11x15 - The Viking Detective

[bunniefuu]

This year's all about proving
to myself and to my crew

That we can be successful
out here mining.

[narrator]
on this gold rush...

[rick] when the plant's down,
it's never good, man.

[narrator] ... Rick ness pays
the price for a bad call.

Shut the pump off,
shut the pump off!

Look, I'm done
with this [bleep].

What the [bleep] are we
gonna do, though?

[narrator]
tony beets is on the hunt...

[narrator]
...For new ground.

[narrator] and parker schnabel
aims for the top.

[man] here we go!

We got a chance
of breaking records this year.

[man] holy [bleep]!

[mitch] well, look at how bad
it's bleedin' there.

This whole cut's
gonna be underwater.

[man] get out of the way!

[narrator] at paradise hill,

King of the klondike,
tony beets,

Is three quarters
of the way

Through the short
yukon season.

[narrator] with winter
fast approaching,

Tony gathers the family
to plan out

The rest of the season.

You know you look like
my side of the family, right?

She's the reason
I look so funny.

Oh, not too bad.

We've been drawing
quite a bit of pay

Out of the mega cut there.

[mike] oh, yeah.

How many weeks you think
you have left there?

Give or take, three weeks.

Three weeks?
That's not that great.

You know about
your target.

Yet, what are you
gonna do about it?

Okay.

[narrator] mike's run
the trommel hard all season.

Now he's down to
the last two acres

Of the 18-acre mega cut.

With just three weeks' pay
left to run,

Tony's on the hunt
for new ground

To get him
to his season goal.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] since the 1890s,

Miners have left their mark
across paradise hill.

The remains
of their mine works

Could point to where
the best gold was found.

[tony speaking]

[tony continues speaking]

[narrator] near one of
the old-timers' mineshafts,

Tony finds
what could be a vital clue.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] where there's
quartz, there's often gold.

[narrator] the old-timers
dug these holes by hand,

And tony believes they may not
have reached the pay layer.

To find out if he's right,

He brings in a 220 excavator
to punch a test hole.

[tony speaking]

[kevin] oh, that one
doesn't look great.

Well, can't reattach it
because she [bleep] broke.

Not just broke,
but [bleep] broke.

This piece here
is supposed to be over here.

[narrator] while kevin
fixes the excavator,

Tony carries on exploring.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] in the 1890s,
old-timers used

Powerful hoses
called monitors

To blast pay dirt
off the hill

And into simple
wooden sluice runs.

Tony believes the parts
of the hill that they missed

Could still contain
thousands of ounces in gold.

[narrator] one hundred
twenty yards east

Of the 50-foot shaft,

Tony has discovered
the exposed edge

Of an old-timer's
monitored cut.

The gold-rich pay
should be much closer

To the surface here,

If they left any behind.

[kevin] I think
we're laughing

And that should be that.
Now, looks good to me.

No leaks, I'm happy.
Tony can take it

And keep on digging.

[narrator] if tony
can find enough

Of the light-colored gravel
that is rich in gold,

This could be the ground
to save his season.

[narrator] now, tony
needs to know how far

The pay streak continues
into the hill.

[mitch] here we go.

[narrator] at indian river,
26-year-old parker schnabel

Is racing to bank enough gold
to buy new ground

And expand his mining empire.

-[mitch] yeah.
-[parker] yeah, buddy.

[narrator] after four years,

Parker has finally
finished mining

Tony beets' ground,
the last cut.

Now he's firing up big red
in the airstrip cut,

Just 300 yards away
from sluicifer.

I really never would
have thought that big red

Would have gotten through
that much ground in a season.

Mitch and brennan did a really
good job getting through it.

We definitely made money
on that cut.

[narrator] together for the
first time this season,

Sluicifer and big red
are running over 10,000 yards

Of dirt per day.

They use 300,000 gallons
of water every hour,

Which flows back
into two massive ponds.

I'm out here, with jm and

The stripping crew just trying
to get some pay opened up.

Hopefully, we shouldn't run
into too many problems

Because we've got
a lot of dirt to move.

[narrator] there is almost
two months' worth of pay

In the airstrip cut.

Parker is pushing his crew
to mine it out

In half that time,
before winter hits.

Co-foreman mitch blaschke
is in charge of making sure

Both plants keep running.

[mitch] parker just decided
that they wanted to add

A little bit more
to our agenda for the year,

And that's certainly
a tough thing to do.

He got into this cut
very late this season,

And there's so much
ground water.

We've got ponds on one side,
the river on the other.

On the other hand, well,
it seems to have

A lot of gold in it.
The ground's good.

There's gonna be a challenge,

And there's certainly one
down here at the airstrip.

It's been a lot of
grey, rainy days,

And, I mean, that
makes you tired

And missing home a lot.

I just hope
everybody can stay positive,

And we can finish off
what parker's put in place.

[narrator] co-foreman
brennan ruault

Is responsible
for managing the cut.

It seems to look
like a lot of [bleep] water

Coming into the cut here
in front of the feeder.

Gonna take a peek at this.

Take a look at that.

This is a lake here.

Gonna go grab mitch.

Buddy, I just see
a whole big lake
back there of water.

Dude, it's back here, too.

Looks like it's coming out
of the berm right over here.

Holy [bleep]!

Holy [bleep]!

Well, look at how bad
it's bleeding there.

[narrator] water from
sluicifer's tailings pond

Is leaking through
the quickly-built berm.

There's so much pressure
in that pond

Pushing back this way.

This thing blows out,

And that whole pond's
gonna come this way.

This whole cut's
gonna be underwater.

Holy [bleep]!

[narrator]
sluicifer's pond holds

Two million gallons of water.

The leaking berm
could easily give way,

Flooding parker's only cut.

That isn't looking too good.

So why don't you try
and reinforce this thing?

-Yeah.
-I'm gonna go grab
every pump we've got,

And get 'em set up, you know,
get some ditches in here.

-Yeah, let's get after it.
-Okay, buddy.

[narrator] mitch's plan,

Dig ditches to drain
the excess water into a sump,

Install a pump
to empty the cut

And use a d10 dozer

To reinforce the berm
with coarse tailings.

[brennan] look at that. That's
five feet back from the bank.

Like, if I was to go
on this bank slough,
and tip me over,

It could [bleep] be
the end of that dozer.

[narrator]
with sluicifer still running,

3,300 gallons of water

Are being added to the
unstable pond every minute.

The pressure is on
rookie plant boss, tyson lee,

To dig over
500 feet of ditches

To drain the water away.

It's definitely a fight
trying to get

This water under control.

And right now, mitch, brennan
and I are madly scrambling

Trying to get it under control

To the point where we can
keep mining this ground.

[narrator]
mitch installs a pump

Capable of shifting
over 4,000 gallons

Of water a minute.

I've been able to pull
our dewatering pump.

This is it right here.

We're gonna get it put in,
start sucking all this water.

I'll get this dried out,

So we can actually see
what's going on here.

Whoo!

You can see already
how much

The water table's dropping.

These ponds are starting
to drain over here.

You know what, you guys?
I want you way back
out of the way

Because if this berm blows,

It'll wipe every one of you
out, and you guys can't
[bleep] around.

[narrator] brennan needs
to widen the berm

With coarse tailings.

But he'll have to drive
this 63-tonne d10 dozer

Onto the unstable
30-foot berm.

I know as good as anyone here

That if this berm blows out,
our season could be over.

Between the three of us,

I have the most
dozer experience,

But it still doesn't mean
that this [bleep]

Can't go wrong in a second.

As you can see,
my tracks are right

On the [bleep] edge of this.

This does not feel good
underneath of me at all.

Whoa-oh-oh. [bleep]

[man] get out of the way!

Whoa-oh-oh. [bleep]

Right. I'm gonna enter this.

[narrator]
in the airstrip cut,

Brennan's 63-tonne d10 dozer

Is hanging off the edge
of an unstable 30-foot berm.

Feel that for a dead drop,
holy man.

That could have been bad.
[laughs]

Well, I'm finally to the point

Where I'm starting to feel
a little bit more comfortable.

Bringing a bunch
of this coarse tailings over.

Starting to get
a lot more width to it.

And, uh, building the strength
up to this thing.

Whoo!

Quite happy that's over with.

I got this wider now, and
I feel a lot safer about it.

[sighs in relief]

I'm glad this is over with.

[narrator]
with the berm fixed,

Mitch, brennan, and tyson,
race to meet parker's goal,

Mining out the airstrip cut
before winter shuts them down.

So we have no more worries
about having that thing

Blow out anymore,

Which, uh, I think we're
all a little bit

More nervous of it
than we were showing.

So I'm happy that
we're ready to roll,

You know, it's just time
to get back to digging pay.

[rick] we're well over halfway
through the season right now.

Uh, we've had some
bumps along the way.

You know, we had
a major late start,

And, uh, don't even get me
started on the deep cut.

What a [bleep] disaster
that was.

[narrator] with just
over a month

Until the end of the season,

Rick ness' 1,000-ounce
season goal is finally

Within his grasp.

[rick] I've got a great team
behind me this year,

And, uh, just gotta hope
we don't hit any major snags

And just gotta keep
the momentum up.

You don't stop,
there's no lunch breaks,

No coffee breaks.

You literally just
put your head down

And get going
to work every day.

This year's strategy
for as far as spending,

Is just not spending.

You know, I don't have
the money to spend,

So, you know,
just keeping it simple.

That's gonna be the key
to getting back on track.

You know, after a year
like last year,

We're getting what we need
and what we need only,

And anything else is,
uh, you know,

We're gonna have
to do without.

[karla] are you
excited to have

Another trucker on board?

[chris] am I excited to have
another trucker on board?

Yeah, have you been lonely
trucking by yourself?

Yeah, it's nice to be able
to honk at somebody

Every once, uh,
when you drive by.

[karla honks horn]

[karla] you're driving
like a granny.

Oh, [bleep]!

Hey, carl, you gotta
get down here.

[narrator] the lay flat hose
that feeds water

To the wash plant has split.

Shut the pump off.
Shut the pump off!

[carl] yeah,
rick, we got a, uh,

We got a hole
on this lay flat, dude.

It's, uh... She's toast.

We're gonna have to do
something different.

[narrator]
until the hose is fixed,

Rick's plant is shut down,

Losing him
almost $2,000 every hour.

What's going on, carl?

So this lay flat, obviously,
isn't holding up, right? So...

-Huh.
-What're we gonna do about it?

[narrator] eleven weeks ago,
the lay flat burst,

Shutting down the plant.

Holy [bleep] mud.

Whoa!

[man] working with junk, man.

[narrator] rick ordered
a quick fix.

[rick] fire it up,
see what it looks like.

[engine starts]

A two-dollar fix.
That will get us through

Another week probably.

[narrator] but now
he's paying the price.

[rick] yeah, I mean,
that sucks.

I mean, the rigid pipe
that we have is ten-inch

And that lay flat, six.

I mean, we could put
the lay flat through it.

I mean, that should keep
the rocks off it,

Keep it from
getting punctured.

[narrator] rick's plan
to feed the lay flat hose

Through sections of
ten-inch hard pipe is cheap

And should take
just a couple of hours.

[carl] if this is just
a band-aid, right,
like, uh, you know,

It's a good chance that
it's gonna do the same
thing it just did, right?

-Yeah.
-[carl] you know
what I mean?

-I don't want to be, uh...
-I don't either.

[carl] I don't want to be
digging it up again.

[narrator] carl wants
to replace the lay flat hose

With all hard pipe,

But rick will need
to hire in a fusion machine,

And it'll take at least
a day to fuse the pipe,

Costing over $20,000
in lost gold.

Are you sure you don't want
to fix this properly?
Like, you know.

The best scenario
is what you want, right?

We fuse the pipe,
and we put a hard line

From pump to plant.

But, you know, we don't
have a fusion machine.

And I can't afford to shut
the wash plant down
for that long.

So I guess we just take
some of that hard pipe
that we have

And I'm gonna lay flat
with it and hope for the best.

[carl] let's [bleep]
get at her, then.

Right.

[rick] nice.
Looks pretty clean.

[barks]

Oh, there's champ.
He's gonna help.

We need a better flashlight.

Can you see anything?

No, you're nowhere
near my end. [laughs]

Okay, [bleep]. That ain't
gonna work, then.

[rick] what do you recommend?

[carl] well, we're standing
on it. Gravity should
pull it down, right?

Uh, maybe up on...
I'll set the one end
up on the plant maybe, huh?

[carl] yeah. I'll come up
there, then. Yeah.

Watch yourself.

-[man] yeah, look at that.
-[rick] she got it.

Don't let that go through.

[carl] she keeps
yanking on it.

-[rick] stop yanking on it.
-[carl laughs]

Okay.

That's a [bleep], everybody.

Okay, so, clamps?

[narrator]
after three hours down,

Rick connects the hose
to the water supply.

Now he just has to hope
that this fix will last him

The rest of the season.

Well, we shouldn't have
any more problems
with this lay flat.

I mean, we've got
it armored now.

It's hard pipe over it all.

It will be buried
under the road,

So nothing can burst it.

It should be good.

[narrator] coming up...

[mitch] we're barely
keeping up.

This cut will be flooded
in no time.

[narrator] at paradise hill,

Tony beets is on the hunt
for new ground.

[narrator] he's found
pay dirt left behind

By the old-timers.

All right.

[narrator] and called in
drilling expert liam ferguson

To find out how far
the pay streak extends

Under the hill side.

[tony speaking]

[liam] yeah.

[liam] okay.

Well, we're all set up,
ready to go.

So we'll put
a few holes in and...

For sure.

[laughs] all right.
See you, tony.

[narrator] drilling comes
with a big price.

$20,000 for just
two test holes.

Liam will drill the holes
300 feet apart

To find out how far
the pay streak extends.

[liam] tony's just
marked this spot for us.

We're just getting
set up here.

Well, we'll drill
this one down,

Um, take the samples,

And then head back
to wash it off,

And we should
figure out from that

If it's worth mining or not.

Snow in September
is a little bit strange,

But we're just gonna have
to suck it up

And deal with it, I guess.

[narrator] the sonic drill
vibrates 150 times a second,

Allowing the hollow shaft

To collect a clean
core sample.

[liam] tony has high
expectations for this ground.

He has a lot riding on it,
so I really hope we can

Find him some good gold.

We're gonna get
these samples

Washed up here pretty soon,

And then we'll know
for sure.

[narrator] at indian river,

Parker schnabel's running
two wash plants

In the airstrip cut

In a bid to sluice
the entire 26 acres

Before winter.

This year's
been unseasonably wet.

We just had a nasty rainstorm
all night,

Half the morning, and,

You know, we're just trying
to keep this cut dried out,

And it seems like every time
you go check the pumps,

The water table just keeps

Coming up and up
instead of dropping.

Look at that,
tabarnak, it's [bleep]

Water everywhere, man.

[narrator] operator jm mercier
is digging pay for sluicifer.

We need to pump
as soon as possible.

I can't continue digging
that stuff right now.

I can't even tell
if I'm digging into pay.

[jm] hey, mitch,
can you hear me?

[mitch] yeah, go ahead,
jm, what's up?

I'm a little bit concerned
about the water here.

It's kind of a mess right now.

We can check the pump,
I think it's not running.

As soon as you can
will be perfect.

All right, man, I'll come over
and take a look at it.

Thank you, my friend.

We're barely keeping up.
With this one down,

This cut will be flooded
in no time.

So I got to figure
something out here

And get it back up and going.

[narrator] the pump
mitch installed has failed,

And the water level in the cut
is rising.

He needs to make a quick fix
before the pay becomes

Too wet to dig,

Forcing the wash plants
to shut down.

[brennan] what's goin' on,
mitch? That thing run out
of fuel or what?

It's this alternator here,

And unfortunately,
it's not charging.

Without the alternator,
the pump won't run

'cause it won't stay
charged, right?

We need this pump
more than ever right now, too.

[mitch] let's just
go back to the yard
and see what we got.

[brennan] let's hope we have
an alternator, buddy.

[mitch] you wanna
look in there?

-I'll look in here?
-Okay.

Doesn't look too promising.

I don't think there's
anything in this sea can.

-Looks like you found one.
-[mitch] not the right one.

And that's everything we got,
I mean...

[brennan] so what
are we gonna do?

[mitch] I think I got an idea.

[brennan] yeah? All right.
Well, let's hear it.

I mean,
what's an alternator do?

-Powers it up.
-Charges the battery, right?

-Yep.
-What's a battery charger do?

Charges a battery, right?

[laughs] man, this thing
looks like a nightmare.

[narrator] using
an old charger,

Mitch is hoping he can
bypass the alternator

And charge
the pump's battery directly.

I don't know if it works,

But it's definitely
been around a while.

[brennan laughs]

Probably older
than you and I combined.

Yeah, it looks like
it's been through a few wars.

So we got
half the puzzle here.

But the next thing is,
we need a way to power this.

[brennan] a whole bunch
of generators up here.

[mitch] that's why we don't
ever throw anything away.

Now, the next step,
is this thing gonna run?

See if it'll start, brennan.

-[engine turning over]
-try it out.

[engine whirring]

[laughs]

[bleep] yeah!

[mitch] oh, man, easy.
[grunts]

[brennan] you good?

[mitch] yeah, I gotta get
a little closer, I think.

So how is this
all going to work, mitch?

Like, what's your whole
plan of attack here?

So this is creating power
for this.

And this is creating power
for the pump.

-[brennan] right.
-[mitch] come on, baby.

[engine turning over, running]

-[brennan] one pull only?
-[mitch] yeah.

[brennan] oh, yeah.

Well, that's a good sign.

-Try it out, see what we got?
-[brennan laughs]

[mitch] we'll see
if it comes on here.

[alternator running]

-Yeah, buddy!
-Whoo! [bleep] yeah!

Let's get this [bleep]
water table down.

It might not be pretty,

It might not be the best way
to do it,

But, hey, it's simple,

It's what we had laying
around here and it works.

[narrator] with the pump
up and running

And operators digging pay,

The crew still has a chance
to mine out the airstrip

In record time.

We're on a really
tight timeframe

For the rest of the season,

And we've gotta scratch
every last bit of pay

Out of the cut.

[narrator] at lower duncan
creek, the ness crew races

To make up for downtime

Caused by a burst
lay-flat hose.

Honestly, you have to
expect things to go wrong.

So it's... It's how you act
when things do go wrong

And how quickly
you can adapt to change them.

[carl] this is absolute
dog [bleep], man.

The lay-flat's leaking
inside the case.

-You gonna copy, rick?
-[radio static]

Yeah, you better
get down here.

[narrator] only three days
after making the fix,

The lay-flat hose
inside the hard pipe

Has burst again.

Look, I'm done with this
[bleep], man. We gotta...

-We gotta get it fixed
properly, here, right?
-[sighs] I agree.

What the [bleep]
are we gonna do, though?

I say we hardline it.

-Yeah.
-Well, I mean, how long
is that gonna take, carl?

You know,
you're looking at a day

To put this in, right?

[rick] I don't think
we have a choice.

Yeah, [bleep] it, I'm in.

-You're in?
Okay, I can do that.
-All right.

-Let's do it. All right.
-All right.

[narrator] this time, rick
agrees to carl's lasting fix,

But the downtime will cost him
over $20,000 in lost gold.

We're doing
really what we should

Have done right off the bat,

Is we're going to replace
all this lay-flat hose

To our pump
with hard hdpe pipe.

We just got
to get it done quick.

[carl] oh,
it's the real deal, man.

[narrator] to fuse together
sections of hard pipe,

New crew member ben bellai
brings in the fusion machine.

So this thing is a 618 fuser.

So basically,
what we're going to do
is take this ten-inch pipe,

Um, and basically
slam them together,

Fuse it all together,

Uh, face it, heat it up.

Put a ton of pressure to it

And then fuse a bunch
of lengths of pipe.

[narrator] with the wash plant
shut down,

Ben must now create 230 feet
of hard line pipe

In just one day.

[carl] end of the day,
we're gonna have more downtime

If we do stuff
not properly here, right?

This will... This is going
to pay off in the end.

Yeah, this time of year,
when the plant's down,
it's never good, man.

It's crunch time,
so we got to get this done

As quick as we can,
get back up and running.

[narrator] the fusion machine
heats the two ends of the pipe

At 400 degrees fahrenheit,

Fusing them together
with pressure.

Nice. Here's the final piece
of this guy.

Let's take a look
at it, everybody.

Looks good, eh?

[ben] oh-h*, yeah, real clean.

[narrator] carl and ben
must now transport

The fused sections
of pipeline

Across the claim
and through the creek.

Reason why we're going
this slow is, I do not want

To damage any equipment.

We're doing good
right now,

So let's not jinx it.

Coming up
to the creek right now.

[narrator]
at this time of year,

The creek runs fast
with rainwater.

The force could be enough
to drag the pipe downstream.

Well, we're in the river now.

Holy...

Now it's up to the doors.
Oof!

One good thing is,
we got clean tires now.

We gotta get this pipe in here
right away,

'cause every moment
that we are not running water,

We're not getting gold.

That's why we're hustling
our a*s right now.

You guys get out of the way,
I'm just gonna
swing this [bleep].

-Right there, buddy.
-Down, down, down!

Perfect.

[narrator] carl clamps
the sections of pipe together.

-We are so close right now.
-Yeah, we're so close.

Uh, like,
this is our last flange.

We get this
tightened up.
We're gonna run it.

We'll see if we
got any leaks.

And then we'll bury
this thing, so we're close.

[machine whirring]

We're actually gonna put
in a bigger pump, too,

Which is gonna give us
a lot more pressure.

This is gonna improve
the yardage that we can
run through the plant,

And that's the whole point.

[narrator]
with the new hard pipe,

Rick can now run
a more powerful pump,

Allowing him to run
20% more dirt every hour.

Just swinging the pump
into position right now.

We just got to get it done
and get back around it,

And that's all that matters.

Perfect.

Good job, buddy.

Turn this [bleep] around
and start this thing up.

[engine starting]

[man] that's a lot of water!
[laughs]

So we got it fixed
properly now,

We're not gonna have to deal
with this again this year.

Awesome.

[narrator] the downtime
has cost rick

$22,000 in lost gold.

But the new pump allows him
to run the plant faster,

And he should make it back
in under a week.

Well, I'm glad
we finally took the time

To put in the new
water system.

Uh, the great thing is that
it's going to allow us

To run an extra 20 yards
an hour.

That's an extra two ounces
of gold a day,

Another four grand
in our pocket.

That [bleep] adds up.

[narrator] it's lunchtime
at duncan creek.

Rick has a new use

For the fusion machine's
heater element.

-Ooh, casa d'mama!
-[man] yeah!

-Yeah!
-Y'all were talking,
boys, hot lunch.

[rick] yeah, cook it.

We turned it up to about 480.

-[rick] yeah.
-[man] four-eighty.

[rick] now we're talking.

Does that smell good, buddy?

That's not for you,
that's for us.

[man screams]

[rick] she's taking
the best parts, too.

-Shall we cut it right on it?
-Yeah, cut it right on it.

Oh, [bleep]!

-[karla screams]
-it's okay,
we can still eat it.

[karla] yeah, two-second rule.

-[man] it's hot.
-[karla] I'll get this.

[rick] I forgot this wasn't
an actual table.

This is actually a pretty
good idea, boys.

This is a really good idea.

Here, champ,
you can have that.

Here you go,
got a big piece right here.

-[man 1] good, get it.
-[man 2 laughs]

[narrator] the king
of the klondike, tony beets,

Needs to find new ground.

After prospecting
a piece of land

On the other side
of the mega cut,

He's meeting with drilling
expert, liam ferguson,

To find out
if it holds big gold.

Yeah, always busy.

[liam] we found some
pretty interesting stuff.

I've got you a map here.

[tony speaking]

[liam] yep.

First hole,

Not so good.

It looks like some
false bedrock in there.

[tony speaking]

[liam] that threw
us off a bit.

But in the second hole,

We saw some
pretty good grades.

Yeah.

[tony speaking]

We're looking at about
ounce per 100 yards.

Mmm-hmm.

Getting a little better
near the bottom upwards

To an ounce a quarter,
an ounce and a half.

[liam] yeah.

[narrator] at that rate,
the ground would be

Even richer than
the mega cut.

One week of mining here

Could earn tony
nearly a million dollars.

[liam] all right.

[liam] all right,
see you, tony.

[narrator] after getting
the good news,

Tony heads back to camp
for the weekly gold weigh.

-[minnie] hi.
-[monica] hey.

[tony speaking]

Oh, non-stop like usual.

So how was everybody's week?

[mike] yeah.

[tony speaking]

So did you find anything
when you went exploring?

[minnie] that's good.

Yeah, it's getting harder
and harder these days.

[tony speaking]

You gotta find your
next best ground.

Are we gonna weigh
some gold, then?

[tony speaking]

[narrator]
so far this season,

The trommel has averaged
200 ounces every week.

Forty, 60, 65, 70, 80,








[narrator]
the biggest gold weigh

The beets have had
this season,

Worth close to $600,000.

[minnie] that's not
a bad haul for this.

[mike] no, that's pretty good.

[minnie] yeah.

[tony speaking]

Yeah.

So what's our season
total, like, now?



So we're only 700 ounces
away from

Tony's goal.

[tony speaking]

[narrator]
having found new ground,

And had their biggest weigh
of the season,

The tide is finally turning
for the king of the klondike.

I mean, we're not quite
where we wanna be yet.

Well, it's like
I always said,

Don't count your chickens
till they're hatched.

Well, you better check up
on everybody.

Can you just [bleep] off?

No, I'm gonna cook
supper for you.

Bye.

[tony speaking]

[narrator] after a week
of breakdowns,

Rick and the crew sit down
to weigh their gold.

Well, it's gonna be a light
week, I can tell you that.

-[carl] so, like, how light?
-Well,

You think about what we've
dealt with, right? I mean, uh,

We had to make some major
improvements to the plant.

Yeah, well, and it also
comes down to that you finally

Let me fix
that thing properly,

You shut the wash plant
down, right? So...

Well, you know how stubborn
I get, right?

Like, if that thing's
not running,

Then we ain't making
any gold, so...

And I've seen
how fragile you were
when we were putting it in,

And it was taking too long,
I could see the smoke

-Coming out of your ears.
-[laughs]

There was a string
of expletives.

But she's good to go,
and most importantly,

Um, it also upped our yardage.

-[men] yeah.
-Right?

So, you know,
the end result here is that

We probably got it pumped up
to 120 yards an hour now.

Pretty impressive for
that little screen deck.

Yeah, it is. I mean,
we can make up that lost time.

-You bet.
-You know?

We certainly can.

We'll take the hit this week,
but overall,

We're gonna see
the benefits from it.

Hell, yeah.

Well, let's weigh it up.

[narrator] to hit
his 1,000-ounce goal,

Rick needs at least
67 ounces of gold

-Per week.
-[rick] we're going for it.

Five, ten, 40, 30.

Well, it's gonna be over 40
anyway, there we go.



[narrator] only two-thirds
of what he needs.

For the time we lost,
that's not bad at all.

[rick] I don't mind saying 44
is kind of disappointing.

I know that it's not one
of our best gold weighs,

And I hate to admit it, but...

If I would have
listened to you, carl,

Maybe there would be
more gold in the pan.

[narrator] with the gold total
at 642 ounces,

Rick now has just five weeks
to hit his season goal

And save his mining career.

I just wanna thank all
you guys for busting a*s.

[carl] yeah.

And ben for getting
that fusion [bleep] up here.

You guys are [bleep] awesome.

You guys are all the reason
right here again

Why we have gold,
and, uh,

It's not gonna stop.
I think with the improvements
we've made,

It's only gonna go up
from here.

-[man 1] yeah.
-[man 2] pump it out.

-[rick] right?
-[man 1] yeah.

Well, let's go get after it.

-[man] let's go make money.
-[rick] let's get after it.

-Yeah.
-Do it.

[rick] oh, yeah.

[narrator] one hundred miles
west at scribner creek,

The schnabel crew
is ready to weigh up.

Junior!

[both whooping]

That one was looking like
we were gonna kiss here.

[laughter]

How'd it go this week?

I hear there was a little bit
of excitement down there.

Yeah, we found a little leak
in the berm there.

Well, it wasn't
so small actually,

So it was pretty busy trying
to get that buttoned up,

So the berm wall didn't blow
out and lose all our water

In the pond, right,
for sluicifer?

That would have, what,
fed back into the cut, or...

Yeah, all over all of
our pay, everything.

It's insane, the amount
of water in there. Like,

It's just puking out
of both sides.

Well, there's the pond
on one side

And the river
on the other, so...

-Fun stuff.
-[man] yeah, man.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to find
somewhere to dig dry pay

To keep the wash plants going.

Yeah, trying to keep two
plants going at the
same time, right?

-Yeah.
-Did you lose
much sluicing time?

-[man] no.
-No, we kept them going,

-But it was... It was...
-Touch and go.

Your stomach was turning
watching the water levels
come up,

But, yeah, we got it fixed,
so let's just pray to hell

That it makes
it past this season.

Why I'm asking if you lost
any sluicing time,

Because this was
a very interesting week.

Two plants,
both on the same cut,

Basically side-by-side.

We have two pans of gold here.

[man] well, why don't you bust
'em out and show us?

[narrator] first up,
sluicifer's second week

Of airstrip gold.

I'm not doing your little
counting up thing.

No, no, you're good.

We're looking at 172.15.

[narrator] worth $327,000.

That's pretty decent.

Red, on the other hand...

So, from red,
we're looking at 145.3.

[narrator] worth $276,000.

-It's a good week.
-Yeah, it's a really
good week.

-317 ounces.
-[parker] 317?

[narrator]
sluicifer and big red

Have pulled in over $600,000
worth of gold.

For the season total,
we just broke 6,000 ounces.

-Great.
-6,002 ounces.

[parker] good. All right.

That's sweet.

[narrator]
nearly 2,000 ounces more

Than parker mined
this time last year.

Next time on gold rush...

Fred lewis is out of luck...

Hold on, I'm gonna
get alex some help.

...And out of pay.

[man] is that
everything we got?

Right now,
we are dead in the water.

[narrator] rick ness
calls on an old friend.

I think it's in
there sideways.

If I don't get our goal
this year,

I don't see continuing on.

[narrator] and parker schnabel

Faces his biggest loss
of the season.

[woman] it's really smoky.

Grab what you can
and get out of there.

I don't want you to
even consider not going.