14x03 - Hey Parker, It's Rick

[bunniefuu]

Right now, the only thing
on my mind is mud.

Everything hinges on us

getting this stripped down
ahead before we run out of money.



has bet
nearly everything he has,

$15 million, on buying a massive
new claim at Dominion Creek.

If it delivers,

it'll pay out an 80,000 ounce,
$160 million jackpot.

To get on the gold quickly,

he's opening a cut already
started by the previous owner.

It's a dangerous one

'cause we had to finish
what Dean had started

and I'm not letting that turn
into a massive mess

because if you just stop in the
middle of mud, you're screwed.

The weather's starting to turn
and we're way behind,

and that's a lot of mud to move.

Parker made
a huge commitment here

buying this ground
at Dominion Creek

which is awesome,
this is what we needed,

it's very exciting,
but it's also very stressful

because right now, I would not
wanna be Parker's checkbook.

It's taking a beating.

Parker's operating
on a razor's edge.

To make the deal work, he
needs 5,000 ounces this year.

But to do it,
he's spending a ton of money

and risks going broke before
he can bring in any gold.

What's happening, man?

- I'm stressed out.
- I bet.

I'm stressed out.
It's a lot of money going out.

We're spending in a day
here more than I spent

in the entire first season mining
at Big Nugget with my grandpa.

That's insane.

And this cut could break us
if we don't just get it done.

So, that's a little scary.

We are way behind
on the stripping.

The only hope is by throwing
everything we've got at this.

- We'll be here till November.
- I'm just moving mud.

If we're not careful.

Got you.

My goal is to keep the two


Having two hoes loading as many
trucks as we can keep running.

It's gonna be the fastest way
to catch us up.

I think three days
might catch us up, right?

Well, yeah, as long as the
trucks can motor on this stuff.

Well, let's take a stab at this.

Um, I don't know
if it's gonna work or not.

- Well, we can give it a try, man.
- All right.

- Don't forget your radio.
- Yeah.

- Thanks, man.
- Yeah.

The claim
is half the size of Manhattan.

Parker's first move at Dominion

is to mine the 40-acre money pit

which could deliver


The entire area needs to be
stripped down to the pay layer to thaw.

In the first week, they've
gotten through 4.5 acres,

but Parker wants
to double the pace

and get through the same
amount in just three days.

Parker's wanting to get
through some more ground faster

and in order to do that,
we're taking the trucks

right down to where
the CATs are ripping.

You rip that ground up, then
you start driving on top of it,

it can be punishment
on these trucks.

If it works,
it's gonna be awesome.

But if it doesn't, we're gonna
have a lot of broken trucks.

So at the moment, we
have quite a bit opened up,

but now when the weather
starts warming,

we're gonna have to
tighten things up a little bit.

Veteran miner Damien Browne

begins ripping the next
four acres of overburden

in a D10 dozer.

Parker has given us three
days now to get down to gravels.

It's just pretty chaotic
around here these days.

But we're getting down.

Driving around up here,
like you can see

the mud is covering
just frost, right?

In his first year
working for Parker,

Kayden Potvin
in the 750 excavator

loads the waste dirt
into trucks.

They're just sliding around,

spinning all the tires
all the time.

Can't really get any traction.

Whoo, I'm sliding.

Yeah, it's getting a little harder
for you guys to drive around.

Another Schnabel rookie,
Jacob McClure,

trucks the overburden out
of the cut to a waste site.

Yeah, I don't know if we're
gonna have enough time

to move it all before it melts.

No. Please don't do this to me.

I'm literally gonna my
pants if I get stuck here, man.

No!

Don't do this to me!

I thought I heard a weird
sound 'cause I can hear...

Yeah, something's.

Jacob! Your skid plate!

Jacob!

There might be something wrong,

I thought I heard a weird sound,

so I'm gonna have to get
out and see what's going on.

What the?
My skid plate's fallen off.

There should be pins,
this one's all bent to.

There should be skid plates
covering all of this stuff here.

Hey, Mitch.

Yeah, Jacob, what's up?

I'm dragging my skid plates
on the ground here.

All right, man.
Hey, I'm just coming back right now.

Copy that. I will pull over.

The last thing we want
is a stick to get up in there,

rip out the wiring or the
hydraulic lines or anything like that

and make a bunch more work
for us.

Mitch and mechanic Bill Horton

must get the truck
back into the cut fast

in order to hit
Parker's deadline.

This one's bent a little bit.

Out here, we don't have a big
press like we would in a shop,

so we gotta make everything.

See if we can
bend that into place.

The quick fix?
Bend the steel skid plate back into shape

with the bucket
of a 750 excavator.

You got it, Mitch.

Perfect.

And look at that. First try.

Pretty close?

- It's bang on.
- Nice!

Going in there.

A little bit of dirt for lunch.

We'll take that.

There we go.

There it is. Put some bolts in
there and send her back to work.

Here we go.
Get this thing back out there.

Sweet.

You know Parker, he's given
us three days to move mud,

but problems,
we've got lots of them.

I feel like
Rick's in a good position.

Everything's kind of set up
and just ready to go.

Here, he should be fine.

I feel comfortable
leaving at this point.

I just gotta get home. My wife, my
child, my job. I just got a lot going on.

- What's up, buddy?
- Hey, pal.

Where are you going?

- I gotta go.
- All right.

We talked about this.

- It's better to just rip the Band-Aid off.
- -Yeah, I know.

- You're good, right?
- Yeah. Yeah, I'm good.

- I mean, I'm gonna miss you.
- Yeah. Me, too.

But, no, I am good. Yeah.

Thanks for making sure of that.

- I appreciate everything, all right?
- -Yeah.

- Get out of here.
- I'll talk to you.

Yeah, yeah.

Drive safe.

It sucks he's gotta leave,
but he's got good reasons.

He's got a wife and kid
to get home to,

but I'm glad he was able to come up for
a few weeks just to make sure I was good.

It truly won't be the same
without him.

After disappearing for a year,

Rick Ness is on a
make-or-break comeback mission.

We got the gold coming
in and that's what we need.

I'm all revved up, but there's
trust issues all around like,

"Is he okay?"
"Is he gonna fail?"

Well, I know the answer to that,

but I still have
a lot to prove up here.

To get his season started,

Rick had to sell
his late mom's house

and sign over his camp to
landowner Troy Taylor as collateral.

Now, he's operating
hand-to-mouth,

and needs 20 ounces a week to build
cash reserves for more crew and equipment.

We're running the plant, but
we're not getting ahead of anything.

We got gold coming in,
we got stockpiles.

But, you know,
that's not gonna last forever.



and right now we're sustaining,

but we gotta be
looking ahead, man.

That's the truth.

Rick's plan
to hit his season target?

First, run two old pay piles
to make a quick score.

And then move
to gold rich Rally Valley.

Four weeks in, he's delivered


At the moment, the biggest thing

is just gonna be getting
some more crew in here.

It's just Morgan and I.

I'm not getting ahead
of the game here,

and that's what I need
to be doing.

Rick's looking
for more crew right now.

No one else is coming in, so
I am feeling a bit of pressure.

I can't do it all on my own.

With Zee gone, Rick's down
to just one other crew member.

Gold-mining greenhorn,
Morgan Lauren.

It gets so hot.

Morgan's operating
an old rented loader.

So, it'll be really nice

if Rick finally gets
newer equipment.

If we can get any out here, you know, this
works, but, I mean, there's no front cab.

I'm eating dirt this whole time.

The tires are just kicking
dirt back up in my face.

What the hell?

This thing. Something is wrong.

Dude, it's leaned over so bad.
We got a flat tire.

- Hey, Rick?
- Yeah, go for Rick.

I'm gonna have to shut down the plant.
The loader's got a flat.

Well, that's it.

- Blew a tire on the loader.
- Just now.

I gotta figure something out.

It is.
Gotta find a tire, find a loader,

find something.

So right now,
I've got an old loader,

but it's not the answer
for this season.

I need something I can rely on.

So I'm gonna see
Parker right now,

I heard he just bought
a whole another mine,

got a bunch of equipment
with it.

So I'm hoping maybe
he's got a spare loader.

'Cause I need one bad.

Maybe he's got something that we
can make a deal on. I sure hope so.

It's been a few years. I really
don't know what to expect here.

Rick and Parker
have a deep history.

Hired by a 17-year-old Parker...

Today's Rick's first day
on the job.

To help him
with his small gold claim,

Rick was pivotal in helping
him grow into a successful miner,

rising to be his foreman.

- Thanks, buddy.
- Let's get it.

But when the relationship
began to sour...

You're acting
like a toddler, Rick.

You are making
an enemy out of me.

It's not what I intended.

Parker, man.

I'm just sick of it.

Rick left to be his own boss.

Yeah, I'm going out
mining on my own.

I've got an opportunity
and I'm gonna take it.

Jeez.

And the two
haven't spoken in two years.

Parker and I
have got a lot of history.

Yeah, some of it isn't so great,

but, you know, I'm looking
forward to seeing him.

I hope he feels the same way.

We're just gonna find out.

I'm sure Parker knows I
haven't been around for a year.

Maybe he's heard some rumors.
I don't know.

Boy, here we go.

Me.

If I knew you were coming out, I'd
have told you to bring that hoe over.

I needed this edge bailed.

I don't know
if you can afford me.

Two years after they last spoke,

Rick Ness needs a favor from
his old boss, Parker Schnabel.

- How you been, bud?
- Good, how are you?

- Good to see you, man.
- Good to see you, too.

So you're back.

I'm back.

- How're you feeling?
- I feel great.

- Good.
- Yeah.

I know a lot of people up here
are surprised,

but they ain't
getting rid of me that easy.

No, you're a survivor. I've
said that to everybody. I have.

No matter what, I've
said guy survives.

Wasn't exactly good for
business to take a year off,

but it had to happen.

- No?
- Yeah.

- I had a lot of to figure out and...
- Yeah.

One of the things
that I figured out

is that I probably gave you my
most productive, hardworking years.

Right.

You know?

We had no idea what we
were doing in the beginning.

I had no idea what I was doing.

Me neither.

In every aspect.

You gave your best years
to my worst ones.

Yeah.

- In terms of managing and all that kind of stuff.
- Sure, sure.

And we were working like dogs.

The thing is I don't regret it

because what I learned working
for you was what I needed.

Now I feel like I've got
that old energy back.

Good.

Are you out here just for a
hello or do you need anything?

Anything I can help with?

No, I came out here
for a hello, but, yeah,

of course I need something, too.

I always need something, Parker.

No, specifically, you know...

Obviously, it's great
to see you.

Well, I really need a loader.

Right. Yeah, I think we
inherited a few things here.

- Let's go have a look at 'em.
- Cool, man.

Yeah. No worries.

When Parker bought Dominion
Creek lock, stock, and barrel...

This thing, I honestly...
I have not even looked at it.

It came with $2 million
worth of equipment.

It's definitely nothing special.

- Can I start it?
- Yep.

Sounds good.

It's exactly what I need.

I think we'll have to try
to wheel and deal on this.

I don't know
what you're thinking.

It's not gonna be a wheel
and deal. I hate talking money.

Especially talking with
friends about it. Just use it.

- We'll work it out in the fall.
- You sure?

You know,
you hit the motherlode,

- I'll expect a few ounces of gold rent, but...
- Sheesh.

But no,
if it helps you out, take it,

and just get back
on your feet, man.

Like, that's the biggest thing
that you need to do.

Man, I appreciate
the hell out of that, Parker.

I know we've had
our differences,

but I won't leave you
in the lurch.

But I do want to see you get back
on your feet and make this work.

I appreciate that.

And this is
a pretty small gesture,

but it's better than
"Get the out my yard."

No, Parker, I honest to God,
I appreciate the hell out of it.

- Thank you.
- No worries.

That's a hell of a deal.

Come pick it up sometime hopefully
when the roads are a bit better

or you can trailer it
out of here,

but nobody will haul
right now anyway, will they?

Yeah, I don't think so.

I mean, these roads
are terrible.

Yeah.

But, anyways, it's really
good to see you, man.

Yeah, it is. You, too.
Honest to God.

It's a bit of a surprise to see Rick.
We have a lot of history.

The one thing
that really bugs me, though,

is for him to say,
"I gave you my best years."

Basically that his best years
are behind him.

That, to me, is crazy.

I'm like, "You're 42, and
you're talking like you're 90."

Business is tough enough when
you're in a really good headspace

and in a decent place
in your life.

I hope he gets doing better.

It was really good
to catch up with Parker.

The biggest problem
I have now though

is that this loader is five
hours away from my claim

and it's over highway and
the road bans are on right now.

During the spring thaw,

the ground in the Yukon
becomes soft and unstable.

Any heavy weight on the public
highways can destroy them.

So the government bans heavy
loads until the ground stabilizes.

There's no hauling
heavy equipment at the moment,

and I don't have time to wait two or
three weeks for road bans to come off,

I need gold now.

So at this moment, I don't
know what the hell I'm gonna do.

Just three weeks
into the season,

King of the Klondike,
Tony Beets,

is making a major pivot.

With no gold coming in at
his Paradise Hill operation,

he's made the call
to put it on hold

and move 40 miles
to his Indian River claims.

Four years ago, the Beets lost their
license on their Indian River claims.

We don't have a water license.

Now, they've got permission
to mine there again...

We're good to go
to the Indian River.

Giving the family
a much needed lifeline.

To get on the gold,

Tony is moving their entire
operation back to the Indian River.

First step

move all the heavy equipment.

Everything was up on the hill,

so we have to move
everything back,

get everything set up. It's literally
almost like starting from zero.

Whoa!

Okay, well,
have a fun trip, Dad.

From Paradise Hill,

Tony's convoy must travel


across muddy back roads

ending with
a steep 20-degree climb

to the top of the Hunker Summit

at over 3,000 feet.

Then move down Sulphur,

a dangerous, narrow,
winding trek

till it reaches its final destination
and new home, Indian River.

Up ahead, Tony Beets'
youngest son, Mike,

pays close attention
to the road.

Last year,
it was along this same route

that he transported his
father's 25-ton wash plant.

I couldn't get it to come
out of gear fast enough

to drop a gear so I ended
up losing all my momentum.

If you back up,
I can make another run up.

I'm literally sliding
to the side.

Nope. 'Cause I will
fall off the hill.

I've done this a while.

Don't try to tell me
how to do my job.

I'm literally sliding
to the side.

On the road to Indian River,

Mike Beets' 15-ton semi

is stuck on a steep incline
at the top of Hunker Summit.

I'm literally getting
pulled off the hill.

I'm sliding off the hill.

I have nothing.

I am sliding off the hill.

Sliding to the right.

I am sliding.
This is my problem.

Let's keep going.

My dad will always
micromanage till the day he dies.

Four years after they were
forced to abandon Indian River

the Beets family
is finally back.

Yes.

Sun's out, snow's gone.

It's prime time to be
sluicing, and we're shut down.

We blew a front tire
on that loader,

and I need a loader
to feed my plant.

Rick Ness'
operation is at a standstill,

losing $8,000 a day
in gold production.

I got the loader I need,

but unfortunately, I can't get
it to my claim at the moment.

And there's road bans on
in the spring.

That's just how it works.

You know, until the
spring thaw is done,

there is no hauling
heavy equipment.

But I just got a phone call.

Apparently,
this guy has got a trailer,

and he says he's got axles on
it, which distributes the weight.

And he can get away
with hauling heavy.

Rick has
hired haulage specialist...

- There you are.
- Derek Mamic,

and meets him outside
Parker's Dominion Creek claim.

Look at this rig.

I've been sitting here
wondering, you know,

how much lag time I'm
gonna have with road bans.

I specifically built this setup

to get gear moved
at road ban season.

Okay.

I got a tridem jeep.

It pins off into a tandem jeep.

Tridem trailer, tridem booster.

You can put 85 ton
on this trailer

and go down the highway legally.

The custom made
million-dollar trailer's 11 axles

can easily distribute the
weight of Rick's 35-ton loader

across all of its


reducing its impact
on the highway's surface,

allowing the heavy load to
travel during the road bans.

Impressive.

Good for me that you're up here.

- Yeah, you're saving a month there for sure.
- Yeah.

Well, we've got


so let's get the at it?

Let's do this.

I'll four-corner chain it down.

Okay, after he's done, Ricky,
we're ready to go.

- Right on, man.
- It's awesome.

You guys gonna hit the road?

- Yeah.
- All right.

- Awesome. Thanks, man.
- See you there. Yeah, thank you.

There we go.

Next time I see that loader,
it's gonna be in Keno,

scooping up buckets of gold.

Things are great. Sun's shining.

We're about to get a full
day of sluicing in. A full day!

This loader is a major step
up. It's exactly what I need.

After a two-day shut down,

Rick Ness has had
a new loader delivered.

And his only other
crew member, Morgan,

is back loading
gold-rich pay dirt.

Pretty thankful
that Rick was able

to strike a deal with Parker
for this loader.

It is gonna make this
so much easier out here.

It feels like we're actually
up and running now.

Just with this one loader, it completely
feels like it changed everything.

This loader is gonna be a
lot more productive for us so...

It's a big deal here.

Hey, thanks, Parker.

We have nothing coming in,
everything going out.

We're going broke.

We need to get
a cash flow going.

Anything could help right now.

At Dominion Creek,

with Parker hemorrhaging money,

gold recovery expert
Chris Doumitt hatches a plan

to bring in
the claim's first gold.

So, in the process of, cleaning
up the Dominion Creek gold room,

I found this.

There's gold
in the fine tailings.

Tailings are waste dirt

left over after
the gold is separated

and are dumped
outside the gold room.

I'm gonna grab the mini hoe,
dig it up,

run it through my equipment

and then, hopefully,
we'll get some gold.

The only thing that matters
right now is stripping.

One of the big challenges for us

is that this ground
is a fair bit deeper

than what we've been mining.

In the Money Pit,

Parker and his crew
have just three days

to strip and clear
a four-acre area

of melting overburden.

By getting stripped ahead,

you can let the sun fall
on that gravel now,

and your costs go down 30%.

To speed things up,

Parker has two dozers
ripping overburden 24-7,

and two excavators loading it
into four rock trucks to remove it.

With the amount of gear
that we have here,

I mean, we go through
truckloads of fuel here.

The D11s alone would use probably


I'm actually getting
quite low on fuel myself now.

Liam, Liam, got a copy?

- Liam.
- Yes, I do.

Yeah, man. Are you far
away with the fuel truck?

I'm gonna need fuel
very, very soon.

Yup. Truck right away.

Fuel truck driver Liam

keeps the crew's equipment
fueled up and running.

The dozers have been running
absolutely crazy

since, we started
our stripping program.

And these guys are absolutely
ripping through the fuel.

And if I can't get fuel
down to the cut,

the operation stops
in its tracks

'cause everything,
everything runs off fuel here.

Man.

There is absolutely no way
I'm gonna be crossing this.

Hey, Mitch, do you have a copy?

We have a serious problem
here with our road.

Yeah. What's going on?

Pond has completely
run over the road

and into the opposing pond
across from it.

All right.
I'll be there in a minute.

All right, thank you.

If Liam can't get across
the only road into the cut,

the stripping crew
will run out of fuel

and fail to hit
Parker's three-day deadline,

costing tens of thousands
Parker doesn't have.

That's not good.

Well, that escalated quickly.

'Cause everything's heating up,

all the snow's melting off,

and this road system here
clearly wasn't built high enough.

So now we're...

Yeah, pretty well screwed.

With all that water flowing
here and how deep this is,

that truck gets out there,
it's gonna sink out of sight.

Hey, Kayden, I need you to get the


Just get over there. We need a bunch
of material down here in the roadway.

Everybody out here.
And put a hustle on it.

Right on, Mitch. We're coming.

We'll be out there
as fast as we can.

We'd rather have the trucks
moving mud right now

than, building roads,

but nothing's gonna be happening

if there's no fuel truck
out in the cut.

We are fortunate that the wash
plant has lots of rock over there.

So we're gonna start bombing
it this way, start filling this in.

The heavy equipment

threatening to run out of fuel,

Mitch diverts the rock
trucks from stripping

to build up the road
with coarse rocks

from an old tailings pile.

That's good right there.
Keep building that side in.

We gotta get
one lane through here.

Need a little bit more
on the right side.

- Keep sending trucks, Kayden. We got a big hole to fill.
- Yeah.

Just keep whaling away.

The faster we bust out
this road, the better,

'cause there's a lot to do
in the cut right now.

All righty. That will do her.

Here we go.

I made it through, and
fuel's gonna get to the cut.

All righty.

Very nice, everybody.
Trucks, head out to the cut.

And nice job.
She's working for now.

Liam, where are you, man?

I need you here now.

What took you so long?

Damn, that was a close call.

She is dry.

So everybody
finally got fueled up.

So, it's full steam ahead.

And hopefully,
we make this deadline.

So this is gold that I found from
around outside of the gold room.

What I'm gonna do is,
I'm gonna melt this down

and make little bars out of it.

I'm hoping for

seven, maybe eight ounces
of gold.

It's still pretty hot.

You got yourself a gold bar.

You know, in the big picture,

it's just a drop in the bucket.

But you're never
gonna fill a bucket

if you don't start
with one drop.

Hey, everybody, that's awesome.

Three days, we got
a hell of a lot of work done.

Parker's crew
has hit their deadline

and stripped the next
four acres of the Money Pit

in just three days.

Really happy with
how this system's working.

We just gotta keep it up.

Is it too early
for a beer? Yeah?

It's noon, yeah.

- How's it going, young man?
- Good. How are you?

Good.

- So, how you been?
- Good. Really good. Busy.

Everybody's busy 'cause
we have to get stripped ahead.

I know that we've never
spent money like this before.

You know, we're... we're

- spending it as fast as we can.
- Yeah.

How are you handling that?

- It's just a lot.
- Yeah.

Hopefully we can do, you
know, some decent gold this year.

If we can do,
like, 5,000 ounces,

then I can keep the debt load
down, kind of, in the five million range.

While you were out digging
the dirt looking for gold,

I dug up all the, tailings
from, this gold room.

I ran 'em.

So I was able
to capture something for ya.

There you go, buddy.
Check this out.

Look at that. Cool.
How much do those weigh?

They're close to an ounce.

There's a little
over nine ounces there.

- Really?
- Yeah.

Nice!

Worth $18,000,

Parker's first
Dominion Creek gold.

There you go, man.
That's a start, right?

Yeah, yeah,
that's a start, but...

We need to bring in,
like, ten million bucks.

We do that, what, six hundred
more times, we'll have it.

With all of Tony's heavy
equipment finally at Indian River,

he takes daughter, Monica,
to evaluate the condition

of his dredge.

And determine if they can
get it up and running.

Guarantee.

Yeah.

Tony plans to run a shaker
deck wash plant at Indian.

But if the dredge is capable
of running as well,

it could double his gold haul.

Yeah, there is three flakes.

Beauty.

Yeah.

Now get the thing running so
I can see it actually cleaning it.

Yeah.

There's some chunky stuff
in there, too. You see that?

- Yeah.
- Yeah, I like it.

Hey, man, that's a lot
of gold for two people.

- Yeah, I'm excited about this.
- Yeah.

Well, with what we had
to deal with this week, too,

the loader tire blowing out,
that sucked.

But Parker was actually
pretty good about that.

I'm happy I went to see him.

- Should we weigh it?
- Yeah. Ready?

I'll let you do the honors here.

- All right, let's do this.
- All right.

We've got one, two, four, seven.

Rick's first week of running
delivered 21.2 ounces.

To cover costs, he needs to
hit another 20 ounces this week.

Seventeen, nineteen.



Worth $42,000.

Taking his total to 42 ounces,

allowing Rick
to run another week,

keeping his season alive.

That's not bad.

I mean, it's just
the two of us here.

You know, I knew that that pay
pile does not have a ton of gold in it.

But to get 20 ounces
of gold out of that,

just the two of us,
in, like, what, three days?

Hell yeah.

All we need to do now,
we need to get

some more people in here,
some more equipment.

We'll blast through
that pay pile.

And then, we'll move on
to the next cut.

But, you know, if we can keep
gold coming in like that all year,

I think we'll get
to 1,000 ounces.

Yeah, I'm excited.

- Yep.
- Yay!

Well, what do you say?

- Great week as far as I'm concerned.
- Yeah.

- I'll put this away.
- Awesome.

- Let's get the hell out of here.
- Sweet.