10x20 - Frozen Treasure

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
on this "gold rush"...

Mitch: feels really good to have
two wash plants running,

But, man, it's a challenge
to keep up with them.

...parker struggles to keep up
his record-breaking pace.

We're out of water.

Parker: shut it down!

♪

We can't run like this.

Gold weighs have been
going up and up.

-That's awesome.
-Rick is finally on the gold...

I'm just going to jump
in that 480 then,

Go down there
and straighten it out.

Narrator:
...when a massive mistake
shuts down his operation.

[Bleep] damn it!

Narrator: and the beets family
kicks into high gear.

Monica: what the [bleep]?

Narrator:
but a major breakdown...

It's [bleep] broken.

...stops them
in their tracks.

♪

Not a whole [bleep]
lot I can do with this.

--[Font color="#ffff00"] captions by vitac[/font] --
[font color="#00ffff"] www.vitac.com[/font]

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪

This season has been a hell
of a learning curve for us,

But we're overcoming obstacles,
and now, you know,

We're chomping through ground
with those two plants running.

Narrator:


Has just 4 weeks left
in the season

And more than a quarter of
his viable ground left to mine.

He's racing to the finish.

Parker:
right now, every day counts
because we've got to get

Through all that ground
this year, right?

Like, we cannot leave
anything behind.

Narrator: to get every last bit
of gold from his claim

Before his water license
runs out,

Parker is running sluicifer
and big red side by side,

Chewing through a combined


Feels really good to have
two wash plants running,

But, man, it's a challenge
to keep up with them.

♪

The hell
is going on here?

♪

What the [bleep]?

Look like no pump pressure.

♪

Oh, [bleep].
We're almost out of water.

♪

The pumps are cavitating,
sucking air,

And you can just see how much
the water level has dropped.

Narrator: the water has fallen
below the level of the intake.

The pump is now sucking in air,

Disrupting the flow
to the wash plants.

You know, I thought we were
going to have enough water here,

But we certainly don't.

We got to figure
something out and quick.

Parker's only source of water,
the indian river,

Is 1/4 mile away,

So he's built a recirculation
system of settling ponds

To provide a clean supply
for his wash plants.

Hey.
What's happened?

We just
ran out of water.

Plants using too much?

Yeah, I mean, it's pulling more
right now than is coming back,

So we're going to need to get
some more water in here.

Well, what do you want
to do?

I think the best thing we can do
is just connect the ponds.

That way, it'll give us
more water volume,

And then also when
this starts filling up,

It'll give some place
for the water to push back.

Alright.
Well, I'll go hop in a hoe

And dig that out
so you can fire back up.

Alright. Sounds good.
Thanks.

♪

Sluicifer and big red consume


Of water per minute,

Which flows out
into the settling pond,

Then through
to the intake pond.

The water level has dropped
too low for the pump intake.

Mitch's solution -- break
through the berm of an old pond

To send another 1.5 million
gallons of water

Into the intake pond.

♪

♪

Mitch: we've never pulled this
much water volume

Out of just one pond before,
so what we're going to do here

Is break our last pond
from the cluster cut

And put it into this pond here,
so we'll tie the two together.

Parker: we're really struggling
with getting enough water

For the plant to stay sluicing,

And the pump has already drawn

Our intake pond down...
I'm looking at the bank.

It looks like 8, 10 inches
at least, maybe even a foot,

So it'll be a big benefit
getting all this water in here,

And hopefully it works.

♪

♪

♪

Narrator: so far this season,
tony beets has mined less

Than 1,900 ounces of gold,

Around half of what he had
this time last year.

Tony was relying on his kids
running three operations,

But mike's trommel
at paradise hill

Is the only
one bringing in gold.

♪

Three weeks ago,
daughter monica

Was on a hot streak
of pay in the hunker cut...

As long as we're running 6 or 7
days a week, I'm happy.

...when she hit frozen ground.

We're [bleep].

See you next spring.

♪

Now she's hoping
the ground has thawed

And she can get back
on the gold.

Well, she feels
squishy enough.

♪

Should be able to,
yeah.

I could agree with that.

♪

Sounds like a plan,
man.

Why?

Where is the 220?

Okay.

♪

With mike's operation at
paradise hill taking priority,

Monica is left
with the smaller 220 excavator.

Tony said the 220 was up here,
so I'm going to go over,

Check it out and start
walking it down

Because I need
to get sluicing.

Switching hoes is
all fine and fun,

But he could've at least [bleep]
brought it down to me.

♪

What the [bleep]?

Somebody took the [bleep]
track off.

That's [bleep] stupid.

♪

Can't walk a hoe
like this.

♪

[ Bleeping ]

Whole sprocket is out
on this side.

We're wrapped around the frame
on this side,

And look at that!

[Bleep] cut off.

So not a whole [bleep]
of a lot I can do with this

Because
it's [bleep] broken.

♪

Hey, juan,
I'm up by the 220,

And I think
I need your assistance.

Juan: 10-4.
Where's the 220 at?

Up by the pump in the monitor
between mike and kevin's cuts.

♪

Oh, [bleep].

♪

Hey, bud.

-That doesn't look good.
-Yeah, you should see it

From the other side.

[Bleep]

I didn't even know this thing
was broken.

Did it just come off, and did
we lose a roller or what?

Definitely an idler is gone,
probably a roller.

Oh, yeah, we are.

Top roller is [bleep]
gone, too.

Any way you can fix this
right here, right now?

No because we're going
to have to reweld all that.

Then we've got to find the idler
and the other piece

That we're going to need.
-Yeah.

But if you can get it down
to the bottom of the hill,

I can put it
back together.

I can limp it down to the road
but not with the track.

Okay. Well, let me
get my truck backed up.

I'll hook onto that rail,

And let's see if we can't
get it yanked out.

♪

Narrator: monica can't walk
the 220 excavator

To the laydown yard for repair

Unless juan can remove
the broken track.

Alright, monica.
You ready?

Yeah, man.
Give her.

Alright.
Here we go.

♪

Alright. I'm going to give it
one more time.

You got it.

[Bleep]

♪

Monica: [bleep]

Narrator: at paradise hill...

-[Bleep]
-...monica and mechanic

Juan ibarra
are attempting to fix a track

On the 220 excavator.

Well, [bleep].
That didn't work.

I think what
must have happened

Is the hydraulics
on this thing leak a bit,

So as I was watching
your chain...

-It sunk down, huh?
-...i sunk down.

-Yeah. Alright.
-So...

Just make sure that you're up
high enough.

That way, when I start
yanking it,

I'm able to pull it out
from underneath you.

Yeah, I'll keep
pressure on it.

Alright.
Sounds good.

Alright.
Let's give it another shot.

♪

[Bleep]

Go a little bit more,
juan.

Good.

♪

There we go!
[Bleep] yeah!

We got it out.

Perfect.

So I'll get this
wrapped up,

Get it down to the bottom
of the hill.

You think you'll be able
to limp it on down?

Oh, yeah.
No, that'll be the easy part.

Perfect. Perfect.

♪

Juan tows away
the broken track for repair...

♪

...leaving monica to limp the
stricken 220 excavator 1/2 mile

To meet him
in the laydown yard.

♪

[ Sighs ]

♪

This is exhausting.

♪

You know, limping excavators
around is difficult,

But, I mean, I've been
running equipment

Since I was knee-high
to a grasshopper.

♪

But when you haven't done it
for a while,

Kind of hard to remember
what you're doing,

But I've done the hill.

Then juan can fix it.

I can get up and sluicing,

And we don't have to really
worry about this anymore.

♪

Juan: took her a little bit
to get down that hill,

But she did a good job.
She's got the machine down here.

We're going to get it lined up
on this track

And get it put back together.

You need to be on that side
of the track.

-Ugh.
-Sorry.

-Ugh.
-I know.

Go that way
a little more.

There you go.

Don't make me think
like that, juan.

Keep coming.
Keep coming.

Okay. Straighten out.
Straighten out.

Ooh, super close.

♪

Perfect. Let it down.

♪

Perfect!

I mean, I feel like
I'm on a track.

You even got the sprocket
lined up.

That a girl.
You did awesome.

Good job.
-[ Laughs ]

You want this shaken out?

Yeah, please, just right
there is good.

I got to put that front idler
back in.

I got to figure a way to be able
to put that top roller back on,

And then we'll connect
the links,

Reweld it
and get it back to monica,

And she can start
feeding the plant.

♪

♪

Kruse, I didn't have any bacon
and eggs this morning.

I had a smoothie.

That's pretty similar to you
eating an orange


For breakfast, huh?

Yeah, I'm pretty much good
on my fitness for the year,

I think -- one orange
every 12 years

And I'm pretty good.

I just want
a [bleep] corn dog.

[ Laughs ]

♪

Narrator:
rick ness and the milwaukee boys
have had a tough first year

Mining on duncan creek,

But after a few strong cleanups,
things are looking up.

-Hey.
-Hey, buddy!

Want a break?

Sure.

Well, take some time.

Have fun.

-Yeah.
-Enjoy.

♪

Rick:
you know, we've all committed
as a team to work together,

Finish this season strong.

You know, I've got the people
here to handle it,

So if we can get to that


You know, at least we can keep
the dream alive basically.

Narrator: three weeks ago...

This is the type of material
we need to test.

...freddy dodge helped rick
find a streak of high-grade pay

That's given him
a fighting chance.

This stuff
stays consistent,

Then you can find enough
to run 10 hours a day with it.

You know, that's pushing


That's the first smile
I've seen on your face today.

Now with only 4 weeks
left in the season,

Freddy is back to make sure
rick is still on track.

Hopefully that better material
he was running

When I left last time
is paying off for him.

You know,
the tests were good.

The first cleanup
we did was good.

Hopefully it stayed
along those lines.

Ah, there he is,
freddy.

-How's it going, rick?
-Good, buddy.

How you been?
-Doing alright.

-Thanks for coming in.
-Oh, no worries.

How's things going down
in colorado?

Oh, just busy,
you know.

-Yeah.
-How was your last gold weigh?

Last couple have been the best
we've ever had this season.

Mm-hmm.

You know, kind of that
high-grade that you and gene

Figured out,
it's been paying off.

I mean, we've been chasing that
good pay now for a few weeks,

And it's really encouraging,
and we needed that.

Well, let's hope you got
enough higher-grade material

To get you
through the season.

Yeah.
Well, we'll stay on it,

And one way or another,
we're going to finish it off.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

Does that look like smoke
over there?

[Bleep]
-it is smoke.

Hey, guys.
Anybody by the pump?

What the [bleep]?

That's a lot of smoke.

[ Bleeping ]

What the hell, rick?

Don't know what the [bleep]
that is.

♪

-The hell is it?
-Too much [bleep] smoke.

I can't see.
-It smells like oil, rick.

Yeah,
there's [bleep] oil.

[Bleep] I don't know where
that's coming from.

It hit the exhaust,
though.

That's why it was smoking.
Hey, carl.

You got a copy?
-Yeah.

Can you meet us down
by the pump?

There's something going on
with this thing.

It just [bleep] big puff of
smoke, and there's oil.

-Okay. Won't be long.
-We'll see if carl can fix it.

Alright.

♪

What do you guys
reckon now?

Doesn't look like
it's on fire to me.

Well, the smoke is gone,
but she was smoking.

-Was it bad?
-Oh, it was bad.

Freddy:
there's a lot of smoke, carl.

-Yeah.
-Really, eh?

A lot of oil, I don't know
where it came from.

Carl: well, we'll see if
this line is leaking.

You got to be [bleep]
kidding me.

[ Motor starts ]

♪

♪

Lucky it was
just an o-ring.

Yeah.
It's running wide-open.

It's still getting us
the water we need,

But I don't think it should
be sitting down there

Screaming all the time,
you know what I mean?

-It's running hard.
-Yeah.

So I don't know what's going on
with this pump, freddy.

Well, I think it's all the bends
in the pipe, rick.

I mean...
-Really?

You're pumping, you know,


-Yeah.
-And you're pumping



So for every


There's about a pound
of pressure, right?

-Yeah.
-And for every one of those

Corners in that pipe
is creating friction,

So right now it's going to the
left and banging the side,

To the right and banging
the side and the left.

-Okay.
-And plumbers say

So many


Make a dead end.
-That makes sense.

So if you straighten
that pipe out,

That water is
just going straight.

You're going to have a lot
less friction in that line.

I bet you can knock
the rpm down.

It's going to save you
fuel, too.

Save fuel
and wear and tear.

-Yeah.
-Well [bleep].

I'm just going to jump
in that 480 then,

Go down there
and straighten it out.

Yeah.

♪

Yeah, well, in this case
with how much distance

We're trying to send this water

And how much height
we're trying to send it,

If you got curves
in your pipe like this,

It's just adding
a bunch of friction

And making the water pump work
a lot harder than it needs to,

So it's smarter to just
have it in a straight line.

It's where we had it, but we've
been slowly moving it around

To make way
for our tailings,

And now it's just kind of
gotten to look like a snake,

So I just need to straighten out
a few of these bends

And improve efficiency
with that pump

And not make it
have to work so hard.

I mean, it's the only
one we got.

We need it to run
for the rest of the year.

♪

[Bleep] me.
[Bleep] damn it!

♪

♪

Smarter to just have it
in a straight line.

Narrator:
rick ness is attempting

To straighten
his 900-foot pipeline.

Rick: [bleep] me.
[Bleep] damn it!

[Bleep]

♪

Hey, somebody
shut off the pump.

♪

♪

[ Sighs ]
[bleep] damn it.

♪

♪

[ Sighs ]

-[Bleep]
-[ chuckles ]

-It's an ouchie, huh?
-Yeah.

Only thing good about this is
we actually have proper [bleep]

Parts to fix it, right?
-Do we?

Yeah, you ordered those
extra ones, right?

-Oh, [bleep]. Those clamps?
-Those things that were, like,


We got them?

-Oh, [bleep].
-We got one left.

-Holy [bleep].
-Like I said...

I was [bleep] bricks
because I know

We don't have
a fusion machine.

Well, I know it's
a make-work project.

We'll get her back together, eh?
Let's...

Just cut her there
and pull her in and clamp it.

Yeah,
I got my chain saw.

We'll cut that apart,
and we'll rig her.

Rick:
I'm not happy, okay?

I just tried to get this
stupid pipeline straightened out

And ending up [bleep]
cutting it, so pretty stupid.

All this is is more downtime,
and downtime means no gold,

So it's not [bleep] good.

Hopefully we can get it fixed
and get it fixed quick.

♪

So we've cut out
the [bleep] up section.

We're going to pull
these together.

♪

I'm happy with that.

Go ahead and swing out,
rick.

♪

Coming up!

Bring your bucket back
and then up!

There you go!
Okay!

Now stick in and boom
up at the same time!

Just walk forward and hold.
It'll be alright.

Walk ahead some more!

♪

Keep coming!

[Bleep]

You need to pull it
out way more.

Pull it that way more.

Whatever you want,
buddy.

Why don't we leave him
hooked there?

If I could take that
four-wheeler,

That side-by-side
and try to push her in.

Yeah, yeah,
you bet you.

Narrator: the pipe is
in the wrong position.

Freddy has to improvise.

Talk to me because
I can't see you!

Yeah! Try to push that
in there more, freddy!

Okay!
Coming at you!

Yeah, keep going!

Again, freddy!

Freddy, can I get you to hit
that one more time!

Yep!

Just a little bit, buddy.
Okay.

Just nice and easy,
nice and easy.

Okay. Wait.
-Yeah, watch your fingers.

Wait. Wait.
Little more.

Keep going a little bit.

Well, we're looking
goody now, boys.

Yeah, we're good there.

So we tighten this
up there.

Yeah.

♪

I'm happy with that,
happy here.

Yeah, that's perfect.

♪

-[ Laughs ]
-[bleep]

Real funny, carl.
[ Laughter ]

a*s.
-Oh, we got her fixed.

-Yeah, no, that looks good.
-Yeah.

Should we fire back up,
get sluicing?

Let's do it, man.

Fire it up!

♪

It's always good when
freddy dodge stops by.

He's a good friend,
good dude, busy guy

But still makes the time
to come help me out, man.

♪

♪

That [bleep] sucked.

Narrator:
monica has a pile of thawed pay
and a working wash plant,

But she can't run a yard
until supermechanic juan ibarra

Fixes her 220 excavator.

♪

Juan: so this is the roller
that broke off.

What happened was actually
sheared the bolts

That hold the roller
onto the machine,

So what we're going to do
is we're going to reattach it.

Ideally we put a new roller
in there

Or rebuild
that one properly,

But we don't have
the time to do that.

So what I'm doing, I'm putting
this old one back together.

I put new bolts in it.

I got it lubed up.

Narrator: a job this big would
usually take three people

And a shop full of tools
to complete.

This is the front idler.

What it does --

It goes inside that rail
right there,

And it puts tension on the track
to keep the track tight.

♪

Definitely a squirter.

♪

So I'm going to get this idler
back in its spot!

♪

Then what we can do is wrap the
track back over the sprocket.

Then we'll be able
to walk it forward.

♪

Perfect.

I'm going to join
these two sections,

And I'm going to reweld
that link that they cut.

♪

If we had the time,
the proper way to do that,

Instead of welding them,

We'd actually put repair links
on there,

But right now
we don't have the time.

We don't even have the parts,
so, you know,

It's not the ideal fix,

But monica needs this machine
by the end of the shift,

So I'm going to try
to get it back to her

So she can get it on the pile
and start feeding the plant.

Narrator:
it takes juan just 1/2 day

To get the 220 excavator
back up and running.

Juan: that's it.

Hey, monica.
Your excavator is fixed.

It's ready to go.

-Good work, juan.
-Thanks.

I ended up having to weld
that link back together.

It's not 100% perfect

But should be enough to get you
back up and running today.

As long as it makes it up
the pile and can sit there,

I'm [bleep] happy.
-Yeah, it'll easily do that.

Perfect.

Narrator: five hours after
discovering the problem,

Monica is ready to fire up
the kiwi plant at the hunker cut

And add a second wash plant
back to the beets' operation,

Giving them hope of turning
the season around.

[Bleep] yeah.

Now that 220 is up on the pile,

All I got to do --

Start the plant up,
get sluicing again.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

Parker: yeah, it's been
a great season so far.

Like, we're over 5,000 ounces.

Narrator:
parker schnabel is pushing
his operation to the limit

To mine out
his entire claim.

He's banked more
than $7 million in gold,

But it's come at a cost.

Parker: we're really struggling
with getting enough water

For the plant
to stay sluicing.

Hey, chris. You happy?
Chris: hey, parker.

I'm looking at the spray bars
and sluice boxes.

You know, the water is looking
a whole lot better up here.

Think this is going
to do the trick.

Perfect.

If you can keep an eye on it,
that'd be great.

Parker broke through the berm
of an adjacent pond,

Adding 1.5 million gallons
of water to his system

And giving him enough to keep
his two wash plants running.

♪

I think connecting all those
ponds together was a good idea.

We got a lot more volume.

I think the boys
did a great job

Of figuring out
how to do all this,

And it's definitely
paying off.

♪

For pete's sake.

Hey, mitch.
We've got dirty water.

Mitch:
you got to be kidding me.

Shut it down.

♪

Despite the extra water
in the pond system,

The waste still doesn't have
enough time to settle and clear

Before being pumped back
into the plants.

♪

Chris, you might want
to have a look at this.

Looks like there's gold coming
down the end of the run here.

Are you serious?

Yeah, there's definitely little
flakes traveling down here,

And it's not a good sign.

Well, it's quite a bit,
isn't it?

Narrator: finding gold
this far down the sluice run

Means parker is losing gold
into the tailings.

I don't even want to speculate
how much we've lost under here.

It's not good.

Parker,
we're carrying gold.

We're thinking, and
I'm pretty sure we're right.

It's probably
water quality.

Yeah.

I noticed it starting
to get dirtier,

But now it's pretty bad,
I think.

Yeah.

♪

Narrator: every hour
both wash plants are down

Could be costing parker
$3,000 in lost gold.

♪

Parker: these plants use...

Combined, they're using


And it's just pumping mud
straight into our ponds,

And that's why we have so much
gold running down the box,

So we've got to clean our water
up that we're sluicing with

Because, you know,
we spent a mountain of money

Stripping this ground,
and we didn't do that

Just to watch 10% of the gold
go [bleep] out the box.

That last settling pond
is full of slop.

Parker: yeah.

You can see it right there.
-Yeah, right in here.

I bet there's, like,


But it's only
going to get worse.

Yeah, that stuff
is nasty, man.

♪

Well, we could try to tie
this pond

Into our other ponds
from the previous setup

And add them
to the circuit.

Yeah, we could
definitely do that.

We'll just plug this
back off...

-Just plug this one.
-...send our water up this side

Into the back
of the middle pond...

-Alright.
-...and let it settle through.

It'll give us
more water now,

But once everything
starts filling back up,

We'll have more space
for all the water to go.

Alright,
well, let's tackle that

Before the water
gets any muddier

And see how that works.

Narrator: parker's plan --
build a megapond.

First, he'll plug the berm

Connecting the discharge
to the intake.

Then mitch and brennan
will connect the discharge pond

To two adjacent ponds,

Allowing the fine tailings
to settle

So that only clean water
flows back to the pumps.

Brennan, you about ready
to make the biggest pond

We've ever had here?

Yeah, it's going to be fun.

Okay.
Here we go!

What we're going to do
is clip our own pond walls

And tie
all these together,

Which is going to give us
a lot more room for settling.

Then parker is going to start
filling this berm in here.

Parker: we're pretty confined
to how much room

We've got for ponds
and settling,

And we also can't
really discharge

Or bring in fresh water,

So we're tied to cleaning
the water we have better,

And so right now
mitch and brennan,

They're digging
these berms out to connect

All our ponds together
so that,

By the time it gets
back to our pump,

Hopefully it's cleaner,

And, you know, we're not running
muddy water through our plant.

We're here to find 100%
of the gold

That we're running through
the wash plants,

So if we're going
to run dirty water,

There's no point in even [bleep]
sluicing, you know.

We're here to get every flake
that we can,

And hopefully this
will solve our problem

Because the water
isn't clean enough

To wash
this gold properly.

♪

How's she looking down there,
big cat?

I'm pretty close to being able
to break mine here, mitch.

I just trying to get it
dug down a bit.

Holy [bleep].

Whoa.

[ Bleeping ]

That bank is soft.

I got to get out of here
before this [bleep]

Water starts
pouring through.

Holy [bleep].

Brennan, dude, your track
is, like, off the bank.

Yeah, whole bank
is giving away.

Holy [bleep].

Must be a lot more saturated
than I thought.

Thought I was going to get
sucked down

Underneath that water here,

So, whew, that one got
the heart jumping.

[Bleep]

♪

Hey, brennan, is your water
about ready to break over there?

Yeah, I'm hitting my scoop.
You?

Yeah, I just got
a little bit more here,

And this is going
to be broke through.

Hey, parker,
you better have that other berm

Filled in here, buddy.

We're going to track these
other ponds together here.

-Sweet!
-Alright.

Well, I'm going to go ahead
and cut the sluice.

-You ready? Same time?
-Yeah, let's do it.

Here we go.

♪

Oh, yeah, she's flowing.

♪

Oh!

Mine's on its way.

♪

Parker: yeah, you know,
it's great working with mitch

And brennan here.

They're definitely good
at getting a job done,

And it's nice to have
all three of us in here

Getting this problem sorted.

And now the water is going
to flow back to the other ponds

And hopefully go to the pumps
for the plant nice and clean.

♪

Clean water, here we come!

♪

Ooh, another
one of them weeks.

Narrator:
after a series of breakdowns,

Rick decides not
to pull the mats

Or weigh any gold this week.

The pump blew an o-ring
on the turbo, and it almost...

We thought it blew up,
but you fixed it,

And I put a hole
in the water line.

I'm sure none of us have ever
messed up before though, rick.

-[Bleep] no.
-Yeah.

It only took me and carl
about quite a while to fix it.

It was a real pain in the a*s.
-What a nightmare, man.

I still got your trophy,
though.

You can take that trophy

And shove it
right up your a*s, carl.

[ Laughter ]

Yeah, I mean,
all jokes aside,

We are running out of time,
so we need solid run time.

It's all we can ask
for right now.

With material
with gold in it.

Yep, so let's
just keep pounding it out

And see where we get.
-Yeah.

Hopefully next week
by this time,

We'll be rocking and rolling.

Alright.
One, two, three.

[ Cheering ]

Narrator: monica's dog, doyle,
was hitching a ride

When he decided he wanted
tony's truck all to himself.

♪

♪

Hi, guys.

-Hello.
-Hello.

Narrator:
the beets family is finally
sluicing on two klondike claims,

But with half the amount of gold
they had this time last year,

They need them
to start paying off.

You've been sluicing
this week?

Yeah, we sluiced, like,


...took my excavator
and gave me

Some broke-a*s-track
excavator to fix.

Oh, yeah, that makes you down
for a bit, eh?

So you had to fix that
and then...

Yeah, juan came by
and fixed it,

And it was all hunky-dory,
and I got 2 days of sluicing.

Can we do a little bit
of weighing?

First up,
monica's kiwi plant.

Tony needs monica to bring in

At least 40 ounces per week
from the hunker cut.






Worth over $30,000.

In just 2 days,
monica has brought in more

Than half of her weekly target.

Kevin: it's more than I pulled
in this week.

Huh?

Mike.

Narrator:
next up, mike's trommel.

Come on.

-10.
-10.



♪







Narrator:
worth over $100,000

But barely half of mike's


Actually, I'm just going to
sit here and wait for it.

See you guys later.

The beets have two wash plants
up and running,

But if they don't
bring in more gold,

Their season will be a failure.

♪

♪

Parker:
how was your week?

Mitch: yeah, we had a little
messing around this week.

We had to rework
our water system,

Just trying to make
both plants work,

But we got a lot
of circulation now,

And the water coming back
to the plants looks really good.

It's nice and clean.

Narrator: to beat last season's
$8.9 million record,

Parker needs to bring in
at least


Until the end of the season.

-Whoo!
-So we'll get you going

On a high note.

We'll start out with sluicifer.

Ready?

♪






-Nice.
-...249.7.



Narrator: worth $350,000.

There's nothing wrong
with that.

-Royalty-free.
-Yeah.

-Yeah, that's a good run.
-[ Laughs ]

And this
was big red here.

You know, red still
chugging along.

It has done better, but,
you know,

We're still getting
good gold out, right?

Man: doesn't look bad.

We got 50, 90,


-[ Whistles ]

Narrator: worth $225,000.

♪

Still that's not a bad
[bleep] week though, like,

Between the two plants.

You're looking at almost 410
ounces, 409 ounces in a week.

♪

Bringing their season total
to 5,586 ounces,

Worth over $7.8 million.

Big picture --
we're doing good.

What I'm seeing down there,
[bleep] great, yeah,

So that's really nice.

If parker and his crew
stay on track,

They may have
their best season ever.

And you guys are doing a damn
good job of making that happen.

On that note, you guys are
winning the battle

And really, you know,
good week.

[ Laughter ]

Cheers, guys.

♪

On the next "gold rush"...

Rick: we've moved farther up
into the mountains

To go after this big gold,

Which is the whole reason
I was here, man.

Narrator:
...rick has one last roll
of the dice...

This could be the difference
between me going home broke

Or not.
-...in his hunt for big nuggets.

I'm seeing gold.

Parker: [bleep] damn it!

Narrator: parker looks for a new
piece of ground.

Parker:
we better find something,

Or we're going to be
out of business soon.

Go, go, go, go, go!

Narrator: and tony's plans
for the future...

-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
-...come apart at the seams.

We're pretty much [bleep],
game over.