13x07 - Up on Nugget Creek

[bunniefuu]

[font color=#FF00FF]*GOLD RUSH*[/font]
[font color=#00FF00]Season 13 Episode 07[/font]

Episode Title: [font color=#FFc30f]"Valley Of Prayers"[/font]
Aired on: [font color="#00ffff"]November 11, 2022.[/font]

[Parker] It's kind of
a perfect storm.

I'm out and I've work to do.

High cost and short amount
of time to do it.

It's not ideal.

Uh...

But that's the hand
we're dealt.

And we're gonna play it.

[Narrator] {\an8}Now in his 12th
year as a mine boss,

{\an8}27-year-old Parker Schnabel

{\an8}is betting his crew
can pull off an epic feat.

{\an8}Mine more Klondike ground
than ever before, 90 acres,

{\an8}before his water license runs out
at the end of the year.

[Parker] It's a big year
of sluicing.


than ever before.

Not just a little bit. A lot.

And all of this has to be done
by the end of the year.

[Narrator] {\an8}Seven weeks
into the season,

{\an8}Parker's one working
wash plant, Big Red,

{\an8}has delivered 1,344 ounces.

{\an8}$2.4 million of gold.

{\an8}Now, with over half
the 90 acre airstrip stripped,

{\an8}Parker needs to get
his second wash plant,

{\an8}Sluicifer, up and running.

[Parker] It all comes down
to getting two plants running

and needing to really push through as
much of this ground as we can.

I'm gonna just talk to Mitch
about all this stuff

and make sure
that they're on track.

[Narrator] {\an8}To get
both plants running,

{\an8}Parker turns to foreman
Mitch Blaschke.

- [Mitch] How's it going?
- Good, how are you?

[Mitch] Oh, not too bad.

Trying to make
some headway here.

Getting two plants
up and going...

This is a critical move
for the year, right?

I'm gonna go over to Fairbanks,
so I'm not gonna be here.

Do you feel comfortable
about where you're at?

Big Red's doing a good job
down there, but we're falling behind

on getting through
the square footage we need to

- without two plants going.
- Yeah.

When you get back
hopefully we've got,

uh, wash plant pad done
with Sluicifer sitting there.

Two plants going.

Two plants banging.

- All right, see ya, man.
- Sounds good, man. Have a good trip.

[Narrator] {\an8}Parker's leaving
to get the wheels in motion

{\an8}on the Alaska claim he
plans to open in just weeks.

{\an8}Mitch, is left with five days
to get Sluicifer running.

You know, approaching the middle
of summer, pretty soon here,

the days are gonna
start getting shorter.

So each day it's just
clicking by faster and faster.

We need to have Sluicifer
on that new wash plant pad.

[Narrator] {\an8}To hit
Parker's target,

{\an8}Mitch plans to drag Sluicifer onto
a massive 30 foot high pad.

{\an8}Then, install
the super stacker

{\an8}to feed pay dirt up to the top
of the 18 foot high plant.

{\an8}Where it will be washed,
cleaned of its gold,

{\an8}and the worthless tailings can fall
to the ground out of the way,

{\an8}making them easier to remove.

[Mitch] All righty,
she's all latched up.

- Shall we?
- To the top of the mountain, let's go.

[Narrator] {\an8}First step,
the 45 ton wash plant

{\an8}must be dragged up the pads
steep 15 degree slope.

[Mitch] She's gonna
start getting heavy.

Sluicifer is just
getting ready to crest over

this little bit of ramp
then we'll be up on the top.

This is definitely sketchy.

Take 'er nice and easy.

Be careful, you're right
at the end right there.

That's it. Right there.
We are right on the money.

I'd say our first experiment with
Sluicifer for the year went pretty good.

Yeah, there ya go.

[Narrator] {\an8}Before
they can fire up

{\an8}mechanic, Alec Kelly,
runs final tests

{\an8}on the 120 foot long
super stacker.

{\an8}The only conveyor capable
of reaching the high setup.

Got the generator running.

Just gonna hit "go" on the
hydraulics here, extend the stinger out,

check all the rollers,
this, and that.

Once I deem it's all good, tell the
boys it's all good to get hauled out.

We got no time
to waste here, right?

Oh, yeah. We're gonna hit
the building over there.

Whoo! There we go,
max extension.

Let's raise the conveyor.

Incline, 13.5 degrees.

This is why they call it
the super stacker, like,

they're not joking,
this thing's massive.

Fifteen and a half degrees.

Oh, boy.

Seventeen degrees.

{\an8}[loud bang]

- {\an8}[loud bang]
- Oh, [Bleep]!

We are coming down.

Oh, boy!

[Bleep]

Get some spill pads here.

[Bleep] thing.

Oh, man. Oh, [Bleep].

Oh, my [Bleep] [Bleep].

This is serious.

And you see right here, it blew
the plug right out of the cylinder.

[Narrator] {\an8}The plug holds
the hydraulic oil

{\an8}that regulates
the lifting cylinder.

{\an8}As Alec attempted
to raise the stacker,

{\an8}the top of the plug
that seals the cylinder broke free.

{\an8}'Causing a catastrophic leak.

{\an8}All that's left of the plug
is it's thread still in the cylinder.

How's she going, buddy?

We got Sluicifer down in the
cut, we're ready for this thing.

We're not ready
to give it to ya.

Right now,
this thing is [Bleep].

Top half of the plug blew
right out of the fitting there.

[Mitch] Well, that's not good.

On many levels.

I mean, I can guarantee you that
they're not gonna have one in town.

Well...

Pretty sure I got some of
these in my service truck at home.

Oh, yeah.
Keep 'em warm in the garage there?

[Mitch] But not here.

{\an8}[Sighs wearily]

[Mitch] It's not the big
pieces that shut you down.

- It's the 10 cent items you don't have.
- Yeah.

Well, we can't wash any
rocks with Sluicifer without this conveyor.

[Fred] We haven't seen
any gold all season.

It's tough.

And we aren't slicing yet

and the guys are starting to
wonder is this season gonna be successful.

[Narrator]
{\an8}Deep in the Yukon wilderness

{\an8}ex-Green Beret medic,
Fred Lewis,

{\an8}is 7 weeks
into his season,

{\an8}but still hasn't mined
a single ounce of gold.

We have a lot of money
going out, zero money coming in.

If we can't get some gold
coming in really soon

we may not make it.

[Narrator] {\an8}Fred's wash plant
is ready to run.

{\an8}And he's identified ground
at the Freedom Cut,

{\an8}which he thinks
could hold the source

{\an8}to all the gold
at California Creek.

{\an8}If he can hit this mother load

{\an8}Fred could make up
for the lost weeks of mining.

Freedom Cut
is what we're calling it

because it's gonna make us
a more self-sustainable team.

We've got probably 20,000 yards of
high-grade pay to come in that cut.

And it should carry us
to the end of the season.

But really, the key
is that big Komatsu dozer.

[Narrator] {\an8}Fred's waiting on
the 53 ton dozerdelivery of

{\an8}he purchased 6 weeks ago

{\an8}to strip the Freedom Cut.

The hell is that?

{\an8}[Helicopter whirring]

Flying pretty low.

He's coming back this way.

Whoa! He's coming in.

That looks like
Tony Beets to me.

Hey, Tony.

Good. How you doing?

That was a pretty
good landing, not gonna lie.

Yeah, right to the claim.

That really sucks.
That pretty much puts us at a frigging halt.

All right, I appreciate it.

[Narrator] Last week, Fred made a
deal with Tony to haul his dozer.

But a road ban on heavy loads
close to his claim

has left it stranded
in Dawson.

[Fred] Soon as
that road ban's lifted

the Komatsu's gonna push that
road to the Freedom Cut

in less than a day and
we're gonna be mining within a week.

[Narrator] With no date
for the road ban lifting,

Fred's dream of mining the Freedom
Cut, and hitting his 500 ounce target,

is fading fast.

Think we're up to 100 days
at this point.

We predict, until Mother Nature tells
us to get the [Bleep] outta here.

So is there anything
you can think of?

This is what we mined out
last season, yep.

We still got some pay
around this corner.

Yeah, but it's covered
in 30 feet of overburden.

We don't have
the right equipment.

[Fred] Yep, yep, you're right.

[Narrator] Tony's plan
to kick-start Fred's season,

put the gold rich
Freedom Cut on hold.

And mine the lower-grade
pay dirt from last year's cut

that is finally accessible
after the ice melt.

But with no dozer it
could still take weeks to strip.

[Fred] Enough.

Yeah. No, you're right.

No.

No, I agree.

Hey, well,
I appreciate it, Tony.

Yep. I'll get back to work.

Tony has suggested
pulling pay from last season,

which is great
low bearing fruit.

However, it's under


And we don't
have the right equipment.

[Narrator] {\an8}Faced
with that much overburden,

{\an8}without a dozer,
Fred is still dead in the water.

{\an8}We've gotta figure out some way to
pull some pay to get this thing running.

{\an8}And, um, yeah, I just don't know.
I don't know how we're gonna do it.

[Brandon] We've had a pretty
rough start to the season.

We gotta start
making some progress.

I'm just hoping we can make enough
money to keep paying our bills back home.

[Narrator] {\an8}Across California Creek
from Fred Lewis' claim

{\an8}brother's Brandon and Brady Clayton are
also chasing 500 ounces of gold.

{\an8}They need to help pay off
a crippling family debt.

{\an8}But so far they've brought
in just 0.3 ounces of gold.

{\an8}With no spare
cash they're operating hand-to-mouth

{\an8}with a team of just three.

{\an8}And relying on a homemade
wash plant built from scrap steel.

[Brady] It's a lot of weight
on our shoulder.

We need every [Bleep] ounce
we can get.

I'm nervous, there's always
that doubt in your mind.

[Narrator] {\an8}Half a mile
downstream from their plant,

{\an8}the brothers are banking on
hitting a bonanza at Golden Acres.

{\an8}But first, they need to build
an access road.

Golden Acres
is kind of the holy grail.

But it's just gonna be a bit of a
struggle to get the money to build the road.

[Brandon] With fuel prices
so high

we reckon it's gonna take
about 50 grand in fuel

and wages to get us
to Golden Acres.

We just don't have
that kinda cash laying around.

So we need every speck of gold
we can get

to fund getting
to Golden Acres.

[Narrator]
{\an8}The Clayton brothers

{\an8}planned on pulling a quick 50 grand
in gold from near their wash plant.

[Brandon] We'd like to see




[Narrator] {\an8}But their first run
was a bust.

[Brandon] Well,
back to the drawing board.

Kinda just lost for words.

[Narrator] {\an8}To get their season back on
track, the brothers need to find gold

{\an8}to pay for the road
to Golden Acres.

[Brady] We gotta kinda
mine as we go, it's not ideal.

But without Golden Acres

we might as well pack 'er
up and go home, our season's done.

[Brandon] The only thing at this
point to do is to go prospecting

we'll see what we can find.

If we're gonna get
to 500 ounces this season,

that's the only way
we're can do it.

Kinda out of options.

We're gonna go down
to some virgin ground

dig some holes, do some pans,

and see what kinda numbers
we can come up with.

Let's dig right here.

Yeah.

The creek would've
came around the corner

and would've rubbed
on the bank.

So any gold
that that creek was carrying

would've hit the bank
and deposited right there.

[Narrator] {\an8}A third of a
mile downstream from their wash plant,

{\an8}towards Golden Acres,
is an S-bend.

{\an8}When fast flowing water carrying
gold hits the inside bend

{\an8}it slows, causing the
heavy gold to sink

{\an8}and settle on the creek bed.

{\an8}But is it enough to
keep the brothers in business?

We'll take a quick pan
and see what it has to offer.

We need some kinda
results today.

- One right there, see?
- Yeah, there's a few there. Yeah.

- [Brandon] Couple flakes in there.
- Yep

Well, Brady, it ain't much,
but it's there.

Hopefully there's enough gold
in the box to keep buying fuel

and keep going ahead.

[Brady] Won't know
till we run it.

- Let's open it up and start hauling it to the plant.
- Okay.

- Well, let's go get the iron.
- Yep.

[Narrator] {\an8}The Clayton brothers
are taking a huge gamble

{\an8}on running this unproven
S-bend pay dirt.

{\an8}If it doesn't deliver the gold they
need to build to road to Golden Acres,

{\an8}their season could be over.

[Brady] Feels good to be back
in the machine,

beats the hell out of fixing
[Bleep], I can tell ya that.

Well, this is it.
Finally seeing some gravel here.

It's a good sight.
Once you see gravel, you're gonna see gold.

Well, that's it Brandon.
This is the first load of S-bend cut pay dirt.

[Brandon] Awesome, buddy.

Well, let's fire
that [Bleep] thing up.

[Warren] It's exciting
to be finally back.

And, you know,
the trommel's turning.

So I'm excited, man,
for the season.

Finally back sluicing.
Finally getting some gold.

It's one step closer
to Golden Acres.

[Narrator] {\an8}At Parker
Schnabel's airstrip claim,

{\an8}Big Red sluices
Easy Street Cut pay dirt.

{\an8}While partner in crime,
Sluicifer, lies dormant.

{\an8}Waiting for foreman, Mitch Blaschke, to
find a needle in a haystack.

[Mitch] Right now, everything's held
up because of one little plug.

[Narrator] {\an8}The super stacker needed to
feed the plant gold rich pay

{\an8}has had a major oil leak
shutting it down.

{\an8}All because of one small part,

{\an8}a quarter inch plug.

[Mitch] So we had to start
thinking outside the box.

Well, this truck,
one of our old rock trucks,

we ended up
just parting it out.

Using parts and pieces
on different trucks and, uh,

hopefully we can find something here
to get our conveyor back together.

Well, there we go.
What have got there?

[Alec] There's a lot of parts
missing off this truck.

[Mitch] Oh, yeah.
We've used a lot.

This is, I mean, probably what we're
after, just a smaller size of that.

- [Alec] Mmm-hmm.
- And that's the problem, it has to be tiny.

[Alec] Looks kinda like
a little plug there.

[Mitch] I hope so.

- Oh, that's way too big.
- [Alec] Yeah.

[Mitch] It's not looking good.

All right. Well,
we gotta keep looking.

[Alec] We got any other
machines around here?

Tell ya what's got a lot
of hydraulics on it,

- is that drill.
- [Alec] Oh, yeah.

[Mitch] And it's getting a new
engine put in it right now, so...

It's the Yukon, if it
stops moving, it becomes parts.

It's about
a million dollar drill here.

Let's look over there.

[Alec] Holy smokes!

Oh, yeah.
We've got some stuff in here.

[Mitch] But,
is it the right stuff?

- We just need a smaller version of that.
- [Alec chuckles]

- Well, everything's bigger.
- [Mitch] Yeah, it's all bigger.

[Sighs] Could
take a look at that.

The bottom of this lift cylinder
for the mast, it has a little

plug in it,
and maybe it's the right one.

[Alec] Oh, come on.
That's looking small enough.

[Mitch] Oh, buddy.

Let's go try it out.

Come on, baby.

Dude, that's it.

Wow.

Oh, yeah.

Buddy.

[laughs] I like it.

[Narrator]
{\an8}The super-stacker fixed,

{\an8}the crew must now race
to get Sluicifer running pay

{\an8}before Parker returns
from Alaska.

[Mitch] We got a lot
of work to do here,

and we're running out
of days already.

Here we go.

We have the super-stacker
heading down to the cut.

This is the last piece
of the puzzle.

[Narrator] {\an8}Parker's crew
are nearly ready

{\an8}to fire up Sluicifer.

{\an8}First they have to connect
the 120-foot super-stacker.

[Man]
Getting right there, Mitch.

Here we go, the moment
of truth. Is it gonna lift?

And is it gonna reach
the pre-wash?

Oh, yeah. Keep it going up.

We are just going
to clear the pre-wash.

And...

{\an8}[Machine stops]

- Looking good!
- Oh, yeah.

[Mitch] Whoo! Big moment.

This is what
we've been waiting for

and working on all day,
buddy. Let's do it!

{\an8}[Machine rumbles]

Here we go,
my first scoop of 2022 season

in Sluicifer. Game's on.

This is what it's gonna take
if we got any shot

of getting through
all this ground.

It's two wash plants running.

So, it feels good.

- How's it going?
- You're washing rocks.

Are you guys happy
with that set-up?

[Mitch] Yeah, seems to be
working pretty good.

[Parker] Sweet.

Long as the end result
is some money.

What it's all about.

Well, we're sure spending it
like we're making it.

[Mitch] How things
been going in Alaska?

[Parker] Good.

Just me and a couple others.
Three of us.

But we'll just start stripping
and build a plant pad

and we'll get some stuff
sorted out.

[Mitch] You're thinking
a wash-plant set-up over there

- in a week and a half or so?
- Couple weeks.

All right.

I'm gonna go work on
the training plan.

[Mitch] We all need training?

[Narrator] {\an8}For the first time
this season,

{\an8}Parker has both his
wash plants running pay dirt,

{\an8}and is one step closer

{\an8}to mining out
the 90-acre air strip,

{\an8}and opening up
his Alaska operation.

[Parker] Boys have
wash plants sorted out,

so with Sluicifer
up and running,

we'll be staying
on schedule here.

[Fred] It's nice to have
the King of Klondike

land his helicopter out here
to come and check us out.

But the news he gave us
was pretty freakin' dismal.

With that road ban
being extended, you know,

I've got no idea
when the dozer's gonna arrive,

so I really have to act now.

[Narrator] {\an8}To kick start
his season,

{\an8}Fred plans to put
his Freedom Cut on hold,

{\an8}take Tony's advice,

{\an8}and mine
the now accessible ground

{\an8}left over from last season.

{\an8}But to get down to pay,
he needs more muscle.

[Fred] Right now
I'm deep in the hole on cost.

I need to sluice ASAP.

[Narrator] {\an8}And he only has
one place to turn.

What's up, guys?

- Hi Fred.
- How's it going?

I don't know if you noticed
the helicopter.

Oh, that flew over?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- [Fred] That was Tony.
- Oh, okay.

He kinda pointed me
towards an idea.

- Yeah.
- Wash the pay that I had from last season

that I couldn't quite access

and get us on to
some gold quicker.

- Are you using your dozer?
- No, it's just sitting.

Okay, so here's what I can do.

If you can let me borrow that,

I'll get it back to you
with the same amount of fuel

and I'll let you use my dozer
once it gets here

for the same amount of time.

- Kinda desperate.
- Right. Yeah.

Okay.

[Fred] When would you
need it back by?

We'll be stripping
tomorrow morning.

Okay, I can have it back to you by the a.m.
before you start.

Yeah, that works out good.

[Fred] I appreciate it.
I know you probably need it.

- Yeah, no worries, man.
- I really appreciate it.

- Sure. Yeah, go have at her.
- Thanks.

- See you later.
- Yeah.

We're gonna get moving
on this overburden

with the dozer from Brandon,

and hopefully we're gonna
get to pay

a lot sooner than we thought.
So I'm pretty stoked.

'Cause we're gonna need
the money.

[Narrator] {\an8}Fred puts
Buzz Legault,

{\an8}the most experienced miner
on his crew...

Buckle up for safety.

[Narrator] {\an8}...in charge of
removing 30 feet of overburden

{\an8}in just 12 hours.

Oo-ee!

Hopefully it'll get us some access
to some pay, we can get moving.

There he goes. Whoo!

All right, well,
we'll give him some time.

He knows what he's doing.
If he can't do it, nobody can.

[Buzz] Oh, man.

He's stuck.

[Narrator] {\an8}Summer temperatures
of over 80 degrees

{\an8}have melted ice
covering the overburden.

[Bleeping]

[Narrator] {\an8}Turning the ground
into a swampy mess.

{\an8}I'm beginning to regret
this decision already.

[Machine turns off]

Just [Bleep] off.

[Narrator] {\an8}Buzz is stuck
in a quagmire of overburden,

{\an8}in a dozer Fred must return
to the Claytons

{\an8}in just 12 hours.

[Buzz]
This is just a little D8,

so it definitely gets defeated

in this sloppy muck
really easily.

Back in Alberta, you use
D8 Cats to push snow around.

[Narrator] {\an8}The D8's


{\an8}half the strength
of a top-of-the-range SUV,

{\an8}isn't enough for Buzz
to break out of the mud.

[Fred] You don't want to spend
most of the time

you've already wasted
trying to get it unstuck.

Every second Buzz is stuck
in that dozer,

it's less time
we get to use it.

We only have it today,
so we gotta get it out,

we gotta get it
back in operation,

we gotta get it
moving dirt ASAP.

Should just be able to back up
and pull it right out. Ready?

{\an8}[Engine revving]

{\an8}[Bang]

[Bleep] pull, man!

Come on, come on, come on.

Don't drive, pull. Pull, pull!

[Fred] He wants me
to use the boom.

We're gonna go ahead and try

the hydraulic system
instead of the tracks.

[Narrator] {\an8}Fred can't get enough
traction to haul Buzz out,

{\an8}but the excavator's
powerful boom hydraulics

{\an8}can deliver
over 30,000 pounds of force.

[Fred] Now she's coming.

[Buzz] There we
[Bleep] go, chief!

That's the shiznit
right there.

All right, Buzz is out.

Get him back to work.

There we go.

[Narrator]
{\an8}After a two-hour delay,

{\an8}Buzz now has just 10 hours
to hit pay

{\an8}before he must
return the dozer.

[Bleep] man,
the way this chick is going,

we'll be down here
the rest of the night.

But hey, whatever it takes.

Let's just get it done.

Right now
we're just loading some pay

out of the S-bend cut here.

We don't have a whole lot
of working room,

it's pretty narrow.

But it's not gonna stop us.
We'll find a way.

[Narrator]
{\an8}The Clayton brothers

{\an8}need to find $50,000
to fund a road to Golden Acres

{\an8}where they're gambling
there's enough gold

{\an8}to hit 500 ounces.

Look who's here.

[Brady] It's about time, eh?

[Narrator] {\an8}With only
a minimal crew,

{\an8}the brothers have
called in reinforcements.

- Hi guys, how was the drive?
- Good, babe. Yeah.

[Narrator]
{\an8}Brandon's girlfriend Riley...

[Brady] Hi J.

[Narrator] {\an8}...and their
kid sister Janae.

- Hi JJ.
- Hi Brandon.

- How are you?
- Good.

We could definitely use
your help today.

- Are you ready?
- Mmm-hmm.

[Janae] I love
driving this thing.

I just love being up here,
and working for the family.

It's a passion,
that's for sure.

[Narrator] {\an8}16-year-old Janae's
first job -

{\an8}truck S-bend pay dirt
to the plant.

[Janae]
I just finished school.

I'm here to hopefully save
the family business

with my brothers.

Brandon said I was the best
rock truck driver there is,

so now I have to
live up to that standard.

I didn't really learn
how to drive the rock truck.

Brandon kind of just
threw me in here

and showed me the controls
and then said, "Get going."

[Brandon] It's not typical
to have

a 16-year-old working for us,

but she helps out
just as much as we all do.

She has an eagerness,
and she's always learning.

We're all in it together here.

I'm very proud of my brothers.

It's just amazing
how they made that thing.

[Narrator] {\an8}It took
the brothers three years

{\an8}to build their wash plant,
Dirt Devil, from scratch.

{\an8}Oh, what the [Bleep]?
They're piling up.

[Bleep] me.

{\an8}[Machine stops]

Some rocks that I missed
got in the hopper

and [Bleep] piled it up.

[Bleep] me. Trommel's down.

I'm gonna see
what the [Bleep] is going on.

- [Bleep] going on, bud?
- She's [Bleep] packed.

Yeah, we don't have anything
to filter out

these big [Bleep], you know?

[Brady] Yeah, I just
gotta be more careful.

It's not your fault, you know.

[Brady] It's just like, feeding
it this way, you know, I...

You gotta keep it consistent.

You don't really have
time to watch...

- Yeah.
- ...for rocks and [Bleep].

You can't really pick through
every little piece, right?

You got a number
of fair-sized rocks.

They're all kinda interlocked
and blocked your opening.

{\an8}[Rocks rattling]

- It's like Tetris in here.
- Yeah.

Probably should have cleaned

the hopper out
at the start of the year.

[Narrator] {\an8}Two big boulders

{\an8}have clogged
the hopper feeder.

{\an8}To get back on the gold,

{\an8}Brady and Warren
have no option

{\an8}but to pry
the rocks out by hand.

[Warren] Yes.

{\an8}[Groans]

[Brady] We're hitting here.

[Warren] Well, it's tempting
to jump in the trommel

to pour it down again.

Oh [Bleep].

I'll pry it.

[Warren] Yeah,
pry that bottom end.

Yeah, buddy. She's going.

Hey, one less.

- One down...
- One to go.

We got a big one there,

- but if we lean her over...
- Should go down.

She should go, yeah.

Beautiful. [Bleep] yeah, man.

Let's fire her up.

{\an8}[Machine whirring]

Those rocks
are kind of a kryptonite

to the plant right now.

'Cause that's just downtime
that we don't need.

Yeah, that one's on me.

We gotta get
this road built quick,

and get some dirt running
through the Dirt Devil there

so we can get some money
in our pocket

and keep pouring it
into the Golden Acres.

[Mike] I don't like
that new stuff.

[Narrator] {\an8}There's one piece
of equipment

{\an8}that Tony Beets gets through
more than any other.

My dad doesn't wreck
his trucks on purpose,

they just don't build them
tough as he is.

[Narrator] {\an8}This is Tony's


{\an8}[Whistles]

[Mike] How's this gonna
affect your season?

[Mike laughs]

[Tony laughs]

[Buzz] Been a long night, man.

[Narrator] {\an8}Fred Lewis has
borrowed the Claytons' dozer.

{\an8}To return it in time,

{\an8}Buzz has worked through
the night to get down to pay.

[Fred] Hey, hey, hey.
You look tired.

- You worked the whole night?
- Hell yeah.

- Gonna k*ll yourself.
- Yeah.

Given freakin' loss of months
in winter this year.

[Fred] Yeah, that is true.

I just don't want you
burning out.

This is pay, right?

This is pay.

[Fred] Well, dude,
you did good.

Why don't you
go get some rest?

I'm just gonna walk up
and do a couple pans,

see how it looks.

[Bleep] yeah, dude. Good work.

So, here's the pay
that Buzz exposed.

We're seeing
our larger rocks here.

Nice and weathered.

And our fractured bedrock.

So this is the part
we place the test.

We know there's gold here
from last season,

but we wanna make sure
there's enough to mine

so we don't waste
time and money

moving all this dirt
for nothing.

[Narrator]
{\an8}If there's enough gold,

{\an8}it could mean
Fred can finally get sluicing

{\an8}and start to make some money.

[Fred] That's what
we're looking for right there.

There's probably


Probably closer now to 100,
which is absolutely fantastic.

I was not expecting
to see this much gold.

This is a huge sigh of relief.

We got money in the bank
right there.

We can pull it out, we can
cash it in, we can keep mining.

And we are laughing.

This right here
is exactly what we needed.

Exactly what we needed.

[Brandon] All right, guys,
here's the week.

- Right here.
- Yeah.

[Narrator] {\an8}To fund their move
to Golden Acres,

{\an8}the Clayton brothers
are betting big

{\an8}on unproven S-bend pay dirt.

[Brandon] I think for us
to keep going,

we need to see 10 ounces.

Otherwise we might as well
just call it, so...

There's quite a bit
of diesel fuel went into this.

- Mmm-hmm. That's right.
- Lot of man hours.

[Brandon] I don't know
about you guys,

but my heart's
a little racing,

so I think we should just weigh
it out and get it over with.

[Warren] Yeah. I'm anxious
to see this, too.

Okay guys. Here we go.

One, two, three, four, five.

Six, seven, eight,

nine, 10.



[Narrator] {\an8}Worth over $20,000,

{\an8}nearly half the gold they need
to get down to Golden Acres.

Let's go!

[Warren] Thank God, man.
Thank God, guys.

We made it.
That's a close call though, man.

We gotta start somewhere.

- So...
- [Warren] Oh, man.

[Brandon] At the end
of the day we got the gold

sitting in front of us.

We know we're still mining.

What else could we want?

I mean, that's not bad, like,

an ounce a hundred?

So I think
if we keep that going,

we'll be down
to Golden Acres in no time.

Couldn't have done it

without the world's greatest
rock truck driver.

Good job, Janae.

Permanent job.

[Warren] All right guys,
let's get at it.

[Brandon] We had a tough start to
the season, but I think we're happy.

The gold's here. We're gonna
keep powering through it.

[Brady] I'm sure
dad's gonna be kinda shocked,

getting a good call for once,
not a...

not a call about
we're breaking down,

or we need parts,
or something like that.

It's kind of a big relief,

and this is a good step
in the right direction.

[Narrator] {\an8}At Indian River,

{\an8}Parker finally has
two wash plants running.

{\an8}But not long enough
for Sluicifer to deliver

{\an8}for this week's gold weigh.

[Parker] Hey.

Stay out of there.

The next thing
you hear is [imitates splash].

[laughing]

- Well, Doumitt, back to work for you.
- Yeah.

So, what happened
with this conveyor?

[Chuckling]

That plug, just the top of it
blew right out.

I mean, it was just tiny.

And the drill's
sitting up there,

they're doing
that engine swap on it.

- [Parker] Liam's drill.
- And, like...

- Oh, no.
- It's parked in our yard, right?

Don't park your personal
vehicle down in the yard.

[Mitch] No.

[Chris] Okay, you wanna see
what kind of gold we got?

[Narrator]
{\an8}Parker's other wash plant,

{\an8}Big Red, has been sluicing
Easy Street Cut pay all week.

[Mitch] All right Chris,
what have you got for us?

[Chris] So, here we go.











- 140.
- Keep her going.

- [Empty tub clanging]
- 162.85.

[Narrator]
{\an8}Worth over $290,000.

[Chris] For the season,
we just broke 1,500.



Last year at this time,

- we were at 863 ounces.
- [Mitch] Wow.

But you gotta remember,
we also started sluicing,

what, almost two weeks earlier
this year?

- [Tyson] Well, that's the idea.
- Yeah.

[Mitch] We gotta
keep the push on it.

[Chris] 1,500 ounces
this early in the season.

That's not bad at all, guys.

[Parker] We're almost
double what we were last year.

Exactly.

We're on track
for a record season.

Whether we do it or not,

we won't know until we start

hogging some of that
other ground, but...

[Mitch] It's only been
one plant up until

your Big Red
did a hell of a job,

Sluicifer's got going.

Things have to work right.
We're gonna [Bleep] fight.

It's gonna make or break
the season.

No pressure.

- No pressure, but...
- [laughing]

No pressure, but, uh...

[Tyson] Don't [Bleep] it up.

Hey, I found a
pressure relief somewhere.

[Mitch] Oh yeah,
Alex is trying

to get rid of pressure for us.

I thought you didn't need
that much pressure.

[Parker] Alex is
our designated pressure-relief man.

Okay, let's bag this stuff up.

Cool, man.

- Thanks Chris. Nice work.
- You betcha.

- Thanks, Alex.
- Yeah, no problem.

- Have a good one, Doumitt.
- You too, bud.