Original subtitles

hey, freddy.

What's going on, dave?

Covid greeting.

I'd love you guys

To take a look at the wash plant.

well, a new set of eye is always good.

Get some hard hat and stuff on.

Yeah.

put it back, juan.

I like it, freddy.

We're almost to 200 ounces.

With another good week, we'll smash it.

We just need 27 ounces.

Last year, it would have taken all season

To get here at this point.

But now, we're just six weeks in

And that proves to me and the crew

That we're on something special this year.

dave, we have somebody

Sitting out on our entrance right now

And he's watching real hard.

I don't know who he is. I ain't no telling.

I've had so much bad luck with people.

We've had government, neighbors, you know.

So, I got to go see what this guy wants.

is there something I can help you with?

here's another day in paradise.

at box creek, colorado,

Team turin is on the gold

80-feet deep in the vault cut.

if things keep going the way they're going,

We're gonna smash the season total,

Which is good because I'm tired of coming in short.

I want it all.

last week, they installed

Their old hopper feeder from montana,

Up production by 30%...

The setup is wonderful right now, man.

...And recovered over $80,000 of gold

In just one week.

-42.1. -42.1.

- yeah. - good job.

now, running more dirt than ever,

They're just 27 ounces short

Of their 200 ounce mid-season milestone.

the dirt looks great,

Running through the plant good,

We're rocking and rolling.

to be a gold miner, you have to take risks.

You can only take those risks

Because you trust your crew and you trust the machines.

So the hopper feeder is working good.

We got another 20%, 30% production.

I'm just worried about the roach.

I don't know if it can keep up

And wash that mini rocks.

for heaven's sake.

Not good.

Hey, nate.

Now they were running so fast,

I'm a little bit worried about our big tailing being dirty.

they're all the same, man.

I mean, the the run

But they got no more water.

I mean, I don't know what else we can do.

Every little bit of that right there,

It can hold on gold.

We don't get those clean,

We're losing gold right here in our tailing pile.

Every little bit at the end of the season counts.

I think we need to quit running now hopper feeder.

Peter, I think we're going too fast.

damn it.

the rocks is getting real dirty.

They're not cleaned up like they should.

We can't wash them good enough.

So, gonna turn it down for now.

Not what they want to but that's what we got to do.

Can't clean the rock,

Can't get the gold off of them.

in the land.

I took a big gamble

Bringing that big piece of equipment in here,

But you know what,

Until we solve the problem with the roach,

I can't use that hopper feeder.

We're in a tough spot right now.

I'm afraid we're never gonna hit our 200 ounce gold.

And right now, I just don't need any more problems.

All right. Let shut it down.

sorry, chris. We're gonna have

To get back up on your roach.

go joy, joy, joy, joy.

Now, I get to get it back up

Because it makes you feel like you're gonna fall.

I don't like that feeling.

I don't like being up high.

to feed the plant without the hopper feeder,

Chris must use the 2020 excavator,

Balanced 30-feet high on the tailings' pile.

hmm.

Here we go.

Right here.

I just got to press through.

Oh, shoot. Here we go.

if you only know

How bad I'm sweating right now.

That puckers me up a good bit.

hurry up, let's go.

All right, you're coming on.

Let it go, chris.

I know one thing.

The gold is a lot better than we've ever seen.

So far so... It's giving us hope

That we're gonna take some nice gold back to our families

And I'll be able to give my dad some gold

And help him out tremendously.

This year, I wanna bring back more gold than we ever have.

It means freedom for my dad.

I made a vow that I'd help pay his house off

With the gold that I got and that...

And that's what it means to me.

feeding the roach with the 220

Slows production by 30%.

this plant setup is taking a lot of my time.

If we wanna reach our 400 ounce total this year,

We've got to get that hopper feeder running.

I've asked freddy dodge and juan ibarra to come

And take a look at the wash plant.

Freddy is the best gold recovery guy in the world

And juan is a hell of a fabricator

And they're good friends and I trust them.

If they can look at the plant,

It freeze me up.

The vault cut has got about couple weeks.

Right now, my main concern is opening up a new ground

And I've got to go out and find it.

Because the minute we quit sluicing,

We're not making any money.

this gonna be good.

We're gonna go find a gold in the box today, man.

in a vault cut.

right now, we're in the gold

And we need to be thankful.

But once this play zone runs out in about two weeks,

We better have some place that has gold in it.

jason sanchez is chasing an ancient channel

Of gold bearing river gravels.

the ground that we're on, it's confusing.

It's been a really, really tough ground to read.

It puts a lot more pressure on me,

Because my job up here is to keep us on the gold

And on good gold.

Over the past three seasons working with this crew,

I genuinely believe they helped me

Become a better miner.

Now I can read the ground better

And make key decisions.

And the guys, they trust me to keep them on the gold.

sake.

Any time I see an anomaly on the dirt,

I got to check it out.

This is our change, right here.

This stuff right here,

I can't be sending this.

This is sand

And not only is it sand,

But it sand to zone.

This will dilute our pay.

There's no reason to run that.

You can't have no gold bearing material.

Here, I think we may have to be a little bit more picky.

All right. Time to pan it and get some results.

I just got to figure out

Which part is carrying the gold

And which one is not.

So that way I can define it then I'll refine it.

jason believes the eight foot thick

Gold bearing main channel he is chasing

Is disappearing now.

It's been replaced with loose rock

And sand that the heavy gold won't settle in,

Meaning the thin layer is now just two feet thick,

Drastically reducing the amount of gold

Left in the vault cut.

when those numbers are dropping,

I don't want them going, "well, damn, jason.

Did you lose the channel or what's going on up there?"

Son of a

So there's definitely sand

And I just figured out where it's at.

The only bummer part is

Rather than having weeks' worth to pay,

We're down to couple days.

I got to go show to dave.

hey, dave.

oh, my god.

We can't be running it.

I got no ground.

I don't know what you want me to do.

I'm gonna run it off.

Going that way is not a main channel

And it's getting weaker.

You know, I'm just trying to help.

I don't know why he's so fired up.

He didn't even know... Last year

When I was deciphering channels,

You were all force. This year,

There's two different rock...

because I got this much ground

And we got to take all of it.

So what's there is there.

No. That's not correct.

how much do you think we got left for couple days.

He didn't pay you to think, he payed to damn dig.

well, I don't know why he's mad at us.

That's the problem.

-Casey, come here. -Come on. Oh.

my point is you take the good with the bad

And you take it off. And jason wants to be

Selective and that's where I disagree.

I'd rather have just all the dirt and take it.

If that isn't a jason,

I don't know what it is.

These guys don't wanna listen to me.

You ain't got nothing here.

You ain't got nothing here.

coming up.

As team turin run out of ground...

fast load from the vault cut.

Closing her up.

...Dave's calls in the cavalry...

We can concentrate on seeing how to get you more gold.

...As he goes on the hunt...

he's hit big boulders, that's the pay.

...For rocky mountain riches.

in box creek...

These guys don't wanna listen to me.

...With 27 ounces needed

To hit their 200 ounce target this week.

You know how frustrating it is

When you're trying to explain something

And nobody will listen.

jason believes the team

Is running out of pay in the vault cut.

I'm more than capable of making big decisions.

I mean, there's a reason dave put me as number two.

I've led my own team,

I've built big operations

But if nobody is gonna listen,

I might as well stay in the hole

And digging rock.

what were you so mad about up there

At the sluice box?

look at the dirt,

Do you see the separation?

This is sand,

This is not gonna hold gold.

Gold is gonna go right on down through this

And it's gonna work down, it's gonna sit on

What we have is a false bedrock.

What worried me, was that you were still

Gonna wanna completely progress forward

Without thinking about it,

And only end up sending two feet of pay.

I see it now. I agree with it a hundred percent.

It's open loose gravel, the gold settled.

At this point, we got one excavator,

Let's just take it for now.

And then, you and I need to get together,

Go find some more ground.

I can be pretty hot-headed,

I can go from zero to a hundred really quick.

I get something set in my head,

I feel or believe that it's the right way to do it,

And I sometimes I forget that as partners,

There has to be a compromise.

I apologize for coming up so heated, dave.

- no problem. -It was great.

I love the fact that you're so passionate

And you don't wanna take any ground

That doesn't have gold in it. I get it.

Jason was right.

That sand layer has diluted our pay,

And I don't think it's worth mining.

We're about out of pay.

Pressure's back on me now.

I've got to go find some more ground.

there ain't nothing like coming to work

Every day and knowing you got to face

One of your biggest fears of your life.

at the wash plant,

Chris tries to keep the team on target.

Feeding 60 buckets of pay

Into the roach every hour.

first couple of days on this excavator

Was real daunting.

I'm not a real fond of heights,

But right now I'm feeling pretty comfortable

And keeping up with the plant so,

Kind of, enjoying it now.

Let's go take some

We're gonna get it.

If we keep this up, we're gonna be

Well over 200 ounces.

Whoa!

a tailings conveyor on the roach is slipping.

go into the pump, nate.

Go into the pump.

dave, you got a copy?

-It wouldn't turn at all. -Huh?

it wasn't turning.

This thing kinda floored and it jammed up.

No up.

you wanna jump out of there?

We're gonna shut it down.

a bearing on the pulley

At the base of the conveyor has worn out.

Without it,

The steel fittings grind together,

Potentially causing terminal damage

To the pulley.

The team could be looking

At a lengthy shutdown.

The conveyor belt started hopping abnormally,

So if we ain't got our plant,

Then we ain't producing any gold

And that's pretty darn serious.

So hopefully we caught it in time.

it's on mechanic nathan

To remove the worn bearing.

So, we're taking the old bearing off.

It's a real tight fit on this gap right here.

So he's pulling it with a puller.

-Here we are. - there you go.

all the roller bearings fell out

Because of all the dirt and mud.

And this was riding steel on steel.

We got it in time,

All we got to do is change the bearing,

Put a new one on.

I just got to clean the shaft of this

A little bit, and then, I'm gonna be able

To put the new one in

And off we go hopefully.

what I do is very stressful,

You know, you got to manage all the equipment,

Manage the plant, sluice box,

All the mobile equipment.

And we got a lot more equipment this year.

You just pray every day, saying,

"baby, don't break down,"

You know, "let's have a good day,"

But it happens.

That's my year too.

you know, and so far, I've been able to correct

All the situations that we've ran into.

- there we go.

Getting somewhere now, I think.

It's always on the back of your mind is,

"what if I let these guys down?"

All right, chris. That's the last bearing, man.

-We're good to go, man. -All right. Good deal.

-Good job. -Heck yeah. Thanks, dude.

I appreciate your help.

after a two-hour shutdown,

Nate fires up the roach.

- whoo! Got it.

There we go.

now, with the plant back up and running...

I just can't get a break right now.

dave can focus on the challenge

Of finding more ground.

well, the vault cut's been paying.

It... It's been a good cut.

The problem is we're hitting more sand.

I expected to be in here for weeks,

Now I'm in here for days.

As I look at these maps,

And these aerial photos,

There's one spot

That just jumps out at me

And I don't quite understand it.

And it's this strip right down the middle,

And it looks to me like it could possibly

Been left for water control.

Those dredges have to float.

in the early 1900s,

The giant floating derry dredge

Worked its way along box creek

Extracting gold from the creek bed.

To keep the dredge afloat,

The old miners left strips of land called dikes

To stop the water from escaping.

Dave's theory, a narrow strip of land

Across the creek from the vault cut

Could be an old dike

That may still have gold hidden beneath it.

what I wanted to look at,

Is this center strip.

This strip looks to me like it's virgin.

I mean, look at all the grass and stuff, the trees.

that's some old growth.

-They might have left that. - it's worth a try.

We got everything to gain and nothing to lose on it.

all right. Go grab the 480, let's do it.

right on.

It's got a lot of natural grasses and stuff,

So it could be virgin.

The thing about these lost mines

Is we're constantly

Trying to figure the ground out.

The most logical thing is that,

They had to float the dredge over there.

Maybe they left this strip

So that their water didn't drain out,

Because those tailings are so permeable,

The water goes right through them.

So far, that's all topsoil.

we're hitting rock, dave, already.

that's what I'm talking about.

Decomposed granite. It's good sign.

A lot of times, the gold goes in these seams

Where the granite is,

Between these and other rocks.

And so, as it rolls around in a glacier,

It starts to break up.

And the gold comes out of it.

What are you seeing?

that's tails,

These sluices could be...

It's already washed, I mean...

Those are washed gravels.

All the overburden that we see,

We see layers, and layers, and layers.

That just looks like it was just thrown in there.

There's no distinct layers.

Why would this be thrown,

A center strip like that? On top of tails.

those tailings got dirt in them,

Maybe they stripped the overburden

And threw it right here in the middle.

I don't think it's worth it.

Those are tailings.

And every time we've chased tailings,

We lose our ass.

I say we fill it back in and keep looking.

All right. Will do.

Bummer man.

in order to have a good season, your...

Midpoint of your season

Has to be very, very productive.

The problem is, I've prospected the tailings,

It was a bust, no good.

But the vault cut is almost done,

And I don't know what to do about it.

I got to find some more ground.

in box creek,

Team turin are on a desperate hunt

For new ground.

I say we fill it back in and keep looking.

and with the roach struggling to wash rocks,

Dave has slowed production.

You know, we can't afford to lose any gold here.

while the hopper feeder sits idle.

I don't know what else we can do with the roach

To make it work better,

But we got to come up with plan b.

dave calls in the big guns.

Wash plant masterminds,

Freddy dodge

And juan ibarra.

there they are.

to get his plant running full bore.

- hey, freddy.

-Juan. -What's going on, dave?

-How you doing, buddy? -Good. Covid.

-I know it. -Covid greeting.

- how you guys doing? -Good. Good.

I'd love you guys to take look at the wash plant.

well, a new set of eyes is always good.

what kind of yardage are you running?

We're running about a thousand yards a day.

as you're concentrating on the gold,

We can concentrate on seeing how to get you more gold.

It'd be great if you can help me out.

get some hard hats and stuff on.

yeah. Throw some hard hats on

And we'll take a run up there.

I've been working with dave for 10 years now.

Dave is a good guy.

I've always enjoyed working with him

And we work good together.

I'm gonna go up and look at his plant

And see what we can do for it.

it maybe the best plant,

But once you get it out in the field and you run it,

Depending on the material you're running through it,

You may have to change it a little bit.

We're gonna make the best of it.

And it's time to get to work now.

so this is your plant, huh, dave?

it's a mobile straining unit

That we've converted to wash gravel.

it's a cool plant though, I like it.

-Yeah, it works pretty good. -Great little setup here.

I like the sluices, it looked good.

Hey, dave, what's going on

With all that water up there?

last week.

-Oh . -What's going on?

the summer weather at box creek

Evaporated dave's freshwater source.

we're out of water. Pretty much high and dry.

meaning he had to recycle tailings water

Through the plant.

I think that's the best way to do it.

and mainlined the limited clean water,

Directly into the roach.

we'll ratchet, strap it down,

And it'll just spray in the back.

oh, I love it.

Rock and roll, baby.

juan believes this maybe the root cause

Of dave's dirty rocks.

Why don't we see if we can fix that?

yeah. We can have a look at it.

yeah.

dave's temporary fix is not working.

We're losing a lot of water off the side of the screen,

And the water is not actually being directed

Towards the material to wash it.

It's no wonder he's finding dirty rocks

In the tailings.

so what do you think?

What I'm thinking is we could really benefit

With a pre-wash box in here.

What's a pre-wash box?

before the pay dirt hits the screen

It actually gives a little bit more time

To clean the rocks a little better.

The materials then come up the conveyor,

Hit the pre-wash box, get washed,

And when it comes out, it's gonna start feeding right

-Where it should be feeding. - yeah.

juan's pre-wash box works by slowing down

The rocks at the top of the conveyor,

Giving them more time to be cleaned

With freshwater from a pressurized spray bar.

If it works, dave can restart

The old hopper feeder,

Run more material,

And keep on track

For his 400-ounce season gold.

what do you need to build this?

we're gonna need some plate steel, dave,

And a spray bar, really.

okay. We'll do it.

You better get to it, fred.

Fired up, let's go.

juan's a hell of a fabricator, so is freddy,

You know, they've all got great minds,

Putting this together is gonna help us out a lot, you know.

with the wash plant running

At only two-thirds capacity...

juan and nathan got all the parts cut out,

Now it's time to put this pre-wash chute together.

the pressure is on freddy, juan, and nathan,

To make the box and get the roach

Back to full speed.

juan's got his place cut out,

I'mma grind the smooth the edges off,

So we're trying to work as fast as possible,

Efficient as possible.

so we're gonna jig this all up,

That way we can tack it together.

If it's not square, it's not gonna fit.

it's coming together pretty quickly,

We had to cut all these pieces by hand.

We don't have much time to be here with dave,

So we got to bowl and go.

-What's it like, juan? - I like it, freddy.

It's coming together, man.

next,

Juan builds a new spray bar

From scratch.

You know, honestly, this is probably the most important piece of this hopper,

Because this is actually what's gonna push all the material forward

And get pre-washed with this bar.

I think it looks pretty good

For slamming it together in a day.

- got the valve? - got the valve.

Get some more dope on here.

so this gonna be the valve right here

That's gonna adjust the spray bars.

to be able to control the water flow,

Right now, they just use the rpm of the pump.

yeah. So this way it'll be a little more precise.

Looks good though, I'm happy with it.

Yeah, it looks really good.

dave, we got somebody

Sitting at our entrance right now,

And he's watching real hard.

I don't know who he is, I ain't no telling.

all right. Thanks, chris.

I'm gonna head down there

And see who it is.

Ten-four.

a white truck's looking up there.

Oh, yeah.

at the start of the season...

this just put me off.

...Dave was plague with complaints

From the local community.

here's another one, another issue.

I mean, there's just a lot of people watching us,

Telling me that I'm doing something wrong.

almost shutting down his operation.

you're dude.

Whatever we do is gonna be wrong.

I've had so much bad luck with people.

We've had government, neighbors,

You know, so I got to go see what this guy wants.

- hi there. - how are you?

good. Hey, I saw you standing down here.

Something I can help you with?

in box creek, dave spies a stranger

Watching his operation.

something I can help you with?

well, see, my dad worked on this.

-Oh, you're not here to shut me down? -No, yeah.

Everybody I've met wants to shut me down.

-I see. -My name's dave.

-Donnie shake. -Nice to meet you.

All right. You see, my dad worked on it up here.

- no kidding? -Yeah. He run that dragline,

Feeding the dredge.

Wait a minute.

A dragline did this?

well, in the late 1930s...

-Yeah. -...Early 40s,

California dredging company brought in a dredge,

Called a doodlebug dredge.

Doodlebug?

after 1926,

When the legendary derry dredge left box creek,

Dragline dredging operations

Like the doodlebug moved in.

Made of two separate machines,

The dragline casts out its bucket and drags it back

Through the gold ridge pay dirt, depositing it

Into the floating doodlebug wash plant.

Running until the 1950s, operations like this

Pulled up to 34 million dollars of gold

Per year in today's money,

From the placer deposits surrounding box creek.

The role of operating the doodlebug's dragline

Fell to donnie's father.

my dad wore big overalls,

They were long, and he... And he rolled

The cuffs clear up.

yeah.

And as the dirt got in the bottom of it,

Mom kept collecting that dirt.

She put it in a pan, and later on, she retorted it.

-No way. - now, listen,

This is a gold that my mother

Retorted out of the dirt.

there's some pretty big chunks in there.

- yeah. - I mean,

Big pieces were falling here, too.

They were in the gold.

Well, do you think you could show me

Some of this ground help me figure it out?

sure.

I can tell where the dredge went,

But a lot of times, I can't tell where they...

Didn't go, you know.

So why do you think the dredge stopped right here?

Why didn't it keep going?

because the water, the dredge has to float

-In the water. -Yeah.

The water don't go uphill.

-Okay. -And so it's coming

Right underneath this, right here.

And so they probably piled all the overburden up,

Stripped it with the dragline,

It very well could have been right in this area.

So where do you think the gold is left for me?

If you have the equipment

And wanna move this much overburden,

I think you stand pretty good chance

To get in some gold right under here.

right here?

Donnie knew how deep they went,

He knew how much overburden,

And he knew where they went,

And he knew where they didn't go.

And the really good part was,

He said, "if I was mining this,"

He said, "I'd mine right here."

Well, thanks for coming out, I really appreciate it.

-The history is amazing. - oh, thank you, dave.

Hey, if you hit the big gold under there, remember me.

-I will. -All right.

I'm gonna have you come out.

Sounds good.

I do trust donnie shake.

I've never had anybody that had

Such first-hand knowledge.

You know, he's a witness, and it's the first time

I've had such close contact

To the people that actually ran it.

He had gold that came out of here

A hundred years ago, so yeah,

He's a very credible source.

yes. I can see my dad right now.

You know, it's... I kind of...

Get a little teary

On this situation.

I don't like to be like this,

But I was so close...

To my dad.

And I wanted to be

As much as like him as I possibly could.

Hopefully they really get in some good gold,

And I'm sure they will.

Because like my dad said, there's still

Good gold in here.

morning at box creek.

you know, right now, we got to put this on,

Time is money, so we got to get it back up and running

As quick as we can.

at the wash plant...

dang.

not bad for one day to build it, huh?

freddy and juan's creation

Is about to be attached.

I think it looks great.

to fit the new pre-wash box,

The roach must be shut down.

The clock is ticking.

this here is gonna help basically wash

The rocks before it goes into the screen

Now it's got screen life

And wash rocks better,

Hopefully better gold recovery, so...

- coming down easy. - coming down.

go down, and I think it'll spread.

there you go. Now it should go.

I'm gonna pull the strap off on this side real quick.

What the

totally hitting those plates.

oh, no.

Yeah, we're gonna have to cut that.

there's a piece sticking out of the conveyor

That we didn't quite see,

So we've got to notch this out right here,

And then it'll slide in right against the belt.

Then we're gonna have to cut that.

So what we have to do is we're gonna trim it down a little bit,

So that way it has plenty of movement

And it has clearance against the head wheel.

you know, this is out in the field,

I mean, that's perfectly out in the field,

So you got to make adjustments on things,

Make things work right.

second time is a charm.

there you go. Now it should go.

oh.

oh, like a glove.

how does it look, fred?

you're lined up perfect.

after a four-hour delay,

The new pre-wash box is ready to test.

okay, nate. Fire it up.

there it goes, guys. Looks good.

Yup. Go ahead, chris, throw it in. Here we go.

it's gonna get loud.

Moment of truth, juano.

here it is, here it is.

So here's the difference.

This is today's rock, see how clean it is?

Yesterday's rock, before the pre-wash.

There's little bits of gold in there

On that rock that we missed.

Now, we're washing it clean.

Nice job.

Good job.

-Good job, fred. -Good job, juano.

after only two days on the ground,

Freddy and juan's pre-wash box is installed.

Dave can at last restart the hopper feeder

And boost production

To a hundred and thirty tons per hour.

really appreciate you guys coming.

You're great friends, and it's always good to see you.

-All right, man. - you have our number.

Hey, keep going, brother.

-You have a good one. -Hit the road.

-All right, man. -See you later.

the roach is running well.

But in the vault cut,

The minable ground is almost done.

so freddy and juan came

And we put in a pre-wash box,

That's gonna up production,

But if I don't find ground right away,

Our 400-ounce season is over.

You've got to take risks

In order to get to the goal line.

So hopefully, donnie shake is right.

Otherwise, what's the point of having

A finely tuned wash plant

If I have no ground to run?

the vault cut, it's about over.

I mean right now, I'm taking the actual roadway out,

And then the vault cut is done.

coming up.

I hope that this is as good

As the vault cut. We'll find out.

will an old timer's tip...

I'll be dammed if donnie shake

Didn't point us in the right direction.

There's a first time for everything.

...Keep team turin on the gold?

This is what dreams are made of.

at box creek, colorado.

all right, fellas, last load from the vault cut.

Closing her out.

been fun while it lasted, but...

Jason and dave got to find something

Before the end of the day because...

We ain't got nowhere to go and I ain't done yet.

All right.

Get this thing shut down,

We'll see how it looks.

I hope it turns out pretty damn good.

across the plain,

Dave and jason begin

Their hail mary hunt for new ground.

like it?

their last hope now rest on a tip-off

From old timer donnie shake.

I hope we hit pay a little shallower

Than we have on the bank and the vault cut.

dave and jason are prospecting

On a narrow stretch of ground

That lies between the old dredge tailings

And the county road

Downstream from the vault cut.

Do you hear that, dave?

I heard some rocks.

Oh, yeah.

Definitely clicking rocks.

He's hitting big boulders, that's the pay.

We've already found that

In the bank cut and the vault cut.

When you hit those big gray rocks,

We call it gray bone,

You're into the pay

And that means it's virgin because

Nobody's mined over here.

So that's great news.

Maybe donnie shake gave us a good clue.

This is exactly what they were mining.

So this should hold gold.

This is the top of the pay zone.

He's gonna try to get me deeper

And then we'll compare the two

And that gives me an idea where you start mining

Whether you throw the top away

And just mine the bottom.

Always boils down to a pan, doesn't it, jason?

It never fails.

Kind of getting me excited now.

Let's hope there's some gold in the bottom of that pan though.

See if mr. Shake was correct.

we've never had the luxury

Of having firsthand witness

And firsthand knowledge of somebody

That was here a hundred years ago.

I'll be dammed.

it's small, but there's gold in it.

-But it's the top. -It's the top.

Let's see what's deeper.

All right.

as dave and jason dig deeper,

At the wash plant, chris and jesse

Pull the mats.

we need new ground and we need it in a hurry

Because we can't be having no down day.

Every minute here in colorado is precious.

hopefully they get ahead of it.

hey, I'm seeing gold.

oh, yeah. There's gold in there.

That's for sure.

I'm about ready to see what it weighs though, jesse.

team turin has to prove

That we can get it up there

And find the gold that they left

And it's been a struggle the last few seasons,

But dave and jason always find it.

Finding a lot of gold would be good for me

Because my wife's been...

Putting up with me for the last few years

Doing this gold chase and stuff,

So I'd really like to see her not have to work.

It'd be nice to let her do her own thing.

Ready one, two, three.

Oh.

That's a lot of gold in there.

got to hope that this is as good

As the vault cut. We'll find out.

at the edge of the claim,

The future of team turin's season rests

On the contents of the next pan.

it's pretty narrow between the dredge edge

-And that road. - yeah. I know.

And narrow cut's better than no cut, right?

The vault cut was good.

It's paid well.

However, we need this cut.

If you do not have the ability

To stay on the gold for the rest of the season,

You may not hit your goal.

And for me, that's a lot of pressure

Because I'm the guy in the front end

That's supposed to keep us in gold.

We're halfway through.

If we don't take home good gold,

I'm not sure if next season can happen again.

well, you know what, with that shallow of

Overburden, we could deal with a little less gold

And little less dollars per yard.

Hell, yeah. Let's see what this pan has to offer.

Fifteen foot overburden, no sixty, not eighty.

Whoo, come on yahtzee.

Give me some gold.

three days to go.

not good.

If we get those clean,

We're losing gold.

dave called on wash plant experts

Freddy dodge and juan ibarra to upgrade the roach.

this is today's rock, see how clean it is?

Yesterday's rock before the pre-wash.

but with the vault cut at its end...

I'm taking the actual roadway out,

And then the vault cut is done.

I'm not at all interested

In this plant shutting down.

That's not an option.

a surprise visitor...

is there something I can help you with?

...Gave the crew new hope of finding good ground.

I'll be damned.

and now, it's the moment of truth.

I'll be damned if mr. Donnie shake

Didn't point us in the right direction,

There's a first time for everything.

jason, there's good gold down there

That's worth mining.

I say this is our next cut.

I think we should call it the donnie shake cut.

How about the doodlebug cut out of respect

For donnie shake's dad?

I like it.

I don't think it's gonna be as good as the vault cut,

But you know what? We're back on the gold,

We've got good ground

And now we got a place to mine.

well, that's all the concentrate

Run through there.

in the gold room,

With two days' worth of pay dirt

From the vault cut

And a two hundred ounce target to hit,

Jesse is cleaning up the last of the concentrate.

let's see what treasure is buried back here.

Man, there is some gold in here.

Yeah. There's chunks everywhere.

This is the best sluice I've ever seen right here.

Man, there's one, two, three,

Four, five pickers right there.

That's incredible.

I love my job.

This is good stuff.

Last year, I was getting nuts and bolts.

This year, I actually get to pick up

Chunks of gold that I get to hold.

When you start picking these pickers out like that,

You know you're in the gold.

This is what dreams are made of.

next morning.

hey, guys, wanna meet me down here

In front of tailing of excavator.

the gold is clean and the results are in.

good day, gentlemen,

So we're done with the vault cut, right?

But donnie shake told me about the history here,

And that was a man

That has firsthand experience

And he said, if I were to mine,

I'd mine right here.

so what do you mean by that?

we can stick around?

can we mine or not?

there was gold right where he said to mine.

- woo-hoo. - high five.

we tested it. I'm excited.

good news is we got the doodlebug cut.

I think that's gonna be a good one.

this is definitely extend our season.

When you go from not knowing if you're gonna have

Ground the next day to...

Heck we got a whole nother cut ahead of us,

That makes for a really good day.

we've got something to show you.

got some moonshine? I'm saying.

-No, sir.

- ooh. - oh, whoa.

there's a hundred. Mmm-hmm.

Oh.

It has big chunks in there, dude.

today's gold price, that's probably near

$200,000.

A 173 boys.

- we're on our way. - 173.

I'm out of... I'm out of hands, dave.

This week's total 30.6.

- wow. - we just had 203.6, boys.

gentlemen, we just went over 200 ounces.

To be able to come out, we're now at 203,

I'm pretty freaking proud, man.

team turin go over 200 ounces

In less than half the time than the last season

And with gold prices at an all-time high

Of $2,000 per ounce,

They've pulled over $400,000

Out of box creek in just six weeks.

it's freaking amazing, 203 ounces,

Not even halfway through the season,

Ain't nothing but the sky from here.

that's what I'm talking about.

And we still got half of mining season left.

oh, man. With the way the gold totals are working,

Come next week, we'll be blowing

Last season's total out of the water.

I think we're only halfway there.

I think so too.

I think we're gonna go over 400.

I think so too.

See those jars, that's a lot of money.

I've never seen that much money in front of me before.

As we go, we get a little better each year,

But I don't think we're gonna make a leap like this,

So I... I'm just pumped up right now.

I'm proud of you guys

Just the way everybody's pulling together.

all in?

All in. One, two, three.

all in.

We're over halfway.

Right now, we're at our peak.

This team is coming together

And this time next week, we're gonna go

Over what we did all last year

And I think we still got a lot of mining left to do.

If we keep going the way we're going,

The rest of the season is gonna be good.

on the next episode...

jason cracks open a new cut.

That's not bold, baby.

We're gonna get paid.

and jesse leaves the gold room.

big day today. Get in the big machine.

but tragedy...

...Stops team turin in its tracks.

Oh, my god.