Original subtitles

There's definitely a lot of, um,

struggle, you know,

and there's a war for ground in the Klondike.

And there's some breakdowns we're fighting.

On Indian River,

26-year-old mine boss Parker Schnabel

is pitting the success of his season

on a deep piece of ground

rumored to have upwards of 8,000 ounces of gold.

We've been on the new cut for quite some time now.

It's been maybe two weeks.

But getting to the pay layer has been an expensive slog,

with Parker spending more than $700,000 already

and no gold coming in.

Yeah, we really need to get a wash plant running here soon.

Um, and the only ground that's close to ready is around the Airstrip.

A mile west from Mud Mountain,

Parker still has 21.8 acres

of the Airstrip Cut left in reserve

from last season.

But opening another cut will mean

he has to divert resources away from Mud Mountain,

including upcoming plant boss Tyson Lee.

Um, look, I really appreciate you stepping up a lot this year.

I know it's going to be a hectic season,

and, um, we're shorthanded on experienced people,

- especially with Brennan leaving. - Yeah.

But I hope you're ready to take on a bunch more.

- Oh, yeah. Any day. - Good.

For right now, that means, um,

we really need to get a plant up and going.

I'd like to get Sluicifer going if we can.

I'm hoping you can pull out of here,

and probably the only spot that's anywhere close to ready for us

is down by the Airstrip, huh?

Yeah, probably.

So, the biggest problem is, you know,

you're gonna have to take new people

because the experienced people have to stay in here.

- What about Mitch? - Uh...

Steal Mitch for this or...

Probably not until later.

You're gonna have to get started on it on your own.

I know you're gonna have to get a plant pad built

and start getting things organized

and just train up some new guys.

Right on. I'll do my best.

All right, you can head down there,

and you can take a couple of these machines.

- Thanks, man. No worries.

Parker just told me that he wants me on to Mud Mountain

and getting the Airstrip ready,

which I couldn't be happier to hear,

because I hate the mud.

The only thing is, got a green crew to do it with,

so it's gonna be challenging.

With no gold coming in,

Parker rests his whole business...

Come on. In ya get.

...on a green plant boss

and two rookie rock truck drivers,

Evan Kurtz

and Justin Fraser.

The only gold I've ever mined for

is the one up my nose.

Are they... both the brake?

Uh, so, right now, I'm just sort of scouting out the spot

where Sluicifer is gonna be sitting

sluicing the Airstrip Cut.

I think I have a spot.

We're gonna lay the greenhorns out with the plan here,

and then we'll get to her.

First step, a pad for the wash plant to sit on.

If you guys could try pulling up just one tire width further away,

that would be great. Thank you.

Tyson operates a 480 excavator

to load Evan and Justin's rock trucks with coarse tailings

which need to be stacked and levelled

before the plant can come in.

Oh, this is my first time

setting up a sluice plant or anything like it.

So, following the direction of Tyson is definitely important,

or else I'll be sitting like a chicken with his head cut off.

This one, also, can go to the waste site there.

Just this mud here.

And I don't want that going into our plant pad.

Yeah, they've got us greenhorns

building this pad for Sluicifer.

But, uh, there's no doubt in my mind

these greenhorns are gonna be goldhorns.

I think it's a recipe for success for sure.

It's, uh, going really good so far.

It's just really bumpy.

Oh,

me.

What the are you doing, Justin?

He did hit me.

The boss is probably gonna be pissed.

'Cause I don't know if you can fix it or not.

Hey, Justin and Evan, what the going on over there?

You guys gotta take it easy.

You know, we can't afford any screw-ups at this time.

We've spent a million dollars stripping Mud Mountain so far,

and with the first setup of the season,

you know, it's pretty crucial having things bang on.

We've got a few rock trucks rolling again,

and all the boys are working,

so that's all good news.

We're gonna be balls to the wall.

It's gonna be time to make some money.

After two days, Evan and Justin have hauled enough tailings

for loader operator Tatiana Costa

to make a base for the wash plant.

Still a bit of work to finish here,

but it's looking good.

This is, basically, the icing in the cake.

The last step.

I guess the, uh...

the plant will be the cherry on the top of the cake.

Foreman Mitch Blaschke checks on Tyson's work

before Sluicifer is hauled into position.

Tyson's done a nice job here.

He's got tailings down, he's got it packed in.

We're one step closer to getting sluicing

and, uh, getting some gold.

We're here early in the season,

and we have gold coming in.

I mean, that's huge. That's a great start to any season.

In the mountains above Keno,

Rick Ness is on the gold.

Just two weeks into the season,

he's already mined 67 ounces.

We pretty much showed up and got sluicing right away,

and we're not even at full capacity yet.

He's determined to level up

and double his gold production to 2,000 ounces this year,

but he's lacking the manpower to get it done.

In order to double the gold total,

we have to add a few people

and get some bigger machines in here, so...

If we can keep this momentum

and get the rest of the people here

and get all the machines up and running,

[bleep], I-- It's gonna be a good year.

I would love for my first year with Rick

to be his best season ever.

Brennan Ruault joined Rick

after leaving the Schnabel crew.

He's working with Rick's Milwaukee buddy, Chris Kruse,

who's trucking pay to the wash plant.

Up and running another day.

New recruit Nathan Thornington...

This is awesome.

...loads wash plant Rocky with 100 yards of pay dirt an hour.

Seeing the gold in the pan makes you all giddy.

It's like being a little kid in a candy store,

and it's like, "Holy."

With my gold share, I'm taking off to the Caribbean.

Where's the water?

Oh, me.

That pump is

What, has that thing lost prime?

That's weird.

I don't know why it lost prime.

Did anybody turn any of the valves on-- for the compressor, or no?

I never touched anything.

If nobody touched anything, then it should be...

I hate water pumps, man.

I do, too. It's like you've got one job,

pump water. Why can't you do it?

Struggled with this for six years.

What a joke.

It's always something.

And then, on the wrong day, a little something

just makes me snap.

Right now would be an optimum time to have Karl here,

'cause I'm sure he'd know exactly what's going on

and get it sorted out right away.

But, uh...

We're kind of all scratching our heads right now,

trying to figure out what's going on.

All we can do is pull this thing apart.

We gotta start from the end and go...

Right?

My man. My man.

The only thing it can be is a air leak somewhere.

That's it.

The seal looks fine.

What if we just try it one more time when he tightens it,

and just see if something happens.

Yeah, we'll put it back together, we'll try it.

With no clue why the pump failed,

the crew decide on the old shut down and reboot plan.

I'll just get it right over there.

I think the handle should be on top just so it's easier,

but I don't know if it's just down pressure at this point.

But I think that it might pull it tighter--

It might pull it up higher. You know what I mean?

The hose is joined to the pump

by a collar with a hook and clamp.

With the clamp at the bottom, the weight of the hose

allows air into the top.

This could create an airlock, stopping the water flow.

Rick will rotate the pipe 180 degrees,

placing the clamp at the top to make the seal airtight.

Well, we've done everything we can here. I mean, I...

You know, I'm not a professional mechanic, so...

If this doesn't work, I don't know, man.

We don't have another pump.

Is it all, uh, sealed up?

We're gonna fire it up, boys.

That's it. It works.

There was just a little gap in the seal

and putting the handle on top pinched it off.

Seven hours downtime

has cost Rick 5 ounces of lost gold

worth over $9,000.

I say we start throwing dirt at it

and get some gold.

I'm with you. I like the sound of that.

Whoo!

We're gonna have to get into full tilt.

Our season's are short up here,

and we got a lot of rocks to wash to find some gold.

On top of dealing with shutdowns,

Brennan's also forced to dig pay

with a 480 excavator,

instead of Rick's new and much bigger million-dollar 750,

which is sitting idle until a mechanic can assemble it.

I hope Rick has somebody lined up here

so that we'll have a full-time mechanic.

'Cause we just can't struggle through another month or two

like this without one.

Well, I need this stuff put together.

Yeah, dude. - Good to see you, buddy.

So, I'm just calling to see how your health is.

Yeah, Rick. Dude, I got some real bad news, man.

Yeah, dude. - Good to see you, buddy.

So, I'm just calling to see how your health is.

Yeah, Rick. Dude, I got some real bad news, man.

- What is it? hit the fan here for me

health-wise, right, and...

Are you okay? Like, what...

They need to figure out what's wrong with me.

And coming up there and being seven hours away from the nearest hospital

isn't, uh-- Isn't gonna cut it, right? So.

- Yeah. - They, uh... They basically said,

"Don't think about going to the Yukon at this point, right." So.

- Wow. Yeah. - Yeah.

I'm sorry, dude. I really am sorry, so...

Don't-- No apology necessary, Karl.

I mean, all the gold in the world isn't worth your health, right, Karl?

- You're totally right. - Yeah.

I'm gonna be sitting here, hoping that you get here at some point.

- I'm just a phone call away, right? - Yeah, man.

Take care of yourself, Karl.

I appreciate that, Rick. I really do.

Yeah, I'm hoping for the best myself.

Well, put all your energy into yourself right now,

and, uh, I'll talk to you soon.

I'll be in touch, buddy.

- You betcha, man. Talk to you soon. - All right.

Without a mechanic,

Rick is losing the headway he made

washing gold early in the season

and could end up in a downward spiral.

I still gotta find somebody that can put all this together for me.

Tony Beets is chasing

a record 9,000-ounce gold haul.

He needs his claims at Paradise Hill

and Indian River to deliver.

But two weeks into the season,

he's only working the Hill.

He needs 475 ounces a week to hit his target,

more than twice what he's getting with the trommel.

With good new ground nearly impossible to come by,

Tony heads back to a well-worn honey hole.

...Tony found a pile of old-timers' tailings

that produced $620,000 in gold.

Tony now plans to wring

every last bit of gold out of it.

It should be.

Yeah.

We've really gotta run as much material as we can

if we're gonna hit 9,000 ounces,

and seeing as we don't know what's happening at the Indian River yet,

well, we might as well run this plant while it's here.

Let's get running.

Watch your ears.

Let's do this.

Hey, Megan, you can preload that feeder a little bit.

Great. Sounds good.

So, right now, we've got new folks running the equipment.

We've got Megan up on the excavator.

So, we just got to keep an eye on it.

Come down every once in a while, make sure is going right.

To hit Tony's goal, 29-year-old Megan Gaudet...

...must feed the plant with 200 yards of tailings per hour,

ten hours a day.

That was not good.

The tooth just caught the grizzly.

I was just dipped down too low.

Anyway, me, Ruby and Monica, we're all really good friends from school.

Oh,

No, don't you dare.

Shaker deck's not shaking.

Cool. All right.

- You see it? Eh?

Not spinning?

One of the shaker deck's two drive belts

has lost tension and slipped,

stopping the deck from operating.

Well, she's not spinning. So we gotta do something, so.

I really don't wanna have to put that guard.

No. too big.

Oh, for sakes.

Pretty much there, we...

Yeah, that's gonna work great.

After three hours...

Well, attempt number two.

...and over $6,000 in lost gold,

the shaker deck is ready to fire up.

Looks like we're finally up and running again.

Everybody clear?

Glad we got that tightened up. She seems to be doing okay.

Now that it's running,

let it buck.

See how much we get out of the old-timers' tailings from the top.

We sure are.

Back at the Fenley home,

Tony's daughter, Monica, is on her way...

...to give birth to her first child.

Well, wouldn't you be surprised?

No hug?

Give the girl a hug.

Wait, are you dirty?

Bye. - Don't burn the place down while I'm gone.

Bye.

I can't afford to fail this season,

but I still don't have the ground I need.

In his first season in Oregon,

ex-special forces medic, Fred Lewis,

and his band of military veterans

mined just six ounces of gold.

I lost a lot of money.

But to me the worst part was letting my guys down.

Right now, I'm all in. I have nothing left in my life

to liquidate to make this happen.

This season is sink or swim.

Now, he is joining the hunt for gold-rich ground

in the Yukon.

Mining in the Yukon is a lot more challenging than I thought.

With the price of gold so high,

everyone is scrounging for ground and I'm running out of options.

Last week, Fred turned down an offer

on a piece of ready-to-sluice ground...

We just did a lot of time on that.

And all you got to do is pick up the dirt

and throw it in the plant.

...because the royalty was too high.

50% is something I can't bite on.

I've got to prove it to my team that we can make money,

because if I fail, these guys are losing hope,

and a future, and a purpose.

They have nothing to go back to.

After searching hard for another Yukon claim,

Fred is pinning his hopes on a meeting

with two of Dawson's best-known prospectors.

I've been doing some research, going a little special forces.

I've been trying to reach out, make some friends,

get some information,

and I've gotten intel on these two guys.

One's a German, and one is Italian.

I think one of them's a geologist.

Sandro and Joerg, they're using science,

and they're finding gold that hasn't been found before

because it's harder to get to.

- Good Morning. - Good Morning.

Hey, my name is Fred Lewis.

- Hi, I'm Joerg. - Hi, Fred, Sandro.

I've been looking for claims.

I'm just kind of stopping by, driving through

just seeing what you guys are up to,

or see if you guys might have something I can look at, or...

Joerg Lotz and Sandro Frizzi

run an exploration company.

They own 400 Yukon mining claims

covering 9,000 acres.

Have you mined before? Or...

I mined last season in Oregon.

And this is only our second season as a mine team mining.

- But, we're basically taking the jump from the lower 48... - Okay.

...to come up here for some real gold.

Last season, I think, had we been on good ground,

we would have done really well.

But there just wasn't any gold in the ground.

So, I think that if I can get them good ground,

within a few years, they could be a really good mining team.

Well, you see, it's not a matter of good ground.

It's a matter of good miners.

So you are not experienced with the ground up here, with permafrost

and... to deal with...

No, that's gonna be all new to us.

So normally we are looking for experienced miners.

The guys are, kind of,

I guess you could call it hungry.

We will work our asses off to make something happen.

And you know that it's not an easy business, huh?

It's a big challenge.

- I am looking for a challenge. - That is guarantee.

The only thing that I can guarantee as a geologist is the challenge.

And I think if you give me a chance, I know we can perform.

I just-- we gotta learn how to gold mine.

I think you guys won't be let down.

I will run it like the military.

Maybe on California Creek.

Close to the other guys,

which could be helpful.

We got some place we better go, you know that.

Yeah. - But it's so hard to get to,

it will get broke the first week.

And the big reason is that-- - California Creek,

you can get the gold right away.

The last claim I was on,

they wanted a 50% royalty on this stripped ground.

- Sounds good for us. - Yeah, so that's one thing I'd like to get out, kind of,

in the beginning is, what--

What would guys normally ask for a royalty?

We only ask straight 10%.

- Really? Wow. - Yes.

We can grab a chopper and go out there and have a look.

It's a very interesting comparison to the Indian River

where there's nothing but mine sites.

Out here, it's basically untapped wilderness.

California Creek is over 40 miles by road from Dawson City.

You have to really want it to come out here and get it, that's for sure.

There we are. You see the mine there?

Yeah, right here in front of us?

Yeah. You go, you see it's a bit stripped.

Below us we tested, we got gold.

The claim Fred's prospecting spans over 90 acres.

- Lot of quartz. Oh, yeah.

Holy cow.

You don't have gold if you don't have quartz.

- Okay. - There we go.

We tested there. There is gold.

It looks like it's in the same quantity that the gold that we got

- on the right branch. - Right.

- The feeder should be behind this hill that we see. - Okay.

This should feed both the branches.

The source of the California Creek gold

is the 60-mile Pika Fault.

Thousands of years ago, water eroded gold from this fault

and deposited it in the creek beds below.

Two of these creeks meet up on one of Sandro's claims.

The right side has already proved rich.

Sandro believes the left could also hold millions of dollars in gold.

So I think the best thing I could do right now is to go get a pan and some dirt

close to the bedrock, and, uh, I could just meet you back at the chopper?

So, right now, I'm pretty much willing to settle

for anything above a half an ounce a hundred.

I think I could still turn a profit on that.

But with the low royalty, I can make some money on that.

I think the first time you pan on a claim

is always the worst because you just really hope you're gonna see something.

Ha-ha-ha, there's a nice little piece right there, shining like the sun.

But if I'm seeing gold that size and finds...

Sandro's not lying.

Sluicifer's wash plant pad is all set ready to go.

At Parker Schnabel's Airstrip Cut,

Tyson Lee is leading a crew of rookie miners in

their first-ever pad build and plant move.

See, now, normally, we use the 700 or the 750 to move our wash plants

'cause they're the biggest excavators we have.

But, right now, they're all needed in Mud Mountain.

With so many machines stripping Mud Mountain,

the only excavator available to Tyson is the smaller 480.

Never pulled a wash plant with the 480 before.

Don't have much choice though.

Yeah, we're setting these up, Justin, so the conveyor doesn't break on us.

When we're dragging her, we have to be really careful.

Greenhorn operator Justin Fraser

must guide Tyson to haul the $600,000 wash plant into position.

So what do I got to look out for here?

All those chains we put on,

we want to make sure they stay tight.

The conveyor is gonna wanna sway a little when we're moving it.

Something looks hairy, just stop me.

And I'll get out and we can readjust.

- Do you have your radio? - No-- No first time like now.

Yeah. - Yeah, good to go.

- Pretty much all set to drag her. Cool.

First time moving a plant.

Aah,

How are we looking, Justin?

So far, so good.

And now here comes the hill. This is my biggest concern.

So, we'll see how she goes.

With only 373 horse power...

She's struggling.

...the 480 has 30% less power than the 750.

It isn't wanting to straight pull it like the 750 would, so.

I'm gonna have to try something here.

Ah,

Whoa!

[bleep]! Look out!

Whoa!

Look out, guys!

At Parker Schnabel's Airstrip Cut...

Hey, you know, it's two steps forwards,

one step back with pulling Sluicifer.

Tyson and rookie Justin are struggling

to move 45-ton wash plant, Sluicifer.

It's a bit of a fight.

I'm just trying to use the bucket as a bit of a prybar

and trying to pry myself up this hill.

How are we looking, Justin?

We made it. Now, we're at the top of the hill.

It should be smooth sailing. I sure hope so.

'Cause we gotta get sluicing sooner rather than later.

So far, so good. I don't want to jinx it.

Coming up to the pad here, so I'm gonna get it lined up.

It's all in this turn we're gonna do right here.

Got about a meter.

Perfect.

How'd we do? - The greenhorns did a good job.

Looks good, man.

Hey, I know that it's your first plant move, but good job, man.

- We didn't break anything and that's the main thing. - It's all you can ask for.

Thanks, Tyson. Thank you.

The final move, position the 150-foot super conveyor.

So, right now, we're trying to size up the conveyor to Sluicifer.

It looks like we're gonna be way short here.

So here's the problem. There's the end of the conveyor,

and he can't get any closer to the wash plant

than he is right now.

We really don't want to pull the conveyor closer

because there's a ditch that runs along here,

so it looks like they got a puzzle to work out here.

A drainage ditch lies between the super conveyor and the plant.

We're gonna have to come up with something that

can handle a fair bit of water flow.

- Obviously, a culvert's best. - Do you think we have a culvert that's long enough?

The plan, line the ditch with a section of drainage pipe,

then cover it with a pad of tailings

so they can move the conveyor closer to the plant.

Do you think we can go to the yard and see what we have?

Even if you have to take a couple of culverts and put 'em together.

- Well, sounds good. I'll go see what I can find. - All right, man.

We've got one very good thing going for us right now,

and that's how the plant's running.

Everything around that is...

very scary.

Rick's chasing his biggest-ever gold target

with his smallest-ever crew

and without his new monster dirt-moving machine.

At the moment, I'm able to keep things going with my 480.

The plant's running right now, but we're gonna run out of pay

and, uh, we're gonna be dealing with a lot of overburden this year.

And the machine I'm in right now,

is not the machine for the job.

But, the biggest problem that we've got right now is my 750, uh...

excavator needs to be put together fast. I mean, really fast.

Hey, Rick. You got a copy, Rick?

Yeah, go ahead, Kruse.

Uh, there's a fellow up here, name of Torsten.

That's great news. I'm gonna go up there and see him right now.

- Thanks. - Copy that.

Rick put the word out that he needed a mechanic

in a hurry.

- Oh, man. Finally, a mechanic here. - How's it going, Rick?

- Good, what's your name? - Torsten.

You, uh... You look young.

Ah, [bleep], I get that a lot.

Is your mom picking you up later?

- Basically, pretty much. Holy

- Can't even grow a beard yet.

- I wish, but... - Well, I'm glad you got a sense of humor about it.

I'm just busting your balls. Because I--

Honestly, I appreciate you coming,

because it's been tough trying to find a mechanic this time of year.

Yeah, I'm a third-year apprentice mechanic, so,

almost there.

So, close to a mechanic.

- Close to, yeah.

- One more year left. - Right on. Well, we'll, uh...

We'll test your skills for sure.

I've got a big excavator sitting in pieces,

not making me any money.

- So you can handle that? - Yep, for sure I can handle that.

No problem.

- You look like you're ready to go. - Yeah, good to go, so.

- All right, man, I'll get right to it. - Thanks again, buddy.

Well, I asked for a mechanic. I got an apprentice.

We'll see what this kid's made of.

You pulling them right out? - Yeah.

- You strong enough? - Oh, yeah. I hope so.

- Better take some protein shake. - Eat my Wheaties, eh?

Yeah, that's it.

Now the young 20-year-old apprentice

needs to prove he can build the million dollar 750 excavator.

- You want me to help you lift those pin down? - No, I'll be good.

Well, I've been working on stuff since I was, I'd say,

at least, like, 12 or 13 years old.

Just working on stuff at home, like snowmobiles and dirt bikes, and stuff.

I've officially gotten into the trade about

three years ago, so,

I've got all my schooling done.

I just need to get my hours now.

You know, Torsten seems like a good kid, but...

at the same time, he's-- he looks like a damn kid.

An apprentice is an apprentice. A mechanic is a mechanic.

Well, we gotta put the boom on.

Get the bucket on and then widen the tracks.

The 750 boom, stick and bucket must be attached.

It's also being transported with the adjustable undercarriage

set to the narrow gauge.

To widen the tracks for the Duncan Creek terrain,

Torsten must undo the retaining bolts, then

use the boom to prop the excavator up

and drag the track into place with the 700.

Okay, now if you want to walk it in a bit.

Okay.

Well, the pins are in. Looks good.

All right, buddy. What's the next step here?

Rig that 700 up to either end of this track frame.

And then, we'll, uh,

loosen off the bolts and then start tugging her out,

and see if it goes well.

It should go pretty well if we have everything rigged up good.

All right. Well, that's on you.

- Rigging it up good. - Yeah.

- Let's go in between, see where it clicks from. - Yeah.

That hook would be better to have the other way.

So flip upside down, so then,

- when the weights on, they can't fall off. - Got you.

- Okay. Let's get the impact out. - Okay.

That bolt's the same size as your wrist. - Right?

Go back slowly.

Okay, stop right there.

The bolt holes are lined up perfect. Good job, buddy.

yeah. - Right on.

Now for the second track.

So this is the second piece of the puzzle here.

We're almost done.

We just got to pull this out,

and, hopefully, it goes just as smooth as the last one.

A little bit more. Okay, good.

Now, the moment of truth.

Time to find out if the 20-year-old has got Rick's season

back on track.

That feels awesome.

No, the kid, he might just be an apprentice,

but he pulled it off, man.

He did a great job.

The 750's bucket is three times bigger than the 480's.

So far, that's the first bucket with the 750,

and there is no comparison with the 480.

It's just this, uh... This thing is massive.

And the bucket on this thing is just as wide as the box of this truck here.

This makes things a lot more exciting for me.

This is what I've been waiting for.

This is some next-level here.

Yeah!

I definitely think California Creek's gonna pose some challenges.

It's definitely not the most simple

mining operation we could have taken on, but...

Sandro and Joerg have done drill results up and down

the creek that's already being mined

and the very beginning of where we're starting.

For the most part, it averaged over an ounce a hundred.

That's enough for me right there to know that this was the right decision.

Fred Lewis has found the claim he wants to lease

with a royalty he can afford.

It's gonna be hard to say no to this.

Now he needs to convince his investor, Karl Smith,

it's the right ground.

To be honest, I've kind of been dreading this call.

- Dude, it's good to see you, brother. - How've you been?

Last season, Karl invested $40,000 in Fred's mining venture...

Let's do it. You got a deal.

...this is the last gold-weigh of the season.

That puts our total at 6.39.

...and lost everything.

That means this is the end.

Now, Fred must convince him to double down to get his money back.

Hello. - Karl, hey, it's Fred. How's it going?

I'm doing good. How are things with you, man?

I think I found a good piece of ground, Karl.

I really do.

And I know you said last season it would take some convincing.

Last year was a pretty big bust.

Yeah.

It definitely was, Karl. It definitely was.

How do I know this season is not going to be like last season?

You know, I've done a lot more homework, Karl.

I've tested the ground.

The ground tests out at about 0.6 to half an ounce per 100,

which isn't as much as we wanted,

but the creek has another creek that runs into it,

and it's being mined right now.

And they're averaging an ounce a hundred.

And those creeks run pretty much identical to each other.

So, we're in a really good spot.

We're getting offered a 10% royalty,

and the gold is in the ground. So I think...

that's what I've got to offer, Karl,

and I hope it's enough for you to bite, but, um...

I feel like we have a million chance more

to succeed this season than we did last season.

When am I gonna start seeing some of my money back?

Bro, I think we can get up and running by the middle of the month,

and, uh, we could probably start getting

some of your money back within a month.

How's the team looking?

We would look at, probably, having four Green Berets,

and then, um, the guys that are returning would return.

Well, last year was a complete show.

But...

I'm ready to reinvest.

Don't make me regret it.

Karl, you will not regret it.

I know that I let you down last season,

but, uh, this season's different brother.

And I'll prove it to you.

I know it.

- See you, man. - Yep, later.

yeah!

WIth Karl on board,

Fred heads to negotiate a deal,

with California Creek claim owners,

Sandro and Joerg.

How's it going, guys?

Fred. Good. How are you?

Hoo. Doing good.

So, as far as the contract goes,

what are my obligations to fulfill for you guys?

You have to sluice the minimum amount of 35,000 yards.

35,000 yards is quite a bit.

Yeah.

My bare minimum I'm shooting for is 100 ounces.

Look, to do okay, you should do at least the double of that.

You should make more than 100, I hope for you.

- It can be also zero, ah. Yeah.

I mean, be ready for everything.

Well, it won't be zero, but there's no guarantees.

Zero, no. - That's the science part of the business.

If there's anyone out there who guaranteed

that you get this gold, you... well...

That's gonna be up to you.

So, yeah, let's sign this thing, yeah?

Let's do it. I'm ready.

Here we go.

Let's hope this is the beginning of a long relationship.

Well, Fred...

welcome in the family, man.

Thank you very much.

Welcome to our ground.

And thank you, guys.

- I will work my butts off for you guys, I promise. - Yeah.

Right now, I'm pretty freakin' excited.

We're officially mining.

Time to get that gold!

On Paradise Hill,

Tony Beets has started his second sluicing operation,

squeezing every last bit of gold he can

out of the tailings the old-timers left behind.

The shaker deck could definitely use a bit of TLC.

Belt's fixed, we firing it up, which is really exciting.

I think we wanted to start it around 10:00 this morning,

and we only just got going 10 minutes ago.

So it's been hours...

that we could have been sluicing.

What the [bleep]?

Hey, Megan, we're gonna shut her down,

we're gonna shut her down.

Argh, a duck.

Looks like the plant is shutting down again.

One thing after another, which is pretty frustrating.

It's a lot of strain on all of us,

'cause we just want to get in and get out.

We gotta replace some of the bolts.

Uh, the shaker deck on the top deck,

it's missing three bolts on one side,

so if we don't put some in,

she's gonna flog up and on us.

We just tightened up the belt for the shaker deck,

but I noticed some bolts were loose.

So I gotta go investigate,

see how much work we're gonna have to do

to fix that up before we get going.

Holy

This is not good.

So...

If you'll kindly hop over here,

this thing looks like

Here's the problem.

Here is our sheet of four by eight punch plate.

We can't sluice without that in here,

or else this whole sheet is gonna shake,

and huge rocks are gonna pile up,

and then it's not gonna shake at all.

Okay, beautiful.

Do I even have a grinder with me?

Without that piece of C-channel,

there's nothing there to hold the sheet of steel

in the shaker deck, so it's just gonna go...

...and off on us, so,

till we get that piece, we really can't do all here.

None of that C-channel that I need, no.

My guess is along the bank somewhere.

That'd be about the only other spot I can think of.

Uh, so we're down at the moment.

Kevin noticed that there's something missing from the screen deck.

He thinks it's a piece of C-channel, so...

probably got thrown in with the tailings.

So we're trying to find it.

It's like finding a needle in a haystack.

Unless they find the two-foot section of C-channel,

among the 150 ton tailings pile...

Is this it? That's not it, no.

...the plant will be shut down.

Tony Beets' shaker deck is shut down

for the second time this week.

Not much? No.

Probably buried.

Eww.

Operator Megan searches the tailings

for a 2-foot length of C-channel

broken off the wash plant.

I mean, this is like finding a needle in a haystack.

And I'm not a mountain goat.

So, these rocks are kicking my ass.

Now the whole point of firing this up

was to double up on the hill, but...

it's turning into a nightmare.

Ooh, what's that?

Does it look like this?

What's up?

Well, so...

- We found that. - What's that?

That's two holes.

This is the only one we found.

- Yeah, that's it. - Oh, perfect.

Yeah, the rest of it's gone.

So, our battle plan is,

seeing as we only a bit more to sluice here,

before we move it...

we're just gonna roughly weld this in,

so we can run the material through.

The retaining bolts in the C-channel

that hold the screen in place have sheared off.

Kevin, plans to weld the C-channel back in place.

We were gonna run this till we wore it the out,

and I think we got our money's worth.

So, weld, weld, weld. Fix it up.

That's about what.

These things give me headaches every time.

She's welded in, we'll clean up,

then we'll fire it up.

It's not great, but it's better than it was.

This thing is on its last leg, and then some.

Like holy

Let's try this... yet again!

What are we at? I lost count.

Try it one more time.

Cool.

Hey, Megan, we're about to fire up.

Standing by. Okay.

Fingers crossed, it won't break down.

And we can, hopefully, at least finish these tailings.

That's that.

We had to do a quick bit of welding on that piece to hold it in.

Threw a few bolts in...

fingers crossed it lasts.

Here he comes.

At Indian River, Tyson's mission to fire up Sluicifer

is at a standstill until he can install a culvert

and reposition the super conveyor closer to the plant.

Steven's just bringing the culvert down.

We're gonna put it in place.

And then, I'm gonna push all that material forward.

Hopefully, we can have the conveyor lined up by the end of the day.

That is another day that we're getting delayed on Slucy.

Here he comes.

We're just busting the rust off.

I said it was gonna be polished.

Just watch yourself.

Whoo!

That should be good there, eh?

It's been the most messing around I've ever done,

trying to get a conveyor in.

Things need to happen faster

in order for us to start making any amount of money.

Like, I was thinking this conveyor

would be in and set up yesterday.

Full steam forward motion!

With the super conveyor in position,

Sluicifer can be hooked up to the power and water.

That'll work there, Justin.

Ready to fire up, for the first time this season.

It's definitely been a struggle

without Brennan here.

But, you know, we're ready to start doing this.

We got a lot of new people here

that, uh, this is gonna be their first time they've ever seen,

you know, what we're actually here to do.

WIth stripping at Mud Mountain

costing $50,000 a day,

firing up Sluicifer in the Air Strip

couldn't come soon enough.

Right now, we're just trying to wake this old girl up.

- I mean, it's been sitting all winter.

And, it's time to make some money.

She's shaking.

Tyson, you ready at the valve?

Born ready.

Go ahead and throw some water, we're ready.

Here we go, let's bring it!

Start feeding, Tats, start feeding.

Here we go, the first scoop for Sluicifer, 2021.

Looks good, guys. Thanks for getting this done.

Matter of keeping her fed now.

Crank that up.

Everything looks good.

It's nice to be washing rocks again.

After all that money and the time spent at Mud Mountain,

we definitely need some gold to start paying off

this whole operation.

But I feel we're gonna crush it this year.

This is it, boys, this is the first dirt for the season,

let's make it count.

Let's do it! - Yeah, buddy!

- Oh!

- You almost slapped him. - Let's try that again.

JB!

Holy cow! - You're out of prison!

- I'm out, man. - Corona free.

Out of jail.

After months of searching, mine boss Fred Lewis,

has finally secured ground to mine.

- Finally. - Is that a journey?

3,700 miles.

Almost, here. Yeah.

To get a jump on his season,

Fred brought in a new team member

to fill the one vital position he didn't have last year...

a mechanic.

Ex-Green Beret, JB,

worked on machines in the military

for over 35 years in Central America and the Middle East.

Been shot at and blown up.

Done crazy stuff.

I retired from the military almost 16 years ago.

There's some things I miss, you know, jumping out of airplanes...

But, uh, having some gold to go home with

would be, uh, probably the best thing ever, no doubt.

You know, like a deployment, we're setting up a FOB here.

JB's never mined gold before.

But now, he's counting on Fred

to provide him a new future.

To be honest, it's gonna be you and me.

- Yeah. - Um,

probably setting up the entire mine site by ourselves.

So that when the crew gets here,

we can just hit the mine and start mining.

- Wow. - And there's only gonna be...

- six, maybe seven of us, so... - Right, right.

So, yeah, we got a lot of work, but I think, um...

- I think you and I can handle it. - All right.

I'm looking forward to it.

All right, first things first,

I'm gonna start punching the exploration holes

- to see where we're gonna put our ponds and our wash plant. - All right.

I've got a test plant

- we borrowed for an ounce of gold. - Awesome. Wow, wow.

And I need you to pick up that test plant and drive it down.

So right now the mining plan is to punch three holes,

to determine where we're gonna start mining.

We're gonna punch holes left and right and up at the bend.

The results are gonna basically set up

our mine for the entire season.

Fred is digging the three holes 200 yards apart.

He'll take 100 yards of pay dirt from each

to find out which side of the claim has the best gold.

It's gonna tell us where our tailings ponds need to go.

It's gonna tell us where our settling ponds need to go,

where our plant needs to go, and more importantly,

which dirt we're targeting.

After three hours, Fred's got dirt from his first hole.

They will use the claim owner's test plant

to run the dirt.

Fred Fred, you got a copy?

Hey, JB, this is Fred. Got a good copy.

Hey, man, I got this doggone shaker deck down here.

It made it down fine.

All right, up there.

- Here we go!

This is it.

These tests are immensely important.

Without these results, without these numbers,

we're just guessing and, um, I'm not guessing anymore.

With these 100 yard samples,

we're gonna be able to run that material to the plant,

weigh the gold, and know exactly what we're sitting at

as far as the ounces per 100 yards.

So this will be our first bucket in the Yukon,

pretty freaking exciting.

You wanna try and feed it all along it.

Don't just drop it in one spot.

You'll get it though.

A little faster.

Yeah, like that. Just keep that speed.

All right, JB, that's 100. I'll clean this out.

Why don't you come on down, we'll check it out.

Okay.

Sample one complete.

- That was exciting, man. Good.

- Good job, dude. Thanks, dude.

We're officially miners, man.

I know, man. It feels great!

- You know what it is.

- Two Green Berets running a mine.

Yeah, that's crazy.

How many Green Berets does it take to start a mine?

Two.

Let's see what we got!

Not seeing anything.

I was really hoping to see some color in here.

All right.

And I'm...

I'm not.

Fred pulls the mats for cleaning

in preparation for the second test hole.

I'm hoping that this second sample hole

is gonna give us a little bit of gold showing in the sluice.

Think I saw one speck.

I kinda moved-- There's another one right there.

I see some little speckles in there.

If three is the same,

I'm going to be severely disappointed,

because I need this one to excel.

Hey, let's shut it down and take a look.

I'm a little bit nervous right now.

If I can just see some gold in that sluice,

I'll be happy.

Oh, I see one.

Oh, my Look at that man.

- Wow. Look at that.

- Yeah. - It's your first piece of gold.

- Oh, my God. - Don't lose that.

Oh, man.

After seeing a little bit what we saw

in the sluice box there,

uh, I'm super excited.

All right, well, let's pull these mats.

We'll get all the concentrate together,

we'll bring it up top side, and we'll pan it out.

We'll cook it, dry it out, and then we can weigh it.

All right. Man, can't wait to see it.

Right now, we're trying to determine

where the best spot to start mining is.

When we clean these mats out and, uh, pan it down,

we're really gonna know what we have here.

All right, dude, so these buckets pretty much tell our season.

These test holes are gonna tell us

where to focus our first cut at

and where to focus our first dig sites at.

To determine where they'll mine first,

Fred and JB clean the concentrate

from each of the three holes

on Fred's new California Creek claim.

Yeah, I'm seeing some color.

Let's cook it, let's get some real numbers,

- and then we'll know what our fate is. - All right.

Don't lose it.

All right, so this is the left side of the creek.

Let's get this in there.

Oh, yeah, it's getting dry.

All right.

Okay, go ahead, dump her in.

Let me try to get-- All right.

0.36.

- All right. - This is not enough.

- Barely even pay for the fuel. - Is that right?

- Let's get that other one. - You know.

Yeah, all right, let's do the middle one.

Sounds good.

- You got a hold of it? - Got it.

- Makes me nervous though. - I know.

0.52. - All right.

So, we did go up.

It's like the bare minimum.

- Yeah. - I mean, we'd get paid.

But it'd be scraping by.

Hmm.

So I really hope this last pan's got more.

All right, she's pretty dry.

You ready?

You got the honors, here you go.

0.3, 0.5, 0.6...

0.7-- 0.9...

Ah, look at that.

0.97.

Sweet, look at that. - So, bro.

- All right. - That is what we need.

I told you it looked like more.

Man, look at that.

Fred's total gold from all three test holes,

1.85 ounces.

- That's crazy. - That's a third of what we did last season,

- on three test holes that you and I have done... - Wow, just the three.

-...by ourselves. - Yeah.

This is celebration time, man.

- This is a good moment. - Prost! Cheers.

- Cheers, skoal. - Definitely, yeah.

Now, I know exactly where the mine site is going to start,

where our cut's gonna be, where our ponds are gonna be,

and where our plant's gonna sit.

That third test, one ounce a hundred, almost,

is gonna give my guys enough motivation

to get their asses up here and start mining.

All right.

What's up guys?

Hey, how's it going?

I'm glad you guys got a fire going.

At Duncan Creek,

the Ness Crew gathers for the weekly gold weigh.

Sucks that Karl can't come up this year, eh?

I know.

If Karl was here, you know, the whole

scurfuffle with the pump there for,

you know, how many hours it was...

You know, he would have went through that pump before it even got out there.

You know, that is gonna be a problem for us,

you know, until we get a mechanic.

Really the bigger picture is we just got to hope that

he gets better, you know what I mean?

Like, his health is more important.

Seems to be able to not let it bother him too much.

He's done some hard living, man, I mean.

I mean, Torsten luckily came in,

and he was able to put our machines together.

- Did a great job. - Oh, sure.

He's a good kid. I mean, he's quick.

Even if he could stay, I don't--

What's he gonna know about wash plants and stuff like that,

you know what I mean?

Well, are you guys ready to see what we did for the week?

Yes, sir. - Sure.

With just four crew and no mechanic,

Rick has only run for less than half a week.

See what we did for the week?

20, 30...

Last year, Rick averaged

just over 70 ounces a week.

70, 80, 90...

-...90.36. - No way!

For sweet.

For one week, it's about 160 grand.

yeah!

awesome, man.

- Nice. - Cheers to that.

I'll cheers to that for sure.

- And that is... - Four people, wow.

And a kid.

- The four for us putting up over 90 ounces...

Like, for what we're running, man, that's amazing.

Like, that pumps me right up to see that.

Talk about lean and mean. - Yeah.

If we keep doing that, we'll get to our 2,000 ounce goal.

- That's awesome. - I'm excited.

- Let's roll. - Karl's not here to say it,

but I'll say it. for sweet.

Time is money

and the faster I can get my gang up here,

the faster we can get some gold in the sluice, so...

this is where the rubber meets the road.

Fred's keen to start work at California Creek.

At this point, I need my crew.

- What's up, guys? - Good.

Hey!

He gathers his crew of military veteran buddies

to see if they are up for the challenge

of mining his new claim.

All right, guys, basically I found a claim

called California Creek.

It's a little bit of a challenge for us.

But the gold is there, guys.

And they offered me a 10% royalty.

I need to know...

really quickly where you guys are at on this.

Are you guys coming?

Stuart, what about you?

If you got equipment, and you got the testing done,

and you know there's gold there, then

I will come up there, and I'll give you a hard yes.

So, what about you, Johnny?

We had an awesome baby.

I mean, she's got my genetics, so you know she's beautiful.

- She's perfect.

So, it really sucks that I'm not going to be able to make it this year.

Yeah, Johnny, I get it.

It's the right thing to do.

But, um, I just lost my marine.

Kyle, what's on your brain right now?

[bleep], dude, you know...

Uh, right now, it's not really...

not really about me.

I got kind of a bigger situation going on

at home with my little brother.

He needs my help right now.

I mean, he needs everybody's help that he can get, so...

the last thing I can do is leave my brother right now.

Yeah.

Well, listen, dude,

every single one of us is your brother.

And, um, I absolutely agree you need to be

with your brother in this moment.

But just understand we've all got your back

if you need anything.

Stefan, are you, uh, willing to the come to the Yukon?

If we were anywhere in the lower 48,

I'd be on board.

When we were in Oregon,

I can bring the family to come see me.

Yukon is a hell of a lot harder, man.

So I mean, I get it. Whatever. Yeah.

I think it's something. If you can do it...

I need you, man.

This is more akin to a deployment

than... a mining season.

I'm gonna have to be a hard pass on it this time.

I've done about everything I can do

to set us up with something that's really gonna give us our victory.

I need all of you guys. But,

um, circumstances are circumstances.

Stuart, get your bags packed.

Um, I've got to get back to work.

I've got a lot of stuff to do still.

Despite finding promising ground,

Fred's a soldier without a platoon.

Well, that definitely sucks.

I've got the source new bodies.

Stefan is definitely not somebody I can replace.

But you just can't replace the Master Sergeant that is Stefan.

Not having him here this season is gonna be a big blow.

We need that leader.

We need that organization in our team.

And I need someone I can trust.

And then, at this time, I don't have a lot of time to figure that out.

At the gold room,

Tony Beets is taking over from daughter Monica.

See.

- Hey, Doumitt. - Hey, Tyson. What's up, man?

Not much, you?

Ah, just finishing up the cleanup.

At the gold room,

it's time for the Schnabel Crew's

first gold weigh of the season.

What up? What up? - Hey, Mitch. How's it going, man?

Ah, not too bad. Yourself?

Pretty good, thanks.

- I hope there's more than that. - Yeah, there is.

This is just the last of it.

Gotcha.

- Hi. - Hey. How's it going?

- Not bad. How are you? - Good.

Well, I think you did a good job, you know, down there.

Working with a bunch of greenhorns

- and new crew. - Yeah.

And everything's all focused on Mud Mountain that

I'm surprised you got that all set up as quickly as you did.

- You did a good job. - Thanks, Doumitt.

Good job, guys.

Well, it's nice that we finally have a wash plant up and running.

We've been moving a lot of material.

Definitely spent a lot of money.

- Finally got something to put on the scale. Yeah, we do.

We got 70 and a half hours on this clean up.

Yup.

- Yes, sir. - 70?

Seventy and a half.

And that usually gets us 180... sometimes 200 ounces.

So, if you want, we can throw it on the scale

and end the suspense.

To match Sluicifer's average

on the Airstrip Cut last season,

Tyson will need to show at least 90 ounces of gold

for his 70 hours of runtime.

Here we go.

10.

20.

30.

40.

50.

60.

70.

84.4. That's it.

Worth over a $150,000,

but off the pace for Sluicifer in the Airstrip.

Well, we've been fighting a lot of frost in there

and, hopefully, all the good stuff is still frozen and still in there,

'cause we've run pretty much high gravel,

high bedrock and ditching.

And that's all we've run through the plant so...

Cool. I trust your guys' judgement totally.

I'm not worried.

And the gold will come.

You, obviously, haven't lost your touch.

- It looks very good. Oh, thank you.

Just wish there is more of it. But we'll go out there and keep looking.

- Yeah. How long is it gonna take you...

Like, when you first started doing this, Doumitt,

was it like a lot of black sand?

Oh, I first started doing this, what, six years ago?

Yeah, we were just drunk the whole time.

You guys joining me for dinner? - Oh, yeah.

Dozer!

Hey!

Weirdo.

What was he doing?

Just... dozing around. Looking for something to eat.

Lot of mud moving but, um,

Mitch and Tyson, they're killing it.

And the gold will come.

The cleanup wasn't too great

at the Airstrip Cut with Sluicifer.

We need to start pulling more gold in

'cause Mud Mountain's costing a lot of money.

That's all I can say.

- You know, all we need is more gold...

...and a lot faster than we're getting it.

Hi. How are you, guys?

It's time for the Beets to weigh their gold for the week.

Oh.

- Hola. Hey.

And Monica's back

with a latest addition to the family.

Oh, grumpy as ever.

- Ooh. - Hi, baby.

Aww.

So now I'm completely displaced. - Right?

You fed the dog and you didn't feed me today?

She's pretty cute though.

Hoe operator.

She's gonna be a busy chick.

She's gonna be a rich

That's pretty funny. Well, I'm glad you could make it.

Yeah.

What kind of damage did you guys do while I was away?

We ran the last bit of the old-timer trailings,

and that poor shaker deck has shaken itself to death.

Then I think that Mike's trommel was mostly peaceful.

That trommel's Old Faithful. Keeps going, keeps going, keeps going.

First, the weeks gold from Mike's trommel.

I'll count, seeing as Mother has my baby.

Everybody, ready?

10.

40.

50. 60.

90.

100.

- 150.

160.

170.

173.78.

Worth over $310,000.

No, not too bad.

Everybody ready? Three, two, one.

Fire in the hole.

10.

20.

30.

60.

70.

80.

81.54.

Worth over $145,000.

Yeah, something like that--

So, is that it for the shaker deck?

That is for the shaker deck.

Like, it's pretty dead where she's sitting right now. So.

Their total for the week is worth almost $460,000.

Over double what they had mined this time last year.

Oh, that wouldn't be too bad every week.

Oh, then we get the real work.

Okay, wrap-up time?

I feel like we all help pay the bills here.

I can't laugh and feed her.

Then she gets a milkshake.

Bye.

Anyways, that's still a long ways away from the goal of 9,000, no?

Yeah, well, you have to start somewhere.

And that's usually at the bottom.

- Oh, I know, so. - So, you'll work your way up to it.

As soon as we get a license to the Indian,

we should be able to double up.

- Hopefully. - That's good.

And Monica came back with a granddaughter.

There you go.

So, we really have nothing to complain about, do we?

No, we don't.