1
00:00:04,504 --> 00:00:07,339
<i>The Yukon River is huge.</i>

2
00:00:08,908 --> 00:00:15,214
<i>Nearly 2,000 miles long, and for 6
months of the year, it's frozen solid.</i>

3
00:00:22,622 --> 00:00:25,224
<i>When it starts to crack,
that's the sign.</i>

4
00:00:29,763 --> 00:00:31,964
<i>You know
it is time to get going.</i>

5
00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,168
<i>The gold rush starts again.</i>

6
00:00:41,808 --> 00:00:43,876
<i> There's
a war for ground in the Yukon.</i>

7
00:00:43,878 --> 00:00:46,779
<i>All the good ground is tied up.</i>

8
00:00:46,781 --> 00:00:49,214
<i>That's why we're digging
deeper than ever.</i>

9
00:00:50,550 --> 00:00:52,951
<i>We're hunting for ground.</i>

10
00:00:53,486 --> 00:00:56,822
<i>As soon as you start
getting desperate...</i>

11
00:00:56,824 --> 00:01:02,728
- *bleep*, man.
- People can smell it on you, and that's dangerous.

12
00:01:02,730 --> 00:01:04,863
<i>We need ground.</i>

13
00:01:04,865 --> 00:01:07,433
We got to trust something,
and we got to trust somebody.

14
00:01:12,639 --> 00:01:14,473
I'm 38 years in the game,

15
00:01:14,475 --> 00:01:17,843
and I've never seen
anything like this.

16
00:01:17,845 --> 00:01:20,946
<i>I spent a *bleep* whole lot
of money in the offseason.</i>

17
00:01:20,948 --> 00:01:23,182
<i>I'm making this my year.</i>

18
00:01:24,684 --> 00:01:26,218
Let's crank it up.

19
00:01:26,753 --> 00:01:30,089
<i>This ain't like
any other season.</i>

20
00:01:30,091 --> 00:01:32,791
Right now, it looks like we're
dead in the *bleep* water.

21
00:01:32,793 --> 00:01:35,727
<i>Sometimes we have to force
our way through something,</i>

22
00:01:35,729 --> 00:01:38,430
that's just what you're
going to have to *bleep* do.

23
00:01:42,135 --> 00:01:45,504
<i> Out on the
Indian River, Parker, Tony,</i>

24
00:01:45,506 --> 00:01:48,440
<i>those guys are battling for
the last bits of good ground.</i>

25
00:01:48,442 --> 00:01:52,144
<i>I seen that coming and I got
the hell out of there.</i>

26
00:01:52,146 --> 00:01:56,081
<i>I'm doubling down and
I'm going for 2,000 ounces.</i>

27
00:01:56,083 --> 00:01:57,449
Bigger the better.

28
00:01:57,451 --> 00:02:00,119
That thing's massive.

29
00:02:00,121 --> 00:02:02,855
<i> I've got no crew,
but I'm coming out fighting.</i>

30
00:02:02,857 --> 00:02:04,923
Whoo!

31
00:02:04,925 --> 00:02:06,959
You've got one *bleep* job,
why can't you do it?

32
00:02:06,961 --> 00:02:09,394
Well, that's on you.

33
00:02:09,396 --> 00:02:12,464
This is what I've been
waiting for. This is next level.

34
00:02:18,138 --> 00:02:21,840
<i> For me right now,
mining is more than just gold.</i>

35
00:02:21,842 --> 00:02:23,275
Oh, yeah!

36
00:02:23,277 --> 00:02:24,476
Whoo-hoo-hoo!

37
00:02:24,478 --> 00:02:28,981
<i>Two Green Beret's
leading the charge.</i>

38
00:02:28,983 --> 00:02:32,885
<i>I'm on a mission to make a
better life for my all-veteran crew.</i>

39
00:02:32,887 --> 00:02:35,854
<i>It's about living
the American dream.</i>

40
00:02:35,856 --> 00:02:37,422
- You guys made it.
- How's it going?

41
00:02:37,424 --> 00:02:38,857
Good, how you been?

42
00:02:38,859 --> 00:02:39,858
<i>It's a treasure hunt.</i>

43
00:02:39,860 --> 00:02:42,361
Who doesn't love
a treasure hunt?

44
00:02:42,363 --> 00:02:45,230
Everybody that's looking for
ground is competition, right?

45
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,969
Finally, sluicing gold. This
right here is what it's all about.

46
00:02:50,971 --> 00:02:52,971
<i>I will not fail again.</i>

47
00:03:09,956 --> 00:03:12,724
<i> Klondike legend,
Tony Beets,</i>

48
00:03:12,726 --> 00:03:15,427
<i>once a farmer
in the Netherlands,</i>

49
00:03:15,429 --> 00:03:19,264
<i>now stands at the top of
a gold mining dynasty.</i>

50
00:03:20,700 --> 00:03:23,936
<i>At an age
when most people would retire,</i>

51
00:03:23,938 --> 00:03:27,272
<i>Tony's primed to make big moves.</i>

52
00:03:42,855 --> 00:03:44,022
Well, I'm never surprised
by your plans anymore.

53
00:03:58,605 --> 00:04:01,006
Don't count your chickens
till they hatch.

54
00:04:03,109 --> 00:04:05,777
- Yeah.
-  Yeah. Piece of cake.

55
00:04:10,850 --> 00:04:11,984
Day shift, night shift?

56
00:04:13,987 --> 00:04:15,988
Here and the Hill?

57
00:04:18,891 --> 00:04:20,859
<i>For nearly 40 years,</i>

58
00:04:20,861 --> 00:04:25,030
<i>Tony snatched up
gold-rich ground in the Yukon.</i>

59
00:04:26,165 --> 00:04:30,302
<i>Now, with gold prices holding
at historic highs,</i>

60
00:04:30,304 --> 00:04:33,905
<i>he's looking
for a monster payday.</i>

61
00:04:33,907 --> 00:04:40,445
<i>To get his $16 million payout, Tony's
reopening his Indian River operation,</i>

62
00:04:40,447 --> 00:04:44,483
<i>where he hopes to bank
5,000 ounces.</i>

63
00:04:44,485 --> 00:04:49,187
<i>40 miles north, he's counting
on his Paradise Hill claims</i>

64
00:04:49,189 --> 00:04:52,824
<i>to deliver the other
4,000 ounces of gold...</i>

65
00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,101
<i> ...but there's
one massive problem.</i>

66
00:05:32,999 --> 00:05:34,966
Let's get going.

67
00:05:53,553 --> 00:05:54,853
<i> Leading the charge</i>

68
00:05:54,855 --> 00:05:59,691
<i>to push the first dirt of
the season at Paradise Hill,</i>

69
00:05:59,693 --> 00:06:05,397
<i>a brand-new massive
850 horsepower D11 dozer</i>

70
00:06:05,399 --> 00:06:09,234
<i>that can shift
45 yards of dirt in one push.</i>

71
00:06:10,937 --> 00:06:16,108
<i>And a 100-ton 950 excavator,
the biggest in the Yukon.</i>

72
00:06:21,114 --> 00:06:22,214
All good.

73
00:06:22,216 --> 00:06:23,248
Okay.

74
00:06:51,811 --> 00:06:52,411
Okay.

75
00:06:57,784 --> 00:07:02,521
<i> Tony's first target
on the hill, an 8-acre cut</i>

76
00:07:02,523 --> 00:07:07,259
<i>he discovered 30 years ago,
filled with big gold nuggets.</i>

77
00:07:16,769 --> 00:07:20,439
We need to move a absolute
crap ton of dirt this year

78
00:07:20,441 --> 00:07:23,175
if we're going to
reach Tony's goal.

79
00:07:23,177 --> 00:07:27,412
Gold is high right now, so
*bleep* strike while the iron is hot.

80
00:07:45,598 --> 00:07:49,668
<i>When Tony
discovered the prime piece of land,</i>

81
00:07:49,670 --> 00:07:53,405
<i>he didn't have big enough
equipment to get down to the pay layer</i>

82
00:07:53,407 --> 00:07:55,974
<i>80 feet below the surface.</i>

83
00:07:56,242 --> 00:07:57,576
<i>Even last year,</i>

84
00:07:57,578 --> 00:08:02,914
<i>it would have taken at least
three weeks to get to pay.</i>

85
00:08:02,916 --> 00:08:07,953
<i>But with his new arsenal, Tony
wants it done in just five days.</i>

86
00:08:11,657 --> 00:08:15,594
It definitely is nice
to have the 950,

87
00:08:15,596 --> 00:08:20,031
3 1/2 scoops to a rock truck,
then it's full.

88
00:08:31,978 --> 00:08:36,081
<i> As the Beets race
to transform the family's future,</i>

89
00:08:36,083 --> 00:08:39,885
<i>daughter Monica has
the biggest role of all.</i>

90
00:08:48,261 --> 00:08:52,764
My father likes to pretend he's not
excited, but he is very much excited.

91
00:08:52,766 --> 00:08:59,437
Tony can look so scary and intimidating
but just melts for dogs and kids.

92
00:09:45,718 --> 00:09:48,887
Yeah, you know, I'm happy
to be back up here though.

93
00:09:48,889 --> 00:09:52,691
It's been brutally cold, but it's
just finally starting to warm up.

94
00:09:52,693 --> 00:09:55,560
<i> In just eight
seasons in the Klondike,</i>

95
00:09:55,562 --> 00:09:58,763
<i>Parker Schnabel has gone
from an 18-year-old</i>

96
00:09:58,765 --> 00:10:03,501
<i>mining prodigy to one of
the region's top producers</i>

97
00:10:03,503 --> 00:10:07,439
<i>after clocking record
gold totals year after year.</i>

98
00:10:07,441 --> 00:10:11,876
<i>Now this seasoned 26-year-old
is at a crossroads.</i>

99
00:10:11,878 --> 00:10:15,347
I don't know where we're
gonna be mining this year.

100
00:10:15,349 --> 00:10:19,985
<i>We're just eating all
the reserves faster than ever.</i>

101
00:10:22,622 --> 00:10:27,459
<i> Last season, Parker
mined a record $14 million in gold,</i>

102
00:10:27,461 --> 00:10:30,762
<i>but he chewed through
so much ground,</i>

103
00:10:30,764 --> 00:10:36,134
<i>he's now running out, and the
future of his operation is in jeopardy,</i>

104
00:10:36,535 --> 00:10:39,738
<i>forcing him into survival mode.</i>

105
00:10:39,740 --> 00:10:43,341
And with gold prices going up, it's a
terrible time to be looking for ground.

106
00:10:43,343 --> 00:10:47,145
Like, landowners are in
complete control right now.

107
00:10:47,147 --> 00:10:51,416
<i>And that means doing a lot of hunting
because all the good ground is tied up.</i>

108
00:10:51,418 --> 00:10:55,220
And that makes... that
makes me stressed out.

109
00:10:59,959 --> 00:11:03,795
I don't know that-- A good
friend of mine, you know,

110
00:11:03,797 --> 00:11:05,864
he's been here
before, Liam Ferguson.

111
00:11:05,866 --> 00:11:07,632
And Liam's in the area,
so I might just see

112
00:11:07,634 --> 00:11:10,535
if he'll come over and talk
to me a little bit about it.

113
00:11:10,537 --> 00:11:14,673
<i>Liam Ferguson drills
for gold all over the Klondike</i>

114
00:11:14,675 --> 00:11:17,375
<i>and knows just about
every landowner out there.</i>

115
00:11:18,744 --> 00:11:20,078
- Hey, man.
-  How's it going?

116
00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:21,780
- Good. How are you?
- Not too bad.

117
00:11:21,782 --> 00:11:23,948
How's your spring?

118
00:11:23,950 --> 00:11:25,950
- It's been going good so far. Pretty busy.
- Yeah.

119
00:11:27,453 --> 00:11:28,753
What's up?

120
00:11:28,755 --> 00:11:31,790
We're just about done,
like, around our camp,

121
00:11:31,792 --> 00:11:33,958
and there's very few
pieces of ground left.

122
00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:36,895
Well, I drilled some ground
for your neighbor last fall

123
00:11:36,897 --> 00:11:38,430
that turned out pretty good.

124
00:11:38,432 --> 00:11:40,398
He was looking to lease it out.

125
00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:41,833
And what's your opinion of it?

126
00:11:41,835 --> 00:11:45,503
It's really good ground, yeah, but
we got a very clear defined channel.

127
00:11:45,505 --> 00:11:51,309
The holes range from
mid-40s up to mid-60s.

128
00:11:51,311 --> 00:11:56,781
<i> The neighbor's ground
sits a mile east of Parker's Airstrip Cut.</i>

129
00:11:56,783 --> 00:12:02,987
<i>Liam's drill result show unique
pay streak in an ancient riverbed.</i>

130
00:12:02,989 --> 00:12:07,258
<i>The tests show five times
more gold than other claims</i>

131
00:12:07,260 --> 00:12:09,060
<i>on the Indian River,</i>

132
00:12:09,062 --> 00:12:13,965
<i>but it's covered in a layer of
sticky black glacial overburden</i>

133
00:12:13,967 --> 00:12:20,705
<i>60 feet thick, deeper than any
Yukon ground Parker's ever mined.</i>

134
00:12:20,707 --> 00:12:21,973
It's a lot of dirt to move.

135
00:12:21,975 --> 00:12:23,608
It'd be expensive to strip.

136
00:12:23,610 --> 00:12:26,644
We haven't mined
much ground like that.

137
00:12:26,646 --> 00:12:29,180
Yeah, well, I mean, I can at
least tell you that the results

138
00:12:29,182 --> 00:12:31,950
are real and that we're
confident in what we found there.

139
00:12:31,952 --> 00:12:35,553
It's up to you to work out a deal that
makes it make sense for you, I guess.

140
00:12:35,555 --> 00:12:38,890
It's not gonna be an--
A particularly good deal

141
00:12:38,892 --> 00:12:41,960
because he is a gold miner
and he knows what he's got.

142
00:12:41,962 --> 00:12:43,595
- Yeah.
- Yeah.

143
00:12:43,597 --> 00:12:45,930
*bleep*

144
00:12:45,932 --> 00:12:47,966
Can you give me
some resource insurance?

145
00:12:47,968 --> 00:12:50,034
- No.

146
00:12:51,837 --> 00:12:53,805
A case of beer if
there's no gold in it.

147
00:12:53,807 --> 00:12:55,340
- Perfect.
- Call it-- call it even.

148
00:12:55,342 --> 00:13:00,245
<i>It's a rare chance
to mine such a gold-rich claim</i>

149
00:13:00,247 --> 00:13:06,284
<i>and Parker's only hope of securing enough
ground to keep his operation running.</i>

150
00:13:06,286 --> 00:13:09,754
<i> I'm gonna go see if we
can make something work with him.</i>

151
00:13:09,756 --> 00:13:13,158
In this industry, as soon as
you start getting desperate,

152
00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:17,228
people can, like,
smell it on you.

153
00:13:18,697 --> 00:13:19,998
Right.

154
00:13:21,467 --> 00:13:23,935
Very close to being desperate.

155
00:13:26,906 --> 00:13:33,444
He is, you know, not too interested
in being involved in TV stuff.

156
00:13:33,446 --> 00:13:38,416
And, uh, I definitely won't get
anywhere with him if you're with me.

157
00:13:44,657 --> 00:13:47,358
His camp's just up here,
so I'm booting you out here.

158
00:13:48,527 --> 00:13:49,794
There's a car behind me
that'll pick you up.

159
00:13:49,796 --> 00:13:55,233
I think that's your guy.
Yeah. Get out. Please.

160
00:14:22,194 --> 00:14:24,696
<i> On an urgent
hunt for ground,</i>

161
00:14:24,698 --> 00:14:29,801
<i>Parker Schnabel returns from a
meeting with a neighboring claim owner.</i>

162
00:14:29,803 --> 00:14:32,303
Um, right now, it's just that
it's a seller's market,

163
00:14:32,305 --> 00:14:35,807
you know, price of gold is high.

164
00:14:35,809 --> 00:14:40,645
He's offered it to us, not really
in the most favorable of terms.

165
00:14:40,647 --> 00:14:45,617
You know, I'm usually pretty
open about drilling and mining

166
00:14:45,619 --> 00:14:48,152
and deals and whatnot
because I don't really care,

167
00:14:48,154 --> 00:14:52,190
but he doesn't want
much details on TV, so.

168
00:14:52,192 --> 00:14:57,528
<i> Parker believes the 9-acre
cut could hold 8,000 ounces of gold,</i>

169
00:14:57,530 --> 00:15:04,936
<i>a $14 million haul, but to
mine the 60-foot deep cut,</i>

170
00:15:04,938 --> 00:15:10,408
<i>Parker will have to drop over $1
million just to get down to pay dirt</i>

171
00:15:10,410 --> 00:15:14,846
<i>and find out if the ground's
as rich as everyone says.</i>

172
00:15:14,848 --> 00:15:18,016
<i> They're willing
to gamble and take big risks.</i>

173
00:15:18,817 --> 00:15:20,818
We need to keep
the company running.

174
00:15:20,820 --> 00:15:23,288
Everything else is
just stupid details.

175
00:15:35,534 --> 00:15:39,037
<i> 100 miles
east of the Indian River,</i>

176
00:15:40,039 --> 00:15:44,542
<i>Rick Ness begins his fourth year
running his own mining operation</i>

177
00:15:44,544 --> 00:15:48,680
<i>after two rocky seasons.</i>

178
00:15:48,682 --> 00:15:50,748
I don't know what else to do
it right now, I mean, it's just...

179
00:15:50,750 --> 00:15:51,816
it's getting out of control.

180
00:15:51,818 --> 00:15:54,819
Shut the pump off,
shut the pump off.

181
00:15:54,821 --> 00:15:57,422
<i> What did I drag
all these guys into?</i>

182
00:15:57,424 --> 00:16:00,425
Shutting it down. They're going
home. It's as simple as that.

183
00:16:00,427 --> 00:16:03,828
<i> Last year, he came
back from the brink of disaster.</i>

184
00:16:03,830 --> 00:16:06,597
If we hadn't done this
this year,

185
00:16:06,599 --> 00:16:08,433
I don't know that there
would have been another year.

186
00:16:08,435 --> 00:16:10,535
This represents
your guys' bonuses.

187
00:16:13,872 --> 00:16:16,808
<i> Now he's getting
a jump on the season,</i>

188
00:16:16,810 --> 00:16:20,411
<i>arriving early to his
Duncan Creek claim.</i>

189
00:16:20,413 --> 00:16:22,413
<i>Big strong handsome dozer.</i>

190
00:16:22,915 --> 00:16:26,117
<i> And he's
bringing out the big guns.</i>

191
00:16:26,852 --> 00:16:27,952
<i> I've dropped
a half a million dollars</i>

192
00:16:27,954 --> 00:16:30,955
<i>on the biggest dozer
money can buy.</i>

193
00:16:30,957 --> 00:16:33,424
<i>This dozer is
obnoxiously expensive.</i>

194
00:16:36,829 --> 00:16:39,464
This thing can push
60 yards at a time.

195
00:16:39,466 --> 00:16:42,967
That's three of my
40-ton rock trucks at once.

196
00:16:43,502 --> 00:16:48,606
<i> The 200,000-pounds
900 horsepower Komatsu</i>

197
00:16:48,608 --> 00:16:52,276
<i>makes quick work of stripping
the first section of Rick's Creek Cut.</i>

198
00:16:52,278 --> 00:16:53,811
<i> Where we're
starting this year,</i>

199
00:16:53,813 --> 00:16:56,047
<i>the gold is really good, and all
it's gonna take is just, you know,</i>

200
00:16:56,049 --> 00:16:57,582
<i>an hour to the strip.</i>

201
00:16:57,584 --> 00:16:58,750
You know, is the cost worth it?

202
00:16:58,752 --> 00:17:00,318
I think we're going
to prove that it is.

203
00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,755
<i>We're going to be able to strip so
far ahead, so fast, it's almost, uh,</i>

204
00:17:03,757 --> 00:17:05,056
<i>it's almost ridiculous.</i>

205
00:17:05,058 --> 00:17:06,457
The bigger the better.

206
00:17:07,826 --> 00:17:09,327
This year's all about going big.

207
00:17:09,329 --> 00:17:12,830
I'm gonna double what I got last
year, we're going for 2,000 ounces.

208
00:17:12,832 --> 00:17:19,404
<i> 2,000 ounces, worth $3.6
million, would move Rick's operation</i>

209
00:17:19,406 --> 00:17:22,573
<i>to the next level and prove
that his bold decision</i>

210
00:17:22,575 --> 00:17:26,177
<i>to get out of the Klondike
was the right one.</i>

211
00:17:27,846 --> 00:17:30,715
You know, having a dozer,
especially a dozer this size,

212
00:17:30,717 --> 00:17:33,017
<i>is kind of one of the last
pieces of the puzzle to putting,</i>

213
00:17:33,019 --> 00:17:34,886
<i>you know, the entire
package together,</i>

214
00:17:34,888 --> 00:17:37,655
being a legitimate mine boss.

215
00:17:37,657 --> 00:17:40,892
Makes things pretty
*bleep* real.

216
00:17:40,894 --> 00:17:47,331
<i> This season, Rick has also
invested in a $1 million 750 excavator.</i>

217
00:17:47,333 --> 00:17:50,501
<i>He needs all the horsepower
he can get.</i>

218
00:17:50,503 --> 00:17:55,206
<i>After starting his operation with
a team of hometown buddies,</i>

219
00:17:55,208 --> 00:18:02,580
<i>years of struggling to find gold have
left him with just one, Chris Kruse.</i>

220
00:18:02,582 --> 00:18:05,650
<i>As good as it feels to
be back up here and doing our thing.</i>

221
00:18:05,652 --> 00:18:09,253
Being gone for six months,
it's never easy.

222
00:18:10,689 --> 00:18:14,392
<i>Got married to my fiancee
of ten years, Michelle.</i>

223
00:18:14,394 --> 00:18:17,195
<i>Rick married Michelle and I
in his backyard.</i>

224
00:18:17,197 --> 00:18:20,698
<i>And then we went to
a baseball game that night.</i>

225
00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:21,933
<i>A pretty good day.</i>

226
00:18:21,935 --> 00:18:24,435
And I hope everything, you know,

227
00:18:24,437 --> 00:18:26,671
plays out the way we hope it's
going to this year,

228
00:18:26,673 --> 00:18:30,241
because it'd make it that much sweeter
being gone from my wife for six months.

229
00:18:36,615 --> 00:18:37,949
Good to see you, buddy.

230
00:18:37,951 --> 00:18:39,750
The wash plant's
right where we left it.

231
00:18:39,752 --> 00:18:41,085
Yeah,
it didn't move itself.

232
00:18:41,087 --> 00:18:44,655
No, and it's still
half beaten to death.

233
00:18:44,657 --> 00:18:46,324
She's looking pretty sad.

234
00:18:49,428 --> 00:18:51,662
We're gonna have to
get this thing running because

235
00:18:51,664 --> 00:18:53,097
you know the name of the game.

236
00:18:53,099 --> 00:18:55,800
If there ain't gold coming in,
it's money going out the door.

237
00:18:55,802 --> 00:18:58,102
Not a good business model.

238
00:18:58,737 --> 00:19:00,872
Well, as usual, we've
been plagued with problems.

239
00:19:00,874 --> 00:19:03,674
I mean, Karla's... she's
focusing on other things, man.

240
00:19:03,676 --> 00:19:05,977
So she's... she's not
coming back this year.

241
00:19:05,979 --> 00:19:08,713
That's gonna suck. She's become
my little buddy around camp.

242
00:19:08,715 --> 00:19:11,382
You know, Carl, you know,
he's going in for his surgery

243
00:19:11,384 --> 00:19:15,453
and his health... I mean,
his health's number one.

244
00:19:15,455 --> 00:19:20,458
<i> Without mechanic Carl
Rosk or gold room operator Karla Ann,</i>

245
00:19:20,460 --> 00:19:23,694
<i>Rick is a miner without a crew.</i>

246
00:19:23,696 --> 00:19:27,098
It's tough losing, you know,
integral parts of the... the crew.

247
00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:28,499
But we're gonna have
to figure out a way to do it

248
00:19:28,501 --> 00:19:31,269
because we've got 2,000
ounces to get this year.

249
00:19:31,271 --> 00:19:33,604
There's definitely no
way I can fill both of their shoes.

250
00:19:33,606 --> 00:19:36,974
It would be nice to have another
set of hands, though, I'll tell you that.

251
00:19:36,976 --> 00:19:39,911
And I... I got... I will have
some help for you, I think.

252
00:19:39,913 --> 00:19:42,713
So, you guys can hit
the ground running.

253
00:19:42,715 --> 00:19:45,449
Yeah, there's a ton of
*bleep* to do. Let's go, man.

254
00:19:49,755 --> 00:19:51,722
<i> On the road
up to Duncan Creek,</i>

255
00:19:51,724 --> 00:19:56,294
<i>Rick's newest crew member
heads towards a fresh start.</i>

256
00:19:58,697 --> 00:20:01,432
<i> Here I am on
my way back up here to the Yukon.</i>

257
00:20:02,734 --> 00:20:04,802
<i>I just knew it was
time for a change.</i>

258
00:20:04,804 --> 00:20:06,504
<i>A whole new crew,
whole new blood</i>

259
00:20:06,506 --> 00:20:09,307
<i>and a whole new way
of mining, you know.</i>

260
00:20:14,646 --> 00:20:20,384
<i> Mining veteran Brennan
Ruault is jumping ship from Parker's claim.</i>

261
00:20:21,687 --> 00:20:24,455
Last year was, uh...
it was pretty brutal.

262
00:20:24,457 --> 00:20:27,925
Parker and I seemed to not
see eye to eye anymore.

263
00:20:27,927 --> 00:20:32,430
It's very draining and stressful
when you're angry half the time.

264
00:20:32,432 --> 00:20:34,465
Like, that's no way to work,
you know.

265
00:20:34,467 --> 00:20:38,869
<i> Brennan met Rick on
Parker's claim six years ago</i>

266
00:20:38,871 --> 00:20:43,441
<i>when Rick was the foreman and
Brennan a greenhorn operator.</i>

267
00:20:43,443 --> 00:20:46,277
Nice work today, boss.
We did good.

268
00:20:46,279 --> 00:20:49,013
Whoo!

269
00:20:49,015 --> 00:20:53,117
<i> Two seasons ago, he
was promoted to co-foreman himself...</i>

270
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,486
I guess the big question is
if you are game for that.

271
00:20:55,488 --> 00:20:56,854
I'll definitely step up.

272
00:20:56,856 --> 00:21:00,024
<i> ...but after a
series of run-ins with Parker...</i>

273
00:21:00,026 --> 00:21:01,559
I have hardly dug any of this.

274
00:21:01,561 --> 00:21:03,127
I don't care.

275
00:21:03,729 --> 00:21:06,030
Are you in charge,
or are you not in charge?

276
00:21:06,032 --> 00:21:08,432
<i> ...he reached
the end of his rope.</i>

277
00:21:08,434 --> 00:21:10,468
So *bleep* over this *bleep*,
man.

278
00:21:11,670 --> 00:21:13,571
I'll pack my *bleep*
and leave right now.

279
00:21:13,573 --> 00:21:15,339
I don't give a *bleep*
about any of this *bleep*.

280
00:21:16,475 --> 00:21:17,708
Right there, I kind of knew,
I was like,

281
00:21:17,710 --> 00:21:22,013
"Well, this, I don't think is
gonna go any further for me."

282
00:21:22,015 --> 00:21:24,448
This year, I just want to run
some big gear, move some dirt

283
00:21:24,450 --> 00:21:25,883
and, you know,

284
00:21:25,885 --> 00:21:27,852
go back to having a nice
fun summer like it used to be,

285
00:21:27,854 --> 00:21:31,389
and-- and kill it and hopefully
find a *bleep* ton of gold.

286
00:21:38,163 --> 00:21:42,300
Ricky, coming to see if you
need some help for this season.

287
00:21:42,302 --> 00:21:43,868
- How's it going, buddy?
- Good to see you, pal.

288
00:21:43,870 --> 00:21:46,904
- Yeah, *bleep*. Been a few fricking years, eh?
- No, *bleep*.

289
00:21:46,906 --> 00:21:49,807
- Man, I'm glad you're here.
- Yeah, me too.

290
00:21:49,809 --> 00:21:52,710
You know, Parker and I just
seemed to, for some reason,

291
00:21:52,712 --> 00:21:54,545
start butting heads a little
bit more in the last few years,

292
00:21:54,547 --> 00:21:55,846
and it's just made it--

293
00:21:55,848 --> 00:21:58,783
Made it quite tough and draining
at the end of the day and...

294
00:21:58,785 --> 00:22:00,885
Yeah. Well, I certainly
know that feeling.

295
00:22:00,887 --> 00:22:02,420
- Yeah, yeah.
- I know you know.

296
00:22:02,422 --> 00:22:03,854
- Yeah.
- So now we're reunited.

297
00:22:03,856 --> 00:22:04,955
Yes, sir.

298
00:22:04,957 --> 00:22:06,857
I can't wait to get out
there and get started

299
00:22:06,859 --> 00:22:09,060
and start learning some
new ground here, man.

300
00:22:09,062 --> 00:22:10,928
- Yeah, buddy.
- It's gonna be fun.

301
00:22:10,930 --> 00:22:12,229
I'm gonna throw my boots on.

302
00:22:12,231 --> 00:22:13,898
Why don't you go throw your
work clothes, I'll meet down there.

303
00:22:13,900 --> 00:22:15,433
Yeah.
Sounds good, bud, thanks.

304
00:22:19,104 --> 00:22:21,138
Oh, boy.

305
00:22:21,140 --> 00:22:23,207
- How's it going, buddy?
- Brennan.

306
00:22:23,209 --> 00:22:24,709
Kruse boy.

307
00:22:24,711 --> 00:22:26,043
- What's going on, buddy?
- Not much. Nice to see you.

308
00:22:26,045 --> 00:22:27,812
- Oh, you look good.
- Thanks.

309
00:22:27,814 --> 00:22:30,448
Wow.
We got a big crew.

310
00:22:30,450 --> 00:22:32,416
-  Right?
-  Yeah, huge.

311
00:22:32,418 --> 00:22:36,987
I'm excited personally to start getting
some gold, so let's get after it, buddy.

312
00:22:53,772 --> 00:22:56,640
<i> I've been through some pretty
complicated scenarios in the military</i>

313
00:22:56,642 --> 00:23:01,045
where my life and my career
was at jeopardy every single day.

314
00:23:01,047 --> 00:23:06,384
And reality is gold mining is the
most difficult thing I've ever done.

315
00:23:08,754 --> 00:23:09,854
<i>But I'm not a quitter.</i>

316
00:23:09,856 --> 00:23:12,623
I've never quit
anything in my life.

317
00:23:12,625 --> 00:23:17,027
If we can just find ground,
I feel like we could succeed.

318
00:23:17,662 --> 00:23:20,564
<i> Special Forces
veteran Fred Lewis</i>

319
00:23:20,566 --> 00:23:26,737
<i>is on a 1,500-mile journey determined
to resurrect his gold mining dream.</i>

320
00:23:26,739 --> 00:23:29,774
<i> I've tried to settle in
with the civilian lifestyle,</i>

321
00:23:29,776 --> 00:23:33,577
<i>but nine-to-five job
is just not in my DNA.</i>

322
00:23:33,579 --> 00:23:36,947
<i>I packed up all my stuff.
I'm driving up to the Yukon.</i>

323
00:23:36,949 --> 00:23:39,250
<i>I need this freedom.
I need the risk.</i>

324
00:23:39,252 --> 00:23:41,485
<i>My mission is to find ground.</i>

325
00:23:41,487 --> 00:23:45,189
It's the only place I know where there
is good gold in the ground for a fact.

326
00:23:46,425 --> 00:23:50,594
Because last season, I would pretty
much categorize as a complete failure.

327
00:23:50,596 --> 00:23:54,598
I had a window of opportunity.
I took it.

328
00:23:54,633 --> 00:23:56,667
<i>In Oregon last year,</i>

329
00:23:56,669 --> 00:23:58,803
<i>Fred and his band of
combat veterans</i>

330
00:23:58,805 --> 00:24:02,373
<i>mined just $12,000
worth of gold.</i>

331
00:24:03,975 --> 00:24:06,243
That puts our
total at 6.39,

332
00:24:06,245 --> 00:24:09,113
which is honestly embarrassing.

333
00:24:12,250 --> 00:24:16,587
<i> Now, after striking
out prospecting in the lower 48,</i>

334
00:24:16,589 --> 00:24:21,992
<i>Fred's driving into the fiercest
war for ground in decades,</i>

335
00:24:21,994 --> 00:24:27,164
<i>hanging his hopes on a meeting
with his only contact in the Yukon.</i>

336
00:24:28,767 --> 00:24:32,369
Parker is the only one in this game I
know that I can trust wholeheartedly,

337
00:24:32,371 --> 00:24:34,772
and he's the only one I know
that will give me advice.

338
00:24:34,774 --> 00:24:38,976
Maybe he has somebody I can go talk to,
maybe he has ground I don't know about.

339
00:24:38,978 --> 00:24:40,544
It's really the only option
we have at this point.

340
00:24:40,546 --> 00:24:42,213
It's a Hail Mary,

341
00:24:42,215 --> 00:24:45,049
but I'd rather throw a Hail
Mary than lose the game.

342
00:24:59,531 --> 00:25:02,867
<i> Fred Lewis has
traveled to the Yukon</i>

343
00:25:02,869 --> 00:25:07,605
<i>in a desperate last attempt to
find ground to mine this season.</i>

344
00:25:07,607 --> 00:25:10,174
- Hello?
-  I'm in here.

345
00:25:11,910 --> 00:25:14,111
- You want a coffee?
-  I'm good, thanks.

346
00:25:15,915 --> 00:25:18,415
So how's everything
going here, man, um?

347
00:25:18,417 --> 00:25:23,787
It's going good. We just signed the
lease on a block of ground that is--

348
00:25:23,789 --> 00:25:26,524
Average depth is
like 55 feet of mud.

349
00:25:26,526 --> 00:25:28,392
-  Oh, wow!
- Yeah.

350
00:25:29,494 --> 00:25:32,296
Man, so you just gotta go
layer by layer on this, huh?

351
00:25:33,565 --> 00:25:36,267
-  So that's a big project.
- That is yuck.

352
00:25:36,269 --> 00:25:38,435
That leads me to something
I was going to ask you about

353
00:25:38,437 --> 00:25:42,406
because, the team, we put a lot
into this offseason looking for ground,

354
00:25:42,408 --> 00:25:45,409
and it's just... there's
nothing that was viable.

355
00:25:45,411 --> 00:25:48,913
So this is like my last
hurrah to come up here

356
00:25:48,915 --> 00:25:49,547
and see if I can find something.

357
00:25:49,549 --> 00:25:50,648
Right.

358
00:25:50,650 --> 00:25:53,450
And so you're just out
looking for ground right now.

359
00:25:53,452 --> 00:25:56,220
Yeah, I don't necessarily want to ask
you for help, but I know you might know--

360
00:25:56,222 --> 00:25:57,788
Aren't we all
looking for ground?

361
00:25:57,790 --> 00:26:00,424
Yeah, right?

362
00:26:00,426 --> 00:26:03,694
It is a little conflicting
for me because, like,

363
00:26:03,696 --> 00:26:08,666
there's a very finite number of
ounces of gold in the ground...

364
00:26:08,668 --> 00:26:14,004
And at a certain point, everybody that's
looking for ground's competition, right?

365
00:26:16,808 --> 00:26:18,609
Now, I'm like trying to ask
for a favor,

366
00:26:18,611 --> 00:26:20,911
but we look for
different things, though.

367
00:26:20,913 --> 00:26:22,212
We don't need
a big piece of property.

368
00:26:22,214 --> 00:26:26,016
I think property you would
probably not even look at.

369
00:26:26,018 --> 00:26:29,286
So I was kind of hoping you might be
able to point me in the right direction.

370
00:26:31,923 --> 00:26:33,390
Hmm.

371
00:26:36,127 --> 00:26:38,862
You'll have no problem
finding ground.

372
00:26:38,864 --> 00:26:41,031
But good ground.

373
00:26:41,033 --> 00:26:43,300
- That's the difficult part.
- Right.

374
00:26:45,370 --> 00:26:50,040
Very hard business, and it's a
difficult community to break into.

375
00:26:51,409 --> 00:26:56,380
The Yukon will punch you in the
face pretty hard if you're not careful.

376
00:27:00,819 --> 00:27:03,587
What would you do
if you were me, honestly?

377
00:27:03,589 --> 00:27:05,422
I don't know.

378
00:27:05,424 --> 00:27:07,992
I was in your shoes when I met
Tony Beets. Probably go talk to him.

379
00:27:07,994 --> 00:27:11,795
You think that would be wise just to
show up and try and get his number

380
00:27:11,797 --> 00:27:14,231
and call him and see
if he'll meet with me?

381
00:27:14,233 --> 00:27:16,000
Yeah, just show up
at Paradise Hill.

382
00:27:16,002 --> 00:27:17,835
- Yeah.
- Yeah.

383
00:27:17,837 --> 00:27:19,903
All right.

384
00:27:19,905 --> 00:27:23,507
You know, if you're into it and, um,
you know what you're getting into,

385
00:27:23,509 --> 00:27:26,010
then more power to you.

386
00:27:27,612 --> 00:27:29,880
All right, man, I'll get out of your
hair. I know you're busier than me,

387
00:27:29,882 --> 00:27:33,851
so that's pretty busy,
but thanks, dude.

388
00:27:33,853 --> 00:27:35,686
Oh, no worries.
It's good to see you.

389
00:27:35,688 --> 00:27:37,655
- Appreciate it.
- No worries.

390
00:27:37,657 --> 00:27:38,722
Let me know if
you need anything.

391
00:27:38,724 --> 00:27:40,257
Yeah, you know I will.

392
00:27:42,827 --> 00:27:46,430
<i>I wasn't expecting much, but I
was expecting a lot more than that.</i>

393
00:27:56,841 --> 00:28:00,511
Definitely not comfortable
right now with what Parker said.

394
00:28:00,513 --> 00:28:04,081
It does not lead me to
believe this is gonna be easy.

395
00:28:17,729 --> 00:28:19,897
You don't have time to eat,
except for at lunch.

396
00:28:19,899 --> 00:28:23,333
Don't have time to, like-- barely
have enough time to drink water.

397
00:28:26,237 --> 00:28:29,440
Now we're in kind of
a rush mode.

398
00:28:29,442 --> 00:28:33,510
<i>We are doing a big push right now to
expose the cuts, get them all ready to go.</i>

399
00:28:33,512 --> 00:28:36,613
That'll allow myself and Tony
to focus out on the Indian.

400
00:28:36,615 --> 00:28:42,252
<i> As the Beets Family wait on a
water license for their Indian River claims,</i>

401
00:28:42,254 --> 00:28:49,159
<i>it's all-hands-on-deck to strip the
Nugget Cut at Paradise Hill in record time.</i>

402
00:28:51,529 --> 00:28:55,699
Now, Ruby and I are at home, everybody's
is gonna have to work extra hard

403
00:28:55,701 --> 00:28:59,036
to make sure that we
get the 9,000 ounces.

404
00:28:59,771 --> 00:29:02,806
That's Tony Beets for you.
Go big or go home, right?

405
00:29:02,808 --> 00:29:05,642
Balls to the walls all the time.

406
00:29:05,644 --> 00:29:10,681
<i> With Tony's new
D11 dozer and 950 excavator,</i>

407
00:29:10,683 --> 00:29:15,018
<i>they've removed 80 feet of
overburden in just four days,</i>

408
00:29:15,020 --> 00:29:19,189
<i>revealing a massive
40-foot wall of pay dirt.</i>

409
00:29:20,058 --> 00:29:24,161
We have hit gravel
and pay in the back.

410
00:29:26,464 --> 00:29:28,966
Yippee ki-yay.

411
00:29:30,869 --> 00:29:33,904
<i> Monica's school
friend Ruby Mahoney</i>

412
00:29:33,906 --> 00:29:37,441
<i>pulls down the pay dirt
to load it into rock trucks.</i>

413
00:29:40,011 --> 00:29:41,712
<i> You know,
it's crunch time.</i>

414
00:29:41,714 --> 00:29:44,148
<i>We have to get this dirt moved.</i>

415
00:29:50,388 --> 00:29:53,991
Holy *bleep*,
it's *bleep* solid.

416
00:30:10,275 --> 00:30:14,211
Oh, I... I'm just wasting time
here, I cannot get through this.

417
00:30:14,946 --> 00:30:17,014
<i>This is just not working.</i>

418
00:30:19,918 --> 00:30:22,319
Tony, do you copy?
Tony, do you copy?

419
00:30:23,721 --> 00:30:25,422
This wall is completely solid.

420
00:30:25,424 --> 00:30:26,757
<i>We are at a *bleep* standstill.</i>

421
00:30:26,759 --> 00:30:29,159
Can you please
come and talk to me?

422
00:30:51,983 --> 00:30:54,318
This wall is
completely frozen.

423
00:30:55,887 --> 00:30:56,553
Yeah, she's solid.

424
00:31:01,759 --> 00:31:07,030
<i> To rip through the frozen
section, Tony plans to take his brand-new</i>

425
00:31:07,032 --> 00:31:14,004
<i>$2.7 million D11 dozer to
the top of the pay dirt cliff.</i>

426
00:31:14,006 --> 00:31:17,207
<i>He'll then go right to the
edge of the 40-foot drop</i>

427
00:31:17,209 --> 00:31:20,043
<i>and use the 10-ton ripper shank</i>

428
00:31:20,045 --> 00:31:26,049
<i>to break up the frozen layer so the
excavator can get to the pay dirt beneath.</i>

429
00:31:30,922 --> 00:31:33,056
The D11 has arrived.

430
00:32:04,989 --> 00:32:09,159
You get high enough, sink the ripper
in, pull the whole *bleep* cliff down.

431
00:32:23,942 --> 00:32:27,844
<i> Tony maneuvers
the 120-ton machine</i>

432
00:32:27,846 --> 00:32:31,548
<i>right to the very cusp
of the 40-foot drop.</i>

433
00:32:31,550 --> 00:32:33,317
Tear the *bleep* out.

434
00:33:04,916 --> 00:33:08,085
<i>As Tony busts
through the permafrost,</i>

435
00:33:08,087 --> 00:33:11,154
<i>Ruby removes
the pay dirt beneath.</i>

436
00:33:29,607 --> 00:33:35,879
<i> Tony has pay dirt ready to
run a full month earlier than last year,</i>

437
00:33:35,881 --> 00:33:40,317
<i>a vital head start on his
mammoth 9,000-ounce goal.</i>

438
00:33:45,089 --> 00:33:46,957
Huh?

439
00:33:52,597 --> 00:33:53,997
You want to say that again?

440
00:34:08,746 --> 00:34:11,748
I'm finally, uh,
almost to the claim.

441
00:34:11,750 --> 00:34:14,584
<i>Parker Schnabel's
foreman, Mitch Blaschke,</i>

442
00:34:14,586 --> 00:34:19,656
<i>arrives at Scribner Creek
for a milestone season.</i>

443
00:34:19,658 --> 00:34:24,394
You know, I can't believe that
this year is my tenth year of mining.

444
00:34:25,997 --> 00:34:27,597
You know, when I started this,

445
00:34:27,599 --> 00:34:28,799
I was just a young guy
coming up here

446
00:34:28,801 --> 00:34:31,568
trying to figure it out
and wanting to work on stuff

447
00:34:31,570 --> 00:34:36,273
and, you know, now I'm helping
run Parker's mine site.

448
00:34:36,275 --> 00:34:38,642
<i> Mitch first
came to the Klondike</i>

449
00:34:38,644 --> 00:34:44,614
<i>as a fresh-faced mechanic for Todd
Hoffman with no gold mining experience.</i>

450
00:34:44,616 --> 00:34:47,984
<i>For the last seven years,
he's worked for Parker...</i>

451
00:34:47,986 --> 00:34:50,821
He's gonna be coming right
through here, so watch yourselves.

452
00:34:50,823 --> 00:34:52,789
<i>rising up the ranks</i>

453
00:34:52,791 --> 00:34:54,491
<i>to become his
most trusted wingman.</i>

454
00:34:54,493 --> 00:34:56,393
Whoo!

455
00:34:57,962 --> 00:35:00,497
<i> But now he's
without his co-foreman,</i>

456
00:35:00,499 --> 00:35:02,032
<i>Brennan Ruault.</i>

457
00:35:02,633 --> 00:35:04,868
He's my go-to guy, I mean,
we're bro-men, you know,

458
00:35:04,870 --> 00:35:09,806
we do all this together and we
work so well with one another.

459
00:35:09,808 --> 00:35:13,009
To try and find another guy
like that, um,

460
00:35:13,011 --> 00:35:15,112
it just doesn't
come around that often.

461
00:35:16,347 --> 00:35:17,881
It is what it is, you know.

462
00:35:17,883 --> 00:35:20,884
<i>I'm back here and just gonna
have to try and make the best of it.</i>

463
00:35:20,886 --> 00:35:23,120
Here we are.

464
00:35:23,122 --> 00:35:24,888
Oh, I see he's got a golf cart.

465
00:35:24,890 --> 00:35:26,790
- What's happening?
-  What's up?

466
00:35:26,792 --> 00:35:29,159
Now see I might go for
a ride with you in that.

467
00:35:29,161 --> 00:35:30,994
- How you been, man?
-  Good. How are you?

468
00:35:30,996 --> 00:35:31,928
Not too bad.

469
00:35:31,930 --> 00:35:33,430
Good to see you.

470
00:35:33,432 --> 00:35:35,398
- How are you doing?
- Good.

471
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:36,566
I'm sure you heard
about Brennan.

472
00:35:36,568 --> 00:35:39,603
I talked to him just
a couple of weeks ago there,

473
00:35:39,605 --> 00:35:41,905
said that he wasn't
going to be here this year.

474
00:35:41,907 --> 00:35:44,708
I'm just pissed off that he
didn't tell me until March.

475
00:35:44,742 --> 00:35:46,276
You know?

476
00:35:49,447 --> 00:35:52,415
I mean, we've been working hard
to get this system running good.

477
00:35:52,417 --> 00:35:54,985
Then you take a guy
like that out of the mix and--

478
00:35:54,987 --> 00:35:58,655
It's a-- it's a pisser, but
that's all right. We'll be fine.

479
00:35:58,657 --> 00:35:59,990
Yeah, we'll just have
to figure it out.

480
00:35:59,992 --> 00:36:02,425
See what we can do, I mean.

481
00:36:02,427 --> 00:36:04,094
What's the game plan
for the season?

482
00:36:04,096 --> 00:36:05,996
We picked up
a new block of ground.

483
00:36:05,998 --> 00:36:09,733
Go Tuesday,
we had the first meeting,

484
00:36:09,735 --> 00:36:11,101
and on Saturday,
we signed the deal.

485
00:36:11,103 --> 00:36:13,837
Oh, wow! How deep is it?

486
00:36:13,839 --> 00:36:17,607
Average is... about 50.

487
00:36:17,609 --> 00:36:18,842
Well, it's got
a lot at the bottom.

488
00:36:18,844 --> 00:36:20,744
Just want to make
sure we don't *bleep* it up.

489
00:36:20,746 --> 00:36:23,747
Well, I guess, uh, yeah.
I'll go get settled in.

490
00:36:23,749 --> 00:36:25,081
You can show me
your big project here,

491
00:36:25,083 --> 00:36:26,716
and we'll figure out
a game plan.

492
00:36:26,718 --> 00:36:28,718
For sure.
I'm glad you're back.

493
00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:29,853
I hope you're glad to be here,

494
00:36:29,855 --> 00:36:32,155
'cause, *bleep*, do we have
a lot of work to do.

495
00:36:32,157 --> 00:36:33,690
If I didn't want to be here,
I wouldn't be here, right?

496
00:36:33,692 --> 00:36:34,624
Right.

497
00:36:34,626 --> 00:36:37,027
- That's usually-- Whenever I--

498
00:36:37,029 --> 00:36:39,829
Whenever I say that, that usually
means I don't want to be there,

499
00:36:39,831 --> 00:36:42,966
but I don't want
to answer the question.

500
00:36:45,937 --> 00:36:47,904
And, you know, we definitely
need some new dirt here,

501
00:36:47,906 --> 00:36:49,839
but it sounds like
it's pretty deep.

502
00:36:49,841 --> 00:36:53,243
So I'm pretty interested
to go take a look at that,

503
00:36:53,245 --> 00:36:54,878
see what we got going on there,

504
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:55,912
and just see what we're
gonna have to do

505
00:36:55,914 --> 00:36:57,214
to make this season work.

506
00:36:57,216 --> 00:36:59,616
And, you know,
without Brennan here, uh,

507
00:36:59,618 --> 00:37:02,152
it's definitely
not gonna be easy.

508
00:37:08,926 --> 00:37:10,493
<i>As the lone foreman,</i>

509
00:37:10,495 --> 00:37:14,331
<i>it's on Mitch to figure out
how to tackle the new cut.</i>

510
00:37:21,906 --> 00:37:22,672
What's
happening there, young man?

511
00:37:22,674 --> 00:37:24,107
How's it going, Mitch?

512
00:37:24,109 --> 00:37:26,142
Oh, not too bad. Well, I see
you guys found this place.

513
00:37:26,144 --> 00:37:27,310
Yeah.

514
00:37:27,312 --> 00:37:30,313
<i> Tyson Lee, last
year's rookie plant boss,</i>

515
00:37:30,315 --> 00:37:35,752
<i>and gold room expert Chris Doumitt
joined Mitch at the new ground.</i>

516
00:37:35,754 --> 00:37:39,823
So what we got here is this section
of ground through these claims here.

517
00:37:39,825 --> 00:37:43,059
This stuff with the way it's
drilling, if the math is right,

518
00:37:43,061 --> 00:37:46,329
might be 10 ounces an hour
with just one wash plant.

519
00:37:46,331 --> 00:37:47,430
- Seriously?
- Yeah.

520
00:37:47,432 --> 00:37:51,067
So we're talking like
8,000 ounces possibly, then?

521
00:37:51,069 --> 00:37:53,670
The only problem
is 60 feet deep.

522
00:37:53,672 --> 00:37:54,704
Oh, geez!

523
00:37:54,706 --> 00:37:56,606
I've been doing it for
ten years now up here

524
00:37:56,608 --> 00:37:58,775
- and we've never gone this deep.
-  No.

525
00:37:58,777 --> 00:38:00,910
<i>We're looking at a million
square feet of mud to move.</i>

526
00:38:00,912 --> 00:38:03,513
<i>So we're gonna have to mine this a lot
differently than we've done anything else.</i>

527
00:38:03,515 --> 00:38:06,950
We've never had to tackle
a project like this.

528
00:38:06,952 --> 00:38:10,420
So once we do get it opened
up, we're gonna gut shoot

529
00:38:10,422 --> 00:38:11,621
this thing right through here.

530
00:38:11,623 --> 00:38:13,356
We're gonna take
just the best because

531
00:38:13,358 --> 00:38:16,793
when you're going 60 feet deep,
you can't hit marginal ground.

532
00:38:16,795 --> 00:38:19,162
It's going to look like a
crater. It's going to look like

533
00:38:19,164 --> 00:38:21,064
the Grand Canyon
by the time we're done.

534
00:38:21,399 --> 00:38:23,667
<i> To get down
to the pay layer,</i>

535
00:38:23,669 --> 00:38:30,674
<i>Parker's crew normally strips around 10 feet
of overburden with dozers and excavators.</i>

536
00:38:30,676 --> 00:38:33,910
<i>Mitch will have to dig a narrow
canyon to follow the course</i>

537
00:38:33,912 --> 00:38:38,081
<i>of the ancient riverbed
and its deposits of gold.</i>

538
00:38:39,417 --> 00:38:41,651
<i>He'll open a small section
first to find out</i>

539
00:38:41,653 --> 00:38:45,188
<i>if the ground
is flush with gold.</i>

540
00:38:46,924 --> 00:38:50,160
<i>He wants to do it
in just 30 days.</i>

541
00:38:50,628 --> 00:38:52,028
Yeah.

542
00:38:52,030 --> 00:38:52,762
Should we name it Mud Mountain?

543
00:38:52,764 --> 00:38:54,197
That works, because, like I say,

544
00:38:54,199 --> 00:38:56,299
you're gonna have a mountain
range by the time we're done.

545
00:38:56,301 --> 00:38:57,934
It's gonna be tough.

546
00:38:57,936 --> 00:39:00,603
There's no part of this that's
gonna be easy, not to mention that,

547
00:39:00,605 --> 00:39:01,705
you know, we don't have...

548
00:39:01,707 --> 00:39:02,605
you know,
we don't have Brennan here.

549
00:39:02,607 --> 00:39:04,341
We don't have, you know,
a lot of people

550
00:39:04,343 --> 00:39:06,443
who have a lot of experience
with moving material like this.

551
00:39:06,445 --> 00:39:09,012
I mean, if we have issues with
any of the machinery in this,

552
00:39:09,014 --> 00:39:12,749
we're gonna end up a couple
hundred grand into this cut real quick.

553
00:39:12,751 --> 00:39:13,850
- Yeah.
- Let's hope it pays out.

554
00:39:13,852 --> 00:39:15,485
I'm gonna get back to the yard

555
00:39:15,487 --> 00:39:17,821
because we've got a ton of
gear in the yard that needs work.

556
00:39:17,823 --> 00:39:21,491
'Cause the last thing we want is
*bleep* breaking down out here.

557
00:39:21,493 --> 00:39:23,393
- All right. Let's do 'er, boys!
- Solid plan.

558
00:39:24,795 --> 00:39:26,763
<i> To dig out
the first section,</i>

559
00:39:26,765 --> 00:39:29,899
<i>Mitch taps rising crew member,
Tyson Lee.</i>

560
00:39:29,901 --> 00:39:32,435
How's everyone
doing this morning?

561
00:39:32,437 --> 00:39:34,637
-  Never been better.
-  That's good.

562
00:39:34,639 --> 00:39:37,073
Parker was saying that
he wants this cut opened up

563
00:39:37,075 --> 00:39:41,177
by June 1st when we started
it, so that gives us 30 days.

564
00:39:41,179 --> 00:39:43,747
Just be careful. The roads are
slick and we just gotta try and move

565
00:39:43,749 --> 00:39:47,851
as much mud as we can and try
and keep the trucks from getting stuck.

566
00:39:47,853 --> 00:39:50,353
- Drive safely fast.
- Yeah, exactly.

567
00:39:50,355 --> 00:39:51,154
Okay.

568
00:39:51,156 --> 00:39:54,724
-  Awesome.
- Let's get to work!

569
00:39:54,726 --> 00:39:58,428
<i> Tyson and his crew are up
against the toughest dirt moving operation</i>

570
00:39:58,430 --> 00:40:01,131
<i>in Parker's mining history.</i>

571
00:40:01,133 --> 00:40:05,869
<i>When the melting snow mixes
with the thawing find glacial silt,</i>

572
00:40:05,871 --> 00:40:09,839
<i>it creates a toxic
combination, a slippery surface</i>

573
00:40:09,841 --> 00:40:13,042
<i>riddled with
quicksand-like holes.</i>

574
00:40:14,645 --> 00:40:18,014
<i> We're gonna have
three excavators swinging,</i>

575
00:40:18,016 --> 00:40:21,951
<i>five rock trucks, four Cats
ripping and pushing day and night.</i>

576
00:40:21,953 --> 00:40:23,953
<i> Short on crew,
Parker pitches in.</i>

577
00:40:23,955 --> 00:40:27,257
It's definitely gonna be a
difficult block of ground to mine.

578
00:40:27,259 --> 00:40:30,326
You know, some of the more
deep ground that--

579
00:40:30,328 --> 00:40:32,729
<i>That's on the Indian River, it
does have some high royalty.</i>

580
00:40:32,731 --> 00:40:35,131
For sure it's gonna
be a challenge.

581
00:40:36,434 --> 00:40:38,201
I wouldn't be moving 60 feet
of mud if I thought there

582
00:40:38,203 --> 00:40:40,270
wasn't a hell of a lot of
gold down here.

583
00:40:54,652 --> 00:40:55,985
This is only the second
time I've been in a helicopter

584
00:40:55,987 --> 00:40:58,421
without a parachute,
jumping out.

585
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,628
<i> Greenhorn miner
Fred Lewis</i>

586
00:41:05,630 --> 00:41:12,035
<i>is hitching a ride with Klondike legend
Tony Beets in search of a claim to mine.</i>

587
00:41:23,180 --> 00:41:25,348
<i> Last year,
the Indian River produced</i>

588
00:41:25,350 --> 00:41:29,385
<i>over $30 million worth of gold.</i>

589
00:41:29,387 --> 00:41:35,058
<i>High gold prices now make leasing
good ground almost impossible.</i>

590
00:41:35,060 --> 00:41:37,494
You would come up here, and
you would think there's so much, like,

591
00:41:37,496 --> 00:41:39,629
hard-to-reach spots,
but I'm seeing houses

592
00:41:39,631 --> 00:41:43,032
up in these little valleys where
people have already come up.

593
00:41:45,603 --> 00:41:48,505
Makes me wonder how
much work's gonna have to go

594
00:41:48,507 --> 00:41:51,274
into finding something that I
can actually mine this season.

595
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:19,269
Yeah, and I don't have a lot.
I like a challenge, though.

596
00:42:31,982 --> 00:42:33,082
Yeah.

597
00:42:38,589 --> 00:42:39,989
Right.

598
00:42:39,991 --> 00:42:43,393
If you had a small group here,
how... how would you hit it?

599
00:42:46,130 --> 00:42:47,430
Yeah. Well, after the doctor?

600
00:42:57,775 --> 00:42:59,142
Okay.

601
00:43:03,614 --> 00:43:05,281
I definitely want to look at it.

602
00:43:05,283 --> 00:43:08,017
All right. Well,
I'll get out of your hair.

603
00:43:08,019 --> 00:43:09,986
Appreciate it, Tony.

604
00:43:21,966 --> 00:43:24,300
<i> Fred finally has
a lead for a landowner</i>

605
00:43:24,302 --> 00:43:30,573
<i>who may lease him ground, but it's 45
miles east of the gold-rich Indian River.</i>

606
00:43:30,575 --> 00:43:34,177
I'm gonna go and talk to Paul
Phillips and see what he has to offer.

607
00:43:35,546 --> 00:43:38,514
You know, people may think
that I don't know what I'm doing

608
00:43:38,516 --> 00:43:42,652
or that I'm over my head here.
You know what? I am over my head.

609
00:43:42,654 --> 00:43:44,821
Went up against a lot of
odds in my life, you know,

610
00:43:44,823 --> 00:43:50,627
just becoming a Green Beret,
the attrition rate is over 90%.

611
00:43:50,629 --> 00:43:53,763
So at this point,
I'm all in for gold mining,

612
00:43:53,765 --> 00:43:56,199
and I don't see anything
that's gonna stop me.

613
00:44:11,715 --> 00:44:13,950
This thing is ready
to *bleep* go. It's turnkey.

614
00:44:13,952 --> 00:44:17,687
<i> At the stripped
Creek Cut, Rick brings Kruse</i>

615
00:44:17,689 --> 00:44:21,524
<i>and new crew member
Brennan up to speed.</i>

616
00:44:21,526 --> 00:44:23,226
Well, we're going for
2,000 ounces this year,

617
00:44:23,228 --> 00:44:24,794
so we're gonna have to
seriously up our game.

618
00:44:24,862 --> 00:44:27,497
<i>I mean, the gold that we got out of
this creek bed last year was good.</i>

619
00:44:27,499 --> 00:44:29,065
<i>It got us to our goal.</i>

620
00:44:29,067 --> 00:44:33,603
That was where we found that 1
1/2 ounce nugget at the very end, so--

621
00:44:33,605 --> 00:44:34,671
<i> That's crazy.</i>

622
00:44:34,673 --> 00:44:36,406
From what we left last
year in the Creek Cut,

623
00:44:36,408 --> 00:44:39,008
I figured we got 600-700
ounces to get started sluicing with.

624
00:44:39,010 --> 00:44:40,576
And that's just money
in the bank.

625
00:44:40,578 --> 00:44:43,880
That gets us the money we need
to start stripping these deeper cuts.

626
00:44:43,882 --> 00:44:45,448
It's early in the season, but
we really got to get moving.

627
00:44:45,450 --> 00:44:48,918
So the wash plant's where we left it
last year, it's got to get moved over here.

628
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:52,088
That distribution box we've been
working on, we got to slam that thing on.

629
00:44:52,090 --> 00:44:53,656
And we're ahead of
the game from last year, so.

630
00:44:53,658 --> 00:44:56,159
We are, yeah, exactly.

631
00:44:56,161 --> 00:44:58,428
I basically-- I want to be
sluicing by the end of the day.

632
00:44:58,430 --> 00:45:00,730
It's kind of
a time crunch thing.

633
00:45:00,732 --> 00:45:03,099
Let's keep it that way.

634
00:45:04,968 --> 00:45:07,637
<i> Short of time
and manpower...</i>

635
00:45:07,639 --> 00:45:08,838
Let's go, you *bleep*!

636
00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:12,041
<i> ...Rick's skeleton
crew must first attach</i>

637
00:45:12,043 --> 00:45:17,180
<i>the 1.5 ton distribution box
to wash plant Rocky.</i>

638
00:45:18,916 --> 00:45:20,750
Why don't you guys wrap
your nuggets around

639
00:45:20,752 --> 00:45:22,919
how the *bleep* we're gonna
get that thing in there.

640
00:45:22,921 --> 00:45:28,257
<i> To help out, Rick's tapped local
heavy load truck driver Nathan Thornington.</i>

641
00:45:29,426 --> 00:45:31,661
-  How's it going?
- Good, buddy.

642
00:45:31,663 --> 00:45:33,730
I heard you guys needed
help out here this season.

643
00:45:33,732 --> 00:45:35,665
- Oh, yeah.
- How's it going, Kruse?

644
00:45:35,667 --> 00:45:36,999
Always good to see you.

645
00:45:37,001 --> 00:45:38,968
Buddy, you showed
up just in time.

646
00:45:41,105 --> 00:45:42,705
Really happy that we got
Nathan to join our crew.

647
00:45:42,707 --> 00:45:45,274
I've trusted him for years
to move my wash plants,

648
00:45:45,276 --> 00:45:47,376
my heavy equipment.
So compared to that,

649
00:45:47,378 --> 00:45:49,579
moving this distribution
box should be easy.

650
00:45:49,581 --> 00:45:51,481
<i>I've been around
this sort of stuff all my life.</i>

651
00:45:51,483 --> 00:45:55,251
And so hopefully we
can get this in on the plant.

652
00:45:57,054 --> 00:46:01,991
<i> Rick plans to maneuver the
ten-foot box into the heart of the wash plant</i>

653
00:46:01,993 --> 00:46:07,163
<i>using the 480 Excavator,
then winch it into position.</i>

654
00:46:11,201 --> 00:46:12,635
Keep going.

655
00:46:12,637 --> 00:46:14,003
Yeah!

656
00:46:14,005 --> 00:46:15,938
We might be able
to slide it right in.

657
00:46:15,940 --> 00:46:18,107
-  All right.
-  If you go underneath.

658
00:46:18,109 --> 00:46:20,009
If you just go real slow, Rick.

659
00:46:26,083 --> 00:46:27,216
Whoa!

660
00:46:31,155 --> 00:46:32,688
We'll blame it on the new guy.

661
00:46:32,690 --> 00:46:33,756
That's you.

662
00:46:33,758 --> 00:46:35,358
- Oh, *bleep*!

663
00:46:38,896 --> 00:46:42,131
Haven't you guys ever moved
a couch into an apartment?

664
00:46:42,133 --> 00:46:43,933
Just think of it
as a real heavy couch.

665
00:46:43,935 --> 00:46:45,201
Okay, come in.

666
00:46:45,203 --> 00:46:47,270
Down, down, down, down.

667
00:46:48,939 --> 00:46:50,173
Okay.

668
00:46:53,844 --> 00:46:56,078
There we go.

669
00:46:57,648 --> 00:46:59,048
<i> It's really nice
having Brennan here.</i>

670
00:46:59,050 --> 00:47:00,516
You know, he does have several
years of experience now.

671
00:47:00,518 --> 00:47:03,519
We're not gonna let him think
that that gets him a free pass.

672
00:47:03,521 --> 00:47:07,890
If anything, that's going to get him picked
on more, gonna have to keep him grounded.

673
00:47:07,892 --> 00:47:11,327
Get ready with that chain, I'm
gonna try and lift on this end, Kruse.

674
00:47:11,329 --> 00:47:13,129
-  All right.
- You ready?

675
00:47:14,064 --> 00:47:16,265
- Hurry up.

676
00:47:16,267 --> 00:47:18,568
I got to crank it up.

677
00:47:18,570 --> 00:47:19,735
Hold on.

678
00:47:19,737 --> 00:47:21,938
- Easier said than *bleep* done.
- I know.

679
00:47:21,940 --> 00:47:23,806
All right. All right.

680
00:47:23,808 --> 00:47:26,809
I think I blew blood
vessel in my brain there.

681
00:47:26,811 --> 00:47:30,079
You mean a blood vessel
where your brain should be?

682
00:47:31,815 --> 00:47:34,884
Good job on this.
*bleep* hanging off it.

683
00:47:34,886 --> 00:47:37,787
Distribution box is hanging from the
chains now, that's how it's designed.

684
00:47:37,789 --> 00:47:40,022
Everything else is pretty
much ready to go.

685
00:47:40,024 --> 00:47:42,358
Like, we get this thing over
here, plumb it in and we're good.

686
00:47:47,731 --> 00:47:49,498
I'm just gonna *bleep* go.

687
00:47:49,533 --> 00:47:56,305
<i> Next task, drag the 25-ton steel
wash plant 500 yards to the Creek Cut.</i>

688
00:48:01,778 --> 00:48:05,047
It's always nerve-racking
moving a plant.

689
00:48:08,685 --> 00:48:10,987
<i>Anything else that
we destroy, break,</i>

690
00:48:10,989 --> 00:48:13,589
<i>or whatever, we can survive,
but not the one machine</i>

691
00:48:13,591 --> 00:48:16,893
<i>that gets our gold, so.</i>

692
00:48:16,895 --> 00:48:23,266
Just gotta try to take it slow and smart,
which I'm not good at either of those.

693
00:48:40,918 --> 00:48:44,854
All right, that worked about as perfect
as we could have asked for, I think.

694
00:48:44,856 --> 00:48:48,424
I haven't ever showed up on the
first day and been ready to sluice.

695
00:48:48,426 --> 00:48:50,493
Can you believe Nathan is
pulling that pump and that loader

696
00:48:50,495 --> 00:48:52,261
with just that
little ratchet strap?

697
00:48:56,166 --> 00:48:57,934
This is
the sweetest plant move ever.

698
00:48:57,936 --> 00:48:59,969
Yeah.

699
00:49:01,104 --> 00:49:03,139
Waterline
and generator hooked up...

700
00:49:03,141 --> 00:49:04,373
Yay!

701
00:49:04,375 --> 00:49:05,942
Here we go, man. High five!

702
00:49:05,944 --> 00:49:09,412
<i> ...Rick is ready to
fire up for the first time this year.</i>

703
00:49:10,714 --> 00:49:12,949
But, for me, there's always
a certain amount of excitement,

704
00:49:12,951 --> 00:49:17,453
but also a little bit of, you
know, anxiety because the fuse is

705
00:49:17,455 --> 00:49:19,555
lit as soon as the button
gets turned on that thing

706
00:49:19,557 --> 00:49:22,692
and our pants
are on fire until October.

707
00:49:22,694 --> 00:49:24,660
You guys ready?
It's go time? Yeah?

708
00:49:24,662 --> 00:49:26,529
-  I'm ready, man.
-  You betcha. Let's give her.

709
00:49:26,531 --> 00:49:28,597
All right.
Let's fire this thing up.

710
00:49:28,599 --> 00:49:30,433
Shake it up, brother.
Shake it up.

711
00:49:30,435 --> 00:49:33,970
Pull big rocks up there that
are gonna come tumbling out.

712
00:49:36,039 --> 00:49:37,340
Get the water pumping.

713
00:49:49,953 --> 00:49:51,220
Ready?

714
00:49:52,189 --> 00:49:53,990
First bucket of dirt.

715
00:49:58,996 --> 00:50:00,463
Looks good.

716
00:50:00,465 --> 00:50:01,797
We're ahead
of the game this year.

717
00:50:01,799 --> 00:50:06,035
I've never sluiced in May
before, so, this is pretty awesome.

718
00:50:06,737 --> 00:50:09,839
<i>See, if Rick wants to shoot
for 2,000 plus ounces,</i>

719
00:50:09,841 --> 00:50:12,208
<i>you know, we got to make sure
we get every *bleep* damn nugget</i>

720
00:50:12,210 --> 00:50:14,110
<i>and flake of gold
out of this ground.</i>

721
00:50:14,112 --> 00:50:16,278
<i> Yeah, it's actually kind
of cool to see it up and running, eh?</i>

722
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:19,048
It's actually amazing.

723
00:50:19,050 --> 00:50:24,887
<i> Despite the bare bones crew,
Rick's sluicing earlier than ever before.</i>

724
00:50:24,889 --> 00:50:26,689
<i> You know, we
haven't been here for long</i>

725
00:50:26,691 --> 00:50:29,458
<i>and my plan is always,
when we get here,</i>

726
00:50:29,460 --> 00:50:30,793
<i>we want to be sluicing
as quick as possible,</i>

727
00:50:30,795 --> 00:50:34,130
so we are gonna get *bleep*
gold coming in right away.

728
00:50:47,511 --> 00:50:50,546
<i> A full month
earlier than last season,</i>

729
00:50:50,548 --> 00:50:54,750
<i>Tony's ready to fire up his
massive 8-foot wide trommel</i>

730
00:50:54,752 --> 00:50:57,887
<i>and start sluicing
Nugget Cut pay dirt.</i>

731
00:50:57,889 --> 00:51:01,991
<i>But his whole operation
now rests on firing up</i>

732
00:51:01,993 --> 00:51:07,196
<i>one 900 horsepower, 1,500
gallon a minute water pump.</i>

733
00:51:15,005 --> 00:51:16,372
I'm here for my looks.

734
00:51:19,177 --> 00:51:21,310
-  At least one of us should be good looking.
- Yeah.

735
00:51:30,220 --> 00:51:31,387
I'd put more in.

736
00:51:36,827 --> 00:51:39,428
TB's tried to turn
over the generator.

737
00:51:39,430 --> 00:51:41,063
Batteries are just clicking.

738
00:51:44,434 --> 00:51:45,835
<i>Yes, I do.</i>

739
00:51:49,474 --> 00:51:52,942
<i>To jumpstart the
900 horsepower water pump,</i>

740
00:51:52,944 --> 00:51:55,611
<i>Tony needs an engine
with a bigger battery.</i>

741
00:52:00,217 --> 00:52:04,787
So we're gonna run in the
349 and boost it off of that.

742
00:52:06,023 --> 00:52:07,456
Yes, he does.

743
00:52:24,174 --> 00:52:28,010
Hey, Monica, I need you
to hold these for a sec.

744
00:52:28,012 --> 00:52:29,178
Thank you.

745
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,301
Sounds like me trying
to get up in the morning.

746
00:53:18,695 --> 00:53:20,362
Everybody clear?

747
00:53:40,150 --> 00:53:42,985
We did it.
We're back in business.

748
00:54:30,900 --> 00:54:32,401
<i> Wow!</i>

749
00:54:32,403 --> 00:54:34,436
<i>This is the stuff you think of when
you think of like the old Gold Rush</i>

750
00:54:34,438 --> 00:54:38,207
and people coming up here
and the frontier and vast unknown.

751
00:54:39,676 --> 00:54:44,446
<i>Definitely not comfortable right
now with what Tony and Parker said.</i>

752
00:54:44,448 --> 00:54:47,283
<i>I'm not expecting to walk in
and just fall into something,</i>

753
00:54:47,285 --> 00:54:50,986
<i>but there's got to
be something here.</i>

754
00:54:50,988 --> 00:54:55,457
<i> Special Forces veteran
Fred Lewis heads to Clear Creek,</i>

755
00:54:55,459 --> 00:54:59,028
<i>a remote and little
known area 45 miles east</i>

756
00:54:59,030 --> 00:55:03,666
<i>from the Indian River in a
last-ditch attempt to find ground</i>

757
00:55:03,668 --> 00:55:08,103
<i>to mine this season with
his band of combat veterans.</i>

758
00:55:08,105 --> 00:55:10,673
The guys I put together, you
know, we're a really close team.

759
00:55:10,675 --> 00:55:11,840
We're brothers.

760
00:55:11,842 --> 00:55:14,843
So if I'm gonna drag them
all up to the Yukon to mine,

761
00:55:14,845 --> 00:55:16,645
<i>it's gonna have to be
something that's gonna put money</i>

762
00:55:16,647 --> 00:55:21,483
<i>in their pockets and pay back the
debt the company made last season.</i>

763
00:55:21,485 --> 00:55:25,621
<i>Tony said not to make those
mistakes twice, and we're not doing that.</i>

764
00:55:25,623 --> 00:55:28,424
It's not just about fighting
the first chance I get.

765
00:55:28,426 --> 00:55:30,793
<i>But time is running out,</i>

766
00:55:30,795 --> 00:55:35,764
<i>and all Fred has to go on is the
name of a smalltime family mine owner</i>

767
00:55:35,766 --> 00:55:38,233
<i>given to him by Tony Beets.</i>

768
00:55:39,969 --> 00:55:42,938
<i>Trying to find this Paul Phillips
guy in hopes that he has ground</i>

769
00:55:42,940 --> 00:55:46,442
that has water rights and has permits,
so we can actually mine this season.

770
00:55:51,214 --> 00:55:52,047
- Paul?
- Hello.

771
00:55:52,049 --> 00:55:53,449
Fred Lewis.

772
00:55:53,451 --> 00:55:55,918
Whoo. You said
you were far out here.

773
00:55:55,920 --> 00:55:57,419
Yeah, we're a ways out.

774
00:55:57,421 --> 00:55:59,788
So, uh, am I catching you
at a good time?

775
00:55:59,790 --> 00:56:03,158
Oh, yeah, we're just starting to get
stuff out of retirement for the winter.

776
00:56:03,160 --> 00:56:05,094
Well, I'm really kind of
cold calling you, I know.

777
00:56:05,096 --> 00:56:07,162
Yeah.

778
00:56:07,164 --> 00:56:10,799
But Tony mentioned your name, and that was
enough for me to come out and talk to you.

779
00:56:10,801 --> 00:56:12,901
Yeah.

780
00:56:12,903 --> 00:56:15,371
Said that you might have some
ground you might be willing to lease.

781
00:56:17,741 --> 00:56:20,743
We haven't really done
much on Clear Creek

782
00:56:20,745 --> 00:56:22,878
because we've always had
the other places to work at.

783
00:56:22,880 --> 00:56:25,647
We hadn't really
considered it yet, but...

784
00:56:25,649 --> 00:56:28,550
it's something
we'd look at for sure.

785
00:56:28,552 --> 00:56:33,021
<i> Paul Phillips and his
family used to mine in the Klondike.</i>

786
00:56:33,023 --> 00:56:38,427
<i>But this year, they've left it behind
to mine out here in Clear Creek.</i>

787
00:56:40,430 --> 00:56:43,499
I've got a real small operation,
so I'm really trying to find

788
00:56:43,501 --> 00:56:46,068
a piece of ground that's got
that open space we're looking for

789
00:56:46,070 --> 00:56:50,439
and, um, a relatively
non-complex mining operation

790
00:56:50,441 --> 00:56:52,674
because we're not the most
experienced operators.

791
00:56:52,676 --> 00:56:54,943
It's pretty much
a team of greenhorns.

792
00:56:55,779 --> 00:56:58,113
Well, this would be some
of the easiest for your team

793
00:56:58,115 --> 00:57:00,549
to handle until they get some
experience, I would think.

794
00:57:00,551 --> 00:57:02,317
It's quite simple.

795
00:57:02,319 --> 00:57:03,919
The first time we...
we washed down there,

796
00:57:03,921 --> 00:57:07,823
I stripped for one day with the
400 by myself, and we had enough.

797
00:57:07,825 --> 00:57:08,657
We sluiced for 6 weeks.

798
00:57:08,659 --> 00:57:09,992
Holy cow!

799
00:57:09,994 --> 00:57:12,094
It's lean ground,
but there's lots of it.

800
00:57:12,096 --> 00:57:14,730
- So just run it.
- Yeah.

801
00:57:14,732 --> 00:57:16,999
- And catch the gold.
- Okay.

802
00:57:17,001 --> 00:57:19,735
Well, I would love to see like how
you have done it here, if you don't mind.

803
00:57:19,737 --> 00:57:21,437
Sure.

804
00:57:21,439 --> 00:57:22,938
We can walk down to the creek
and show you where we've been.

805
00:57:22,940 --> 00:57:24,440
Yeah.

806
00:57:27,010 --> 00:57:28,677
So this basically is,
uh, borderline the creek?

807
00:57:28,679 --> 00:57:31,113
- Yeah, the creeks right there.
-  Okay.

808
00:57:31,115 --> 00:57:33,882
So if someone were to come up
in here from start to finish,

809
00:57:33,884 --> 00:57:37,085
how long do you think it would
take them to get into sluicing?

810
00:57:37,087 --> 00:57:40,856
Hmm. Maybe an hour. Two hours.

811
00:57:40,858 --> 00:57:42,724
- Are you serious?
- Yeah.

812
00:57:42,726 --> 00:57:43,859
So it's pretty much ready to go.

813
00:57:43,861 --> 00:57:45,794
Back your plant in,
turn the pump on.

814
00:57:45,796 --> 00:57:47,796
It's definitely
profitable mining.

815
00:57:47,798 --> 00:57:50,666
Well, what do you think the
odds of... of maybe getting

816
00:57:50,668 --> 00:57:53,569
a test up here, um, just to kind
of see what we've got up here?

817
00:57:53,571 --> 00:57:55,437
Yeah, I don't have a problem
with you testing.

818
00:57:55,439 --> 00:57:58,707
Okay. That sounds good to me.
That's more than, uh, no.

819
00:57:58,709 --> 00:58:02,044
- Yeah.
- I'll take that any day.

820
00:58:02,645 --> 00:58:05,414
<i> To come back
from last season's failure,</i>

821
00:58:05,416 --> 00:58:10,018
<i>Fred needs to be sure
the ground has good gold.</i>

822
00:58:10,020 --> 00:58:12,087
Okay. Right on,
I'll just fire this thing up.

823
00:58:12,089 --> 00:58:13,555
Sounds good.

824
00:58:16,159 --> 00:58:18,794
<i> I think right now the
treasure hunt begins. But if it's here,</i>

825
00:58:18,796 --> 00:58:21,129
<i>we're gonna find it.</i>

826
00:58:29,939 --> 00:58:32,574
I'm really looking for 10 to 15
colors, that's really gonna be

827
00:58:32,576 --> 00:58:35,777
the target for what
I'm looking for.

828
00:58:35,779 --> 00:58:38,881
A lot of fine gold, there's
not any chunks in here but...

829
00:58:38,883 --> 00:58:41,149
Oh, boy, I'm seeing
some good color.

830
00:58:42,652 --> 00:58:43,585
Oh, yeah.

831
00:58:43,587 --> 00:58:45,287
So this is what
we're looking for.

832
00:58:45,922 --> 00:58:48,957
I think this pan I just did
is sitting at about

833
00:58:48,959 --> 00:58:49,992
a little under an ounce
a hundred here,

834
00:58:49,994 --> 00:58:50,959
'cause I'm not a professional.

835
00:58:50,961 --> 00:58:53,028
I'm just-- I'm learning as well.

836
00:58:53,030 --> 00:58:57,599
But I'm at least at 0.8,
which is fantastic.

837
00:58:57,601 --> 00:59:01,770
<i> Fred calculates he
needs at least half an ounce of gold</i>

838
00:59:01,772 --> 00:59:05,774
<i>in every 100 yards of dirt
to make his season pay.</i>

839
00:59:05,776 --> 00:59:06,742
This is our second hole.

840
00:59:06,744 --> 00:59:09,144
It's on the left
side of the valley.

841
00:59:11,781 --> 00:59:14,917
I honestly don't know. Right
now, I'm looking at probably 0.6,

842
00:59:14,919 --> 00:59:17,619
maybe 0.7 per 100
out of that pan.

843
00:59:17,621 --> 00:59:20,322
<i>And this is exactly why
we came to the Yukon.</i>

844
00:59:20,324 --> 00:59:22,724
If you can find a claim with a
good claim owner that has potential,

845
00:59:22,726 --> 00:59:25,961
and it hasn't been mined out,
you're probably gonna find gold.

846
00:59:27,630 --> 00:59:28,997
<i>I know that there's
stripped ground here.</i>

847
00:59:28,999 --> 00:59:30,499
<i>I know it's easy
for me to access.</i>

848
00:59:30,501 --> 00:59:32,434
<i>I know the gold's here.</i>

849
00:59:32,436 --> 00:59:37,439
Depending on what Paul and I come up
with for royalty, this could be workable.

850
00:59:45,782 --> 00:59:48,850
<i>At Parker
Schnabel's Mud Mountain Cut...</i>

851
00:59:48,852 --> 00:59:52,955
Next truck come back in,
right where my bucket is.

852
00:59:52,957 --> 00:59:55,824
<i> Tyson Lee is on
a mission to get down to pay</i>

853
00:59:55,826 --> 01:00:00,095
<i>and test what could be the
richest ground they've ever mined.</i>

854
01:00:01,164 --> 01:00:06,969
<i>But first, he has to strip over a
million cubic yards of overburden.</i>

855
01:00:08,438 --> 01:00:11,206
<i> You know, we're a week into Mud
Mountain and we've made a hell of a dent.</i>

856
01:00:11,208 --> 01:00:13,408
And as you can tell,
it's warming up

857
01:00:13,410 --> 01:00:18,113
and definitely slowly sliding backwards
as the mud gets ahead of us, so.

858
01:00:18,615 --> 01:00:21,617
<i> Thicker than
regular overburden,</i>

859
01:00:21,619 --> 01:00:27,222
<i>Mud Mountain's sticky wet black
muck is a force to be reckoned with.</i>

860
01:00:31,160 --> 01:00:34,563
So far, we've had two rock
trucks down for three days

861
01:00:34,565 --> 01:00:37,232
at 100 loads each a day.

862
01:00:39,702 --> 01:00:43,171
<i>You know, we really cannot
afford breakdowns right now.</i>

863
01:00:49,646 --> 01:00:51,580
Due to the mud,
there's these big holes,

864
01:00:51,582 --> 01:00:53,749
so I've got to drive
really slow,

865
01:00:53,751 --> 01:00:55,350
otherwise, I'm gonna
slam the rock truck

866
01:00:55,352 --> 01:01:01,256
and it can really damage the
hydraulics. I'm sliding everywhere.

867
01:01:02,692 --> 01:01:07,229
<i>Although now we have a bit more space
so we can actually fit in four trucks.</i>

868
01:01:08,431 --> 01:01:12,034
<i>We don't have much time here,
because as the snow melts,</i>

869
01:01:12,036 --> 01:01:17,005
all the water is coming down from
the hill, so we are getting a lot of mud.

870
01:01:17,007 --> 01:01:19,708
Um, so we got to
be pretty fast here.

871
01:01:19,710 --> 01:01:23,178
<i>So we're just flying here.</i>

872
01:01:40,663 --> 01:01:44,299
It's very, very difficult
right now, it's... it's tough.

873
01:01:45,468 --> 01:01:48,603
It's advanced rock driving
if that's a thing.

874
01:01:48,605 --> 01:01:51,973
<i> To keep on track
with Parker's 30-day deadline,</i>

875
01:01:51,975 --> 01:01:55,811
<i>Tyson's rock trucks need
to dump at least 400 loads of</i>

876
01:01:55,813 --> 01:01:58,580
<i>overburden a day
at the waste site.</i>

877
01:01:58,582 --> 01:02:04,019
<i>But with multiple breakdowns, Tyson
is falling further and further behind.</i>

878
01:02:04,021 --> 01:02:08,123
I'm normally a sluicer, man.
I don't move mud.

879
01:02:08,125 --> 01:02:11,927
<i>You know, Brennan could run any
piece of equipment that was around here.</i>

880
01:02:11,929 --> 01:02:14,763
You can't replace that
experience overnight.

881
01:02:14,765 --> 01:02:17,499
<i>Like anything in life, anything
new is a learning curve,</i>

882
01:02:17,501 --> 01:02:20,402
and this is gonna be
one hell of a learning curve.

883
01:02:20,404 --> 01:02:22,104
<i>Can I steal a truck here?</i>

884
01:02:22,739 --> 01:02:24,673
Can I have one truck, please?

885
01:02:24,675 --> 01:02:26,842
<i>Hey, Jordan, I got a copy.</i>

886
01:02:26,844 --> 01:02:29,778
Yeah, man, my truck keeps
*bleep* going into limp mode.

887
01:02:29,780 --> 01:02:30,545
<i>Won't accelerate.</i>

888
01:02:30,547 --> 01:02:32,848
Won't really do anything
in here.

889
01:02:32,850 --> 01:02:36,852
<i>Rookie Jordan
Tatlow's truck is in limp mode,</i>

890
01:02:36,854 --> 01:02:39,921
<i>a safety mechanism
that slows it right down</i>

891
01:02:39,923 --> 01:02:42,457
<i>when there's
a mechanical problem.</i>

892
01:02:42,459 --> 01:02:43,825
<i> Bring it up
to the mechanic's up there</i>

893
01:02:43,827 --> 01:02:46,228
<i>and let them know.
That's their department.</i>

894
01:02:47,764 --> 01:02:50,432
<i>One rock truck goes down, that's
100 less loads a day we're getting.</i>

895
01:02:50,434 --> 01:02:53,168
Or 100 loads a day
that we're gonna have to get

896
01:02:53,170 --> 01:02:56,304
out of Mud Mountain at a later date when
it's warmer and when the mud is thicker.

897
01:02:57,306 --> 01:02:59,474
<i>Hey, Mitch,
you got a copy, Mitch?</i>

898
01:02:59,476 --> 01:03:02,644
Yeah, we got another truck down here
at Mud Mountain, one's coming your way.

899
01:03:02,646 --> 01:03:05,046
<i>Oh,
wonderful, just what we need.</i>

900
01:03:05,048 --> 01:03:07,482
<i> Already,
two trucks down,</i>

901
01:03:07,484 --> 01:03:10,018
<i>Tyson must send another
to be fixed.</i>

902
01:03:10,020 --> 01:03:11,586
<i> Mitch,
he's in the yard right now</i>

903
01:03:11,588 --> 01:03:13,655
<i>trying to keep
the mechanics going,</i>

904
01:03:13,657 --> 01:03:16,858
<i>you know, trying to get everyone
caught up, but it's just tough.</i>

905
01:03:16,860 --> 01:03:23,532
I'd say it's Mud Mountain one
and our crew zero.

906
01:03:23,534 --> 01:03:28,537
<i> In the yard, foreman Mitch is
back where he started nine years ago,</i>

907
01:03:28,539 --> 01:03:31,406
<i>wrenching to keep up
with broken equipment.</i>

908
01:03:31,408 --> 01:03:34,543
We're out here doing everything
we can to get these trucks fixed.

909
01:03:34,545 --> 01:03:38,680
<i>All that permafrost muck that
just keeps getting into everything.</i>

910
01:03:38,682 --> 01:03:42,083
And, right now, we're not even
keeping our heads above water.

911
01:03:46,756 --> 01:03:47,789
-  Hi.
-  What up?

912
01:03:47,791 --> 01:03:50,091
Are you deep in the
middle of something?

913
01:03:50,093 --> 01:03:51,860
-  What do you got going on?
- Mud Mountain.

914
01:03:51,862 --> 01:03:53,028
<i>Do you want to bump down there?</i>

915
01:03:53,030 --> 01:03:54,796
I know, we got a ton of
work to do out in the cut,

916
01:03:54,798 --> 01:03:56,765
but we got way
more to do right here.

917
01:03:56,767 --> 01:03:59,000
If we keep stopping, we're
never gonna get any of it done.

918
01:03:59,002 --> 01:04:01,670
-  Okay.
- But we're just trying to get that crashed out

919
01:04:01,672 --> 01:04:03,972
and so we can get on
to the next one here.

920
01:04:04,974 --> 01:04:08,176
I know, as a foreman,
probably not the best, you know,

921
01:04:08,178 --> 01:04:10,979
use of my time to be
in here working on stuff.

922
01:04:10,981 --> 01:04:14,850
<i>Right now, we need to be thinking
about moving dirt, not working on trucks.</i>

923
01:04:14,852 --> 01:04:16,284
<i>But we have
no other option right now.</i>

924
01:04:16,286 --> 01:04:18,987
We've got to get these machines to
where we can rely on them every day.

925
01:04:18,989 --> 01:04:20,388
They can go out
and do their job.

926
01:04:20,390 --> 01:04:22,924
<i>I can't be both places
at the same time.</i>

927
01:04:22,926 --> 01:04:25,160
And it seems like that's what
Parker expects every day.

928
01:04:25,761 --> 01:04:29,431
<i> Jordan's truck
reaches the yard.</i>

929
01:04:29,433 --> 01:04:33,335
If it's not one thing around
here, it's usually ten things more.

930
01:04:34,904 --> 01:04:37,239
<i>Every hour
it's down makes it harder</i>

931
01:04:37,241 --> 01:04:40,775
<i>for Tyson to hit Parker's
30-day deadline.</i>

932
01:04:40,777 --> 01:04:41,810
Whoa!

933
01:04:41,812 --> 01:04:44,379
What is going on down here?

934
01:04:45,815 --> 01:04:47,849
First, we have to try
and get rid of some mud

935
01:04:47,851 --> 01:04:49,985
so we can actually
get to the bolts.

936
01:05:00,596 --> 01:05:02,497
Really not what we're
wanting to see down here.

937
01:05:02,499 --> 01:05:06,034
This hydraulic pump completely
encased with this, well,

938
01:05:06,036 --> 01:05:09,404
pretty much mammoth *bleep*.
This stuff is like concrete here.

939
01:05:09,406 --> 01:05:10,872
It flowed in as a liquid.

940
01:05:10,874 --> 01:05:14,209
Well, it set back up and this
stuff, it's brutally hard here.

941
01:05:14,211 --> 01:05:16,711
You can barely bust it apart.

942
01:05:16,713 --> 01:05:21,616
<i> The hydraulic pumps power the
truck's suspension, brakes and steering.</i>

943
01:05:21,618 --> 01:05:24,719
<i>Without them,
the truck is useless.</i>

944
01:05:24,721 --> 01:05:29,024
<i>Mechanic Taylor must remove
them and assess the damage.</i>

945
01:05:33,863 --> 01:05:35,630
We know the pumps
not building pressure.

946
01:05:35,632 --> 01:05:39,234
You can see damage
on the plate here.

947
01:05:41,103 --> 01:05:44,039
We'll take the guts out of
this one, and we'll have a look.

948
01:05:46,342 --> 01:05:50,645
More than likely the pistons--
The pistons or the slippers are toast.

949
01:05:50,647 --> 01:05:54,649
You can see here these grooves in
here are why we're not building any pressure.

950
01:05:54,651 --> 01:05:56,484
The oil can just go
wherever it wants.

951
01:05:56,486 --> 01:05:59,421
It's not forced through
the output ports.

952
01:05:59,423 --> 01:06:05,126
<i> Mud Mountain's fine black
silt has worked its way inside the pump,</i>

953
01:06:05,128 --> 01:06:09,764
<i>breaking the pistons and damaging
the precision engineered plate</i>

954
01:06:09,766 --> 01:06:12,667
<i>that seals in
the hydraulic fluid.</i>

955
01:06:12,669 --> 01:06:16,404
Okay, um, there's a curve ball.

956
01:06:16,406 --> 01:06:20,375
<i> Getting a spare up
to the claim could take weeks.</i>

957
01:06:22,511 --> 01:06:23,678
Man,
the only other thing

958
01:06:23,680 --> 01:06:28,149
I'm wondering here we could
do and try in the meantime.

959
01:06:28,151 --> 01:06:31,820
So if we can get this to all
look like this outer portion here...

960
01:06:31,822 --> 01:06:32,921
Yeah.

961
01:06:32,923 --> 01:06:35,357
And maybe with
the new pistons here,

962
01:06:35,359 --> 01:06:38,126
and if we can get
this flat again.

963
01:06:38,128 --> 01:06:40,362
<i> Without a working
seal from the top plate,</i>

964
01:06:40,364 --> 01:06:45,600
<i>the pump leaks hydraulic fluid
and is unable to gain pressure.</i>

965
01:06:45,602 --> 01:06:50,872
<i>Mitch's Hail Mary bush fix, remove
and replace the damaged pistons,</i>

966
01:06:50,874 --> 01:06:55,677
<i>then take the top plate and grind
out the grooves to create a seal</i>

967
01:06:55,679 --> 01:07:00,348
<i>so the pump can regain
pressure and power the truck.</i>

968
01:07:08,557 --> 01:07:14,896
So we've polished up this
piece here, so hopefully this will seal.

969
01:07:14,898 --> 01:07:17,699
This will make pressure. And if it
does, this truck can go back to work.

970
01:07:17,701 --> 01:07:20,301
If not, we're gonna be
waiting for a new part.

971
01:07:21,871 --> 01:07:23,605
I'm gonna roll the dice on
this thing. See if she works.

972
01:07:23,607 --> 01:07:25,273
100%.

973
01:07:41,824 --> 01:07:43,992
We just got to fire it up
and see if it works.

974
01:07:43,994 --> 01:07:45,026
You ready?

975
01:07:46,429 --> 01:07:48,229
- You ready?
-  Yeah.

976
01:07:48,231 --> 01:07:50,098
Here we go.

977
01:07:52,435 --> 01:07:54,235
Come on, baby.

978
01:08:04,880 --> 01:08:06,614
We just need our pump
to build enough pressure

979
01:08:06,616 --> 01:08:10,051
to raise the machine
all the way up to the top.

980
01:08:10,053 --> 01:08:13,088
Before we took it out, it
wasn't building any pressure.

981
01:08:16,425 --> 01:08:18,359
100% lift.

982
01:08:21,430 --> 01:08:24,199
- There it is, buddy.
- How about that!

983
01:08:24,934 --> 01:08:26,801
You know, we've been
working on trucks all day,

984
01:08:26,803 --> 01:08:30,105
but this is the last one right
here heading back out to the cut,

985
01:08:30,107 --> 01:08:31,706
and everything's
good to go again.

986
01:08:31,708 --> 01:08:33,441
Hopefully, it lasts a while.

987
01:08:34,543 --> 01:08:37,479
<i> With the full
fleet back in action,</i>

988
01:08:37,481 --> 01:08:41,683
<i>Tyson has a fighting chance
to hit Parker's deadline.</i>

989
01:08:41,685 --> 01:08:43,718
Hey, Jordan, yeah, it's good
to see you're back, man.

990
01:08:43,720 --> 01:08:47,755
You know, we need every truck
going here at Mud Mountain we can get.

991
01:08:47,757 --> 01:08:50,892
That's one step closer to
getting me the hell out of the mud

992
01:08:50,894 --> 01:08:55,096
and back around a wash plant
in my happy place.

993
01:09:10,613 --> 01:09:12,247
How's it going, guys?

994
01:09:12,249 --> 01:09:15,416
-  Hey, Fred.
- How you doing?

995
01:09:15,418 --> 01:09:20,121
<i> Fred Lewis' chances of
getting gold rest on striking a deal</i>

996
01:09:20,123 --> 01:09:25,960
<i>with Paul and Diana Phillips to mine
their pre-stripped claims in Clear Creek.</i>

997
01:09:25,962 --> 01:09:27,428
How'd it go?

998
01:09:27,430 --> 01:09:29,097
I got all my testing done

999
01:09:29,099 --> 01:09:32,000
and I'm seeing the exact type
of gold that you guys told me.

1000
01:09:32,002 --> 01:09:34,202
It's consistent throughout
the valley, like you said.

1001
01:09:36,238 --> 01:09:39,007
So what are you guys
looking at for a royalty?

1002
01:09:42,411 --> 01:09:47,448
It's probably the easiest ground
you'll ever find to mine, go about 50%.

1003
01:09:48,751 --> 01:09:50,251
50%?

1004
01:09:52,955 --> 01:09:54,856
I never heard of that before.

1005
01:09:54,858 --> 01:09:56,591
Did a lot of time on that,
and all you got to do is

1006
01:09:56,593 --> 01:09:59,627
just pick up the dirt
and throw it in the plant.

1007
01:09:59,629 --> 01:10:06,634
<i> Giving up 50% of every ounce of
gold could make this lean ground a loss maker.</i>

1008
01:10:06,636 --> 01:10:09,771
To be able to give my guys their
gold bonus at the end of the year,

1009
01:10:09,773 --> 01:10:11,406
so they're not working for free,

1010
01:10:11,408 --> 01:10:14,442
that coupled with
last season's loss,

1011
01:10:14,444 --> 01:10:18,513
I'm not sure that the 50%--
Well, I know the 50% is--

1012
01:10:18,515 --> 01:10:22,684
Is something I just can't...
I can't bite on.

1013
01:10:22,686 --> 01:10:26,187
This ground here is already
set up, stripped and ready to mine.

1014
01:10:27,656 --> 01:10:29,390
- We can't give it away, Fred.
- I know.

1015
01:10:29,392 --> 01:10:32,160
- We can't.
- And that's my... That's it right there.

1016
01:10:34,430 --> 01:10:39,567
But it's still below that line where
I told myself and my entire team,

1017
01:10:39,569 --> 01:10:42,036
"I won't bite unless
I find this for you."

1018
01:10:43,038 --> 01:10:44,505
If I'm being
painstakingly obvious,

1019
01:10:44,507 --> 01:10:47,709
I don't feel like there's a...

1020
01:10:47,711 --> 01:10:51,045
there's a ground that we're gonna
come to that both of us are happy on.

1021
01:10:51,847 --> 01:10:54,148
It's just not
a good option for us.

1022
01:10:57,119 --> 01:10:58,853
- Thank you very much.
- Thanks for stopping by, Fred.

1023
01:10:58,855 --> 01:11:00,555
Thanks, Fred.

1024
01:11:00,557 --> 01:11:02,257
- I'll talk to you guys. Yep.
- Take care.

1025
01:11:06,228 --> 01:11:11,032
50%? There's no *bleep* way
I can make 50% work.

1026
01:11:12,768 --> 01:11:14,769
What do you think?

1027
01:11:14,771 --> 01:11:19,474
You know, Paul, no miner has
the opportunity to walk in on ground

1028
01:11:19,476 --> 01:11:22,710
that's already stripped,
ponds in place,

1029
01:11:22,712 --> 01:11:26,914
<i>literally bring your machines
in and start sluicing.</i>

1030
01:11:26,916 --> 01:11:29,784
<i>Once everything's all hooked
up. I mean, it's very rare.</i>

1031
01:11:29,786 --> 01:11:31,953
It doesn't happen that often.

1032
01:11:33,922 --> 01:11:35,890
<i> He made it sound so easy.</i>

1033
01:11:35,892 --> 01:11:37,592
<i>But, you know, if it
sounds too good to be true,</i>

1034
01:11:37,594 --> 01:11:39,394
<i>it probably is.</i>

1035
01:11:39,396 --> 01:11:41,562
Really sucks, because
I had my hopes up.

1036
01:11:41,564 --> 01:11:44,565
<i>And it's not just give me
some ground, let's go dig.</i>

1037
01:11:44,567 --> 01:11:47,168
The very minimum is I've got
to put money into the company

1038
01:11:47,170 --> 01:11:49,837
and my guys' pockets,
or we're a failure.

1039
01:11:49,839 --> 01:11:52,307
I'm pretty much
back to square one.

1040
01:12:04,520 --> 01:12:07,655
The best part is we fired up
my first week here, you know.

1041
01:12:07,657 --> 01:12:09,657
We're already washing the
rocks, so that's pretty sweet.

1042
01:12:09,659 --> 01:12:12,160
<i>Let's hope there's a whole
load of gold in here.</i>

1043
01:12:13,062 --> 01:12:15,863
<i> Rick Ness and his
bare bones three-person crew</i>

1044
01:12:15,865 --> 01:12:18,800
<i>are gunning for 2,000 ounces,</i>

1045
01:12:18,802 --> 01:12:22,670
<i>banking on a fast start
sluicing Creek Cut pay dirt.</i>

1046
01:12:22,672 --> 01:12:24,772
Shut it down.

1047
01:12:24,774 --> 01:12:27,842
<i> After three
days of washing rocks,</i>

1048
01:12:27,844 --> 01:12:30,345
<i>it's time for the first
cleanup of the season.</i>

1049
01:12:31,013 --> 01:12:32,980
I don't know why I'm so nervous.

1050
01:12:32,982 --> 01:12:35,083
It's the first
one of the year. I--

1051
01:12:35,085 --> 01:12:36,184
You seem a little giddy.

1052
01:12:36,186 --> 01:12:37,352
I am.

1053
01:12:37,354 --> 01:12:38,753
All right, I can't talk
anymore. I got to go look--

1054
01:12:38,755 --> 01:12:41,222
-  Let's do this. Let's make it rain, boys.
-  Whoo!

1055
01:12:46,929 --> 01:12:48,996
Yeah, look at that pile
right there, Brennan.

1056
01:12:48,998 --> 01:12:50,798
- Yeah.
- Look at them all there.

1057
01:12:50,800 --> 01:12:53,067
-  Yeah, buddy.
- *bleep* yeah.

1058
01:12:54,636 --> 01:12:57,004
Oh, there's one.
Look at that, buddy.

1059
01:12:58,140 --> 01:13:00,274
Look at that nugget right there.

1060
01:13:01,443 --> 01:13:02,944
Oh, buddy.

1061
01:13:02,946 --> 01:13:04,379
It looked really good.

1062
01:13:05,781 --> 01:13:08,383
- *bleep*
-  Oh!

1063
01:13:09,985 --> 01:13:11,352
Holy *bleep*, man.

1064
01:13:15,090 --> 01:13:17,191
- *bleep* - Does it feel
like the first time again?

1065
01:13:17,193 --> 01:13:18,426
It does.

1066
01:13:18,428 --> 01:13:19,761
Look at these chunks
coming out of there.

1067
01:13:19,763 --> 01:13:21,763
It's amazing.

1068
01:13:21,765 --> 01:13:25,066
Pretty *bleep* excited, like,
we had a big fat first clean up.

1069
01:13:25,068 --> 01:13:26,501
You know, this is gonna make
everybody feel pretty good

1070
01:13:26,503 --> 01:13:30,371
for the season and what we're
having to look forward to.

1071
01:13:30,373 --> 01:13:33,441
I hate to make guesses, and I
won't, but I will say that it looks good.

1072
01:13:33,443 --> 01:13:37,078
It looks really good, like, some of
the best I've seen in that box, so.

1073
01:13:42,985 --> 01:13:44,619
I see some gold in that pan.

1074
01:13:44,621 --> 01:13:45,987
A lot of gold actually, right?

1075
01:13:45,989 --> 01:13:47,688
You know, the cleanup
looked really good.

1076
01:13:47,690 --> 01:13:49,991
Yeah, it does look good.

1077
01:13:49,993 --> 01:13:52,693
And actually, I mean,
that being said,

1078
01:13:52,695 --> 01:13:54,095
why don't we just
weigh this out?

1079
01:13:54,097 --> 01:13:55,797
-  Let's do this.
- Sounds good.

1080
01:13:55,831 --> 01:14:01,903
<i> To his 2,000 ounce season
goal, Rick needs around 100 ounces a week,</i>

1081
01:14:01,905 --> 01:14:06,107
<i>so this 3-day run
needs to deliver at least 50.</i>

1082
01:14:06,109 --> 01:14:12,079
5, 10, 20, 30,

1083
01:14:12,081 --> 01:14:15,316
40, 50,

1084
01:14:16,318 --> 01:14:19,787
60. What... *bleep*

1085
01:14:19,789 --> 01:14:21,856
67.50.

1086
01:14:21,858 --> 01:14:23,157
- Buddy.
- Oh, man!

1087
01:14:23,159 --> 01:14:23,858
How does that feel, huh?

1088
01:14:23,860 --> 01:14:26,160
*bleep* awesome.

1089
01:14:27,830 --> 01:14:29,363
Well, that's evidence of
all our hard work right there.

1090
01:14:29,365 --> 01:14:31,399
Yeah.

1091
01:14:31,401 --> 01:14:38,039
<i> At over $120,000, Rick's
pulled more gold in his first three days</i>

1092
01:14:38,041 --> 01:14:41,976
<i>than he did in the first
three weeks last year.</i>

1093
01:14:45,414 --> 01:14:47,748
Well, for now,
it's the four of us.

1094
01:14:47,750 --> 01:14:50,418
Let's just keep doing our thing,
I mean, that's a hell of a start.

1095
01:14:50,420 --> 01:14:51,719
In all honesty, the four of us,

1096
01:14:51,721 --> 01:14:52,954
I mean, we work
really well together.

1097
01:14:52,956 --> 01:14:54,689
Like, I'm impressed
with everybody.

1098
01:14:54,691 --> 01:14:56,123
- That's good to hear.
- You know-- Yeah.

1099
01:14:56,125 --> 01:14:59,694
You know, you stepped up this
year like you always do, get us started.

1100
01:14:59,696 --> 01:15:02,697
Brennan you showed right up,
jumped right in, you know. Kruse.

1101
01:15:02,699 --> 01:15:04,665
I mean, you know,
everybody pulled their weight

1102
01:15:04,667 --> 01:15:06,367
and the results are right here.

1103
01:15:07,903 --> 01:15:08,803
Let's go get some dinner
and some sleep.

1104
01:15:08,805 --> 01:15:10,004
Get back at it tomorrow.

1105
01:15:10,006 --> 01:15:11,973
-  Yeah, buddy.
-  Sounds good.

1106
01:15:11,975 --> 01:15:12,807
Eat, sleep, mine, bro.

1107
01:15:14,577 --> 01:15:16,611
<i>Well, we definitely have
a good start to the season,</i>

1108
01:15:16,613 --> 01:15:20,181
<i>but it's a long way to go
to 2,000 ounces.</i>

1109
01:15:20,183 --> 01:15:23,784
So I'm not gonna jump the gun
and say this is gonna be easy,

1110
01:15:23,786 --> 01:15:25,052
uh, but I've got
the right people here with me.

1111
01:15:25,054 --> 01:15:28,356
We did the right prep work
over the offseason and last fall,

1112
01:15:28,358 --> 01:15:33,294
and we got a hell of a start,
so onward and upward.

1113
01:15:41,737 --> 01:15:45,172
Find out if my little shack
is still livable.

1114
01:15:47,009 --> 01:15:48,976
Let's go see what we got
going on here.

1115
01:15:50,045 --> 01:15:51,979
I got water.

1116
01:15:51,981 --> 01:15:53,948
Sounds like I got heat, too.

1117
01:15:54,883 --> 01:15:55,716
Wow.

1118
01:15:55,718 --> 01:15:57,852
Everybody's been
using my shower.

1119
01:15:57,854 --> 01:16:02,990
Oh, hammer and chisel and sand
blast it, and it'll be good as new.

1120
01:16:02,992 --> 01:16:07,194
Somebody tried using
steel wool on it to clean it up

1121
01:16:07,196 --> 01:16:09,196
and left the steel wool
in the shower.

1122
01:16:09,198 --> 01:16:10,932
That's always good.

1123
01:16:10,934 --> 01:16:11,866
All right, I'm home.

1124
01:16:11,868 --> 01:16:13,000
Let's go.

1125
01:16:22,010 --> 01:16:24,812
This first segment is
almost done. Once it's done,

1126
01:16:24,814 --> 01:16:27,682
then we can move on
to the next piece.

1127
01:16:27,684 --> 01:16:31,752
<i> Two weeks into digging
Mud Mountain, Parker Schnabel's crew</i>

1128
01:16:31,754 --> 01:16:35,890
<i>is 55 feet down
in the first half of the cut</i>

1129
01:16:35,892 --> 01:16:39,627
<i>and pushing hard to hit pay
dirt so they can find out just</i>

1130
01:16:39,629 --> 01:16:42,063
<i>how rich the ground is.</i>

1131
01:16:43,031 --> 01:16:45,299
Word on the street
is that at the bottom here,

1132
01:16:45,301 --> 01:16:46,968
there's roughly 8,000 ounces.

1133
01:16:46,970 --> 01:16:50,104
<i>When Parker told me that, I said,
"Okay, so after we're done this,</i>

1134
01:16:50,106 --> 01:16:51,672
we're going to Mexico, right?

1135
01:16:51,674 --> 01:16:53,274
'Cause we've hit our goal.

1136
01:16:53,276 --> 01:16:54,709
Or we've pretty much topped what

1137
01:16:54,711 --> 01:16:57,078
we've done every other year,"
and he's like, "Yeah, exactly, Tyson,

1138
01:16:57,080 --> 01:16:58,813
that's exactly
what we're gonna do."

1139
01:16:58,815 --> 01:17:03,117
But I have a feeling that's
wishful thinking on my behalf.

1140
01:17:03,986 --> 01:17:05,987
Looks like there's some bedrock.

1141
01:17:07,122 --> 01:17:08,756
Hey, Mitch, Doumitt,

1142
01:17:08,758 --> 01:17:09,857
do you guys got a copy?

1143
01:17:09,859 --> 01:17:12,059
<i>Yeah, hey, Tyson, what's up?</i>

1144
01:17:12,061 --> 01:17:13,961
Yeah, I think I hit pay gravel
down at Mud Mountain.

1145
01:17:13,963 --> 01:17:15,896
You guys want to come down?

1146
01:17:15,898 --> 01:17:18,065
<i>Oh, man, if you hit gravel
in Mud Mountain,</i>

1147
01:17:18,067 --> 01:17:19,867
<i>there's gotta be pay.</i>

1148
01:17:19,869 --> 01:17:21,369
Oh, yeah, it's pay.

1149
01:17:22,204 --> 01:17:23,671
It's been such a tough week.

1150
01:17:23,673 --> 01:17:27,008
We've been out here fighting,
struggling to keep these rock trucks going.

1151
01:17:27,010 --> 01:17:30,611
<i>Really excited to see what's
at the bottom of it 60 feet down.</i>

1152
01:17:30,613 --> 01:17:33,614
We're gonna go out,
pan it up and, well,

1153
01:17:33,616 --> 01:17:35,416
hopefully, the pans look
as good as the drilling.

1154
01:17:37,819 --> 01:17:39,253
What do you think, Chris,
you ready to do this?

1155
01:17:39,255 --> 01:17:40,454
You bring a gold pan?

1156
01:17:40,456 --> 01:17:42,823
I know all you've been seeing
is nothing but mud out here.

1157
01:17:42,825 --> 01:17:45,159
All we've been seeing is nothing
but broken machines in the yard.

1158
01:17:45,161 --> 01:17:46,727
So I'm ready to see some gold.

1159
01:17:46,729 --> 01:17:48,029
How about you guys?

1160
01:17:48,031 --> 01:17:50,831
Yeah, for sure. Let me grab a
pan. We'll go wash this stuff up.

1161
01:17:50,833 --> 01:17:55,436
<i> After moving 60 feet
of overburden, all Parker's hopes</i>

1162
01:17:55,438 --> 01:18:00,841
<i>for the season rely on a razor-thin
pay layer less than two feet thick.</i>

1163
01:18:00,843 --> 01:18:02,376
Let's see what we got here.

1164
01:18:07,215 --> 01:18:08,783
I wasn't expecting that.

1165
01:18:08,785 --> 01:18:10,051
What do you got over there?

1166
01:18:10,053 --> 01:18:11,686
A couple flakes.

1167
01:18:11,688 --> 01:18:12,820
What do you got Chris?

1168
01:18:12,822 --> 01:18:13,888
Not a hell of a lot, though.

1169
01:18:13,890 --> 01:18:15,456
Not even a flake.

1170
01:18:21,797 --> 01:18:23,597
Well, we're gonna
need to show this Parker.

1171
01:18:23,599 --> 01:18:25,232
Yeah.

1172
01:18:26,668 --> 01:18:29,570
We've definitely invested a
lot of money, tore up a lot of machines,

1173
01:18:29,572 --> 01:18:34,075
and what I'm seeing here
looks like *bleep*.

1174
01:18:36,712 --> 01:18:40,748
<i> Parker is already
$700,000 in the hole,</i>

1175
01:18:40,750 --> 01:18:45,252
<i>and the first pans
of Mud Mountain are duds.</i>

1176
01:18:48,924 --> 01:18:50,658
How's it going?
How are you doing?

1177
01:18:50,660 --> 01:18:52,159
-  Hey, Parker.
- I'm all right.

1178
01:18:52,161 --> 01:18:53,394
Getting in the swing of things.

1179
01:18:53,396 --> 01:18:54,895
What are you guys up to?

1180
01:18:54,897 --> 01:18:56,797
We got a little bit of
a problem, I think, maybe.

1181
01:18:56,799 --> 01:18:57,998
What kind of problem?

1182
01:18:58,000 --> 01:19:00,234
Well, we've been down at
Mud Mountain panning.

1183
01:19:00,236 --> 01:19:02,937
Our best pan had two colors.

1184
01:19:05,707 --> 01:19:06,741
It doesn't make me feel good.

1185
01:19:06,743 --> 01:19:09,343
It makes me a bit nervous,
actually.

1186
01:19:11,480 --> 01:19:14,682
You'd think with how concentrated
the material is down there,

1187
01:19:14,684 --> 01:19:17,785
and you'd think you'd
at least see something, but...

1188
01:19:17,787 --> 01:19:20,087
It's not like we're just-- It's
not like we're just going off

1189
01:19:20,089 --> 01:19:23,023
of a gut feeling
like Liam drilled that.

1190
01:19:23,025 --> 01:19:23,891
What can we do about it?

1191
01:19:23,893 --> 01:19:25,059
Yeah. You can't.

1192
01:19:25,061 --> 01:19:26,594
I mean, you got the money
invested in it.

1193
01:19:26,596 --> 01:19:27,495
We're going to sluice it, right?

1194
01:19:27,497 --> 01:19:28,796
There's nothing
we can do about it now.

1195
01:19:30,899 --> 01:19:33,000
We've got to trust something
and we've got to trust somebody.

1196
01:19:33,002 --> 01:19:34,435
Yeah.

1197
01:19:34,437 --> 01:19:37,238
You're either gonna come out of
this, and we're all going to be smiling

1198
01:19:37,240 --> 01:19:38,539
and everything's gonna be good,

1199
01:19:38,541 --> 01:19:41,442
or it's gonna be
a big learning experience so.

1200
01:19:41,444 --> 01:19:43,978
Yeah, I mean, it's
definitely a pretty big gamble,

1201
01:19:43,980 --> 01:19:45,846
especially with how deep it is.

1202
01:19:45,848 --> 01:19:47,448
And if it mines the way
it drilled,

1203
01:19:47,450 --> 01:19:49,150
we're gonna have
a hell of a season

1204
01:19:49,152 --> 01:19:51,585
and should be able to beat
last year, for sure.

1205
01:19:51,587 --> 01:19:52,953
All right, well...

1206
01:19:52,955 --> 01:19:54,688
We'll get it through a wash plant
and see what we end up with.

1207
01:19:54,690 --> 01:19:56,357
-  Thanks, Parker.
- Thanks, guys.

1208
01:20:08,537 --> 01:20:10,805
<i> In the Beets Family
gold room...</i>

1209
01:20:10,807 --> 01:20:14,074
We started sluicing everything
from the Nugget Cut.

1210
01:20:14,076 --> 01:20:15,743
I don't know how much T Beets
was expecting,

1211
01:20:15,745 --> 01:20:18,712
but from what I see,
and I do think we'll have

1212
01:20:18,714 --> 01:20:21,015
at least a little bit
of gold in there.

1213
01:20:23,752 --> 01:20:26,187
At the end of this week,
Mom and I are heading

1214
01:20:26,189 --> 01:20:28,823
600 kilometers away
to have a baby.

1215
01:20:28,825 --> 01:20:31,792
We're just really not set up
here in the Yukon

1216
01:20:31,794 --> 01:20:35,029
to have babies anywhere
except for Whitehorse.

1217
01:20:35,997 --> 01:20:39,466
Working for my family, I'll
be able to bring my child in

1218
01:20:39,468 --> 01:20:40,668
and continue working.

1219
01:20:40,670 --> 01:20:45,806
She'll be in a playpen
over by... probably the table

1220
01:20:45,808 --> 01:20:50,911
because that's a peaceful
noise to listen to.

1221
01:20:50,913 --> 01:20:52,379
It is an exciting thing, but...

1222
01:20:56,585 --> 01:20:58,252
<i>It's the moment of truth.</i>

1223
01:20:59,187 --> 01:21:05,159
<i>The Beets family's first gold weigh of
their ambitious 9,000 ounce season.</i>

1224
01:21:06,795 --> 01:21:07,561
-  Hi, folks.
- Hi.

1225
01:21:11,433 --> 01:21:13,901
That thing *bleep* runs
basically a day on a half a tank.

1226
01:21:13,903 --> 01:21:16,337
I see what the 11 does.
It's like, "What the *bleep*?"

1227
01:21:18,473 --> 01:21:20,474
Why do we have two jars?

1228
01:21:20,476 --> 01:21:22,910
Well, I figured it,
it's called the Nugget Cut,

1229
01:21:22,912 --> 01:21:25,980
so I kept all the nuggets out
and we'll put them on top.

1230
01:21:28,450 --> 01:21:32,019
Roughly 40, 45.

1231
01:21:32,021 --> 01:21:38,893
<i> To hit his 9,000 ounce
target, Tony needs 475 ounces a week,</i>

1232
01:21:38,895 --> 01:21:43,397
<i>so this 2-day run
should deliver 160 ounces.</i>

1233
01:21:44,766 --> 01:21:46,033
Are you gonna pour
some gold for us?

1234
01:21:46,035 --> 01:21:50,104
5, 6, 14, 15, 18, 25,

1235
01:21:50,106 --> 01:21:56,343
40, 50, 70, 80.44.

1236
01:21:59,481 --> 01:22:02,082
82.72.

1237
01:22:03,051 --> 01:22:08,155
<i> 82 ounces is
worth over $147,000.</i>

1238
01:22:16,865 --> 01:22:18,399
Yeah.

1239
01:22:18,401 --> 01:22:21,468
<i> It's more than the trommel
produced per hour last season,</i>

1240
01:22:21,470 --> 01:22:26,774
<i>but still less than the 475
ounces a week they need.</i>

1241
01:22:26,776 --> 01:22:29,343
Well, this will be your last
gold weigh for a while.

1242
01:22:29,345 --> 01:22:31,912
Well, I mean, only if you
don't have somebody else

1243
01:22:31,914 --> 01:22:33,080
cleaning the gold
while I'm gone.

1244
01:22:34,783 --> 01:22:36,016
Oh, yeah.

1245
01:22:36,018 --> 01:22:37,785
She needs a job
like a hole in her head.

1246
01:22:41,890 --> 01:22:44,858
Well, then you're gonna have
to buy a playpen

1247
01:22:44,860 --> 01:22:47,428
and maybe a mobile and
maybe an white noise machine.

1248
01:22:47,430 --> 01:22:49,096
I need a humidifier.

1249
01:22:51,533 --> 01:22:53,267
Clean it up,
and let's go to work.

1250
01:22:53,269 --> 01:22:56,036
- Yeah.
- I have stuff to do, too, so please.

1251
01:22:56,838 --> 01:22:59,073
Bye.

1252
01:23:00,909 --> 01:23:04,812
<i> Now, Tony can
expand to the Indian River</i>

1253
01:23:04,814 --> 01:23:09,049
<i>and easily double or even
triple his output.</i>

1254
01:23:12,554 --> 01:23:14,221
The water license, as you know,

1255
01:23:14,223 --> 01:23:15,856
as long as we get it
in the next 14 days,

1256
01:23:15,858 --> 01:23:17,591
<i>that's good.</i>

1257
01:23:17,593 --> 01:23:21,295
We should have both operations
up and running.

1258
01:23:21,297 --> 01:23:24,932
With all that, I think we should
be able to reach the goal.