15x03 - Quicksand

[bunniefuu]

I definitely hit
a big snag

from the beginning
of the season

with all this water
license nonsense.

So water licensing
doesn't go through.

That's pretty much
the end of Rally mining.

You know this ground
will be, will be no more.

After discovering
he could only have

one more year
to mine on his claim,

Rick Ness is taking
the bull by the horns.

We gotta get as much
gold as we can this season,

so that no matter where,
wherever the cards may fall,

we're in the best position
we can be to deal with it.

What are we gonna do?
We gotta go for it.

He's all in on
a mission to uncover,

once and for all,

what's at the
bottom of Rally Valley.

If it lives up to its promise,

Rick could make
a life-changing score.

The real good news
is this water is
out of Rally Valley.

I mean, that has
been a pain in our asses,

but everybody pulled together,

and we really move that
out of there fast.

Today, right now,
it's gonna be a good day.

Rally Valley's open.
We're gonna go down there

and start pulling some of the
richest pay we've ever run.

So what else could there
be better than that? You know?

Rick's leading
the charge

to haul pay and
build a stockpile

so they can start sluicing.

That's what we're ridin'.

Wait, wait.
What the [bleep] is going on?

This is not good.

This looks...

Oh [bleep]!

What the [bleep] am I
supposed to do with that?

The whole [bleeping] cut's
flooded with silky,
muddy,

me.

That look like it's
got gold in it?

I don't think so.

We're gonna have
to move it all

before we get
back to the pay.

For the last
two weeks, Rick's crew

have been draining
the pool of water

at the bottom of the 190-foot
deep Rally Valley cut.

But falling dirt from
the high, unstable walls

has mixed into
the leftover water,

creating a thick layer
of soupy gloop,

stopping Rick
from getting to the

gold-rich pay
layer underneath.

Rick's only option...

dig out the silty slop

and truck it
to a waste site.

We're in a
deep [bleep] hole,

and getting it out
of here is painful.

Need to get my
excavator up top there

so I can pull some of this
off of there.

Load it in the truck
and get a solid spot.

It's pretty,
pretty [bleep] soft here.

I don't want to
run this excavator

into something
like this,

where I don't know
where the [bleep] bottom is.

I don't, I just don't like it.

What the [bleep]?

And the more I move
the machine,

the worse it's
seeming to get. So...

Buzz, you got a copy?

Why don't you
meet me down at Rally Valley?

We got a problem
down here.

Foreman Buzz Lego
brings in the 700 excavator

to pull the 460
from the quagmire.

The problem is not
knowing right here.

If I knew the bottom was,
in, you know, a foot,

two foot, three foot,
four foot,

I'd just go ahead
and [bleep] shove down.

You know, I would at least
have this thing stable,

and I could crab walk
it out of here.

I'm gonna go grab
that real big, heavy chain.

He doesn't want
to lift up right now

because he's stable
where he's at. So...

I don't have a
whole lot of experience

pulling excavators
out of places,

usually I'm using
an excavator to pull a truck.

Sounds good in my head.
We'll see how it goes.

One wrong move,

and the 51-ton machine

could be lost
in the quicksand.

Keep going.

Oh, [bleep].

It's unstable a lot

farther up
than I thought.

It just kept wanting to sink.

We can't spend weeks
trucking that out of here.

There's no way I'm getting
trucks in the back of the cut,

so I don't know what
the hell I'm gonna do now.

I'm gonna have to
come up with another plan.

There's got to be another way.

This spring's been in
a bit of a [bleep] fight,

you know, we've dived
into this property

just headfirst and
in a massive way

and are spending, you know,

way more money
than we ever have.

One hundred miles
from the Keno Mountains.

Two weeks into the season,

29-year-old Parker Schnabel

is in an unfamiliar situation.

Gunning for 10,000 oz of gold

worth $25,000,000,

he's only brought in 5.6 oz,

and has no
wash plants running.

We don't really know...

We know what we're doing, but
we don't know this property,

you know, a rough line
of like, "Here's where

it's profitable for us",
where the pay really starts.

Parker's bet
everything

on starting the season

opening his 20-acre Long Cut,

but the cut has
proven unpredictable.

So arguably...

in some ways, we don't
know what we're doing.

Roxanne is gonna fire up this
week, which will be good

and hopefully
we'll be well on our way

to a big old
record breaking season.

I know we're going
to break records

in the cost department.

So hopefully we'll break

some records in the
gold department as well.

Parker's crew have
stockpiled pay dirt

from the frozen
Long Cut's ditches.

And will finally get a read

on how good the gold is.

You know, once the
wash plants stabilized,

the pads happy,
our water systems happy.

We really just need
to get Roxanne up and running.

This has certainly
been quite the undertaking

here to get us to this point.

But you know, we've got
some thawed paydirt.

Now it's all about
getting that dirt

through this
wash plant.

And hopefully when
it's all said and done,

there's a big old
pan of gold

to show for
all this hard work.

- How's it going?
- Not bad.
How are you?

- All right.
- I'm just worried
about this setup.

Both running out of water.
And...

This thing falling
off the bank. So...

as long as there's
a couple of people here

to watch those things,

and neither one
of them is good.

Yeah, for sure.

Don't run
out of water.

And don't let the
plant fall off the hill.

- Yeah.
- Do your thing.

The Long Cut...
This is the moneymaker.

This is what we're
after right here.

So,
let's go get her fired up.

Parker's 10-inch
pump can shift

3000 gallons of water
per minute

through Roxanne,
which drains away

from the pad via
a makeshift trough.

Here comes the water.

All right!

That's what
we want here.

As you can see now,
that water is falling

right into the trap.

It's washing out
the way we want it.

Let's do it.

The bank will be
fine.

You can quote me later.

It's time for Roxanne
to turn on that
red light here.

Wash some rocks.

Let's go, baby.

We're all
super excited.

We're about to really start
the season and get her going.

What's going on?

The wash plant pad
is washing away.

VOLVO

The whole tray doesn't
seem to be catching

much of the water, and it's
pouring over the edge.

The discharged
water from the plant

is pouring over
the top of the tray

and eating away
at Roxanne's pad,

putting it
at risk of collapse.

My biggest fear
is the sluice runs

falling off the pad

and then the wash plant
following.

Tyson tries to
shore up the bank

with rocks and old tires.

We're gonna have to
shut the plant down.

Oi!

Parker's itching
to get the gold coming in,

and right now we're trying
our best to do that for him.

But it's just one problem
after another, it seems.

Parker Schnabel's
crew have shut down

wash plant, Roxanne.

After a torrent
of overflowing

water started to
wash away its pad.

You can see where
the water is hitting our tray.

It's not landing in the tray.

It's landing short of it,

which is why all this water
is going out around the back.

So, we've got
to get the tray closer.

And that's gonna
allow it to do its job

and get the water
away from us here.

Probably need to pull
the whole tray out, though.

Pull it all out.

Clean all this.

Set it.
Just a little bit of dirt

to hold it.
We'll re-bed that.

Obviously, it's time we
could be sluicing here,

and unfortunately we are not.

Tyson must
first move

the 30-foot-long excess

water tray out of the way

and re-dig the ditch
that it sits in.

Then, reposition the tray

back in the ditch,

directly under the sluices.

If positioned correctly,

it will catch the excess water

and channel it safely
away from the pad.

Yeah,
that'll be good there.

It's just going to take a
little bit of adjustment here.

If we can just lose
a little bit of this,

that's where it was
hanging up on last time.

Yeah, just that little
point right there.

Is it gonna
be sitting on that

pile of dirt
I put there now?

Just got to get
this perfect here.

Right in place.
Right in the money.

Right in the butter zone.

We got everything
moved around,

adjusted here.
We're gonna fire

the water back up
and give it a check.

Let's do it.

Oh, yeah, we got
some water now.

Hopefully, second
time's the charm here.

Come on, baby. She heavy.

That's looking better.

That water's falling
right into the drain.

It's washing out
the way we want it.

What do you think?
Time to wash some rocks?

Yeah, let's do it, man.

Let's throw some dirt at it.

Sounds good.

Tony Beets, has put
the pedal to the metal,

determined to
turn around his fortunes

and haul the family
business back on track,

after last year's
season of chaos.

In just two weeks,
Tony's already banked

774 oz of gold,

worth $1700,000.

Tony's given
youngest son, Mike,

and daughter Monica,

the job of getting
a third plant

up and running
on Paradise Hill.

Now without eldest son Kevin,

who's left to run
his own claim,

Tony's counting
on his nephew,

27-year-old cousin, Mike,

to run his
Indian River operation.

And then there's always
someone keeping an eye
on things.

To keep up momentum

and hit Tony's


cousin Mike's
two wash plants

need to bring in a total

of at least 200 oz a week.

Tony put me in charge.

So that means there's
a little bit more

pressure on my
shoulders this season.

Which I don't mind.

I hope I do a good job
and don't disappoint Tony.

You know, we hope
it will be better than

what we did last year.

Tony's shaker deck
has been running

gold-rich pay nonstop

for the last two weeks,

manned by veteran Beets
crew member Len Hoekstra.

That's not good.

Tony, do you have a copy?

All the parts coming apart.

Never seen this before.

All the
bolts came out.

All the holes are ripped out

and this screen just fell off.

All the welding broke.

It's pretty much
destroying itself.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The shaker deck
shakes pay dirt

through two screens

that filter out
worthless rocks and dirt.

And allow gold to settle

in the sluice runs
at the bottom.

The bearings, holding the
rollers beneath the deck,

keeping the vibrations
in check

have worn through.

Without them,

the 30-year-old
shaker deck is shaking

more violently
and tearing itself apart.

The entire deck
needs rebuilding.

A massive job that
will take days to complete.

With the shaker deck
out of action,

it's down to Tony's only
running wash plant,

Sluice-A-Lot, to keep
the operation

on a roll
and deliver 200 oz.

Aww.

Eric Morel feeds
Sluice-A-Lot pay,

while in the loader,

his girlfriend
and new recruit,

Enyez VJ,
restocks the pay pile

and clears the
mounting fine tailings

from the foot
of the sluice runs.

Go ahead.

Yeah, I'll be there
in a couple of minutes.

Apparently, the fine tailings
are piling up by the sluice

runs of Sluice-A-Lot,
and we can't have that.

The sluice runs
don't do their job right,

then we're
washing away gold,

and we don't want
to lose gold.

Tony, do you copy?
Tony, it's very bad.

Normally, the plant
is set high on a pad

and the fine tailings
flush out the sluice runs,

dropping away from the plant.

But in his rush
to jump start his season,

Tony set the plant
up at ground level,

allowing the tailings
to pile up quicker,

blanketing the sluice runs

and preventing Sluice-A-Lot
from catching gold.

Tony's gone
from two wash plants running
to none.

And with no gold coming in,

his flying start,

has screeched to a halt.

Right now,

all the paydirt in
Rally Valley is

covered in slop.

One hundred
miles away

in the mountains
above Keno,

Rick Ness is still no closer

to getting on the gold.

He needs to get rid of
a thick layer of sloppy gloop

stopping him from
getting to the treasure

at the bottom
of Rally Valley.

It's just a [bleeping] mess

and you know, I'm trying
to come up with new ideas.

There's something I saw poking

out of the woods
on the property here.

It might work. It might not.

I'm not sure, but I'm just
gonna check it out.

Yeah, I mean, I've driven
past this thing
a million [bleep] times.

I've seen it poking out
of the woods here.

I knew what it was.
Knew it was a monitor.

I never really had much,
much use for one.

If we have everything
to make this work,
this will be

a hell of a lot more efficient
than running trucks
down there.

Hey, Ryan,
you got a copy?

Come and meet me down
by-- on the side of the road.

We're going to w*r, boys.

It looks like it.

What's your plan here?

A six inch monitor.
What do you think about that?

Yeah.

You know what I mean?
It's a six inch neck down

to what probably looks like
about three inches
on the end of that cannon.

That's gonna provide
a hell of a lot of pressure.
If we can get a pump,

hooked up to this thing
and get the water
coming out of this,

that I know it'll handle.

I mean, I think this will wash
that silt right towards
our trash pump.

- Do you know when
the last time it was used?
- This thing?

- I mean, by the looks--
- I think those trees
have grown up around it.

Yeah, I mean, honestly,
it could have been sitting
there for the last 40 years.

We're gonna need
a hell of a lot of hose.

And a six inch pump.

Bailey and Kyle have searched
high and low and found us
a ton of six-inch clay flat,

and we just found this pump
in the container.



It's a 1970s pump.

We will be sucking water
out of the river.

It will go into
this pump here.

We plan on sh**ting it
all the way down
into Rally Valley,

to get to the monitor,

use the pressure
from the monitor
to break apart the silt.

The major thing
with this pump
is going to be pressure.

We've got about
a 50-60 foot hill
to climb right in front of us,

and then we've got probably
another...

Eight hundred feet
across the flat,

and then we've got probably
another 200 feet at an angle
down into Rally Valley.

So, we're going to be asking
every little thing
that this pump can give.

I don't think
it'll work. I don't think
it's powerful enough,

but Rick's proved me
wrong before.

Rick plans to hook
the old monitor
up to the six inch pump

and blast the silt
with pressurized water,

breaking it apart
and diluting the slop,

so it can be washed
towards the waste pump

and sucked out of the cut.

The last step here,
brought the monitor
down there.

Hook the last line up to it,

and then it's just
point and sh**t.

Put it there. Gonna try
to get everything
in front of it

washed to our pump.

You ready to fire
that thing up?

Pump's running.
Here comes the water now.

Water's at the top
of the hill.

I think we're using
every bit of power
this pump has.

It's chugging pretty good.

- Oh, oh, oh.
- Is that is that water?

Copy.

Oh,

Rick down at the bottom
just gave us a heads up

to shut it off immediately.

So, I'm gonna see
what happened.

What happened?

The center swivel
of that thing.

I think it just needs
to be tightened,
it was all pouring out of it.

That's all she got, dude,
it almost died
pushing up that hill.

Looks like the swivel
on the monitor.

There is a gasket in there.

That swivel
allows that monitor
to move all over the place

to be able to control
where you're sh**ting
the water.

Right now, it's just
pouring water out of it.

So we're losing pressure
out of the nozzle,
so they're going to go down.

Try to tighten up some bolts,
Hopefully, we don't need
to find a gasket,

hopefully some stuff
just tightens up.

We'll fire back up
and we'll be back on track.

Fire the thing back up.
- Yep.

See if we actually
have enough pressure.

If it works,
Rick could get down to pay

by the end of the day.

Great. Yeah,
let's do it again.

Okay, everybody ready
for round two?

All right,
we're building pressure.

Here it comes.

Yes, it's working so good!

Well, no call's a good call
so far.

Rick's monitor
is diluting the silty gloop,

which can now be sucked
out of the cut
through the trash pump.

I think we could use
a little more pressure.

But I'm happy.
All right, let's get
the [bleep] out of here.

One hundred miles
west of Keno,
chasing a 200-ounce week,

Tony's gone from
two working wash plants

to none.

His shaker deck
lies in pieces.

And Sluice-A-Lot has run
out of room for tailings.

If you don't set it up
quite right

the fine tailings
will pile up.

So I got to fix it.

We are going
to move this plant.

We're setting it up
a little higher
than it is now,

and hopefully this will fix
the fine tailing problem

we keep having.

Sluice-A-Lot
is sitting at ground level,

and fine waste tailings
from the sluices
have piled up,

blocking the wash plant
sluice runs.

Cousin Mike's fix?
Drag the 45-ton plant,

one mile along a thin,
treacherous road

running between Indian River
and the Comeback Cut.

To a new higher pad
with more room

for waste tailings.

Until the wash plant's moved,

Tony has no gold coming in.

Rookie foreman, cousin Mike,

is now in a race
to get it to the new pad.

Well, this wash plant
is pretty new.

We can't have anything
happen to it.

You've got to
pay attention here
because it's sliding sideways.

Yeah. I just gotta keep
an eye on it,

that the trees won't
up the sluice run.

Yeah, so if I hit
anything major
with the sluice runs,

it will bend the whole thing
out of shape,

or worse, rip it off,
destroy it.

Don't break it.

Well, yeah,
it's a lot of trees.

That's why I want to check.

I'm not too happy
with the trees,
but it's all we have.

So, keep going.

At Indian River,

Tony's nephew, cousin Mike,
is moving Sluice-A-Lot
to a new pad

in an attempt
to get back on the gold.

Mike must maneuver
the 30-foot-wide wash plant

along a narrow road
with a dangerous drop

into the cut on one side
and the Indian River
to the other.

If we had
the whole wash plant
slide in there, then,

that would
the whole season up
right there.

It was a little bit
too tight there.

Made it through.

It's all good to go,
so we'll fire up the plant.

That works great.

Tony's finally back
in the running to hit

his 200-ounce weekly goal.

This cut is the only thing
making any money,

and there's a lot of money
getting spent.

We're just trying to fight
and get enough thaw every day

to keep the plant running,
so it's just a challenge
for everybody.

At Parker Schnabel's Long Cut,

Roxanne is finally
on the gold,

sluicing ditch pay dirt.

Now, we're running
Roxanne back up to snuff.

Parker wanted us
running it faster,

so that's what we're doing.

We still don't have any water
on the far run.

Get up
on that platform

and see what's going
on in the center.

So like,
there's tons of

All the nozzles
are getting clogged up.

Mitch and Tyson
have spotted sticks
and other materials.

Shut it down.

Choking the supply
of water to the plant.

We need to go down,
pull our suction basket
and see what's going on here.

Oh yeah, look at that.

You can see
all the sediment on this.

You can see everything
on the outside.

It does have some exposed,
but it created enough suction

that it pulled the one
screen in, on this side.

That's why all these sticks
are now in our wash plant.

Thick mud
in the water
has caused a section

of the suction basket
to implode,

allowing sediment
and junk from the pond,

to be sent to the plant,

where it's clogged
the spray bars.

We've got to get this
cleaned up.

We got to get this
pulled back out,
welded up, put in place,

and then we got to get
our wash plant cleaned out.

What the hell was that?

For [bleep] sakes, man.

On top of everything,
a loader operator

hits the radial stacker
that feeds the plant.

Yo.

Our radial stacker
just got run into.

- By what?
- A loader.

And one of the radial tires
exploded.

No way.

Way.

Couldn't make this [bleep] up

if I tried, I'm telling you

and it just...
It almost [bleep] dropped.

Hit the pre wash.
That's why it didn't flip.

- Wicked.
- Right?

We don't have
any spare of those.
That's sure

Come on, Jarv.

Let's go, come on.

It's early in the season here,
and people are not
on their A game yet.

Mitch and Tyson
now have to
fix the suction basket,

the spray bars
and the radial stacker

before Roxanne
can get back on the gold.

Everybody wants to be
a gold miner until it's time
to do gold mining [bleep].

Whoo!

Look at that!

As soon as that's welded up,
we'll get this thing back
in the water.

We've lost so much time
already this season,

and we're falling
further behind.

Suction basket
back in the water,

next, the spray bars.

- Hey, Mitch,
- How's it going, buddy?

Now, what we're gonna do,
is remove these fittings.

We're gonna pull
these spray bars out.

We're gonna get all
the big stuff out of here,

so that we can get
back up and running

and have full water flow.

Oh, yeah.
Look at all that stuff
down there.

Finally, the radial stacker.

This tire's shot
and this one's almost
got eaten.

It looks like she came in,
hit it and then backed out
and tore this.

Oh yeah, what we can do here,

because we can jack it up
high enough.

That we can just take
the tires right off
and block it underneath.

With no replacement
tires on site,

they improvise,
using wooden blocks

to level up the stacker.

Good. Hopefully nothing else
was [bleep] on this thing

when they hit it
with the loader.

We back level?

All right. Here we go.

Let me know
when you want water.

Send it.

We were down
for almost three hours.

It's about time we fired
this thing back up.

Here's the water,
time to add some dirt.

Roxanne's red light
is back to green.

And the team are closer
to seeing what kind of gold
the Long Cut holds.

Right now, everything's doing
what it should here.

Plant's looking all right.

We've got good flow
across everything.

We've got the right amount
of water flow,
so, let's keep her going.

Clean up time.

At Dominion Creek...

Parker's crew, are finally
on Roxanne's first cleanup

of the Long Cut.

I like your gloves, Tatiana.

They're for reaching in cows.

So this is one of the two
best cleanups of the year.

It's the first clean up.

The other best one's
the last cleanup.

We got Roxanne set up
for the first time this year,

all new pad.

We'll get her cleaned up
and start our season.

Hopefully, it will be
a first good, clean up.

I just washed away
six feet of muck in the back,

six feet of muck in the front,

just cutting up all the silt
and pumping it
right out of the valley.

At Duncan Creek,

Rick's crew have
been monitoring for 24 hours.

And are finally rid
of the thick soup,

sitting on top
of the gold rich pay layer.

As far as I'm concerned,
it's going really well.

Now, it's time to get
to the good stuff.
Get to the gold.

Right now, all we've been
doing is spending money,

and I need some
coming back in.

I can't wait to see
that freaking 750
and them rock trucks

to get down here
to give me a hand
getting pay out here again.

I figured
I'd just jump in the truck.

Just get in where I fit in.

All that [bleep] gone
out of Rally Valley.

There's nothing left
in Rally Valley right now
but pay dirt.

Nothing left but gold.

Aah!

We're gonna start hauling
some pay out, so...

It's finally
an exciting moment.
We're doing something.

We're gonna be
straight hauling pay
for the rest of the day,

and hopefully,
the rest of the week.

Rick is finally
back to stockpiling
Rally Valley's

gold-rich pay dirt
and is one step closer

to finding out if he can
deliver his 1500-ounce goal.

You know, we've been
on a bit of a holding pattern.

There's that little feeling
like, uh, are we doing
the right thing?

Blah, blah.
But now I know we are.

You know, we're back.

All the silt's
got out of there.
We're trucking pay.

We're just about ready to fire
Monster Red back up.

We're in good shape.

We're in good shape.

Hello!

Hi.

With Paradise Hill
producing no gold,

the Beets family gather
for a gold weigh,

at Indian River.

Funny, she said
the same thing at the hill.

My side, Mike, what do I say
when he drives up?

- Ah,
- He's here again.

It's really hard to manage
to get on everybody's nerves.

So, how is Mike doing here?

That doesn't mean
you're scared?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, seeing as they've just
talked such nice things
about you,

should we weigh up
the fruits of your labor?

- Sure, let's see how well
I actually did.
- Fruits of your labor, eh?

So this is for three days
sluicing with Sluice-A-Lot, right?

To be on track
for Tony's 5000 ounce
season goal,

cousin Mike needs to deliver


Twenty.

Thirty, forty.

Fifty.

Sixty.



Worth over $188,000.

Bringing the season total
to 849 ounces.

Sluice-A-lot
didn't sluice a lot.

No, Sluice-A-Lot definitely
didn't sluice a lot.

Yep.

Well, if...

Yeah.

Okay.

I know.

Yeah, man.
Nice to have Roxanne
back up and running, finally.

Yeah. Yeah.

About time
we get to sluicing, huh?

Yeah, it took us a bit
to get there,
but we're finally there.

Parker's about to find out

if his bet
on opening the Long Cut first

this season will pay off.

If the gold doesn't live up
to expectations,

his plans for the season,

and his quest
for 10,000 ounces
could fall apart.

You think you'd be able
to keep up with that plant?

Man, it's hungry, like,

you know, Big Red
can get through
some material but...

Roxanne is definitely
a very hungry wash plant.

Hopefully,
we can keep it running.

Bank started
washing away a bit there.

Yeah,
that was a little scary
for a couple of minutes.

A little mad scramble.

Well, how did we do Doumitt?
Did we get anything?
Are we rich?

Man, you're holding that
like there ain't a lot in it.

Or he got strong
over the winter.

You ready, Mitch?

To have any hope
of hitting his target,

Parker needs
over 475 ounces a week.

Fifteen, 20, 25, 28...



That's it.

- That's all of it?
- That's it.

That's all we get
out of that little beast.

Worth just over $77,000.

We did a lot more sluicing
than what's sitting there.

Yeah.

Well, you can't get
to 10,000 without getting
to 30 first.

Oh,
Don't say that number
around me.

I expect a bit
of calibration problems
on this ground,

of like, our process,

and figuring out
the most efficient way
of doing things, right?

Like, I expect those problems.

Well, shall we go see
if we can find
a little bit more?

Yeah, I'm like, really hoping
that this is not gonna be...

A theme.

You know, and get in
some good material,
it can turn around.

It has to turn around, really.

Yeah, it's not ideal.

Gotta go broke,
if we keep doing this.

Thanks, guys.
Thanks for everything
out there.

We're still in the start
up process of this property.