Narrator:
On this "gold rush"...
...As the price of gold
hits an all-time high,
Tony beets hunts
for a new monster machine...
Kevin: Yeah.
...That could double
his gold haul.
Yee-haw!
[ laughter ]
Fred lewis faces the biggest
decision of his mining career.
I'll take the burden
on this.
If that doesn't pan out,
it's on me.
Oh, it's always
a gamble, man.
Rick ness...
...Confronts the unexpected...
...And is shaken to his core.
We got a bad accident.
[bleep]
Narrator: And parker schnabel
gamble's big on new ground...
Ready to go drilling,
spend some more money.
...While his crew races
to cash in...
[bleep] got all kinds of [bleep]
hitting the fan around here.
Narrator: ...And build
the ultimate w*r chest.
-What?
-Holy [bleep]
Oh, yeah. No, this is definitely
a record-breaker.
♪♪
--[font color="#ffff00"] Captions by vitac[/font] --
[font color="#00ffff"] www.Vitac.Com[/font]
Captions paid for by
discovery communications
♪♪
Parker: We'll meet you
at gold daughters
At 3:00 p.M. Today.
Awesome.
Thanks. John.
Narrator: In the gold fields
of central alaska,
is determined to cash in
On a 21st century gold rush.
Parker: I really want to start
another operation
And get more gold coming in.
Like, gold prices are on a tear
right now, too.
The only thing we need
is ground.
Narrator: After striking out
on his first prospect,
He's come to fairbanks...
-I'm parker.
-Elora.
Nice to meet you.
...To meet one of alaska's
biggest private landowners...
-Hello.
-Parker schnabel.
-How's it going?
-Good. How are you doing, man?
...John reeves.
-Come on in, man.
-Oh-h*-h*-h*.
What's bringing you up
this part of the country?
Oh, I'm actually up here
doing some exploration.
Yep.
And somebody recommended
I come talk to you.
Good.
I'm glad you're here.
Come on over, man.
We're really looking for, like,
large blocks of ground,
For, like, pretty big
dirt-moving setups.
The bigger, the better,
really.
We have several large blocks
of mining properties
That we've kept intact.
Okay.
And there's about 10,000 acres
of patented land
And then another 10,000
of state claims.
Holy cow.
I have some that
you'd find of interest,
About 3,000 acres.
Oh, wow.
I want to do some testing.
Rich, rich creek,
Just north of town
a little bit.
So you want to do a little
drilling on one of the blocks?
I'd love to.
And the fact
that you're drilling
Shows me you're pretty
savvy a gold miner.
Not everybody does that.
It's a big move
to come to a new area,
And so I want to make sure
that we cross our "t"s
And dot the "I"s.
And as far as deals go...
...I think it's probably time
for us to have a chat
With these guys
out of here.
Yeah? Yeah.
-Yeah, let's have it.
-Get out of here, dave.
Adios, dude.
Narrator:
Behind closed doors,
Parker negotiates a deal
to test ground and cleary creek,
Another job for drill expert
liam ferguson.
Parker:
John seems cool, actually.
He's fine with us going in there
and going drilling.
So you've got the truck coming
To pick the drill up
in the morning?
Oh, that'll work.
Narrator:
The cleary creek claim
is historically rich in gold.
Old timers here got 10 ounces
per 100 yards of pay dirt,
Seven times what parker
normally gets in the klondike.
So we're gonna move it out to
one of these blocks of ground
Just north of town,
cleary creek,
And see if we can find
some gold.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: Halfway
through the season,
Tony beets is only
a third of the way
To his 3,000-ounce goal.
Now he's on a mission
to boost his production
And make the most
of record gold prices.
In the remote yukon wilderness,
He's got a lead
on a mobile wash plant.
Kevin: That looks like
a lot of something.
Yeah, yeah,
it definitely does.
This 35-ton trommel
was designed and built
by a maverick gold miner.
It has a 40-foot drum
and runs on wheels,
But it only worked
for one season
Before it was abandoned.
Now tony has struck
a $400,000 deal to buy it.
The first issue
is getting across the stream
Without getting wet feet.
[ laughing ]
Well, it's definitely big.
That's [bleep] handy.
Narrator: The trommel is
designed to be fed with pay dirt
Directly from the cut.
It spits the tailings
straight out the back.
When it is sluiced
everything in range,
It moves along
on four giant wheels
To sluice the next bit
of gold-rich pay.
Well, it should.
Should be easier
than moving a dredge.
Yeah.
I think so, too.
♪♪
Back at tony's
paradise hill camp...
Yes, I do.
...He pulls together
a seven-man crew...
...And a massive convoy
of equipment...
...To haul the trommel back
over the 100 miles
Of mountain road and dirt track.
He has to shut down his whole
operation until he gets back,
Costing over $60,000 a day.
Youngest son
and heavy-load specialist mike
Leads the charge.
♪♪
The hardest part of this trip
is probably gonna be
Trying to get across the ferry.
Weight-wise, not an issue at all
right now.
Length-wise, though --
that might be an issue
Because I'm give or take
And this ferry
is only 80 feet long.
If they feel that I'm too long,
they won't let me on.
Narrator:
If mike can't fit on the ferry,
The nearest bridge
across the mighty yukon
Is 175 miles downstream
in the wrong direction.
Oh, I think the captain
wants to talk to me.
♪♪
I don't know, but I'm not
that [bleep] heavy.
Hopefully, yeah.
♪♪
Mike: We're on the ferry,
But I don't know
if they're letting us across.
♪♪
Now we're on our way.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator:
With the river behind them,
The convoy hits the top
of the world highway,
One of the most northerly
highways in the world,
Heading for the road head
above moose creek.
♪♪
So what we got out here
so far is the lunchroom-slash --
That's also a bedroom in there,
So that's one person
to sleep in there.
We got a loader and a d6,
the oshkosh.
We got the volvo 220 hoe.
We got two trucks.
We got a pipe layer.
We got a fuel tank,
and we got a mechanic's truck.
And so it's quite
the little operation
Just to get
a little plant out of there.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Hey, stefan.
Stefan, this is fred.
Stefan: Yes.
Hey, brother, you're hitting
the side of the wall
Over here pretty good.
It's digging up the excavator.
We got a dent on the back,
so just be careful.
Got it.
If I continue at
this current pace,
I'd lose every penny I invested.
I need to recoup.
I mean, right now
I've recouped nothing.
Narrator: Fred lewis and
his crew of combat veterans
Are halfway through the season
with less than an ounce of gold.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity,
But it's kind of turning
into a nightmare.
These guys came here to mine,
So their mindset right now is,
where's the gold?
And I've got to have
to show them some gold
Relatively quickly
in order to keep them happy.
Narrator: As the most
experienced miner on the crew,
Senior airman kendell madden
is the forman.
Kendell: We're getting
later into the season now.
We don't have much gold
to show for it,
Which is pretty, pretty sad
at this point, you know.
♪♪
[ line ringing ]
-Hello.
-Parker! Can you hear me?
Lewis:
How you doing, buddy?
I can hear you.
How are you?
Ugh!
I mean, I'm alive.
But everything else
seems to be
Freakin' about as hard
as it could possibly be here.
There's not a lot of gold,
and I'm just spending money.
It definitely
tries the patience,
Especially when
you're first starting out
And don't have a lot
of experience under your belt.
So I was hoping I could
run things by you
And see what you're thinking,
because right now
With this
short period of time --
Yeah, I mean,
I'm happy to help.
A good use of your time
would be trying to do
As much testing
around the site as you can,
Because if you're sluicing stuff
that has no gold in it,
You're wasting your time.
Yep.
I would rather die
a very quick death
And realize that,
oh, there's no gold.
There's no --
there's no ground here
That I can
economically mine.
The sooner you can realize that,
the better, right?
So we should be doing
a lot more prospecting.
Sluicing a bunch of stuff
just for the sake
Of seeing a wash plant running
is pretty pointless
'cause your time
is better spent elsewhere
And money is better spent
elsewhere.
Okay.
Well, I wish you
the best of luck, fred.
If there's anything
you ever need,
Don't be afraid
to reach out, man.
Yeah, definitely.
And freaking good luck, dude.
I really appreciate
all your advice.
Thanks, man.
It's great to see you, fred.
All right.
Talk to you later.
I'm really glad that
you called parker
'cause I think he had
some really good advice.
It'd be dumb not to
call on everybody I know
That has knowledge
at mining, I think.
But, you know, we still have
a huge problem.
I was looking at
the bank account this morning.
We're almost broke again.
Yeah.
We're out of money.
So we're gonna need
either more money or more gold.
Well, I mean,
on the gold side of it,
We got to dig more
to get more.
That's obvious.
Well, if we find gold,
that would be the big thing.
Yeah, I know.
So my dad --
he has access to
Some scientific,
like, x-ray machine.
He says this machine,
he could, like --
You get these samples
from different places
And then you could zap it,
like, zap the sample,
And it'll be like, "there's this
much gold in this sample."
I mean, he's a smart guy.
He works at a university.
He probably knows what
he's talking about.
Tell him to bring it.
I'm not gonna turn that down.
Narrator: Khara's dad could be
the secret weapon
To change fred's fortunes
around.
Khara: Hey, look.
I think that's my dad.
-Oh, that's the old man.
-Yep.
Lewis: Driving ol' red.
Narrator:
Fred miller specializes
In environmental health
and safety at whitman college.
-Hi, dad.
-Hey, there.
-How you doing, old man?
-Oh, not too bad, not too bad.
-Hey.
-Okay. Hey.
-[ laughs ] how you doing?
-Hey, man.
How's the mine going?
-It's going.
-Good.
Lewis: Could be going better,
but it's going.
Yeah, well, let's see
if we can make it better.
Let me get my stuff out here.
Do you have, like,
a futuristic machine?
-I do.
-Yes!
So, yeah. Here you go.
Handle that carefully.
That's $15,000 worth of un.
Holy crap!
This looks futuristic.
Narrator: The xrf g*n
uses x-ray fluorescence.
It fires x-rays
into the samples,
Which interacts
with the elements within,
Making them release radiation.
Every one releases
a unique pattern,
Which the g*n reads to identify
How much of each element
is present.
So what we need to do
on the claim
Is get some specific samples
in locations
Where you think it's very likely
that you'll want to dig.
-You good? I'll go do that.
-Yep.
-All right. And I'll get set up.
-I'll be back.
Narrator: First up,
fred hits the deepest part
Of the swamp cut.
Right now
I'm trying to get a sample
From deeper than
we're digging pay.
I was in the hole, basically,
towards the bedrock.
We've dug a little down here,
But we aren't really
processing this.
It's too deep.
So we'll see what kind of gold
this holds.
Narrator: Fred collects six
samples from across the claim.
All right, we got
the old samples.
Great. Bring them on in.
Set them here on the table.
Okay, let's sh**t
our first sample.
So this is
bank corner one.
It comes from that corner
right there on the bend.
We pulled a lot of
large boulders out of there.
Narrator: For the ground
to be worth mining,
The sample must show
a gold reading of at least 4.
I'm not a geologist,
but I stayed at
A holiday inn express once.
Khara: Oh, my god.
And dad joke for the win.
[ laughter ]
You know dad jokes
have to be part of this.
This is kind of like
the moment of truth.
-Yeah.
-I'm kind of nervous.
What if it says
you guys have a dud?
[ g*n beeps ]
Okay,
so what do we have here?
Tiny bit of iron,
a lot of cobalt.
Some zinc.
And nothing else
within its level of detection.
-No gold?
-No gold in this sample.
Moving on to bank.
Same one,
just number two,
So this is from
the same general spot.
What are you expecting
out of this one?
Some gold.
[ g*n beeps ]
yeah.
Okay.
Zero. No gold.
No gold? [bleep]
Dude, I was expecting
a lot more than zero.
Yeah.
All right, let's keep going.
-Okay.
Next sample.
This one's the swamp cut,
So this should be one of our
better tests, hopefully.
This basically tells us
currently what we're digging.
Okay, so this is the pay we're
bringing in right in second.
Right.
This one definitely
makes me nervous.
-0.22.
-Oh, my [bleep]
It's just getting worse.
Narrator: The pay fred's running
from the top of the swamp cut
Hardly has any gold.
So this one right here,
I went down
Into the muck
of the swamp,
As far down
as I could get.
Okay. Deeper in the pit.
Here we go,
Okay, okay.
I'll take that number.
Definitely take that number.
-Yeah.
Now I'm feeling
a little bit better.
That's from about 30 feet.
Okay, let's do the bank
at 4 feet.
This one comes
from over here,
And it's about 4 feet down
in that bank.
A lot of large boulders
over there.
That's where you're hoping
to see something?
Mm-hmm.
Oh, you're gonna like
this number -- 4.51.
-What?
-Ooh.
Putting a star
next to that bad boy.
So 4.51 on that device
translates
To almost 1/2 ounce a 100.
That's pretty good.
So the xrf kind of confirmed
an idea I had
About the bank over here.
But I feel like the main focus
should be the swamp
Where we're digging now,
but we got to go deeper.
♪♪
Hey, stefan.
Hey, I'm gonna approach
from the front.
Stefan: Roger.
Narrator: The test shows
the best gold lies at 30 feet,
Just above the bedrock.
All season, fred's been running
the lean surface dirt
With hardly any gold.
Oh, man. Ah!
All right.
What's up?
I know you've been digging
here a lot
And you got a lot of pay
stockpiled,
But we're not
gonna run any of it.
I'm sorry. I know you put
some time into it.
Why isn't it any good?
You know, that pay I thought
was gonna be better,
But it's just not
concentrated enough.
I think if we're gonna have
the most success here,
We're gonna have to dump
all this low-concentrated pay
And go straight down
to bedrock.
Last probably 17 feet has
about 80% of the gold.
And if we don't hit that,
I don't think
we're making money this season.
We got to make money.
So your new goal in life
is to reach bedrock.
Okay.
All right, I'll just keep going
until I get to it.
That's why I put you here.
I know you like
a challenge, bro.
Good luck.
Ah!
So everything's on my shoulders.
No pressure, right?
I know that's frustrating, but,
you know, I'm the boss,
I got to make
the tough decisions here,
And I think the best decision
is to invest the time
In getting on better pay.
And we have a short season
and a short amount of yardage.
We're gonna hit the gold hard,
and we're gonna put
The most concentrated pay
through our colonel.
♪♪
♪♪
Rick: I'll tell you, this spot
right here looks good.
Narrator: Rick ness is almost
halfway to his 1,000-ounce goal.
He's taking the rest
of his season
On the three-acre deep cut,
a seam of rich glacier gold
That gave him
his best results on the claim.
You know, we've had to go down
Through over 60 feet
of overburden.
You know, it's cost
a small fortune.
Narrator: With gold prices
at a record high,
Rick's 100 grand investment
in the deep cut
Could see a return
of nearly $4 million.
Rick:
Last year was terrible.
I mean, there's no easy way
to say that, you know.
That was almost the end
of my career right there.
But hopefully this year's
gonna be different.
Narrator:
Best buddy chris kruse hauls
pay dirt to the wash plant.
I do like the fact
that we're chasing
After something that we did
our homework on last year.
I'm gonna be
honest with you, though.
I don't ever want to
play that game again.
Cost a lot of money.
It's an expensive,
expensive game.
Kruse: The difference with rick
this year is
Complete night and day.
He's down here busting his a*s.
He's working right alongside us
Because I think he's pumped up
just like the rest of us.
Everybody's excited.
[bleep]
why is it doing that?
Uh-oh.
That is definitely bedrock.
That's what we've been
going down after,
And it kind of falls
down in the wall,
And there's a bench
underneath this.
That's where all of
our pay dirt is sitting on.
For some reason right here
in the cut, this bedrock,
Instead of going down,
it's just jutting out.
Narrator: Rick has hit a wall
of fractured bedrock
Where he expected
to find gold-rich pay dirt.
Oh, that's not good.
That is clearly bedrock.
Definitely.
And with no gravel on it.
If there's no gravel,
there's no gold.
Narrator: In the section of the
deep cut rick tested last year,
He dug through
To hit a rich layer of pay
sitting on bedrock.
This year, he's widened
the hole out from the test site,
But now where expected
to find more pay dirt,
He's found a wall of bedrock
jutting into the cut.
Was just overburden,
sitting right on the --
On the bedrock.
So this whole section
right here,
We're clearing for nothing.
Gold.
We got this down
to what we thought was pay
Because started getting
Some big boulders
[bleep] popping out of it.
That's just solid clay.
There's little strips
of gravels in it, but...
It's all --
I don't know.
It's just not --
It doesn't look like
where we tested last year.
I'm gonna pan it
as much as I can
And try to find some gold in it.
I'm pretty, pretty nervous
right now.
Narrator:
If this dirt contains no gold,
The cut could be a bust.
♪♪
Nothing.
[bleep] [bleep]
♪♪
Rick:
Try to keep my calm,
But it doesn't make
any [bleep] sense.
Narrator:
After digging for 10 days
To get down to pay dirt
at the deep cut,
Rick ness has come up
empty-handed.
His last hail mary
to salvage the cut
Is to dig deeper and see if
there is any pay gravel
Beneath the bedrock.
We went straight down last year
and dug a [bleep] pit
And got a beautiful deposit
with great gold,
And now I expand the pit
around where we dug.
And somehow we got
so [bleep] lucky last year
That we managed to pick
the one spot where there's gold?
It doesn't make any sense.
It's like a [bleep] joke.
It can't be.
There's nothing in this.
There's absolutely nothing.
I mean, it's just --
it's just solid clay.
There's no gravel in it at all,
And it's another
And there's nothing.
I don't know. I'm gonna have to
try to talk to troy
And see what
his thoughts are on this.
Narrator:
Landowner troy taylor's family
Have mined this pay streak
for 40 years.
[ line ringing ]
-Hey, rick.
-Hey, troy.
I'm in the deep cut here
that we're doing, right?
Troy: Yeah, okay.
I just dug down deep as I could
with my 700,
And it's just --
it's solid clay.
It's solid clay
all the way down.
I don't think
there's anything in here.
How many feet of clay is there,
do you think?
-It's got to be 80, 90 feet.
-Wow. That's not good.
The fact that
there's no pay there --
That does indicate
that the glacier
Came right up
against that rim,
Maybe it ended right there.
The pay probably
comes back in upstream.
But right now, you don't
have time to drill that.
Narrator:
A rich gold seam was covered
by the mcconnell glacier.
The front of it pushed up
a layer of bedrock.
When the glacier receded,
the bedrock wall remained.
Water then eroded
gold-rich gravels upstream
And deposited a layer of clay.
Troy believes rick has hit
the limit of the glacier
And the end of the good gold.
Rick: That's a pretty big
[bleep] deal.
It's looking like we lost 80%
for what's in here.
[bleep] worse than flashbacks
to last year.
There ain't nothing
in this.
Oh, that's sweet.
That's a major, major
[bleep]
I mean, I'm just basing it off
of what we tested last year.
This made perfect
[bleep] sense.
Well, we'll figure
something out.
I'm gonna have a think.
♪♪
Today has been pretty much
a piece of [bleep]
I don't blame him.
He wanted to get out of here,
Think a minute.
If there's no pay in there,
there's no gold in there.
Then we end up
looking like idiots,
Like last year.
We might as well
[bleep] go home.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator:
In fairbanks, alaska,
Parker schnabel
and drill master liam ferguson
Bring in the sonic drill
to prospect
A 3,000-acre claim
at cleary creek.
♪♪
Parker: Ready to go drilling,
spend some more money.
-Make some money.
-Gonna make some money?
Mine it?
-Not working for you, we don't.
Mining the miners.
Oldest trick in the book,
parker
Narrator:
The gold rush hit this part
of alaska in the early 1990s.
The fairbanks area
has since produced
Over 8 million ounces of gold
Worth, at today's prices,
over $15 billion.
Parker and liam head out
to choose a location to test
Based on historic drilling data.
One to three here.
Right.
This is the main cut.
This is --
Oh, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah.
Yep, so this is all --
For sure this is all virgin
along here.
Narrator: Cleary creek was
dredged in the 1940s,
But strips
of virgin ground remain.
If parker finds one of them,
he could hit the jackpot.
There's about
a 300-foot strip here
That was left by the dredge.
So we're standing on
stripped virgin ground.
We're hoping
to put a few holes in,
And if we're getting results
the same as what
The dredge drilling did
back in the '40s,
Then it's looking like
a pretty good spot.
Parker:
We just got the drill moved
over here to cleary creek.
Hopefully we can get
some drilling down
And find some gold.
Narrator: It's parker's
last push to find new ground
Before he returns home
to his operations in the yukon.
♪♪
on the indian river...
Mitch: I think we're in pretty
good shape here with big red.
It's motoring along
pretty smooth.
All right, you bet. I'm just
gonna hammer down on pay here.
Yeah, copy that.
...Parker has left foreman
mitch blaschke in charge
Of his entire operation,
running sluicifer
At the promised land
and big red at the last cut.
Right now, we're trying to not
only sluice as fast as we can,
But we're trying to open up
ground as fast as we can.
And that's been the challenge.
I just want to keep
everything on track
And have it where it needs to be
when parker gets back.
I want to have this operation
running smooth.
I want to have a lot of gold
down in the gold room.
Narrator: This season,
the mine has averaged
To keep up the pace for
the four weeks parker's away,
Mitch needs to bring in
a massive 1,800 ounces of gold.
Mitch: It's necessary
to keep the plant running.
You can't let parker down.
Narrator:
It's a big ask.
Mitch:
If we're gonna have success
With big red and sluicifer
this year,
We know that we've got to have
them running 24 hours a day.
Obviously, you don't want
to come up here
And, you know, be away
from your family
And spend the whole summer,
you know,
Working up here
to go home broke.
This is my four-year
anniversary,
And, you know, I really wish
that either, you know,
I could be home
or my wife could be up here,
But with all
the travel restrictions,
That just isn't happening,
so it definitely makes it tough.
Narrator: Brennan ruault
digs pay dirt in the last cut.
Brennan: We're manpower short
and equipment short,
So everything here has to run
extremely perfect
In order for us
to have a fighting chance.
I definitely know mitch is
feeling the pressure.
I think he has a lot more
sleepless nights
Than he lets on,
so I hope everything's
Going really smooth
down there for him.
Narrator:
Mechanic shane smith feeds
pay dirt into the plant.
Shane:
Big red seems to be chewing
through the ground pretty quick.
It's just whether everybody
can keep up to it or not.
♪♪
[ metal screeching,
indistinct shouting ]
♪♪
[bleep]
♪♪
Ah, [bleep] [bleep] [bleep]
[bleep] [bleep]
Damn rocks.
This whole belt's destroyed.
A rock got jammed right through,
Just fit right through
the grizzly bars perfectly,
And it was sharp.
As soon as it
got wedged in there,
It just slit the belt
just like a knife.
I see some of
the roller frames are bent.
So until we get the belt off,
Who knows what else we got to
fix underneath there?
We're not making much gold
this week, that's for sure.
Shane: Good morning!
It's a [bleep]
hell of a morning.
Right?
And I saw the dirt stop.
I come down here to look,
and a big boulder stood up,
Just fit right through perfectly
and slit the belt right in half.
So no fixing that one.
It's gonna be
a long day today.
It's gonna be a long one
for sure.
Narrator: With every hour
the plant is down,
Mitch's chance
of keeping up the pace
And hitting the 1,800-ounce goal
slips further away.
You know, I thought when
the boss is away,
That's when everybody's supposed
to just kick back, relax.
No, never.
Not around here.
♪♪
♪♪
Got all kinds of [bleep]
hitting the fan around here.
Narrator: In the last cut,
a torn conveyor belt
Has shut down
wash plant big red.
Foreman mitch and mechanic shane
lift off the hopper feeder
In a race to get back running.
We're gonna try and do it
all in one shot here.
It's something
we haven't tried before,
So we're gonna find out here
if the 700 has enough
To be able to lift
everything together.
Narrator: The hopper feeder
has a full load,
Nearly 30 tons of dirt.
-Okay, shane?
-Yeah, give her a little bit.
♪♪
-[ chuckles ]
-yeah, she's pretty heavy, man.
It's heavy, man.
Come on, baby.
Nice and easy.
Mitch:
Come on, baby.
That's not light.
Shane: Go back just
a bit further,
And we can set it
right there if you want.
Yeah, I'm just trying to get
a little height here.
About tapped out.
♪♪
Hey, I've got it.
♪♪
Couldn't have weighed
one more pound,
I don't think, and done it.
It was everything
it had there.
Mitch:
We've got the hopper feeder
lifted off, and that's huge.
Now we've got access here to
our busted-a*s conveyor belt.
Yeah, she's pretty gnarly, man.
She's ripped good.
They're not even
that easy to cut,
So you know how hard
that rock was jammed in there.
♪♪
It looks like we've got
a couple
Of busted
roller frames here.
This one's
completely taco-ed.
Not only did the belt rip,
But it did a bunch of damage
to the rollers
That are underneath it.
Narrator:
With no spare rollers on site...
Hopefully we can use
the forklift here,
Try and pull this
back into shape.
Narrator: ...Mitch attempts
a bush fix with the forklift.
Nice and easy!
If they break,
Replacement rollers will take
days to arrive,
And mitch will lose
any chance he had
Of hitting
his 1,800-ounce target.
Whoa!
Yeah, we're gonna quit
while we're ahead
Before we rip it in half.
Yep.
Yeah, that worked like a charm.
That's actually awesome.
Certainly not as good as new,
but good enough to work here,
So we'll take it.
Narrator: Now they must realign
the 500-pound belt.
This is heavy,
so you got to use the machines,
And it's a very delicate and
tactical procedure here
To try and get
this belt back on.
Launching straight ahead.
Open those rollers!
♪♪
Close, buddy.
We're almost there.
-Come on, baby.
-Okay, good.
We'll push that end out,
have to come back up more.
Almost there.
You're home, man.
Perfect.
There it is.
Now it's just a matter
of bolting everything back up,
Grabbing the surge bin,
putting it back on.
♪♪
-How we looking there?
-Go down a little bit.
Down a little more.
Whoa!
Good job.
[ laughing ] yeah.
Just gonna undo
the shackles.
[bleep] that actually
swung on pretty nice, eh?
It went good, yeah.
Now we just got to close it off,
hook up the hydraulics,
And we might even
make it for night shift.
-The fix...
-Fire it up.
Narrator: ...Has put mitch
a whole shift behind
In his attempt
to keep the plant up and running
While parker's away.
Mitch: Could have been
a hell of a lot worse,
So can't thank everybody
enough.
Appreciate it.
Big country.
[ laughs ]
Where's mine?
Aw, come here.
Dude, it's pretty hot.
I don't know.
[ laughter ]
Narrator:
Mitch has one more thing to do
Before he calls it a night.
You know, it's been quite a few
days since I've been able
To message my wife.
Most of the time
when I get back,
My daughter's already sleeping,
So I haven't got to see her
in quite a few days.
So hoping I can run back,
talk to both of them,
Wish her a happy anniversary.
♪♪
-Hi!
-What's up, baby?
Happy anniversary.
How she doing?
Yeah, she's awake.
She's good.
Hey, chicky.
She's just crawling around,
laughing right now,
Just having a grand old time.
I was really hoping either
you'd be able to be up here,
Or I'd be able to be home,
But unfortunately,
it didn't work out that way.
-I know.
-All right, baby.
Well, I'm glad I got to talk to
you and see you.
And I'm glad she was awake.
That's nice,
Instead of getting in here
when she's already in bed.
Happy anniversary,
and we love you, too.
All right, talk to you later.
Love you. Bye.
I love you. Bye.
Mitch: With everything going on
at home right now,
You know, that's tough.
There's a lot of people
unemployed,
So I'm thankful to be working
And just trying to provide
for my family.
But I wish we were together.
♪♪
♪♪
Tony.
[ laughs ]
It's our cousin tony.
Narrator: Nearly 100 miles from
his claim at paradise hill,
Tony beets has assembled
an army of crew and equipment
At the road head
above moose creek.
Their mission -- haul out
the enormous mobile trommel
That tony needs
to turbocharge his season.
Yes.
♪♪
♪♪
Looks like we're about to
go to w*r
With the [bleep] trommel here.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Mike: Tony beets, do you copy?
Tony beets?
Do I go through the creek
where you went through?
♪♪
Mike: The first trip somewhere
where you haven't been before
Always seems to take
for [bleep] ever.
♪♪
Is that what I think it is
over there?
♪♪
Ah! Gotta learn
how to walk again.
[bleep]
that's a rough ride, isn't it?
Just makes you feel
like gelatin, don't it?
The inside one's good.
So it's just about
the outside one,
So I must have caught something
going around a corner.
[bleep]
By the looks of it,
tore up a rim.
Narrator:
With seven crew and all his iron
Wrapped up in this mission,
Tony wants the 35-ton,
Out of moose creek...
...In just three days.
This thing's [bleep] awesome.
Narrator:
Tony's plan is to dismantle
The trommel piece by piece --
First the conveyor,
then the sluice box and hopper,
And finally
the massive 20-ton drum.
Tony hooks up the pipe layer
To haul out
the 50-foot conveyor.
Right there.
♪♪
Eh, come see where I'm sleeping.
Narrator:
Back at the road head,
The bunk house will be home
for some of the crew.
That's my bed, I guess.
Or that one.
One of the two.
-Better mattress.
-Gotcha. So that one's mine.
♪♪
[ laughs ]
[ laughs ]
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator:
In the mountains above keno,
Rick ness's operation
is at a standstill,
And his crew is reeling
From coming up empty
at the deep cut.
Carl:
It's a disaster, right?
We've spent a lot of time
and money on that,
And it's gonna produce zero.
Rick's out there
looking for dirt,
But, you see,
we don't got much time left.
So it's definitely gonna
affect us that it's --
Our goals aren't gonna be
the same as what we expected,
I don't think, now, but...
It's not good, man.
It's not good.
Narrator:
Rick spent more than $100,000
Getting down to bedrock
at the deep cut.
With no gold to show for it,
He's still 600 ounces short of
his 1,000-ounce season goal.
Rick: Right now,
I'm just scrambling
To look for the future here
for the rest of the season
Because the deep cut was
supposed to be it.
So the plan is get out
and find some different ground.
I'm hoping that
that good red gravel
We were running continues
across the creek.
I don't see why it shouldn't.
Narrator:
All of rick's gold this season
Has come from the cheap cut,
a pay streak of red pay gravel
Just two feet below the surface.
Rick believes
the pay streak continues
On the other side of the creek.
If his hunch is right,
it could save his season.
Rick:
Crossing the creek was never
part of the plan this year,
But we don't have
much of a choice.
So hopefully
I can find something worthwhile
On the other side.
I mean, this is just giving me
flashbacks of last year.
It was like a [bleep] dagger
because all it did was go,
"it's just like last year, rick.
Nothing's [bleep] changed."
But I've got kruse here.
I've got carly here.
And I can't see them
go away empty-handed.
So we just got to flat get it
this year.
You know, one more year
like last year and, you know,
We're all done.
Try a little bit,
see if I can bust through it.
It might just be surface frost.
♪♪
Yeah, there's no [bleep]
doubt about what that is.
Permafrost --
mud with ice mixed in it.
At this point in the season,
it doesn't matter
If there's 1,000 ounces right
underneath this [bleep] hole.
We don't have the time
or the capability
Of getting to it if it's frozen.
It ain't thawing much anymore,
And I don't have
a big rippin' dozer here.
So I'm thinking my best bet is
to kind of hug the creek a bit
'cause that should afford me
some thaw off the creek.
There's got to be some
thawed pay along the creek.
Narrator: To find thawed
gold-rich ground,
Rick heads 400 feet downstream.
Rick:
Well, that's a good sign.
I'm not hitting any permafrost
right underneath the surface.
And already showing
a little bit of rock.
Oh, [bleep] yeah.
I'm seeing red.
We got that same red gravel
right here.
I'm actually pretty confident
that this is that same layer
We were chasing.
I'm just gonna go with my gut
on this stuff.
Maybe I'm totally off-base here,
which could be.
But we're just gonna
start running it and see.
It's all we can do right now.
Narrator:
All the gold rick has pulled
out of the ground this season
Has come from a pay streak
of distinctive red gravel.
If this is a continuation
of that same pay streak,
It should contain good gold.
Hey, kruse,
you got a copy, man
Yeah, go for kruse.
Let's get those rock trucks
rounded up.
We've got --
we got pay gravel.
Oh, that sounds great,
buddy.
If he's got enough pay
over there,
We'll get it hauled to the plant
and see if we can make it
To the end of the season.
♪♪
Rig up!
♪♪
Narrator:
With the new creek cut,
Rick's back in the game.
Rick: You know, this ground
may not turn out to be
As good as the ground that would
have came out of the deep cut.
But this is exactly
what we need right now.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: Tony beets
is 160 miles south
Of the arctic circle
On a mission to bring home
a new monster mobile trommel.
Kevin:
We need to get this out of here
Because it's already late
in the season.
And if we don't hurry
the [bleep] up,
We're gonna be snowed in.
She's gonna be
a next-year project.
Narrator: Cody hunter must cut
the sluice box off.
Clear!
[ metal clanging ]
[ sighs ]
now I want waffles.
Everyone's got to wait
until I climb down.
Now I got climb back up.
I swear.
[ laughter ]
Narrator:
Now it's time to lift out
The heaviest part
of the trommel,
The 20-ton, 40-foot drum.
Well, first we're gonna get
the d6 attached to the frame.
This is gonna get attached
to the trommel.
And the 220 excavator's gonna
get attached to the trommel.
And then once we get that
trommel nicely up in the air,
We're gonna try to pull the
whole frame out with the 6.
Narrator: Tony's plan?
Retract the hydraulic supports
So the trommel rests
on its wheels,
Then lift the drum and pull
the frame out from underneath.
Yeah.
A steel plate has been welded
to the leg to hold up the frame
And take the pressure
off the hydraulics.
Checking the tire pressure
so that we know
If we got to pump them up
with it
'cause we're gonna pull those
legs up to get it lower.
♪♪
♪♪
[ expl*si*n ]
-Whoa!
-Whoa!
♪♪
♪♪
[ expl*si*n ]
-Whoa!
-Whoa!
-What was that?
-Whoo!
[ laughs ]
oh, she let go there.
That scared the [bleep]
straight out of me.
Yeah, me too.
[ laughter ]
Worry about
the rest later.
Narrator: Tony beets is two days
into a massive project
To move his new secret weapon,
A giant mobile trommel,
From moose creek back to
his claim on paradise hill.
Mike: Okay.
Yeah.
Yee-haw!
♪♪
[ laughter ]
♪♪
Stefan: Looking at the ground
in front of me,
It looks soupy as hell,
So I got to be really,
really careful with this.
Narrator: Over 1,500 miles south
in oregon,
Fred lewis's future
is on the line.
Really need to work our way down
to the bedrock.
That's where all the gold's at.
If we can't get to bedrock,
Our season's gonna be
pretty dismal.
Narrator:
In the swamp cut, fred's told
operator stefan generally
To dig 60 feet to bedrock,
Where he believes he'll find
a gold-rich pay layer.
Already noticed a couple times
I slipped a few feet,
In one instance, I slipped
about five feet forward, but...
I'm actually watching to see
Whether the ground
in front of me
Actually starts to give way.
It's pretty damn wet.
Holy [bleep]
Big rock just tumbled
off the wall.
♪♪
Holy [bleep]
Uh...
[bleep] damn it.
Hey, fred, stefan.
Fred.
Hey, I need you
to come down here.
We can take a look
at where I'm at right now.
[bleep]
Hey, dude,
that whole six-foot section
Just dropped off
in front of me.
I started to slide on the right.
I dropped the bucket.
And I think that rock
in front of me
Is the only thing stopping me
from going any further.
I cannot dig here, man.
It's not safe.
Whoa! Holy [bleep]
I'm thinking I need to
get the hell out of this pit.
[bleep]
I don't think the risk that
we're taking is worth it here.
I think we're gonna have to
abandon it.
We're gonna have to make
a decision and just move.
Yeah, let's get this thing
out of the [bleep] pit,
And let's just
figure it out.
All right.
I'm gonna go ahead and
slowly work my way out of here.
Still spinning.
There we go.
There we go.
Right now, we're pulling stefan
out of the swamp,
Stefan's been slipping
more and more into the pit
And the water's pretty deep,
Walls are starting to cave in.
It's just not a safe place
anymore.
I don't care how much gold's
down there.
I'm not going after it.
Narrator:
It's a massive setback.
All the gold fred has mined
so far this season
Comes from this swamp cut.
It's pretty much
all for nothing right now.
Pretty devastating.
[ sighs ]
Oh, [bleep], dude.
Stefan: The most frustrating
part about it
Is there is
good gold down there,
So having to abandon it
is abandoning gold,
And...
That's what pisses me off
the most.
♪♪
Hey, kendell,
can you meet in the mine office?
Hey, bud.
That swamp cut's done.
I can't put stefan
down there anymore.
Look, man, I understand there's
a lot of risk coming down here.
It's a safety issue
through and through.
But we got to think about
maybe reengineering this safely.
Can we dig it down
maybe a different ramp,
Maybe on the other side?
That's a landslide
waiting to happen down there.
So we had all these assays done
with my father-in-law,
When fred came out
with the g*n.
Okay.
The pit does have gold.
We know the swamp has gold.
Has all the characteristics
of good gold, too.
You're right. However,
with all these obstacles,
We're coming up against,
the other assay
That was really good
was right there on the hillside.
I mean, you got to think,
We know that
there's gold down there.
So we got to make sure
we're treading lightly
When we're starting to move
in our abandoned cuts here.
I know. I know.
Man...
I'm gonna stick to my g*ns
on this one.
I just got a gut feeling
that that's dangerous,
And I don't want to
be the guy
That put stefan down in there
to get him buried.
I mean, I served in combat
with stefan.
Like, I got his back.
We go back a long ways.
And if he tells me
he's scared...
I'll take the burden
on this.
If that cut doesn't pan out,
it's on me.
It's always a gamble, man.
But we're on
the same side now?
We got -- we're agreeing?
-Yeah.
-All right, dude.
Let's hit it.
Lewis: There's no other place
on the property
We can hit in this short time,
And it's really close
to the colonel.
The xrf g*n
that we brought out here
My father-in-law shot
Told us that this spot
right here had the most gold.
I think I want to call it
the liberation cut.
So right now, this is probably
the pivotal point of the season.
If we can't pull gold
out of this cut,
Then it's the end
of the season.
I mean, I can't put money
into it
If we can't pull gold
out of it.
It's a little nerve-racking,
dude.
I feel like it's totally
make-or-break on this.
Let's keep
our fingers crossed.
Stefan: This is the first
official half-bucket load
Out of liberation cut.
It sure as hell would be nice
to find gold here.
Lewis: Everything shows us that
the gold's in this hillside.
This is our money maker.
If this doesn't work,
The claim's probably
not worth it.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator:
With parker still in alaska,
Foreman mitch blaschke races
To sluice as much pay dirt
as possible
To hit his 1,800-ounce,
$3.4 million target.
Mitch: For the amount of time
sluicing in here,
And you look at the ground
we've already covered,
We're putting
a hell of a dent in it,
But we definitely got a lot
on our plate still here.
Do you want the carpets now,
too, or some more mats first?
-Oh, yeah, let's do the carpets.
-All right.
Narrator:
Chris doumitt cleans the mats
On wash plant big red.
-How's it looking, chris?
-Looks good.
-Yeah?
-I mean, we're seeing gold.
Doumitt:
Not mountains of it.
What do you think? Later today
you'll have a number for us?
Should. I should have a number
for you tonight.
All right, thanks.
Mike: You know, you try
and get ahead every day,
But it seems like most days
You only just slip further
and further behind.
Just trying to keep
everybody on track
And to wash plants running
and everything else --
It's certainly a challenge.
Right now we're just heading up
to the office,
Have a phone call with parker.
Just got to give an update,
see when he's gonna be back.
♪♪
[ line ringing ]
Parker: Hello?
Hey, it's mitch.
How's it going?
Good. How are you?
Yeah, we've been --
Man, everybody's had their
head down out here
Trying to keep up
with both these wash plants.
When do you think
you'll be back up here?
I'll be there tomorrow.
Oh, okay. Nice.
Perfect.
Well, I guess
when you get here,
We'll go out
and make a game plan.
Sweet. Yeah, I'm looking
forward to it.
All righty.
I'll talk to you later.
Thanks, mitch.
Thanks for the call.
Yep, no problem.
Narrator: Parker coming back
tomorrow after four weeks away
Means d-day for mitch's
Mike: We've been mobbing through
dirt here, making some headway.
But, you know, I'm not the boss,
So we'll have to see
if he's happy when he gets back.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Yep.
Narrator: Tony beets
is attempting to haul
His new mobile trommel
Out of moose creek
to the highway.
Cody welds on eyes
for the chains to secure
The 20-ton trommel
to the trailer.
Mike brings in the oshkosh,
A 500-horsepower
military tank transporter,
To haul the trommel out.
He needs to get to the highway
before nightfall in three hours.
♪♪
Oh, this is a [bleep] good load,
Although it's top-heavy,
So if I go to fast
through the creek
And I hit one rock
with my back tire,
It gets too much of a lean
than the weight --
With the momentum
and the weight,
Could tip my truck --
The trommel, the trailer
and the truck,
Which is no fun.
♪♪
My tire came up in the air.
If I keep going slow but steady,
Don't be an idiot,
and I won't have any issues.
Narrator: Now for the climb
up 2,000 feet of switchbacks.
♪♪
Come on, girl.
Come on.
You can do it.
We're coming up on
that nice soft spot.
Hopefully I'll make it.
Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga,
chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga.
Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga,
chugga-chugga-chugga.
Come on, girl!
Come on!
Ah, [bleep]
my tires are spinning.
You just had to say it.
I'm stuck.
Like I said,
you just had to say it.
We'll get that cable
out of the trommel.
♪♪
♪♪
Good.
We [bleep] pulled her out.
Ah, [bleep], hey.
So now he's gonna pull me up
to the [bleep] v9,
And once we get there,
we're gonna disconnect it,
And I should be [bleep]
golden clear sailing.
♪♪
So now, that went [bleep] good,
that went real good.
♪♪
It's all good.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: Tony has got
the trommel out of moose creek
In three days.
All that's left now
Is to truck it down
the highway to paradise hill.
♪♪
Rick: Every year, it's a race
against the winner coming here.
That's gonna affect us
more than it ever has.
Narrator: Two days ago,
third-year mine boss rick ness
Abandoned the deep cut
when he couldn't find any gold.
We just spent the better part
of a month digging a hole
That has nothing
in the bottom of it.
I myself will not be taking
any more days off,
Or any time off,
for that matter.
I want to make this happen.
Narrator:
Now the crew's only chance
To hit their 1,000-ounce goal
Is to run pay
from the new creek cut.
I want to go home with
a bunch of gold in my pocket,
And I know rick does, too.
Narrator: But no one knows
if it'll be bonanza or bust.
Rick's giving me an opportunity
To make more money
than I've ever made in my life.
It's a chance for me
to make a better life
For me and my fiancée.
And, I mean, for rick
to just hand that to me --
It's humbling,
And I don't want to
let him down.
Narrator: Mechanic carl rosk
scans the pay dirt.
Carl:
These are nice boulders,
There's nice-looking rocks here,
right?
So way bigger rocks.
I like the color, right?
It's got a red tinge to it.
We won't know until we weigh
this gold up for this week,
But it's looking
a lot better here.
We're back on the good pay.
♪♪
♪♪
Rick: We have an emergency.
We have kruse's rolled
his truck in the deep cut.
It's loaded.
Get down here. It's bad.
[bleep]
[bleep]
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator:
At duncan creek...
Carl, can you just hold
that first-aid kit, please?
...Chris kruse has rolled
his 30-ton rock truck,
And he's trapped
in the upturned cab.
Man: Is he all right?
You okay? Your neck doesn't
hurt, nothing, buddy?
No.
No. Oh.
Your back's not hurting,
nothing?
You all right, brother?
♪♪
Oh, yeah,
I'm [bleep] great.
[bleep] [bleep] scared
the [bleep] out of me, dude.
[ dog barking ]
Yeah, I know
I [bleep] up, champ.
All of a sudden I turned around.
I didn't see any of it happen.
And I see a [bleep] truck here
laying on its side.
I didn't see anybody
moving around it.
[bleep] these bugs.
I'm just happy
you're okay, dude.
We can replace anything here,
no big deal.
It was super [bleep]
slow-mo.
I've got it to the point
where it's picked up
That front wheel before,
And it started
feeling like that,
And then it didn't stop
feeling like that.
Prided myself and doing
a pretty good job
Of taking care of these trucks,
And now I [bleep] up.
Well, I'm just trying to figure
out a good spot to rig it here.
Man: Yeah.
It's gonna be
pretty hillbilly.
Narrator: Carl rigs
the rock truck to the 480.
This is not how you rig stuff,
But we need to get this thing
flopped over
In a timely fashion.
So this is what
we're gonna do.
Okay, go ahead.
Start pulling.
You and down.
Go straight down.
Watch yourself.
Hold it there.
Hey, rick.
Hold it there.
The loader's right here.
-Yep.
-Let's get that loader.
Rick:
The strap's about to slip off,
So I'm just gonna get a chain,
get the loader in here,
And get it
the rest of the way over
So it doesn't
flop back down again.
Costing us time and money.
It's not a good feeling.
Could you tilt it a bit more?
Tilt it.
Just want to get back
in this truck
And start hauling dirt.
Carl: I like that.
So now you can put it down.
Just wait for it,
get ready.
Everybody good?
-Good.
♪♪
Okay, just wait.
About had a [bleep]
heart attack
'cause I knew who it was,
and I saw it,
And I didn't see anybody
[bleep] moving around.
And, yeah, it didn't feel good.
So I'm just glad he's okay.
I don't give a [bleep]
about this truck.
I'm just glad
you're all right.
If you wanted out
of a truck that bad,
You just had to
[bleep] tell me, dude,
[ laughs ]
Narrator:
Two hours after the crash,
Kruse and his truck
are back to work.
Kruse:
Zero physical harm,
Quite possibly
irreparable damage to my pride.
Narrator:
On the other side of the cut,
Rick and carla clean up
The first of the pay dirt
from the new creek cut.
Rick's mining future rides
on the result.
Come on, kyle.
We're late for this cleanout,
so we're gonna have to
Really hustle on that.
Rick: It looks like the same
material we were digging
When we were having
our best week.
So I'm really hoping that
it's got the same gold in it.
But like you say, carla,
we won't know
Until we put it on the scale.
♪♪
♪♪
Another long week on the mine,
lot of new things going on,
Fred just radioed in
for a gold weigh,
So hopefully some good news
this week.
We pretty much tossed our hats
in with the liberation cut here,
And from listening
to what's going on, you know,
The testing and everything,
I hope, you know,
we made the right choice.
Narrator: At elkhorn claim,
it's the end of the week.
Fred lewis calls his crew
together to weigh gold
From the new liberation cut.
Lewis: This everybody?
All right, guys.
So we're now all in
on the liberation cut.
It's going a lot easier
up there.
Oh, it is, it is.
My base is stable.
I'm not worrying
about sliding around,
Or obviously there's no water
drainage issues on that cut.
Your father-in-law said
that it tested the best
Out of any place
on the property, right?
It did. It did.
Narrator: Fred had to abandon
the swamp cut
When it got
too dangerous to mine.
Now his season depends
on the liberation cut
Delivering at least
Per 100 yards of pay dirt.
Guys ready
to see what we got?
-Yeah.
-Always.
-Let's do it.
-Let's do this.
-Let's see what we got.
-Come on, baby.
No whammies,
no whammies.
Narrator: This 60-yard run
needs to produce
At least 1/3 of an ounce.
-Nice.
-Nice!
Third of an ounce.
Worth just $700,
But if the gold continues
at this rate,
The liberation cut
could save fred's season.
Lewis:
No, guys, but this is --
We're moving upward.
We're not moving down.
That's the only thing I give
a [bleep] about right now.
You know what that puts
our goal total at, right?
What?
Half an ounce?
-0.99.
-Oh! Almost.
Let's pull every bit we can
out of this liberation cut
And keep putting gold
in the pan.
Man: All right, well,
let's go get some more.
-Get back to work.
-All right.
-Yep.
-Good job.
We'll hit the new cut,
start getting more gold.
And it should be a lot
more efficient,
Lot easier to move dirt around,
and I'm excited to see.
Hopefully we get some more gold.
We're moving on to
the liberation cut
For golder pastures,
and we're all in.
There's no other option
for us at this point.
So we're moving forward,
Driving on,
pulling gold out of the ground.
Narrator: Coming up...
Rick:
Here we go. Here we go.
Are they like
-They're like 500 apiece.
-What?!
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: Parker schnabel has
a 400-mile drive
Across the north american
wilderness
To make it back to the yukon
for this week's gold weigh.
Right now, it's a really
good trial run to see
If they're able to keep things
rolling without me.
If they can keep
that place going,
Then we can get another
operation up and rolling, right?
And I'm hopeful that something
Comes out of
that trip to alaska.
It's always nice to see
more gold in the ground.
At the end of the day,
the tests will tell us.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Woman: Dude, he does not like
to be hugged.
-I do all the time!
-Yeah, well, he ain't a hugger.
We're usually out --
It got really quiet
all of a sudden.
Were you guys talking about
something stupid?
-We're talking about you.
-Oh!
-Nailed it!
-That's the worst.
-Nailed it!
-Ah.
Narrator: After the deep cut
was a bust,
Rick and his crew have run
the new creek cut pay dirt
For four days.
-No argument from anyone?
-No, no.
Well, not after --
not after this week.
I mean, [bleep]
but, yeah.
I mean, it was --
it was really tempting
To bury my head, kind of
like I did last year, right?
-Yeah.
-You know?
I promised myself
I wouldn't do that this year,
And I promised
you guys that, too.
So we just [bleep]
move on, right?
-Yeah.
-So...
I mean, a down week, yeah.
But there is still gold
in the pan.
Narrator: To stay on track
for his 1,000-ounce goal,
Rick needs this cleanup
to pay at least 30 ounces.
Rick:
Here we go. Here we go.
[ sighs ] we do have 10.
We got 20, 30.
So we have...
Ain't nothing wrong with
$85,000, my friend.
Oh! That's a good way
to put it, carl.
Narrator:
Team ness is still in the game.
Rick: If we can keep getting
kicked in the a*s
And still pulling these off,
well, at a certain point
We're gonna stop getting
kicked in the a*s, right?
Carl: We went from losers
to heroes now, man.
And if we keep this up,
I'm happy.
-Let's keep our heads up.
-[bleep] yeah.
All right, well, like carl just
said, we'll keep moving on.
Thanks a lot, guys.
-Yes, sir.
-Keep on keeping on.
-Onward and upward.
-Keep on keeping on!
-Yeah, man.
♪♪
Narrator: Parker schnabel is
back in the yukon
After his prospecting trip
in alaska...
♪♪
Welcome home.
...Just in time
for a big four-week gold weigh.
I don't even remember
what [bleep] gold looks like.
-[ laughs ]
-been gone so long.
Doumitt: It looks like
that yellow stuff right there.
So how was your trip?
Drilling didn't go great
on the first property,
But the second one it did.
It's place called
cleary creek.
It's gonna take a few years
to develop.
A lot more exploration
that needs to get done.
Boy, it'd be a heck of
an adventure, wouldn't it?
Narrator: Mitch and the crew
arrive to see
How much gold they produced
in the month parker's been away.
What's up, gentlemen?
Oh, hey, you made 'er back.
I'm back, [bleep]
Did you find yourself?
Did you find your center?
[ laughter ]
So what do you think?
Are we gonna be
Moving wash plants there?
If gold prices stay high,
There's a good chunk
of mining there, I think.
We'd just need a plane,
And then any of us could
go back and forth quite easy.
It's like an hour
and 20 minute flight.
Oh, [bleep] I didn't know that.
That's cool.
And it was good.
It looks like things
have been going great here.
-Yeah, we were busy.
-You guys have been busy.
-We were very busy, yeah.
-Definitely tired.
Narrator: First up --
The gold from mitch's
last week in charge.
-This was for big red.
-Oh, okay.
-Okay. Yeah.
-All right.
So tyson, this is yours.
Parker:
And then this is not his,
Just to be clear.
Narrator: Mitch needs
To prove himself
as a second in command,
At least 450 ounces every week.
Narrator: Sluicifer and big red
together have 293 ounces,
Worth $550,000,
Well short of mitch's
weekly target.
Yeah, no, there was definitely
some bumps in the road.
Yeah, there was definitely some
bumps in the road along the way,
You know,
some issues with big red.
We worked through those.
Now for the gold
from the previous three weeks.
-Let's see this stuff.
-All right.
So what we have...
Don't drop it.
♪♪
-This the last one, chris?
-[ laughs ]
Are they like
-They're like 500 apiece.
-What?!
-5-5.
-That's a good month.
Yeah.
[ laughter ]
Narrator: In the four weeks
parker was away,
Mitch smashed his target
out of the park
With 2,293 ounces of gold,
Worth $4.3 million.
There's your airplane.
[ laughing ]
we can all have our own.
[ laughter ]
That's, like, the biggest one
we've ever had, isn't it?
Oh, yeah. No, this is definitely
a record-breaker.
-That used to be a season.
-Oh, yeah.
And good one, too.
Feels good
to see it sitting there.
-You guys crushed it.
-Nice work, buddy.
-No kidding.
-[bleep] 2,000 ounces.
-There you go.
-Geez.
Good job, guys, really.
That's impressive.
Mitch: Doesn't even feel real
looking at those pans.
Right?
So we got a season total of...
I should leave more often.
I mean, if you want.
I mean, we could...
Cheers
Narrator:
Taking parker to a total so far
Of $8.75 million.
I'm pumped.
And, like, to be able to be gone
and have one of the best months
This company's ever had
is awesome.
And, like, I just can't
thank you guys enough.
Mitch: You know, I think that
just goes to show
What a strong team we got here
and just what we can get done
Even though parker wasn't
around.
So much gold
is such a good feeling.
And, you know,
I'm really, really happy
That he liked the result.
Parker: The fact that things
went so well here tells me
That I should be making
something else happen.
We had a 2,000-ounce a month,
But what if we had
two operations
That did a 2,000-ounce month?
Mm. That would be fun,
And lots of pain and suffering,
but also fun.
Narrator: Next time
on "gold rush"...
Can I come in?
...Parker schnabel needs
new ground
From an old rival.
What the [bleep]
do you want?
We need the water now.
Fred lewis's wash plant...
Damn.
I'll get right on it.
...Threatens
to sink his season.
Ah, [bleep]
And tony beets's plans
go up in flames.
[ expl*si*n ]
Get out of my [bleep] way!
[ indistinct radio chatter ]
[ expl*si*n ]
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11x10 - Record Breaker
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Reality based series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as well as in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Reality based series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as well as in the U.S. state of Alaska.