13x18 - Buzzified

[bunniefuu]

[Parker] We're mining on
the Indian River,
but this license's expiring.

What we don't mine
this year...

I never get a chance to,
so it's going to be
a struggle.

We're definitely going
to fight trying to get
that done.

[narrator] After a meteoric
rise to the top,


may have finally bitten off

more than he can chew.

He's torn between
running a new operation

in Alaska and helping
his crew run more ground

than ever before in the Yukon.

[Parker] I'm hoping here that
we can, you know,

put this place to bed nice
and it would be a real shame

to leave anything behind.

[narrator] Over two-thirds
into the season,

Parker's mined nearly


but he's currently running
at half capacity.

The main thing here
is we've got to get Big Red

up and running.

Like it's been down
for two weeks

and we've got a lot of
sluicing still to do.

[narrator] The Klondike crew
just turned a big corner.

After moving two million yards
of dirt over four months,

the final section, the 24-acre
runway cut, is down to pay.

If they can sluice it all
before winter hits,

it could net another
$3.5 million in gold.

What's happening?

Liam is flying back
over to Alaska,

so I'm hitching
a ride with him.

I was hoping to stick
around a few more days,
but I shouldn't be gone long.

But I just wanted to make
sure you guys were all good

and didn't have any concerns
or questions.

The biggest concern
I have is just getting Big Red
up and running.

And every day it's sitting
there is one day later

we're going to have to try
and make it sluice
when it's cold.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, hopefully by the time

you're back,
it's up and running.

- All right, man, later.
Thanks, guys.
- Have fun.

He wants to sluice
it all, he doesn't want
to leave anything behind.

We've been here
for a few years.

- That's crazy.
- 50 different
wash plant setups.

We got to get Big Red
back running,

- but looks like that's
on you and me.
- Yeah.

Later, man.

[narrator] To get Big Red
running before Parker returns,

Mitch and Tyson need
to transport it in sections

from the Bear Cut
to the Runway Cut.

First task, move
the 10-ton hopper feeder.

- Come on, come on, come on.
- [crashes]

No. No.

This thing's been sitting
for too long, man.

- Yeah.
- Got some roots here now.

It made itself a nice home,
that's for sure.

- Try again.
- It's settled in,

it's making it difficult
to get the truck
underneath it.

[crashes]

Man it was almost there.

[narrator] With the truck
unable to fit under
the hopper feeder,

Mitch calls in a loader
to raise up the hopper.

Got 'em in.

Hop up.

We're good to go.

Right now we're just adding
some cribbing underneath
the hopper here

to allow us to get the tractor
underneath it.

[crashes]

[laughs] Got her, had to
knock the dust off it.

Some days you got
to just get after it.

Yeah, get a little ramroddy.

Oh, man, well it
just kept sinking here,
we weren't gaining on it.

No.

We got our hopper feeder
hooked up,

now it's just a matter
of getting it down to the cut.

Well we got the feeder in,
now we'll get the radial
stacker in place.

Sooner we can get Big Red
up and running,

the better off we'll be.

How'd that go?
Looked pretty smooth?

- Yeah, didn't get hung up,
so that's good.
- Nice.

Now we're going to go back
for the shaker deck.

[narrator] Big Red
has been sluicing Indian River
pay dirt for nine years,

mining almost 30,000 ounces,

almost 50 million dollars
of gold.

Well, man, this is what
it's all about,

one last ride for Big Red
going down this valley here.

It's looking good, Mitch.

One more big piece
of the puzzle here,

the picture's starting to
come together,

we'll get the sluice
runs next to it
and, uh, we're gaining on it.

Right now we're just flying
these sluice runs

like a magic carpet here.

The sluice runs around
in the last corner here,

heading to the new
wash plant pad.

Come on, baby.

Don't get crazy now.

Yeah, keep on coming,
man, it's looking nice.

[narrator] Next, the 100 foot
radial stacker

is edged into position.

Well, man, I'd say
we about got her.

- Nice work.
- You too, man.

She is in, get these belts rolling.

- Start throwing
some dirt at her.
- Yeah.

[narrator] Final task, fire up
Big Red's pump and deliver


a minute to the plant.

Waiting on the water.

[pump whirring]

We'll have to figure
out what's going on

with Big Red's
water pump here.

A lot of old components,
that water pump is...

it's called Franken-pump
'cause it's a bunch
of different parts.

No, it doesn't want
to play ball.

Oh, I just heard some
air leaking.

You can hear it, yeah.

You can see we've got
a connection
in our suction hose,

everything is taking
a beating here.

We've got duct tape
on the suction hose

and it's, uh, getting
pretty weathered.

Yeah, that's a big guy here.

We're going to need
to take a look at this.
We've got definite air leak.

- What do we got?
- We've got an O-ring.

[narrator] A faulty O-ring,
worth just a couple of bucks,

is causing a loss of pressure,

stopping the pump sending
water to the wash plant.

Do we give her the flip
and try it?

It's like when all
your laundry is dirty

and you've got to make it
one more day.

Just do the, turn the socks
inside out, right?

Clean the side out.

[narrator] The O-ring
is damaged on just one side.

We'll put the bad spot
at the bottom.

Mitch hopes simply
turning it around

will create the airtight
seal the pump needs
to function.

Once it gets water in
there, hopefully it'll, uh...

- Fill it with grease?
- Yeah.

[motor whirring]

We've got our water pump fired
up here for Big Red.

Yes.

Well, here we go,
the shaker deck's shaking,

the conveyors are spinning,
time to throw some dirt at it.

First bucket of pay on
the last cut for Big Red.

Yeah, buddy.

[Fred] Right now,
we are in a w*r for gold.

I set a massive goal
this season,

five times what
we got last season.

That's what we need
to strive for.

[narrator] Third year
mine boss, Fred Lewis,

has pulled in 93 ounces
of gold.

And while he's well short
of his 500 ounce goal,

he is closing in on
last season's total

of 110 ounces.

We've got pretty decent gold
right here in the Freedom Cut,

but gold this season
has not been as good
as we had hoped.

[narrator] After hauling in
their best gold weigh,

Fred's crew believe
they have a shot at saving
their season.

Last week we definitely hit
a pay streak 'cause

that's the best gold weigh
we've had as a team.

That is a great achievement
and our guys definitely got

a boost in morale.

You know, I've got everything
on the line right now.

Just get every flake
of gold through that
wash plant

and hopefully at the end
of the season,
pad my guys' pockets

and get the [bleep] out
of here.

Hey, Fred, what's up?

I'm coming to the mercy
of you.

You know my door's just down.

- So I'm coming to you to see
if you can help me out.
- Yeah.

[narrator] Last week,
Brandon Clayton suffered

a major setback when
his D8 dozer died.

We need to get it fixed
or we're [bleep].

[narrator] Earlier
in the season, Brandon lent
his dozer to Fred.

If you can let me borrow that,
I'll let you use my dozer

once it gets here,
kind of desperate.

Right. Yeah. Okay.

- I really appreciate it.
- Sure.

[narrator] Now, Brandon's
cashing in the favor.

I think right now we can
let you use it for a day.

- Okay.
- We owe you that one time.

I'm going to give it
to you for free.

- Just understand we've got
to be super careful with it.
- Yeah.

Got to take care
of that puppy.

We waited so long
to get this thing

and to loan it out,
it should be used

on our cut, not someone
else's cut right now.

I'm making a decision to honor
our deal with the Claytons.

I know they're our rivals
and we do have a bet going,

but, you know, we make deals.

You've got to live up to them.

This is about being
a man of my word.

Whether or not my guys agree
this is a good idea,

it could help us later
on down the road.

I can't wait to start
stripping Golden Acres.

We're ready to [bleep] go.

This dozer is definitely
a bit bigger than ours,

but it's quite the unit, man.

It's definitely an antique.

It's basically a museum
on track, so you've got
to be pretty careful with it.

We'll try her out

and we'll hope for the best.

[machine crashes]

Oh, [bleep]. What the [bleep]
going on there?

Oh, well, that's not good.

Well, I'm going to have
to walk it back to the plant,

this carrier roller
has swamped.

And I can't run it like that.

Fred's probably not
going to be happy,

but we'll see what
he has to say, I guess.

Hopefully they're not too mad.
I know it's their baby.

I don't want to say I told you
so to Fred, but I told you so.

I mean, I'm mad
that it's broke.

I'm not a happy camper at all.

[narrator] Less than
three hours after
Fred's crew loaned

their only dozer
to neighbor Brandon Clayton,

it's been returned, busted.

[narrator] Carrier rollers
smoothly guide
the dozer's tracks,

but the pedestal
that supports one
of the rollers

is cracked,

causing the carrier roller
to fall out of position

and the track to become
dangerously loose.

If we had to call a mechanic
to come in and fix this,

as you're looking at
probably here in the Yukon.

Probably right around
like 165 bucks an hour,

which would be a pretty
big cost.

It'll be a few grand
to fix this up.

[narrator] Buzz will have to
source a replacement pedestal

to get the dozer back
up and running.

Come here and look here.

See that pan?

- Yeah.
- Right?

How's it going, guys?

- Well, slowly.
- Holy [bleep].

- The, uh...
- Isn't there supposed
to be something here?

So this wasn't
a little fix, was it?

Not really.

This is at the worst case
scenario for us.

This is our moneymaker.

Without this, we're [bleep].

A lot of ground ahead
that needs to be stripped

and torn and ripped up, and...

I just... we can't afford
having this dozer down.

- Yeah.
- [narrator] With the broken
dozer taking Buzz and JB out

of the cut, the crew
can't deliver fresh pay

to the plant.

We've got to have
to bite the hard b*llet here
and shut the plant down.

This is my finances.
This is my home.

This is everything
my family's put into it.

But right now we're [bleep].

Shut it down.

- Hey, Stuart.
- Yo.

- I need your assistance.
- What are we doing?

Ah, I guess a little
good cop, bad cop.

- Okay.
- I just talked to Buzz
about the dozer.

Oh, yeah, what is
going on with it?

It's still not fixed.
We're analyzing this
whole transaction

with Brandon, and, uh...

we're going to have to go tell
him he can't use it anymore.

To me this is really tricky
because we're still trying
to build a relationship

with Brandon.
We're still trying to be
the better neighbors here.

Oh, yeah.
I fully agree with it.

You know, I mean,
we were kind of just being
the good neighbor,

and he was in a really,
really bad spot where

his season was actually at
the point where it might
be over,

and we lent our helping hand,

and we kind of got [bleep]
for it.

- Let me lead.
We'll play it soft.
- Mm-hmm.

- If he gives us any tension,
we'll just bring up the facts
- Yeah.

and be like, look,
this isn't personal.

- Yeah.
- This is a business decision.

- Uh-huh.
- We're still here to
help when we can,

- Yeah.
- but we can't help you
with the dozer anymore.

- Yeah, absolutely.
- All right?
All right, let's do it.

[Dave] I started this season,
came up here
to shut down the mine,

sell these claims,

and now we're mining again.

[narrator] Veteran miner
Dave Turin is throwing
the dice

one more time before
he hangs up

his gold mining boots.

He wants to prove his claim
has 10 years' worth

of mining with the potential
to produce $10 million
worth of gold.

[Dave] So I have to prove
that this place is not a dud,

and I got to prove it
to Nathan and Jason that

there's virgin ground
with gold on it.

[narrator] Dave hopes
to sell it to his most
loyal crew members,

operator Jason Sanchez
and mechanic Nathan Clark,

for $1 million.

You know, I've always wanted
to run my own operation.

It's a risk, but we can pull
a good gold right here,

and it can be life-changing.

Team Turin wants 30 ounces
from the Three Amigos

cut to prove the ground,
cover costs,

and pocket some gold,

but so far they've banked
less than six ounces.

You know, for three guys,


In the end, I want everybody
to walk out of here with gold

in their pockets to help cover
the costs and the costs

of coming up here to shut
the claims down,

but I need the gold
to keep coming.

[narrator] Dave's convinced
there's much larger
gold deposits

still to be discovered.

We go deep. We're starting
to hit those big rocks.

That's where
the gold's living.

[narrator] To help convince
Jason and Nathan to buy,

Dave is also throwing
into the deal

his half a million-dollar
wash plant, the Eagle.

Remote-controlled
with tank-like tracks,

it's capable of sluicing


making it a mean, lean,
all-terrain,

money-making machine.

[Dave] I do know what
it takes to come into
a mine empty-handed,

and that's not the case here.

We would buy the wash plant,
pumps, excavators, loader.

Basically, this is
a turnkey operation.

[narrator] Jason digs pay
in the excavator.

Dave and Nathan haul
the pay to the wash plant.

This is the first time
I've ever mined
with this few a guys,

so, you know, it kind of goes
to show

if you got some competent,
really good people,

you can do it with
a small crew.

It kind of proves
to those guys, too,

that if they want to buy
this, they could,

you know, work on this
with a small crew.

It's really cheap.
We'll pull some decent
numbers out of here.

As long as the ground
pays out, we'll do all right.

I'm a happy, happy, happy boy
right now.

[Dave] Jason's getting into
some big rocks right now.

Okie-dokie, here comes
the big rocks.

I hope we find a lot of gold
with all that big rocks.

Me, too.
I'm hoping, hoping, hoping.

This is going to be
so exciting.

You hate to throw those
kind of rocks

on your wash plant,
but there should be

a lot of big gold around
those big rocks,

so that's what
we're hoping for.

This conveyor quit, Nate.
I'm not sure what's up.

[man on radio]
The belt conveyor stopped.

- Did he just say
the belt stopped?
- Aw, [bleep].

Just one big one?

Looks like we got a rock
in the tail pulley.

[bleeping] is in there,
something fierce, y'all.

[narrator] The coarse
tailing's conveyor is jammed.

A rock is wedged
between the belt

and the pulley that
rotates the conveyor.

There you are.

She's got to be almost out.

- Keep prying?
- No, hold--

Okay.

We're going to have
to loosen the belt,

try to spin that tail pulley
in the belt,

so it'll kick that rock out.

[narrator] Dave has to spin
the tail pulley by hand.

- Keep loosening?
- Yeah, no you're good.

- Good?
- She's moving.

Ah, got her.

[bleep]

Man.

Okay.

[Nathan] So this is the rock
that was wedged in there,

but the way it was wedged
was bound into that belt

so much that we couldn't
get it to roll

or flip to the flat point
to get it to come out.

- Hey, Jason.
- Yes, sir?

- Come here. [bleep]
- There's some
little pieces in there.

It sure looks like it,
doesn't it?

I'll bet that's gold.

- Now that's gold.
- Without a doubt, 100%.

This rock broke open

and there's a little bit
of gold in it.

So we're going to hang on
to that one.

Fire the plant up.

Eagle coming on.

[motor whirring]

It's kind of frustrating,
we are really limited

on the amount of time
that we're going to be here.

I need to get gold right now.

[Fred] I knew that loaning out
the dozer was probably
a risk,

but it's caused us
to lose some gold

at this point
and some sluicing.

[narrator] Fred Lewis'
wash plant has been shut down

for 24 hours after
Brandon Clayton damaged

his dozer,

leaving Fred unable to strip ground

and access new pay
to feed the plant.

Brandon.

I wanted to come over
and talk about the dozer.

[Brandon] Yeah, sorry
about that.

But I don't think we can let
you guys borrow it anymore.

- And it's not personal.
- Right.

I don't want to be
a bad neighbor,

- Yeah.
- but at the same time,
I've got to run the business

and I just don't see us
having time to let you
borrow it again.

- Right.
- It's just I can't afford
to be down again.

Do you guys need help
fixing it? Or...

Right now we've got
the part.

- Buzz is going to get it up
and running today,
- All right.

so we're good.

Yeah, yeah, that's cool.

I mean, we didn't mean
to make it break either.

No, no.

Water under the bridge, bro.

All right, I'll get out
of your hair.

- See you later.
- Later, brother.

See you, dude.
See you, Stuart.

This carrier roller
pedestal, it got busted off
all twisted up,

so I had to drive to the other
side of the territory.

This took me all
freaking day to get it.

And now we're... I'll be in
the process of getting it
back on.

[narrator] To get the dozer up
and running,

Buzz sourced
a replacement pedestal



Unfortunately, when
this happened,

three bolts broke.

The convenience of normal life
isn't really here.

You end up doing
a lot of bush fixes.

We don't really have
time to [bleep] around.

[narrator] First, he needs
to place the new pedestal
back on the frame.

Oh, it looks good.

This is a pedestal.

[narrator] Then secure
the carrier roller
onto the pedestal.

Everybody watch your toes.

It's heavy.

We're just going
to lock her down.

[narrator] Bolt down
the pedestal with
the one remaining bolt.

So I'll just get the one bolt
that I can put in, in,

weld it down, and get to work.

[narrator] And weld it
to the frame.

[Buzz] After I weld it,
things should be good to go.

Buzz...

- how's it going?
- Don't slam it around.

Everything should be fine.

That's why you're the only one
driving it.

That's right.

So what are you looking at
for time now to get her going?

What time is it?

Like, six o'clock.



Oh, I like that. Okay. Good.

'Cause we've got to get going.
We're running out of time.

You know, it's going
to start freezing at night
before we know it here.

- Yeah.
- Love it.

All good.

Hey, now I've got this puppy
all welded up.

Is it going to start?

[engine sputters]

[engine starts]

That's the shiznit
right there.

There we go.

Fire it up.

[motor starts]

Sluice is back up
and running again.

We got water.

Seeing that wash plant up
and running right now means

the world to us.

Without somebody like Buzz,
who is always willing

to fix problems and go
the extra mile to make
[bleep] happen,

it wouldn't be possible.

So right now, the heartbeat
of our operation's up
and running.

Got to keep it running
if we're going to achieve
that goal we have.

It's on.

We've been running these
wash plants hard all year,

but we're going to run them
the hardest right now,

right to the finish line.
That's it down there.

Hopefully there's a little
gold in this ground here.

[narrator] At Parker's
Indian River claim,

foreman Mitch Blaschke
is trying to sluice a mountain

of pay dirt before
the end of the season.

With wash plants Big Red
and Sluicifer both
running 24/7.

To keep the plants fed,
Mitch has elevated

one of his green crew members

from a rock truck to a loader.

We got Evan, trying to train
him up because

he's a young guy
that's really enthusiastic,

wants to be out here learning
the machines

and how to do things,
and he's got a great attitude.

Mitch asked if I wanted
to do some loader today

and I was like...

[bleep] yeah I do,
that's great.

[narrator] 19-year-old
Evan Kurtz came to
the Klondike Goldfields

in the hope of rising
in the ranks.

When I'm learning new things
I get kind of nervous

and stressful just because
I don't want to [bleep]
up anything,

but, yeah, there's a lot more
responsibility in a loader.

You've got to be mindful
of everyone around you.

Evan on a loader, I think
he was born for that.

A loader is probably
the hardest thing
to drive

because it's a constant
feeling it.

We'll make a miner out
of him, that's for sure.

Oh [bleep].

What the [bleep] is going on?

Tyson, you got a copy, Tyson?

There's a bunch of rocks
in the sluice runs.

We're going to go ahead
and shut her down.

Hit it!

Parker's due back from Alaska,

Big Red's down, we have
no gold coming in,

no money coming in,
but a lot going out.

We really need to try
and hammer this out

and get it done.
Get this fired back up.

Oh, we got Big Red down
this morning,

it's got a lot of large
material going down
the sluice rung.

[narrator]
At Parker Schnabel's
Airstrip claim,

Mitch and Tyson have had
to shut down Big Red

after Evan spotted rocks
in the sluice runs.

I'm just going to take
a look at it.

You know, you see all
these here?

That means we have
a blown out screen

and it's got to be a pretty
big hole for rocks this size

to be coming in and when
the rocks land in spots

like this, it'll create
dead spots where

the gold isn't being caught, so...

As you can tell the runs
are littered in rocks,

so I'm going to have
to go and hand pick
all these out

and get up in the screen deck
and change that screen.

You know the material
that we're running right now,

as you can see
from the tailings here

is really sharp,
aggressive rock,

so you think about
all that material working

its way across this wash plant
hours and hours a day

and, you know, these screens
are pretty thin to begin with

and then when you go
and work that material
over the top,

eventually it cuts
through 'em, so we're going
to remove

the old screen,

bring the new one in,
get her bolted back up.

[narrator] The screen deck
meshing separates large rocks

from the finer pay dirt
allowing the gold rich material

to drop through the screens.

But if the screen breaks,
the large rocks fall through
as well.

Once in the sluices,
the rocks block the flow

of water, stopping the riffles
from catching the gold

and washing it out of the end
of the box.

You see it?

Yeah we've got
a bad screen here.
Check that one out the bottom.

Yeah just like that.

It's looking good.

So this is our screen
that we just pulled out

and as you can see,
it's supposed to just have
half inch size holes here,

but once these break,
real big rocks.

They make their way
into the sluice box.

It's been a fight getting
Big Red set up,

but, hopefully,
the fight is over.

- She's fixed.
- Time to fire it up.

It's a good feeling.

[motor starts]

You know if Evan hadn't
have spotted this,

more and more material
would have built up

in the sluice runs until
we're doing all this work.

We're washing all
these rocks, but we're not
catching any gold.

Running the plant
by myself knowing that

they trust me to do so.

It's a big step up
and I'm really happy
to be taking it right now.

Just need to keep working
everything on that--

- Hello, guys.
- What up baby?

You got our baby back
in action?

Back up and rolling.

Well, it looks like
you got her turned up.

She's cranking through
the dirt right now

But, man, it just feels
good to have Big Red
back up and running.

Yeah, but you guys got
that done in a hurry.

So that's the final stretch,

we just gotta hunker in
and keep feeding it, huh?

I mean it's pretty wild,
you look down there
and that's the property line.

Definitely a pretty
ambitious season

and thank you, guys,
for making it happen.

We're getting gold,
so that's a good thing.

We got bigger rocks
which means bigger gold

and things are working well.

It's the three amigos,
you just got three
guys working.

[narrator] Dave Turin is on
a mission to prove
his Glacier Creek claim

is worth its million
dollar price tag

to potential buyers,
Jason and Nathan.

Now if it's profitable,
I don't know,

so you get the gold
on the scale,

it'll make a big decision
on what we're gonna do

if we're gonna buy
this property.

You know, it's going really,
really smooth right now

and that's the scary part,
nothing ever goes smooth
in mining.

Yeah, bring me some pay, Nate.

Oh, [bleep]

- Nate...
- I, uh, conveyor quit again.

- k*ll it, k*ll it,
k*ll it, k*ll it, k*ll it.
- What?

k*ll it, k*ll it, Jason.

[bleep] piece of [bleep]
[bleeping]

[narrator] The coarse tailings
belt has jammed...

once again.

Well, we thought we fixed it,
but we didn't fix it.

Once again, we got
a bunch of [bleep] rocks
in the tail port.

[narrator] Dave must now clear
the rocks by hand.

Rocks coming off conveyor,
is everybody clear?

That moved a [bleep] ton.

Let me clear the belt out, Dave.

Clear.

It's just a piece of rubber
that keeps flopping open

and the rocks get down
and then they fall into
the tail place.

Yeah it's just wear on
the machine,

it wears the rubber out
and then what happens

is you create a little hole
and the little rocks
get in there.

Pretty soon it grows,
now you got a problem.

When you run a million rocks
over rubber,

the rock will always win.

So right now,
we're patching that hole.

[narrator] A rubber flap
on the edge of the belt
has worn out.

Instead of steering rocks
up the conveyor,

the flaps ripped open,
allowing rocks
to fall through,

jamming the tail pulling.

To get the Eagle back up
and running as fast
as possible,

the team fix a rubber patch
across the gap.

We're fixed, see if [bleep]
runs that way.

Yeah, you want to turn it on.
Make sure everything's good?

Yeah.

[pump whirring]

[narrator] Dave's back
in the game,

but the shutdowns
have cost him eight hours

in vital sluicing time.

Now all he can do is hope
this spot pays out.

You know, Jason and Nathan
want to see some gold.

We're going to try
to find that.

I've been cleaning gold
all day.

About time to take a break.

[narrator] Chris Doumitt
celebrates his 71st birthday

working on his golf handicap.

Too far.

Oh, just short.

Ah...

Yeah, hole in one, baby.

Don't touch that, it's hot.

[laughs]

Nailed it.

- Hey, Shell.
- Hi, guys.

Tell me it looks great.

[Shelly] I was thinking
it was going to be
a bit more than that.

So what do we got on
in the box, Nate?

About 20 hours on it.


there's 2,000 yards

right there.

[narrator] Last week,
Team Turin ran 1,400 yards

delivering 5.58 ounces.

This week they've mined deeper,

hitting bigger rocks and Dave
thinks they should pull in

significantly more than
their last weigh.

Now, let's weigh it up.

One, two, three...

four, five, there's six...



[narrator] Worth $11,000.

sh**t.

For fudge sakes.

- Explain that.
- Just not a lot of gold.

I was hoping
for double figures.

The way I understand it
and what all the old timers

have told me, every time
there's a storm,

it's depositing gold
and this river
is flushing it down.

The river continually
is depositing gold.

I believe that, Dave,
but I hate to say it,

it's not financially feasible
for us to try and wait for it

to deposit enough for us
to make money off of it.

Really if you look at
everything that we have

in front of us, you might
not be able to sell this
for 20 years, Dave.

I just don't know this
is where I want to be.

I really don't.

I had said I'd follow Dave
to the end.

Well, that could be the end.

[Dave] I hate to say it,
it's somewhat embarrassing.

I do believe there's
virgin ground under there.

I think we're going to get
a lot better gold

down deeper and we're only at,
what, 12 or 15 feet?

So that's what
we're going to do.

I mean it's one last push,
try to prove to Jason

and Nathan that
there's good gold
down deeper.

You know, guys, this week's
been a little bit tough.

- Oh.
- I'm kind of happy to see gold
in the bottle here.

Um...

I'm going to apologize
to you two, JB and Buzz,

about the dozer.

I'm going to leave you and JB
in charge of who uses that

and when they use it
from now on, I'm not going
to have any say.

Problem solved.

Oh, Buzz.

Obviously I still think
it was a good idea

to let Brandon borrow it,
but we learned our lesson.


ran this week because of it.

It is what it is, right?

You want to count
this one out?

[narrator] Despite all
the setbacks, Fred is just


of his last season total
of 110 ounces.

One, three, four, five, six, seven...

ten, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18.02.

[narrator] Worth over $30,000
bringing their season haul

to 111 ounces,

surpassing last year's total.

If they can just keep running,
they still have a shot

of hitting
their 500 ounce season goal.

At this point,
we're paying the bills.

We're paying back debt
and I think if we hadn't
have [bleep] up

with letting our dozer go down
and had that down time,

imagine how much more
we'd have.

We might have beaten
our personal best.

- Yeah.
- [groans]

So, keep this gold coming in.

How's your week been?

Nice to have two plants up
and running again.

Yeah, definitely.
It's been a long time coming

- getting Big Red going.
- Yeah, really.

We got two of them
running again.
How good is that?

Hopefully we can
keep it running.

Hey, Parker.

- Hey, man.
- Happy birthday.

Oh, my gosh.
For me? Thanks.

[laughs]

It's an ashtray.

- Oh. Is it real gold?
- It's our gold.

- Are you kidding me?
- No.

Holy cow.

- Oh, my gosh.
- Happy birthday.

Thank you.

[Parker] So, everything's made
out of gold from here.

A golden ashtray.

Holy cow.

You guys can expect something
similar in 30 years,

- [all laughing]
- 40 years.

- 695.
- Yeah.

[narrator] Worth $12,000.

Seems like saying thank you
is not enough.

You're everybody's friend
out here, you know?

- Yeah.
- And we all really
appreciate that.

- Thank you.
- And that's from the crew.

Oh, thank you.

Got Big Red set up

and just got it up and going.

So, Big Red didn't get
a whole lot of run time?

Day and a half.

Oh. Oh, yeah.

- Want to see?
- Sure.

[narrator] Now, it's time
for the first gold
from the Runway cut.

Ten. There we go.

Twenty.

Thirty, 40, 51.6.

[narrator] Worth
nearly $90,000.

But if they can run
Big Red for a full week,

it could deliver half
a million.

And Sluicifer's been purring
right along, too.

There's been no majors
on that, so...

we got a good number here, T.

[narrator] Sluicifer has been
running dirt from
the payback cut.

The last clean-up produced


We're ready. Let's do it.

Twenty, 40...







- It's not bad.
- Not at all.

[narrator] Worth
nearly $600,000.

Now you get Big Red
to do that too,

and we'll have some
pretty nice weeks.

[Parker] Well, are
you guys happy to be done
moving wash plants?

- Yeah.
- It's a lot of work,
that's for sure,

but you know,
to have Big Red there,

and, I mean, you look at
the property lines,

right there, we're at it.

So now it's a matter of just
getting all that dirt through

these plants,
and pretty crazy,

like, you look at how many
miles of ground
we've gotten through

over the years,

and to be at the last
little bit of it.

Sluice it or lose it.

Okay. Thanks, fellas.

- No problem,
see you guys later.
- Thank you.

That is totally...
he hammered all of that.

Don't take it to Vegas.

No. Thanks, Parker.

It's good to have two plants
back up and running.

Um...

You know, we've still got
a lot of ground
to get through,

and not a lot of season left
to do it in, so...

Come on.

So, hopefully we can
just keep them going,

but that gets more
and more difficult

as the year drags on.