1 00:00:04,793 --> 00:00:06,103 [narrator] As the winter freeze 2 00:00:06,103 --> 00:00:08,620 threatens to shut down operations... 3 00:00:08,620 --> 00:00:11,068 God, I miss Palm Springs. 4 00:00:11,068 --> 00:00:13,793 [narrator] ...the Hoffman crew must find a way to extract 5 00:00:13,793 --> 00:00:15,517 a cool quarter million dollars 6 00:00:15,517 --> 00:00:18,275 in gold from the frozen ground... 7 00:00:18,275 --> 00:00:19,689 [Dakota] That's not supposed to be there. 8 00:00:19,689 --> 00:00:22,689 [Sparky] Huge ice chunks are just destroying the Holy Roller. 9 00:00:22,689 --> 00:00:25,931 [narrator] ...or return home at a heartbreaking loss. 10 00:00:25,931 --> 00:00:27,482 [Jim] There's gold getting left behind. 11 00:00:27,482 --> 00:00:30,827 [narrator] But to glean the 136 ounces they need 12 00:00:30,827 --> 00:00:32,172 to turn a profit... 13 00:00:32,172 --> 00:00:34,793 [Hunter] If we can get some more good pay, 14 00:00:34,793 --> 00:00:37,206 we might get out of here without losing our ass. 15 00:00:38,103 --> 00:00:39,241 [narrator] ...they'll have to break 16 00:00:39,241 --> 00:00:42,034 the conventional rules of mining in the Arctic. 17 00:00:42,793 --> 00:00:44,896 It's definitely a Hail Mary. 18 00:00:44,896 --> 00:00:48,103 We've had some pretty crazy ideas this year, 19 00:00:48,103 --> 00:00:50,517 but this one tops all of them. 20 00:01:16,724 --> 00:01:18,931 [Todd] Winter's knocking at the door. 21 00:01:18,931 --> 00:01:21,275 It's very, very cold. Sometimes it's wet. 22 00:01:21,275 --> 00:01:24,137 It's almost impossible to mine right now. 23 00:01:25,724 --> 00:01:27,344 [Todd] Keep going, guys. Good job. 24 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:29,241 [Sterling] You betcha. 25 00:01:29,241 --> 00:01:32,172 [Todd] Plateau dirt gave us a great payout last week, 26 00:01:32,172 --> 00:01:35,000 but even that's starting to freeze up. 27 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,000 We're 136 ounces short of our goal. 28 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,000 And the winter's trying to kick us out of here. 29 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:41,862 But we're not gonna stop until we get it. 30 00:01:43,103 --> 00:01:45,551 The weather's gonna make it tough, but we're tougher. 31 00:01:48,482 --> 00:01:51,000 Hey, Sparky, you wear your long johns today? 32 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:51,965 Nope. 33 00:01:52,310 --> 00:01:53,206 [Sterling] I did. 34 00:01:53,206 --> 00:01:55,000 It's getting cold, dude. It's nippy. 35 00:01:55,517 --> 00:01:56,620 [laughs] 36 00:02:01,413 --> 00:02:04,517 This pay is frozen solid. 37 00:02:06,689 --> 00:02:07,931 For right now, 38 00:02:07,931 --> 00:02:10,206 we're dropping all our pay in 39 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,379 kind of our small tailings area, 40 00:02:13,379 --> 00:02:15,068 because we are processing it. 41 00:02:15,068 --> 00:02:16,068 Right now that's what I'm doing. 42 00:02:16,068 --> 00:02:18,241 I'm crushing up any of the big pieces. 43 00:02:20,620 --> 00:02:23,620 We got trucks bringing pay to me. 44 00:02:28,172 --> 00:02:29,482 So I can 45 00:02:29,482 --> 00:02:31,724 smash up some of the bigger ice chunks. 46 00:02:32,931 --> 00:02:35,517 So we got to throw some extra steps. 47 00:02:36,517 --> 00:02:38,482 We're running out of time this season. 48 00:02:38,482 --> 00:02:40,379 And it's just inefficient 49 00:02:40,379 --> 00:02:43,137 with this short amount of time that we have right now. 50 00:02:58,517 --> 00:03:01,517 [Jack speaking] 51 00:03:08,482 --> 00:03:09,551 10-4. 52 00:03:11,689 --> 00:03:14,000 Let's go. Go ahead and fire it up. 53 00:03:41,827 --> 00:03:44,724 [Hunter] Sadly, the Black Pearl somehow caught on fire. 54 00:03:44,724 --> 00:03:46,482 And right now we're running Jack's plant 55 00:03:46,482 --> 00:03:48,000 as one of our main plants. 56 00:03:48,896 --> 00:03:50,310 We did some modifications on it 57 00:03:50,310 --> 00:03:51,862 to try to speed up our yardage. 58 00:03:52,793 --> 00:03:54,517 We just need enough gold 59 00:03:54,517 --> 00:03:56,862 to try to get us at least over a thousand. 60 00:03:57,413 --> 00:03:58,793 Then, uh, 61 00:03:58,793 --> 00:04:00,482 you know, we might 62 00:04:00,482 --> 00:04:02,310 get out of here without losing our ass. 63 00:04:03,793 --> 00:04:06,172 I never ever thought 64 00:04:06,172 --> 00:04:08,793 that I'd be running a plant that I built 65 00:04:08,793 --> 00:04:11,724 on the last season, mining. You know? 66 00:04:11,724 --> 00:04:13,655 My plant's saving their butt. 67 00:04:16,103 --> 00:04:17,379 The plateau pay, 68 00:04:17,379 --> 00:04:19,137 we know what it pays. 69 00:04:20,103 --> 00:04:22,620 121.7. 70 00:04:22,620 --> 00:04:25,000 That's pretty good, boys. 71 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,793 Yeah! Woo! 72 00:04:27,793 --> 00:04:31,068 [Jack] But it's frozen, so it is what it is. 73 00:04:31,068 --> 00:04:33,896 We're gonna run this up, and, uh, 74 00:04:33,896 --> 00:04:36,379 it will run fairly easy 75 00:04:36,379 --> 00:04:37,724 through this plant. 76 00:05:02,793 --> 00:05:03,862 [Sterling speaking] 77 00:05:08,103 --> 00:05:09,551 [Dakota speaking] 78 00:05:26,172 --> 00:05:29,275 [Dakota] The hopper's got a pretty thin chute up there. 79 00:05:29,275 --> 00:05:30,793 We don't have any grizzly bars on it. 80 00:05:30,793 --> 00:05:32,379 So all this big frozen pay 81 00:05:32,379 --> 00:05:34,000 is just getting stuck up there right now. 82 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,931 So every time too big a one gets stuck, 83 00:05:35,931 --> 00:05:38,206 we got to shut down and get it out. 84 00:05:38,206 --> 00:05:39,448 I mean, we got to do it safely, 85 00:05:39,448 --> 00:05:41,689 so everything's got to get shut down every single time. 86 00:05:41,689 --> 00:05:43,931 So it just costs a lot of time. 87 00:05:52,172 --> 00:05:54,931 [Todd] At this point, every minute that we're down 88 00:05:54,931 --> 00:05:56,586 hurts my bottom line. 89 00:05:56,586 --> 00:05:58,689 Every time we have to stop the Holy Roller 90 00:05:58,689 --> 00:06:00,206 to get these ice chunks out, 91 00:06:00,206 --> 00:06:02,172 we're losing thousands of dollars. 92 00:06:02,172 --> 00:06:04,310 [Andy] It's gonna be a battle for a bit. 93 00:06:04,310 --> 00:06:06,413 It just sucks. 94 00:06:06,413 --> 00:06:08,517 But it is what it is, okay? 95 00:06:08,517 --> 00:06:09,758 - Yep. - Thank you. 96 00:06:18,620 --> 00:06:21,275 - Push that up to the back. - Hey, maybe we all grab on. 97 00:06:21,275 --> 00:06:23,413 [Sparky] Maybe we grab on. Tug of war, dude. 98 00:06:23,413 --> 00:06:25,103 Tug of war with pay. 99 00:06:25,103 --> 00:06:27,827 - [Dakota] Oh, yeah. - [Sparky] Oh [bleep]! 100 00:06:27,827 --> 00:06:29,724 [Dakota] I don't think this is a normal thing on a mine, 101 00:06:29,724 --> 00:06:31,827 but it's happening right now. 102 00:06:32,724 --> 00:06:34,172 [Sparky] Yippee! 103 00:06:34,172 --> 00:06:35,655 That's not supposed to be there. 104 00:06:37,172 --> 00:06:39,068 [Sparky] You know, the plateau is a nice idea, 105 00:06:39,068 --> 00:06:41,482 but we're way too late in the season. 106 00:06:41,482 --> 00:06:42,896 Huge ice chunks are just 107 00:06:42,896 --> 00:06:45,068 destroying screens on the Holy Roller. 108 00:06:45,068 --> 00:06:47,310 I have no idea how long we have 109 00:06:47,310 --> 00:06:48,620 to run this through. 110 00:06:51,379 --> 00:06:53,241 [Dakota] You know what that'll do to the screens? 111 00:06:54,517 --> 00:06:56,000 [Dakota] But it doesn't fit through the hopper. 112 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,379 And I can't go through the chute 113 00:06:58,379 --> 00:07:00,482 with the plant on or the water on, 114 00:07:00,482 --> 00:07:02,241 so I have to shut it down. 115 00:07:05,275 --> 00:07:06,172 [Dakota] That's what I've been doing, 116 00:07:06,172 --> 00:07:07,310 but I have to shut off 117 00:07:07,310 --> 00:07:08,931 when it gets stuck inside the chute. 118 00:07:12,482 --> 00:07:14,413 - [Dakota] Are we clear? - [Sparky] Clear. 119 00:07:30,896 --> 00:07:32,206 All right, Sterling, go ahead. 120 00:07:45,068 --> 00:07:46,931 The other one was twice that size. 121 00:07:46,931 --> 00:07:48,206 [Jim] What? 122 00:07:48,206 --> 00:07:50,517 We're just gonna struggle with it a little bit. 123 00:07:51,793 --> 00:07:53,275 We're gonna have to shut the plant down 124 00:07:53,275 --> 00:07:55,137 probably periodically from time to time. 125 00:07:55,482 --> 00:07:56,931 Um, the thing is 126 00:07:56,931 --> 00:07:58,206 that we've got to do is, we've got to get it fired right back up 127 00:07:58,206 --> 00:07:59,413 and get it running, so... 128 00:07:59,724 --> 00:08:00,827 I've done 129 00:08:00,827 --> 00:08:02,620 all this stuff before, and I know it sucks 130 00:08:02,620 --> 00:08:03,931 when you can't get in a rhythm, 131 00:08:04,206 --> 00:08:05,206 but, uh, 132 00:08:06,068 --> 00:08:07,206 we just do the best we can. 133 00:08:11,103 --> 00:08:13,103 [narrator] While the crew battles ice chunks 134 00:08:13,103 --> 00:08:15,344 and downtime at the Holy Roller, 135 00:08:16,689 --> 00:08:19,172 the Jack Rabbit's simpler shaker deck design 136 00:08:19,172 --> 00:08:21,517 allows it to discard ice chunks 137 00:08:21,517 --> 00:08:23,827 without incurring screen damage, 138 00:08:23,827 --> 00:08:26,172 enabling Jack's lower-volume wash plant 139 00:08:26,172 --> 00:08:28,827 to run a more consistent flow of pay dirt. 140 00:08:37,275 --> 00:08:38,931 Trying to get some more ounces on the board 141 00:08:38,931 --> 00:08:40,896 for Jack's last season. We had a... 142 00:08:40,896 --> 00:08:42,965 [clearing throat] Terrible year. 143 00:08:43,482 --> 00:08:44,758 Had a lot of issues. 144 00:08:45,172 --> 00:08:46,275 And, uh, 145 00:08:46,275 --> 00:08:48,000 you know, our gold count reflects that. 146 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,103 And nothing's gonna thaw at this point in the year, 147 00:08:50,103 --> 00:08:51,586 so, time is running out. 148 00:08:51,586 --> 00:08:53,172 But at this point, I'm just 149 00:08:53,172 --> 00:08:55,482 committed to do whatever we need to do 150 00:08:55,482 --> 00:08:57,931 to get as much gold as possible. 151 00:09:21,689 --> 00:09:25,137 [Jim speaking] 152 00:09:28,724 --> 00:09:29,931 It's running a little dirty. 153 00:09:29,931 --> 00:09:32,103 Maybe slow it down just a little bit. 154 00:09:34,931 --> 00:09:36,793 [Jim] You know, running frozen pay 155 00:09:36,793 --> 00:09:39,103 not only plugs up the plant, 156 00:09:39,103 --> 00:09:41,172 now I'm seeing dirty gravel 157 00:09:41,172 --> 00:09:43,517 coming out of the plant, which, to me, 158 00:09:43,517 --> 00:09:46,275 it means we're losing gold. 159 00:09:46,275 --> 00:09:48,172 I'm gonna test it to make sure, 160 00:09:48,172 --> 00:09:50,689 but the pay's frozen. 161 00:09:50,689 --> 00:09:52,206 Chunks are coming through there. 162 00:09:52,793 --> 00:09:53,793 It's not good. 163 00:09:55,172 --> 00:09:57,827 Okay, let's see what the test tells us. 164 00:10:10,793 --> 00:10:12,172 [Jim] I've been down at the plant. 165 00:10:12,172 --> 00:10:14,655 I see chunks of ice coming through. 166 00:10:14,655 --> 00:10:16,689 The gravels aren't clean. 167 00:10:16,689 --> 00:10:18,275 That tells me that 168 00:10:18,275 --> 00:10:20,689 they're just not getting washed properly. 169 00:10:20,689 --> 00:10:23,103 I pan and check the tailings. 170 00:10:23,862 --> 00:10:26,000 A lot of gold in here. 171 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:30,103 This goes from real super-fine to pretty coarse gold 172 00:10:30,103 --> 00:10:31,689 that's been through our plant. 173 00:10:31,689 --> 00:10:34,586 So that doesn't make me feel good. 174 00:10:34,586 --> 00:10:36,172 We're getting a lot of it, 175 00:10:36,172 --> 00:10:38,310 but there's a lot more that we're leaving behind. 176 00:10:39,551 --> 00:10:41,068 They're pretty proud that they're running 177 00:10:41,068 --> 00:10:42,862 300 yards an hour. 178 00:10:42,862 --> 00:10:45,689 Uh, that makes me cringe. 179 00:10:45,689 --> 00:10:47,793 And I checked. 180 00:10:47,793 --> 00:10:50,310 And unfortunately, I was correct. 181 00:10:50,793 --> 00:10:52,448 Doesn't take a scientist 182 00:10:52,448 --> 00:10:54,689 to figure this out. Dirty rocks. 183 00:10:55,379 --> 00:10:58,137 A lot of mud. A lot of frozen stuff. 184 00:10:58,137 --> 00:11:00,379 I see chunks of ice coming through. 185 00:11:01,275 --> 00:11:03,379 I mean, there's gold getting left behind. 186 00:11:03,379 --> 00:11:05,793 So, uh, it's bad. 187 00:11:06,275 --> 00:11:08,000 We got some stuff to figure out. 188 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:09,586 Things to do different. 189 00:11:09,586 --> 00:11:11,448 I gotta get ahold of Todd. 190 00:11:11,448 --> 00:11:12,827 We gotta do something. 191 00:11:21,379 --> 00:11:22,310 Okay. 192 00:11:28,655 --> 00:11:29,931 Hi, Dakota. 193 00:11:43,482 --> 00:11:46,931 [Dakota] Okay. The situation is not good. 194 00:11:48,137 --> 00:11:50,379 Not ideal. Less than ideal. 195 00:11:50,379 --> 00:11:52,896 When they're not getting stuck in the trommel, 196 00:11:52,896 --> 00:11:55,482 a lot of these big chunks are just flying out the end 197 00:11:55,482 --> 00:11:57,068 into the tailings. 198 00:11:59,896 --> 00:12:02,482 So what we're doing, we're bringing them back over to Carl, 199 00:12:02,482 --> 00:12:03,758 and Carl's gonna smash them up, 200 00:12:03,758 --> 00:12:06,068 and then we'll run it through the plant again. 201 00:12:06,068 --> 00:12:07,137 It's a little tedious, 202 00:12:07,137 --> 00:12:08,827 but we have to give it everything we got. 203 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:24,000 [Dakota speaking] 204 00:12:33,689 --> 00:12:34,896 [Jim] Well, 205 00:12:34,896 --> 00:12:38,172 this is a sample I took out of the tailings. 206 00:12:38,172 --> 00:12:39,620 [Jack] What the heck? 207 00:12:40,068 --> 00:12:41,068 [Jim] Yeah. 208 00:12:41,068 --> 00:12:43,620 I saw a lot of mud in the gravel, 209 00:12:44,172 --> 00:12:46,689 took baseball-sized clump of dirt, 210 00:12:46,689 --> 00:12:48,689 put it in the pan, and that is 211 00:12:48,689 --> 00:12:50,034 honest to God... 212 00:12:50,034 --> 00:12:51,793 [Andy] God dang, that is rich. 213 00:12:51,793 --> 00:12:55,068 Yeah, that's been through the plant, so... 214 00:12:55,068 --> 00:12:56,000 It was frozen, 215 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:57,862 but that's why I called you in here. 216 00:12:57,862 --> 00:12:59,379 We got to do something. 217 00:12:59,379 --> 00:13:01,689 That's not kind of 218 00:13:01,689 --> 00:13:02,620 a little bit of gold. 219 00:13:02,620 --> 00:13:04,448 - That's a lot of gold. - [Andy] Yeah. 220 00:13:04,448 --> 00:13:05,896 We got to make a change, 100%. 221 00:13:05,896 --> 00:13:07,551 $2,000 an hour, 222 00:13:07,551 --> 00:13:09,068 $20,000 a day. 223 00:13:09,068 --> 00:13:10,689 The problem is, no matter what you do, 224 00:13:10,689 --> 00:13:12,758 you're not gonna get balls of it to come out. 225 00:13:12,758 --> 00:13:14,482 - We're not gonna get it all. - [Andy] No. 226 00:13:14,482 --> 00:13:17,310 But that's like several ounces an hour. 227 00:13:17,586 --> 00:13:18,344 [Jim] Yeah. 228 00:13:18,344 --> 00:13:19,551 [Andy] Right now we're having 229 00:13:19,551 --> 00:13:21,172 a lot of problems with the plateau, 230 00:13:21,172 --> 00:13:23,655 and that is because we've got frozen pay in there. 231 00:13:23,655 --> 00:13:25,793 We know there's gold in the ground, 232 00:13:25,793 --> 00:13:27,137 but right now it's going through the plant 233 00:13:27,137 --> 00:13:28,586 and it's coming out with frozen chunks. 234 00:13:28,586 --> 00:13:30,103 It's late enough in the year, 235 00:13:30,103 --> 00:13:31,482 there's just no way to thaw it. 236 00:13:31,482 --> 00:13:33,551 So I don't know how much longer 237 00:13:33,551 --> 00:13:34,793 we can run this material. 238 00:13:34,793 --> 00:13:36,586 Maybe we're going a little too quick, Andy. 239 00:13:36,586 --> 00:13:38,137 Maybe we just take it down a notch, 240 00:13:38,137 --> 00:13:39,172 bring the water down. 241 00:13:40,034 --> 00:13:41,793 Thurber, I think you ought to go down there 242 00:13:41,793 --> 00:13:44,241 and just watch it and try to adjust it. 243 00:13:44,241 --> 00:13:45,896 And with Dakota, too. 244 00:13:45,896 --> 00:13:47,551 - Like, you two work together. - Right. 245 00:13:47,551 --> 00:13:49,551 We'll go with what you guys think. 246 00:13:49,551 --> 00:13:51,586 [Andy] God, it's nasty stuff, though. 247 00:13:51,586 --> 00:13:53,827 - No, I agree. - Just nasty stuff. 248 00:13:54,896 --> 00:13:56,275 [Todd] We're losing enough gold. 249 00:13:56,275 --> 00:13:59,551 I think we got to make some adjustments to the plant. 250 00:13:59,551 --> 00:14:02,379 But with this plateau ice causing us so many problems, 251 00:14:02,379 --> 00:14:04,482 we're gonna have to come up with a new plan, 252 00:14:04,482 --> 00:14:06,275 and fast. 253 00:14:06,275 --> 00:14:09,275 We only have maybe one, maybe two weeks left 254 00:14:09,275 --> 00:14:11,586 to reach our goal of 1,023. 255 00:14:11,586 --> 00:14:13,793 I mean, we definitely need to make a change. 256 00:14:15,137 --> 00:14:16,620 What that is, I don't know. 257 00:14:24,689 --> 00:14:28,103 Hey, Dakota, what are we gonna start out with on the water? 258 00:14:28,103 --> 00:14:30,275 [Dakota] Do you want to go what we were at 259 00:14:30,275 --> 00:14:31,689 or do you want to go lower? 260 00:14:32,448 --> 00:14:34,482 Yeah, let's just go where we were at 261 00:14:34,482 --> 00:14:36,724 and then we'll adjust from there. 262 00:14:38,379 --> 00:14:39,689 [Dakota] 10-4. 263 00:14:39,689 --> 00:14:42,241 I want to take a look at what we were doing. 264 00:14:42,241 --> 00:14:44,379 Same water, same feed. 265 00:14:44,379 --> 00:14:47,689 We're gonna adjust one or both of those things 266 00:14:47,689 --> 00:14:50,413 to see if we can up our capture rate on this goal. 267 00:14:51,241 --> 00:14:54,551 1,370 RPMs 268 00:14:54,551 --> 00:14:57,241 is where, uh, we've been running it. 269 00:14:57,241 --> 00:14:58,758 I just think it's too much. 270 00:14:58,758 --> 00:15:00,896 With all the ice balls that are coming out 271 00:15:00,896 --> 00:15:02,482 of the plateau dirt. 272 00:15:02,482 --> 00:15:04,620 Hey, Caleb, are you still down there? 273 00:15:05,275 --> 00:15:06,379 [Caleb speaking] 274 00:15:06,379 --> 00:15:09,241 [Todd] Okay, bring me down to 1,340. 275 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:10,827 [Caleb speaking] 276 00:15:13,586 --> 00:15:14,931 [Todd] Better speed. 277 00:15:17,068 --> 00:15:19,000 It still looks quick to me. 278 00:15:19,344 --> 00:15:20,931 It still looks fast. 279 00:15:21,689 --> 00:15:23,000 Give me 1,300. 280 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,172 Bring it down again. 1,300. 281 00:15:26,172 --> 00:15:27,137 [Caleb speaking] 282 00:15:35,655 --> 00:15:37,068 What's your thoughts? 283 00:15:37,068 --> 00:15:38,413 [Jim] I think it looks good. 284 00:15:39,068 --> 00:15:41,379 I mean, I like the speed 285 00:15:41,793 --> 00:15:43,310 at the water, but... 286 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:47,482 Because we were going at 287 00:15:47,482 --> 00:15:50,172 45 seconds to a minute a bucket, 288 00:15:50,172 --> 00:15:51,896 is what we were at. 289 00:15:51,896 --> 00:15:54,896 And then they started going, you know, up and up. 290 00:15:58,586 --> 00:16:01,068 [Todd speaking] 291 00:16:03,896 --> 00:16:06,931 Yeah, let's don't go more than one bucket a minute. 292 00:16:08,482 --> 00:16:10,724 [Tater] 10-4. [speaking indistinctly] 293 00:16:11,586 --> 00:16:12,586 [Todd] There's a lot to it 294 00:16:12,586 --> 00:16:14,965 to get your plant to run optimally. 295 00:16:14,965 --> 00:16:17,275 You have to find the right water speed 296 00:16:17,275 --> 00:16:18,413 and feed rate. 297 00:16:19,241 --> 00:16:21,551 That balance can be changed 298 00:16:21,551 --> 00:16:22,965 according to the pay 299 00:16:22,965 --> 00:16:25,689 that you're actually putting through the plant. 300 00:16:25,689 --> 00:16:28,241 Unfortunately, I don't think there's a good way 301 00:16:28,241 --> 00:16:30,206 to run chunks of icy pay. 302 00:16:32,896 --> 00:16:35,137 What I want to see is the clean rocks, 303 00:16:36,103 --> 00:16:38,000 but I don't want to see that. 304 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:39,620 That's a big chunk of ice. 305 00:16:40,448 --> 00:16:41,758 I mean... 306 00:16:45,793 --> 00:16:48,482 None of us want to see this when you're mining. 307 00:16:48,482 --> 00:16:50,724 This is ice. It's not good. 308 00:16:52,896 --> 00:16:55,172 [Todd] I don't know, I kind of like this speed. 309 00:16:55,172 --> 00:16:57,000 Okay, we're gonna run this at 310 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,620 one bucket a minute and 1,300. 311 00:17:00,172 --> 00:17:01,758 [Caleb speaking] 312 00:17:01,758 --> 00:17:05,448 I feel better with the changes we're gonna try and make. 313 00:17:05,448 --> 00:17:07,896 It seems to be washing cleaner, 314 00:17:07,896 --> 00:17:10,793 but we still have the frozen chunks of pay. 315 00:17:10,793 --> 00:17:11,965 And, you know, 316 00:17:11,965 --> 00:17:13,965 running frozen pay, there's nothing we can do 317 00:17:13,965 --> 00:17:17,000 about the fact that we're blowing gold out of the plant. 318 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,896 We're doing the best we can with, 319 00:17:19,379 --> 00:17:21,206 again, what we have, so... 320 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:24,275 [Todd] Let's just slow it down 321 00:17:24,275 --> 00:17:26,827 and get into a really nice little rhythm here. 322 00:17:31,793 --> 00:17:33,275 It's never easy. 323 00:17:33,275 --> 00:17:34,586 They always say if it was easy, 324 00:17:34,586 --> 00:17:36,862 everyone would be doing it. 325 00:17:36,862 --> 00:17:39,206 Maybe they're more sane than we are. I don't know. 326 00:17:53,482 --> 00:17:55,172 [Todd] It's getting cold. 327 00:17:55,172 --> 00:17:57,793 Winter's coming, man. 328 00:17:57,793 --> 00:17:59,793 It's snowing right over there right now. 329 00:18:01,034 --> 00:18:03,931 I mean, it's getting cold. Any day could be snow. So... 330 00:18:04,586 --> 00:18:06,379 I think we're approaching the end. 331 00:18:06,379 --> 00:18:07,413 I mean, in the plateau dirt, 332 00:18:07,413 --> 00:18:09,689 they're starting to get frozen chunks in it. 333 00:18:09,689 --> 00:18:12,000 [Todd] I can see that. They're getting ice chunks 334 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:13,275 - coming through the plant. - Yeah. 335 00:18:13,275 --> 00:18:15,068 It's already a long haul, 336 00:18:15,068 --> 00:18:16,482 and now we're having to slow the plant down 337 00:18:16,482 --> 00:18:17,896 to get that material through it. 338 00:18:17,896 --> 00:18:19,965 And we're losing gold 339 00:18:19,965 --> 00:18:22,275 that's not getting washed because it's frozen. 340 00:18:22,275 --> 00:18:23,344 What do we got left? 341 00:18:23,344 --> 00:18:26,241 Think about what we have left. 342 00:18:26,689 --> 00:18:28,379 Upper Dahl, anywhere. 343 00:18:28,379 --> 00:18:30,482 Maybe even 1,000 yards. 344 00:18:30,482 --> 00:18:32,172 Is there anything we can grab? 345 00:18:32,172 --> 00:18:33,379 Anything. 346 00:18:33,896 --> 00:18:36,551 So last year when we were at Upper Dahl... 347 00:18:36,551 --> 00:18:38,448 - [Todd] Yeah? - ...there was a section of the road 348 00:18:38,448 --> 00:18:41,034 built out of tailings from the old-timers, 349 00:18:41,034 --> 00:18:43,172 but we left the road in because we needed the road. 350 00:18:43,172 --> 00:18:44,482 We're not mining up there right now. 351 00:18:44,482 --> 00:18:45,896 It's not frozen. 352 00:18:45,896 --> 00:18:47,275 Think we could take a little bit of that? 353 00:18:47,275 --> 00:18:48,793 [Andy] We could probably take some of that and then 354 00:18:48,793 --> 00:18:50,655 just wash it and put the gravel back in the hole. 355 00:18:50,655 --> 00:18:52,689 [Todd] How long will that get us? 356 00:18:52,689 --> 00:18:54,379 It's not gonna buy us more than a week, 357 00:18:54,379 --> 00:18:55,689 but it's something. 358 00:18:55,689 --> 00:18:58,448 Could be $20,000, $30,000 in gold. 359 00:18:58,448 --> 00:19:00,241 - Who knows? $50,000? Who knows? - Yeah. 360 00:19:00,241 --> 00:19:02,137 Desperate times call for desperate measures, 361 00:19:02,137 --> 00:19:03,586 - I guess. - Yeah. 362 00:19:03,586 --> 00:19:06,000 [Andy] You know, yesterday Thurber was panning the tailings 363 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:07,172 and it got me thinking 364 00:19:07,172 --> 00:19:09,379 what happened to the guys here before us 365 00:19:09,379 --> 00:19:10,586 when they were mining? 366 00:19:10,586 --> 00:19:12,068 And did they have the same problems? 367 00:19:12,068 --> 00:19:14,551 Because the gravel that's used out of those tailings 368 00:19:14,551 --> 00:19:16,103 is what you build the roads with around here. 369 00:19:16,103 --> 00:19:18,000 And maybe, hopefully, there's some gold in it. 370 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,448 At this point, it might be our only hope 371 00:19:20,448 --> 00:19:22,344 to finish out the season strong. 372 00:19:22,344 --> 00:19:24,137 Every little bit at this point helps. 373 00:19:24,137 --> 00:19:25,793 - [Todd] Yeah. - So it will be thawed, 374 00:19:25,793 --> 00:19:27,275 so let's try. 375 00:19:27,275 --> 00:19:28,448 [Todd] So digging up the road, 376 00:19:28,448 --> 00:19:31,379 obviously, is unorthodox. 377 00:19:31,379 --> 00:19:33,137 It's a pretty crazy move, but, you know, 378 00:19:33,137 --> 00:19:34,241 we need to run pay 379 00:19:34,241 --> 00:19:36,482 while we still have running water. 380 00:19:36,482 --> 00:19:37,965 This whole area is rich, 381 00:19:37,965 --> 00:19:39,551 and we know that there's gold 382 00:19:39,551 --> 00:19:41,137 in the old miners' tailings, 383 00:19:41,137 --> 00:19:43,275 and we know that there's gold in these roads. 384 00:19:43,275 --> 00:19:44,448 Man, let's take it. 385 00:19:44,448 --> 00:19:46,172 - [Andy] Okay. - Let's just take everything we can, 386 00:19:46,172 --> 00:19:47,310 do the best we can. 387 00:19:47,310 --> 00:19:49,379 I know this hasn't turned out the way we wanted. 388 00:19:50,137 --> 00:19:52,482 All we can do is control our effort, 389 00:19:52,482 --> 00:19:54,000 not the outcome. 390 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:55,758 And hopefully get some more gold. 391 00:19:55,758 --> 00:19:56,965 - Okay. - [Todd] Want to do it? 392 00:19:56,965 --> 00:19:57,965 Yeah, we'll dig it out. 393 00:19:57,965 --> 00:19:59,172 - [Todd] All right. - [Andy] Sounds good. 394 00:19:59,172 --> 00:20:01,793 [Todd] That road might have the gold we're after. 395 00:20:20,172 --> 00:20:22,827 [Sparky] Andy, I can't believe we're running the road, man. 396 00:20:25,137 --> 00:20:26,586 [Andy] There's a little bit of pay in here, 397 00:20:26,586 --> 00:20:27,965 we might as well get it done 398 00:20:27,965 --> 00:20:29,206 and let's get back to mining. 399 00:20:29,206 --> 00:20:31,586 Finish out the season strong. That's all that matters. 400 00:20:31,586 --> 00:20:32,448 [Sparky] You got it, buddy. 401 00:20:34,034 --> 00:20:35,482 All right. Just come up here, guys. 402 00:20:35,482 --> 00:20:36,517 Just whip in. 403 00:20:36,793 --> 00:20:38,793 Back out. Okay. 404 00:20:38,793 --> 00:20:40,689 [Sparky] You got it, Andy. 405 00:20:40,689 --> 00:20:42,689 [Andy] We know that the end is approaching. 406 00:20:42,689 --> 00:20:44,241 Been here a long time, 407 00:20:44,241 --> 00:20:46,689 and right now, it's just get every ounce that we possibly can. 408 00:20:46,689 --> 00:20:49,586 So this part of the road was never mined, 409 00:20:49,586 --> 00:20:51,586 and there is a little bit of virgin ground underneath. 410 00:20:51,586 --> 00:20:53,758 So you do what you gotta do 411 00:20:53,758 --> 00:20:56,482 to get the gold, and it's our last little bit 412 00:20:56,482 --> 00:20:58,724 that we're gonna get this season, so... 413 00:21:00,103 --> 00:21:02,034 It's the only place that I know that's left that's got it, 414 00:21:02,034 --> 00:21:04,241 so we're gonna haul this material down to the plant, 415 00:21:04,586 --> 00:21:05,931 wash it. 416 00:21:05,931 --> 00:21:07,758 At the end, you do what you gotta do to get the gold. 417 00:21:07,758 --> 00:21:08,896 And this is what we got to do to 418 00:21:08,896 --> 00:21:11,413 put more, uh, ounces in the box. 419 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,103 We've had some pretty crazy ideas this year, 420 00:21:18,103 --> 00:21:19,689 but this one tops all of them. 421 00:21:21,965 --> 00:21:24,655 Digging up the road. I've never seen this happen. 422 00:21:24,655 --> 00:21:26,689 But you know what? We have no choice. 423 00:21:26,689 --> 00:21:29,586 This road is just loaded with gold. 424 00:21:29,586 --> 00:21:31,379 Years and years of gold. 425 00:21:31,379 --> 00:21:34,482 So maybe we can bring home a little goal bonus. 426 00:21:34,482 --> 00:21:35,310 Maybe I can buy myself 427 00:21:35,310 --> 00:21:37,413 a new pair of boots. Who knows? 428 00:21:44,448 --> 00:21:47,103 [Andy] Hey, Todd, you copy? Getting the pay ready to haul. 429 00:21:47,896 --> 00:21:49,620 [Todd] Okay, Dakota, let's get going. 430 00:21:56,862 --> 00:21:59,103 [Dakota] [bleep]. Andy? 431 00:21:59,586 --> 00:22:00,620 [Andy] Yeah, go ahead. 432 00:22:01,965 --> 00:22:03,413 [Dakota speaking] 433 00:22:03,655 --> 00:22:04,517 [Andy] Why? 434 00:22:04,896 --> 00:22:07,482 [Dakota speaking] 435 00:22:09,241 --> 00:22:11,655 So this morning we came down and tried to fire up, 436 00:22:11,655 --> 00:22:14,344 and we had some hydraulics get plugged up with ice. 437 00:22:14,344 --> 00:22:15,896 It froze last night. 438 00:22:15,896 --> 00:22:18,896 It's kind of a surprise ice-up we had. 439 00:22:19,379 --> 00:22:22,068 [Andy speaking] 440 00:22:25,379 --> 00:22:26,448 [Dakota speaking] 441 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,793 We got our first freeze last night, 442 00:22:29,793 --> 00:22:31,000 and that means winter's here. 443 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,655 It was 29 degrees this morning. 444 00:22:33,655 --> 00:22:35,379 So Andy's digging up the road, 445 00:22:35,379 --> 00:22:37,862 so we have some thawed-out pay dirt to run, 446 00:22:37,862 --> 00:22:39,310 but... 447 00:22:39,310 --> 00:22:42,068 now the Holy Roller needs thawed out before we can run it. 448 00:22:47,551 --> 00:22:48,448 You got it. 449 00:22:50,379 --> 00:22:52,172 Gotta get some heaters on these. 450 00:22:53,275 --> 00:22:55,379 I can get it fired up here. 451 00:22:56,379 --> 00:22:57,482 [Tater] Ah, four-inch pipes 452 00:22:57,482 --> 00:23:00,068 on the side of that are probably frozen, too. 453 00:23:00,068 --> 00:23:02,000 [narrator] To melt the ice in the hoses, 454 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,482 the crew must build a makeshift heating chamber 455 00:23:04,482 --> 00:23:06,586 out of two-by-fours, a tarp, 456 00:23:06,586 --> 00:23:09,137 and an industrial propane heater. 457 00:23:12,068 --> 00:23:14,586 But while the four-inch pipes thaw... 458 00:23:14,586 --> 00:23:16,482 [Tater] It's gonna take a hot minute. 459 00:23:16,482 --> 00:23:18,137 [narrator] ...a bigger problem emerges 460 00:23:18,137 --> 00:23:20,206 in the hydraulic riffles. 461 00:23:25,689 --> 00:23:27,137 Top's frozen. 462 00:23:27,137 --> 00:23:28,620 [Tater] Is it solid frozen? 463 00:23:30,482 --> 00:23:32,034 [Dakota] Yeah. 464 00:23:32,034 --> 00:23:34,172 Did you grab that torch out of Framers' truck? 465 00:23:34,379 --> 00:23:35,275 [Dakota] No. 466 00:23:35,275 --> 00:23:36,620 I didn't grab it. 467 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:39,000 [Sterling] So water travels 468 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,241 through these hydraulic riffles, 469 00:23:41,241 --> 00:23:42,172 and they hold water, 470 00:23:42,172 --> 00:23:44,689 and overnight, we had our first freeze. 471 00:23:44,689 --> 00:23:47,862 So we have to thaw these out before we can run. 472 00:23:47,862 --> 00:23:50,103 And right now the best way to do it is with... 473 00:23:51,172 --> 00:23:52,517 a propane torch. 474 00:23:54,241 --> 00:23:55,379 So, I mean, if you look around, 475 00:23:55,379 --> 00:23:57,448 there's bellies in pipes. There's all these places 476 00:23:57,448 --> 00:23:59,551 where water can settle inside 477 00:23:59,551 --> 00:24:01,551 the plant infrastructure. 478 00:24:01,551 --> 00:24:02,517 There's always a lot of, like, 479 00:24:02,517 --> 00:24:04,689 opportunity for frozen water every day. 480 00:24:04,689 --> 00:24:06,896 Then with the weather changing right now, 481 00:24:07,275 --> 00:24:08,689 our first freeze 482 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:10,896 slows everything down. 483 00:24:10,896 --> 00:24:13,068 And add this to our morning routine. 484 00:24:13,068 --> 00:24:14,689 So this is, uh, with the first freeze, 485 00:24:14,689 --> 00:24:16,137 it's like the final countdown. 486 00:24:20,379 --> 00:24:21,586 [Tater] [bleep]! 487 00:24:21,586 --> 00:24:22,931 [bleep]! 488 00:24:23,275 --> 00:24:24,275 [bleep]! 489 00:24:26,586 --> 00:24:28,827 Hey, Dakota, we're gonna need some hose. 490 00:24:29,965 --> 00:24:30,862 [Dakota] Are they cracked? 491 00:24:30,862 --> 00:24:31,827 [Tater] Yes. 492 00:24:34,344 --> 00:24:35,482 [Dakota speaking] 493 00:24:38,586 --> 00:24:39,862 [Tater sighs] 494 00:24:39,862 --> 00:24:42,241 Once the hoses had started to thaw out, 495 00:24:42,241 --> 00:24:44,275 I saw that the ice had caused them to crack, 496 00:24:44,275 --> 00:24:45,793 which makes them unusable. 497 00:24:45,793 --> 00:24:48,862 So now we need to replace them before we can run the plant. 498 00:24:48,862 --> 00:24:51,068 Uh, this will probably set us back an hour and a half, 499 00:24:51,068 --> 00:24:54,586 two hours, just this morning, because we weren't prepared. 500 00:24:54,586 --> 00:24:57,034 Pretty sure this means the end of the warm, 501 00:24:57,034 --> 00:24:59,551 and now the real fight begins with freezing temperatures. 502 00:24:59,551 --> 00:25:01,000 We can expect this every morning, 503 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:02,137 probably from here on out. 504 00:25:02,137 --> 00:25:03,931 [chuckles] And there's still ice in it. 505 00:25:06,793 --> 00:25:08,137 That means less running time. 506 00:25:08,137 --> 00:25:10,068 That means less gold in the sluice. 507 00:25:10,068 --> 00:25:12,000 We just gotta fight it and make the best of it. 508 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:13,068 That's all we can do. 509 00:25:13,379 --> 00:25:14,689 Try not to get angry. 510 00:25:15,758 --> 00:25:17,137 We gotta do a little better. 511 00:25:20,482 --> 00:25:23,000 Hey. So the plant's frozen over here. 512 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:24,965 Don't know how long it's gonna be. 513 00:25:24,965 --> 00:25:26,206 Well, as you know, 514 00:25:26,206 --> 00:25:29,172 gold mining doesn't come with term and conditions, man. 515 00:25:29,172 --> 00:25:30,862 The winter is pretty unforgiving. 516 00:25:30,862 --> 00:25:32,344 I guess, uh, 517 00:25:32,344 --> 00:25:34,379 we have to figure it out. 518 00:25:34,379 --> 00:25:35,241 I mean, 519 00:25:36,241 --> 00:25:37,344 what else we got? 520 00:25:40,586 --> 00:25:42,896 [Tater] Welcome to Nome when it's cold. 521 00:25:42,896 --> 00:25:44,551 Don't get much better than this. 522 00:25:44,551 --> 00:25:46,896 [Tater] It's a good time. It's what we do at Nome. 523 00:25:46,896 --> 00:25:48,137 We thaw things out. 524 00:25:50,689 --> 00:25:53,275 [Todd] We got new pay coming to the plant. 525 00:25:53,275 --> 00:25:54,655 How's it coming, guys? 526 00:25:54,655 --> 00:25:56,793 [Tater] It's coming. We're working on it. 527 00:25:56,793 --> 00:25:58,655 [Todd] I know these guys are doing their best, 528 00:25:58,655 --> 00:26:01,172 but we are literally running out of time. 529 00:26:01,172 --> 00:26:03,482 We have new pay on the way, and we need to get 530 00:26:03,482 --> 00:26:05,931 this plant up and running now. 531 00:26:16,689 --> 00:26:18,689 This hose has just been here for a couple years now. 532 00:26:18,689 --> 00:26:21,379 It's all worn down, so it just caved in on itself. 533 00:26:21,379 --> 00:26:22,793 So we got some new hose. 534 00:26:22,793 --> 00:26:24,344 We're gonna have to swap this side out, 535 00:26:24,344 --> 00:26:26,413 and hopefully be running here by this afternoon. 536 00:26:28,275 --> 00:26:31,000 After this, that means probably no more thaw. 537 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,000 It's gonna be probably cold from here on out, 538 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:34,655 so it's gonna be a lot more work 539 00:26:34,655 --> 00:26:35,724 and a lot more tedious, 540 00:26:35,724 --> 00:26:37,689 but just gonna have to push through it. 541 00:26:39,586 --> 00:26:41,689 [Tater] We got them all covered. 542 00:26:41,689 --> 00:26:44,000 You know what we didn't bring is any dish soap, did we? 543 00:26:45,379 --> 00:26:47,482 Point the heater at the end of that hose for a minute. 544 00:26:47,482 --> 00:26:49,310 Don't get it too hot. 545 00:26:52,689 --> 00:26:53,793 We can't mess these up. 546 00:26:53,793 --> 00:26:55,689 If we do, we're out, officially. 547 00:26:59,172 --> 00:27:00,172 [Dakota] I hate winter. 548 00:27:13,310 --> 00:27:15,448 [Tater] So overnight, the hoses froze, 549 00:27:15,448 --> 00:27:17,137 the hydraulic riffles froze. 550 00:27:17,137 --> 00:27:18,413 It's just a whole mess. 551 00:27:19,689 --> 00:27:21,034 We knew it was gonna be a little cold. 552 00:27:21,034 --> 00:27:23,034 We didn't know it was gonna be this cold, did we, Dakota? 553 00:27:23,034 --> 00:27:24,137 [Dakota] No. 554 00:27:24,137 --> 00:27:25,103 [Tater] There you go. 555 00:27:29,827 --> 00:27:31,137 We're gonna fire it up, 556 00:27:31,137 --> 00:27:33,172 see if the water all flows where we need it to flow, 557 00:27:33,172 --> 00:27:34,931 and get to work. 558 00:27:34,931 --> 00:27:37,448 Be clear of the trommel. Clear the trommel. 559 00:27:59,172 --> 00:28:00,310 [Todd] You guys ready? 560 00:28:00,310 --> 00:28:02,172 [Dakota] Yeah, everything's looking good so far. 561 00:28:02,655 --> 00:28:03,655 [Todd] Let's get to it. 562 00:28:10,517 --> 00:28:12,137 This is the pay dirt from the road. 563 00:28:12,137 --> 00:28:13,448 Hoping it's great. 564 00:28:13,448 --> 00:28:15,000 I need it to be good. 565 00:28:21,758 --> 00:28:23,172 How's it going, Sterly? 566 00:28:25,413 --> 00:28:27,413 [Sterling] It's good. Um... 567 00:28:27,413 --> 00:28:30,172 Maybe this section of the road just has all the gold. 568 00:28:31,620 --> 00:28:33,758 [Todd] This looks actually pretty damn good today, 569 00:28:33,758 --> 00:28:35,827 but it's definitely a Hail Mary. 570 00:28:37,413 --> 00:28:39,655 Let's just try to get every ounce we can, man. 571 00:28:39,655 --> 00:28:41,000 Best we can do. 572 00:28:43,724 --> 00:28:45,000 You know what? I never thought 573 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,896 we'd be running the road, but we just gotta do, 574 00:28:47,896 --> 00:28:49,655 you know, everything we can. 575 00:28:50,413 --> 00:28:52,413 Just not... It's not ideal, 576 00:28:52,413 --> 00:28:55,862 but we take whatever we can get at this point. 577 00:28:55,862 --> 00:28:58,000 Get it to the clean-up room and see what we got. 578 00:29:08,896 --> 00:29:10,827 [Jim exhales, sniffles] 579 00:29:11,517 --> 00:29:12,448 Oh, yeah. 580 00:29:13,206 --> 00:29:15,655 Slurpee. 7-Eleven from a hose. 581 00:29:15,655 --> 00:29:16,620 Perfect. 582 00:29:17,551 --> 00:29:18,620 Come on, baby. 583 00:29:24,517 --> 00:29:25,896 Cold morning. 584 00:29:25,896 --> 00:29:28,172 Just... It's that time of year. 585 00:29:28,172 --> 00:29:29,655 As you can see, this is laid flat. 586 00:29:29,655 --> 00:29:30,827 I can't bend it. 587 00:29:31,103 --> 00:29:32,689 It's solid ice. 588 00:29:34,034 --> 00:29:36,827 That lovely building right there is the back of the gold room. 589 00:29:38,965 --> 00:29:41,896 That pump fills up this pond. 590 00:29:41,896 --> 00:29:44,551 We have to fill it deep enough to get the pump 591 00:29:45,206 --> 00:29:46,103 in the water. 592 00:29:46,103 --> 00:29:49,000 This pump here feeds the gold room. 593 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:50,965 Without water, I can't run the jig. 594 00:29:50,965 --> 00:29:52,620 Without the jig, I can't screen. 595 00:29:52,620 --> 00:29:55,586 Without that, I can't run the gold table. 596 00:29:55,586 --> 00:29:57,137 Can't just throw the pump down the mud, 597 00:29:57,137 --> 00:29:58,724 'cause that's what you'll have in the gold room. 598 00:29:58,724 --> 00:30:00,793 So we have it suspended. 599 00:30:00,793 --> 00:30:02,448 Right now, it's not really suspended, 600 00:30:02,448 --> 00:30:05,275 'cause the water is so damn low. 601 00:30:05,275 --> 00:30:08,137 Uh, here it is almost noon, and I'm still not running. 602 00:30:11,344 --> 00:30:13,137 But the sun is gonna help us here. 603 00:30:15,551 --> 00:30:18,586 Once the sun hits this dark blue hose, 604 00:30:18,586 --> 00:30:19,758 it should get enough heat, 605 00:30:20,586 --> 00:30:21,586 melt the ice, 606 00:30:21,586 --> 00:30:22,758 and then I'm running. 607 00:30:22,758 --> 00:30:24,344 Just got to wait for Mother Nature 608 00:30:24,344 --> 00:30:26,241 to help me out here and thaw this out. 609 00:30:26,241 --> 00:30:28,034 Right now, you could be in Palm Springs, 610 00:30:28,034 --> 00:30:29,931 or you could be here where it's freezing. 611 00:30:31,827 --> 00:30:33,482 God, I miss Palm Springs. 612 00:30:34,655 --> 00:30:36,137 Come on, baby, let's go. 613 00:30:55,379 --> 00:30:56,517 Andy's digging dirt 614 00:30:56,517 --> 00:30:58,965 like a madman on the road, dude. 615 00:30:58,965 --> 00:31:02,000 We're running the road now? All right. Okay. 616 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,172 Uh, you can bet your toothpick. 617 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,517 [Hunter] For me, this is what it's all about, just being out here. 618 00:31:12,517 --> 00:31:14,206 We're on a crazy adventure at the end of day, 619 00:31:14,206 --> 00:31:15,344 and so, 620 00:31:15,344 --> 00:31:16,931 you got to just roll with the punches, 621 00:31:16,931 --> 00:31:19,482 and that's what we're kind of doing right now, so... 622 00:31:19,862 --> 00:31:20,931 If we can get some more 623 00:31:20,931 --> 00:31:22,551 good pay out of this road 624 00:31:22,551 --> 00:31:24,379 and anything else we can scrape up, 625 00:31:24,586 --> 00:31:25,620 then, uh, 626 00:31:25,620 --> 00:31:27,482 you know, we might 627 00:31:27,482 --> 00:31:30,413 get out of here without losing our ass, so... 628 00:31:30,413 --> 00:31:33,034 You know, maybe we'll be able to do this again someday. 629 00:31:52,275 --> 00:31:54,310 [Todd] How come we're not playing Lynyrd Skynyrd? 630 00:31:54,310 --> 00:31:55,655 What's going on? 631 00:31:56,620 --> 00:31:59,000 Okay, let's just pull the whole damn thing, guys. 632 00:32:01,379 --> 00:32:03,517 I know there's at least 10 or 20 ounces 633 00:32:03,517 --> 00:32:05,551 in this bottom half. 634 00:32:05,551 --> 00:32:08,551 Little Caleb, your bonus is in there, brother. 635 00:32:08,551 --> 00:32:11,172 [Caleb] Yeah. My bonus could be in here. 636 00:32:12,275 --> 00:32:13,413 [chuckles] 637 00:32:14,344 --> 00:32:15,758 [Todd] Hey, Thurber. Thurber. 638 00:32:15,758 --> 00:32:17,448 Bring all the guys. Bring everything. 639 00:32:17,448 --> 00:32:19,206 We're gonna do a full pull. 640 00:32:19,965 --> 00:32:21,620 [Jim] Yeah, that's not gonna happen. 641 00:32:21,620 --> 00:32:23,931 We don't have a clean-up room right now. 642 00:32:23,931 --> 00:32:25,034 I'm working on it. 643 00:32:25,034 --> 00:32:26,448 [Todd] [bleep]! 644 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,068 [Jim] Well, same problem I've had all morning here 645 00:32:35,068 --> 00:32:37,413 is, uh, I got ice. 646 00:32:37,413 --> 00:32:39,000 I'm not getting much help from 647 00:32:39,413 --> 00:32:41,241 Mr. Sunshine up there. 648 00:32:41,931 --> 00:32:43,000 So... 649 00:32:44,379 --> 00:32:46,379 I'm just gonna chase it all out of here 650 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:48,758 'cause I can't wait for the sun, 651 00:32:48,758 --> 00:32:49,620 that doesn't 652 00:32:50,068 --> 00:32:51,241 seem to be doing 653 00:32:52,068 --> 00:32:53,379 much good right now. 654 00:32:55,862 --> 00:32:58,275 It's okay. I would just take it off, 655 00:32:58,275 --> 00:32:59,758 turn this on, blow it out, 656 00:32:59,758 --> 00:33:01,137 put it back together. 657 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,000 [Jim] Jack's ready to start that pump, I'm sure. 658 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,413 The guys are pulling mats as we speak. 659 00:33:09,413 --> 00:33:11,827 And we don't have water to process the gold 660 00:33:11,827 --> 00:33:13,034 in the gold room. 661 00:33:16,689 --> 00:33:18,413 Seriously pissed off right now. 662 00:33:19,137 --> 00:33:20,275 You ready? 663 00:33:20,551 --> 00:33:21,896 Hey, Thurb, 664 00:33:22,448 --> 00:33:24,275 if it just gets a little bit, 665 00:33:24,275 --> 00:33:26,172 it'll thaw it right out. 666 00:33:26,172 --> 00:33:27,413 [Jim] Yeah, uh-huh. 667 00:33:27,413 --> 00:33:29,034 - [Jack] Uh-huh. - [Jim] I've been doing this all morning. 668 00:33:29,379 --> 00:33:30,724 [bleep]! 669 00:33:30,724 --> 00:33:31,827 [Jack] There's no clean-up. 670 00:33:31,827 --> 00:33:33,586 And if we can't clean up, 671 00:33:33,586 --> 00:33:35,275 we can't mine. 672 00:33:35,275 --> 00:33:36,931 Why mine? 673 00:33:36,931 --> 00:33:40,103 It's just a game that you have to play. 674 00:33:44,137 --> 00:33:45,827 - Okay. Are you ready? - [Jim] Start it up! 675 00:33:46,137 --> 00:33:47,413 [Jack] All right! 676 00:34:00,068 --> 00:34:02,448 [Jim] Someone just [bleep] snipe me right now. 677 00:34:02,448 --> 00:34:04,413 Just boom, it's all over. I don't need to know. 678 00:34:05,793 --> 00:34:07,241 [Todd] Well, how are we looking, boys? 679 00:34:07,931 --> 00:34:09,965 - Not too bad? - Catching some flakes. 680 00:34:10,758 --> 00:34:11,758 [Todd] There you go. 681 00:34:18,586 --> 00:34:20,172 What's going on, Thurb? 682 00:34:21,965 --> 00:34:23,862 - What is it? - [Jim] Ice. 683 00:34:26,517 --> 00:34:29,758 [Jack] That's it. It won't throttle up any higher. 684 00:34:29,758 --> 00:34:31,344 How much ice is in this thing? 685 00:34:31,344 --> 00:34:32,620 It's solid. 686 00:34:32,620 --> 00:34:35,862 It's from here to just over the bank. 687 00:34:42,517 --> 00:34:44,137 [Todd] Anything coming out at all? 688 00:34:44,137 --> 00:34:45,310 [Jim] Trying to. 689 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,206 Basically pushing a slushy 690 00:34:49,793 --> 00:34:51,413 up the hill, down the hill. 691 00:34:51,413 --> 00:34:53,655 This is just what happens at the end of the year. 692 00:34:53,655 --> 00:34:56,000 We're gonna be fighting Mother Nature 693 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:57,551 from here on out. 694 00:34:57,551 --> 00:34:58,551 It's always a battle. 695 00:34:58,551 --> 00:35:01,758 It's basically us against ice and water. 696 00:35:02,103 --> 00:35:03,137 Here it comes. 697 00:35:03,482 --> 00:35:04,551 Here it comes. 698 00:35:05,413 --> 00:35:07,068 Let it run for a bit, yeah. 699 00:35:10,655 --> 00:35:12,275 That's it, Thurby. Come up. 700 00:35:13,862 --> 00:35:15,241 Come on up. Let's hook it up. 701 00:35:15,241 --> 00:35:17,931 Let's get you some water and let's do this thing. Grab that end. 702 00:35:18,793 --> 00:35:20,137 We got it. 703 00:35:20,137 --> 00:35:22,517 Thurber's been busting all this ice up in here. 704 00:35:22,517 --> 00:35:24,344 Finally broke loose. 705 00:35:24,344 --> 00:35:26,689 Then these guys can start to just clean up. 706 00:35:27,620 --> 00:35:28,724 We're getting caught 707 00:35:28,724 --> 00:35:30,551 a little bit behind on some of these hoses. 708 00:35:30,551 --> 00:35:32,275 So we just got to remember now 709 00:35:32,275 --> 00:35:35,310 that time is drawing near to us pulling out of here. 710 00:35:35,310 --> 00:35:37,724 So we got to hurry up, grind out what we can get. 711 00:35:49,551 --> 00:35:52,137 We're out in the [bleep] boonies, dog! 712 00:35:52,137 --> 00:35:53,137 Being stuck out in the middle of nowhere 713 00:35:53,137 --> 00:35:55,000 on a mine with a bunch of dudes is 714 00:35:55,517 --> 00:35:56,517 pretty much... 715 00:35:56,965 --> 00:35:58,172 It's horrible. 716 00:35:58,172 --> 00:36:00,172 There's no women around at all. 717 00:36:00,172 --> 00:36:02,206 You handing out sausages now? 718 00:36:02,206 --> 00:36:04,137 What's going on? 719 00:36:04,137 --> 00:36:05,689 [man] Uh, is there a first thing 720 00:36:05,689 --> 00:36:07,448 that you're gonna do when you get home? 721 00:36:08,620 --> 00:36:10,275 Yeah, probably the first thing 722 00:36:10,275 --> 00:36:11,793 I'm gonna do when I get home, 723 00:36:11,793 --> 00:36:13,137 uh, I can't talk about. 724 00:36:13,137 --> 00:36:15,344 Well, I can't tell you what the first thing I do 725 00:36:15,344 --> 00:36:17,034 when I get home, but, uh... 726 00:36:18,931 --> 00:36:20,793 You don't want to know the first thing I'm gonna do 727 00:36:20,793 --> 00:36:22,000 when I get home. 728 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:23,827 Cuddle with my dog. 729 00:36:48,344 --> 00:36:49,862 [Jack] You know what, Jim? 730 00:36:49,862 --> 00:36:52,551 This mine is such a pain in the keister. 731 00:36:52,551 --> 00:36:54,068 - I mean-- - Well, we're learning. 732 00:36:54,068 --> 00:36:56,482 - We're in a different area and we... - [Jack] Yeah. 733 00:36:56,482 --> 00:36:59,586 - ...found out what a pain in the butt it is. - [Jack] Yeah. 734 00:36:59,586 --> 00:37:02,034 What do you think about digging up the road? 735 00:37:02,862 --> 00:37:03,965 Well, 736 00:37:03,965 --> 00:37:05,896 we gotta run something. 737 00:37:06,137 --> 00:37:07,137 [Jack chuckles] 738 00:37:07,137 --> 00:37:08,034 You know, 739 00:37:08,758 --> 00:37:10,586 out of Fairbanks one time, 740 00:37:10,586 --> 00:37:12,241 I was down there and they, uh, 741 00:37:12,241 --> 00:37:13,482 they literally... 742 00:37:14,655 --> 00:37:17,000 The government had come in and taken 743 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,310 material off of their claim. 744 00:37:20,137 --> 00:37:22,310 They went out there and took the road and ran 745 00:37:22,310 --> 00:37:25,034 the road through it like a steeze highway. 746 00:37:25,034 --> 00:37:28,310 - You know, they ran some of that material through... - [Jim] Oh, my gosh. 747 00:37:28,310 --> 00:37:29,551 [Jack] ...and then put it back. 748 00:37:29,862 --> 00:37:31,068 Okay, well... 749 00:37:31,068 --> 00:37:32,620 Gold is where you find it. 750 00:37:32,620 --> 00:37:33,586 - [Jack] Yeah. - Period. 751 00:37:33,586 --> 00:37:35,310 [Jack] They did. They got gold. 752 00:37:35,310 --> 00:37:36,931 I'm not looking in the outhouse. 753 00:37:36,931 --> 00:37:38,448 I draw a limit. 754 00:37:38,448 --> 00:37:39,482 [Jack chuckles] 755 00:37:40,172 --> 00:37:42,827 You know, I appreciate Todd. He... 756 00:37:42,827 --> 00:37:43,965 He's desperate. 757 00:37:43,965 --> 00:37:46,862 He wants to make sure those guys take gold home. 758 00:37:46,862 --> 00:37:48,034 [Jim] Sure. 759 00:37:48,034 --> 00:37:50,965 [Jack] He's willing to take a chance there and... 760 00:37:50,965 --> 00:37:53,586 No, that's who Todd is. 761 00:37:53,586 --> 00:37:55,517 - [Jack] Yeah. - [Jim] Everything and anything. 762 00:37:56,034 --> 00:37:57,689 Todd's running the road now, 763 00:37:57,689 --> 00:38:00,344 so it kind of looks ludicrous, 764 00:38:00,344 --> 00:38:03,862 but I'm proud of him that he stuck with it. 765 00:38:03,862 --> 00:38:06,896 He pushes sometimes where most people won't push, 766 00:38:06,896 --> 00:38:09,379 and I think that he's gonna come out a winner. 767 00:38:09,379 --> 00:38:11,000 I'm willing to clean it up 768 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,586 if he's willing to dig it up, so... 769 00:38:13,586 --> 00:38:16,137 That's long and the short of this job. 770 00:38:16,344 --> 00:38:17,551 Yep. 771 00:38:21,413 --> 00:38:22,586 [narrator] The team still needs 772 00:38:22,586 --> 00:38:25,000 136 ounces of gold 773 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,689 in order to reach Todd's new season goal 774 00:38:27,689 --> 00:38:29,620 of 1,023 ounces. 775 00:38:29,620 --> 00:38:32,482 And if they don't reach at least 1,000 ounces 776 00:38:32,482 --> 00:38:34,586 before winter shuts them down, 777 00:38:34,586 --> 00:38:37,310 Todd will be going home with a deficit. 778 00:38:45,517 --> 00:38:47,379 All right, guys. Winter's here. 779 00:38:47,379 --> 00:38:48,586 Everything's freezing. 780 00:38:49,448 --> 00:38:50,413 Yeah, it is. 781 00:38:50,413 --> 00:38:51,620 [Todd] We don't know how long we have. 782 00:38:51,620 --> 00:38:53,103 Maybe one, two weeks left. 783 00:38:53,103 --> 00:38:54,068 I don't know. 784 00:38:54,068 --> 00:38:56,827 The other morning, um, hoses froze up. 785 00:38:56,827 --> 00:38:59,241 So we ended up having to replace some hoses. 786 00:38:59,241 --> 00:39:02,620 So it took a bit of time. So it's that time of year. 787 00:39:02,620 --> 00:39:04,344 We got to plan going forward. 788 00:39:04,344 --> 00:39:05,206 Think on that. 789 00:39:05,206 --> 00:39:06,655 - Training them? - Yeah. 790 00:39:06,655 --> 00:39:08,137 How long were you guys fiddling 791 00:39:08,137 --> 00:39:10,068 - with that... - [sighs] A day. 792 00:39:10,068 --> 00:39:11,689 - [Todd chuckles] Jesus. - But then we were 793 00:39:11,689 --> 00:39:12,862 thankful that you showed up... 794 00:39:12,862 --> 00:39:14,586 - Yeah. - [Jim] ...and fixed everything. Like... 795 00:39:14,586 --> 00:39:16,379 It's like one of those guys that comes in 796 00:39:16,379 --> 00:39:18,172 and you got it loose, the jar loose, 797 00:39:18,172 --> 00:39:20,103 and he comes in and goes, "Hey, that wasn't even tight." 798 00:39:20,103 --> 00:39:21,655 - That's what happened. - Yeah. Yeah. 799 00:39:21,655 --> 00:39:22,931 At least we got it going. 800 00:39:22,931 --> 00:39:24,000 - You guys got it going. - [whistles] 801 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:25,413 [Todd] We were getting ice chunks. 802 00:39:25,413 --> 00:39:26,724 We had to switch over to the road. 803 00:39:26,724 --> 00:39:28,827 But hey, we're still sluicing. 804 00:39:28,827 --> 00:39:30,862 - [Jim] Yeah. - [Todd] And, uh, 805 00:39:30,862 --> 00:39:32,310 some of these roads 806 00:39:32,310 --> 00:39:33,482 are old dirt 807 00:39:33,482 --> 00:39:35,206 - and they got good gold in them. - [Jack chuckles] 808 00:39:35,206 --> 00:39:38,241 We did always know that the roads were built with tailings 809 00:39:38,241 --> 00:39:40,344 and that we would run them eventually someday. 810 00:39:40,344 --> 00:39:42,344 And someday just came a little earlier 811 00:39:42,344 --> 00:39:43,931 than what we anticipated, so... 812 00:39:43,931 --> 00:39:44,896 [Todd] Exactly. 813 00:39:44,896 --> 00:39:46,965 When we rebuild them, hopefully we won't 814 00:39:46,965 --> 00:39:48,758 put that kind of material back in there. 815 00:39:48,758 --> 00:39:50,000 Am I right, Thurber? 816 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:50,862 [Jim] Absolutely. 817 00:39:50,862 --> 00:39:53,206 We've ran a bunch of it already. 818 00:39:53,206 --> 00:39:54,551 Where are we at with it, Dad? 819 00:39:54,551 --> 00:39:56,551 Well, let me tell you. 820 00:39:56,551 --> 00:39:58,862 Number one is, it's... 821 00:39:59,137 --> 00:40:00,655 it's not bad. 822 00:40:00,655 --> 00:40:02,344 - [Todd] Wow. - [Jack] I'll lay it out, Thurb. 823 00:40:07,275 --> 00:40:08,310 [Jim] 10. 824 00:40:08,310 --> 00:40:09,586 Fifteen. 825 00:40:09,586 --> 00:40:10,758 Twenty-two. 826 00:40:11,206 --> 00:40:12,413 Thirty-two. 827 00:40:12,862 --> 00:40:14,000 Forty-eight. 828 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:15,448 Fifty-two. 829 00:40:17,758 --> 00:40:18,689 Sixty. 830 00:40:18,689 --> 00:40:20,724 Seventy-four. 831 00:40:20,724 --> 00:40:22,586 - Oh, my God. - [Jim] 77. 832 00:40:24,206 --> 00:40:26,551 78.2. 833 00:40:26,551 --> 00:40:28,000 [Todd] Yeah! 834 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:29,310 - [Jim] All right. - Yeah. 835 00:40:29,310 --> 00:40:30,551 - Good job. - [Jack] Thank you, old timers. 836 00:40:30,551 --> 00:40:31,413 - [Jim] That's awesome. - Yeah. 837 00:40:31,413 --> 00:40:32,275 [Jim] Way to go. 838 00:40:32,275 --> 00:40:34,172 The yellow brick road. Let's go. 839 00:40:34,172 --> 00:40:34,965 [Todd] Yeah. 840 00:40:34,965 --> 00:40:36,000 Even Nuggets. 841 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:37,413 I know. 842 00:40:37,413 --> 00:40:40,724 Hey, Dad, that nugget there's got a tire track on it. 843 00:40:40,724 --> 00:40:42,275 [Jack] There you go. Yeah. 844 00:40:44,206 --> 00:40:45,896 [Todd] I know we're getting close to 1,000. 845 00:40:45,896 --> 00:40:47,034 What's our total? 846 00:40:47,241 --> 00:40:49,758 964.9. 847 00:40:49,758 --> 00:40:50,931 [Todd] All right. 848 00:40:50,931 --> 00:40:52,448 [Jim chuckles] Close. 849 00:40:52,758 --> 00:40:53,724 Real close. 850 00:40:54,620 --> 00:40:56,034 [narrator] The Hoffmans have pulled in 851 00:40:56,034 --> 00:40:58,620 964.9 ounces 852 00:40:58,620 --> 00:41:00,137 of gold this season. 853 00:41:00,793 --> 00:41:03,275 But they may have less than 72 hours 854 00:41:03,275 --> 00:41:04,793 until the first snowfall 855 00:41:04,793 --> 00:41:06,551 shuts them down for good. 856 00:41:09,137 --> 00:41:10,620 We only got a few days left 857 00:41:10,620 --> 00:41:12,000 for running most of the road. 858 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:13,413 I think it's just about gone. 859 00:41:13,413 --> 00:41:15,586 I don't know where else we're gonna get any pay dirt. 860 00:41:15,586 --> 00:41:17,241 But, hey, I thought we were gonna get 861 00:41:17,241 --> 00:41:18,965 sent home early. I really did. 862 00:41:18,965 --> 00:41:20,482 And I'm thankful that we're... 863 00:41:20,482 --> 00:41:21,758 Even to this point, 864 00:41:21,758 --> 00:41:23,517 here we are, fighting our way through. 865 00:41:23,517 --> 00:41:24,793 - You know? - Yeah. 866 00:41:24,793 --> 00:41:25,862 [Todd] Everybody should be proud of that. 867 00:41:25,862 --> 00:41:27,655 - Guys, that's a win. - [Jack] Yeah. 868 00:41:28,068 --> 00:41:29,000 [Todd] You know? 869 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:30,689 All right, guys, let's get back to work.