11x18 - The $6 Million Cut

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] on this
gold rush...

It's a brutal time,

Like, plants breaking down
and conveyor belts icing up.

This is just getting
out of control.

[narrator]
the schnabel crew battles
to keep the wheels turning

On parker's operation.

It just adds up.

There's always
more problems going on

And not enough people
to do 'em.

Right now,
the valve came off.

[narrator] fred lewis
calls in a favor
from an old buddy.

Well, if that was
happening in our mine site,

Parker would come out
and not be happy.

Now he knows our struggles.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] and tony beets
pushes his luck.

[monica] you've got
to be kidding.

We're just coming towards,
you know, the end.

And it's a brutal time,
like, plants breaking down

And conveyor belts icing up

And sluice run's icing up

And people are tired.

[narrator] 26-year-old
parker schnabel

Is making up for lost time.

After the pandemic delayed
the start of the season,

He's fought back hard
to be in sight
of a record gold haul,

But winter could hit
at any time.

[parker] you know,
with mitch leaving,
we're pretty short staffed.

It's very hard
to find people

Whose judgment you trust

Because not everybody
gets it right.

I'm like, "oh, [bleep],

I got to wake up

And probably go to work."

[narrator] parker is racing
to finish a 26 acre cut
at the airstrip.

He's got three acres
of stripped ground
left to sluice.

Short on crew,

Parker is working in the cut
to help get them
over the line.

[parker] this time of year,
a lot of falls on
the mechanic's shoulders.

And with mitch gone,

Shane's effectively
holding this place together.

[shane] we're nearing
the end of the season,

It's almost done,
it's been a long one.

We've had belt breaks,

We've had hoppers down,
bearings go.

It never stops.

[narrator]
in the 250 loader,

Greenhorn operator
tatiana costa,

Feeds big red.

So, this year's
my first year mining.

It's my first year,

Uh, operating
heavy machinery,

So it's all very new
and fresh for me.

It's... You know,
it's been a lot of months,

Working a lot of hours
every day,

So it's...
Everyone is starting
to definitely getting tired.

[brennan] you know,
we do need

A record breaking year
this year.

Um, parker's in search
of new ground in alaska.

And, uh, you know,

We've been chewing through
so much the last few years

That we're gonna run out
sooner than later.

So, he needs to get
something in place asap,

So we have
a future in mining.

[loader groans]

[tatiana] what's wrong
with his loader now? It's...

Hey, guys.

Brennan, um,

I don't know
if you could hear me,

But this loader's down,
so I'm gonna
need your help.

[brennan]
[bleep] frustrating.

I don't think
we have any more
spare loaders here.

I don't know
the severity of it,

But I hope
it's an easy fix, man,

'cause this is
just getting out of control.

We'll just have to get shane
to look at that.

They just lost another loader.
It's the last one we got.

It's the only thing
running big red right now

And if it's not running,
we're not bringing in
any gold.

I got to shut this down,

Go back to the yard
and fix the loader.

[engine powering off]

It never ends.

[narrator] every hour
big red is down,

The crew loses
almost $4,000 in lost gold.

We got this loader down,

But we gotta get it up
as soon as possible.

We got a cracked fitting.

One more ball,
I think we'll have her.

A little tiny split
right there,

But you can see
a stress line
all the way across,

But it's just
starting to leak,
like, right there.

[narrator]
this late in the season,

The team has
no spare elbow joints
for the hydraulic hose,

So shane improvises.

[shane] so, I'll probably
have to weld

A few beads across here
to seal it up,

And hopefully it'll work.

Well, we're gonna
put the pressure to it now

And make sure
it's not leaking.

Send her back to work,
wash some rocks.

[narrator] shane's bush fix
will need to withstand

7,000 pounds
of hydraulic pressure.

[shane] yeah, fire it up.

-[whirring]
-yes!

It's leaking.

[shane] still leaking?
[bleep]

Yeah, it's not ideal situation

'cause you can't
see the crack, so...

We got to pull it out
and give it again.

Shane, man,
you got a copy? Shane?

What's up, brennan?

Hey, buddy,
what's the status
on that loader there, man?

We got to try
and get back sluicin'.

Uh, is it a quick fix,

Or what'd you figure?

Eh, we're having
a bit of grief.

We can't get this leak
sorted out.

It's a split in the pipe,

But we got to
pull it out again
and try another time.

And hopefully it'll work
'cause no one in town's
gonna have these fittings.

No way.

Okay, well... [laughs]

When it rains, it pours, eh?

With mitch being gone,

I don't know if we need to
try and find another mechanic

For the rest of this season
or what.

Because we can't
rely on shane for everything.

Poor guy is so burnt out,
it's not even funny.

[shane] you know,
mitch gone now,

It's kind of all on my plate.

He had to go,
he has no choice,

But it just adds up.

There's always
more problems going on

And not enough people
to do 'em.

It just kind of wears on me.

I don't mind doing it,

But sometimes it gets
pretty old pretty fast.

And that's the truth.

Definitely can't afford
this much downtime

This time of the year.

We got lots to do.

And to be spending
this much time on a hose,

Kind of wasting
everyone's time.

[engine starts]

[shane] so far, so good.

I love that sound.

I think we got it fixed.

[taylor] yeah,
she's looking good.

It's been pretty busy,

It's kind of comfortable
to sit back in the seat here
and just pull levers.

We all good, buddy?

Nice.

[taylor] put this thing
back to work,

Get big red
up and running,

And carry on with our day.

Nice.

Good job, taylor.

[narrator] the four hours
of downtime

Has cost $15,000
in lost gold.

[engine starts]

Well, now we're sluicin'.

[tatiana] oh, it's so nice
to have the loader back.

Uh, it's been
almost half a shift.

So, um,

I'm looking forward
to get 'em sluicing

And put some gold
in the bag.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] with just weeks
left before the yukon winter
puts a freeze

On mining in paradise hill,

King of the klondike
tony beets

Is still 700 ounces short
of his 3,000-ounce
season gold.

[tony speaking]

[narrator]
over two seasons,
the 18 acre mega cut

Has produced nearly
4,000 ounces of gold
worth over $6 million.

But now, there's just
35,000 yards of pay left

In the last corner
of the cut.

[tony speaking]

There's still
five grand here,

So we're really
doing all we can.

All hands on deck
to, uh, get it out

So we can get pay to the plant

And get that trommel going
and keep it sluicing.

[tony speaking]

[bleep]

[bleep]

[bleep]

[bleep]

[narrator] from digging out
the last section
of his mega cut,

Before the end
of this season,

Tony beets has taken
one scoop too many,

Punching a hole in the wall
between the cut

And a two-million gallon
tailings pond.

[tony speaking]

[bleep]

Oh, no.

Holy [bleep].

[monica] you've got
to be kidding me.

[bleep]

[bleep]

[kevin] no, I would be pumping
the whole [bleep] time.

[tony speaking]

[kevin] that ain't gonna stop
for a while.

So, if we're done
in the mega cut,

Where are we gonna
get pay for the rest
of the season?

[tony speaking]

[bleep]

[tony speaking]

[narrator] tony's
accidentally flooded
his mega cut.

He has just three days
of pay dirt stockpile.

He needs to find
new ground fast
to keep gold coming in.

[tony speaking]

[narrator]
tony is banking
on an area of virgin ground

Between the mega cut
and an old cut he knows
had good gold.

[tony speaking]

[fred] good girl.

It's getting so cold,
shoeshine doesn't
wanna go outside.

I don't know
how much longer
we're gonna get,

But it's getting
cold fast.

We're in the mood right now,

Trying to scramble and salvage

As much as we can
from the season.

[narrator] with the end
of the season closing in,

Fred lewis and his crew
of combat veterans,

Have mined less than
three ounces of gold,

Not even enough
to cover fred's expenses.

But two weeks ago,
fred found a hidden spot

Under the old mayor's house,

Which they hope
will pay out big.

We don't have a lot of time
to make mistakes.

We're gonna basically
capitalize on every minute
we have.

Mitch from parker's claim,

Um, he had to basically
come and scramble back

To his house in oregon

Because of forest fires,

And now those have settled
and he's free.

So, instead of going back up
to the border,

He's gonna come
and give us a hand.

Right now, I'm just
on my way over

To see fred
over in eastern oregon.

Sounds like
they've had a really rough
start of the year here.

[narrator] parker's mechanic
and co-foreman,
mitch blaschke,

Has been mining gold
for nearly a decade.

He and fred
worked together

At parker's claim
last season.

Now, fred's
called in a favor

And asked mitch to come
fine-tune his operation

And help save his season.

[mitch] you know,
the thing with mining is,

There's a lot more guys
that go broke
than guys that make it.

It's pretty late in the season
to be trying to turn
things around,

But I'm gonna go
try and help him out
the best I can

And just get
some machines fixed

And to make us
some money.

Well, looks like
we're just getting up
to the mine site here.

Let's go check this out.

-What's happening?
-What's happening?

-How you doing, man?
-Long time.

I'm glad you're here.

You picked a cold day to come.

-How's it going? Mitch.
-This is kendell.

-Kendell.
-Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, too, man.

See what this thing's
all about.

It's a challenge.

[narrator] the lewis crew
is working flat out

After a run
of poor gold weighs.

You have mitch here
watching us right now.

And, uh, it's kind of good
to have him here,

You know,
he's a part of parker's team,

Those guys are
usually successful.

[narrator] loader operator
kyle pletzke

Drops pay from the mayor's cut
through the grizzly bars
to remove large boulders...

It'd be interesting to see
what he has to say

About the way
our operation's set up.

[narrator]
...Then alex voight

Feeds the pay
through wash plant
colonel nugget.

I've got plenty of pay,

It seems to be going
really good today.

Hopefully, it keeps
this way for the rest
of the season.

[crashes]

[bleeping]

Hey, fred. Fred.

You know, I've been talking
about the grizzly bars,

They just frickin' snapped.

Oh, [bleep]. We're coming.

What do you mean by "snapped"?

[kyle] we got huge rocks
that have fallen through.

That's [bleep]!

Definitely what
we don't want.

There's no way we can, uh,
keep moving pay

With this screwed up
like this.

Dude, we've got
to get it fixed.

[narrator] if the rocks
aren't sifted out
from the pay dirt,

The team runs the risk
of destroying the wash plant.

Do you think
you could fix
something like this?

[mitch] it's gonna
take some time.

I mean, it's not like
we're just gonna fix
those two bars,

You look at
all the rest of it.

Otherwise, the next scoop
you put in here,

We're gonna be right
in the same spot, right?

The biggest thing,
you gotta be able
to keep running.

I'll get my truck over here

And we'll just start
welding and cutting
and see what we got.

Good thing mitch is here
because we don't
have the ability

To weld
something like this yet.

Uh, it'll give kyle
another chance to get
a lesson on a welder,

And give mitch
a chance to help us out,
which is awesome.

It's a really good timing,
but at the same time,
it sucks.

Things just keep breaking.

Mitch has got
the real tools
and the real experience,

And I'm gonna just
ask questions,

And that way,
when he's gone,

Hopefully I can
kind of take over

And know what to do
for next time.

One thing that we're gonna
do here real quick

-Is pre-heat these
a little bit.
-Okay.

You put just a little bit
of temperature in there.

It's gonna let it cool down
a little bit slower.

It'll just help keep it
from cracking up.

This stuff's nasty,
but you'll melt through it.

Just leave it
back and forth.

All right, buddy,
give it a try.

That all look pretty good,
buddy.

-Good evening, boss.
-You guys did great work.

This is fantastic.

Better than when we got it.

Three and four sit here, see?

We've re-welded the center

And re-welded everything
down here.

It was
all completely re-welded.

So, we're gonna
get all the way

Through the rest of the season
no problem.

Well, it's, uh, guaranteed
till the next time it breaks,

-But...
-I'm impressed.

-I want to test it out.
-You want to test it out?

Gotta do it. Find the gold.

All righty.
Thanks, mitch.

-Whoo!
-Yeah, no problem.

Oh, yeah,
that looks really good.

Nothing's moving around,
everything looks
nice and tight.

[fred] we just got the grizzly
up and running.

Now we can get pay
from the mayor's cut
up to the grizzly

And keep feeding the plant.

Perfect.

We're hoping for a good week.

Everything's running
right now,

So everything is good.

Ah, this time of year,
it's so awesome,

Where all the leaves change,
and the colors,
and the sun rises.

I mean,
it's so beautiful up here.

It just, uh...
It amazes me sometimes.

[narrator] on indian river,
parker schnabel's
chief mechanic, shane smith,

Starts his day
at the airstrip cut.

I got the loader fixed.
Hopefully it will last
the rest of the season.

It just seems to be a fight
to keep everything running.

Mitch is missing,
but, uh,

Now it's all the weights
on my shoulders.

And, uh, I gotta weld,
I gotta fabricate,

I gotta monkey-wrench.

I just keep everything going,
and we'll get through it.

What's up, dude?

Well, I don't mean
to pin any more [bleep]
on you, buddy,

But, uh, we had
the pond get sucked dry
there at big red.

[shane] how the hell
did that happen?

Yeah, see, I went
and looked over
in the river bank,

And you can see
that the river
dropped overnight.

We have to shut down big red.

We've only dropped
two feet of water,

Look at the silt.

-[brennan] yeah, I know.
-It's worked its way in here.

All the tailings
have built themselves up.

That's pretty dirty water.

See, these part of the runs

Normally are fairly clean,

But that one...
Thing's gone,

But it's just packed solid
with sand and silt.

[narrator]
big red's pond system
is filled with clean water

Fed from the indian river.

But overnight,
the river level dropped
and cut off the supply.

As the night shift
kept working,

The tailings water
silted up the pond.

This dirty water
was then pumped back
through the plant

And clogged the sluice runs.

What's up, pop?

Uh, yeah.

So I don't know
how long they ran
last night like this.

[narrator]
chris doumitt is responsible

For all the gold clean-ups
on the claim.

I don't mean to sound
like a pro or anything,

But I don't think
those sluice runs

Are supposed
to look like that.

So, what happens,
that gold's gonna hit that,

It's just gonna...
It's not gonna stop.

It's going to the next one,
next one,

And keep on going
till it's out at the end
of the sluice box.

It just takes, like,
a few minutes

And these sluice runs

Will load up
with that mud and...

Downtime now
with gold not coming in,

And how much do you think
we could've lost potentially?
I don't know.

On a guess,
I'd say we probably lost

Somewhere around eight
to twelve ounces.

[narrator] eight to
twelve ounces of gold

Is worth $15,000 to $23,000.

We don't wanna go
down that road.

There's more
to running a plant

Than just putting dirt
in a hopper, that's for sure.

You gotta pay attention
to the whole...

The whole system.

For [bleep] sake.

This is total bull [bleep].

There's still gold in there,

But it's all packed
with silt and mud,

It's really tight.

We're gonna have
to wash it in good

When we first start it up.

[parker] I want you guys
to sort this out yourselves.

With big red shut down,

We got to make sure
that sluicifer stays running.

[narrator] while doumitt
cleans the sluice runs

To recover
the night-shift gold,

Shane and brennan
need to find

A new source of clean water
to run to the plant.

[shane] what do you think,
if we suck out of
sluicifer's pond,

It's a little bit closer?

We might make it
with that pipeline.

-Yeah.
-That's something
we could do.

It'll save us a lot of time.

We can get up
and flush everything out

And get going again.

Yeah, true.
Well, I like that idea.

I mean, that's your best,
quickest option
to get back to work.

So, I mean, we might
as well just go for it.

-Give it a whirl.
-Yeah.

[narrator] shane's plan
is to move big red's pump

Over to sluicifer's
still-clean pond 360 yards
further upstream.

Well, we gotta get this plant
up and running.

It's costing way
too much money to be down.

We got it.

Crank it up.

[motor starts]

There we go. [bleep]
finally.

[narrator] after
seven-hours downtime,

Costing over $13,000
in lost gold,

Shane fires up the plant.

Well, now we're sluicin'.

Oh, shane...

Thanks again
for all your hard work, buddy.

[shane] no worries, man.

Yeah, it's been pretty tough.

You're trying to do so much
in such a short time.

It's just been one thing
after another, just like,
"go, go, go."

And, uh, I am ready
for some sleep.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] after flooding
the last of the pay
in the mega cut,

Tony's gambling
on a new piece of ground
to reach his season goal.

He's put youngest son mike
in charge of opening
this new cut:

The upper cut.

Okay.

Yeah.

[narrator] tony needs
to get down to pay dirt
in the upper cut.

Before his current stockpile
runs out in just two days,

Mike's assembled
a whole fleet

To move more than
half a million yards
of overburden in record time.

[mike] the idea is to
clear off a whole section
down to pay.

It's a pain in the a*s
to deal with.

When it rains,
it's almost impossible
to deal with.

And unfortunately, it rained
just before we were gonna
be dealing with him.

[monica] they tore apart
half this hillside.

We ended up...
It was so squishy.

Big [bleep] mess.

[richard]
here's the soupy mess.

If it just stopped raining,
maybe we could actually

Get things drying up
a little bit.

It's like a skating rink.

It's hard to turn the tire
that just slides.

Oh, [bleep]!

[bleep]

Come on, baby.
Come on.

[bleep]

That [bleep] sucks.

Kevin, you got a copy?

Go for kevin.
Go for kevin.

[richard] I don't think
I'm going anywhere now.

I found another sinkhole here.

We're gonna have to
get her to pull us out.

[kevin] this is not good.

I'll come by with a tow
to pull you out.

Copy that. [bleep]

Yeah, we know
we gotta move it.
It's right on the [bleep] way.

We'll get the cable.
Hook it up. Pull it out.

Not a [bleep] problem.

[richard] a little
before this, I had a hard time
getting out of this one hole.

This time here,
she sunk a little bit deeper.

Well...

There we go.

You can go ahead, kevin.
We're good to go.

Yeah.

[engine revving]

Come on.
You stubborn [bleep]

[loud crash]

-[bleep]
-[richard] whoa, whoa, kevin,

I'm about four feet longer
than I was about
ten seconds ago.

[bleep]

That's not good.

Oh, [bleep].

Yeah, that's in two pieces.

It came apart.
That's honestly
what [bleep] happened.

Truck got stuck.
I tried to pull it out.

Plop!

[narrator] kevin beets'
attempt to rescue a rock truck

At the upper cut
has ended in disaster.

[kevin] I've never seen
a rock truck pull apart yet.

I've seen other breaks,
I've seen frame breaks,

But I've not seen
one pull in two.

That's a new one for me.

[sighs]

Kevin came along
and hooked up the cable,
as you can see.

And since he gave it a tug,
I could tell something
went wrong

'cause the front of the truck
dropped down and it felt like
it got a little bit longer.

And, yeah, as you can see,
it's... [laughs]
it did get longer.

[narrator] kevin uses the d6
to pull the cab clear.

But the body
is not designed for towing.

This is just a little,
quick little eyelet

That I'm gonna weld
on the front.

In that way,
when we pick it up,

We'll be able to chain
the front to the hitch.

Then that way, the a*s end
will be hanging down
on the ground.

That'll save us
running around behind it

With a loader
or something like that.

Could make things
a little simpler.

[narrator] welder cody hunter
must fabricate a towing point

Strong enough
for the 16-ton truck body.

[tony speaking]

[cody] customization.

[tony speaking]

Very nice.

[narrator] six hours later,
they're back stripping.

[tony speaking]

[narrator]
with the overburden clear,

Tony can finally run in pay
from the new upper cut.

[tony speaking]

[kevin] hopefully, we can get
more 3,000 ounces.

Just shoving through
as much as we can.
Fingers crossed.

Got some more huff.

New can.

Sometimes they're wore out,

They need a little extra
incentive to get going.

[narrator]
at the elkhorn claim,

Parker schnabel's co-foreman
and expert mechanic,
mitch blaschke,

Is on site to help fred lewis
fix broken gear

In the hope
of getting big gold
out of the mayor's cut,

And saving
what's left of his season.

Sometimes you're going through
so much starting fluid,

You wonder if it's running
of off this or diesel.

[engine starting]

Oh, yeah.

-Gotta her up a bit.
-Yeah.

[fred] both our water ponds
here are fed from

-A prior claim owner's hole
they had dug.
-Yeah.

[fred] so we pump up
into this pond

And feed these two ponds
for running every day.

-Yeah, recirculate.
-Yeah.

All right,
get ready to fire up.

All right, water's coming.

Fire it up.

[rattling]

Turn it off, lewis!

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[on radio] fred,
shut it down, bud.

Oh, man!

Gonna shut it down.

What's happenin'?

I think it's just not
priming right.

[narrator] the pump
that feeds the plant
has lost its prime,

And fred's operation
is shut down.

Before they can
restart the pump,

They must force water
into the system

And flush out
any air pockets.

So, what I would do...

You got that two-inch line
that's feeding that?

-Mm-hmm.
-Stuff on the top
of that thing,

Get that thing primed full,

-Least just cork it,
and start it up.
-Okay.

[narrator] fred's greenhorns
used buckets to fill
the system by hand,

But expert mitch knows
the most efficient way

Is to use another pump
to prime it.

You ready to fire
this thing up?

Whoever knows
how to start it.

[motor starting]

Now we got
some water pumping.

They got this pump here
feeding up the pond,

You know, you do the fast,
quickest thing, right?

Pop that connection loose,
take it over there,
fill that thing up.

Get it fired up
and get to work.

You know, they're getting
ten minutes runtime,
now we shut down for five.

Starting back up
makes it very difficult
to get any consistency.

And that's what you want.
You wanna get in that rhythm,
in that groove,

Put material in,
kicking it out the other side,

And get some gold
at the end of the day.

[narrator]
with the pump fixed,

Mitch turns his attention
to the wash plant,

Colonel nugget.

Right now, I'm just watching
the action on the sluices.

Everything looks
really nice there.

You watch how
the water's flowing down,

You can see
the rocks jumping.

That's what you wanna see.

If there's any gold in this,
those sluices definitely
will be catching it.

[rattling]

[man] oh, my [bleep].

[whistles]
hey, stop, stop, stop.

[motor turns off]

[narrator] the drive belt
for the shaker deck
has come off.

You gotta be [bleep]
kidding me.

The belt came off.

Uh, we'll get
the belt back on,

We'll get
the water flowing again,

And get the plants
starting right back up.

[mitch] we've had the belts
come off the shaker deck.

You know,
that's just not acceptable.

If that was happening
in our mine site,

Parker would come out
and not be happy.

And now he knows
our struggles.

All right.

[narrator] as pay builds up
in the hopper feeder,

Water is forced over the sides
of the wash plant,

And loosens
the shaker deck drive belt.

Mitch plans to build a screen

To divert the water
away from the belt

And keep the plant running.

We just extended this here
with another plate,
a piece of angled iron.

And, hopefully now,
any material gets
on top of this,

It will ride past the belts
and fall down out of the way.

It won't be kicking
the belts off every time.

[motor running]

It's looking good, buddy.

I have a feeling we're not
gonna be changing that belt
for a while now.

Let's hope so.

-What's up, dude?
-What's happening, my man?

-Hey.
-What's up, man?

That was quite a week.

Heck yeah, it was.

Appreciate you guys
letting me come out

-And hang out
with you for a week.
-Thanks for coming.

[mitch] and, yeah,
best of luck to ya.

It's mining,
it's never easy.

-Shoo, it's not.
-[laughter]

[mitch] but, yeah,
you guys are definitely
quick learners, so...

[fred] well,
thanks for everything
you've done.

Especially all the insight
you gave us and the advice.

We've really taken
a lot of it to heart.

-All right, no problem, man.
-Yeah, for sure.

All righty, I'm gonna
get on the road, but, uh,

Yeah, you guys just keep
throwing dirt in there
until you can't anymore.

When a problem pops up,
just wait,

About ten minutes later,
there'll be another one.

-[all laughing]
-that's mining, so...

You guys have a good one.

-Take care. Drive safe.
-Drive safe, man.

[fred] it was great
having mitch here.

Any time I can get to pick
someone's brain
that has a lot of knowledge

In something
I'm trying to perfect,
is perfect scenario.

It's gonna make everything
a lot more efficient.

And we should get good gold.

That's what we need more
than just about anything else.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] tony beets
is eager to see

How his new upper cut
will pay out.

[monica] with the old timers,
if they walked away with this,

They'd leave
all the fine stuff.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] just one pan
reveals around
three ounces of gold.

Well, we'll put it in front
of you 'cause people
wanna see your face.

-No.
-[ruby] do you know
how to do that?

-Hi, guys.
-Hi, everybody.

Hi.

So how was everybody's week?

[monica]
so what did you learn?

[tony speaking]

[all laughing]

Hopefully,
it packs some punches?

[laughs]

[monica] ahh!

How long have
you been waiting for that?

[tony speaking]

[monica] 10, 20, 30, 40, 50,











[minnie] that's good, mike.

[monica] 278.12.

-[tony speaking]
-[woman] yeah, right on.

[narrator] the gold
from the mega cut
before the flood,

Along with the pay
from the new upper cut,

Totals over 278 ounces.

That's roughly a bit over
half a a million, eh?

[kevin] might help to, uh,
pay to fix up that rock truck

I kind of pulled in half.
[laughs]

When they say
pull up the truck,

They mean the whole truck,
not half of it.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[narrator]
tony's season total

Is now
nearly 2,600 ounces

Worth 4.7 million dollars,

And just 400 ounces short
of his season goals.

So I suggest you guys
all get out there and do it.

Sounds like a plan.

So we'll see you later.

Well, it's about time.

-[laughs]
-just saying.

[minnie] no.

Nice jeans, though.
Cute a*s.

[fred] well, guys, I know
we had a lot of breakdowns
this week, as usual,

But if mitch wasn't here,

It would've been a lot harder
for you to scramble to fix it.

[narrator] fred lewis
and his crew

Had vital help
from expert mechanic
mitch blaschke.

I'm feeling more like
we're getting

To be more of
a nascar pit crew

When [bleep] breaks down,
or getting there fast.

Feel like just
our communication skills

And our ability
to work as a team
is really coming along.

[narrator] this week,
the lewis crew ran
a total of 520 yards of pay

From the mayor's cut
at elkhorn claim.

[fred] that was the most pay
we put through that plant,

And I think you guys should
really be proud of that.

Wanna see the gold?

[all] yeah.

[fred]
bigger pile than before.
We're getting bigger.

.82.

[narrator]
worth nearly $1,500.

It's their biggest
gold weigh of the season.

[fred] so we're getting close
to an ounce cleanup.

Yeah. Well, hey, guys, this is
our best gold weigh yet.

And we're a long way
from where we're
supposed to be.

But we're learning,
we're adapting.

I'm personally proud
of how far we've come
this season.

You guys are doing great.

[stefan] having mitch here,
you know, he kind of,

Brought a little organization
to the table,

Stuff that, you know,
in my opinion,
we were missing.

[kendell] it's nice
having somebody in

With experience
on that level and, uh,

Was pretty informational
to myself and fred.

I feel like we've taken
some pretty good pointers
from mitch.

And now we're operating
a little more smoothly.

Everybody has a better idea
of what's going on,

And I think
we're moving forward.

We're gonna work
as hard as we possibly can,

And hopefully,
we can salvage this season.

How's it going?

Hey, how you doing?

-Good. How are you?
-Good.

-Hey, man.
-Hey, doumitt. How are you?

-Good, good.
-That's good.

[narrator] at scribner creek,
the schnabel crew gathers
for the weekly gold weigh.

You guys look
a little wet and cold.

You're not, like,
getting overworked
or anything, are you?

[shane] oh, no.
There's never enough to do.

There's never...
Never enough to do?

-[all laughing]
-yeah, right.

[shane] I might just drop
in one spot.

You guys have put in
some long days recently,

And I appreciate it.

[shane] oh, no worries.

[parker] this time of year,
it's never fun.

Um, but the last couple
of weeks, for sure,

Have been a bit manic.

[shane] yep. We're all here
for the same thing.

I don't understand what it is
about this time of year

That causes [bleep]
to just [bleep] up.

What did we get for the week,
with the water failure
and everything else?

I'm excited to see it.

[narrator] big red
has averaged
153 ounces a week

Since it moved
to the airstrip cut
three weeks ago.

-Brennan, you do it.
-Oh.

We're gonna let you do it
'cause you don't have
to count that high.

-Yeah.
-[all laughing]

[brennan] 10, 50, 80, 90,



[narrator]
worth around $200,000.

-Yeah.
-[chris] you got
brutalized this week.

-Yeah.
-[chris] so...


if we really think about it,

Isn't that bad.

[brennan] that was going
out of our control,
what happened, right?

[chris] right.

At least we made up for it
as quick as we could go
and got back to sluicing.

Hopefully,
next week's better.

[shane] sluicifer's gonna kick
big red's a*s, or what?

-When doesn't it?
-[laughter]

Come here, tyson.
You can count higher.

-[all laughing]
-[bleep]







[narrator] on the other side
of the cut,

Sluicifer has delivered
more than twice
as much gold as big red,

Worth almost $400,000.

[chris] obviously,
it had twice
the sluicing time.

[both] yeah.

Hmm, that's the same
amount of hours a week,
though, chris, you know?

-Yeah, brennan.
-That's true.

-You didn't do
so swell, did you?
-[laughter]

So, for the week,
we wound up with 310.4.

[narrator]
worth $590,000.

Good week, really.
Considering.

-We're kicking the read
on last year's yields, eh?
-Yeah.

[narrator]
with 6,401 ounces,

Parker is just
822 ounces short

Of his entire total
for last season.

-Wow.
-That's nuts,
how much it's climbed

Since we came
to the airstrip cut, eh?

Yeah. If this
airstrip cut continues,

And you can keep
your plants going,
we'll have a record year.

So I guess
I get no sleep.

-Yeah.
-[all laughing]

You can sleep this winter.

[all laughing]

Go get your acre, you guys.

All righty. I'm out.
Thanks.

-You betcha.
-Have a good night.

-Thanks, doumitt.
-Yeah, thanks for all you do,
you guys.

-Thank, guys.
-Young man.

[both laughing]

A couple of bad weeks
in a row here,

But big red lost
all its water.

Boom, shane got on it
right away to help me out,

And we got the plant
back up and sluicing.

Shane is so burnt out,

The only thing on my mind
is getting that guy
some days off

Before he doesn't show up
for the rest of the year.

[narrator] on the next
gold rush...

Well, I'll be damned.

[narrator] tony beets makes
a stunning discovery...

[man] there's something
happening over there.

[narrator] ...That could lead
to a monster payday.

If anybody wants to go home,
they can [bleep] go home.

There's no need to come here
and be a [bleep] about it.

[narrator] parker schnabel's
crew pushes back.

Go pack [bleep]
leave right now.

I don't give a [bleep]
about any of this [bleep].

[laughter]

[narrator]
and rick ness hits it big.

People search their whole life
for this type of material.

[man] holy [bleep].