09x08 - Stormageddon

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
on this "gold rush"...

Parker:
why is mitch running?

Mitch: the conveyor's
blocked with wet pay!

-I think that I [bleep] up.
-Can't keep running this.

It's jammed up
in all the conveyors.

I mean, there's so much
[bleep] water

That everything's wet.

♪♪

Mike: this is our first trip
into thistle

With kid commando --
a true trial by fire.

Do we have enough fuel
to make it there?

If it pushed up any further,
we'd be [bleep]

Hydroplaning
across the water.

Ben: hey, you better
get over here.

The break wall's
been breached.

We got water pouring
into the cut.

Holy [bleep].

Ryan, ryan,
go grab some radios.

Let's get this [bleep]
pump out of here.

[Bleep] nothing's ever easy
around here.

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

[ Thunder rolling ]

♪♪

♪♪

It's been puking rain
for three days straight

And just making
an absolute mess of the cut.

It's really not helping
anything right now,

But at the end of the day,
we can't afford

To shut the plant down
because of some rain.

Like, we've got to keep this
thing running no matter what.

Narrator:
heavy midsummer rain

Is the least
of parker schnabel's problems.

He's chasing a 6,000-ounce,
$7.2 million goal,

But nearly halfway
through his season,

He's mined only 750 ounces,

Worth just $875,000.

Yeah, I mean, with tony
screwing us over this spring,

We had just got
both plants up and running.

Narrator: big red has been
running for a month,

And last week,
he finally fired up sluicifer.

Parker's in the cut, loading
250 yards of dirt per hour

Into sluicifer's hopper feeder.

Yeah, the cut's flooded here.

Bedrock contact is underwater,

And I have to take
at least 2 feet of bedrock.

So, you know, there's gonna be
some wet material

Coming at the wash plant.

Hey, guys, this whole place
is flooded over here.

We're gonna have to
figure something out.

Parker: tyson just sent it all
up to the [bleep] plant.

There's some
pretty sloppy stuff here,

But, you know, it's what we've
got to work with right now.

The number-one thing here
is, though,

Just the plant
has to stay running,

Got to keep the plant running.

♪♪

[Bleep] why is --
why is mitch running?

Mitch: parker, the conveyor's
blocked with wet pay!

Shut it down!

[Bleep]

♪♪

Parker: what?

This stuff's, like,
just slop, man.

It's pouring out
everywhere.

[Bleep]
I better get the plant off.

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, you [bleep].

♪♪

[Bleep]

I think I [bleep] up.

♪♪

Yeah, this stuff's so wet,

It's just surging
coming out of the feeder.

All this sloppy [bleep]
building up here,

So now we're gonna
be down for a while.

It's puking rock out
everywhere.

It's all jammed up
in the tail wheels.

It's jammed up
in all the conveyors.

Dude, where are you finding
this stuff, anyway?

It looks like he's...

It's the only [bleep]
pay in the cut.

You know, it's a wash plant,
not a sewage-treatment plant.

Like, I mean, we've run
wet material, but this stuff's

Got water running out
of the bottom of the feeder.

You know, we're running
this thing maxed-out right now,

So whenever it gets wet
like that,

It's just too much
for this to handle.

I mean, there's so much
[bleep] water

That everything's wet.

Either do something with that
or something with this

Because we can't
keep running this.

I mean, like,
I looked over.

I thought you were bringing
it up here to, like,

Let it dry out, not going
through the plant with it.

So, I mean, I know we got
to keep this thing fed,

But, man, we got to find
some drier material.

Well, yeah.

I'm not gonna just
sit here and [bleep]

Put it in a pile and watch it
dry like we're gardeners.

Narrator: until parker finds
some drier pay dirt,

Sluicifer is shut down.

We need to get this
[bleep] thing

Up and running,
like, right now.

We need a [bleep] solution

'Cause we can't afford to have
this [bleep] plant down.

♪♪

[ Thunder rolling ]

Yeah. The weather's not doing us
any favors right now.

It's raining a lot.

Narrator: 11 miles west
at quartz creek,

Rookie mine boss rick ness
is also dealing with

The klondike monsoons.

Rick:
the whole cut's saturated.

Rain is just making
a giant mess.

Everything's getting
sloppy and gross --

Last thing you want.

Narrator: rick is chasing a
1,000-ounce, $1.2 million goal,

But nearly halfway
through the season,

He's mined just 133 ounces,
worth only $160,000.

With the inexperienced crew
that I have,

I want them to have
ideal conditions.

This isn't ideal --
rain, flooding, sloppy mud mess.

I'm trying to figure out
if I'm driving in a river

Or it's still in the claim.

Yeah.
Stay focused out there.

♪♪

Hey, be careful leaving.

Right at the top there,
I kind of slid to the left.

It's a little soft
as you're exiting.

This is gonna be
one big mud-wrestling pit.

Did you guys
bring rain gear?

Nope.

Like, at all
for the whole summer?

Nope.
[ Laughs ]

There's a saying
in the yukon --

"If you don't like the weather,
wait five minutes."

I don't like the weather.

I hate the [bleep]
water around here.

I'm really sick of it.

It's just a complete
[bleep] show.

I can cry about the water
tonight later, like,

When I'm all alone.

I need a break
from mother nature,

And I need to get
that new watering pump here.

♪♪

Narrator: the rainwater is
creating ponds in the cut,

Putting rick's entire
mining operation on hold.

What the hell's going on
over here?

This cut's not draining out.
[Bleep] [bleep]

There's a ton of water
in here, huh?

Yeah, it's a huge problem
for me right now.

I need some help down here.
Yeah, yeah.

What I'm concerned about
is leaving gold behind

'Cause I can't see it.

Every time I take a scoop,
water chases it in.

All right. Well,
the only thing I can do

Is get down here
and try to ditch it out.

Hopefully
we get some drainage.

I guess I'll get in that 480,
and I'll just run it

Right around the cut
you got going right now,

And that should
help it drain.

I'll get on it right now.
-Right on.

Narrator: rick's plan --
dig a ditch 200 feet long

Through the middle of his cut.

The water should then drain
to the deepest point.

Then he'll install a pump
to send it over the berm

And into the settling pond
beneath the wash plant.

Digging a ditch,
trying to get the water drained

From where terry's
been pulling pay from.

Yeah, we're pretty much
surrounded by water

Where we're working here.

Well, I got to get
this trench dug as fast as I can

And save this cut.

Come on.

No wonder this [bleep]
not [bleep] draining right

If I can't even dig through it.

Come on.

I can't tell if it's frost
or if it's rocky bedrock.

Yeah, I can't tell.

That will get her flowing.

Narrator:
rick releases the rainwater

From the flooded cut
into the ditch.

Rick: you go where
I tell you to go, water.

♪♪

Narrator:
to finish the job,

Rick needs to
get back to the other side

Of his 20-foot-wide ditch.

Oh, yeah.
Jump the ditch, yeah.

In honor of that evel knievel
show that was on,

I will now jump this ditch.

This is gonna end bad.

They call me ricky pastrana.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, yeah.
Jump the ditch, yeah.

Narrator:
rick ness is attempting to get

His $0.5 million rental
across his new drainage ditch.

They call me ricky pastrana.

♪♪

♪♪

[Bleep]

[ Laughs ]

[Bleep]

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

Uh-oh.

Ohhhhhh.

♪♪

Carl's not gonna be happy,
I think.

[ Grunts ]

A little body work.

♪♪

I am just getting ready
to put in a culvert here

So that we've got
a crossing for our trucks.

They've got to have access
through here,

So create a culvert,
cover it with gravel,

And we'll have a road.

Narrator: to avoid destroying
any more excavators,

Rick reinstates the road
using a culvert pipe.

Rick:
get in my ditch, [bleep].

Put in a culvert
and gap a road over it.

We've got continued access
to the rest of our cut.

Narrator: finally,
rick installs his biggest pump

To send 1,000 gallons a minute
from the new drainage ditch

Safely out
into the settling pond.

Rick: for now,
the water hasn't beat me.

[Bleep] you, water.

♪♪

Narrator:
at eureka creek, tony beets

Is chasing a 6,000-ounce,
$7.2 million goal,

But his money-maker,
dredge one, is shut down.

Kevin: our dredges hit a hump
of frozen ground

That is higher
than we can go over,

And it's a little too tough
for the dredge to dig through

'Cause it's [bleep] hard.

Narrator: kevin is attempting
to break through

The frozen ground
beneath the mud...

Kevin:
to say we are [bleep] right now

Is a bit of an understatement.

Narrator: ...but he's failing
to beat the permafrost.

Kevin: we got to figure out this
pretty quick

'Cause right now it's down time.

Less gold --
not gonna reach our total,

So we got to get
[bleep] on something.

Frozen ground.

No, complete opposite.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.
Go grab some coffee.

[ Laughs ]

Narrator:
tony's second season goal --

Transport dredge two 100 miles
from remote thistle creek

Via dawson city
to his claim in eureka creek.

After spending two years
and well over $1 million

Restoring the 500-ton machine,

Failure is not an option.

Honestly,
I'm a little bit tired

Of throwing money
at dredge two.

No, that doesn't work

'Cause this has been
three years.

The dredge has to
come out this year.

Gonna be point when it's
gonna be enough and no more,

And get rid of the thing
'cause I'm done with it.

Narrator:
tony plans to speed the process

With his newly renovated
tugboat, the kid commando.

I think you're good.

Its maiden voyage --

Take a barge laden with
two 30-ton off-road trailers

To thistle creek.

Pretty smooth.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah, I can get going
right away,

But who would I have
as deckhand?

Yeah.
I'm right on that.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

This is our first trip
into thistle

With kid commando --
a true trial by fire.

This is the first time
this boat's ever gone

This far upriver,
first time it's really sailed.

Take a chance driving it?

No, that's all you,
buddy.

[ Laughing ]

Baaawk-bawk-bawk-bawk!

Mike: juan's here to
troubleshoot

If anything goes wrong.

He's quite experienced
with engine stuff,

So I can rely on
good old juan here

To get her done
if something goes wrong.

We got her, man.

I think that's tony.

-Is that your dad?
-I think so.

Narrator: earlier in the season,
tony spent $200,000

To make
the kid commando stable.

Now heading upriver at a steady
4 miles an hour,

It will take two long days
to reach dredge two

At remote thistle creek.

How's the speed, mike?

Slower than [bleep]
through molasses.

Oh, man.

'Cause we dropped from
3 miles an hour to just...

0.62.

Oh, I don't like that.

I'm gonna go check
that motor.

[ Motor running ]

Those motors
are laboring bad.

We've gone about 5 miles
in two hours.

My biggest concern
is the fuel.

I don't know how much
this [bleep] burns.

It's gonna burn a lot.

That's not something
I want to hear.

Just off
the top of my head,

I bet we'll probably burn
10 gallons an hour per engine.

-Per engine?
-Per engine, per engine.

At the rate we're going,
how much longer

Before we get there,
you think?

So I don't know what my average
is, but you could say 2.

So we're not even --

We're barely even
getting half speed.

Juan: so basically what we did
was we added

Another two days
to our trip.

Instead of it being
a two-day trip,

It's a four-day trip
upriver.

Mike: I think we're gonna end up
burning out through our fuel

Before we even make 60 miles
at this [bleep] rate.

[Bleep] damn [bleep]
[bleep] of a [bleep].

♪♪

♪♪

[Bleep] damn [bleep]
[bleep] of a [bleep].

Instead of it being
a two-day trip,

It's a four-day trip
upriver.

Narrator: tony beets has
instructed mike

To take the kid commando
to remote thistle creek

So he can dismantle dredge two

And get the giant 72-year-old
machine working again,

But the tug is
running at half-speed.

We got to figure out
what the hell is going on.

I'm seeing what
my a*s end's doing.

Making a lot of bubbles.

Yeah, my a*s end's
getting pushed right up.

Yeah.

If it pushed up any further,
we'd be [bleep]

Hydroplaning
across the water.

With all the weight
on the a*s end,

It pushes the front
of the kid commando down,

Forcing my a*s end up.

So now I'm sitting there,
[bleep] pushing a barge

Sitting like this,
and that's so much drag.

Narrator:
the tug, the kid commando,

Pushes the barge carrying
the cargo through the water.

The heavy weight of the trailers

Is dropping
the back of the barge,

And, because they're attached,
the front of the kid commando.

The drop is also causing
kid commando's rear

To rise along with
its propellers,

Which are now breaching
out of the water,

Causing a massive loss
of thrust.

Mike: if my a*s end went down
a little bit more,

It would mean my propellers
go lower in the water.

I get more speed.

Juan: I'm wondering
if there's a way

Where we could lift
the front end of the boat

So it would kind of force
the a*s end down.

I'm not adjusting it
while on the river.

Do we have enough fuel
to make it there?

Think we need to pull over
or turn around?

I really don't want to have
to go back with bad news.

Well,
you're the captain, man.

You make the call.

What are we gonna do?

I'm gonna stop
[bleep] around.

I'm turning around, juan.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Parker: this is where we're
digging our pay from,

And it's all flooded out,

But it's all sloppy [bleep]
screwing up the belt.

Narrator:
in the last cut,

Sluicifer is shut down,

Costing parker
$2,400 an hour in lost gold.

Before he can fire it back up,

He needs to solve
two problems --

Waterlogged pay
and a damaged belt.

Mitch: we got a tear here
we got to take care of

So we can start running again.

What happened is the material
has a lot of water in it,

That caused the material
to surge really bad.

Rocks boiled over everything
and piled up our conveyors here,

And we got a tear in this belt,

So we're gonna cut out
this damaged area.

We've got a little spare piece
of conveyor belt right here.

We're gonna fit up a piece,
put it in here.

It's not gonna be pretty,

But it's gonna
get us back running,

So it's definitely
a costly mistake.

Got to run dry dirt,
not wet stuff.

Narrator: almost halfway
through the season,

Parker has only mined $880,000
of his $7.2 million goal,

And flooding in the cut
is getting worse.

There's water coming underneath
our berm back into our cut.

So we can't dig pay
when it's all [bleep] wet.

We've got to try to
stop this water

That's bleeding back at us.

Narrator: the rain has raised
the level of the settling pond,

So water is seeping through
the berm into the cut.

Parker's plan --
cut a channel in the berm

On the far side
of the settling pond

So that the excess water
flows out into indian river,

Allowing the cut to dry out.

Let's do this.

The water in our settling pond
is too high,

And so we have to relieve
that pressure.

So I'm just cutting this road
out and letting a ditch

For the water
to get out of this pond,

And hopefully that will drop
the pond level enough

That it will relieve
our water problem.

Should just stop water
coming back into our cut.

We're gonna pop it like a zit.

If this doesn't work,
we're gonna be losing
a lot of sluicing time,

And right now we need those
plants running and finding gold.

Here goes nothing.

♪♪

All right.
Well, she's flowing.

♪♪

Everything looks
pretty nice and neat,

But we definitely got at
some good elevation change here.

I dug it out real good,
so it's just flowing

Nice and easy out of here,
but for the time being,

We don't have
a massive pile of water

Draining back into our cut.

Narrator:
as the cut drains,

Mitch completes his work
on the belt.

We've got our repair in here.

You know, it's not ideal
because now we have

Another set of clips here
for everything to catch on.

We're gonna have to
keep an eye on all this,

But it's back together.
It's ready to run.

Parker:
mitch, fire it up!

Run it through
the wash plant.

Let's see
if this thing works.

Time to fire it up
and get back to making money.

Conveyor is on.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Let's mine some
[bleep] gold.

That's more like it.

Everything's looking good!

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Rick: everything's clicking
in the cut.

We got the water under control.

Narrator:
rick ness only has $160,000

Of his $1.2 million goal,

And he can't afford to be
delayed by the storm floods,

So he's created
a drainage system in his cut

And is pumping excess rainwater

Out into the settling pond
beneath the plant.

Today we can stop digging pay
out of the water

And get everything
nice and dry again

And back to knowing
what we're doing.

Ben: hey, rick?
You got a copy, rick?

-Yeah, go for rick.
-Hey, you better get over here.

The break wall's
been breached.

We got water pouring
into the cut.

Holy [bleep].

Ryan, ryan,
go grab some radios.

Let's get this [bleep]
pump out of here.

Narrator:
water is rushing over the berm,

Threatening to destroy
rick's pump, flood the cut,

And stop rick mining
for so long, he'll go bust.

Rick: if something happens to
that new watering pump,

I'm [bleep].

Getting this pump moved
right away,

I can see this water
running in here.

I think this is gonna
give away pretty quick,

So trying to move
as quick as we can.

Narrator: while his crew races
to move the pump out of danger,

Rick takes drastic action.

Rick: well, our fine tailings
are kind of

Cutting off
this little pond back here

Where I'm trying to pump
the water out of the cut,

And it's trapping water,
so I got to dig a relief

And try to let it out of here

Because if that pond
keeps getting any higher,

It's gonna go over the bank
into our cut.

Narrator: to lower the water
in the tailings pond,

Rick will create a path through
the tailings beneath the plant

So that he can channel the water
away into lower ground,

But the tailings are wet
and dangerously unstable.

This mud could be
5 feet deep,

Or it could be [bleep]
25 feet deep.

Deep enough to [bleep]
this machine up.

Hopefully I don't sink
this [bleep] thing.

This right here is not
where I want to be.

Please don't sink.
Please don't sink.

If this machine sinks
in the mud,

It's [bleep] gone,
and I'm dead.

I won't like it at all.

I've dealt with water issues
like this lots before,

But this is the first time
where it's my gold

And my equipment on the line.

I've got this water
back to draining out of here

So we can get back
to hauling pay

And keep our wash plant going.

The water is starting
to flow this way.

That means I'm winning.

Narrator:
with the pump on higher ground,

Rick's crew
is ready to reconnect

And keep draining the cut.

I mean, instantly
the water's coming out.

I mean, if we would have
lost that berm,

We would have flooded
our entire cut.

I'd rather get it out
while it's dry

Than have to snorkel in there
and try and fish it out.

♪♪

Yeah.
We're pumping water now.

Nothing's ever easy around here,
but we always get it.

It just takes more struggle
than it should.

-Ben, ryan, you guys copy?
-Yeah.

I finished this ditch
to the other side.

If you guys --
how's the pump working?

It's not working
to its full capacity.

That's so weak still,
huh?

Not a whole lot
of pressure, though.

-No.
-Look at that.

Like, you can hear it
struggling now, too, right?

Ryan: yeah.

I don't even know if
that will catch us up.

There's got to be something
going on inside of there.

What the heck?

I'm trying to think
about this here.

Like, maybe -- I think we got
the pipes connected all wrong.

The outlet pipe looks like
it's on the intake nozzle.

Are you [bleep]
kidding me?

Narrator:
they've made a rookie mistake,

Hooking the outlet pipe
to the pump's intake nozzle.

I'm just gonna turn the pump
around 180 degrees.

Try that discharge side
over there,

See if that
fixes the problem.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Laughing ]
is she ready to go?

[Bleep] yeah, boy.

[ Motor starts ]

Yeah,
that's more like it.

[ Laughs ]

Ryan: well,
it's pumping water now.

It's, like, the equivalent of
not reading the owner's manual.

-[ Laughs ]
-[bleep] sake.

Officer doobie
reporting for duty.

[ Laughs ]

Happy now!
Happy days.

Little bit embarrassed
about that.

I mean, I'm the one
that told them guys

To hook it up that way.

I just assumed that
the way we were hooking up

Was an option for that pump.

And after scratching our
[bleep] heads and looking at it,

It's not the case,

And we had it
hooked up wrong.

So the water's draining now.

It's gonna take a little bit
'cause we got pretty backed up,

But I would say
within a couple hours,

We'll be back to normal.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: the kid commando is
back in dawson

After its failed voyage
to thistle creek.

The biggest thing
that we have to deal with

Is the way that the load's
on the barge.

The way it's set, it's actually
pushing the front down,

Which is in turn
lifting the a*s end.

We're losing a lot of our power
right there.

So we're gonna try
to reposition this load

So it doesn't do that.

Hopefully when we get going,
it'll correct the issue.

Narrator: the trailers have
a combined weight of 60 tons.

Mike uses the 460 loader

To move them
to the front of the barge.

The trailers will haul
the heaviest parts of dredge two

From its remote site in thistle

Back to the riverbank,
ready for loading.

♪♪

What happens when
we start pushing?

The butt of the boat
wants to come up,

And we lose all our power.

So we want to make sure
we have the weight

In the back to keep us down.

Narrator: to get maximum thrust
from the propellers,

They need the stern of
the tugboat deeper in the water.

Juan has a radical solution.

Seems a little odd that we're
flooding the back of a boat.

You would think you want to keep
water out of a boat,

But we're actually putting water
in the boat

To try to get as much weight
as we can in the back

To keep the props in the water.

Yeah, it's a lot better now
with the load sitting in front

And getting all that
[bleep] worked out.

The a*s end's
sitting much lower.

Props work better when
they're in the actual water.

Oh, [bleep] yeah.

We got the barge
in front of the kid,

Heading up the river right now.

♪♪

♪♪

I got her running at 1,600 rpms.

She's doing 4 miles,
and that's in main current.

Now we're picking up speed.

If we keep going at this rate,
we'll be happiest --

Quite happy, actually.

Juan: yeah, we're almost
5 miles an hour right now.

That's pretty,
pretty decent now.

That's actually
impressing me.

♪♪

So hopefully the trip up to
thistle is all successful,

And we can start pulling
more pieces out faster

With the two boats.

Better.

It's going
much faster now --

Roughly 5 miles an hour
steady.

I'm good.

♪♪

Mike: now that we have
two barges going,

Getting dredge out of this
thistle won't take [bleep] long.

♪♪

♪♪

Right now, we're trying to get
all of our equipment

Up and running.

The guys are complaining
about this dozer,

Saying it's got no power,

So just taking
a look at it here.

I don't know what they're saying

'Cause everything
in here looks good.

Sometimes you just
take a look at it.

Even if you don't find anything,
you tell them that you did.

They jump back in and say,
"oh, yeah, man.

This thing's perfect.
Way better, right?"

It's just the old
mind over matter,

But I don't see anything
too out of place here.

Well, I think we got
everything taken care of here,

So it's time to fire this dozer
up and put it back to work.

Gah-gah-gah-gah, unh!
Ahhhhhhhhh!

Dun-dun-dun-dun, ahh!

It's running a little rough,
but it'll be all right.

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

Well, this is my favorite time
of the week.

I don't know about you guys.

Narrator: not even halfway
through the season,

Rick's already mined
more gold than parker

Or the hoffmans managed
in their rookie seasons.

What a hell of a week it was,
though, man.

Holy [bleep].

Well, I saw that berm
ready to go.

I mean, thank god
we caught it when we did.

You're right. I mean, if that
had filled our cut with water,

We'd have a hell of a mess
on our hands.

One of the worst things
about this week --

I [bleep]
broke the excavator.

Hmm.

I was crossing the ditch,

And rather than
fill the ditch,

I thought I could
just hop over it, and...

-Ooh, showing off.
-No, I wasn't showing off.

Rick: I was just trying to
cross the damn ditch.

Ooh! That's how
the doors got bent.

-That's how the door got bent.
-The truth comes out now.

Yeah, I think I made an
evel knievel thing as I did it.

Enough of me
wrecking equipment.

My favorite thing is
what we got out of it, though.

-Ooh.
-Nice.

So we all know that these jars
hold about 100 ounces,

And it's not 100,
but, you know,

With what we dealt with
this week, I'm pretty happy.

I mean, we could be
looking at no gold right now.

I find it hard to complain

When I'm holding onto
a jar of gold.

Exactly.

Let's weigh up this gold.
Here we go.

Narrator:
to hit his 1,000-ounce,
$1.2 million target,

Rick needs at least
57 ounces every week.

Rick:
50, big jump, 60.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Nice
-and the big winner is...

-Ahhhh.
-What is it? What is it?

Rick: 77.3.

Narrator:
worth over $90,000,

This brings rick's season total
to 210 ounces --

A quarter of $1 million.

-Put it in.
-Yeah.

One, two, three...
All: whammy!

All right.
See you guys in a minute.

Rick: yeah.
We had a tough week.

We got thrown a lot
of curve ba*ls,

But that's kind of the name
of the game up here.

You got to adapt.

We turned in 77 ounces
in a pretty terrible week.

I'm happy with it.

I'm proud of my crew,
as always,

And I'm proud of
those 77 ounces,

But we need to
keep doing that every week.

♪♪

What's up, guys?

Narrator: nearly halfway
through the season,

Parker only has 12%
of his 6,000-ounce,

$7.2 million goal.

Weird week of weather.

-Yeah. Summer's gone.
-Screwed us up a little bit.

-Big time.
-I was, like, off in la-la land.

We were running everything but
dirt through those wash plants,

But apparently there was
a lot of gold in it.

Whatever you're doing,
you're doing it right.

I don't know
if I'd go that far.

[ Laughter ]

-Chris, got some gold for us?
-There you go.

Well, there's another pan of
this [bleep] somewhere, right?

Yeah. We got another one.
You want another one?

-Yeah.
-You want them both?

Yeah!

I was kind of hoping
I could keep this one.

Oh, yeah!
That's what we like to see.

-Man, that's two nice pans.
-Yeah.

It's nice having two plants
running, that's for sure.

Yeah.

Mitch: this is looking more
like last year.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

We're at 737 now,
so this should help out.

Let's just take the 737
and go to vegas.

You put yours on red.
I'll put...

[ Laughter ]

And then we'll watch
double zero come up,

And we'll have to
come back up here broke.

Last time we were in vegas,
my wife was playing a machine.

She was so excited.

End of the night,
she broke even, and I told her,

"Well, baby,
that's a change machine."

[ Laughter ]

All right, let's see
what we've got at big red.

Narrator: to stay on track,
parker's two wash plants

Need to deliver a total
of 350 ounces a week.

60, 100...

Buck-30...

Buck-50...

162.55.
-[Bleep] yeah.

-Nice.
-That's good stuff.

Narrator:
worth $195,000.

Well, guys, good job keeping
big red running and making gold.

Sluicifer time.
-Yeah, buddy.

Oh, 50...

150.

Oh, yeah, 200.

[ Laughs ]

212.25.

-Whoo!
-[Bleep] yeah!

Narrator: worth over
a quarter of $1 million.

What is that?
480 Ounce --

Is that 470-ounce week,
480-ounce?

-375-Ounce.
-Oh, [bleep], my math's all off.

[ Laughter ]

Season total of 1,111.

Narrator:
worth $1.3 million.

Good job. No, but, honestly,
good job, guys.

I'm glad to see
both plants running.

We start pounding out some
300-, 400-ounce weeks,

And we'll start
catching up on us now.

All right.
Thanks, guys.

Let's bag it and tag it,
chris.

You got it.

Yeah, I mean, this week
was kind of tough.

A lot of bad weather,

A lot of very wet pay
at sluicifer,

And I managed to
screw that up pretty damn well,

But overall, a good week,
you know?

Narrator: on the next
mega episode of "gold rush"...

...tony beets finally rips
the heart out of dredge two...

-Whoa!
-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Narrator: ...rick hits
a pay-dirt crisis...

It's a giant [bleep]
waste of time.

Narrator: ...but rick, sr.,
Arrives ready to work...

Guys, my dad's here.

-Hey!
-Whoa!

You're on night shift?

Whatever it takes,
I'm here to help.

I'm not gonna let
my son fail.

Sure as hell
don't want to get beat

By that tony beets this year.

Narrator: ...parker risks
everything to overtake tony,

Bringing his operation
to the brink.

That is not good.