15x14 - Vegas Baby!

[bunniefuu]

[opening theme music playing]

We're over halfway
through the season right now.

Um, started off
with a bang.

Rally Valley was amazing.

You know, we got
over 900 ounces out of it,

but since then, things
have kind of stalled out.

You know, we've got
three cuts fail.

And we're kind of just
having a tough time,
uh, figuring things out.

[narrator] After a hot start
to his season,

Rick Ness has hit a wall.

He's struggling to mine,

and he's burning
through his profits.

[Rick] Scratching around,
trying to make things work,

but, you know,


we're... we're definitely
not gonna get to our


[narrator]
Over the last six weeks,

Rick has struck out
on multiple new cuts.

[Rick] 2.59.

That was the worst one
by far I've ever had.

We need to find
better ground fast.

We have to move forward.

You know, we have to find
where the gold is,

and we have to go get it.

[narrator]
With no other easy options,

Rick's turning to ground

he previously thought
too risky to mine.

So, right in here
where we're at...

with my drilling report,
the channel from Rally Valley

comes all the way
down the valley,

all the way down here.

There's a good
drill hole here.

You might actually
even be able to see

the edge of the wall here.

Yeah, right here.

This is an extension
of Rally Valley.

Except we're a half mile
away from it.

That's how long
this channel is,

and we know it's there,

you know, we have
the drill results.

We've got resistivity lines
along it

that proves it's there.

It's right below my feet.

This is the kind of gold,
you know,

that we're pulling out
of Rally Valley.

This is where I wanna mine,
but it's very deep.

I mean, it's 210 feet
to bedrock.

Pay layer is probably 40,
almost 60 feet thick.

But that still means
that we're still 160 feet
overburden away from it.

I did the calculations on it,
it was gonna take us

seven to eight weeks
to strip it.

And if we were lucky,

we're gonna get two weeks
of sluicing right at the end.

If I spend a million dollars
stripping it

and I don't get
any gold out of it,

I... I can't absorb that cost,
I just can't.

The risk's high.
It's so deep.

[narrator]
Over 150,000 years ago,

a huge glacier eroded gold
from the mother lode.

When it melted,
it left massive gold deposits

in an ancient riverbed,

which, over the years,
was covered by nearly


at Rally Valley.

Rick now wants to follow
the same gold-rich pay channel

half a mile downstream
and open up a new 3-acre cut.

The problem is, the pay layer
here is even deeper.

To get to the gold,

Rick must move a mountain

and shift over 1 million
yards of overburden

to dig 160 feet down
to hit pay dirt.

Then sluice as much
as possible

before winter shuts him down.

[Rick over radio] Guys.

We gotta have to talk.

Obviously, you guys have seen
the last few gold weighs.

You've seen what we're going
through right now,

and I don't think any of us
are happy about it, right?

An idea that I kind of
had shoved out of my mind,

um, which was going
back to Rally Valley
has now resurfaced.

And I think we should do it.

Not the original Rally Valley,
but the end of the channel.

All right, where...
another spot where we know
that channel is.

And that's where
we're sitting right now.

This is it, right here.

We don't have
a whole lot of time left.

Um, it's deep.

But it's got the kind of gold
that we're used to, right?

The problem is, is that
there's real consequences
of that, right?

And don't get mad at me,
but I wanted to show you.

In actuality...

there's well over
a million dollars' worth
of gold right there.

Um, you guys' gold bonuses
are in that jar with
all that gold, right?

I mean, that's expenses
and stuff.

We could blow
that whole container
of gold...

moving overburden,
trying to get to the bottom
of Rally Valley.

And if we don't get there
by the end of the year,

then all that gold
is gonna be gone, right?

There's been a lot
of tough decisions this year

because of all this...
this water license stuff,

but I don't think any of us
are gonna settle

for what we've, uh, been
getting the last few weeks.

That's what's at stake.
I need you on board for this.

And I need you
to understand that...

I mean, a lot
of this risk is mine,

but you guys
are in on it, too.

I know.

You're digging deeper,
you're going in further,
what's your plan?

[Rick] You can see
this bank go straight
up right behind it,

and we're gonna have
to move some of that

if we wanna get down
to this good gold.

The mountain of ground
that we have to move,

or a whole lot of gold
we can take with us,
you know what I mean?

[Ryan] Yeah, it's not a joke,
because, dude,
if we don't hit [bleep],

we all just came up here
for nothing.

I don't want any of us
walking out of here

without, you know,
something to show for it.

That's why
it's a gamble, right?

You know, the fact
that we could lose it all,

it's a fact that we could
double it, too.

It could be really good,
or it could turn into
a big soup kitchen.

[laughs]

[bleep], I'm in.

We, you know,
we have your back.

Good. I like that.

You guys wanna see this,
right here? Look at this.

So, when we start here,
we'll get the pump over here.

We'll drain this water out,
and then we'll just follow

that bedrock
right into our wall, right?

And then we'll start up top.

We'll start moving overburden,
the drill holes are showing

between $200,000
and $250,000 a day.

If we get to the end
and we get 10 days
of sluicing out of it,

I think we're gonna
be laughing.

So, we don't need too many

-of those days
at the end to add up.
-[crew member] Mm-hmm, no.

That's why I think
it's a good gamble.

-Yeah, all right,
-Yeah. All right, let's go.

All right. [bleep] yeah.

Well, Rick's taking
this gamble on this cut,

and he believes it's a part
of the Rally Valley vein,

and we got [bleep] tons
of cubic yardage to move.

All that gold bonus right now
is being spent

instead of going
in our pockets,

so we all hope
that there's gold
in the bottom of that.

You know, we all didn't come
up here to just be happy

with the bare minimum.

It's gonna be
a battle to the end.

I know we're all hoping,
not as much as me,

that this is, uh...
The gold here

is as good as Rally Valley,
but we're gonna find out.

Well, it's another day
in the Long Cut here.

You know, last season,
we had great results

with the gold
that we saw coming off

the Dominion property.

This season, it's definitely
been coming in a lot slower.

Parker's looking
for some quick gold right now.

Unfortunately,
on this property,

there's just not a lot
of that to be found.

[narrator] Mistakes
and setbacks have derailed

Parker Schnabel's
massively ambitious plan

for a 10,000-ounce season
at Dominion Creek.

Two-thirds of the way
through the season,

he's banked
less than 3,000 ounces.

[Mitch] Well, if we've got
any shot of getting


it all revolves around
having ground open

that you can sluice.

And that's what we're trying
to do right now.

We've got so many cuts,
so there's so much going on.

And then on top of all that,

you know, he goes and buys
another mining operation.

Doesn't matter
how many we have,

Parker's always gonna wanna
try and do a little bit more.

We just picked up a couple
of new pieces of ground.

Kind of a bad time
to be spending lots of money,

but gold price is good,
and we need to just

keep wash plants fed
and keep the monster alive.

[narrator]
While continuing to churn
through Dominion's Cuts,

last week, Parker took
a huge gamble.

He bought a mining company
for $2.5 million

that includes
the Sulphur Creek claim,
with ground ready to sluice.

[Parker] There's lots
of work to do and...

not a lot of season left
to do it in.

[narrator]
It's a smash-and-grab play

to bring in
a fast 1,000 ounces

and get his season
back on track.

I felt like
it needed to be done.

Unfortunately, it just means
saddling up

on some more debt,
and then pour money
into the property.

I know some of the crew
is very hesitant on Sulphur,

but there's a pit
that's stripped there,

and then some other
very shallow thawed ground.

It's a nice way
of doing things.

When you have a big, you know,
plant going,

you would hope to be able

to get at least
a couple ounces an hour.

Hopefully, that, like,
calms everybody down,
including myself,

and we get
some gold coming in,

and, uh, things are okay.

[narrator] A 25-mile drive
away at Sulphur Creek...

[Damien] We are gonna
frickin' do everything we can
to keep those plants fed.

[narrator] ...Damien Browne
and his skeleton crew

are running wash plant, Bob.

Now, in their first
full week of running,

the crew will find out
if the gamble was worth it.

I mean, Parker has put
a hell of a lot of pressure

on us down at Sulphur here.

And, like, with the people
we have

and the resources we have,
it's next to impossible.

What the [bleep]?

The feeder has
stopped feeding,
and it's plugging up.

I just wanna see
what the hell is going on.

It just stopped right now
with a full hopper of dirt.
It is not a simple fix.

You can't have
downtime like this.

[whirring stops]

Bill, have you got
a copy? Bill?

Yeah, go ahead.

Would you or Justin be able
to come out here to Sulphur?

Uh, the prewash on Bob
is after... jamming up.

[Bill] Okay. 10-4.

Me and Justin
will be on our way.

[Damien] Perfect. Thank you.

[narrator] Father and son
mechanics, Bill and Justin,

cover all three
of Parker's claims,

an area that now covers


Right now, we got one down.

So, even though we have
other projects on the go,

we gotta drop everything,

get to Bob,
get it up and running

so Damien can get
pay going here again.

So, I'll get to see
the lay of the land here

and see exactly
what's going on.

I don't see any water running,

so they must assume
it's pretty serious.

Let's see what we got
on the go here.

It's time for you
to work your magic.

[Bill] Let's get to her.

If we were to grab
a three-quarter ratchet,
we can pull this apart.

We've got some play
in our chain there,

which probably means
the shaft has slid back.

That is our issue.

[narrator] Wash plant
Bob's prewash

moves pay dirt
along a conveyor belt,

powered from beneath
by a drive shaft,

sprocket, and chain system.

Justin thinks that the shaft
is no longer aligned,

bringing the belt
to a standstill.

To fix it, he plans
to cut the drive chain,

replace any broken parts,

then move the drive shaft
back into position,

get the chain rotating again,

powering up the belt.

[Bill] Once we get
the sprockets off

and the bearing off to try
to get this shaft out of here,

hopefully, we don't have
to pull the hopper all apart.

These are the old sprockets.

They're supposed to be
the same shape on both sides.

This is the wore side.

You can see
the hook that's in it.

And so that's how much
it wore out.

You know,
it's a little bit longer
than we anticipated,

but now, finally,
we're just getting to see
the shaft here, so...

[Justin] Oh, for...

[Bill] What do you got, buddy?

-[Justin] There's pieces
everywhere.
-What?

[Justin] And, obviously,
that shaft is destroyed.

But the ends
are right out of it. Look.

[Justin] Yeah, oh,
the races are gone.

Holy.

-[Bill] Yeah.
-[Justin] Look at that.

The shaft is definitely toast.

I've never seen a bearing
that, uh, that destroyed.

[Bill] Yeah, I don't even know
how that this thing was still
turning like that.

That is one
wasted piece of steel.

Okay, I'll jump out here.

You can pass it to me.

We got some time
to make up here, buddy.

We are way behind.

[Justin] That is
an absolute disaster.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
King of the Klondike,
Tony Beets' season

is stalling out,

with only one of his three
wash plants sluicing for gold.

[narrator]
Tony's already mined

nearly 3,500 of his


But with gold prices
hitting $2,500 an ounce,

he wants even more.

[Monica over radio] Tony,
do you copy, Tony?

Can you come
down to the Hester
and see me, please?

[Monica] Everybody else
has a claim.

And Tony said this one
was going to be mine.

I would like
to get going on it.

Until I get T Beets
to talk to me,

I can't really put
a plan in place.

[Tony speaking]

[Monica] Been a hot minute
since you've been down here.

[Tony speaking]

[Mike] Yeah, actually, quite
a bit of water in there.

Yeah, it's a nice lake
for that boat you've got.

I'd rather drain the water out
and start sluicing.

[Monica] Yep.

You told me this cut was
gonna be mine.

Mike's got his setup
on the hill.

Kevin's got his own setup
on Scribner.

You even gave Cousin Mike
more responsibility,

-watching the plants out
in the Indian River.
-[Tony] Mm-hmm.

-But it would be nice...
-[Tony speaking]

...if I could oversee
this business

-and be in charge.
-[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Four years ago...

Clearly from a [bleep] dredge.

[narrator] ...Tony
discovered a pocket of ground

missed by the old-timers.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] He drilled it...

That looks like
virgin ground to me.

[narrator] ...and found
good gold.

We found you some money.

[narrator] Tony opened up
a 1.5-acre cut.

[narrator] But so far,
has never mined it.

[Tony speaking]

[Monica] As long
as we can make a plan,

you know, start
working on these things.

We need to get that
Moose Creek trommel
to the welder,

get everything fixed up,

-get me a pump.
-[Tony speaking]

In theory,
we should be able to do it.

It'll just be
a little bit tight.

[Monica] We gotta put
a nugget trap on there.

[Mike] It's-- You're gonna
need that [bleep] welded on.

I got my guy up there,
so I'll-- I--

We'll pull it into place,
get it there,

get him working on it.

[Tony speaking]

[Monica] Yeah.

[Monica] Okay.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Monica plans
to use Tony's 33-year-old

Moose Creek trommel
to sluice the Hester Cut.

I appreciate everything
you're doing to help me.

Anything for family, Monica.

-So, should we go take
a look at the [bleep] thing?
-[Mike] Yeah.

It's gonna be
your headache soon.

[narrator] To get it running,

Mike will drag
the 35-ton wash plant

that sat idle for two years
over to the yard for repairs.

[Monica] No joy.

Well, it's a little, uh,
sunk in there.

What's your plan?
You wanna drag it out
so they can pump it up?

I'm gonna pull it out.

Ready?

[Monica over radio]
This tire is a little low,

but it should be fine.

[engine starts]

[Monica] It looks
pretty good, Michael.

It's really nice to see
the Moose Creek trommel
start moving.

But now, hopefully,
this gets fixed up,
we drain that cut,

and then we can start
getting some gold.

Looks like Mario Kart.

[laughs]

I like gold mining.

I like being a part
of all these things.

So, I'm really excited to see

what kind of gold
we get out of here.

Ha-ha!

[narrator] Monica's trommel
reaches the yard

where Mike's welders
will get to work
repairing the plant.

[crew member speaking
over radio]

[Mike] Yeah,
I'll be there in a sec.
Gotta go, Monica.

[Monica] He-he.

He the man with the plan,

and the employee has just took
off to fix his own things.

[Mike speaking]

Okay, shut off the water,
shut off the water.

Shut off the distributor,
and shut off the sluice box

here in a second.

[crew member speaking
over radio]

[Monica] I mean,
it really sucks.

It's about right

that every time
we start new projects...

that we have to stop it

to go fix or finish
a different project.

[Tony speaking]

[Mike] Holier than
the Roman Catholic Church.

-I got a bunch of holes
in my distributor.
-[Tony speaking]

[Mike] 'Cause it's leaking
through over here.

On the other side,
there's a massive chunk
missing of the centerpiece.

[narrator] The trommel's
distributor box

is losing water and gold

just before it hits
the sluice runs.

[Mike] Unfortunately, Dad,
it's gonna take a day or two.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] All of the Beets'
welding crew

are now needed
to get the trommel
back on the gold...

leaving Monica's project
on the back burner.

[Monica] It will never be
top priority.

Tony Beets will only ever
think what he is doing
is important.

He is hyper-focused
on what he is doing

and not focusing
on anybody else.

Eventually, I'd like
to make it off
the bottom of the list.

Doesn't really matter
what anybody else wants
or anybody else thinks.

Tony likes to say...

"It's Tony Beets first,

then it's Tony Beets again,

then it's still not
your [bleep] turn, so..."

[Buzz speaking]

[narrator] At Duncan Creek,

Rick Ness' crew are all in,
putting their gold bonuses

on the line
to move a mountain.

They need to remove
to hit pay

all before winter
freezes them out.

[Rick] Now, the guys
got a good start
on this already.

It's only been a couple days,
they moved a lot of dirt.

When we get down
to the bottom,

I... I don't know,
but we're sure as hell
gonna give it a try.

[Bailey] We're gonna start
shelfing our way down

like a staircase,

working our way down
to, uh, the level

that Rick wants
to completely take out,

and, you know, down
to the pay part, so...

[narrator]
Operator Bailey Carten

is using the 750 excavator

to load dirt
into three rock trucks.

It's gonna be
a lot of trucking
of overburden out of here

to even get down to it.

Up until now, it's just been
kind of clearing sections.

But now we can actually start
hauling stuff, which is nice.

[narrator] The rock trucks
then haul the 43-ton loads
down a 400-yard road...

to dump in a waste pile.

[Heather] How many truckloads
is this gonna take?

It's gonna take
all the truckloads.

[Ryan] And now we're
all kind of stretched out.

You know, we've got, uh,
both the 700 and the 750

up on the cut right now,
loading trucks.

And these trucks
are bringing overburden.

We're dumping it
over the edge

exactly like Rally Valley.

You know, we're putting
all the cards on the table

to hope that what happens here

is exactly what we pulled
out of Rally Valley.

Because, if not,
we just lost our asses.

[loud bang]

Yeah, there's something
on the road there.

It looks like one of
the hinge pins out of the...

out of the rock truck.

[Rick over radio]
Hey, Heather, you got a copy?

Looks like you lost
your back hinge pin there.

[Rick over radio]
Just tell her to stop.

[narrator]
The hinge pins connect
the dump box to the truck,

allowing it to tip backwards.

[Heather]
Good thing we noticed
before I tried to dump.

Yeah.

I mean, uh, that road's
pretty rough, so...

rattled that nut--
or that bolt out of there.

-[Heather] All right.
-I think Ryan's
down in the yard there.

-He'll, uh...
-I'll take this down to him.

[Kyle]
There are two hinge pins
in the back of these trucks.

That one fell out.

She possibly could have dumped
and that whole box

would have went all c*ck,
probably rolled that truck.

So at least, uh,
we seen it here on the road.

Ryan, I have
a heavy gift for you.

[Ryan] Sweet.

[Heather] Well, I thought we
were running too efficiently.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I try. I try.

[Rick] I've never seen that
happen before.

There's a keeper
that holds the pin in place.

That probably fell out,

and that's what allowed
the pin to come out.

It's just it had to
walk out a long [bleep] ways.

What would have happened?

-What?
-If she would've dumped that?

All your pressure is gonna
be on that cylinder,

which is 14 grand.

[chuckles]

We got lucky.

All we did
is we lost two bolts,

lost a retainer plate,

lost our pin,

and almost lost our driver.

Yeah. You're gonna
have to lift.

She must have hit the--
it bounced just right.

We need to lift it,

beat out the [bleep]
out of 'em,

and put the new ones in.

[narrator] To slot the pin
back into the hinge,

Rick uses an excavator

to precision lift
the truck's box.

Let it down a hair.

Let me give it a tap.

-Ready?
-Yep.

Good?

Oh.

Easy. Anything's easy
with a 20-pound sledge.

It's always good
to have a quick fix.

Especially...

when we're this
late in the season

and trying to
do such a big cut.

Perfect.

That's it. You're done.

[Heather] Ooh!
She's back in business?

Go make Bailey happy.

Yeah!

Great. I'll get it
back to work now.

And, honestly,
it's a good thing
Kyle was paying attention

because you go dumping that
without a pin

when we've got 25,


or rock on that thing
and, I mean,

screw the money, at least
Heather didn't go over.

[chuckles]

[Heather] Realistically,
it could have been really bad.

I'm definitely relieved
Kyle found the pin.

[Rick] You know,
it's hammer time right now.

We're gonna be pushing
these machines every day.

If we can keep on top of it
and fix things like that

before it gets too severe,
we'll be all right.

Now that Bob's broke down,
it's a real pain in the a*s

because everything's
so far away.

It's definitely a pain
with how spread out we are.

Everybody just lives
in their vehicle,

trying to get to
where the broke-down junk is.

[Damien] Parker is expecting
a hell of a lot.

Just the thought of Bob
being down right now

is pretty bloody frustrating.

And I'm just waiting
for a good a*s-chewing.

Yeah, we just need this
wash plant up and running.

[narrator]
Parker is looking for his new
Sulphur Creek operation

to deliver 1,000 ounces.

But in its first
full week of running,

wash plant Bob is down

with a broken
prewash conveyor.

[Damien] I mean, everything
was running so smooth,

and then just something simple

shuts the
whole operation down.

We're way behind schedule,
so we got to really make it up

here in this back half
of this course.

[narrator]
To get it back running,

father-and-son mechanics,
Bill and Justin,

must first replace the
conveyor's broken driveshaft.

Finally got this thing out.

Okay. In.

[Justin] The shaft that we got
is way too long.

The keyway is not
the same here, either.

[Bill] Oh, man.

[Justin]
The keys are not lined up
for the keyways here.

[Bill] Yeah,
that keyway's too short.

[narrator] A driveshaft's
keyway grooves

slot into the conveyor's
bearings and sprockets.

If they don't line up,

the replacement driveshaft
is useless.

[Bill] I don't know
what my next step is.

I really don't.

We cannot go back to the yard

and tell Parker
we don't have the right stuff.

I don't know how we ended up
in this situation,

but all we can do is fix it.

You know,
wait a second here.

Can you pick that one out
and turn it around?

If we can get that
set back in the truck...

So that lines up with
that keyway.

[Bill] Yes, it does.

[Justin] And this keyway
lines up with this keyway.

[Bill] So if we were to
chop this off right here...

[Justin] Yeah, we would have
our proper keyways.

[narrator]
The replacement driveshaft
is 1.5 feet too long,

and its keyway too short
at one end.

Bill and Justin's
improvised fix,

flip the driveshaft,
cut it to length,

then grind out the keyway
to match the broken shaft.

Next, fit the bearings
and mount into the prewash

before adding the sprockets
that slot onto the chain

and turn the conveyor.

If the keyway doesn't fit
the driveshaft precisely,

the chain will quickly
track out of line,

shutting down
the conveyor once again.

[Justin] So there's our mark.

All right,
you young little pup,

fire that up there
and put it in place.

[Justin] Up, up and away.

-[Bill] Yeah. Okay?
-I got it.

[Bill]
This is a trust moment.

[Justin chuckles] Yeah. I--

[Bill] Wanna try that
bearing on there now?

[Justin] Yeah.

All right, guys, let's
get this mounted in here.

This keyway's lined up.

Like, how much longer
are you thinking?

Like, Parker is breathing
down my throat.

All right, let's get
some sprockets on this thing.

Okay.

We are spot-on.

Moment of truth here, boys.

[Bill] Time to fire it up?

-Time to fire it up?
-[Justin] Time to fire it up.

[narrator] At Sulphur Creek,
it's time to see

if Bill and Justin's
prewash conveyor makeshift fix

will get wash plant Bob
back on the gold.

It's about time!

[Bill] Yeah! [bleep] yeah!

[Justin] There we go, boys.

-Thank you.
-Thank you!

Thanks for your help, Jacob.

-Thanks, guys.
-Thanks, buddy.

Now let's feed
some dirt through it.

[narrator] Wash plant Bob
up and running,

Parker's crew get back
to washing Sulphur's paydirt

and are one step closer
to finding out

if his $2.5 million gamble
will pay off.

[Damien] Try and make
a dent in this pile

before the end of the week.

We'll do everything we can
to keep Bob sluicing.

So far...

it's lookin' bloody good.

[Mike] My boys here are doing
a good fabrication.

There ain't no quick fix here

because it was
too [bleep] worn for that.

This is done.

[narrator] After two days
of nonstop welding...

[crew member]
Yeah. Fire it up.

...the Beets' only
working wash plant

is back sluicing for gold.

[Mike]
This area's now patched.

Hopefully it lasts a while,

but knowing
how this [bleep] works,

it won't.

But, for now,
it's got me sluicing again,

and that's good enough.

[narrator] Mike's welding crew
can now get back

to fixing
the Moose Creek trommel.

But to get the Hester Cut
operational,

Monica must first drain it.

It would be nice to see
what comes out of that cut,

and we cannot do that until...

the pump is down there
drying out that cut

and the trommel's down there.

[narrator] To dewater the cut,
Tony and Mike will pull a pump

from a mined-out corner
of the Super Pit.

[bleep]

[Mike] Yes.

Yes.

[Tony speaking]

What's up with me?
What's up with you?

I thought I was getting
a pump today.

That's always been
this [bleep] place.

Careful, Dad. She will kick.

So how do you know that
my cut down there

isn't just as nice
as this cut up here?

Feeling a little shafted.

Yeah.

[narrator] Once again,

Monica's plan for
the Hester Cut is put on hold.

[Monica] Sure as [bleep]
shouldn't talk to me that way.

And it sucks,
kind of being pushed back

to the bottom of the list.

I get it. [bleep] happens.

You can't leave
the gold in the cut,

but, uh,
it still kind of sucks.

[Tony speaking]

So I try really hard to have
Tony be Tony at work.

And, you know,
like if we're in Mexico

or we're traveling, or Dad,
or whatever.

But at work, he's Tony Beets.
He's my boss.

I think Tony Beets
wakes up in the morning

and goes, "Hmm,

whose life can I disrupt today
by making the most chaos?"

He [bleep] up our day,

but usually with a plan
in action that he's changed

at least a dozen times

between waking up
in the morning

and going out the door.

That I get to see
progress happening,

you get to have a plan,

that you move forward
with something,

if my mental health was
deteriorating because of work,

I would go somewhere else.

Hello, sir.

I'm talking nothing
but bad things about you.

Yeah.

-[Rick] Yo.
-[Ryan] What's going on?

[narrator] At Duncan Creek,

the Ness Crew have finished
their first week

digging out the new cut.

This is impressive for a week.

Bailey delivers some big loads
with this thing.

We're averaging


We are weeks away, though.

I mean, we've got a little
dirt to move, uh,

a lot of infrastructure
to build down there.

-It's gonna take some time.
-Here we are,

gambling a ton of money,

hoping we hit it big
at the bottom of this pile.

I mean,
we're all affected by that.

But you guys are all in.

I like to gamble.

I mean, worst case.

I'm gonna need a fuel card
to get home.

We're gotta
name this heap of dirt.

Holly-- Hollywood Hill?

That's a good one.

Hollywood Hill is a good--
I do like Hollywood Hill.

That's good.

Hollywood Boulevard.

[Ryan] I like that.

I'll even cut out
some letters.

It's definitely a gamble
doing it this time of year.

We're rolling the dice.

Vegas Valley?

-That's great.
-It's a gamble.

Vegas Valley.

-Yep.
-Keep it up

and it might pay off.

You like to gamble.

I mean, we're definitely
gambling here.

We're gambling your bonuses,

all the gold
we've got already.

So, you guys are doing
a great job.

I mean, this is impressive,
you know,

for the few people we have.
Just keep it up, man.

We'll get there.

[Ryan] Yep.

[Monica] Hello.

[Minnie] How are you guys?

[Monica] How are you?

Yeah... Well, no, actually,

because Mike's distributor
went down

and you guys
found all that gold.

The story of my life.

It does kind of suck
being put on the back burner.

I mean, I could just
put all of your guys' [bleep]

on the back burner.

Yeah, well, get somebody else

to do this part of
the [bleep] job.

No, it's not. Who are you
gonna get to do it?

Yeah? Are you gonna go
bring it to town?

Then he's gonna sit there.

-[Monica laughs]
Yeah, exactly.
-Not me. Not me.

Yeah, right.

I think we should weigh
what we have.

[Mike] Give or take.

[Minnie] Okay.

[narrator] To hit
his 5,000 ounce season goal,

Tony needs 170 ounces a week.










[narrator]
Worth half a million dollars,

taking their season total
to 3,695 ounces.

[Monica]
Beautiful stuff, Michael.

[Minnie] Actually nice-looking
gold, by the way.

Uh, you're welcome.

-[Tony speaking]
-[Monica] I have.

It's crazy, isn't it?

Sayonara.

[Minnie] Okay, we'll see
you guys in a little bit.

She was a bit disappointed,
but you got--

but you kind of got to go
with the thing

that you know for sure
than the unsure thing.

Because you do--

It costs money
every time you do stuff.

Yeah, I know.

[Parker] Well,
where's that damn dog?

Oh.

[Parker] Bosco!

Bosco, come here.

[Chris] Oh, hi.

[bleep]

I swear it's like
a 13-year-old kid.

Like, "Come here,"
like dragging his feet.

"I'll come, but it's gonna
take me ten minutes."

[crew laughing]

Clean up your room.

[Chris] Oh, do I have to?

So how was your guys' week?

Damien had a fun one
down there.

[Tupper] Yeah, it definitely
sounds like it.

Ol' Bob had some
problems there.

Yeah, the good old
feeder system on that.

Prewash was not, uh,
wanting to wash there.

They got her back going.

Justin and Bill
did an awesome job.

When you got wash plants
all over the place,

and you know how that goes.

Spread out.

Absolutely, yeah.

But I think Damien
was supposed to be here,

but I'm guessing there's
probably more problems.

So we'll do it without him.

Do we want to
see how Big Red did?

[Tupper] Let's check it out.

[Parker] Old trusty
top-gravel Big Red.

-[Tupper] Yeah, ol' reliable.
-[Chris] Yeah, your top--
your top guy.

Big Red.

[narrator]
Big Red has been running
top gravels in the Bridge Cut.

Last week,
it delivered 77 ounces.

[Tupper] 40, 60...







[Parker]
That might be Big Red's
best cleanup of the year.

[narrator]
Worth around $250,000.

[Tupper] It's getting better.

[Parker] It's like approaching
an ounce an hour.

[Chris] Okay, Mitchell.

Roxanne put in
some work this week.

-[Chris] Yep.
-What have we got here?

[narrator] Roxanne has been
mining the second half
of the Long Cut all week,

which, so far,
has been averaging 220 ounces.





-Keep it going. 160...
-[Chris] 50, there we go.



[narrator]
Worth over $420,000.

I mean, that's a little less
than what we had last week,

but it still, uh...

[Chris] There's triple-digit.

[Parker] Better than
a kick in the a*s, I suppose.

-[Mitch]
How'd ol' Bob do here?
-[Chris] The big Bob there.

[narrator] Time to find out
if the first full week

of running at Sulphur
has paid off.

Parker is looking for it
to deliver 300 ounces.

[Chris] Bob on Sulphur.









[narrator]
Worth nearly three-quarters
of a million dollars.

[Mitch] There you go.
You almost had a 300-ouncer.

-[Chris] Yeah.
-You're not gonna get
no closer than that

without breaking it.

Yeah, it's nice-looking gold
over there, too.

So what is that,
like 550 for the week?

That's going to put us
in the neighborhood of, uh...



[narrator] Worth $1.4 million.

The season now is 3,446.2.

A little over
a third of the way there.

[crew laughing]

[Parker] With well over
half the season behind us.

[Mitch] Started out slow,
but we're warmed up now.

Just got to keep her going.

-[Chris] Yeah.
-All right.

We've got [bleep] to do.

All right.

-Thank-- Thank you.
-[Mitch] All right,
catch you later.

-Thank you, Chris.
-Catch you, guys.

[Chris] You betcha.

[Parker] Nice-looking gold.

Parker pulled
another Parkerism.

I love the way
he approaches problems.

He took a chance.

It looks like Sulphur is gonna
possibly save our season.

[Parker] It was another
pretty good week.

At least good numbers
are coming in

and everybody's putting
a lot of heart into it.

So that's good.

Bosco, come!

Hey, Bosco!