15x04 - The Disappearing Pay Layer

[bunniefuu]

[Parker] We're off to a bit
of a rocky start.

There's a lot of frozen pay,
lot of confusing gravel.

It's gonna be
a steep learning curve.

[narrator] Gold miner
Parker Schnabel's plans

for a record-breaking season
are in trouble.

Three weeks in,
he's mined just 36 ounces
of his 10,000-ounce target.

[Parker] I mean,
the numbers are terrible.

That's a bit scary.

Long road to 10,000.

Most of the company
is just stripping
at the bridge cut.

It's gonna be
a lot of stripping there.

Lots of work to do,
not a whole lot of time
to do it in.

[narrator] To catch up,
Parker has split his crew.

Half for stripping
the bridge cut,

but won't be down
to pay dirt for weeks.

The other half are working
the long cut,

which has delivered
problem after problem.

Parker's only source
of pay dirt being run through
wash plant Roxanne

is from the ditches
surrounding the long cut,

and that's about to run out.

Mitch is hopefully gonna
get a handle on the long cut

and then just start
hammering payout.

We have a lot of ounces
due every week,

and we've got
a lot of bills to pay.

So we'll give her
the old college try.

Come on.

So the big battle
of the long cut here
is we gotta chase the pay.

But as you can see here,
the ground's still frozen.

[narrator] Mitch has stripped
4 acres of the long cut
down to frozen pay,

which needs to thaw
before it can be sluiced.

And now,
there's another problem.

As I'm working my way up here,
we started losing pay dirt.

Now what I'm seeing
is a bunch of material

that looks like it needs
to be going to a waste site.

And so it's really tough
to tell exactly where
we're at in this cut.

[narrator] Mitch has uncovered
4 acres of frozen pay
in the 20-acre long cut,

but he's now hit overburden
that shouldn't be there.

Mitch believes
the gold pay layer

has dropped
in the rest of the cut,

sinking lower
as the heavy gold settles
on the Earth's bedrock.

If the pay layer
has dropped too deep,

the frozen dirt won't fall
in time to mine this season.

A disaster for Parker.

Are we 25 feet off?
Are we 15 feet off?

And really, we need
to make sure that we have,
you know,

absolutely no more
than about 15 feet
of waste left,

because if it's thicker
than that,

it's just not gonna
thaw in time.

[Parker] What
are you thinking?

We had really
good-looking material
and we had bedrock.

But further we work
our way upstream,

we've lost pay,
we've lost bedrock.

And the problem is
everything is frozen up here,

so I'm trying to dig down
to see where we're at
and I can't get down.

So we might be 8 inches,
we might be 18 feet.

We could be
a long ways away here.

[bleep] That's not good.

And you can't dig any holes
to find anything else...

[Mitch] And I can't
dig any holes.

[Parker] Okay,
so the best thing to do

is just have the driller
come in here and just drill
a couple holes.

[Mitch] Dude,
that'd be awesome.

Because then you'll know
exactly where you're at.

'Cause if there's
we have problems.

If there's like 15 or 10,
then we're okay.

Well, we need
some X-ray vision here,
and that's gonna be it.

[narrator] At the cost
of $20,000 a day,

Parker calls in
the sonic drill

to test how deep
the long cut's pay layer is.

[Parker] Some of this gravel
doesn't thaw very fast,

and if it's like 20 feet
or more that we have to thaw,

it's very difficult.

Sometimes you have to spend
some money, like drilling
or whatever, to be efficient.

[Mitch] It'd be nice to dig
a hole through this,

but pretty tough
when it's all frozen.

But that drill
doesn't have any trouble
getting through it.

[Tyson] Yeah, definitely.

Here comes
the first sample now.

Hopefully that's
bedrock right there.
I mean, that would be awesome.

[narrator] If the drilling
reveals the pay is more
than 20 feet down,

it may not thaw in time
to be sluiced this season.

[Mitch] Well, how'd we do?

The deepest was 16.5 feet.

-That was the deepest?
-[Layton] Deepest.

So from 15 was the shallowest
to 16.5.

-Oh, wow.
So very consistent then.
-[Layton] Yeah.

[Parker] What did you find?

[Mitch] 15 foot to bedrock.

Oh, money! 15 feet.
[bleep] yeah.

If it's 15 feet the whole way,
that's good.

I was really worried
it was gonna be 20 or 25.

[narrator] With the depth
of pay layer located,

Mitch can get back to work,
clearing the 15 foot of waste

on top of the pay
in the long cut.

You know, there's still
a lot of work

that needs to happen
out here in the long cut.

And you know,
right now we know

there's a lot of material
that's got to get out
of this cut.

It is doable
to get it mined this season,

but we've got to do things
right here.

So we're down,
but we're not out.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] 10 miles
southwest at Indian River,

King of the Klondike,
Tony Beets,
has hit the ground running,

banking a record
849 ounces of gold
in just three weeks.

[Tony speaking]

Chelsea, how much
pay dirt you got up there?

Still got a pretty good
mountain here,

and the trucks
are still hauling to me.

[narrator] Off limits
for years,

Tony's Indian River claim

offers some of the most
consistent gold yields
in the Klondike.

But right now, he only has
one plant banking gold

from the comeback cut,
Sluice-a-lot.

To keep up momentum,
he wants his second
wash plant,

the Shaker Deck,
back up and running

to chew through
as much ground as possible.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Last week,
Tony's two-plant plan
hit a stumbling block

when his 30-year-old
Shaker Deck shook itself
to pieces.

[Tony speaking]

Haul her down.

[narrator] Tony's plan?
Remove the 7 ton
broken screen deck,

then armor up
the new screen deck
with steel plates.

Next, haul the 50-ton plant
200 feet to a new pay pile,

then place the new
reinforced screen deck
back on the plant

and finally add a conveyor
ready for fire up.

[Michael] So we're getting rid
of the whole shaker deck here

'cause we have a brand new one
sitting in the yard.

[narrator] Tony tasks
his nephew, Cousin Mike,

to get the Shaker Deck running
by the end of the week.

First up, remove the old
broken screen deck.

That's one job done.
On to the next one.

[narrator] Next, Tony's crew
reinforce the new screen deck
and hopper with steel plates.

Tony changed the plan
that we put a steel plate


the new polydeck,

and then we can put it
on the Shaker Deck plant,

and then we got
two plants going, hopefully.

That's the goal.

[narrator] Before fitting
the new screen,

Cousin Mike hauls the plant
200 feet to the other side
of the pay pile.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] This year,
with eldest son Kevin

no longer working
for the family business,

Tony's promoted Cousin Mike
to Indian River Foreman.

So Kevin is not here,
that makes a spot for me.

Now I got this responsibility.
I hope I'll do a good job
this year.

For me, it's a big challenge.

And yeah, if Kevin
would have been here,

maybe I wouldn't have
that opportunity.

[Tony speaking]

[Michael] All right.

Conveyor belt showed up
from Paradise Hill.

'Cause that's got to go
in front of the plant.

Darren, do you copy? Stop it.

Stop. Darren, stop it.

I don't think
it hurt anything, but...

[Michael] We'll see.

Tony, do you copy? Tony?

[Tony speaking]

[Michael] Could you come
to the screen deck?

We have some damage here.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] At Indian River,
the conveyor has smashed
into the hopper feeder

on rookie foreman
Cousin Mike's watch.

[Michael] We got
some damage here on the end
I have to weld.

So yeah,
that will slow us down
a couple of hours.

[Michael] And I'm the only
welder here right now.

Okay.

So now
they are [bleep] around.

I just wanna make a plan,
stick to the plan,
and get it done.

[Tony speaking]

Let's do the thing,
chicken wings.

[narrator] 3 miles east
at Scribner Creek,

after 22 years
of working for Tony,

Kevin Beets is now
his own mine boss.

Hi, everybody.

[narrator] Today,
he and partner, Faith,

are calling their
first crew meeting
with their new recruits.

So we're starting a new mine,

and I'm really hoping
to run it a little bit
different

than what we've had
to deal with in the past.

You don't gotta like it,
but I really don't want you
to [bleep] dread it.

And we have Brennan
who will be overseeing
the cut.

And Hunter and Chase,
you guys will be running
the rock truck.

And Matt, you'll be running
the excavator,
loading the truck.

And if you guys do see
something that looks off,
let me know.

[Faith] We don't have spares,

so it's not like we can
just throw you
in different rock trucks.

So please take care
of your equipment.

Our goal this year
is 1,000 ounces.

A thousand ounces.

All right, well,
we all got [bleep] to do
and dirt to move, so let's go.

[Hunter] I am so excited
to get started mining.

Get to see our piece of land,
get to do some work.

Like, honestly...

I gotta go!
I gotta go do some work.

Go move some dirt.

Roger that, boss.

Exciting.

These are
the first bits of iron
to go down to the cut

to get started on stripping.

So at least we're finally
making progress.

On my way!

Hopefully, I don't get lost.

Joking. [chuckles]

This is what I thought
being a mine boss
would be like.

It's the exact same
as [bleep] Tony's.

I just don't have anybody
I gotta go double check with.

[narrator] Kevin's
tasked the team

with stripping
the first three acres
of his Links cut

down to pay dirt
by the end of the week

using old equipment
he borrowed from Dad Tony.

I was hoping we'd get
a little bit more reliable
equipment.

We've had a lot of delays
and we really can't afford
too many more at this point.

We really need to get sluicing
as soon as possible.

Then we can see some gold.

We have a lot to do
with our first season

with green people,

and, you know, I want to get
as much gold as possible

by the time
the snow starts flying.

[narrator] In charge
of the cut
in the 700 excavator,

Foreman Brennan Ruault.

When that call came in
Kevin and Faith asked

if I would like
to be the foreman.

You know,
it lifted my spirits up.

I wanna move up the ladder,
and they seemed right on board

with offering me
that opportunity.

[narrator] Working
alongside Brennan
in the 480,

Operator Matt Kiefer.

[Matt] We've been trying
to do this for years,

come up and work with Brennan.

He basically gave us
a call and was like,

"Hey, would you
like to come up?"

Yeah, it's just awesome
to be moving dirt again.

Hopefully there's a boatload
of gold underneath this.

[Hunter] Frick yeah,
I'm in the rock truck
working my butt off.

[narrator] Trucking the waste
overburden out of the cut,

gold mining rookie,
Hunter Canning.

[Hunter] Well,
it was a fricking
cool opportunity

that landed in my hands.

When Faith and Kevin
find your TikTok,

and all of a sudden
you're in the Yukon.

And now everybody's like,
"You're crazy, you left
your government job."

But I'm pretty used
to this environment.

I'm building
my house in the woods,
so this is perfect.

My truck is having a hard time
already backing up this.

Man, I can't get up this hill.

I'm spinning out.
Like, I can't get up
this hill whatsoever.

I'm gonna burn it.

Come on, you dirty [bleep].

[bleep] me sideways!

Oh, [bleep].

I think I hear something.

Matt, you got a copy?

Hey, I hear some
air leaking noises

from underneath
the truck here.

My diff lock's not working.

We're gonna
have to call Kevin.

Hopefully it's not
a really bad fix.

[narrator] The diff
or differential lock
locks the axles

so the truck's wheels
turn at the same speed,

improving traction
in muddy conditions.

[Kevin] No,
a lot of this is just
Tony's not fixing it.

So when it finally gets to me
and it grenades,
it's now my problem.

[Hunter] So it's Tony's
sloppy seconds?

Not even sloppy seconds.
[bleep] from the trash.

We have some lines
that have busted,
so it's a nice quick fix.

[narrator] Airlines
send pressurized air
to the diff lock,

switching it on and off.

To engage the diff lock,
Kevin replaces
the broken hose.

[Kevin] Luckily,
this one is a quick fix,

but this is just Tony's
not [bleep] doing [bleep].

So that's not frustrating
in the least.

[Kevin] All right,
when you're ready, Hunter.

[engine starts]

[Matt] Put it
all the way down.

Job is done.

Finito. Back to moving dirt.

[Hunter] Yeah, buddy.

[Kevin] I know
Tony didn't want to give me,
like, his best equipment,

but this is
a little ridiculous.

Not a great start
to my morning.
Not at all.

We've hired the drillers
to know exactly where
bedrock is.

But the first hole
was 15 feet to bedrock,

which is good
in terms of how much waste
we still have in the cut.

[narrator] After finding
the pay layer in the long cut,

Parker's crew is back
to clearing the remaining
16 acres of overburden

to get to pay.

[Mitch] Now after having
the drilling done out here,

it looks like we've got
about 15 to 16 feet
to bedrock,

and that means
that we still have

several feet of waste here
that needs to leave.

[narrator] To speed up
removing the excess
overburden,

Mitch has brought in
the 150-foot-long
super conveyor

to take it out of the cut.

[Mitch] This conveyor
is getting rid of the dirt

as fast as I can scoop it up
and dump it in here.

It is working very well.

Oh, [bleep].

Oh, why are you piling up?

Oh, you gotta be kidding me.

[chuckles nervously]

Hey, Bill, you got a copy?

[Bill] Yeah, go ahead, Mitch.

Hey, man, I need you
to get down here to long cut
as soon as you can.

The excavator conveyor
just broke the hopper.

[Bill] Yeah, 10-4.

[Mitch] Right now,
the dirt from the hopper

can't get on the main belt
to get out of the cut.

And what that means
is this conveyor is not moving
any more dirt right now, so...

It was going good
till it wasn't.

[Bill] Let's have a look here
and see what we can find.

[narrator] At Dominion Creek,
Parker's super conveyor
is broken,

bringing his plan
to get the long cut's
remaining 16 acres down to pay

to a standstill.

So, motor's intact,

but holy [bleep].

It snapped
the shaft right off. Wow.

It's been through some abuse.

Yeah, the sprockets
are cooked as well.

You can see now
it's a lot bigger job.

Which is a no bueno
rubber ducky.

Well, we may as well
get right at it, 'cause I know
they need this thing.

Whoo!

[narrator] The custom built
super conveyor's hopper belt
is turned by a drive shaft.

As the driveshaft rotates,
it turns the sprockets,

which connect to the chains
that drive the motion
of the belt

inside the hopper feeder.

The drive shaft has snapped,

which has cracked
both of the sprockets

and disengaged
one of the chains.

Bill must replace
the broken shaft,

fit new
perfectly-aligned sprockets
and reconnect the chains.34

Now, it's shaft time.

Slide it in.

Okay. Just tap your coupler
where the shaft is going in.

[Liam] Okay.

Harder.

[Liam] There you go.

[Bill] How does that look?
Pretty good?

[Liam] Looks real good.

[Bill] We'll put
our sprockets on.

If I don't get this
exact center,

the chain
is gonna run crooked.

We're gonna end up
breaking another shaft
or something else.

It's all riding on, uh,
me getting this right here.

So, Liam, I'm gonna run
this tape across.

[Liam] Yup.

And you should be able to put
the inside of your sprocket
right up against my tape.

[Liam] I'm ready.
Where do you like it?

Right there.

We are bang on.

[Liam] Wow. Lock it.

[Bill] We'll take that win.

And let's get
this chain in here.

[narrator] Bill and Liam
reattach the chain

that connects
the drive shaft to the belt.

[Bill]
I think we've got to go
one over, one under.

Oh, gentlemen.

Hey. How are you doing?

[Parker] Nice, Liam.

Butterfingers.

I have that effect
on some people.

-Everything was so tight.
-What happened?

[Bill] The shaft
snapped right off.

[Parker] Oof.

[Bill] So we put
a new shaft in.

Dude, those things
have some power, huh?

-[Bill] Yeah.
-That's crazy.

-[Bill] We just gotta get
this little bit.
-[Parker] Right.

We need this thing
in the pit,

so thank you guys
for doing this.

-[Liam] No worries.
-[Bill] Oh, yeah.

Damn!

[Bill] Let's fire
this [bleep] up.

[engine whirring]

Here we go.
Try it out.

Oh, look at that.

It's working!

Yeah!

[Liam] Wow,
look at the roll on that.

[Bill] Look at it go.

That's a thing of beauty
right there.

[narrator] After six hours,
the super conveyor is back,

removing
the long cut's overburden.

[Mitch] That was
definitely a big break there
on that super conveyor.

And I'm glad Bill's got her
back up and going.

That means we can finally
get the rest of this cut
down to pay here.

And that's
a damn good feeling

after all the work
that's gone into it.

A gorgeous day in the Yukon.

[narrator]
Ten miles south,
at Indian River,

Tony Beets' wash plant
Sluice-a-lot is running
full throttle.

While rookie foreman
Cousin Mike races to fix

Tony's second wash plant,
the Shaker Deck.

[Michael] The truck driver,
he drove the conveyor belt

into the feeder
that was sitting there.

So, uh,
that wasn't very good.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
Repairs to the Shaker's
hopper feeder complete,

Cousin Mike
now needs to install

the new reinforced
screen deck,

followed by
the spray bar deck,

and finally, the conveyors.

[narrator]
Youngest son, Mike,

is Tony's
heavy-equipment specialist.

-[Mike] Hey, cousin.
-Favorite cousin.

-How's it going?
-[Mike] Good. Yourself?

[Michael]
Yeah, not too bad.

Trying to figure out
how to put the Shaker
back together.

[Mike]
It's generally pretty easy

-once you get
the [bleep] on the springs.
-[Michael] Yeah.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Mike lowers
the 30-foot-long screen deck
onto eight springs.

[Tony speaking]

[Tony straining]

[Tony speaking]

[Tony straining]

-That way?
-[Tony speaking]

[narrator] The deck won't
slot on to the springs.

[Tony speaking]

[Michael] That's one.

-Yeah, we're in.
-[Tony speaking]

[narrator] After two days
of moving equipment,

fixes and reassembling
the Shaker Deck,

Cousin Mike is finally ready
to fire up the second plant.

[Michael] All right.

Now, let's see
if everything works.

Shaker Deck runs very smooth.

The belt conveyor
seems to work fine.

It looks good enough
to run some dirt on it.

-[Ruby] Good?
-Yeah.

Okay, open it up.

[Michael] Let's see
what she does now.

[Ruby] It's coming.

[Michael] Oh, I don't see
any water yet.

[water gushing]

[Michael] There's our water.

[Ruby] Michael.

Michael,
you gotta slow it down.

What the hell is going on?

[Michael]
I have to have a look
at what the water is doing.

Shut it off.
Shut the plant off.

[Michael] Shut it off.
Shut the plant off.

[narrator] At Indian River,
Tony's push to get
two plants running...

...is not going to plan.

[Tony speaking]

[Michael] Uh, we weld
the one-inch thick plate
of steel in there.

The water was hitting
the plate of steel,

so water everywhere.

There has to be some welding.

But I'm the only welder
right now,

and I have lots
of things to do beside it.

[Tony speaking]

[Michael] Yeah.

[narrator] The steel plates
Tony had his crew
weld on the plant

are diverting the water

before it can wash
the gold from the dirt,

rendering the plant useless
until Cousin Mike can fix it.

I've been doing
all kinds of things,

but the plant
is still not going.

Starting to get pissed off.

Gold mining is just,
uh, right up my alley.

I like it.
I like it a lot, so...

[narrator] Over on
Kevin Beets' claim,

his crew is rushing
to get down to pay dirt
in the lynx cut

before the end of the week.

I wouldn't mind
catching some gold
and bringing some back.

It's a bit
of a dream of mine.

So, I want to move out
of my parents' basement
at some point, so...

[narrator] New hire
Chase Dreger

worked at a gravel pit
before responding
to Kevin's job posting.

[Chase] Oh, [bleep].
Something doesn't feel right
with this truck.

Hey, Kevin,
you got a copy?

[Kevin on walkie-talkie]
Go for Kevin.

[Chase] Something's
not right with my truck.

[Kevin] All right.
See if you can limp that
thing up to the yard.

I'll meet you up there.

[bleep] All right.

[Chase] What a start.

Finally get going,
and I'm already broken down.

[narrator] Another
rock truck breakdown

is bad news
for Kevin's stripping plan.

[Kevin] Ah!

Oh, that's not good.

I think I found
part of the problem.

[sighs]

This piece
is [bleep] chewed up.

Not great.

It's part of
the rocker arm assembly.

Also, there's supposed to be
a nut on the top of this.

Where did it go?

[narrator]
The broken rocker arm

will prevent
the engine's valves

from opening and closing
at the right time

and shut it down.

With a spare part,
it's a quick fix.

But a missing nut
is a much bigger problem.

If the nut got
into the wrong spot,

in between one of
these things that move,

pretty big
engine failure possibility.

I don't think it's going
to get up and running
right away.

I'm very certain of that.

[narrator] Kevin is down
to just one rock truck

hauling dirt in the lynx cut.

I'm starting to get
extremely frustrated,
you know, looking around.

Matt's got his
[bleep] bucket in the air

half the day,
waiting for these
rock trucks.

Uh, breakdown
after breakdown
after breakdown,

and, uh, this is k*lling us.

Hey, Kevin, buddy,
you mind coming down
to the cut here?

Can do.
I'll, uh, wander over.

Yeah. Thanks, man.

How's she going?

All these breakdowns
are k*lling us.

-Yes.
-[Brennan] I need
another truck.

I can't have him sit there,
not doing nothing.

Like, 1,000 ounces
is a big goal,

and it just keeps getting
farther away at this point.

[Kevin]
Case in [bleep] point,
isn't it?

He's doing a lot more of that
than loading it seems like
right now.

[Kevin] Well, I can't rely
on Tony for any equipment

because that keeps
biting me in the butt.

[Brennan] So do you have
a line on anything
for us here, buddy?

Um, well, we talked
to Parker

-because he did have
that lineup of rock trucks.
-Right.

And he mentioned
that those were for sale.

We've got to spend money
to make money.

And I might as well
at this point be spending it
on my own [bleep].

At least that way,
at the end of the day,
it's still mine.

I get to keep it.

We definitely need
a new truck.

I'm spending quite a bit
of cash right now,

and there's nothing
coming in yet.

The piggy bank
is gonna run dry soon

if I keep going at this pace.

So that is starting
to get to me a little bit.

[narrator] Six miles
north of Kevin's claim

is his only hope
of a working rock truck,

neighbor Parker Schnabel.

How much are you hoping
to spend on the rock truck?

Hundred grand.

That's, kind of, like,
what I'm hoping
to get away with.

I was hoping we would have
some gold coming in by now.

Paying from the savings
is kind of scary.

I'm hoping that Parker will
allow us deferred payment.

[Kevin] Let's, uh,
look at some trucks.

Come on, let's go.

[Kevin] The engine's
quite clean on this one.

I wonder if it's new.

[narrator] Parker's trucks
are old A40s,

able to haul 40-ton loads.

A new model costs $300,000.

[Kevin]
I'm looking for anything
that will tell me

that there is major issues.

So, like, a little bit,
of leaky stuff,

like, that's, that's normal.

Manufacturing year, 2003.

For 2024,
that makes 21 years.

It's old enough to drink.

Major components
look to be in good condition.

Yeah, compared
to Tony's machines,

I have a bit more faith
in these ones

to run without needing
aggressive work
right off the bat.

And since these
are a bit older,

maybe we can get
a better deal.

-Hey, Parker.
-[Parker] Hello.

You're here
for a rock truck?

[Kevin]
Here for a rock truck.
Hopefully, yeah.

[Parker] You can
definitely buy the--

[Kevin] I've been looking
at that one the hardest.

Tires might need
air and stuff.

Price is the same.

Hundred?

-And ten.
-110.

Mm-hm.

-Go 105?
-[Parker] I don't haggle.

Buy it or don't buy it.
I don't really care.

Feel free to fire it up.
Go through it. Whatever.

I'll go find you some air.

It's a little more
than I wanted to pay,
but it's here.

And it's hard
to negotiate from a position

of well, we really
[bleep] need something.

[Parker] You should be
doing this [bleep],
not me, Kevin.

You're the mechanic.

-Don't blow yourself up.
-[Kevin] Definitely won't.

[Faith] Do you think
there's some wiggle room
in pricing with Parker?

[Kevin] He's kind of got
all the bargaining power
right now...

-[Faith] Yeah.
-...and he knows it.

[Parker] You got it
all aired up?

[Kevin] Got it all aired up.

-110 then?
-[Parker] What?



Are you ready to commit?

Are you okay to have a payment
later in the season?

Is that good for you?

I don't need
to get paid right away,

but I can't
have you back out.

That's the only thing.

-You're paying
whether it falls apart...
-[Kevin] Oh, yeah.

...and is useless
or whatever.

-It's all good.
-[Parker] Okay.

-So you're taking it?
-[Kevin] I'm taking it.

-[Parker] 110?
-[Kevin] 110.

All right.
Congratulations.

Now just watch,
it's not going
to fire up for us.

[exhales deeply]

Ka-boom.

[engine whirring]

It lives.

[Faith] The only
saving grace for us

is literally
having to pay it later.

But that later date
has an end date.

So if we don't get
gold in the box soon,
it's gonna bite us.

[Kevin] I hope
it works out.

Let's get it back to camp
and find out.

[narrator]
With the new truck,

Kevin has a shot
of getting down to pay soon.

[Kevin] It just sounds
really nice, honestly.

Like, you can
hear that, like...

Sounds nice.

Yeah, I think this
really, kind of, shows

that I can make
my own deals.

I don't have
to always rely on Tony.

Stepping out on our own,

that is part of being
the boss of a company.

[Michael]
When I started here,
I got a service truck,

and all the tools that
were in it were yellow.

So I am going
to spray my tools
all yellow.

So then I will know
who to sh**t

when, uh,
they take my tools.

My first week,
Tony put me on a dozer

because my dad
used to do it,

and he wanted to try me out,
and it turned out good.

But at Indian River
this year,

Tony wants me
to take care of the plants
and all the people.

Did I think
in the beginning

that I would be
where I am now?

No.

But, uh, here,
when you work hard for Tony,
you can grow.

It gets appreciated.

And I really like that.

So the goal this year
is, uh, to get some gold,
of course,

keep equipment running.

And for that,
I need my tools.

So I hope
no one will take my tools.

They better don't
take my tools.

[Kevin] I'd definitely say
I'm happy with this.

[narrator] Kevin Beets
has dropped $110,000
on a 21-year-old rock truck.

What is this?

Look at our
shiny new whip.

Not that shiny,
but it's new to us.

New-ish. Yeah.

Forty ton, too.
That's awesome.

Well, I wasn't
expecting you guys

to go and come back
the same day with the truck.

Well, we kind of got to
if we want to get the cuts
down to pay.

Right on, guys.
I'm happy.

This is great because
I'm sick of watching Matt

sit there with his
[bleep] boom in the air.

I'll tell you that.
Awesome.

High five. Appreciate it.

Whoo!

-Hoorah! Hoorah!
-Hoorah!

[narrator] Kevin's new A40
gets his stripping operation
back up to speed.

But after
another week of delays,

his crew have missed
the deadline for hitting pay.

We wanted to get sluicing
end of the month.

So the sooner we hit pay,
the sooner we approach
that goal.

Further behind
than I would have liked.

But we're just going
to keep on plugging away,

and, hopefully,
we'll [bleep] get it.

Well, not hopefully,
we're gonna [bleep] get it.

[Minnie] Hey, guys.

-[Tony speaking]
-[Monica] Hello.

[narrator] Despite failing
to get the Shaker Deck

running on the Indian River,

Tony's Sluice-a-lot plant
ran non-stop for a week.

[Minnie] Well, I hope
you can count that high.

He only has ten fingers.

Uh, so we've got Sluice-a-lot,
but not the Shaker Deck.

Ruby told me there was a bit
of excitement with the water.

Anyways, I think
we've got lots of gold here
that should be weighed up.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
The Beets need 150 ounces

to break 1,000
for the season so far.

[Mike] 20, 30,








[narrator]
Worth nearly $640,000.

The Beets season total
is now 1,105 ounces.

-Yeah, it's decent.
-[Monica bleep] Yeah.

I want to get
my plant going right away
as soon as possible, too.

[Tony speaking]

[Mike] Ah, you know.

-Don't ask questions, Dad.
-[Tony speaking]

[Mike] Yeah.

-[Tony speaking]
-[Minnie] My back hurts.

Make like a tree
and get out here.

Well, if we keep on
going like this, babe,

we might get
to 5,000 and a bit.

[Mitch] Well, I mean,
hey, we spent some money
this week on some drilling...

-[Chris] Yeah.
-...but it was well worth it,

to find out
where that ground was.

[narrator] It's been
another a bad week
for Parker's crew.

The long cut has
four acres of frozen pay

that needs to thaw
before it can be sluiced

and another 16 acres
that needs 15 feet
of overburden removed.

Fifteen feet
is a [bleep] lot of dirt.

Every foot is,
like, 80,000 yards.

-Seriously.
-[Tyson] Really.

The pit's that big, yeah.

[Tyson]
And it's frozen, too.

-Just to add
a little insult to injury.
-Right. Yeah.

Just need a lot of gold
to pay for all that.

Yeah, yeah.

[Tyson] Did we find
any this week, Doumitt?

[Chris] All I can say is
it's better than last week.

That doesn't take much.

[narrator] Parker's crew
has finished sluicing
the long cut's ditch pay,

which, last week,
delivered just 30 ounces.

[Chris]
Mitch, you've, kind of,
been busting your butt here.

-Why don't you weigh
the baby out?
-All right.

Here we go.

There's ten.

There's 20.

There's 30, 40, 50, 60,





[narrator]
Just shy of a quarter
of a million dollars.

-99.45?
-[Chris] Yeah.

-You didn't have another--
-[Chris] I was digging
around everywhere,

trying to come up
with another half ounce
just to--

You didn't have a half ounce
of gold anywhere in here?

[Chris] Could have got us
into triple digits.

Come on, Chris.

That's a lot of sluicing
for, you know, under 100.

[Chris]
But it was a huge boost
to our season total.

We are now
up to 135.85 ounces.

-Oh, we'll be
at 10,000 next week.
-[Chris] Yeah.

[Mitch] Well, it's going
in the right direction.

But, man, I mean,
that's like the old days.

I remember when,
you know, it was a fight
to get to 1,000.

And man,
it looks like we're, uh...

-[Chris] It looks like
it is again.
-Yeah.

It's going to be a tough one,
but we'll get through it.

It's just gonna be a while.

-All right. Thanks, guys.
-[Mitch] All right. Yup.

Have a good one.

[Parker] Remember, triple--
Triple it next week.

The long cut, it's going
to make this season
a little bit difficult.

It's just deep.

And these problems
we're having with frost
and whatnot

are gonna tip the scales
into it losing money.

We'll get through it.

Yeah. We'll survive
one way or another.