11x14 - Freddy to the Rescue

[bunniefuu]

[speaking]

[narrator] on this gold rush,
tony beets drains the swamp...

[tony speaking]

[narrator] ...In the
hunt for gold.

Something needs to change.

This is our
best shot right now.

[narrator] running out of
time, fred lewis
calls in the big g*ns.

They're sluicing
out of a mudhole.

A actual mudhole.

-[man] it's the last scoop!
-[bleep] yeah!

[narrator] and parker hits
a major milestone.

What a nice feeling.

[honking]

We got some
pretty good numbers
of gold out of this thing.

-It's never enough.
-[chuckles]

[parker] this season's been
a hell of a season.

With the whole covid thing,
I had no idea where we're
going to end up,

But, you know,
we've had two wash plants
pounding away all season.

It's been really good.

[narrator] twenty-six-year-old
parker schnabel

Is running
two wash plants 24/7

To build a w*r chest
and buy new ground.

He's about to enter
phase two of his plan.

We just got sluice removed
over to the airstrip cut

And it looks like it's going
to produce some good gold.

Big red's just finishing up
in the last cut.

We're going to move big red
down to the airstrip.

I'm having it join slucifer.

We really need to get
that ground mined out

And show that way can produce
their ounces out of it.

[narrator] over
the last four years,

Parker has moved almost
three million yards of dirt
from the last cut,

And mine more than
12,000 ounces of gold,

The richest ground
he's ever mined.

Now he needs the last
25,000 yards sluiced
in just seven days.

This is something that we need
to do very efficiently

If we're going to make it
all work in time.

We got a lot of work to do.

We're short on people as well.

We're going to try and do
everything we can done here
by the end of the week.

Uh, it's gonna be tough.
It's gonna be a challenge.

We're working
as hard as we can
to try and make this happen.

[brennan] it's going to be
a mad scramble here.

Cross my fingers,
knock on wood,

Whatever I got to do,
just to try and ensure
this cut will get finished.

Just trying to keep
big red fed here
with pay dirt as well.

I'm doing tailings, and...

Doing both with one loader
is... Keeps you really busy.

[brennan] that is not
look [bleep] good.

[bleep]

[groans] [bleep]

What in the [bleep]
is on fire over here?

Cut the power!

Shut it down!

The [bleep]
is burning up here?

Holy [bleep]

The [bleep]
is going on here?

No [bleep] way.

[engine turns off]

Holy [bleep]

Mitch, you gotta copy. Mitch?

[mitch] yeah, go ahead.

[brennan] the [bleep]
wash plant is on fire.

[mitch] all right, man.
But I'm on my way.

What's going on?

[brennan] holy [bleep]

Gonna have a heart attack.

[bleep] smoke bellowing
out of there.

[mitch] you got to be kidding.

[brennan] farsighted.
Looks like it puke
out of there.

I was wheeling the cut
and just [bleep] ran up.

[mitch] oh, there it is.

We've got our
return rollers gone. [bleep]

That grease is probably
catching on fire.

There you can see
all the bearings [bleep] out.

[narrator] a roller bearing
on the radio stacker,

Which feeds big red,
has burned out.

[brennan] oh, this is great.

This is a big job.

It's gonna take three or four
hours to change that out.
[bleep]

Man, the days
are clicking away here.

We've got to
get this cut done.

-We got a lot of work
to do down there so...
-Yeah.

-...We can't be
both places at once.
-No, no.

I'm gonna go grab shane
and see if he can come over.

Okay. Perfect.

[honks]

[narrator] now it's down
to mechanic, shane smith,

To get them back
up and running.

[shane] she's
pretty gnarly bound.

There isn't
a bearing left in here,

So it's just running on
a bare shaft smoking away.

And there's parts
on the ground.

And we run everything
right to the limit, so...

It's all part of the game.

Basically up to me to try
and keep this thing running.

I can pull
this whole motor off.

It's full of mud.

That's kind of the maintenance
that they got to keep
their eye on.

You can get the
collar off the shaft.

Yeah, it wants to be
a little difficult today.

I love burning stuff up.

It's my favorite thing.

Burning it up, blowing it up.

You got to have
some kind of fun.

Blaze or precision cutting.

Getting closer.

Get the new bearing back in.

Nice snug fit.

Put this back on.

[mitch] how's she
looking, doctor?

I think we're ready to go.

[mitch] oh, yeah.

You should be able
to wash some rocks.

-Thanks, man.
-All right, man.

Good luck down there.

[mitch] oh, yeah. We need it.

[narrator] it's cost parker
four hours downtime

And $15,000 in lost gold.

But big red
is back in business.

-[shane] did you
hit that button?
-Hit it.

[engine starts]

[machine whirring]

[man] whoo!

He always gets it done,
and he gets it done
pretty darn quick.

And that's
what we need right now.

[mitch] all right,
we're all good.
Start shaker deck.

-[brennan] keep you
at the bypass?
-[mitch] yeah.

Hopefully, we could
run full tilt here.

Hey, trey! Crank it up.

[engine running]

[brennan] thanks again, shane.
Appreciate it.

Well, now that the plant's
back up running smooth,

I'm just going to pop
back in the hole here
and keep loading trucks.

We've got to stay
on schedule and focused

And try and get this cut done,
'cause that's what
our goal is.

You got to get some pay dirt.

Let's go!

Not only are the operations
not going really well,

And now morale is down.

People want to see gold.
They're not seeing gold.

[narrator] in oregon's
elkhorn mountains,

Fred lewis and his crew
of combat veterans
are struggling.

So far this season,

He's mined just
an ounce a quarter of gold.

[johnny] getting
a little worried.

Halfway through
the season now and...

It's really not looking great.

[engine starts]

[narrator] one month ago, fred
opened the liberation cut.

He believed
it would save his season,

But it's produced
just 0.6 ounces of gold.

That's just a constant,
you know, [bleep] battle.

I think the longest runtime
we've had is, like, two hours,

But, you know,
eventually something
breaks down on this mine.

[narrator] they've suffered
constant breakdowns

Of the wash plant
and water supply.

[johnny] so far, this mine
has not been
paying out for us.

What are we here for
if no gold?

[narrator] last week,
to keep the operation running,

Fred convinced
marine buddy, carl smith

To pay his running costs
for a share of the gold.

[fred] it's great that
we have an investor,

But that puts us under
a lot more pressure.

You know, if we kept going the
way we're going, I don't...

I don't have another week.

Maybe two weeks in,
we running like this without
something coming back in.

[narrator] with everything
on the line and now
going deeper into debt,

Fred has asked kendell
to call in another favor
from his uncle.

Hey! Freddy and juan are here.

[narrator] gold recovery
expert, freddy dodge.

With him is master mechanic
and tough fabricator,
juan ibarra.

-How's it going, guys?
-[freddy] what's going on?

Good to see you, buddy.

-[freddy] you doing? Fred?
-[fred] oh, good fred.
How you doing?

So how's everything
going so far this year?

-They are not going well.
-[kendell] we're having
a rough time.

[fred] we're not seeing the
gold we were thinking we were
going to see out of that cut.

Just every time
that we get up, start running,

Something kicks us
right in the teeth.

Pretty much on the brink
of failure all the time.

I think we're right now,
the whole team's kind of down.

Our morale's a little low.

You know, they see the
struggles and they're
not seeing gold,

-So it's...
-Yeah, yeah.

...Hard for us to keep them...

That'll break your spirit
easy, you know? Real quick.

It's happening.

Good gold's a motivator,
lack of gold is
a kick in the teeth.

We're getting kicked
in the teeth quite a bit.

[fred] we can't even
get going, let alone
stay going.

Well, let's watch it run.
Fire it up.

All right. Sounds good.

[narrator] at the
start of the season,

Freddy and juan
redesigned fred's wash plant

And built new sluice runs.

Now they need
to find out

Why fred's crew
can't keep the plant running.

So you think
there's enough time
in the rest of the season

To be able
to turn this thing around?

I don't know.
Fall's coming fast.

The trees are yellowing.

I know that worries me.

[narrator] first stop,
the water supply.

This should have a valve
and a two inch pump

Ready to go at all times.
Prime this thing.

This whole operation
here doesn't seem
very efficient at all.

[fred] look at how mudded up
this is already.

[juan] yeah.

That didn't take long at all.

Looks like the water
here, fred is our biggest
issue, huh?

Without fresh water, juan,
looking at this,

They're going to be done
in an hour and a half.

Then they're gonna be losing
most of the fine gold.

Once your water
turns to a milkshake,

-You know as well as I do
what happens.
-Yeah

It steals that fine gold.

They're sluicing
and out of a mud hole.

Actual mud hole.

I mean,
look at how dirty it is.

When your water is that dirty,

It's grabbing
that fine gold, right?

That silt dam right here,

-Hits that silt dam and that
silt falls.
-Yep.

Drops out.

We got the logs to do it.

-Yeah,.
-Lay a log across
this son of a g*n.

-Once you get silt
going downhill...
-It stays going down.

It wants to come going down.

And it worked great.

I bet we quadrupled
the water run time.

Right now, it's a mess.

[juan] yeah, it is.

Hey, brad. Kendell.

They're out of water
or it's too muddy.

All right, guys.
Let's shut it down!

Shut it down!

-Let's talk for a minute.
-Yes, sir.

Hey, misfits can I get you
guys all by the loader?

We need to have a meeting.

Nothing's
efficient about this.

Kinda like a monkey [bleep]
a football.

You got serious water issues
as your biggest problem.

You ran 35 minutes
and then you silted up.

So we want
to put silt dams in.

Well, who's good
with a chainsaw?

You're the chainsaw guy?

So what we want to do
is, we want to put

A log across this upper pond
and put a silt dam on it.

That will help stop that silt
as it comes across.

It will get that dam,
it will drop out.

So we need tarps.

We need-- but first,
we need a log.

Cut to 35 feet.

We'll need a couple of guys
to help us string that

Two inch line all the way up
here to this top pond
from the lower pond.

And the silt dam,
will not work

When this pond's empty,

I'm going to lay the hose.

I'll help john lay
all the hose and everything.

-Get everything straight away.
-All right, cool.

He does need some muscle.

Yeah, guys,
ask all the questions

You guys have
while they're here.

These guys, they're the best
at what they do
take advantage of it.

To work, guys.

Good. Good. Good.

[narrator] silty water flows
from the sluices
into the settling pond.

Instead of settling,
the silt is flowing
through to the feeder pond,

Where it's re circulated
to the plant,
clogging the riffles,

Causing gold to flow out
of the sluices.

Freddy's plan.

Build a dam to filter out
the silt

And provide clean water
for the wash plant.

[fred lewis] today,
it kind of feels more
like the military for me.

Everybody's got tasks,
they're all going
to complete their task.

And the operation's
gonna get better.

So having freddy
and juan here is fantastic.

[narrator] the crew start
on the silt screen dam.

We got an old tree pile
where we cut all of our trees
on our hillside.

Stack them all up.

We're grabbing
one 35 footer.

We're going to yank her
off the hill

And then get her set up
down below.

So we have a little silt dam

And help us
maintain some cleaner
water for longer.

Give us more run time.

[narrator] kendell's plan,
winch the two ton log

Down the slope
using the side by side.

You want it under or over?

-That's fine.
-All right.

All right, here we go.

On in.

-All right.
-[fred] whoa!

Kendell!

Kendell!

Kendell!

Whoa! Whoa!

[narrator]
on fred lewis's claim,

Gold recovery
expert freddy dodge
calls a halt.

As nephew kendell attempts
to move a two ton tree trunk.

[fred] that log,
if it comes at you,

You can't get away
from it, right?

Uh, yeah. Not quickly.

-That's for damn sure.
-No, you can't get away
from it.

-Yeah.
-I mean, end up smashing
the machine and you.

-Okay.
-All right. Get the track.

-Absolutely.
-Right.
It's too dangerous, man.

-Good call.
-Love you, bud.
Don't want you dead.

Thank you.

That wasn't a very good idea.
[bleep] comes off there.

He's smashed, dead, hurt,
dead, I don't know,

But they need a different
piece of equipment for that.

[narrator] infantry scout
sn*per, stuart mckenzie,

Brings in the
30-tonne excavator.

[freddy] right there,
keep coming up.

Now, bring your stick in.

Bring your stick in,
crack back. Right there.

Use those foot pedals.

-I am.
-'cause you gotta
use two things.

I've seen you grab 'em again.

-Yeah, I know, I won't.
-You can't do two things.

Roger that, I get ya.

So come up with your stick.

Be ready, 'cause if your hands
are on there

And you have
to come down fast,

Your hands
are already there.

-Gotcha.
-They're at where
they need to be.

Keep coming towards ya.

Keep coming.
Now curl your bucket.

Curl your bucket
as the stick's going out.

See what happens,
see how balanced we are.

[stuart] are we good to go?

[freddy] looking good, man.

Only drop it once.

[fred] hey,
just take it nice and slow
and you won't drop it.

You're good, you're good.

Watch out for that rock
right there.

Steady.

[stuart] oh.

[freddy] he was nervous.

I would be, too,
'cause he doesn't have

Very much time in the machine,

And he's got people's lives
in his hands, right,

If he does something weird?
So... But he did good.

[stuart] next up, what we're
gonna do in this process is,

We've gotten a tree
off the hill,

Brought it down.

Uh, kyle and fred are
gonna finish de-limbing it

And make sure it's smooth,

'cause we have
to put tarps on it,
so we don't want it to rip.

[whirring]

Right now, we're getting
the final steps here,

We've got the log
cleaned also,

So it doesn't pop any of the
tarps we're putting over it.

[kyle] we got stuart
digging out his flat spot,

So we can go lay it across.

As soon as we
get 'em in place,

Then we can start
setting everything up

For the new de-silting system.

That freddy and juan
are kind of helping us with.

Okay, let's walk it in.

Okay, spin to your right
a little.

A little more.

What?

[kyle] what, have you done
that before, freddy?

-Uh-uh.
-[kyle laughs]

Finito, finale, we're done.

Well, fred,
we'll make you a silk curtain.

We'll unfold this.

Just take it that way.

[narrator] the tarp
will force silk to settle...

[freddy] hang on right there.

Fold it in half.

...Allowing clean water to
flow back to the intake pond.

We've got a chain for weight
down in the bottom.

It's going to be a little
tricky getting it in there.

Somebody may end up
on their rear in the mud.

Johnny, cross the log.

[narrator]
staff sergeant johnny stanz

Suffered severe
brain injuries

When his truck was blown up

By a roadside b*mb
in afghanistan.

[johnny] crossing the log.

[narrator] ever since,

He's had trouble
with his balance.

[fred] my hand.

Thank you. Thank you
kindly, your highness.

Chivalry is not dead.

Chivalry is not dead!

[freddy] keep your chain
out of the water.

Lower it down.

So put a screw and you're in.

And then take your chain,
so it's sunk in the water,

But then screw it
to the log,

So we don't lose it
under water.

Got it.

[machine whirring]

[freddy] touching, fred?

[fred] yes, it's touching.

[freddy] that's probably
close enough, huh?

Well, there it is, fred.

The sediment just hits that
and drops?

Yep. So picture you're
a piece of silk, right?

You're coming across
your pond, right?

You're floating in the water.

So it's going to do the same
thing that sand does.

And then fall,

And keep sinking.

So basically, this is going
to allow us to run more.

We're looking at more pay
and more gold,

So that's the key.

Ready to fire up, fred?

I sure am.
We've done a lot.

I can't wait to see
how it turns out.

Right now, we've got
this top pond full.

It's filling up
the bottom ponds,

So we're gonna be able
to run a lot longer.

Yeah, let's do it,
let's fire it up.

[narrator]
now it's time to find out

If clean water
means more gold.

Water coming out the other end
right now after our sump dam

Is way clearer

Than it was before,
you can almost see through it.

So it's definitely working.

Once again,
you guys came through big,

Done stuff
that's changed the way
we're gonna work around here.

We'll get a lot more pay
through the kernel
because of it.

We're doing the right things.

If the gold's there,
we'll catch it.

No matter how much gold
is in the ground,

Every minute
the plant's running,

You're catching it,
so run, run, run.

Everything's looking
really good,

Gotta keep going.

Keep going!

[narrator] at paradise hill,
king of the klondike,

Tony beets,

Is running 350 yards
of mega cut pay dirt

Through his trommel
every hour.

Ruby mahoney clears
tailings in the loader.

You know, after everything
that's happened last year,

I think all of us
really wanted to have

A really good season, kind of,
like, a resurrection season.

Morning.

Good.

Sure.

[narrator] this morning,
tony's grandson, eagan,

Son of his daughter, bianca,

Who isn't part of the
gold mining business,

Is here to learn the ropes.

Yeah.

Okay.

[eagan] yeah.

Yeah.

And what they did right, too?

Go for kevin,
go for kevin.

I am on my way
there now.

No, that's [bleep] terrible.

It's not washed at all.

[narrator]
the trommel uses water jets

To blast pay dirt off rocks,

Sending gold-rich material
down to the sluices.

The dirty tailings
indicate that the trommel

Isn't washing
the rocks properly

And is discarding them
still covered in gold.

[narrator] they head down
the hill to check the pump

That supplies the trommel.

[tony speaking]

No water.

[tony speaking]

[kevin] the valve
is sucking so much air,

The pump can't deliver
enough water.

[narrator] the valve
used to control water supply

From the pond
into the system is cracked

And sucking in air,

Causing the pressure
in the pump to drop.

By the time it gets up
to the wash plant,

The water pressure is too low
and it can't wash

The gold-rich dirt
from the rocks,

So gold is lost
in the tailing.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] to fix it,
tony heads to his boneyard,

The largest in the klondike
to search for a
replacement valve.

Yeah.

Come on, doyle.

Good boy.

Yeah, didn't quite fit.
Where will that be? [bleep]

[kevin] we got this whole
boneyard and we can't find
a valve.

There's got to be one
somewhere in all this crap.

That looks a little nicer.

Nice, heavy duty [bleep] too.

[narrator]
every hour the plant is down.

Tony is losing two and a half
thousand dollars in gold.

So right now, the water still
a little high.

If you take the valve off now

All that water in the ponds
gonna come straight out.

It's gonna make a giant mess.

So we're gonna have
to drain the pond first.

[narrator] the leaking
valve is set below the
water level of the pond.

If the pond is full, when they
take it off, nearly half a
million gallons of water

Will flood the yard.
Before he can change
the valve,

Kevin must pump enough water
out of the pond to bring the
level down.

[kevin beets] once the water's
down. We're gonna come down,

Rip the valve off with a new
one in, hook everything
back up.

Open up the water.

It's losing again.

But for now, we just gotta
wait for it to get low enough.

[narrator] until then,
tony's whole operation
is down.

[kevin beets]
how much lower is this?

I think so. Yeah.

[narrator] in the
klondike, a cracked valve has
shut down

Tony beet's operation.

To replace the valve,
he must drain the pond.

But that could take all day.

And every hour he's losing
over two and a half thousand
dollars in gold.

[narrator]
impatient to get sluicing

Tony decides to take a gamble,
and open the valve while the
pond is still full.

[narrator] after an hour
draining the pond,
the yard is flooded,

But the pressure is low enough
to replace the broken valve.

Yeah.

I got four here.

[all laughing]

Which one?

There's a hammer right
over here.

Yeah. Let's go.

[narrator]
after a day's downtime.

The trommel is back
washing paint.

I don't know any better
than that.

[dramatic music playing]

It's the last scoop.
[bleep] yeah.

We're done, buddy. Good job.

[narrator]
after just five days,

Mitch and brannan
have finished running pay

In the last cut. Two days
ahead of parker's
one week deadline.

-Nice work.
-Yeah, you two man.

That is a good feeling
to have that cut down.

I can't believe
how fast we got through it.

What a nice feeling.

We could break big right down,

Haul it down to the airstrip,
get it set up in back running.

There's no reason we can't
have this wash by running here
in a day or so.

Yeah, you bet. Okay.

[narrator] mitch prepares
big red for the move.

All these pins out of here
and lower this thing down.

Get it on the road.

There's no more gold here,
so we got to take it where
there's some ground to run.

Here we go.

Alex, get right there.

Get it on the road.

I'm gonna head down
to the airstrip.

Hopefully, brennan's ready
with wash plant 'cause,
uh, we're coming.

[narrator] four hours
later, mitch sets off on the
three mile journey

To the airstrip cut.

I'm glad we don't have to go
too far here.

You watch that thing in the
mirror. That's rocking
side to side.

Come on, little girl.
Nice and easy.

Oh. We're in the trees.
Pretty good over there.

Well, here we are.

Nice and easy.

Keep going. Keep going.

Keep coming.

Left. Some more left.

Watch yourself.

Hold there.

Ready?

Seven degrees.

[bleep] are we good?

That is perfect.

That looks great. You look at
how the sugar tax leveled up.

Sluice surrounds right where
we want him.

[bleep] it's coming
together nicely.

Whoo. Good job.

[narrator] with big red,

Finally on its pad at the
airstrip, parker heads to the
last cut with his crew

To look back on four years
mining over twelve thousand
ounces of gold.

Well, I don't know whether to
be happy or sad that we got
through it already.

I mean, I'm proud.

Can't complain about
cleanups either.

They seem to already know.

I still can complain about
any cleanup.

-Yeah, yeah. [laughing]
-you never know.

[all laughing]

This is one of the biggest
cuts you guys have made,
isn't it?

There's a lot of rocks came
out of there.

If you put everything you
removed back except for what
we wanted,

What we took out of here
would fit in a bucket.

Yep.

[narrator] they've moved
over three million yards
of dirt,

Enough to fill the
dallas cowboys stadium

To get a four gallon bucket of
gold worth over $20 million.

With the final twenty five
thousand yards they clear
this week,

This could be parker's biggest
gold producing cut ever.

Everybody did a good job
with it, you know.

I didn't hear
any horror stories.

It was like two years ago
when sluicifer caught on fire.

We're like, okay we're done.
We're out of here.

Then we ended up
coming back following year.

I think the funniest thing was
you bringing the wash plant
in backwards

That I'm gonna
never forget. [bleep]

[all laughing]

I'm just happy we got it
all done.

For the most part, it did go
pretty [bleep] smooth.

I think he did good.

We've got some pretty good
numbers of gold out of
the thing.

You're cleanups were just
consistently good over
and over again.

Even when you hit that
sand spot.

You know, when you thought
things were gonna drop off,
you pushed right through it.

You guys did a heck of a job
here, that's for sure.

Well, I tell you what, I feel
old after this one...

...After the airstrip.

Fred, this doesn't look good
to me.

I don't like hearing that.

[narrator] in oregon,
gold guru, freddy dodge
is on a mission to save rookie

Mine boss
fred lewis's operation.

After he clean the
water supply,

Wash plant colonel nugget has
been running nonstop.

Now, freddie he's focused on
the most important thing
of all.

Pay dirt.

So this is your pay?

Yeah, we've been pulling off
this pay, but so full of rock,
it's hard to move.

I'm having a hard time
thinking it's not getting
diluted with the topsoil.

-It seems like it's just...
-If this is pay, it doesn't
look like very good pay to me.

Not in this situation,
not an alluvial deposits.

It looks more like slip.

It's come off the hill
with maybe some glacier
boulders mixed in.

It is what it looks like
to me.

[narrator] master
sergeant stefan generally has
been digging this pay

From the liberation cut for
four weeks.

You know, we need to find
gold, because right now
we're just

I mean, he's hemorrhaging
money to keep this
operation going.

All I know is I'm just about
to the end of my rope.

Something needs to change.

-Stefan.
-Yo.

It's first time I came up
to really look at the cut.

I'm not liking the look of the
dirt I see.

Well, all this right here
is all over burden.

From what I pulled off before
and I dropped it there.

Don't mess with that side
hill anymore.

That's all garbage.

That's all... Mainly slip that
slipped off this hill.

It hasn't been reworked.
River gravels from what I see.

-Okay.
-But look for those
rounded river gravels.

-Oh. We've got a lot of...
-No, this is just dirt.

It's got a few rounded rocks
in it.

-This is...
-Well, yeah,
that's overburdened.

-Yeah. So I haven't...
-You start getting a lot of
round rocks,

Just radio, me, I'll come over
and check it out.

So... So picture a
stream bed, right?

-We're all the rocks around.
-Tumble and tumble.

That's exactly right.
So, look for that.

What I would do is probably
back up here

About fifteen feet and punch a
hole deep as you can.

The gold on the elkhorn claim
was washed down from the
mother lode by two rivers.

[narrator] heavy gold
sits at the bottom
with the big river rocks

Rounded by years of
water erosion.

We need to make some money.
We need to find some gold.

About ten feet down, now.

Let's see if I can...

Here we go.

Take a look at this stuff
here. See what it looks like?

That looks pretty damn good.
Move on.

I've seen a lot of [bleep]
ground stones.

Now I think I need to take a
look at this.

I'm seeing a lot of this.

A lot of rounded stones
in here.

Hey, fred. Where you at, bro?

What you got?

This is pretty much down
there about,

I don't know, maybe ten,
twelve feet stuck in the wall.

I was looking at the bucket
as I brought it in.

And I'm like, number of
rounded rocks versus cracked
the bedrock.

This is rounded rock.

That's what I thought.

I like it.

You know, the only way we're
going to find out is to run
some of it, right?

Right. This is our best shot
right now.

I'd say every ounce of
this dirt,

-Everything below three feet,
-directly to the colonel.

Colonel's hungry man.
Sound feeder.

Let's do it.
Let's get to work.

-Good job stefan.
-Cool.

Got enough pace. We'll just
give it a go and see
what happens.

I just feel like we're on the
brink of failure

-All the time, every day.
-My fingers are crossed,

But pretty much make or break
if this doesn't produce,

I don't know how this is gonna
pan out.

[narrator] when the
miners close out a cut, they
always reclaim the land.

Putting it back to how it was
before they worked it.

You know, it's just kind
of weird.

You look at all this
and, you know, you get used

To driving out in the same
spot, seeing big red set up
here and, uh, yeah

It's going to be a little bit
different, driving by it
every day and not stopping.

But, you know, all these old
cuts, they'll end up
flooding out

Over the winner and be
nice ponds.

Wildlife really likes it.

And... You know, in a hundred
years, nobody will ever even
know we were here.

Three generations of beets
gather for the weekly
gold weigh.

It's nice to have you fix that
valve up those tailings look a
lot cleaner.

I mean, yes, you know,
we got it back together.

It seems we're working
pretty good,

You know, kevin. If he can't
be handsome, he might as well
be handy.

[all laughing]

[narrator] to reach his
three thousand ounce
season goal,

Tony needs a hundred ninety
five ounces every week.

What you got? Three, four.

Ten.

Twenty.

-Thirty.
-Forty,

-Fifty.
-Five.

-Sixty.
-Five,

-Seventy.
-Four.

-Eighty.
-[chuckles] ninety,

-One hundred. One ten.
-Twenty.

One forty.

One fifty.

-Good.
-One sixty.

Seventy.

-One eighty one...
-Point seven six.

[narrator] taking their
season total to two thousand
and nine ounces

Worth over three point six
million dollars,

But still short of their
weekly target.

To hit his goal, tony now
needs to run 24/7 with
no delays.

No. Then you have to swim
in it.

Well, guys, I don't know
what the gold weigh is going
to be, but,

These guys were able to run a
full day.

Fred lewis's crew gathers for
a gold haul they hope will
turn the season around,

Thanks to freddie and juan,
they have clean water,

A working wash plant and
better pay.

It's been a hard season
for you guys already.

I'm just hoping, with what
we've done.

You guys will be able to
finish the season strong
and run.

At least get some gold.

-Yeah, it was a good run.
-A hell of a lot longer.

Yeah, that's for sure.

We're not looking to make
bricks, but it will be nice

To put a little something
in the pockets.

A little something for the
effort, huh?

Hoping it's a good way.

Even if there's not a lot of
gold, the only way you're
going to get

What is here is run, run, run.

-Here we go.
-Here we go.

[narrator]
so far, in four weeks,

The liberation cut has only
produced zero point
six ounces.

Now, let's see what you got.

There's a quarter of an ounce.

-There you go. Half ounce.
-Half ounce.

Nearly three quarters of
an ounce.

[all cheering]

That's over half what
you've done.

Yeah, the entire season up
until this point.

-In one day.
-In one day.

Point seven four is really
good, I think,

Compared to what we found
the entire offseason.

Dude, is this from one day?

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

[narrator] thanks to
freddy and juan.

They've got more gold in just
one day, than the whole of the
last month.

But their total is still
less than two ounces.

And this is a starting point,
I think with the stuff they've
done here,

Showing us so we could
improve on our operation.

Now you could run, run, run.

And that's what you're gonna
have to do.

At this rate, they could get
over thirty five ounces by the
end of the season.

We're turning a corner.

I want to [bleep] tell more,
but I'm ecstatic that
we're improving.

A little bit of hope in a lot
of hard work goes a
long way, boys.

You're on your way,
though for sure.

[all] that's great. Let's go.

[chatting]

You're welcome. Lucky man.

Thank you.

Well, I don't know if there's
going to be enough gold in the
ground here,

But at least they're running
now and they'll find out.

You know, I can't thank him
and juan enough for helping us
so much.

And now it's time to
get some gold.

I am stoked now to keep going
with this season.

Still not a ton of gold, fred.
But you know what?

-It's a start.
-It's a better and swift kick
in the a*s.

[laughs] that's for sure.

Well, at least they ran a
full day.

They haven't done that before.

No three quarters of an ounces
is not that huge of a cleanup.

But honestly, it's a start.

Hopefully, with these repairs,
we'll be able to keep on run
and get more gold.

Ready juan?

Yep. Let's go, buddy.

Let's go to work, man.
Go get some gold.

[narrator] parker's crew
gathers to find out if the new
airstrip cut will pay out

And weigh the final gold
from the last cut.

That doesn't look too bad.

Twenty, forty, sixty,
hundred, hundred thirty,

Hundred thirty eight point
six five.

[narrator] worth over
two hundred sixty
thousand dollars.

Well, I guess having a
down day for the bearing
and then

Prepping up for the move.
I guess it's okay.

I mean say it's acceptable.

Yeah, we'll take.

-I'll take it. That's sure.
-Better than nothing.

Next up, the new airstrip cut.

Yes, lucifer has been
running good.

Hey, haven't
really been any issues

And was good potential in
that ground.

It's looking pretty good.
You want to see?

Yeah. Let's see it.

-All set, doumitt?
-All shot.

You see what the cleanup play?

Ten.

Twenty, forty, eighty,
a hundred.

One hundred thirty.

Hundred and forty four point
two five.

-That's not bad.
-No.

For first clean up.
Historically bad.

[narrator]
almost $275000 dollars

From their first week
in the new airstrip cut,

Taking their season total to
5450 ounces,

Worth almost $10 million.

If the airstrip cut stays like
that, we could have a
record year.

Well, let's hope so,
'cause big red's gonna be
coming down pretty shortly.

Yeah.

Yeah, once we get both plants,
tandem like that,
that'll be sweet.

Yeah, and thank you guys

For dealing with the amount
of jumping around we're doing.

I just I really appreciate it.

No worries.

And shane, thanks for keeping
this stuff rolling.

-No worries.
-Much appreciated.

It's all good.

Come on, mich,
over here, buddy.

All right. Thanks, guys.

See you guys later.

Gold's good, and that's all
that matters.

And the best thing is both
plant through nearest trip cut
right across from each other,

And it's pretty cool to plant
side by side everybody there
to help out when needed.

On the next gold rush...

During the plants down,
it's never good man.

Rick ness battles to keep his
wash plant running.

Shut the pump off!
Shut the pump off!

Tony beets is on the hunt for
more land.

The risk of getting the trees
through your windows is they
won't come through the cab.

Now you got to have your
eyes open.

And parker schnabel doubles
down on new ground

Here we go. Yeah.

So cut's gonna be underwater.

Get out of the way.