11x20 - Attack or Retreat

[bunniefuu]

[shane] we're running
out of time.

This is just another problem
that we don't need.

[narrator]
on this gold rush...

This ain't going on there.

[bleep] now I'm pissed off.

...Parker schnabel's dream
of a record season

Grinds to a halt.

[tyson] holy [bleep].

Overall, there is gold here,

And it's just a matter of
figuring out where.

[narrator] rick ness
takes to the skies

In a search for new ground.

[rick] looking for new ground
this late in the season.

It's not ideal.
It's a little crazy.

I don't wanna just
eke out a living,
I wanna hit it big.

I wanna be a huge success.

[fred] we're gonna
keep pushing

Until something tells me
we can't run anymore.

[narrator] and fred lewis
faces the toughest test
of his season.

This thing is a hunk of junk.

And if it breaks down
one more time,

I think we should just
go ahead on and call it quits.

Let's put it to a vote.
Kendell for the tiebreaker.

Everybody here has put in
a hell of a long season,

But we've got good gold prices

And we need gold
coming out of the ground.

[narrator]
after the latest-ever
start to the season,

Parker schnabel is now just
600 ounces short

Of his all-time best gold haul

Of 7,400 ounces.

Now is the time to get
some money in the bank

And make us more confident

In finding more
and better ground.

[narrator] last season,

Parker started searching
for new ground in the yukon...

Ground is getting scarce

And what's left is not pretty.

[bleep] damn it.

...But drew a blank.

Hopefully, we'll find
some ground somewhere.

[narrator] so this season,
he headed home to alaska.

We've got a really
good opportunity
on a piece of ground.

The guy that owns it
wants $3 million for it.

Going to alaska, I think
it's gonna take a lot
of exploration.

It's gonna cost
a lot of money.

Hopefully, we can, you know,
build reserves

And keep the...

Keep the mine operational
as long as we can.

[narrator] last week,
in his bid to amass
a w*r chest of gold,

Parker extended his
airstrip cut by 600 feet.

It's looking good, like,
there's a lot of ground
in there

That hopefully
we can get it all out.

You know, the plants...

They've been through
a couple battles this summer,

And they're-- [laughs]
everything on 'em's tired,
you know?

So hopefully we can just
limp everything through
to the finish line

And get them in
the healing yard
for the winter.

[narrator] to get
the extension sluiced

Before the winter
shuts them down,

Parker's keeping
both his wash plants

Big red and sluicifer

Running pay dirt
through the night.

[wash plants rumbling]

[man] [bleep] shut it down!

[narrator] parker's most
productive wash plant,
sluicifer,

Has ground to a halt.

Yeah, I went in the cook shack
for breakfast,

And I heard the radio call.

Something about
the feeder belt had broke

And the hopper was full.

It's not a good way
to wake up in the morning.

Oh, I imagine sluicifer

Will be down for
the majority of today.

[narrator] wash plant boss
tyson lee is first on scene.

First order of business is,

Get as much dirt out of
the hopper as possible.

And then start tearing
the hopper feeder apart,

And get a new belt on.

Yeah, there aren't many days
left in the season and,

You know,
with this [bleep] happening,

It definitely doesn't
make our lives any easier.

Did you tear
right through it, alec?

Um, I mean, judging by
how it's hanging,

I'd imagine it is.

Oh, yeah.

You tore out the belt right
in half by the looks of it.

[alec] it looks like
it happened right along, uh,

The vulcanized edge there.

And then the rest
of it just gave way

When there was
nothing in the middle.

[shane] it's never good
when you have a belt break.

We're running
out of time all right.

This is just another problem
that we don't need.

Yeah, like,
that's probably good.

[narrator] to get to the belt,

They have to remove
the 10-ton hopper.

[creaking]

[bleep] that's heavy.

Can you go up?

[motor whirring]

[brennan] come on, baby.

You're good.

-[parker] this looks like fun.
-Oh, yeah.

I'm glad we had the new belt.

Get that thing on here.

[narrator] shane brings in
a spare 37-foot belt from
the yard,

Meaning sluicifer should be
up and running by
the end of the day.

[parker] oh, this kind of
stuff doesn't bother me
at all, really.

You know, the conveyors
save us a huge amount of,

Like, trucking costs
and other costs

And this is the price you pay,
and I'm fine with that.

All right. You ready for this?

I feel like we could get
the front over there
with the mini hoe.

Yeah.

[narrator] parker's plan,

Raise the conveyor
and use a mini excavator

To place the belt
onto the head roller,

And a second excavator

To pull the opposite end
of the belt

Until it can slide
onto the tail roller.

Let's get it to the right
sweet spot

And then it'll usually go on.

Good.

[shane] parker's helping us.
Look the hell out.

He's gonna grab the belt here

With the hoe and just
suck it back that way.

You got lots of room.

Does this look
a bit short to you?

Looks really short. Uh...

[shane] yeah,
this belt is short.

-What?
-This belt is short.

-[parker] I thought that
this one said on it "37 feet."
-[shane] yeah.

So I'm just trying to
figure out--

'cause 18 and 18 is 36.

Thirty seven
should fit on there.

-It should.
-But this isn't 37, then?

No.

Somebody probably cut it 37

And then spliced it.

[parker]
which takes up two feet.

-This ain't going on there.
-[shane] no.

[bleep]

Now I'm pissed off!

I can see the end is near,
but, you know, we're not.

We're just not quite
at our 1,000-ounce goal yet.

[narrator] at duncan creek,

Rick ness started mining
six weeks late

Due to the pandemic

And now is trying to hit
a 1,000-ounce goal

In the shortest season ever.

[rick] now is not
the time to pull out.

Now is the time to just
buckle down and hit it hard.
And...

We're not walking out
of here without hitting
our goal this year.

[narrator] rick is still
175 ounces short,

And winter could
shut him down any day.

[minnie] nice little plant.

[bleep]

Hey, rick. Uh, you expecting
company today?

Out here? No.
What are you talking about?

I think tony and minnie beets
just showed up.

Huh. What?

All right, I'll come down.
I'll check it out.

[minnie] it's, uh,
slow but efficient.

I wish we could do it
this way.

[rick] how you doing?

Good to see you, tony.

-Hi, rick.
-Hi, minnie.

-Long time no see.
-Yeah.

So, what brings
you guys out today?

[rick] yeah.

Well, that's awesome.

Well, we're running 24/7.

Yeah.

I think, uh, operators in
the field, I make seven.

I've been out here
pretty much every day

Operating myself, and, uh...

Yeah. It's just, uh--

Yeah.

Yeah, well,
you really should I think.

Well, what do you say?

You wanna run back up
to my cook shack,
get a cup of coffee?

-Sounds awesome.
-Find out why you're
really here.

[rick laughs]

[rick] I appreciate you guys
coming to visit,

But I know how busy
you guys are, too.

And I've never heard
of you just going around

Visiting people. [laughs]

[tony speaking]

Yeah.

Dude, I'll be honest.

I mean, there's-- there's
appealing things about that.

I cut my teeth on that
ground with parker,

And, you know, I...

I think I've got
a pretty good handle on
how to make money there.

But, let me, uh,
let me grab a map.
I'll show you something.

You know, things have
actually, uh,

Things have actually improved
quite a bit this year.

Yeah.

-[minnie] I'm happy
to hear that.
-Yeah.

Some shallow ground
that's paid off

Better than anything
I did last year.

And there's some
real deep cuts here,

And I actually have access
to 99 claims.

-That's a lot of ground.
-But, uh...

This is still a scary--
kind of a scary area.

Yeah. Yep.

Yep. If you're not
smart about it,

You can spend a lot
of money for nothing.

Yeah.

That's definitely something
to think about, you know?

Like, going back
to the indian, like...

-Yeah, your welcome. Any time.
-[minnie] we appreciate it.

Any time at all.

Next time, you'll have to
come for dinner.

[tony speaking]

[minnie groans]

[rick] it actually means
a lot to me

That tony would come
all the way out here

And offer me ground
on the indian river.

[narrator] before rick makes
a decision on tony's offer,

He has work to do.

Right now, I've got to come up
with a solid plan, you know?

A, for how to end this season,

Um, but more importantly, for
how to start the next season,

If I'm gonna have a future.

So I need to get out.
I need to do some scouting.

And I need to see, uh--

I need to find out
where I'm going.

[horn honks]

[narrator]
while his team pushes

To hit their 1,000-ounce goal,

Rick ness is looking
to the future.

Offered the option of
returning to the indian river,

Mining tony's ground,

He wants to find out
if duncan creek
has more to offer.

[rick] there's one thing
I'm learning about
duncan creek right now

Is that it's very hard
to read the ground.

Overall, there is gold here.

Um, and it's just a matter
of figuring out where.

So, if I'm gonna be
successful here,

I better figure it out quick.

So I'm gonna go up
in a helicopter today
and see if I can,

Maybe from a different view,
figure out what's going on.

So this is actually
where my claim starts.

-Okay.
-Right here.

-Oh, yeah.
-And all the way
down this valley.

We could just
work our way up here.

[narrator]
rick's landowner, troy taylor,

Has given him access

To more than 9 miles
of virgin ground

Along duncan creek,

Notorious for
gold-rich hot spots

And dead zones.

[rick] yeah, I'm looking for
new ground this late
in the season.

It's not ideal.
It's a little crazy.

But if I can find something,
get into it, improve it,

Um, then I can come up
with a really strong plan
for next year.

[kruse] there's different
methods of trying to find
gold-rich ground.

I'm not 100% certain that
flying over in a helicopter
is one of them, but...

What the hell do I know?

[rick] there's a really
sparse spot right there.

-I wonder if that's...
-Yeah.

Kind of where
the thick trees start.

[pilot] yeah, I think
that's the spot right there.

That's a lazy inside
corner of the creek.

It's definitely
never been touched.

[narrator] on the inside
bend of a creek,

The water flows slower
and should deposit more gold.

Last week, rick found a one
and a half ounce nugget

On a lazy bend just like this.

[rick] looks like
I should be able to get

My 480 in there no problem.

A little bit of work--
but the trucks
to get in there,

I think we could...

We could blast a hole
in there, get the some pay
out of there,

And hopefully prove that
ground up for next year.

Yeah, this isn't
gonna be easy,

But this is what I'm gonna
have to do this year

If I'm gonna have
a future here.

[fred] this season hasn't
panned out like we
wanted it to.

And the ground's
just not been as good as

We needed it to be
to pay the bills.

[narrator] in oregon's
elkhorn mountains,

Fred lewis has poured his
life savings into a gold mine

And he's now burning
through 5 grand a week

Of his investor's money.

[fred] financially,
this has been
an absolute disaster.

My biggest concern is the debt

And being able to pay--
pay back karl

Because he's not gonna
like it very much.

[narrator] fred's just
opened up new ground.

The mayor's cut,

Which delivered his
best cleanup so far.

And everyone's
working flat out

In the hope they can
turn their fortunes around.

If we don't get on
some good gold real fast,

This could be the end
of my gold mining career.

All right, let's go.

[engine starts]

[narrator] fred's foreman,
senior airman kendell madden,

Is tasked with keeping
the aging wash plant running.

[kendell] at this point,
we're limping along
so [bleep] hard.

You know,
we'll just keep going.

Just keep doing it,
see how much
we can actually get.

We'll see.

It's not looking good, though.

[narrator] after five months
seeing precious little gold,

The crew is losing faith.

Infantry scout sn*per
stuart mckenzie

Has left his young family
at home in washington state

In the hope of
striking it rich.

[stuart] we've ripped
this place apart

And the gold's just not here.

Morale is actually
pretty low right now.

I'm thinking that
if we actually had

Decent equipment
and a decent mine site

That we would be kicking
this season's a*s.

And, you know,
unfortunately for the fact,

It's not that case, you know.

We, uh, inherited
a rig pile of [bleep],

And we're trying to polish it.

Hey, alex.
How's it looking up there?

Looking good so far.

[stuart over radio]
we're at 2.5.
We're at 2.5 psi.

It just started dying.

[narrator] the old pumps
supplying water to
the wash plant

Has lost half
its working pressure.

Hey, try to shake the [bleep]
out of that thing.

See if it'll clear it
or something.

All right.

[kendell] you know, we've been
relying on this old pump for
forever here,

And it keeps giving us
more and more problems.

So, you know, if we have--

If we see things like this,

We got to work on them
as fast as we can

To get up and running
and try to run some more
pay here.

Still 2.5, man.

[bleep]

But with this psi,

All we're doing is
clogging up the sluice.

So, you know, we're just
washing gold away.

Oh, come on!

It just dropped again.

[narrator]
the pressure's too low

To wash the pay dirt
down the sluices.

[kendell] all right,
let's shut it off!

[bleep] this thing.

[engine stops]

All right, man.
What I think is...

Losing suction on here, dude.

-Yeah.
-I mean, it's obviously
leaking like [bleep].

And if we start firing
this thing up and it starts--
it's sucking air, dude.

What the [bleep], guys?

Why aren't we running now?

[kendell] fred, the pressure
just keeps dropping.

You know, it'll bounce up
for a couple of minutes,

And then it just
completely drops out.

This thing is a hunk of junk.

Well, if we have to limp
through the finish line
with this

And flex-seal it to make
our season get to the end...

I'll get you some more
flex seal, bro.

Okay.

Let's just keep pushing
until it falls apart.

-Well, do what you can.
-Okay.

[narrator]
stuart's only option,

A down and dirty bush fix
using silicone sealant.

[fred] all right, guys,
let's get it fired up.
Let's get it moving.

-[engine starts]
-let's get the gold!

Water's coming.

Four-zero.
You're at 4.0 psi.

Keep a close eye on that psi,

Let me know
if anything changes,

And just try and push it
to the limit, buddy.

I do every day.

That water pump
has been a pain in our a*s
over and over again.

[narrator] master sergeant
stefan generally

Gave up his job
as a security guard
to become a gold miner.

And honestly,
at this point in the game,

If it breaks down
one more time,

I think we should just
go ahead on and call it quits.

[fred] well, I know
the guys' concerns
on the pump,

But we're gonna run.

We're gonna
get this thing going.

We're gonna
get the colonel fed.

We're gonna get pay dirt
down the sluices.

So we're going to keep pushing

Until something tells me
we can't run anymore.

[narrator] 1,500 miles north
in the klondike...

When, you know, we go
to put a belt on

That we have, set spare,
and it's the wrong size,
like, that rattles me

Because there's really no room
for those kind of screw ups
in this business.

So I'm just gonna head down
and talk to brennan about
maybe changing things up.

[narrator] parker schnabel's
wash plant, sluicifer,

Has been down for over
24 hours with a torn belt.

[parker] hey, brennan!

What I think we're going to do
is pull the feeder

And the radial stacker
out of big red...

Okay.

-And we'll put that
on sluicifer.
-Okay.

And we'll pull
that hoe--
feeder in this plant

And just push the pay
out to a hoe and load it
straight into the plant.

[narrator] to get sluicifer
back running as soon
as possible,

Parker plans to move
the nearby super conveyor
to feed big red.

At the same time,
truck big red's
working hopper and conveyor

Three hundred yards
around the cut to sluicifer.

[brennan] well, parker said
that he needs the, uh,

Feeder from big red over there
at sluicifer

'cause the belt tore in half.

We have no other option,
so I'm just coming over here
to shut the plant off.

I mean, that's [bleep] that
big red has to go down
because of that

But that's just the way it is.

[motor powers down]

This big [bleep]
has to get down there.

[narrator] parker's
super conveyor weighs 100 tons

And is mounted on the back
of a 700 excavator.

[shane] we got it.

[engine rumbling]

Well, now we're sluicing.

[narrator] over at sluicifer,
tyson's removing
the broken feed conveyor.

[engine hisses]

[tyson] holy [bleep].

Piece of [bleep]. I'm stuck.

[engine hisses]

[tyson] holy [bleep].

[bleep] piece of [bleep].

I'm stuck.

[narrator] at indian river,

Plans to get
parker's wash plants
back up and running

Have bottomed out.

Yeah, we just can't catch
a break today, you know,

But...

Water lines and [bleep]
running under here,

That's why I didn't want to
[bleep] gouge a [bleep]
hole in the road,

'cause then we'd go through
sluicifer's water line, so...

Come ahead a bit.

Yeah.

Let's go.

This isn't working.

Hey, tyson, we're probably
better to disconnect it.

[narrator] plan b, disconnect
the truck and use the 460
to haul the trailer out.

Wait, let the slack off,
we'll disconnect and
we'll drag her out.

-Come up here.
-[alec] you wanna go
up there?

Yeah.

Whoa.

Let's go.

[alec] ya up in the air, bud?

Should I go forward?

-Just keep walking with her.
-Okay.

[tyson] easy.

Remember, there's a culvert
in that road.

[alec] yeehaw.

[tyson] wait, wait.

[alec] let's get another
chain on it, so we're not
flexing the frame.

[narrator] tyson lifts the
stacker clear of the dirt.

[tyson] that's more like it.

Should be good there, eh?

[alec] yeah.

[narrator] after nearly
40 hours downtime,

The replacement feed conveyor
can be connected
onto sluicifer.

Whoa.

Belts are on.
Fire up the plant.

That's the longest
this plant's been down,

Other than for
a wash plant move.

So it's definitely hurting us.

[narrator] what should have
been a simple fix

Has shut down parker's
operation for two days

And cost well over $100,000
in lost gold.

Whoo! We're back
to sluicing here!

Thank you guys
for the last 24 hours.

I know it's been
an absolute [bleep] show.

I really do appreciate it.

This would have
been a disaster
if you guys weren't here.

Doctor dre!

Thanks a lot for
all the help today, buddy.

-Appreciate it.
-No worries.

[parker] oh, yeah. You know,
that's one nice thing about
the guys that are here is

If something can get done,
they'll get it done.

[engines running]

[motor running]

We're at 2.5. 2.5.

[narrator] in oregon's
elkhorn mountains,

Fred lewis is spending
5 grand a week

In the hope his new cut
will produce enough

To break even and send
his guys home with gold.

Right now, what we're doing
is we're limping through it
but we're moving.

We're pushing that pump
to the limit right now,

But we're getting pay dirt
through the plant,

And everything's
going as planned.

We're gonna
keep pushing the limits,

Keep putting that gold
through the plant.

We're at 2.0, man.

We're just throwing mud
across the sluice now.

Worthless. Shut that
piece of [bleep] down.

Hey, uh,
it's came back just now.

It's just going back--
it's fluctuating up and down.

Twenty to forty,
twenty to forty.

[kyle] you know,
all the issues that we've
had so far this season,

I'm just surprised we haven't
called it quits yet.

[stefan] we're getting
to the point where
we need to...

I can't say
quit while we're ahead,

But quit before we get
further behind.

Fred is...
He's too stubborn to do that.

So we're gonna keep running.

And hopefully, you know...

Hopefully we could
find that, uh...

Big-a*s nugget. [chuckles]

[engine spluttering]

Holy [bleep], guys,

What the hell is going on with
the [bleep] generator, man?

Yo, yo, yo!
We got a fire, dude!

Yo, yo, yo!
We got a fire, dude!

Oh, [bleep]!

[motor powers down]

[engine powers down]

[coughing] oh, [bleep].

[narrator] in oregon,
fred lewis' dreams
of saving his season

May have just
gone up in smoke.

[bleep]

[kendell] we got some kind
of a major oil leak.

That looks like
fresh oil to me, yeah.

I am no mechanic.
I don't know what that means.

Could be a bad filter.

Could be a popped head gasket.

Could be all kinds
of different things.

Well, what do you think
we got to do

To get this bad boy fixed
and up and running again, man?

This isn't something that
is just gonna, like,

Fix itself this afternoon,
fred.

I'm not stopping for this.

Um, you guys just go ahead
and get back to work,

And I'll figure this [bleep]
piece of [bleep] out.

-We'll get it going.
-Yeah, let him do it.

Let him figure it out.

You honestly want to keep
dumping money into this?

I want to try and fix
this thing and get
as much dirt as we can.

-Yeah. I don't want to quit.
-You're the mind, boss.

If you want us
to keep digging,

Then I'll keep digging.
I'm with you.

And I love persistence.
It gets you where
you need to be in life.

But there's persistence
and there's stubbornness.

Everything is [bleep]
breaking down on this mine.

You're dumping--
you're hemorrhaging
money right now.

[sighs]

I mean, like, I just
want you to know
that's how I'm feeling.

I want to keep digging.

All right.
That's where I'm going.

-Thanks, brother.
-It's all right.

I'll get it.
I'll figure it out.

He's always been stubborn,
even since, uh,

While we were
in the army together,
he was stubborn as hell.

Either way, he said
to keep digging until
we get that word,

So I'll burn his diesel,
I'ma go diggin' my hole.

I feel like all of us have
been telling you

For about a week now.

We're spending more money
trying to get gold

Than we're gonna
get in gold back
to pay for the operation.

It's getting ready
to sleet tomorrow,

That freezing rain stuff
is coming.

I think we'd be better off
spending the rest of today

Getting things prepared
for winter.

Everybody came here for gold.

If we stop right now,
everyone, literally everyone,
gets nothing.

I know it sucks
and it doesn't mean defeat,

And it doesn't mean failure,

It just means
that's it for this season.

We get ready for next season.

Come back stronger.

-I hate it.
-I know.

Well, let's get-- at least
get all the guys over here
and put it to a vote.

-I want everybody
to have a say in it.
-I agree.

All right.

Hey, misfits.

Can I get everybody
to meet over here by
the generator, please?

So, khara and I have
been talking for
a little bit here.

And khara thinks
it's time to stop.
But I want to point out,

If we stop
right here, right now,
everybody gets nothing.

Zero.

I say we cut and run,
quit while we're ahead.

Yeah, I'm out. I'm ready
to get this over with.

-Stu?
-Uh, yeah. I don't want to,
but, yeah, it's time to leave.

-Alex?
-It's time.

Kendell for the tiebreaker.

Let's stop the bleeding, man.

Well, I mean,
it's tough for me to take.

I'm sure it's equally as tough
for you guys to take, too.

It feels a lot like failure,
but let's not look
at the gold total.

Let's not look at all that.

Let's look at what
we've done as a team

And how awesome it is
to be able to be in
this environment

And to work with people
we consider brothers.

We've created that
for ourselves.

We just have to find
better ground and
get on better gold.

And if we can do that,
sky's the friggin' limit.

So I say we pack up,
get the [bleep] out of dodge
and go drink some whiskey.

You guys good with that?

-I'm down.
-How do you like that?

-Cool.
-Let's get at 'em, guys.

Sometimes, you gotta
know when to hold 'em,

You gotta
know when to fold 'em,

Gotta know when to walk away,

And you gotta
know when to run.

So... We're gonna
get the [bleep] out of here.

[rick] we're going to try
to get into one of the spots
I spied from the helicopter.

[narrator] in the yukon,

Rick ness is faced
with a choice that could
define his future.

Head back to tony's steady
ground on the indian river

Or gamble on nugget-rich
pay dirt here on duncan creek.

Rick must decide
before the season ends,

So he'll bulk test
a patch of ground
he spotted from the air.

[rick] a little steeper than
it looks.

[bleep]

Whoa! Whoa!

Oh, that's what
I was afraid of.

That's all permafrost. [bleep]

Just about took off.

[narrator] the steel tracks
of the 54-ton excavator

Are fighting for traction
on the frozen bank.

All right.

Seatbelt's going on, I guess.

[exhales] [bleep]

Easy. Easy.

[laughs]

Yeah, buddy.
Wash my tracks out real nice.

Oh, yeah.
Not so bad at all.

Rick's investigating
a piece of ground

Two miles from
his current creek cut.

On a lazy bend, the slower
water flow on the inner edge
deposits gold.

Rick believes,
over thousands of years,

This should have formed
a rich layer of pay dirt.

[rick] hoping for
a quick smash-and-grab,
you know.

Dig a little pick,
get kruse in here, test it.

And, uh,
hopefully find my future.

[narrator] if rick hits his
1,000-ounce goal and wants
to return to duncan creek,

He'll need thawed ground
with guaranteed gold.

All right, so far, so good.

Nice and thawed.
Already, starting to see

A little bit of gravel
in there, but we're looking
for the big old boulders.

[bleep] me. It's going deeper
than I thought.

[bleep] you, gravel.
Where are you?

Um, I'm starting to see
the tops of boulders
right down here.

It's a little bit deeper
than I thought it would be.

But, uh, that's definitely
the stuff we're looking for.

Uh, kruse,
I found the stuff
we're looking for.

Why don't you get
that rock truck back here,

And let's get some of this
stuff trucked to the plant.

[narrator] to avoid
rick's steep descent,

Kruse takes a longer route
along the creek.

Did marlon send you out here
looking for a moose den?

[laughs]

I'm out here exploring, buddy.
Don't you want
to explore with me?

We're trying to find ground
for next year.

Oh, uh, you're
dora the explorer today?

Yes, exactly.
Exactly.

Oh, yeah.
That's some
good-looking pay.

Oh, man.

[narrator] rick's found
thawed ground,

But he won't know
if he's got a future
at duncan creek

Until he runs it
through the wash plant.

Well, why don't you get that
on up to the plant?

I'll be waiting here for you.
Good luck.

We get about ten truckloads
up to the plant and run it,
test it, figure it out.

We've sluiced
an ungodly amount of material.

[narrator] after working
together for seven years,

Parker and chris doumitt
reflect on their
toughest season yet.

I think we're at close
to 800,000 yards.

Did you ever think
you'd move this much dirt?

[belches] no.

The problem is
you get all this gold
like this

And there's your fuel
and wages and royalties
and everything else.

But we need this part,

So we can go hunting
for some new ground.

Yeah. No kidding.
We're working on it.

You just need to go fetch
some more dirt, young man.

[khara] hey, babe.

Whoa, look at that.
Fire's started and everything.

-We've got a little bowl.
-Yeah.

Things changed pretty quickly.

[narrator] as the snow reaches
oregon's elkhorn mountains,

Fred lewis and his crew
assemble

For their final gold weigh
of the season.

You know, guys,
I kind of felt like I had to
push a lot this week.

And I know you guys
probably thought I was
kind of dumb for pushing.

I appreciate you guys
having my back and
following my stubbornness.

But we got a little more gold,

So thank you.

And sorry.

All right, guys,
final gold weigh.

You want to see
what you got?

[all] yeah.

We do.

[fred] here we go, that's it.

Point six-six of an ounce.

All right, so that brings
our season total of 4.22.

[narrator]
worth just over $8,000.

All right, guys,
a [bleep] season.

Wow.

But we're investing
in this team,

And I think we have to
look at that long-term.

We just got to move forward
and take it

As a lesson learned
and not let it happen again.

'cause we're better than this.

[kendell] that's-- 4 ounces

Does not show
how much effort
we've put in here.

-No.
-That's for damn sure.

It feels like
we should be millionaires

With the amount of stuff
that we went through.

-You're not lying.
-It really does.

You're not lying.

[all chuckle]

You know, even though
we fell short of our goal,

I'm, uh, you know,

I put another skill set
in my tool bag.

Um, I got to spend, you know,

All this time with, you know,
a bunch of my brothers.

That is one thing I'll never
be disappointed in,

And I'll never
regret doing it.

[khara] what really sucks
is everybody's going to
go home broke.

It's not a good feeling
to send these guys

Home with nothing
in their pockets, like...

I wish that there was some way
I had some extra reserves.

I could pay 'em
out of my pocket.

I would if I could.

[fred] 4 ounces for the season
is a complete embarrassment.

I'll tell you one thing,
I am not looking forward

To having that conversation
with karl

When he asks
what our goal total is.

-Well...
-[khara] what is it?

Karl. He left me a voice mail.

[on voice message]
hey, fred. It's karl.

We haven't caught up
in a few weeks,

And I'm definitely
very interested
to find out more

About the shutdown.
I plan on coming out
in a few days.

So, see ya.

[fred] that [bleep] sucks.

So, karl's heading our way.

How would you feel
if you had to tell
a freaking brother

You just lost all his money.

I understand that.
Nobody wants to have

Those difficult conversations,
but they still have to
take place.

It's really frustrating
to know that there's
a pile of pay

Sitting up there
that we couldn't finish

And a bunch of pay dirt
in the ground
that we couldn't pull out.

[sighs] I don't know, babe.

I'm wondering if maybe
we called it too early.

[narrator] in the yukon,
with an offer on the table

Of returning
to the reliable gold
of tony beets'

Indian river ground,

Rick ness has gone
out to see if he can do
better on new ground

At duncan creek.

[rick] oh, yeah.

Well, here we go.

-[karla ann] what?
-What is that?

That's, uh, what we got
out of the test.

That's a lot of gold,
actually for...

-Ten truckloads?
-Ten truckloads.

-Yeah, it's 200 yards.
-200 yards, yeah.

So, you know,
two hours of running.

I'm just trying to find
good ground for us to go
in the future, right?

-[man] yeah.
-And, uh, if this test
turns out right,

I think that's
pretty good indication.

Oh, yeah, there's that, too.

But we'll get to that.

-[kruse] I knew there was--
-honestly, this is more
important right now.

[narrator] ground
on the indian river

Typically pays one ounce
per 100 yards.

If his 200-yard bulk test
is better than that,

Rick's future
lies at duncan creek.

[rick] here we go.

What did we get?

Two, three, holy [bleep].



Nice.

That's-- yeah, I see your--

I see your head working,
kruse.

-Yeah.
-That's over 2 ounces
per 100 yards.

Yeah.

-That's awesome.
Those are good numbers.
-Yeah, that's it right there.

Those are good
[bleep] numbers.

Honestly, that's...
We can make
serious money.

An ounce per 100 is--
you're happy.

Like, you could make money
at that. 2 ounces per 100,

Now you're just laughing.

So this is great news
for our future,

But we also have to
think about now.

So why don't we add
the rest of what
we got this week to it.

[narrator]
to return to duncan creek,

Rick still needs
170 ounces of gold

To hit his 1,000-ounce goal.

But his average
so far has been 60.

[rick] oh, yeah, this is
going to be a good one.


Oh, are we going over 80?



-[all whooping]
-80.66.

-There it is.
-That's awesome.

Just keep going up.

Yeah.

[narrator] worth $153,000.

[rick] no, this is awesome.

Our gold weighs keep going
up and up. But we still can't,

You know, sit on our hands.
If we're gonna hit
our 1,000-ounce goal,

We still have just about
to get there.

And not a whole lot
of time, so...

-[karla ann]
that's a lot of work.
-[kruse] we'll get there, bud.

Good morning.

How are you guys doing?

-Good, good, you?
-Good. How's it going?

[narrator] at scribner creek,

Parker's crew assembles
for their weekly gold weigh.

Well, shane,
with all the tools
you have on that truck,

I'm surprised you don't have
a belt stretcher.

[all chuckling]

[shane] how did the gold look
after this week of

[bleep] ups and breakdowns?

Not as impressive
as last week,

Let's put it that way.

Or the week before,
or the week before,

Or the week before
and before.

But, I can show you
the results.

We can weigh 'em up.

-This is red,
you want to count it up?
-[man] yes, sir.

[narrator] so far this season,

Big red's averaged
over 200 ounces per week.



You want to finish it off?

'cause that's embarrassing.



[narrator] worth $197,000.

-[doumitt] well,
this is sluicifer.
-[alec] all right.

Let's see what we got.

[doumitt]
I'll try to make it slow,
so it sounds like a lot.

...30, 50...



[narrator] way below
sluicifer's average

Of 225 ounces.

-[doumitt] 65.7...
-[men chattering]

This is by far
our worst week...

[man] I'll say.

-For a total of
-[bleep]

[narrator] this week's haul
takes parker's season total

To just under $13 million,

But still 430 ounces short
of his best-ever season total.

If we want
to have a good season,

We-- you got to keep
those plants running.

-[man] yeah.
-[parker] unfortunately.

[chuckling]

If there was--
if there was a better way,

We would be doing it.
But, alec and shane,

I just really want
to thank you guys.

[shane] oh, no problem.
We're just here...

-Thanks, parker.
-...Helping out.

[parker] I know. And that's
what's great about it,

Is you guys don't have
the attitude of,

You know, saving the day,

But you guys do continue to,
non-stop.
And I appreciate it.

Cheers to you guys.

-[man] yeah.
-[man 2] to our mechanics,
right?

Thanks, guys.

[shane] no problem.

I'll drink to that.

Cheers.

[narrator] next time
on the gold rush
season finale...

[tony speaking]

[narrator] the tide
turns on tony beets.

[fred]
after losing all his money,
I've got to convince karl

That we're good enough
to invest in
in another season.

If not, we're done.

[narrator]
fred lewis' mining future
hangs in the balance.

Fred, what would you say to me
if you were in my shoes?

[man] I don't know
if I can hold it.

[narrator]
rick ness changes
the course of his season.

I was hoping
we'd find some chunky gold.

And here it is.

-What the hell's going on?
-[bleep]

[narrator] and parker
closes in on his best
season ever.

It'll work, tyson.

It's gonna wash them rocks.

Our record is 7,400,
and for this season,
we have...