Original subtitles

Just outside the Arctic Circle.

Seven down on their luck miners are risking it all on a new gold mining claim.

Say a love story to print it all mine.

This season, the Hoffman crew has ripped through eight feet of frozen earth.

And dug a pit half the size of a football field to get down to pay ground.

You're not going!

Whoa! Look at that!

Now, with a pay streak of gold, finally visible.

Oh, that's good stuff.

The crew runs their heavy equipment 24-7 to make up for lost time.

This blue box is full of gold.

This is going to be a big cleanup.

Meanwhile, in southeast Alaska, 17-year-old Parker Shnubble gets a surprise visit

from a federal mining inspector.

Nothing we say matters.

I have to withdraw all the miners from the mine site.

And Dakota Fred's mining dream turns into a nightmare when he falls under the same scrutiny.

You just tell me how anybody would feel other than angry.

Over BS like this.

At the Courts Creek claim in the Klandai, the 150-day mining season is 93 days old.

The Hoffman crew is cleaning out dirt from three days of mining.

They're desperate for some good news.

It's supposed to be making up money to provide for my family.

Simple things, I'm just putting food on the table.

That's getting tough to do.

The Hoffman anticipation just keeps it going.

I mean, that's all I got.

Jack feeds the finishing table.

This is a piece of equipment that does exactly what it says.

I'm not used to that.

A gold coming at you.

She jacked right there.

It's perfect.

That steady stream of gold going into there.

Black sand back about a quarter inch.

That's pretty sight.

I think we're going to need a bigger yard.

All right.

Do you think?

No.

I'm going to get a bucket.

First couple nuggets look kind of coarse.

They're not big, but they're flatter flakes.

So kind of exciting.

We'll see what we get in this clean out.

But I think it's going to be pretty good.

The Hoffman crew has spent close to three months in the clundice,

getting down to pay ground.

Finally, we're there.

And dialing in their wash plan.

She ain't pretty.

She's kicking some ass right now.

But so far, they found only four ounces of gold worth just $6,400.

I'm the breadwinner and our family right now.

I need to bring home some gold this year.

Their gold is to get to 100 ounces worth over $160,000.

That would give them a profit of nearly $50,000 to split.

We're trying to get to our goal, but we go long ways to go.

And we're behind.

The Hoffman crew has to average 1.6 ounces of gold every day for the remaining 57 days.

To stay on track, they need a minimum of 4.8 ounces from this 3 day clean out.

Okay.

Okay, here.

Put it on a paper. Let's see what we get.

On.

Two.

Three.

And play four.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

Five point two.

Five point two.

Almost five in a quarter.

Finding $8,300 in the last three days.

Makes their $160,000 goal possible for the first time.

We got $15,000 worth of gold already.

That's just the beginning.

We're going to just go on and up on upwards from there.

So we've accomplished a lot, you guys.

We've done very well.

The crew has never run dirt for more than six hours at a time.

Now they're on the goal.

Todd wants to show them what they can achieve if they run all day and all night.

Let me tell you something.

If we ran for 24 hours, I predict it's going to be bigger.

We've got our best dirt.

This all this stuff was practiced dirt.

That's the real stuff down there.

You guys all in on that?

Yeah.

I mean, yeah.

Fuel will be here in the morning.

All right.

Okay.

Eight o'clock.

Why don't we get prepped?

And then we'll run for 24 hours.

All right.

Let's go.

Yeah.

How long?

I really think we might pull 30 ounces in this 24 hours.

We're going to run and run and run and run.

We're going to do a clean out and you're going to see some sweet golden box.

Down south at the Hoffman's old mine in Porcupine Creek.

The Dakota boys get some troubling news.

An inspector from the mining safety and health administration is in town.

I'm sure I was a safety mining police is what they are.

And they come out and they give you an inspection and they give you big giant fines if you're not doing it right.

We're missing one piece of paperwork.

We're trying to get the, we got it in a post office.

We hope we got a charge in battery.

I'm sorry.

We got to get going.

They sent us paperwork and it still hasn't made it to us.

And I'm going to make a desperate dash to the post office.

If we can get this truck running and we're going to try to get the paperwork that we need to complete our paperwork situation.

If Dakota Fred's operation fails to meet federal mining safety standards,

M-Shaw could shut him down.

They have to get to the post office fast,

but their truck has a dead battery.

And the generator they need to charge it is acting up.

Oh, don't do this.

Well, just take four wheeler on up.

All right.

Wow, they look.

See what the hell you can do.

They are missing their safety training plan.

Fred submitted it three months ago and is still waiting for M-Shaw to approve and return it.

Dustin has no choice, but to make the 80 mile round trip on a four wheeler.

If the paperwork isn't in their post office box, M-Shaw may shut them down.

Hey!

Since digging into his life savings to buy Porcupine Creek,

Dakota Fred has suffered constant mechanical breakdowns.

We just can't do any mining.

It just absolutely dead right now.

He's lost his home in North Dakota,

and everything he owns to floods.

Oh, Lord.

It is bad.

Then, just when he needed it most,

he found 19 ounces of gold were $30,000 in a single week.

I think tonight is a three-beer night.

But the Dakota boys need another 80 ounces to make a decent profit this season.

The last thing Fred needs now is to fail a federal safety inspection.

I may add you about it because I don't know what's going to happen.

If it's going to happen, I don't know if they're coming or not.

We've got our signs up. We get safety out the ****.

Now we'll see nothing in your hands.

Ta-da?

No, you got some junk mail and somebody else's mail.

So, don't have it.

So, well, what do you say I have to deal with it?

Just tell them that we applied for it,

and we've been waiting for it over and over and we're trying.

I mean, we're doing what it says to do, basically.

Well, it's just we don't have it in print,

which is ridiculous.

I know.

These people never kept me safe ever, so.

Well, well, all I can do is just hope we're the best.

If we fail.

Hey, we try.

Back up in the Klondike,

with only 56 days left of the mining season.

The Hoffman crew begins a 24-hour marathon run.

On the day, those Greg Remsberg stockpiles Peter.

Well, we spent weeks, weeks player this field here,

and creating a pit that's exciting.

It feels good to be gold-binding.

In the 228, Todd feeds the wash plan.

Well, we got to run all through the night.

So, we want to get that payment material out of the quickest possible.

I'd like to see 50 ounces of gold.

Whoa, holy.

Yeah.

So, man.

You're not going to do it.

Dude.

You're just right there.

That's just the potter.

Todd, we need to get the river down here right away.

We need to see what's in this ground.

I think it's loaded with gold.

Well, you got Greg.

Everything is just glistening.

In the water throughout this whole area.

Look at that.

Whoa.

Look at that.

They're good pieces.

They're good pieces.

Oh, my gosh.

You can almost pick them up with your fingers.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

This is what you want to see.

Let's pan this up.

Oh, that's good stuff.

Now, it's a lot.

That's more than we've seen so far.

It's flower gold.

Oh, man.

This might just be the potter go we've been looking for.

Good.

Good looking stuff.

See the well.

That's nuts.

Yeah.

10 pieces of fairly small, but pretty coarse gold.

And a little teeny bit of dirt.

The times out by every bucket.

Boom.

Boom.

Okay.

We're on the gold.

So now we just got to go get it.

At the big nugget mine in southeast Alaska, there are only eight weeks left in the mining season.

But 17-year-old Parker Schnabel has less than three weeks before high school starts up again.

The pressure is on for him to find gold in his new dig site at Emerson Trinch.

I've got a lot of stuff to move.

And I've spent about two days on it and I've only done about a fifth of what needs to get done.

Since taking over his grandpas mine three months ago, Parker has found 20 ounces of gold.

We're $32,000.

I must be doing something, right?

But he needs another 50 ounces to save the family clean.

I've got everything I need, except dirt with gold in it.

He's risked life and limb to open two new dig sites.

But they didn't pan out.

Finally, Parker is on the gold, but he's digging on the very edge of his claim.

The future of the mine depends on finding a rich pay streak of gold over the next few weeks in order to turn a profit.

It's getting late in the season and we need to start kind of trying to find some gold.

Yeah, it weren't so pretty good dirt right now.

At the entrance to the mine, an M-Shaw inspector shows up without warning.

Parker gets the bad news on the radio.

Yeah.

No, this isn't going to do me any good.

By the time Parker gets down to the wash plant,

the inspector has already finished his assessment.

My grandpa's been running this for, I think, 26 years.

I don't think he's ever gotten inspection.

We're law enforcement.

I have to come out and do my job.

I have to find violations and I have to cite him.

Okay.

But everything I've seen so far, it's like you guys haven't been inspected before.

So there's a little more than normal on the violations.

Okay.

Sorry.

The inspector's site's Parker for six safety hazards.

Thank you.

Each carrying a fine of around $300.

Grandpa John arrives at the mine.

M-Shaw guy wrote out citations.

I don't nothing serious.

Drawing through paperwork at the office.

The inspector now wants to go through the mine's paperwork.

This year, it's been 17-year-old Parker's responsibility

to get everything in order.

I hope I remember to put the right papers in here.

I have to be bad.

Oh God, this is going to be fun.

After going through the files, the inspector has devastating news.

Parker right now is in violation of part 48 terrain

because he doesn't have a certified plan in place.

And so I have to withdraw all the miners from the mine site.

Because they're considered a hazard upon themselves and others

for not having proper training.

Training for what?

How do the work for safety?

Safety.

We've been working here for 23 years under my supervision.

We've never had an accident because I personally have taken a responsibility

to emphasize safety.

I realize that.

The problem we have right now is the mine needed to be regulated by the federal government

and by M-Shaw.

And it had been operating without that regulation for the 23 years.

Nothing we say matters.

The inspector shuts the mine down on the spot.

Here's our withdrawal order.

The operator is here by order to withdraw the three miners from the mine

until they have received the required training.

They shut us down.

That's what that means.

I hate to seem to have to face this kind of problem

so young and life when it's so determined to be successful.

Of course it's my fault.

I'm in charge.

Parker breaks the news to his crew.

I just like to talk to you guys a little bit about what happened.

So as of now, the mine is shut down and until we get retrained,

we're not allowed to work.

What we're trying to do is get somebody in here that is certified for Monday.

But finding an instructor on short notice will be nearly impossible.

Parker needs another $80,000 to keep the family mine alive.

Emerson Trinch could be the answer.

But unable to mine.

The future of Big Nug is in jeopardy.

At Quartz Creek in the Klandai, with only 56 days left in the mining season.

Turn it off, turn it off.

The Huffman crew continues its 24-hour marathon run.

This is not a lot of time left.

So everyone feels that urgency.

Water flow is good.

I think moving down the box pretty good.

I think we're about right.

Water ride.

They're now ready to run their best pay gravel,

longer and harder than ever before.

There's a 24-hour non-stop run.

I think the longest we've run has been six hours, six or seven hours.

So this is a lot more.

For the first time this season, they're running every part of their mining operation simultaneously.

Down in the pit.

Dave is on the DA doser.

Goal tear.

I'm running on top, but I got to keep pushing Chris.

In the loader, Chris carries paideard from the pit to Todd in the 228.

Todd then feeds the wash plate.

This is a layer of gold in.

Our last clean out was $10 yard.

This must be, if I'm guessing, $15, $20 yard.

So you run to $3000 just a lot of money.

On the ground, Jim Thurber is in charge of the wash plan.

It's a lot of responsibility, but it's not a fun job.

It's not a clean job, but it's kind of a cool one.

After eight hours, they've run dirt longer than ever before.

But out of nowhere, the wash plan's water pressure drops.

From the 228, Jack spots the cause of the problem.

Immediately Jim investigates.

The screen around our pump, floods up with ancient little branches, bars, and floods up the holes on the side of the screen.

From the get-go, dirty water has plagued the Hoffman crew.

Look at that.

We lost our water, good floor, shut it down.

Just a week ago, they fixed the same problem by installing a screen and pumping clean water into their intake pond.

But now, after running for eight straight hours, debris is once again clogging up the screen.

Without a steady supply of water to the wash plan, they can't run dirt.

Or get gold.

It's down to Jim Thurber to manually unclog the screen.

If he falls, the water is dirty and cold.

This thing just can't handle the way we're running it right now.

Yeah, it's going to happen all day all night, so we've got to keep watching it, run back and forth, keep an eye on it.

Turn your back on it, it plugs right up.

With the screen clear, the water pressure in the wash plan is back for now.

But nobody knows if it can handle running for another 16 hours straight.

The largest gold deposit ever may not even be on this planet.

Aeros. One of the closest asteroids to Earth is thought to have gold valued in excess of a million trillion dollars.

That's around 400,000 times the estimated gold reserves left to be mine on Earth.

It's 10 p.m. on the Court's Creek Gold claim.

To make up for lost time in their second mining season, the Hoffman crew is on a 24 hour run.

It is now our 13th.

Today we're going out of really gold mining.

Our water is getting kind of dark, like a lot of sediment in it.

Settlement in the water can clog up the gold catching ripples.

Todd shuts down briefly to check the sluice boxes.

We've shown some pretty good gold in the box.

You can see it. You can see it right here.

But gold behind every rifle like this.

But there's also bad news.

I got ripples that are packed up from lots of hours of running.

And I want to I want to get them loose.

And the gold sinks down into the miners' moss.

If less water is passing through the cloud screen, less water is reaching the wash plan.

Without enough water, the paint gravel washes over the ripples more slowly, causing them to pack up.

If Todd continues to run dirt over the clogged ripples, their gold will start running right out of the sluices.

Fire me up, buddy.

Okay, there we go.

But only halfway through their 24 hour run. Todd's not ready to quit just yet.

Instead, to prevent them from losing gold, he decides to wash out the packed ripples.

You start at the bottom and you work your way up.

Then you know these are unpacked.

I don't know if I'm accomplishing it right or not.

This should secure the gold in the miners' moss below.

And unclog the ripples.

You're sinking the gold?

Yeah.

This should lock in the gold that we got.

We need to be done.

We're about ready to get the gold through the dark.

So the first time we run all night, hope it works out good.

With the ripples on the clog, Todd decides to run again, risking the possibility of losing more gold.

All right, we're watered in.

The gold has sunk.

Lock clocked and ready to rock.

Sir, are you a tournament machine on it?

You ready?

Yeah.

It is 3 a.m.

The Hoffman crew has now run their best painter for 18 straight hours.

It's the middle of the night.

And it's getting hard to concentrate.

Hard to see.

And everybody's tired.

Everybody's got different pains going on.

But it's time to bite the bullet and go to the gold.

We just got to be catch for careful.

Water is.

Water is a little empty right now.

They've continued the uphill battle to keep the water supply steady.

Water's causing problems again.

There's too much wood in the water and it just plugs up our filter there.

And then that pump starts sucking air.

And then it's not washing the gold properly.

Now they're quit again.

Whoa.

We lost water again.

Shut it down.

Hey, Chris.

Hey, we've lost our water.

We're going to shut down for half hour or so.

And let the intake funds settle out.

All of you don't get any.

18 hours into their 24 hour run.

And Todd has to shut down the wash plant again.

Oh my god.

Look at this.

You're there, Ripple.

I don't like what I'm seeing in these ripples.

The pack and yeah.

I don't like the way it's mud and up.

It's not looking right.

I think our water's too dirty.

Yep.

We don't want to wash the gold out.

We're in such good material.

I sure hate to screw it up.

Let's call it a day day.

I think we should.

I don't want to run on this anymore.

All right.

We're done.

The water's too muddy.

Rather than waste gold, let's just stop.

Let the water clean up.

The really good news is that sluice box is full of gold.

This is going to be a big cleanup.

It's going to be kind of fun to see tomorrow when the daylight hits.

Turn out the lights, the party's over.

Time to go to bed.

In southeast Alaska, the big nugget mine is shut down after failing an M. Shaw inspection.

With just over two weeks left before he returns to high school,

Parker has worked through the night to find an instructor that can conduct the necessary safety training.

Parker has to find $80,000 in gold to keep his grandfathers mine afloat.

He needs to get mining again and fast.

Right now we've got an M. Shaw instructor to reverse with the M. Shaw inspector has done to us.

So he's here to give us a piece of paper that says we can mine like we have been for the last 20 years.

Stupid.

The instructor identifies safety hazards and recommends fixes.

So this should have been a board.

The training is over, but until the M. Shaw inspector gives them the green light, the mine can't open.

I go after school in 15 days and I can't work right now.

And that's bothers me.

It's annoying.

It's a pain in the ass.

Next morning in southeast Alaska, while the big nugget remaining shut down,

Parker's crew addresses safety violations.

We've got to put guardrails up for them.

We don't fall off the deck backwards.

M. Shaw is a good thing because if they weren't in place, a lot more miners would get killed around the country.

The M. Shaw inspectors next visit determines if Parker can reopen the mine.

Hopefully today, how this crap will get reversed and he will just leave peacefully.

Hello.

From morning, kind of a hectic morning.

A million things to do.

Will you be able to terminate the stop work order today?

Determination or lifting the order paper for my will have for you.

Okay, but for now we're good to go.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

And hopefully next time I'll be a little more prepared.

Made it.

It's over.

Yeah, I think the violations will probably toll about two grand.

And then we spent about a thousand on the training yesterday.

And we lost one day.

So you could say that lost a thousand bucks.

So that's four grand and Shaw has cost us.

Let's go boys.

I was going to wait until later to run the plant back for you.

We just need to start getting to third move.

This is our second day that we've lost.

But we're not going to lose it because I'm not going to let that happen.

To find out if the pastry could immerse in trenches rich enough to save the mind,

Parker decides to run all the stockpiled dirt.

Just minutes after leaving big nugget,

the M. Shaw inspector arrives at Porcupine Creek.

Good morning, sir.

Can I help you, sir?

Yeah, sir. Good to make you, sir.

Fred hurt.

Nice to meet you.

For three months, Fred's been mining without an M. Shaw certified safety training plan.

If the inspector finds out, Fred could face a stop work order,

or even a fine that could put him out of business.

But before looking over Fred's paperwork,

the inspector walks the mine.

It doesn't take long to spot three safety hazards.

Are you using the snow fences barrier?

This is a warning barricade.

It's not a strength to stop someone.

If they trip, fall and over the bank,

and get in really hurt.

That's okay.

But sight violations are not Fred's biggest concern.

Missing paperwork could jeopardize his entire operation.

Fred's business partner, Paul Beam,

goes over Porcupine Creek's paperwork with the inspector.

We got one piece of paperwork that he's talking about.

Right now, that we don't have.

The Dakota boys sent their training plan to M. Shaw for approval.

But it's not been certified and returned.

Paul pleads their case.

We have a training plan, and we put it in at least a month to six weeks,

but we even started doing any amount of dirt work.

I made numerous calls to try to say,

hey, we need this plan.

I don't think it's our fault that got that clogged with the M. Shaw district to prove it.

The district office is parked in John,

and let him know that he emailed the plan in May,

and have not heard back.

Yeah, yeah.

The inspector is not concerned about the missing training plan.

He has a bigger problem with the Dakota boys operation.

The initial training requires 16 off-site,

and eight hours on-site training needs to be done by an improved instructor.

And this is an Alaska code, state of Alaska code that they've come up with.

This is the federal code.

They're in violation of a major M. Shaw regulation.

So your training certificates are basically non-boying.

So I need to issue it with draw order of all personnel.

So now you can tell Fred to see some of the system.

The same inspector that shut down big nugget mine,

shut down porcupine creek, like Parker.

Fred and his crew have not had the required eight hours of site-specific safety training.

We're shut down, Fred, we got a...

What the hell is going on?

What is this?

This is part of this, in the rules, so it's...

What's going on?

Well, I'm sorry to say I needed to withdraw the miners for their safety,

because the minac states that untrained miners are a hazard to themselves and others.

I just don't understand a site-specific anything,

because we know this mine better than any instructor ever thought of knowing.

We're regulating you.

To protect the health and safety of the miners.

Is there any possible leeway?

The withdraw just stops you until you get your training.

What do you want to talk about it?

Two to three, my days of mine and pariet minimal.

We're shut down.

You just tell me how anybody would feel other than angry.

Over Vs like this.

At the big nugget mine, with the end of his season closing in,

Parker is finally running the dirt from his new dig site at Emerson Trench.

Are you getting anything out of that dirt today?

That's half of the first row of the jig.

You can't help but smile.

Two and a half or three ounces, huh?

I don't know. You tell me.

Looks like it. Looks like two and a half.

I don't want to be responsible for being overestimated.

Keep admiring that you'll increase it for three ounces.

I think it is three ounces.

No seriously.

We haven't had that much gold in the pan in all summer.

The total cleanout from this run is six ounces,

bringing Parker's gold tally to 26 ounces, worth $41,000.

After all the setbacks, Parker has finally hit a pastry that could save his grandpa's mind.

Up north in the Klandai, the Hoffman crew is also hoping for a big payday.

With just 54 days left of the mining season,

they're in the middle of cleaning out gold from an epic 18 hour run.

It'll be the best clean up that I've ever seen.

And I think the kind of propeller's forward.

I mean, a good mood right now because it's just about the last shovel fall.

Todd set out to prove to his crew that they can still make a fortune at Court's Creek.

If we ran for 24 hours, it's going to be bigger.

Okay, let's go.

With gold actually glistening in the dig site, the crew is setting their sights on at least 20 ounces in this cleanout.

I really think we might pull 30 ounces in this 24 hours.

Now, they're drying out their latest take.

Cook and go, it's my favorite recipe.

Do you have the funnel and do you have your bottle?

I have a bottle, put your funnel in.

Okay, zero it dead, and then a third.

Pour that one in first.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Okay, zero.

Call them out.

There's a point three, three.

No.

Two out, two, three, three, four.

Five.

Six.

Point nine.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Nine ounces.

Big deal.

Oh, it's not the big money that we were hoping for.

When I was running last night, just did feel right.

I don't think we were catching gold.

We should have pulled the plug on it earlier.

From the time we watered that gold in on, I bet it was touching go.

Just being made sure everything is right before we run.

It's clear that dirty water packed up the ripples again,

allowing precious gold to pass right out the end of the sluice boxes.

Tons decision to keep running has cost them dearly.

We still did even with bad water and everything.

We still have $14,000 worth of gold last night.

The clean out brings the Hoffman's gold telly to 19 ounces worth about $30,000.

But they need to get to 100 ounces to go home with money in their pockets.

This is everything to me.

This is where my income is coming from.

They say it was better than last year, but last year was in disaster.

So, you know, we're still at the drain, we're still drain it.

I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a nightmare.

Unhappy with a clean out, the crew confronts Todd.

The river and I busted our ass sitting on that stupid filter too long.

And if we were doing that in shooting gold down this, it pisses me off.

We needed somebody to make a decision.

And if had I known that the water, that water was that detrimental, I just shut it down immediately.

I know you're frustrated about the water.

No?

Why didn't you know about the water, Dave?

Why didn't I?

I mean, I had ideas, but Frick, we're a bunch of Frick and Rookiees.

We're learning.

I expected more gold than this, too.

We either got to kind of believe in a long-term plan.

Or probably not going to work, you know.

I don't believe in our economy anymore.

I believe in gold.

I just wish I was better at it.

Better coal miner, you know?

Well, it allows you to clean out.

No, I think, you know, we're not halfway through the season already.

We've gotten more than we did all season, a porcupine.

So, I'm here, I'm here for the hall.

I think you can get us through this.

I'm proud to be a part of this team, and I wanted to continue.

We may not set any records, but we cannot fail.

I'm giving you that promise right now.

I'm not going to fill a gold mine.

I'm Crystal Doyle, Executive Producer of Gold Rush.

This time on the Gold Rush after show, Fred, you had a string of bad luck.

What the hell are you doing?

Dustin, left the claim. What don't we know about that fight?

Sometimes you wonder just how much you can pay.

Watch the Gold Rush after show at discovery.com slash Gold Rush after show.