Original subtitles

There you go! About to find our parts.

This is the day that we have all been waiting for.

Brand new wash plant. And I think it's just exactly what we need.

Freaking awesome!

I can't wait to see her soar, man, 'cause

we need some more gold and that's the only way we're gonna get it here.

Right now, this volume.

With this plant, we're gonna double production.

Double production, you double the amount of gold.

Let's go man.

Alright boys, here we go!

First load of The Eagle.

It's a turning point of our season.

This is an upgrade from The Roach.

We got a double sized feeder, bigger screen.

There's no excuses now. We can't blame it on our wash plant.

We can't blame it on anything other than us.

We have to keep this thing fit.

If you imagine the same day, the same crew, you've doubling up the gold.

It's a beautiful sight.

We got a hell of a busy day today.

I wanna get The Eagle up and running as fast as I can.

With the season half done...

and with less than a quarter of his 600 ounce gold target in the bank...

Dave Turin gets set to fire up his new custom designed wash plant, The Eagle.

Alaska's been kinda kicking her ass here lately.

It's time to step up some big league.

Nate and I got a lot of work to do.

I wanna switch plants with minimum downtime.

The problem is I got two wash plants. But I only have one sluice box.

We gotta get with it. Tomorrow I wanna be running.

First challenge...

learn The Eagle's unfamiliar operating system.

Which one is it?

Well that one there is pretty comparable, frontwards and backwards.

Yeah.

It's like a new toy.

Figuring it out.

We're adapting you know a plant that

sizes and screens rocks and we're just

making it into gold producing machine.

Modern wash plants catch gold using techniques

developed by the old timers over thousands of years.

From the humble pen to the rocker box,

and the dredge, the use of water, gravity and vibrations,

separate the worthless rocks from the gold.

The latest evolution is Dave's series of wash plants.

Weighing over 34 tons,

The Eagle is not only twice the size of The Roach, but also twice as powerful.

Able to run over 200 yards per hour.

At full tilt, it can devour over 3,000 tons of pay dirt in just one day.

Nathan and I got to figure out the easiest place to put The Eagle.

For me right now,

I think we really need to do the plan that's the quickest.

With only one set of sluice boxes on site,

Dave's plan, set the new plant in the exact same spot as The Roach.

Down there, we got a big pad and everything's ready to go.

So, I'll save some time.

Just get The Roach out of here, move The Eagle in and go.

Hey, J. We're gonna have to move real fast.

We're feeding that big hungry bird on the hill.

Ten-four.

That's gonna be the new game around here. Hungry hungry Eagle.

The Roach sits 750 feet from the cut.

Once The Eagle takes it's place,

Jason and KC must deliver an extra 120 tons of pay dirt every hour.

A task they immediately get a jump on.

This KC and I's opportunity to get a little cushion,

between us and that damn Eagle.

Well, we better make the most of it.

It's a struggle to stay up with the roads.

But now, we got a plant eating a lot more so...

Stress level's up really high.

Everyone's very far from their homes.

So, what I do, try to keep everyone laughing.

It's gonna be one of the toughest hauls I've ever done.

You just gonna come out of the gate man and just pow, pow, pow!

You know, you don't let it get you down.

Alright!

Less talking, more driving. Pedal on the right, senor.

Here it comes.

We're gonna have two loaders... working that Eagle.

But there's still only gonna be one excavator

and one lonely haul truck.

I know there's a war, you know, it's brewing ahead of us.

And it's gonna be between the front end and...

keeping that Eagle in pay.

Hey Dave, you gotta copy.

With concerns over the length of the haul...

I'm gonna start timing you guys.

Seeing how efficient we are, okay go.

Dave oversees a test run.

So, what I'm trying to do us figure out what it's gonna take to feed that Eagle.

And what I want to make sure is that we can handle it.

Right now, Jason's just starting to load.

First bucket in. We'll see how long it takes them to... cycle.

Right now, KC's going about a quarter of a mile to get pay up to The Roach.

By the time Jason loads that truck, KC gets up here and delivers it.

His best trip was about ten minutes.

You know what, that's just not gonna work.

So, they've gotta cut that in half.

Hey Jason, you gotta copy?

Jason!

Just speed things up. You're going too slow.

You've got five minutes to feed that plant.

That's gonna be a tough, tough program.

- You want it even faster? - You've got to run that truck buddy.

Fast, efficient but safe.

I'll do the best I can. Let me see what I can do.

Jason's starting to load.

So, when you run 200 yards an hour you start finding out where your weak spots are.

Thank you, brother.

Damn, Nate.

It's not looking good.

Oh!

We're seriously gonna have problems here.

I gots the change. Coming through.

Dammit.

Seven minutes.

Oh, we can do it. I have no doubt, we'll figure it out.

I don't know. I'm just...

I'm-- We're.

We gotta change the plans.

We gotta move The Eagle closer to the cut. Because we'll never keep up.

The Eagle will not be set up here. We'll set The Eagle up down here.

On this end of that pond, so they'll have a quicker trip.

Dave's new plan...

Position The Eagle closer to the cut

and sluice into the fresh water pond.

The move will reduce haul time by a third.

And keep the Eagle full of pay.

But first, Dave must build a new pad and then move the sluice box.

Our next step is to start building a pad for this thing.

To be a good gold miner you gotta be able to

change your plans real quick.

So, what I'm doing is, I'm just setting some rocks...

in place so that we have a solid foundation for The Eagle.

Pretty much done.

That's about it. Good to go.

Well, Dave's got the pad done.

So, we're gonna set it up on there. See how she looks.

So, The Eagle's going to its nest.

Thing of beauty!

Alright! Let's see if she can poop out a golden egg.

Dang, dude, you're getting good at this.

Little more. Now, kick it my way a little bit.

How you like that?

Yeah. Looks good.

There she is, boys.

- Pretty cool. - It's pretty cool, man.

The final step...

detach each sluice run from The Roach,

to transfer them to The Eagle.

Getting closer, getting closer, closer, closer.

You know, with The Eagle coming in, it's a prototype.

It's different than any other wash plant.

Gotta lean it, figure out the sounds.

I like to be pushed. I like to work under stress.

But I like the people around me to do the same.

There's four.

What's the pitch that you guys want to be at?

Eight and three quarters per foot.

Yeah, no problem.

- Alright, good job buddy. - Thanks man.

Now, it's up to the guys to perform. They've gotta feed this thing.

Everything's in place.

It's kind off like a day before game.

You get all kind of nervous and excited and fidgety.

We'll be sluicing tomorrow, baby.

John, it's KC.

You don't know where they are. Have you talked to the park service, what's happening?

They were supposed to be back yesterday by five o'clock and they never came back?

KC, what's up?

I woke up to a call...

And my wife's missing. I don't know if...

I don't know what's-- I don't know where the hell she is.

Oh my.

My wife and her brother were hiking in the Grand Canyon.

They were supposed to be back yesterday evening, they never showed up.

They got search and rescue looking for them.

News just in. Rangers and volunteers have been searching

for two hikers who went missing in the Grand Canyon National Park.

Family members reported brother and sister, 48 year old Arturo Hernandez

and 37 year old Veronica Morgan lost over the weekend.

Concerns are rising.

Emily, it's KC. What's happening?

KC woke up at four and has been on phone ever since.

I can't imagine it. His head right now.

Almost 20 miles, jeez.

- I can't get a hold of her. - I've been trying but I'm freaking the out.

So, she's alive?

Oh, my *bleep*!

Well, if you... If you talk to her, can...

try to tell her to reach out to me or whatever.

I have to get back there. This is horrible.

I... Bye, bye.

I'm in *bleep* shock.

I'm... I thought, I was kinda out of the woods there for a second.

What going on?

Apparently, they went for some hike and left at 3:00 in the morning.

They went down the trail and they got

dehydrated cramps and *bleep* knows what, and, he got

injured or something. So, she went to get help.

And... And, they... She saved somebody down, but she...

She can't walk. They're Life Flying my wife to the hospital.

So, she's a real mess there... physically.

The helicopter got her out?

No... Yeah, they had helicopter get her out,

but they can't... they got helicopters trying to find the brother,

and they can't find the brother.

Can't believe it.

Man, I just need to get my stuff and go home.

Married for over ten years,

KC and Vee bonded through their mutual love of gold mining.

I love my wife. She's a soulmate.

She's a goldminer.

If you ever saw us out mining together, my *bleep*, we'd be getting into it.

You got gold in here!

- Nice! - Nice pan.

That's good stuff right there.

My family is all I have. This is the reason why I do this.

Give them a better future.

You got gold on you.

Now, with Vee alive,

KC will make the two and a half thousand mile trip back to Arizona

to support his wife over her brother,

who is still missing.

All I can do is, pray,

pray that KC can return, and his family's safe,

and, uh, and everything's good.

From the very get-go, he's been part of this team,

and when he hurts, we hurt.

Put your heart desire for your family.

Make sure He hears it.

- Thank you. - Love you. Call me.

Bye-bye.

I don't know how I feel this morning.

Right now, we can't do anything more for KC than what we've done.

I think that's the hardest part.

I'm really concerned about, you know, our headspace right now.

I don't want no one getting hurt today, okay?

Let's stay safe, and let's get this thing going, for KC.

- But, uh, before we start, Chris, could you say a prayer? - Yeah.

Lord, I ask you to, uh, be with him,

be with thee, be with the family,

and Lord, I ask you to find, uh, Vee's brother,

and bring him back safely.

- In Jesus' name, amen. - Amen.

- All right, guys. - All right, boys, let's do this.

- Get it done. - Good luck, guys.

There's a certain black cloud over our heads,

but it just seems like,

every single year, there's something that we have to overcome,

and I don't understand it.

But, we keep putting our boots on, and we keep going to work, because,

it's kind of what we do.

Let's go!

She's about to soar.

Excited, scared,

I've got a lot of money wrapped up into this.

We got some water coming!

Okay, Chris, go ahead and throw her in there.

- You ready? - Yes, sir. Hit her!

All right, boys, here we go.

First load of The Eagle.

It's a turning point of our season.

The two biggest differences between

The Eagle and The Roach,

obviously The Eagle's about twice the size.

The other thing that's amazing about this,

is if you watch the grizzly shakes,

the big rocks come off now.

I am just loving these new vibrating grizzly bars.

We actually got a hopper that hops.

Made to Dave's own specifications,

and double the size of its little brother, The Roach,

The Eagle boasts a revolutionary new feed system

with vibrating grizzlies,

a wider hopper that can take up to 12 tons of pay,

and screen decks, almost double than those of The Roach,

at a combined 140 square feet.

It's a beautiful sight.

You're on a roll, going pretty fast.

Yeah, I'm putting a bucket in every

minute and a half.

Looking good!

We started with an old

rusty trommel, and we stepped up to The Roach,

and now, we're gonna be able to run double the amount of material.

Can you imagine, in the same day,

the same crew, and you're doubling up the gold.

Probably one of the best start-ups I've had.

Cross my fingers, say a little prayer

that it keeps going like this, but so far, so good. Good start up.

The big problem is keeping up with it now.

So, I've got to jump in a rock truck,

Jason's gotta keep loading,

and we'll try to keep up with the pay.

Here comes big daddy Dave to the rock truck!

As a team, we have grown,

and The Eagle is the best symbol of that growth.

We've become bigger and better,

and now we have one of the biggest, baddest wash plants I've seen.

Taking over from KC,

Dave must hold six 40 ton loads of pay an hour to The Eagle,

to keep it operational.

I haven't been in one of these for a while.

I'll take it easy on this first run,

and then we'll start picking up the pace as we go.

Who's stepping up to the big boy level now.

So, we're gonna have to be on our game,

but, uh, my thoughts are with KC.

Y'all, so far, so good. A few buckets in.

Got some leaks in the back here.

You always gotta be fine turning it.

Right now, pretty good.

Plant just died, the plant just died, the plant just died.

Somebody hit the bypass. Somebody hit the bypass.

Where's the water.

You've gotta be kidding me.

Did an engine quit, or what?

Less than an hour into The Eagle's first run...

No, the sock conveyors are still going, I think it's just the main conveyor.

...the new supersized wash plant faces its first issue.

Here's the problem.

We got these big, flat rocks.

So, this thing got caught on the head pulley. It stopped the belt.

If you look, it's only this thick, so it fell through the grizzly bars.

Large, flat rocks slip through the grizzlies,

travel up the main conveyer and jam against the pre-wash box,

causing the main belt to stop.

Dave's plan,

widen the gap in the pre-wash to allow the rogue rock's safe passage.

You ready to throw it down there?

One, two, three.

Luckily, we didn't cut a belt.

That's the... the part that we all thank baby Jesus for right now,

because we still have the belt.

Okay.

If we start having issues like this, you make the box bigger.

We can go back to this.

- Okay, I'm all the way back. - I'm all the way back.

All right, let's do it there.

So, what we've done is widen this gap right here,

just like that,

so that rocks like this...

won't get jammed in there.

- Done? - Yeah.

Done.

Turn the water on, and your shaker deck on.

I can see it washing, still hitting the pre wash.

Let's see how it does.

All right, I think we're good, yeah.

- Cool. - Get back to work.

I can go back to my truck.

It's a big relief. You never know what you're gonna expect

when you start up a new wash plant.

Kind of exciting, brand new chapter opening up,

and, uh, now we're gonna start writing the book.

- Morning. - Morning.

So, I thought I'd give KC a call.

You know, we've all been saying our prayers for his wife and his family.

He got home and, uh, he just texted and said, give him a call, so...

Hi, KC, you're in our morning meeting.

- Hey, guys! - Morning, KC.

Morning KC!

How's Vee doing?

Well, that's good news.

Yeah?

Well, thank God.

After getting lost overnight on Arizona's challenging Hermit Trail,

first responders rescue Vee's brother.

Now, they're both recovering in the hospital.

That's great news, KC.

No, I know.

Yeah, you just take care of your family.

We miss you, we love you,

appreciate you, and hope to see you back soon.

Love you, KC!

- See you, KC. - See you, brother.

That was scary.

It brings back all the memories of last season, you know, when...

Uh, it reminds you that,

life is valuable, life is

fleeting, it can be short.

Thank God, everything's good.

For us, we gotta go to work.

Day number two of running The Eagle.

Yesterday was a good day, pay-wise, 57 loads to the plant,

but we started late, and shut down a little early.

We'll find out today, if I can keep up.

This is gonna be the real test.

Jason's a little bit ahead on the pay but,

uh, honestly, he's only got about two hours of pay out in front.

I'm jumping in the rock truck, and start hauling some pay.

We need two loaders to be efficient with that Eagle.

Chris and I have a little process going right now. I'm doing the,

doing the tails, and,

he's feeding the plant.

It's not so smooth, though.

What the *bleep* is happening?

It's leaking like a *bleep*.

I mean, you can hear it.

There's a leak in the bead of the tire.

That's frustrating, but this is probably a 1980s loader.

So, it's... It's old.

Yeah, that why I call her Old Betty.

We will have to put it up on blocks,

or we'll ruin the rim, we'll ruin everything if we don't keep air in it.

*bleep*

This pay-pile is diminishing real quick.

With a man and a loader down,

the team battles to keep The Eagle fed.

The way it looks right now

I've got maybe an hour and half at the most of pay.

And I don't know if they're gonna keep up.

At the gold room, Shelly and grandson Micaiah

must now process double the concentrate.

- Ready for the first scoop? - Ready. Let's do it.

All right.

We're pretty jammed up here in the gold room with the buckets.

And now that they got The Eagle going we just

upped production by quite a bit.

- We gotta get moving on this. - Yeah. Let's get some gold for them.

That'll make everybody happy.

I enjoy, uh, the color of gold.

I think I've caught gold-fever.

I can say that much.

Shoot.

- What's the problem? - No water.

They're not spraying.

Gosh.

Shelly, to Dave.

We're out of water in the gold room.

Yeah, I got ya, Shelly.

I'll be up there shortly.

Dammit *bleep*.

I've got another problem.

It's just hard, because KC is gone.

Everybody is, you know, basically doing his job plus our job.

And I should be down there, you know, getting pay.

Dave must find the source of the water problem.

But he must also keep the plant in pay.

Hey, Andrew, you got a copy?

Rookie, Andrew will have to step up.

Hi, Dave.

I'm gonna try and fix this pond near the gold room.

You've got to keep that pay coming,

so that we can keep up with The Eagle.

Copy that.

Andrew is new to our team and very new to that haul truck.

But he ain't got no time to sit around.

Yeah, today is a little different for me.

I'll just do another job, which I'm fine with.

It's just gonna take me a little bit to get used to this truck.

Yeah, I got water everywhere but where I want it.

The waterfall right above the camp keep changing.

Dave plans to use the 250-Excavator.

To see if he can clear a drainage channel back to the gold room.

I've got some water that's running alongside of our road.

And it's blocked up here.

So what I'm trying to do is clear down into

our pond for the gold room.

Heavy rainfall over the past few days

has washed rocks and debris into the narrow stream that feeds the gold room.

To restore the essential water supply,

Dave must remove the blockage and rebuild the ditch.

Keeps running through the rocks.

If I can get it to quit running into the rocks, that'd be okay.

See there, it just disappears.

I'm gonna try to compact this down

so it will quits running through the rocks and gets down to the gold room.

Dave is up on the hill trying to get water to the gold room

and the pay pile is going bye-bye.

I've got 45 minutes left before we're completely out of pay.

Rookie Andrew continues to get to grips with the haul truck.

It's the biggest piece of equipment on this mine-site.

It's a lot of buttons in here.

I don't even know what half of them are.

Still need to figure out how to stop these damn windshield wipers.

We're about loaded here.

Got to go feed that Eagle.

Come on, Andrew, come on. Come on, come on...

Getting thrown in a fire here and

I may not know exactly what the hell I'm doing,

but I'll figure it out eventually.

Irritated a little bit

because we are a man down and we got a guy sitting in the truck.

There we go.

See, I didn't forget about you.

Now, just nice and slow.

I'm going as quick as I can, obviously I'm not quick as KC.

I'm not gonna let that Eagle run out of pay, that's my goal today.

Okay, whoa, whoa, there, there you go.

There we go. Now we're getting somewhere.

We got the tire-man.

They'll get it jacked up. Take her off.

Probably been doing it for a long time.

In the yard...

All we can do is cross the fingers and hope for the best.

Though we really need to get this tire fixed.

...Nathan calls in a local tire-specialist to fix Old Betty.

Got an issue right here with the bead.

I was up here last year the previous mine owners

and I repaired it.

I told them it wasn't gonna last very long.

Lasted a year.

You think if you do it again you can get another year?

- Two months. - You can try.

I can try. I don't think we have another spare tire in town.

- I'll try and get it, man. - If you don't mind.

Geo is the only tire specialist for 300 miles

and with no available replacements

a temporary fix is the only solution.

Patches wear, they break loose in everything.

Especially that bead area.

But if we get enough pressure in it,

it should hold for a little bit.

I've been fixing tires here in Alaska

to support the mining industry since 1980.

Throughout history

mining towns attracted a host of business owners,

who make their living from supplying goldmines.

Fred Trump, grandfather of Former President, Donald,

built the family's fortune with hotels and saloon bars

along the Klondike trail.

That's all there is to it.

Right now there is no tires anywhere.

So hopefully this patch works.

Lasts us till the end of season.

Sixty-four, close enough, huh?

Good to go.

All right! At least we can run.

I appreciate it, man.

It's good. It's gonna hold. It's gonna be fine.

So I got water going down.

If that makes it to the gold room, it's enough water.

I don't need much.

This should take care of it.

Do you have water now? Are you good?

We're good. We've got lots of water. It's coming down nice.

It's looking great. We've already got it filled up.

It's still draining down.

So we should be in business.

Pond back in business,

Dave can return to the rock truck.

So Andrew is back running Old Betty.

You know we're down a man, so we're missing

20% of our work-force.

But I'm happy that everybody is stepping up and doing their job,

doing everybody else's job.

The plant is getting fed.

And tailings are getting taken away

and there's pay-dirt coming right now.

So, you know, everything has clicked.

If you told me at the start of the season

that I'd be coming home, my wife will be lost

in the Grand Canyon I'd be like, "Yeah, right, sure."

A world away from Glacier Creek,

KC is back home to care for his wife after a family emergency.

Vee, is kind of in a fog.

I think she is not really comprehending what's happened, at times.

I think it's too hard to accept.

She ran out of that Canyon.

She was trying to get help for her brother and

she's having a tough go over it, you know.

But if she hadn't gone for the hike with him, he'd probably be dead right now.

Good they're both are alive.

It's hard. Very, very, hard.

With only a month left of the season,

KC faces a big decision,

stay at home or return and help the short-handed crew?

I know they're a man down.

Hey, I get it, I'm not there.

But this was first.

What's the point in me mining all this gold,

if you don't have a family and someone to share with.

Sluicing a lot.

More than we ever have before.

Lovin' it.

Lovin' it. Lovin' it. Lovin' it.

High in the Chugach Mountains...

We ran almost 2,100 yards of material through that wash plant today.

That is impressive with five guys.

You know we set new records but we're missing KC.

That's the hard part.

...after four days of ten-hour shifts

The Eagle completes its first run.

Good work, boys.

Shut it down.

Nervous, apprehensive.

Whenever you fire-up a new plant

you never know what's gonna happen.

Hopefully we get more gold

and I pay for that big investment.

This week was a tough week,

a good cleanup gives us all a real boost.

And we could use one right now.

We'll weigh it up and see what we get.

Hey, guys.

Well, guys, it has been kind of a tough week, missing KC.

Thank God, everything is good.

But son of a gun, the mining never stops.

It has been an absolute mad-dash trying to keep up with the pay.

You guys did a great job.

Well, it looks like we got something pretty good there, so...

Show what you got, Dave.

To stay on track for a 600 ounce season target,

Dave must now see over 58 ounces of gold every week.

Micaiah, I'm gonna count, you pour.

But with just a four-day run

anything over 40 would be a win.

- We got 30. - Come on, 40.

We're over, 40, 42, 44, 45...

Come on 50.

- Come on. - Fifty, 48...

Fifty.

48.5.

- Still. - All right.

48.55.

On a full shift, 50.

Good job, you guys.

Not bad for the first shift of the plant.

Worth over $85,000.

Thank you.

- A good run. - Nice.

- Almost, you know, 50. 48.5. - Yeah.

Brand new wash-plant. Few minor, you know, hiccups.

But other than that, I see big things ahead.

So what does this bring us for the season so far?

That brings us to 183.

- 183? - 183. Yeah.

At this rate we're all gonna walk home with gold in our pockets.

That's what we're all about.

Everybody in?

- Yep. - Always, you know this.

All in.

Let's go, boys.

It was all about teamwork this week.

We all picked up the slack for KC.

And that's what we do.

We pick each other up and we help out.

That's what I love about this team.

Future looks bright.

The Eagle is gonna soar and we're gonna do it.

On the next episode...

Holy *bleep*.

These guys gotta start stepping up.

I don't know what to do about it.

- Something's wrong with the plant. - Dammit.

Cut the water!

*bleep*

Circus, is what it is.

A mother *bleep* circus.

*bleep*

An old trommel, it looks like.

Crap, that means it's been mined.

We need to get 50 this week.

- Fifty. - Fifty, come on.