:16:45,000 -Oh, that's money. -Money, exactly, dude. Money. 261 00:16:55,379 --> 00:16:59,000 This is a prime example of be careful what you pray for. 262 00:16:59,034 --> 00:17:02,379 Uh, we've asked for rain and God has provided. 263 00:17:02,413 --> 00:17:04,034 Unfortunately, now we have a bit too much. 264 00:17:04,068 --> 00:17:06,413 Our pond system has completely filled up. 265 00:17:06,448 --> 00:17:08,344 The pump has now died. 266 00:17:08,378 --> 00:17:11,137 [narrator] The pump has been placed at the edge of the pond, 267 00:17:11,172 --> 00:17:15,172 to prevent the rising water from washing out the mine's main road. 268 00:17:15,205 --> 00:17:19,205 Losing access to the road would bring the mine to a standstill. 269 00:17:19,241 --> 00:17:20,758 It would be a very, very bad thing. 270 00:17:20,792 --> 00:17:24,034 So Randy must save the pump in order to save the road. 271 00:17:24,068 --> 00:17:26,310 Why did you stop? 272 00:17:26,344 --> 00:17:28,000 [engine turns over without starting] 273 00:17:31,689 --> 00:17:34,206 The reason why this pump's not running 274 00:17:34,241 --> 00:17:41,068 is the fuel suction is here and the fuel level has dropped below the suction line. 275 00:17:41,103 --> 00:17:44,931 So now I need to get this pump back to normal, 276 00:17:44,965 --> 00:17:48,034 so that the fuel pickup can pick up the fuel. 277 00:17:48,068 --> 00:17:52,034 Hey, who's in the, uh, 490 over here by the Pearl? 278 00:17:52,068 --> 00:17:53,689 [over radio] 279 00:17:53,724 --> 00:17:55,586 Tater, can you bring that over here? 280 00:17:55,620 --> 00:17:58,137 I need the assistance immediately. 281 00:17:58,172 --> 00:18:02,034 If this breaks this little barrier and floods our road, 282 00:18:02,068 --> 00:18:07,172 eventually it'll find another path and it'll slowly wash out the dirt and rock of the road. 283 00:18:07,206 --> 00:18:09,655 And then we've gotta rebuild the whole entire road system. 284 00:18:09,689 --> 00:18:13,275 Once we bring this back down, then this road will be fine. 285 00:18:13,310 --> 00:18:14,689 But we cannot lose the road. 286 00:18:16,413 --> 00:18:17,896 Here comes Tater. 287 00:18:20,793 --> 00:18:22,586 [Randy] Just push down on that tongue. 288 00:18:29,103 --> 00:18:30,379 Yep, back her down. 289 00:18:33,482 --> 00:18:36,344 [Randy] Okay, hold that. I'm gonna put some rocks under the back of it. 290 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,275 [engine turns over without starting] 291 00:18:47,310 --> 00:18:48,137 Come on, baby. 292 00:18:48,172 --> 00:18:49,655 [engine turns over without starting] 293 00:18:52,793 --> 00:18:53,724 Come on. 294 00:18:53,758 --> 00:18:56,172 [engine turns over without starting] 295 00:18:57,931 --> 00:19:00,068 Go ahead and slightly let up. See what that does. 296 00:19:03,758 --> 00:19:05,103 [engine turns over without starting] 297 00:19:05,137 --> 00:19:06,172 Come on, baby. 298 00:19:06,206 --> 00:19:07,379 [engine turns over without starting] 299 00:19:09,827 --> 00:19:11,793 [engine roars to life] 300 00:19:15,758 --> 00:19:18,172 [Randy] Beautiful! [laughs] 301 00:19:18,206 --> 00:19:20,103 That sumbitch just went on! 302 00:19:24,103 --> 00:19:25,034 Hopefully this will hold. 303 00:19:41,793 --> 00:19:44,000 [Todd] Look at this! Holy [bleep]. 304 00:19:44,034 --> 00:19:46,655 [radio] We need an excavator down here really quick to cork this, 305 00:19:46,689 --> 00:19:48,103 right by the orange farm, quick. 306 00:19:51,344 --> 00:19:55,068 [narrator] Despite Randy's best effort to stop water from flushing out the road, 307 00:19:55,103 --> 00:19:57,379 additional rain is overwhelming their pump. 308 00:20:01,655 --> 00:20:04,862 [Todd] Okay, what do you wanna do? We got a situation. 309 00:20:04,896 --> 00:20:07,862 I think we ought to cut the road, but your call. 310 00:20:07,896 --> 00:20:10,379 I think we'll just cut it into this ditch. 311 00:20:10,413 --> 00:20:13,931 Drain the water out. I stopped everything from coming into our system. 312 00:20:13,965 --> 00:20:15,724 So it should... the pump should start catching up. 313 00:20:17,862 --> 00:20:24,137 If we cut a hole over here, this water will hopefully relieve itself over here. 314 00:20:24,172 --> 00:20:27,034 And then we're gonna have to build our dam back up here. 315 00:20:28,931 --> 00:20:32,448 [narrator] To keep the overflowing pond from washing away the entire road, 316 00:20:32,482 --> 00:20:36,931 Andy digs a narrow trench to contain and control the flow. 317 00:20:36,965 --> 00:20:41,724 Luckily, this didn't happen during the middle of the night, 318 00:20:41,758 --> 00:20:46,965 or we would have woke up to every cut flooded, our berms all gone. 319 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,724 A month and a half worth of work right down the drain. 320 00:20:49,758 --> 00:20:53,724 So, we're just gonna stop mining, we're just gonna let the water go. 321 00:20:57,103 --> 00:20:59,724 I think we're gaining on it, Andy. I think we're gaining on it. 322 00:20:59,758 --> 00:21:01,103 It's not getting deeper down there. 323 00:21:01,137 --> 00:21:02,758 It's dropping up here too. 324 00:21:07,862 --> 00:21:09,172 [narrator] With the overflowing pond 325 00:21:09,206 --> 00:21:12,206 being safely shunted through the temporary channel, 326 00:21:12,241 --> 00:21:15,965 Andy turns his attention back to the ancient river cut, 327 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,000 where additional rain overnight threatens to wash out their richest paydirt. 328 00:21:21,034 --> 00:21:23,862 I guess you gotta be careful what you wish for around here. 329 00:21:23,896 --> 00:21:26,517 You wish for rain, you might get too much. 330 00:21:26,551 --> 00:21:29,344 [Andy] We had a lot of rain last night. 331 00:21:29,379 --> 00:21:34,000 We've got all of our pond system and everything set up to get a lot of water. 332 00:21:34,034 --> 00:21:37,827 We were just in a drought a few days ago, and now we've got water everywhere, 333 00:21:37,862 --> 00:21:42,620 so we're really close on the berms being blown out, 334 00:21:42,655 --> 00:21:44,793 so we're just trying to fix everything. 335 00:21:46,827 --> 00:21:48,586 This creek is moving in a hurry! 336 00:21:50,068 --> 00:21:53,482 This is, uh, yeah, pretty intense. 337 00:21:53,517 --> 00:21:55,586 [Andy] Tater's up here plugging it up, 338 00:21:55,620 --> 00:21:58,068 putting the dam up a little bit higher. 339 00:21:58,103 --> 00:22:01,034 And I think we're gonna be okay. Then I'm gonna stick this culvert in the crossing, 340 00:22:01,068 --> 00:22:06,172 because the culvert that's there is not taking enough water, so we're gonna fix it. 341 00:22:06,206 --> 00:22:11,758 We're not mining today. This is critical and crucial. We can't mess this up. 342 00:22:20,931 --> 00:22:24,655 [narrator] While most of the crew scrambles to control the water, 343 00:22:24,689 --> 00:22:29,379 Hunter is determined to forge ahead on the Black Pearl, which remains in pieces. 344 00:22:29,413 --> 00:22:32,137 -[Sparky] I wish we didn't have to do this. -[Hunter] Yeah, me too. 345 00:22:33,793 --> 00:22:36,862 I wish Andy didn't drag it, or else we'd have a cross member. 346 00:22:38,620 --> 00:22:40,344 [Hunter] The legs on the hopper are bent from, 347 00:22:40,379 --> 00:22:42,620 you know, the way it was offloaded, so it's gonna take more time 348 00:22:42,655 --> 00:22:44,793 to get them straightened back out and get them correct. 349 00:22:44,827 --> 00:22:47,310 Otherwise, when we go to mount it, nothing's gonna line up. 350 00:22:47,344 --> 00:22:49,758 There's a lot of work to be done, and if we don't get the Black Pearl running, 351 00:22:49,793 --> 00:22:51,689 I don't see us reaching a thousand ounces. 352 00:22:51,724 --> 00:22:54,103 With the Holy Roller being shut down with the flooding, 353 00:22:54,137 --> 00:22:55,413 time is of the essence right now. 354 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,655 [Hunter] I'm going to torch these off. I'm going to get this thing leveled. 355 00:23:00,689 --> 00:23:02,034 If we're not welding out here in the rain, 356 00:23:02,068 --> 00:23:03,000 this thing's never going to get done, 357 00:23:03,034 --> 00:23:04,448 I'm never going to get any gold, 358 00:23:04,482 --> 00:23:06,965 and everything we've done up until this point is for nothing, so... 359 00:23:11,344 --> 00:23:13,206 We messed up a lot of our support beams here, 360 00:23:13,241 --> 00:23:15,241 so I've gotta just cut 'em off and start fresh. 361 00:23:19,206 --> 00:23:21,344 You know how to bevel that? 362 00:23:21,379 --> 00:23:23,758 Not really. I was hoping you'd do it, 'cause you're the master. 363 00:23:23,793 --> 00:23:24,482 Gotcha. 364 00:23:28,482 --> 00:23:30,310 [Sparky] You don't wanna cut too far back. 365 00:23:30,344 --> 00:23:34,000 We just want enough meat to where we can grind in there, make it perfect, 366 00:23:34,034 --> 00:23:36,793 seat it, so this thing's not freaking falling apart 367 00:23:36,827 --> 00:23:39,137 when we're feeding fricking rich gold in there. 368 00:23:39,172 --> 00:23:41,965 [Hunter] Sparky's taught me a lot about fabricating, cutting, welding. 369 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,448 So we're just, like, feeding off each other. 370 00:23:44,482 --> 00:23:46,758 You know, the Holy Roller is a brand new wash plant. 371 00:23:46,793 --> 00:23:48,827 It's been worked on for months inside of a shop. 372 00:23:48,862 --> 00:23:51,103 Everything is brand new, fresh paint. 373 00:23:51,137 --> 00:23:53,689 And the Black Pearl's been around since the 80's. 374 00:23:53,724 --> 00:23:58,793 It's older than me and Sparky. It needs an insane amount of work, especially for two kids. 375 00:23:58,827 --> 00:24:00,275 I've never done anything like this before, 376 00:24:00,310 --> 00:24:03,000 but we're gonna keep going until we get it right. 377 00:24:03,034 --> 00:24:06,034 There's not a single guy here that was ever doing what we're doing right now at our age. 378 00:24:06,068 --> 00:24:07,448 That's a fact. 379 00:24:07,482 --> 00:24:10,655 Dude, I used to fricking deliver bounce houses for a living, dude. 380 00:24:10,689 --> 00:24:12,551 Now I'm out here, and kicking it with this guy. 381 00:24:12,586 --> 00:24:15,689 We're freaking kicking ass and taking names, dude. 382 00:24:15,724 --> 00:24:18,931 The biggest wash plant they've ever seen, in the history of their lives. 383 00:24:27,551 --> 00:24:30,172 [Todd speaking over radio] 384 00:24:31,241 --> 00:24:35,965 [Andy speaking over radio] 385 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,000 [narrator] Like the flooded road by the pond, 386 00:24:38,034 --> 00:24:41,931 a crucial section of road by Doll Creek has also been flooded, 387 00:24:41,965 --> 00:24:44,758 and in this case, completely washed away. 388 00:24:44,793 --> 00:24:48,172 It must be fixed before mining operations can resume. 389 00:24:48,206 --> 00:24:50,413 It's still running through there like a freight train. 390 00:24:50,448 --> 00:24:53,517 So Doll Creek is running really hard right now. 391 00:24:53,551 --> 00:24:56,448 We are currently isolated because of this hole in the road, 392 00:24:56,482 --> 00:25:00,137 and half of the mine and half of our equipment is on one side, 393 00:25:00,172 --> 00:25:03,517 and the other half is on the other side. So we can't do anything till we fix this. 394 00:25:06,241 --> 00:25:08,482 [Todd] We're gonna have to drop another culvert in. 395 00:25:08,517 --> 00:25:12,689 And, uh, to do that right, right now, it's gonna be a temporary culvert. 396 00:25:12,724 --> 00:25:14,310 To do it right, you've gotta pack rocks in there. 397 00:25:14,344 --> 00:25:16,724 You can't do that when there's water flowing around it. 398 00:25:16,758 --> 00:25:20,310 So hopefully we can do this. It's like doing surgery, 399 00:25:20,344 --> 00:25:22,000 while everybody's still awake. 400 00:25:22,034 --> 00:25:23,310 [Andy] So Todd, what we're thinking is, 401 00:25:23,344 --> 00:25:27,344 is that I dig this back a little bit, and then put a berm... 402 00:25:27,379 --> 00:25:29,172 Yes, yes. 403 00:25:29,206 --> 00:25:30,620 ...to keep the water out of that side, 404 00:25:30,655 --> 00:25:32,827 and then we can lay the culvert and put some water over it. 405 00:25:32,862 --> 00:25:37,689 Yeah, I like it. Dig the berm over there, get the whole river going over there. 406 00:25:37,724 --> 00:25:39,931 Come back here, dig our culvert, 407 00:25:39,965 --> 00:25:43,724 pack it in tons and tons of rock and then shut it off. 408 00:25:43,758 --> 00:25:45,517 [narrator] The plan is to dam up the creek 409 00:25:45,551 --> 00:25:48,793 with a berm just downstream of the break in the road, 410 00:25:48,827 --> 00:25:52,310 then the crew will install a new culvert to go under the road 411 00:25:52,344 --> 00:25:53,931 that will be laid on top of it. 412 00:25:53,965 --> 00:25:56,827 Once those are in place, the berm will be removed 413 00:25:56,862 --> 00:26:00,344 and the water can safely flow under the road, through the new culvert. 414 00:26:00,931 --> 00:26:02,482 Hey, let's get this in. 415 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:10,827 [over radio] All right, a little left, a little left. Right there. Thank you. 416 00:26:10,862 --> 00:26:15,034 [Todd] So the bank is slowly giving away, with the berm in the creek 417 00:26:15,068 --> 00:26:21,206 just enough to get inside there and do this ditch, and get the culverts in. 418 00:26:21,241 --> 00:26:22,517 [over radio] It'll have to go your way a little bit. 419 00:26:24,827 --> 00:26:28,551 -That good? -[Todd] Heck yeah. Right on the money. 420 00:26:28,586 --> 00:26:30,413 We're trying to get them as close as we can. 421 00:26:30,448 --> 00:26:32,724 We don't have banding, which normally you do. 422 00:26:32,758 --> 00:26:34,896 We need that fabric down there. 423 00:26:34,931 --> 00:26:38,103 But what we're gonna do is actually put fabric over the top, 424 00:26:38,137 --> 00:26:42,034 and that's gonna hopefully keep a lot of that rock and sediment 425 00:26:42,068 --> 00:26:46,931 from going down into that culvert, filling it up, and then becoming useless. 426 00:26:46,965 --> 00:26:48,482 [Todd] Hey, Tater, you wanna get in here? 427 00:26:48,517 --> 00:26:51,103 [Tater] If you want me to, I'll dig it. 428 00:26:51,137 --> 00:26:55,586 [Todd] Tater's the better operator than me, and I think this kind of situation, 429 00:26:55,620 --> 00:26:57,724 we need to get him in the seat instead of me. 430 00:27:00,034 --> 00:27:02,689 [Tater] The bucket's coming off. Oh yeah. 431 00:27:02,724 --> 00:27:05,620 Just turning my bucket around backwards on my machine, 432 00:27:05,655 --> 00:27:07,724 so that I can reach out and sprinkle rock 433 00:27:07,758 --> 00:27:08,862 where I wouldn't have been able to reach. 434 00:27:10,620 --> 00:27:12,482 These creek changes are pretty sick, huh? 435 00:27:12,517 --> 00:27:15,482 Dude, that is bad ass, brother. Bad ass. 436 00:27:18,172 --> 00:27:19,482 [Todd] Okay, heads up, heads up. 437 00:27:22,655 --> 00:27:27,965 We're trying to pack it in, in layers. Layer by layer, pack it in. 438 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,034 If you just dump it and bury it, it's gonna get washed out, so we're packing it in. 439 00:27:33,068 --> 00:27:34,758 A little bit more, put a little bit more. 440 00:27:34,793 --> 00:27:36,586 Pack it in, pack it in, pack it in! 441 00:27:38,655 --> 00:27:41,689 Now I've gotta carefully break this open, 442 00:27:41,724 --> 00:27:45,862 and we're gonna take all the river right down this new culvert. 443 00:27:48,482 --> 00:27:53,172 -So far it's handling it. -Seems to be taking it. 444 00:27:53,206 --> 00:27:56,965 So far so good. I think we're gonna have a win on this one. 445 00:27:58,586 --> 00:28:01,482 We had to build these roads, you know, and it's tough. 446 00:28:01,517 --> 00:28:03,137 Like, you're hemorrhaging money. 447 00:28:03,172 --> 00:28:06,896 So what I'm hoping is that we're gonna make it up in the gold. 448 00:28:06,931 --> 00:28:11,448 That this is worth it. Otherwise we built, you know, a bridge to nowhere. 449 00:28:21,620 --> 00:28:23,862 [Andy] Gonna run up here, I'm gonna take a look at this berm. 450 00:28:24,655 --> 00:28:27,103 Hopefully it, uh, has held up. 451 00:28:27,137 --> 00:28:29,172 [narrator] After flash floods threatened to wash out 452 00:28:29,206 --> 00:28:31,862 the ancient river channel and its rich paydirt, 453 00:28:31,896 --> 00:28:36,655 Andy has returned to inspect the dirt berms he built to protect it. 454 00:28:36,689 --> 00:28:39,793 If that berm was not there, we would have lost it. 455 00:28:39,827 --> 00:28:41,689 So we can't afford that at this point. 456 00:28:41,724 --> 00:28:46,655 We're already late. I don't need to be losing cuts to flooding. 457 00:28:46,689 --> 00:28:51,034 Yesterday, you know, we lost 20-30 thousand dollars, probably. 458 00:28:51,068 --> 00:28:53,034 We can't afford to do that anymore. 459 00:28:53,068 --> 00:28:57,172 [narrator] The Holy Roller stop-down means the Hoffman's one thousand ounce gold 460 00:28:57,206 --> 00:28:58,965 is slipping further away. 461 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:03,206 I'll tell you what, I see the water going down, my berm is still there. 462 00:29:03,241 --> 00:29:07,172 There's no water in there and I can see the paydirt, so, hallelujah. 463 00:29:07,206 --> 00:29:08,310 [narrator] But the good news is, 464 00:29:08,344 --> 00:29:10,310 they've managed to save the paydirt 465 00:29:10,344 --> 00:29:12,793 that has the potential of getting them there. 466 00:29:12,827 --> 00:29:15,517 I found this ancient river channel seven months ago, 467 00:29:15,551 --> 00:29:17,965 and I've been thinking about all winter digging it 468 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:22,586 that Mother Nature comes in, torrential downpour, rain, waters coming up, 469 00:29:22,620 --> 00:29:25,482 if it would have blown this thing out, it would have taken all this material, 470 00:29:25,517 --> 00:29:26,896 covered the whole thing. 471 00:29:26,931 --> 00:29:30,137 We would have had a lot of time and money and effort lost. 472 00:29:31,172 --> 00:29:32,724 It's another good day. 473 00:29:32,758 --> 00:29:36,655 Any day that you can win in Alaska, mining, I'll take. 474 00:29:36,689 --> 00:29:38,862 I'm gonna let Todd know that the berm has held up, 475 00:29:38,896 --> 00:29:42,517 and we can get trucks and stuff back in there and we can get to digging. 476 00:29:42,551 --> 00:29:43,724 Hopefully It's got a lot of gold in it. 477 00:29:53,034 --> 00:29:57,310 So, ancient riverbed, it did not flood. 478 00:29:58,103 --> 00:30:00,275 We were able to save the cut. 479 00:30:00,310 --> 00:30:05,551 Having that river crawling right along our cut? Man, it was scary. 480 00:30:05,586 --> 00:30:08,896 And if it were would have flooded into that, it would have been a disaster. 481 00:30:08,931 --> 00:30:12,379 So, now we're gonna fire up and get things going. 482 00:30:14,275 --> 00:30:15,103 Here we go! 483 00:30:17,241 --> 00:30:18,827 We'll let it warm up a little bit. 484 00:30:22,034 --> 00:30:23,000 Here we go! 485 00:30:25,379 --> 00:30:26,517 It's almost turning. 486 00:30:33,241 --> 00:30:35,000 [over radio] All right, Randy, go ahead and idle up. 487 00:30:46,310 --> 00:30:48,379 [over radio] Hey, it's working! It's turning. 488 00:30:53,448 --> 00:30:56,137 Okay, here we go! We're back rolling! 489 00:30:57,137 --> 00:30:58,862 We're putting dirt through the plant. 490 00:31:05,586 --> 00:31:06,896 I think we got lucky. 491 00:31:08,793 --> 00:31:12,827 I thought that flood was going to take us out, but we got lucky this time. 492 00:31:12,862 --> 00:31:14,344 Hopefully, that doesn't happen again. 493 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:24,862 [Sparky] Muddy day. 494 00:31:28,758 --> 00:31:32,000 It's going to be a pain in the ass just because of how heavy this thing is. 495 00:31:32,034 --> 00:31:35,103 I think we'll be able to spin it good, but we'll see. 496 00:31:35,137 --> 00:31:37,034 [narrator] Hunter and Sparky are preparing to move 497 00:31:37,068 --> 00:31:40,448 the massive base of the Black Pearl into position. 498 00:31:40,482 --> 00:31:42,586 [Hunter] We've got our strongest chain hooked up, so... 499 00:31:42,620 --> 00:31:44,137 [Sparky] It's not easy in the mud. 500 00:31:44,172 --> 00:31:47,413 Everything's just way more difficult when it's muddy. 501 00:31:47,448 --> 00:31:50,000 Let's see if I can slide it with this 490. 502 00:31:50,034 --> 00:31:52,896 [narrator] The goal is to connect it to the hopper. 503 00:31:52,931 --> 00:31:55,137 [Hunter] Honestly, this is the biggest day we've had in a long time. 504 00:31:55,172 --> 00:31:59,896 Me and Sparky have been welding on this plant for... it seems like forever. 505 00:31:59,931 --> 00:32:02,000 Just even getting the plant to this point, 506 00:32:02,034 --> 00:32:05,379 where we can start putting it back together is a big deal. 507 00:32:05,413 --> 00:32:08,689 [Sparky] It's going pretty smooth right now, just me and Hunter. 508 00:32:08,724 --> 00:32:11,206 Nothing's broken yet, so it's a good sign 509 00:32:11,241 --> 00:32:13,586 we know what we're doing and we're thinking things methodically. 510 00:32:14,620 --> 00:32:16,689 You're doing a great job, brother! 511 00:32:16,724 --> 00:32:18,965 -[Hunter] You like it there? -[Sparky] This looks pretty good. 512 00:32:21,034 --> 00:32:23,793 [narrator] In order to attach the hopper to the frame, 513 00:32:23,827 --> 00:32:28,448 they plan to use the excavator to lift the hopper up over the frame. 514 00:32:28,482 --> 00:32:30,827 Then they will carefully lower the hopper, 515 00:32:30,862 --> 00:32:34,758 until it's four support beams match up with those on the frame. 516 00:32:43,034 --> 00:32:47,965 Basically, we're welding all these tabs to help align all of these beams together. 517 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,034 Once we go to place it, it's just gonna be me and Sparky doing this, 518 00:32:51,068 --> 00:32:53,000 we're gonna put a tagline on it, 519 00:32:53,034 --> 00:32:56,896 and, uh, if everything goes to plan, it'll sit perfectly on here. 520 00:33:04,689 --> 00:33:05,517 Whoo-hoo-hoo! 521 00:33:13,413 --> 00:33:16,793 [narrator] One wrong move can damage both the hopper and the frame, 522 00:33:16,827 --> 00:33:19,275 and cost the mine more precious time. 523 00:33:19,310 --> 00:33:22,724 It's critical that they slip all four of the hopper's legs 524 00:33:22,758 --> 00:33:25,758 over the tabs to lock it into place. 525 00:33:25,793 --> 00:33:27,448 [Sparky] Just bring her this way a little bit. 526 00:33:29,896 --> 00:33:32,172 [Hunter] We've been waiting a long time for this moment right here. 527 00:33:36,034 --> 00:33:38,724 [Sparky] Okay. All the tabs are in. 528 00:33:41,862 --> 00:33:46,482 Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. One tab is out. It almost got in. 529 00:33:46,517 --> 00:33:50,241 I think I might be able... Might be able to pull a chain on the other side of this. 530 00:33:50,275 --> 00:33:53,344 -[Hunter] Okay, what do I do? -[Sparky] Pick it up, pick it up. 531 00:33:54,586 --> 00:33:56,896 There you go. There you go. Hold on. 532 00:34:01,862 --> 00:34:02,620 All right. Go ahead. 533 00:34:06,137 --> 00:34:07,137 Drop her like she's hot. 534 00:34:08,688 --> 00:34:09,379 Okay, hold it. 535 00:34:13,137 --> 00:34:14,068 Hold it, hold it. 536 00:34:17,655 --> 00:34:19,275 [Hunter over radio] That's pretty good. 537 00:34:19,310 --> 00:34:23,931 That was a good idea. That was a damn good idea. 538 00:34:23,965 --> 00:34:25,757 [Hunter over radio] This feels good. 539 00:34:25,793 --> 00:34:28,275 It's like a huge weight off our shoulders. 540 00:34:28,310 --> 00:34:31,551 Hey, every time it's just me and you working on this thing, 541 00:34:31,585 --> 00:34:33,551 It's like... you know what I mean? 542 00:34:34,379 --> 00:34:37,344 This is sick, man, [bleep] sick. 543 00:34:37,379 --> 00:34:39,655 We've been out here welding, cutting in the rain. 544 00:34:39,688 --> 00:34:42,793 Even when we cut this thing apart, it was a lot to take on. 545 00:34:42,827 --> 00:34:47,172 So now that we're reassembling it, it feels really good, man. 546 00:34:47,206 --> 00:34:49,827 We see the vision. Now it's happening. 547 00:34:51,344 --> 00:34:53,516 -[Hunter] What do you think? -[Jack] That is huge! 548 00:34:53,551 --> 00:34:55,275 -[Hunter] It looks good, huh? -[Jack] Yeah. 549 00:34:55,310 --> 00:34:57,448 We're trying to bring you some crazy gold to the gold room. 550 00:34:57,482 --> 00:35:00,310 This is absolutely fantastic. 551 00:35:00,344 --> 00:35:05,448 What you did today is more than those dudes over there done in about three days. 552 00:35:05,482 --> 00:35:08,206 -My God. -We appreciate you for believing in this, Jack. 553 00:35:08,241 --> 00:35:11,413 Well, you know, it's gonna happen. Get her going, man. 554 00:35:20,896 --> 00:35:23,068 I'm really happy my little brother is up here. 555 00:35:24,068 --> 00:35:26,000 Nobody I love more than that guy. 556 00:35:26,034 --> 00:35:30,000 Mmm. Fresh [bleep] tee, dude. 557 00:35:30,034 --> 00:35:31,448 He's just so funny. 558 00:35:31,482 --> 00:35:32,620 You know that smell? 559 00:35:34,103 --> 00:35:35,965 -[Hudson] Mmm. -[Hunter] You're a [bleep]. 560 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:36,931 -[Hudson] Smell it. -[Hunter] Weirdo. 561 00:35:36,965 --> 00:35:37,655 -[Hudson] Smell it. -[Hunter] No! 562 00:35:41,655 --> 00:35:43,172 Ten-four. 563 00:35:43,206 --> 00:35:46,793 [Hunter] There's nobody I love more on Earth than my little brother. 564 00:35:46,827 --> 00:35:51,310 You know, he's never trying to get anybody to like him, but everybody likes him. 565 00:35:52,551 --> 00:35:56,620 [Hudson singing] 566 00:35:56,655 --> 00:35:58,310 I eat a pound of Goldfish a week. 567 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,275 [over radio] 568 00:36:01,310 --> 00:36:05,862 I don't know what it is about him, it's just, like, I just love the guy. 569 00:36:05,896 --> 00:36:08,068 You know the [bleep] smell, dude. 570 00:36:09,551 --> 00:36:10,620 Nice. 571 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,206 [Todd] For our second clean up, Thurber out here. 572 00:36:26,241 --> 00:36:29,000 This is all ancient river channel pay. 573 00:36:29,034 --> 00:36:32,896 [narrator] After only running for a total of 20 hours due to the rain, 574 00:36:32,931 --> 00:36:36,103 Todd and his crew pull the Holy Roller's mats, 575 00:36:36,137 --> 00:36:39,586 hoping they contain enough gold to keep him afloat. 576 00:36:42,241 --> 00:36:48,965 Well, we got, I don't know, 4,000 yards on the box. Not a lot. Not a lot. 577 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:50,724 So we'll see what happens here. 578 00:36:57,310 --> 00:37:02,137 Dude, crazy week. Hard on everybody. Water. Flooding. 579 00:37:02,172 --> 00:37:04,689 I was actually pretty dang scared this week. 580 00:37:04,724 --> 00:37:07,758 It was less than a foot from flooding the whole cut. 581 00:37:07,793 --> 00:37:11,655 We got all the culverts in, got all the water diverted. Got everything down. 582 00:37:11,689 --> 00:37:14,448 And it's holding. We should be good now. 583 00:37:14,482 --> 00:37:16,827 -That could have went really bad. -Yeah. 584 00:37:16,862 --> 00:37:21,310 Speaking of bad, we almost lost the ancient river bed 585 00:37:21,344 --> 00:37:24,034 that we've been digging and digging and digging. 586 00:37:24,068 --> 00:37:27,000 Look at this. It's already come up at least a foot. 587 00:37:27,034 --> 00:37:31,172 [Andy] If that dike had blown through, we would have lost a third of our pay dirt. 588 00:37:31,206 --> 00:37:34,448 -Huge. -I was literally watching the water come up. 589 00:37:34,482 --> 00:37:35,758 And I just pull the road out. 590 00:37:37,448 --> 00:37:40,482 And then Framer and Tater came in and put a clank on, 591 00:37:40,517 --> 00:37:42,551 set the culvert, because it flooded. 592 00:37:42,586 --> 00:37:43,758 [Todd] Thank you, guys. 593 00:37:43,793 --> 00:37:46,586 Seriously, though, the experience that you guys have 594 00:37:47,586 --> 00:37:50,482 from a past life came in handy in this life. 595 00:37:50,517 --> 00:37:52,275 Tater, he went ahead and switched the bucket around. 596 00:37:53,931 --> 00:37:56,241 That's kind of crazy. I didn't know they did that. 597 00:37:56,275 --> 00:37:58,172 I don't think that's in the manual, Tater. 598 00:37:58,206 --> 00:38:01,586 No, no, that doesn't come in any instruction manual. 599 00:38:01,620 --> 00:38:04,379 -That's hillbilly construction right there. -Yeah. 600 00:38:04,413 --> 00:38:06,275 Black Pearl, gimme an update. 601 00:38:06,310 --> 00:38:09,448 It's taken a lot of time, but we're just trying to do everything right, 602 00:38:09,482 --> 00:38:12,517 so that when we get it together, we're not gonna have it fall apart on us. 603 00:38:12,551 --> 00:38:15,379 The rain's blowing sideways. We're standing in a mud puddle. 604 00:38:15,413 --> 00:38:18,413 All of our tools are caked in mud. Our torch won't light. 605 00:38:18,448 --> 00:38:20,172 We're caked in mud, and we're just... 606 00:38:20,206 --> 00:38:23,379 We've been soaked to the bone for days trying to get that thing together. 607 00:38:23,413 --> 00:38:26,758 But it was a good moment getting the hopper put on there. 608 00:38:26,793 --> 00:38:31,310 At least you can kind of see it getting assembled. So we're getting there. 609 00:38:31,344 --> 00:38:35,206 We see the vision. We've been talking about this since day one. 610 00:38:35,241 --> 00:38:37,965 It's like, we're never gonna stop. We're gonna keep on going. 611 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,931 There's gonna be a lot of walls in front of us. But if we can find a window, 612 00:38:40,965 --> 00:38:45,000 if we can find a door and bust it open, onto the next thing, you know what I'm saying? 613 00:38:45,034 --> 00:38:48,482 Nice. Nice. I like it. Keep it up, man. I know it's hard, Hunter. 614 00:38:48,517 --> 00:38:52,551 I know you guys are struggling out there. We see it. You know, we're all one team. 615 00:38:52,586 --> 00:38:56,482 So, keep pushing hard. Get the Black Pearl running, man. 616 00:38:56,517 --> 00:39:01,275 [narrator] As of right now, the mine has produced 76 ounces of gold, 617 00:39:01,310 --> 00:39:06,655 with 924 more needed, to meet to reach 1,000 ounces for the season. 618 00:39:06,689 --> 00:39:10,896 To achieve that goal, they need to average 92 ounces of gold per week. 619 00:39:15,103 --> 00:39:18,275 Ah, I can tell by the way you're dangling that thing, 620 00:39:18,310 --> 00:39:21,931 that's not as heavy as last week. Uh-oh. 621 00:39:24,344 --> 00:39:26,517 [all groan] 622 00:39:26,551 --> 00:39:28,103 [Jack] What do you think, huh? 623 00:39:28,137 --> 00:39:30,344 When you get the little copper tray out... 624 00:39:30,379 --> 00:39:32,827 -Yeah, it's not good. -You know it's gonna hurt. 625 00:39:32,862 --> 00:39:34,344 [Jack] What do you think? 626 00:39:34,379 --> 00:39:35,724 -Here we go. -I don't know. 627 00:39:35,758 --> 00:39:37,103 I'm just gonna pour it out. 628 00:39:37,137 --> 00:39:39,896 It was a hard week. I don't even... Man, just pour it out. 629 00:39:39,931 --> 00:39:42,689 It's definitely, it's definitely a gut shot. 630 00:39:47,620 --> 00:39:50,241 Where you're at? Five. Six. 631 00:39:54,620 --> 00:39:57,482 Twenty three. Twenty four. 632 00:39:59,965 --> 00:40:06,206 Twenty eight, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39. 633 00:40:07,344 --> 00:40:09,724 [Jack] 39.2. 634 00:40:09,758 --> 00:40:12,586 -It's not even half of where we're supposed to be. -Right. 635 00:40:12,620 --> 00:40:16,137 That's still, what, 65,000? 636 00:40:16,172 --> 00:40:18,551 Right? $65,000. 637 00:40:19,344 --> 00:40:21,068 I mean, it's below what we need, 638 00:40:21,103 --> 00:40:27,275 but we had a lot of issues that were out of our control. I mean, it is what it is. 639 00:40:27,310 --> 00:40:31,448 Last week we were at 76. This week we're at 39. 640 00:40:31,482 --> 00:40:34,034 We've got a grand total of 115. 641 00:40:34,068 --> 00:40:40,241 Now our average has to be 98 ounces a week, every clean up, so... 642 00:40:40,275 --> 00:40:45,172 [narrator] The Holy Roller's third week cleanup comes in at just over 39 ounces, 643 00:40:45,206 --> 00:40:48,620 for a running total of 115 ounces. 644 00:40:48,655 --> 00:40:52,275 The Hoffmans now need 98 ounces of gold per week 645 00:40:52,310 --> 00:40:56,586 to reach their season goal of 1,000 ounces. 646 00:40:56,620 --> 00:41:00,758 Well, the bottom line is, the challenges are not gonna stop happening. 647 00:41:00,793 --> 00:41:02,586 -Yeah. -There's going to be other stuff that happens. 648 00:41:02,620 --> 00:41:05,310 We'll get flooded out again. We're gonna break downs, 649 00:41:05,344 --> 00:41:08,517 so that's even more reason why we need the Black Pearl. 650 00:41:08,551 --> 00:41:11,586 We're behind our average here. The Black Pearl we're behind. 651 00:41:11,620 --> 00:41:13,586 We're behind, personally, in gold. 652 00:41:13,620 --> 00:41:16,413 We've got to outperform this in what we're doing. 653 00:41:16,448 --> 00:41:19,172 Everybody does. So let us know what we can do to help. 654 00:41:19,206 --> 00:41:22,413 -Yeah. -Once we get you online, 655 00:41:22,448 --> 00:41:24,655 -it's gonna go up. -Oh, yeah. 656 00:41:24,689 --> 00:41:27,137 Let's get some rest, guys. Let's get rolling in the morning. 657 00:41:27,172 --> 00:41:28,413 [chorus of agreement] 658 00:41:28,448 --> 00:41:30,103 You guys get your beauty sleep in.