11x19 - Clear Eyes, Full Pans

[bunniefuu]

[narrator]
on this gold rush...

[tony speaking]

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

[tony] oh, I'll be damned.

[narrator]
...On his hunt for gold.

There's something
hiding over there.

Holy [bleep].

[narrator] rick ness
hits the jackpot.

People search their whole life

For this type of material.

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

[narrator] and parker schnabel
throws his team
into a tailspin.

[parker] go pack my [bleep]
and leave right now,
I don't give a [bleep].

I'm [bleep] pissed.

[dramatic music playing]

[machine whirring]

[narrator]
this time last year,

Klondike legend tony beets
was already shutdown
by the yukon winter.

But after a late start
due to the pandemic,

He's still
over 400 ounces short

Of his 3,000 ounce
season goal,

And he's not giving up now.

Gents, keep it going in.

[narrator]
the trommel's muddy water

Runs into ponds
to let the silt settle,

By law this sediment must have
dropped out of the water

Before it's discharged
into the creek.

But the ponds have silted up,

And dirty water is now flowing
out of the discharge pipe.

Go ahead, tony. Go ahead.

[tony speaking]

Righty. I'm on my way.

[narrator] feeding dirty water
into the creek is a violation

That could see
tony's operation shutdown,

And hit with a fine
of up to $100,000.

[monica over speaker]
yes, I do. Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.

Why? What's happened?

[tony speaking]

Great. On it.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] to increase
the pond's capacity,

So the silt
has space to settle,

Tony plans to raise the whole
mile and a half of dikes

By a massive seven feet.

It'll take over 2.3 million
cubic feet of dirt,

Enough to fill
the capitol rotunda,
twice over.

[tony speaking]

What's up? What do
you need, chickie?

Hey, I'm gonna be
backing these trucks in

You know,
it is the end of the season.

Damn near, anyways, so,

The faster we get this done,
the better.

'cause it's just costing
nothing but money.

Sounds good. Just give me
a holler when you want
the d10 to barrel down,

-And I'll make it happen.
-[monica] aces.

[kevin] if you let dirty water
into the stream, you can be
shutdown for good.

So, dike building it is.

[engine whirring]

Gotta build 'em up,
build 'em up, build 'em up,
build 'em up.

We, uh, now have
pretty much everybody

On the dikes, making
this project "happening."

Until this is done,
we cannot sluice,

So, all hands on deck,
all hands on deck.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] tony loads
rock trucks with old tailings.

[monica] keep coming,
keep coming.

Hard left.

[narrator]
monica directs the trucks

To dump at
one end of the dike,

Then kevin pushes
the piles flat
and packs them down

With the weight
of the d10 dozer.

Do one quick push. Boom.
And then we get
out of the way.

Repeat.

[dramatic music playing]

[parker] overall, it's been
a pretty good season.

You know,
it's been tough for sure,

But we're finding good gold
and we're making money

And that's the important part.

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

Is on track
to break records this year

And expand
his gold mining empire.

We've got a lot of options
on other grounds

Both here in the klondike
and in alaska.

You know, the biggest factor
for making a decision on those

Is where we're at money-wise
at the end pf the season.

[narrator] with only weeks
left in the season,

He's going all out

With both his wash plants
running 24/7

In the 26 acre airstrip cut.

[parker] this season
we're just going through
area like crazy.

Gold prices are good.

The best way to
maximize this season

Is to open up an extension
on the airstrip cut that
we're doing right now.

I don't know how happy
the guys are gonna be
about this

But we're on a roll

And we should try to
keep that going.

-How's it going?
-Good, you?

Not too bad.

Yeah, so...

I know it's a little late
in the season,

But, we could get
another piece opened up

And extend the cut
further downstream

Another five, 600 feet.

We've got good gold prices
and we need gold
coming out of the ground.

That's gonna add a couple more
weeks of work, man,

Like, I don't know if
we'll be able to beat
the weather doing this.

My only concern is that
snow's probably gonna be
coming in pretty soon.

You should be able to get
something opened up.

To open this ground up
is a big challenge for me.

I know it's gonna not be fun
this time of year, but,

It's gotta get done.

[narrator] parker wants to
mine another 600 foot cut,

Half as much again
as they've mined so far
on the airstrip.

It will take 500 truckloads
of worthless overburden

To get down to gold rich pay.

This late in the season,

That's a huge extra workload
for co-foreman brennan ruault
in the 700,

And operator jm in the 460.

This is a lot of
extra pressure
on my shoulders

But, uh, you know,
I'm not the boss here,

And he's the one
calling the shots on that

And we're just gonna
have to get it done.

At the end of the day,
I have one job to do,

To just find as much gold
as we possibly can.

The plans keep
changing around here,

So it's...
Like, I can't keep up.

I'm getting tired.
We gotta open
a lot of ground.

But all I can do is my best.

[narrator] while brennan
and jm strip overburden
on the new extension,

Parker checks the section
of the airstrip cut

They've already mined.

[parker] what the [bleep]?

[narrator] parker's discovered
a rookie error.

They've left gold bearing
river rock behind.

Howdy.

I shouldn't have to
walk your floor.

What's that, buddy?

I though everybody
knew how to dig pay

But three are
round rock everywhere.

Like I shouldn't have to walk
the floor and find like,
yards of rock

I've hardly dug any of this.

I don't care.

You're in charge
or are you not in charge?

Well, mitch was in charge.

[parker] mitch ain't here.

Yeah, well...

There's quite a bit missed.

Whoever took the last strip
in the back.

I don't give
a [bleep] who it is,
and neither should you,

But it needs to
get cleaned up.

I understand that,

But I haven't even dug
half this [bleep] pay here,

I've been in the back
doing overburden.

I don't know if guys are in
a rush to go home or whatever

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

Right now. Like, that's not
a reason to rush
through any cuts or...

Or do anything sloppy,
or whatever is going on,

We've done this racket
for eight years now,

I shouldn't have to
walk our floors.

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

[producer speaking]

I'm so [bleep] over
this bull [bleep] man.

Go pack my [bleep]
and leave right now,

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

[brennan] I am [bleep] pissed.

[bleep] I'm gonna pack
my [bleep] and leave
right now.

[narrator] at indian river,

Co-foreman brennan ruault

Is reaching a breaking point,

After his boss parker schnabel
called him out

For leaving pay dirt behind
in the cut.

[brennan] I'm [bleep] over
this horse [bleep].

I'm trying to do a million
[bleep] things and keep
my head in check,

[bleep] blood is boiling, man.

Whoo!

[narrator] when brennan joined
the crew five years ago

He'd never mined gold before.

Can't wait to see
the little yellow flakes
on the sluice box.

[narrator]
through his hard work,
he gained parker's trust.

[parker] that's awesome.

[narrator]
and worked his way up to
the rank of co-foreman.

What I'd really like to do
is for your guys
to share the role.

I'll definitely step up.

[narrator] but now,
the pressure of the end.

Of their most grueling
season ever,

Has pushed him to the brink.

[brennan] one little
[bleep] thing

And then I'm the one that
has to take the heat for it.

[doumitt] hey, junior.
Come here, boy.

[brennan] I'm just sick of
being treated like that.

Like, it's just a nightmare.

-I mean, when is enough
enough around here?
-[doumitt] yeah.

In the ten years
that I've been here,

I've noticed that he pushes
a little bit more...

At this point,

And sometimes it creates
more damage than good.

He forgets that
a lot of us are 3,000 miles
away from home,

That's the tough part.

It's really hard on everyone
to maintain a good morale.

Yeah, we put in
a lot of work this year,

Being up here late,
getting tired.

Just consider the crew,

We've got a good crew,

No, we got a good team, man,
a really good team.

-We say it all year long.
-[doumitt] yeah.

Everybody knows
their stuff and gets done.

So, no matter
how hard it gets,

Come hell or high water,
push through.

Yeah, all right.

Why don't we finish
on a good note, happy,

Then come here and go
full tilt in the spring.

What can you say?
It happens every year.

-All right, pops.
Thanks a lot, appreciate it.
-Okay, junior.

-Yeah, you hang in there.
-Yeah, you too.

[dramatic music plays]

[rick] technically,
I shouldn't even
be here right now.

Normally, we're gone
this time of year.

But thankfully we haven't been
frozen out yet,

Because, uh, still got
a couple hundred
ounces to yet,

And I'm more determined
this season than ever,

To make sure
that we get there.

[narrator] rick ness,
is mining on borrowed time.

What'd the boss want?

[rick]
meetings are never good.

[narrator] and still only
three-quarters of the way

To hitting his 1,000 ounce
season goal.

I just wanted to address
the gigantic elephant
in the room,

And that is if we don't hit


We're not coming back.

It jus is what it is,
we're hitting 1,000 ounces,

-Right?
-Yeah.

[narrator] with his
mining career on the line,

Rick knows he needs to
make a big move

To hit his target.

The creek cut has been
really reliable for us

But I just don't know if
that's gonna get us there.

What if the weather
closes on us like a trap

And we're not across
the finish line yet?

Like, I can't handle that
for another year.

We've gotta do something.

I've got a bit of hunch.
I really think that

You know, some of out best
gold could be around that lazy
bend in that river there.

You're gonna look into
that lazy bend?

We're not gonna keep doing
the creek cut?

I know the creek cut's
been reliable,

But is it good enough
to get there?

It's time to swing away, man.

Like we gotta go after
something bigger.

[narrator] water flows slower
around the inside

Or lazy bend of a river.

The slower water allows
more gold to settle,

And over thousands of years,

Creates a richer deposit than
anywhere else on the creek.

We came up here for...
For redemption, right?

We're so close.

[bleep] go after it. Man.

I'm done playing it safe.

You're the expert here.
I'll follow your lead, buddy.

-I'm game.
-I'm game.

Let's go, uh, deal with
this weather and get after it.

-We'll hurt the dirt.
-Let's do it.

Hurt the dirt!

Hopefully, I can get
the machine in here
without [bleep] burying it.

[narrator] rick opens up
the spot he believes

Was once the inside bend
in the course of the creek.

I've run the numbers
and there's just no way

We're gonna get to
a thousand ounces

At the pace we're going.

We need the bang
for our buck right now.

So, we gotta go after
the best of the best.

[kruse]
I hope this pays off.
It just makes me nervous.

When you're taking
a chance like that

Run the risk of maybe we
don't even hit our goals.

Hopefully, his hunch is right.

[karla] yeah,
it's rick's call.

But I think
there's a time and place

To go fast and take chances,
and it's not this year.

It's just not
the season for that.

All right. So far so good.

Kruse and karla and probably
everybody here

Is not too sure
about my hunch here.

But in the case,
they're gonna be wrong.

I'm gonna prove 'em
wrong this year.

[bleep] you, gravel.
Where are you?

Don't have all day.

Come on.

[rick] yeah.

Yeah, look at that.

[narrator] five hours in,

Rick hits
the first pay gravels.

Oh, that's good stuff.

It's good stuff.

[chris over radio]
rick, do you copy? Rick?

[rick] yeah,
just stay right there, kruse.
Let me get some more.

If I get ten trucks
out of here,

That's 200 yards.

That's all I really need.

About two hours to run that
through the wash plant.

That should give me
a pretty good test
to see what I got in here.

[narrator] rick will run
a 200 yard test

To find out
if this pay is rich enough

To save his season.

You're all loaded
up there, buddy.

All right, here we go.
First load of pay dirt.

[rick] there it goes.

It's, uh, go time.

Here we go, first load.

[mark] jammin', killin' it.

Historically,
the lazy bend in a river

Should be where
all the gold is.

Kinda putting all my eggs
in this basket.

But I really think
it's gonna pay off.

[narrator] after running
for two hours...

Just shut her down.

[narrator] ...The crew
shuts down
to check the sluices.

[wash plant powers down]

[rick] what do you think?

[karla] it looks really good.

It looks better
than our last cleanup.

[rick] yeah, that looks good.
I'll take that.

[mark] oh, my [bleep].

Look at this,
just sitting in the sluice.

[karla] holy [bleep].

I can't believe that.
Wow, look it. [chuckles]

That's the heaviest nugget
I've ever felt.

People search their whole life
for this type of material.

[rick] pretty big smile
on your face.

[karla] no,
you don't even know.
You don't even...

This is like...
It's what dreams are made of.

-What?
-I know.

-[rick] holy [bleep].
-[karla] yeah.

[mark] christmas came early.

[rick] that's like
an ounce right there.

That's a [bleep] beauty.
Like, that's worth
some serious money.

That's an ounce.

That'd be four grand
right there.

As far as I know,
that's bigger than anything

Parker or tony's
pulled out of the ground.

[narrator] rick's move
to keno last season

Was all in the hope
of finding giant nuggets.

Two years of hard work
and determination

Have finally paid off.

And if the lazy bend
continues to deliver,

His season goal
could be in reach.

Wow. I'm really hoping
this is gonna be

The biggest cleanup
of the year

And if that guy
has anything to say about,
I think it might be.

The sooner we get this done,
the sooner we can
get back to sluicing.

[narrator] at paradise hill,

Tony beets has stopped
all sluicing
of upper cut pay dirt.

We've got water going out
of our settling pond.

It was too dirty.

Which, of course, means
we got to build up the dikes.

[narrator] muddy water running
from the settling ponds

Into the creek has forced
a total shutdown

Until kevin and the crew
raise the dikes.

I am running the d10
and pushing down

The piles that monica
is directing on the dike.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] they still need
around 500 trucks of material
to finish the job.

[tony speaking]

-[kevin over radio]
go for kevin. Go for kevin.
-[tony speaking]

[kevin] can do.
I'm actually just on my way.

[tony chuckles]

[kevin] and what did we find?

There's something
hiding over there.

[tony speaking]

[kevin] I'll be down.

I believe
what we're looking at...

I'm guessing a steamer.

Like, from a dredge.
It's clearly from
a [bleep] dredge.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] from the early
1900s up to 1966,

Dredges mined the prime
pay dirt on hunker creek.

The ground was so rich,
that on a good day,

They pulled out
today's equivalent

Of over a million dollars
worth of gold.

For tony to unearth
the remnants of the dredge

Is an incredible
chance discovery.

-[tony speaking]
-[kevin] [bleep] yeah.

-[kevin] what?
-[tony speaking]

-Yeah.
-[tony speaking]

[kevin] not till
right about now, honestly.

[narrator] old timers
sluicing on the hill

Washed down waste material.

Tony's theory,

The dredge that mined
along the valley

Went round these tailings.

When the dredge
was finally abandoned,

The remnants lay
on top of ground,

That could still
be rich in gold.

If tony's right,

He could be heading
for a mammoth pay day.

[tony speaking]

-[kevin] yeah.
-[tony speaking]

So, the question is,
where did the dredge come in?

Where did they say
"[bleep] it, too much"?

We won't know till we dig.

But I'm very curious to see
what we get out of here.

[narrator] while the rest
of the crew races
to finish the dikes...

[narrator] ...Tony calls in
drilling expert
liam ferguson.

All right, tony. Um, we talked
about putting four holes in.

Whereabouts do you think
is a good spot for them?

-Yep.
-[tony speaking]

Sounds good. We'll come
find you when we're done.

[liam] no problem.

[liam] all right.

[narrator] using
a vibrating sonic drill

That can reach
depths of 1,000 feet,

Liam will take
a series of core samples

Of the layers of material
beneath the surface

To discover
if the ground beneath

Is virgin and rich in gold.

There's a lot
of potential here

For tony to find some
really good ground.

We'll know pretty quick,
as soon as we pull
the core out,

If it's real virgin
ground or not.

All right, so that's
our bedrock there.
That looks pretty good.

On top of the bedrock,
we got, like, nine foot

Of, like, a silty
river gravel.

That looks like
virgin ground to me.

So, based on
everything we've seen,

It definitely looks like
it could be virgin ground.

Looks to me like the theory
of the dredge going around.

The tailings, pile,
it all seems to add up.

Now, the next thing to do
is just to wash it, find out
how much gold in there.

There's still lot of work
to do here,

So we got to just
put the hammer down
to get it done.

[narrator] parker has put
co-foreman brennan ruault
under the g*n

To strip a 600-foot extension
to the airstrip cut.

After three days,
he's still not down
to pay dirt.

Parker's got some big
pressure on all of us out here

To get this ground ready.

Is he [bleep] angry still?

It isn't the first time
he's been [bleep]
miserable like that.

There's no need for it,
and that's what
I'm getting tired of.

Jm, you on here?

[jean-michel over radio]
yeah, copy.

[brennan] hey, buddy.
We're gonna have to take
a smooth bucket and truck

And go pick rock out of there,
wherever it's missed.

[jean-michel over radio]
right on.

Sounds like a plan, man.

[narrator] brennan
has tasked jm

With cleaning up the section
of the airstrip cut,

Where parker found
gold left behind.

[jean-michel] I mean,
I don't mind.
I'm here to work.

But it seems like everyday
I kinda found
some new problem,

A new challenge to deal with.

[narrator] the two wash plants
sluicifer and big red

Are running a combined
420 yards of airstrip cut
pay dirt and hour.

Brennan in the d10

Strips overburden to open up
the new extension.

Now we're in a bit of
a bad panic to get
as far back as we can.

[groans]

-[brennan] howdy.
-How are you doing?

[brennan] good, you?

I'm all right. Um...

I wanted to explain
a little more
my little blow up in the cut.

I apologize.
Because I shouldn't
do it that way

Brennan, since you've
shown up here,

Like, you've come so far,
and you've been
doing a great job.

Honestly, you have.

Right.

I know you've got
a lot on your plate,

But we still have to make sure

That we are following
the basics.

And that's where
I'm coming from.

-Okay, yeah.
-Does that make sense?

Yeah. Very.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

-No sweat. Thanks, brennan.
-Yeah, no worries.

Appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

[brennan] I definitely
just take it back
a little bit with parker.

I do really respect him
coming to apologize

In a sincere way, you know,
so I... I'm happy.

I want to get this ground
opened up and sluiced.

I wanna try and conquer
this season for parker

And, hopefully, also put
some money in the bank
for some new ground for us.

We're trying
to hurry everything

So we're not behind
schedule for once.

[thuds]

[brennan groans]

[bleep] no.

[dozer revving]

[narrator] brennan
has hit permafrost.

Dirt and gravel frozen solid
since the last ice age.

That's the last thing I need,
is to break a ripper
shaking out.

Explain that one to parker.

This sand is like [bleep]
granite trying
to get through it.

I mean, look at how hard
this stuff is.

This slows the cat right down.

Lifting my tracks
right off the ground.

Yeah, we on here, jm.

[jean-michel over radio]
yeah, go ahead.

Man, this nothing
but a [bleep] fight
out here in the ten.

I'm trying to rip
this frozen gravel.

I don't know how I'm gonna
get through this in time.

[jean-michel] that's not
good news man.

I mean, [bleep].

[brennan] [bleep] sake, man.

This is gonna take
[bleep] forever
going at this pace.

[brennan] this is what
slows us down.

This is [bleep] brutal.

[narrator] at indian river,

Brennan is tasked
with extending the cut.

But permafrost
is slowing him down so much,

He may never
get down to pay dirt

Before the end of this season.

[brennan] it's like ripping
ground in here.

I just heard a loud
[bleep] snap.

I thought it broke the tooth
right off the ripper.

[bleep] that frost.

This [bleep] pisses me off.

[jean-michel] brennan hit
permafrost, man.

That's gonna slow him down.

This gravel's just brutal
on this poor cat.

I didn't expect to run into
this much of this.

I mean, I have to put
to get down to pay.

It's not gonna be good.

[engine roars]

This thing sounds
[bleep] wicked.

[man] like a kid
with a new toy.

[parker] oh, yeah.

I never thought
we'd have one of these.

[narrator]
but over at the yard,

Parker has
a surprise in store.

[bleep] sick.

[narrator] a monster d11 dozer
ordered for next season

Has arrived ahead of time.

And we bought it
off craigslist basically,
which is pretty funny.

It's got all the goods.

I think this is about
a 50 yard blade.

Like, this is
chromium carbide overlay.

So it's like, really strong,
armored blade.

Where the tens would rip,
like, a three-foot rip,
this thing will do six.

I don't know much
about engines,
but it's a [bleep] big engine.

[narrator] the d11
is the biggest machine
parker's ever owned.

-Hi, brennan.
-[brennan] look at that
big thing!

-[parker] right?
-[brennan] holly man!
Unreal [laughs]

-Yeah.
-Nice work.

[narrator] with
850 horse power,

It's 60% more powerful
than brennan's d10.

At 250,000 pounds,
it's almost twice the weight.

And the blade
can move double the dirt.

-This thing's
[bleep] huge, man.
-Yeah.

-[brennan] unreal.
I get to ride it?
-Oh, yeah.

-Sweet.
-I figured you could
use the help down here.

When you're ripping this,
the extra weight really makes
a huge difference.

-Yeah, wicked.
Thanks, buddy.
-Have fun with her.

[brennan] you bet.
This is an immense relief.
[laughs]

If this isn't gonna [bleep]
move mountains quickly,
I don't know what will.

This is the next level.
I mean, I'm excited.

I've got to run 11
one time in my life,

And this is time number two
where we need it the most,

So I can't wait to get in
and fire it up.

[engine roaring]

Ah!

Oh, yeah.

That's the ticket.

[bleep] is this thing sweet.

I mean, look at the chunks
I'm blowing out of there
compared to the ten.

I can't believe the [bleep]
pieces it's pulling
apart here.

Jm, you're on here, jm.

Buddy, I think we just found
the ticket to getting through
this frozen ground.

[jean-michel] oh, yeah,
I can see it. Look at the size
of that dozer, man.

Half the time, half the rips,

Means more efficiency
and more gold in the box.

A hell of lot faster.

Absolutely beautiful.

We're still quite a ways away
from our 1,000 ounce goal.

Um, the gold's been steady,
but we've gonna have to make
every day count.

[narrator] at duncan creek,
rick and his crew
start a new shift.

Sluicing the lazy bend
pay dirt,

That has already produced
a 1.5 ounce nugget.

Yeah, this stuff's
far too big.

There's obviously a problem
going on here. Far too big.

[narrator]
but at the wash plant,

Operator mark doverspike
has discovered a problem.

[mark] we can't have
rocks go down there,
'cause it'll just destroy it.

[narrator] the sluice runs
are full of rocks.

So this is
the kind of material

We've had come down through
our shaker deck now.

That's far too big to be going
through our riffle,

So they're gonna be destroyed
if we keep that up.

We've got holes
in the screen now.
The screen deck.

Oh, buddy.
This thing is [bleep].

[mark] this is bad.

There's a big [bleep] hole
in the punch plate.

That one spot
took all the wear.

[narrator] the hole
in the plate is letting
big rocks fall through

That could destroy the riffles
in the sluice box below.

It's not the same as just
blowing out a screen,

I mean, this plant
doesn't run screens,

It runs one solid piece
of punch plate,

So if we just pop
that piece out
and replace it...

Only thing we can do
is try and cover it up.

[narrator] rick's wash plant
uses a sheet of perforated
half inch thick steel

To screen out rocks.

With no time
to get a new plate fabricated,

The only option
is to patch up the hole,

And try to limp the plant
to the end of the season.

Yeah, it's not [bleep]
good news this morning.

There's a big old hole
in the top deck of our plant,

And it's not the time
of the year for that [bleep].

Gotta get the thing
welded up quick,

And hopefully
get back in action.

Potentially this could mean,
you know, inwards of 20 ounces
that we lose today.

We're in a race
to meet our goal, right?

We gonna make this happen.
We gonna make this quick.

[narrator] with mechanic
carl rosk home

Recovering from back surgery,

It's up to ben bellai
to fix the plant.

We got a big hole
up on the top screen,

So I gotta find
a chunk of steel here

That I don't have to [bleep]
cut, that I can use...

To get this up and running
here right away.

That will actually do.

Not too much work to it,
so we can get using.

Just gonna get this done here
right away,

So I get this plant
up and running.

Could be a quick fix.

But it's
at the end of the season,

So we're just gonna
patch it off for now.

He's gonna do it
quick and... Quick and dirty,

So hopefully
it won't take very long.

See how this is...
We have a big hole here.

Hopefully, this patch job
will hold.

I can't guarantee it,
because everything's
all worn thin here.

We'll see if this bush fix
is gonna work,
hopefully it will.

We'll lose
a little capacity of our deck,

'cause we're gonna have
to cover up that first foot
of the screen deck,

But at this point
it's better than sitting there
and doing nothing.

The parts are fixed
it doesn't look pretty
in any way.

It's not a thing of beauty,
but we'll make it work.

Let's fire this [bleep]
back up and get going.

-Pretty much ready to fire up.
-Yeah, that was quick.

And... If you want it running,

-Then just kinda watch--
-yeah.

...The punch plate,
maybe see if it--

-Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
-All right.
I'll get everything rolling.

Sweet. You get this thing
fired up now.

It's a quick, dirty fix
on that,

But that's probably
the best that we can hope for
at this point,

So we're so close
to the end of the season,
so close to our goal.

[narrator] with only
two hours of sluicing lost,

The ness crew
is back in business.

So far, so good.

[narrator] at paradise hill,
tony waits for the drill
results to find out

If he's discovered
a chunk of prime virgin
hunker creek pay dirt.

Well, we got 'em back
at the core set.

Time to wash 'em
and see what's in them.

[narrator] drilling specialist
liam ferguson gets to work,

Analyzing the core samples.

It looks like here you can see
the gravels that were
washed down.

Little bit of white channel
and then right here

Is right where we start
to get back into mud again.

That's pretty good indication
of virgin ground.

There's a good change
there's gold here,

But is there enough?

Keep coming.
You'll see me in a second.

We're down, at this point
about a week or so,
that's long enough.

[narrator] at paradise hill,
after moving
40,000 tons of dirt,

The beets crew
is in the final push

To raise the level
of their settling ponds.

Just doing
the last couple of pushes
for the dike now.

Soon as we get
this finished up,

We can fire up the pump,
fire up the plant.

Off we go.

Park it.

[tony speaking]

Kevin. Go for kevin.

Everybody clear.

[narrator] after losing
a week of sluicing,

The beets
are back on the gold.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] tony heads
to get the drill results

To find out
if he's discovered a new strip
of hunker creek pay dirt

That's never been mined.

-[tony speaking]
-tony, good to see you again.

Well, no, this one
was also pretty interesting.

Right, so these are
the four holes we got here.

[tony speaking]

-For sure.
-Right?

Looking at what we got there,
that's the first hole
we drilled.

The one closest to the center
of the valley looks like
it's gonna be the best one.

We found you some money.

Yeah, around about
an ounce per 100
I think this one will do.

[narrator] the drill results
prove tony's theory.

Under the remnants
of the dredge is a strip
of prime virgin ground.

At an ounce of gold
per 100 yards of dirt,

It could bank tony
$160,000 a day.

[narrator] rick ness is ready
to find out if his gamble
on the lazy bend in the river

Has paid off.

This week... I mean,
that hole in that top deck,

Potentially can be
way worse than it was.

We lost a little capacity
in the plant,

-But overall, [bleep] we got
moving again, right?
-Yeah.

-Thanks. Thanks, man.
-Well done.

I know you guys weren't all
super excited about that
lazy corner of that river,

But just so you guys know,
it wasn't for nothing.

[man] holy [bleep]!

-[rick] can you believe that?
-[man] how much
does that weigh?

That one is 1.54 ounces.

[man] oh, my [bleep]! Wow!

[narrator]
as a collectible nugget,

It could be worth
more than twice its weight.

-Holy crap, man.
-No way!

I've never seen anything
like this before in my life.
This is, uh--

-Neither have we, really.
None of us have seen--
-yeah.

[rick] that nugget's cool,
but there is more.

-Oh, yeah. That's what
I'm talking about, buddy.
-That's actually cool.

[narrator] to make the move
to the lazy bend worthwhile,

Rick needs to beat the average
from the creek cut
of 60 ounces a week.

[rick] let's see
what we've got here.

We got ten, 20, 30...



And we're going over 70...
Yes, we are.

Hand it over there, big guy.

Kerplunk.

What we got here?


-Yes.
-Yeah, buddy.

-[whooping triumphantly]
-[rick] uh-huh.

[narrator] worth
around $136,000,

Rick's gamble has paid off.

-It's good week.
-It's not bad.

It's pretty great
a week, boys.

[narrator]
and takes his season total
to 825 ounces.

Just 175 ounces short
of his 1,000 ounce gold.

Overall, another
really good week.
These are cool,

But that right there is what
pays the bills and we're
on that fine gold, right?

-Oh, yeah.
-[rick] we're on the gold,
let's just keep it up.

[man] yeah.

Yeah, thanks, guy.

Thank you.

-[safe pad beeping]
-well, I'm learning
to trust my gut out here,

And, uh, you know,
with that lazy bend
in the river cleaned it out,

And got good gold
and on top of that,

Got that bad boy
to show for it.

[narrator] at the end
of a tense week,

The schnabel crew gather
to weigh up the gold.

-So you made it to the frost?
-Mmm-hmm. Yep.

-Parker came down with the d11
to help that situation out.
-[doumitt] ooh.

-Makes things a lot easier.
[laughs]
-[doumitt] good.

Both plants did really well
this week.

You guys did a good job
keeping them things running.

Why don't you show us
some gold then,
see what we got?

[doumitt] wanna throw
some gold on the scale?

We've moved a lot of dirt
to see it.

[narrator]
last week at big red,
brennan fell short,

Getting less than half
rival plant boss tyson's
209 ounce gold haul.

[doumitt] incoming.

-Ooh, that's a big pan.
-[doumitt] yeah.

-We're staring
to use big pans now.
-[tyson] holy [bleep]!

[narrator] this time,
brennan's determined
to beat him.

-Ready?
-Yeah.

Sixty. 100. 130, 160.

One-eighty, 220.

-222.15.
-[doumitt] nice.

Holy [bleep]! [bleep] yeah!

[narrator]
worth over $420,000.

-Good boy. Good boy.
-Yeah.

-[tyson] that's awesome, man.
-Sucker, you lost. [laughs]

-[tyson] that's a nice week.
-[doumitt] yeah. No kidding.

-You wanna see
what slucifer's doing?
-Sweet.

[brennan] let's see it.

[narrator] with slucifer,
tyson has been averaging
171 ounces.

[doumitt] brennan might
have to help you count.

[laughs]

Forty, 80.







Oh, yeah.

[narrator] worth more
than $370,000.

-I gotta see you out there.
-Loser.

-[doumitt]well done.
Well done.
-[parker] 400 ounce week.

-Yeah.
-Nothing wrong
with a 400 ounce week.

[doumitt] four hundred
and eighteen ounces.

[narrator] a combined total
of $790,000.

[parker laughs] holy [bleep]!

[narrator] and bringing
their season total
to over 6,800 ounces.

Last year was 7,223.

[narrator]
just 400 ounces short
of last year's total.

Parker is on track
to bank a w*r chest

To finance new ground
for next season.

You know,
if you can keep 'em running...

We will have
a really good year.

Well, chris, we hate
to, um, weigh and run, but...

-[laughs] weigh and run. Okay.
-We've all got stuff to do.

-Thank you.
-You bet.

Thanks, guys.
Good work out there.

Outstanding, keep it up.

-See you, doumitt.
-Make us rich.

-Oh, yeah.
-All right.

-Are you proud?
-[doumitt] yeah.

-Have fun cleaning that up.
-Yep.

[brennan] I'm happy.

Everything's starting
to come together here towards
the end of the season.

As long as
the gold keeps coming in

And we're
conquering our ground,
that's all that matters.

I wanna hit it big,
I wanna be a huge success.

[narrator] on the next
gold rush...

[rick] looking for new ground
this late in the season
it's not ideal.

It's a little crazy.

[narrator] rick ness
aims for the sky.

That's the spot right there.

It's definitely
never been touched.

This is just another problem
that we don't need.

-This ain't going on there?
-No.

[parker] [bleep] now
I'm pissed off.

[narrator] parker schnabel's
final push grinds to a halt.

-[crashes]
-[parker] [bleep] piece
of [bleep].

We're gonna keep pushing
until something tells me
we can't run anymore.

[narrator] and fred lewis'
dream could be over.

This thing is a hunk of junk.

If it breaks down
one more time,

I think we should go ahead
and call it quits.