Original subtitles

Back in the jungle.

We mine 8,000 ounces in a season,

then that season we need to find

8,000 ounces in the ground somewhere else.

Hola.

[Parker] The problem with that is,

those kind of projects

are few and far between.

[Dan] Wow. That's some confident panning.

Bolivia, from what we've seen so far, it's pretty untapped.

[Dan] We've been off the boat five minutes

- and we've seen gold. - [Parker] Seriously?

Wild that there's that much gold here.

That is the coolest dredge I've ever seen.

It's crazy, Mad Max mining...

and I love it.

I can't believe they're letting me do this.

Whoo-hoo!

Like, it's not for the faint of heart.

[Carlos speaking Spanish]

[Diego] Guys, get the [bleep] out of there!

[Dan] No way, we're not getting up that.

Oh, [bleep].

I feel nauseous. I've got a headache.

The jungle is not a fun place to be sick.

Sort of tight pain.

Your temperature is 103.

Could be heat stroke,

could be malaria.

The jungle is the most hostile environment ever.

[Gonzo] Let's see how much good luck you brought to us.

Victor, mucho gusto.

For us to be involved,

I'm looking for something that's obviously good.

And this isn't obviously good.

Right now we need to take a couple days, try to regroup.

It took a lot out of everybody,

and I want to keep this team together.

[Dan] Where are you taking us, Diego?

- My contact I have in here? - Yeah?

He talked to me about a secret bar he runs.

Right.

[Diego] His family used to have a gold mine.

[narrator] Over halfway

through their eight-week South American gold hunt...

They're witches flying on their broom.

[Tyler] This is so cool!

[narrator] ...Parker Schnabel and his crew

are chasing down a lead

in the world's highest capital city...

Bolivia's La Paz.

So maybe we can go there, talk to him and try to figure out

- our plan for the journey. - [Tyler] Cool!

It seems like both Tyler and Danny are on the mend.

So we need to pursue, you know,

anything that comes our way,

and figure out where we go from here.

I'm really hoping for

really promising and really rich ground

with a lot more potential than what we've seen so far.

He's just gonna start knocking on random doors.

[doorbell rings]

I mean, the worst that can happen is

someone tells me I'm wrong.

[laughs] So we give it a try.

[door opens]

Hola. [speaking Spanish]

S . Yeah.

Whoa!

- [Diego] C mo est s? - [Roberto] Bien, bien.

[Dan] What? Hola.

[narrator] Bar owner Roberto Cazorla

comes from a family of gold miners.

[Dan] What the heck?

[Tyler] Look at this bath with all the telephones in it.

What else would you put in a bath?

[Dan] I bet there's been some conversations

had on those.

[Tyler laughs]

[Diego] It's a confessionary.

[gasps] That's cool.

Oh, [bleep]. Tyler, we haven't got enough time.

[both laugh]

[Dan] Maybe we should go and have

a little chinwag with Roberto.

Gracias.

- Gracias. - Oh, that looks good.

[speaking Spanish]

So, he's telling me that there's good gold in Tupiza.

[Roberto speaking Spanish]

[Diego] Uh-huh?

The three of them were called the Three Barons of Gold.

The main gold miners in the Potosi area.

Ah.

[speaking Spanish]

Butch Cassidy's the one who stole from him.

- [Dan] No! - [Diego] Yes.

[Tyler] That's wild.

[narrator] Famous outlaws,

Robert LeRoy "Butch Cassidy" Parker

and Harry "the Sundance Kid" Longabaugh,

swept across the Americas,

hitting a slew of daring robberies.

They were killed chasing a big score

in the booming gold mining district

around Tupiza in 1908.

Today, the remote deserts of southern Bolivia

surrounding Tupiza

are in the midst of a modern-day gold rush,

with over $40 million of gold

mined last year.

[speaking Spanish]

[Diego] He's telling me that

there's virgin ground in Tupiza,

and we should try to find Dr. Os.

- Dr. Os. - [Diego] Os.

He's a geologist who works in the zone in mining.

- So everybody knows him. - Right.

It shouldn't be that hard to find him.

Just got to find the yellow brick road.

[laughs]

[Parker] I don't know if I feel like

getting sent on another wild goose chase.

Feel like we haven't checked all the boxes

with somewhere we've been yet. Something's still missing.

Be cool if we could find somewhere filled with gold

- and a bit more untouched. - [Diego] For sure.

[Tyler] What do you think, Parker?

[Roberto speaking Spanish]

[speaking Spanish] He has some gold.

- Oh, does he? - Yeah.

[Dan] Beautiful.

My vote goes to Tupiza and Dr. Os.

[Parker] Oh, is this a democracy now?

Taking over the dictatorship.

[Parker] I didn't realize.

Three votes against four.

[both laugh]

[Dan] Your votes count for four. [chuckles]

[Parker] So...

Fine.

But that's mainly because that's where

Butch and Sundance were.

That's why I'm okay with it.

You guys pick your own,

but that's why I'm going.

- Butch and Sundance. - Yeah.

Dr. Os.

[Tyler] Makes a lot of sense, guys.

[laughs]

[Parker] Sure, yeah, it makes perfect sense.

- [Dan laughs] - [Parker] Totally.

[Parker] I'm always quite skeptical.

How many wild goose chases do we get sent on?

But we have to be ready to take gambles.

If we can't find a way to find more ground

in the Yukon,

then this is the kind of stuff we have to do.

Okay, well, we keep hunting.

Hope we've steered him in the right direction,

and that we can find ground in Tupiza

which is worth talking about and looking at.

It just feels like, in your gut,

that it's the right place to go.

[Dan speaking]

[Diego speaking]

- [Dan speaking] - [Diego speaking]

[Tyler speaking]

[Dan speaking]

[narrator] To make up for lost time,

the crew will fly across the Altiplano

and land on the southern edge

of the world's largest salt flats,

the Salar de Uyuni.

Here they will pick up their vehicle

before driving the final 100 miles to Tupiza

to meet with geologist Dr. Osvaldo Arce.

We're tickling 20,000 feet right now

in a plane which isn't pressurized.

The trail is testing every step of the way.

[Diego speaking]

[Dan speaking]

[Dan speaking]

[Diego speaking]

[Tyler speaking]

[Diego speaking]

[Diego] I hope it's in good condition.

[bleep]

[Dan speaking]

[Tyler speaking]

[bleep]

Whoa.

Here we go.

[plane system beeping]

[Dan] Oh!

[Parker] Oh, man.

[Dan] Wow.

[Parker] I felt like I was dying.

[Tyler] Parker was really sick.

The plane was not pressurized.

But he's feeling better.

And now we're in the middle of nowhere on a salt flat.

So I'm just trusting Diego

that he's got something sorted.

[Dan] This is [bleep] mental.

[narrator] Holding 20% of the world's lithium reserves,

the 4,000-square-mile Salar de Uyuni

is the largest salt desert in the world.

[Dan] Sweet. Let's hit the road.

[Tyler] Tupiza to find Dr. Os, hey?

[Dan] Tupiza.

Yeah. Landscape is really interesting.

Mad, isn't it? Little town is sort of, like...

all built in between all this rock.

[narrator] Sitting on old Incan roadways,

the city of Tupiza was founded

in 1574

by Spanish conquistadors

looking for gold.

Recently, a discovery of gold-rich gravel deposits

buried deep in the ground

has seen miners scrambling to snap up the best claims.

[Dan] Where is Dr. Os? How do we find him?

We're supposed to go to the archives.

- I think it's this one. - That building?

[church bells chiming]

[speaking Spanish]

- Hola. - Hola.

[Dan] Osvaldo, we found you.

A guy who we met in a bar

said to try and find you,

- so finally found you. - Here we are.

- [laughs] Okay. - And here you are.

Usually that doesn't work.

[laughs] Yeah, sometimes.

[narrator] Dr. Osvaldo Arce

is one of Bolivia's most renowned geologists,

with 25 years of experience in mineral exploration.

He's secured some of the best claims in Tupiza.

We're here looking for placer or alluvial prospects.

We were just in Guanay

- and Teoponte. - [Dr. Os] Oh, yeah.

And, yeah, that area just about killed us,

but it was very good gold out there.

So, I think Bolivia has one of the best

alluvial resources in the world.

I don't know too much about mining in Bolivia.

Is it a pretty good country to be mining in

in terms of permits and taxes and things like that?

Yeah, yeah. It's very competitive.

You know, Bolivia is one of the countries

that's less developed in exploration terms,

so we have lots of opportunities here, you know?

The main gold belt in the Andes

crosses Bolivia for 800 kilometers.

- I have it in my book here. - [Parker] Oh, perfect.

This is the belt.

So we are here.

All this belt is the gold belt.

We have all these places where you find this primary gold.

So there are lots of possibilities

to cater to alluvial deposits.

[Tyler] It's really interesting.

[narrator] The Andes mountain range

holds the biggest gold sources on the continent.

In the middle of one of the largest gold-bearing zones

sits Tupiza,

rich in hard rock and alluvial deposits.

Do you know any that we might be able to

either look at, or we can prospect?

[Dr. Os] Few small mines,

but they are mostly cooperatives.

But in Bonanza mine

that we acquired a few years ago,

which is alluvial,

it has a good potential

to be a probably one or two million ounces mine.

Basically undeveloped.

Or, do you have those holdings, or...

Yeah, yeah, we have most of the holdings.

- You do? - Yeah.

You don't have an operator on there right now?

No, no.

Would you be open to us going out there and doing some...

I don't know what we're gonna do.

We don't have any equipment with us.

But go do some panning or testing?

[Dr. Os] Yes, any time.

[Parker] You're looking for somebody to lease it out to?

- Open to a deal? - Oh, please.

- Cool. - I'm very happy to do that,

to have you.

It's a big opportunity.

Please invest here.

[all laugh]

Awesome. What a lead.

I wanna give you this field report

which talks about Bonanza.

I think will be good guide for you

- just to have in the field. - Gotcha.

Tyler probably knows how to interpret that

- better than I do. - [Dan laughs]

Oh, it has a map on it.

- [Dr. Os] Yes. - Perfect.

- Thank you. - Thank you very much.

- [Parker] We'll be in touch. - Okay.

[Parker] He actually seems like the real deal.

You know, indicated that he thought

Bolivia has a huge amount of kinda untapped potential,

um, from a mining standpoint,

and I do believe that, you know, having seen

what I've seen so far on this trip.

So from here we'll go check out that Bonanza spot.

Sounds like Dr. Os is

looking for somebody to lease it out to.

There's no infrastructure there.

So, like, that's perfect.

Hey! Cha!

That's the kind of stuff we're looking for.

[Dan] That was fantastic.

[Tyler] What a great guy.

He did everything but pull the gold out the ground for us.

[Dan] Every great adventure

starts with a small step.

Look at that.

[Tyler] It's beautiful.

I feel like there's gold here.

I've got a stirring in my loins.

Ooh!

[narrator] In Bolivia's gold-rich high deserts,

Parker Schnabel and his crew are on a mission

to prospect a potential new gold claim.

This doesn't look like anywhere I've ever seen

- anyone mining in. - Looks like home.

[Tyler] The good thing is that where we're going,

we've got the geology exploration report,

where it's told us what the gold-bearing rocks are

and what the gold-bearing gravels are.

[Parker] If there's gold there or not gold there

- is what matters. - Right, exactly.

[Dan] First box we need to tick, then,

- is to just see some gold, right? - Yeah.

[narrator] Following a lead from geologist Dr. Osvaldo,

the crew travel two hours southwest of Tupiza,

climbing around 3,000 feet through the high plains

to reach the remote Bonanza Claim.

[Diego] So, Hector and Santos, people Dr. Os work with,

they're gonna show us around the mine.

[Tyler] Perfect.

There's a couple of dudes,

and seeing as we haven't seen anyone

for hours...

[Diego] So probably are them.

[speaking Spanish]

[narrator] Local miners, Hector Aborado Incata

and Santos Guaita,

have been sent by Dr. Os

to show Parker around.

[speaking Spanish]

He said they do mining. It's called Putucu Caves.

- [Dan] Putucu Caves. - Awesome.

- [speaking Spanish] - Yeah, let's go?

[Dan] This is exciting, isn't it?

[Tyler] It's very exciting.

This is, like, my favorite thing to do.

- What, prospect? - Yeah. This is cool.

Proper treasure hunt.

[Dan] Oh, wow. What's that, then?

[Parker] What?

[Dan] Down there, ahead.

[Hector speaking Spanish]

[Dan] Ah.

[Tyler] Oh, these are Spanish ruins.

From how long ago?

[Diego translating]

[Hector speaking Spanish]

400 to 500 years old.

I can't believe we made it all the way out here.

[Dan] There we go.

[Tyler] That's really [bleep] cool.

[narrator] The 400-acre Bonanza Claim

is situated in the eastern Andes,

directly in Bolivia's gold belt.

Split by four ancient creeks

that carry the gold out of the hills

and down to the creek beds below

where the team will prospect.

But first, Hector and Santos

want to show them the Putucu Tunnels.

When we're prospecting back home,

old timers' workings are our number one indicator,

so this is exactly where I would start.

What is this?

[Hector speaking Spanish]

So this is the Putucu mine inside.

And Putucu means we'll be in between the rocks.

Like a valley. And all of this is gold.

Gold road.

[Parker] Who built this?

The Spaniards asked the Incas very nicely

- to build a tunnel for them? - [Tyler laughs]

[Diego] He's saying the whole opposite, absolutely.

They used to take gold from here

and from other mines, put them together,

and take it all the way down to the ocean,

put it on a ship

- and ship it to Spain. - Wow.

[narrator] In 150 years, it is said

the Spanish exported over 180 tons of gold

from South America.

That's almost $9 billion in today's money.

[Diego] Take a lot of gold.

[Parker] Like, what were they doing

that had that amount of gold

coming out of the ground?

And where is it now?

- We going in there? - Yeah.

[Dan] Yeah. Let's do it.

V monos.

Let's go.

[narrator] The 400-year-old Spanish gold mine

stretches over 1,600 feet into the mountain.

[Dan] Wow, look at this ceiling.

[Tyler] This safe?

[Diego] They have been using it

for 400 years and it hasn't collapsed, so...

[Dan] Let's hope they don't come down today.

[Parker] They weren't screwing around.

[Dan] They wouldn't do all this

for no reason, would they?

[speaking Spanish]

Can get between one or 20 grams.

[Santos speaking Spanish]

[Diego] He's saying that we're gonna load some dirt in there.

[Parker] Oh, fill the sack?

[Diego] Fill the sack and, yeah, take it outside.

[Dan] Let's get that material, shall we?

[speaking Spanish]

[Tyler] Oh, that's the colluvium

they're talking about in the geology report.

The gold in the colluvium

will get caught on top of the flat surface.

[Parker] Gold that's broke free from hard rock

but hasn't made it into the creek yet.

Kinda cool. Haven't seen that before.

[narrator] Colluvium is the name for loose gravels

deposited at the base of a slope.

Over millions of years,

gold and other rocks

break away from their hard rock source.

This material is moved slowly downhill by gravity,

where the heavy gold sinks.

When material hits flat bedrock,

it comes to rest,

building up into a mineral deposit

rich in gold.

[Santos speaking Spanish]

[Diego] This right here, he's saying.

These guys go through all the caves

and it's a safety concern.

Pretty [bleep] tight down here, isn't it?

We'll get a bit without I.R.

Oh, yeah, look.

Nice to see it in a bit of color.

[Santos speaking Spanish]

[narrator] With the sack of colluvium collected,

the team head for daylight.

[Dan speaking Spanish] Let's go.

Oh, sorry.

Nice.

Let's go. [chuckles]

[in Spanish]

- [Parker] What's happening? - [Danny] Oh, I don't know.

[Tyler] They said we're taking a different route on the way back.

Ah, daylight!

It is an absolute rabbit warren in there.

They have mined the [bleep] out of the side of that hill.

But that's a good sign.

No one puts in that much effort

and that much work for nothing.

There's obviously a lot of gold that's come out of there.

Parker, can you see any gold?

Come on.

[narrator] At the Bonanza claim...

[Danny] Can you see anything?

[narrator] ...Parker is panning paydirt

from inside the 400-year-old Putucu tunnels.

[Diego] There's one. Is that...

[Parker] One flake.

[Danny] Mate, one's better than none, isn't it?

[Parker] And then we walked...

...300 feet into a tunnel.

If, if, if I had to walk in and out of a tunnel

300 feet for every panful of dirt,

I would expect, uh, I'd probably do it for, like, an ounce.

[chuckles]

[Parker] An ounce a pan.

We're a few thousand flakes short of that.

Uno.

One, two, three.

[all chuckling]

I see them there.

- There it is. - One, two, three.

- [Danny] It's hard to see. - Yeah, yeah.

[Tyler] It's quite fine, isn't it?

[Diego speaking Spanish]

[Hector speaking]

[Diego] Usually in the creek.

[Danny] Let's go. They said the creek?

- [Tyler] Yep. - [Parker] Vamos.

[Danny] We've been in the cave.

Now we need to get the creek

and see if we can find some gold down there.

Prospecting, specifically,

it takes time, it takes effort.

And, um, you know, it's just baby steps,

and if we can just keep making them,

as small as they may be,

who knows what's gonna be at the end?

[narrator] To build a picture of the 400-acre claim,

Parker needs to check the creek beds

that crisscross the property.

But with 4 creeks covering a total distance of 12 miles,

they first focus on a small tributary

where Hector and Santos have had success in the past.

[Tyler] The geology report says basically the creek

is just the alluvial gold coming out of that hard rock source.

We really just need to test as much ground as possible

to see if it's gonna be worth an investment for Parker.

[Parker] Can you ask if I can pan that?

[in Spanish]

All right. Gracias.

It feels like quite a good spot here.

So out there, untouched, all of the boxes that you want to have ticked

as far as, like, finding a bit of ground that isn't too overworked.

[Parker] Yeah, it's definitely an intriguing area,

like, tunnels and all that old stuff.

[Danny] Ooh. Something, isn't it?

[Parker] Two flakes. Not much.

There's so much unexplored, untouched ground.

It's exciting to see potential like that.

But I just need to get my eyes on more of the ground.

'Cause we're actually upstream of where that old Spanish mine was.

[Danny] He's just itching to get his eyes on everything, I think,

because there's a lot to see when you come to somewhere like this

and a lot of decisions that need to be made.

[narrator] The crew continued downstream for three miles.

[Parker] This was the old dam.

[Danny] That's right through there.

It's gonna take a while to build.

[narrator] Prospecting as they go...

[Danny] Oh, the old carry way.

Sheet flakes down there.

[narrator] ...and the ground begins to heat up.

Yeah, that's a good pan.

[speaking Spanish]

[Parker] In terms of places to make an investment,

you know, we're looking for good grades.

Probably a lot better than what we're mining in the Yukon,

or at least as good,

and a large volume of that material.

We don't get too serious about projects that are less than 10,000 ounce.

What'd he find?

[Diego] One really, really small.

[narrator] After six hours, the crew arrive

at the headwaters of Bonanza's main creek.

[Tyler] On the geology report that Dr. Osvaldo gave us,

it said that this spot's always a really good place to kind of aim for.

So where are we at, then?

- Few flakes. - [Parker] There's one there.

And there's a whole bunch of real fine stuff underneath there.

[Danny] It's here, right?

That was the, that's what we said on the way here.

[Parker] In the Yukon, it would be fine.

But it is kinda confusing because, like, I did a few pans

from lower down in the section and didn't find anything,

and on the top, I found some.

What I don't know is how much, like, volume of material is here.

Volume's the issue.

[Tyler] Any gold in the pan?

[Parker] Hmm, little bit, not much.

[Tyler] What are your thoughts?

[Diego] It's getting late.

[Parker] I think that it's worth staying here

and at least setting up a camp.

[Tyler] Sounds good.

[Danny] Camp up,

and work out what we're gonna do in the morning, yeah?

- Yeah, sounds good. - All right, let's go.

[Parker] Diego, just let them know we're gonna set up camp.

[in Spanish]

[Hector speaking]

[Danny] Okay, cool. Gracias, boys, hombres.

[Tyler] I don't think we should make any decisions tonight. We're all exhausted.

We, um, did some pans. They weren't great.

But there's still lots of valleys to explore.

Parker is the king of poker faces.

But I think he's stressed inside.

You know, I would be if I was him.

He's got some big decisions to make.

You know, the ground in the Yukon's not gonna be there forever.

He needs to try and figure out the next step,

'cause in my mind, I don't think we have a good option yet.

So, in this place that Dr. Osvaldo sent us to,

and, you know, my first impression is, like,

I'm interested, but I'm a little wary.

From a passive standpoint, it looks pretty undeveloped.

But it's not, like, lights out kind of ground.

I'm [bleep] beat after today.

- [Tyler] Good morning, everyone. - [Danny] Morning, Ty.

- [narrator] In a desert valley in southern Bolivia... - [Danny] Geez.

[sighing]

[narrator] ...Parker and his team are prospecting for gold

on untapped virgin ground.

How was your sleep?

[Parker] Mmm.

[narrator] But after a day of panning with mixed results...

[Danny] Maybe we should go have a little chin wag about what we're gonna do today.

[narrator] ...Parker must decide if it's worth pressing on.

- So... - [Tyler sighs]

What are we thinking? What's the plan for today, then?

All right-y, boys. Dr. Os' report looks pretty good, doesn't it?

[Parker] Mmm, yeah, I mean, that's...

It's easy to make paperwork look good.

But there's only one way to really find out,

and that's just to figure out what the grades are.

So I might do more testing,

but not by panning.

No?

We should just build a little sluice box.

Cool idea.

[Parker] There's a lot of land here.

I just wanna check out more of the creek

- and find a really good block of ground to test. - [Danny] Yeah, definitely.

[Parker] Hector and Santos,

- they don't seem to mind us being here. - Yeah.

[Parker] 'Bout time we got out on our own.

[Tyler] I can go into town and get that stuff if you want.

- I can join you. - [Parker] Yeah, you'll have to take Diego so you can speak.

Get a 2-inch pump and a sheet of plywood

and some nails and some screws.

Okay.

And then some carpet, some matting.

- You've seen it at the other mine sites, yeah. - Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

- All right. - Cool, that sounds like a plan.

That'll be fun, making a sluice.

All right, guys. Good luck.

We'll see you guys soon.

- Good luck. - [Danny] Let's go.

I'm glad Parker wants to test it.

These hills are littered with old timers lurking.

[narrator] While Tyler and Diego drive the 25 miles to Tupiza...

We're in the right spot. There's clearly gold here.

[narrator] ...Parker and Danny continue the hunt for gold

in the three miles of creek.

- [Danny] Wow. - [Parker] Cool, huh?

[Danny] Yeah.

Very cool.

- Now I know why the Incans didn't bother with the wheel. - [Parker chuckles]

Who's the [bleep] that uses a wheel in this?

[Parker] This is actually a lot like Haines

in terms of, like, the upper reaches of Porcupine Creek

that feed the gold into where my grandpa was mining.

'Cause it has a lot of slope

and probably really aggressive weather events.

There's not much vegetation in these hills,

so when it rains, it probably just, like, hits the creek [bleep] hard.

Um, and you know, fills up, like, over our head

and just scours everything in the creek out

- with exposed bedrock, right? - [Danny] Right.

And, you know, basically concentrated

all the material that was in here

and deposited it somewhere.

And the area where Santos and Hector were mining

is, like, one of the spots where it levels out

and you're finding good gold.

And then you keep going, and it's like there's nothing.

And that's, like, you wanna find those spots where it levels out.

I want to be able to build a wash plant.

Sluice box.

- Not the same? - [Tyler] No.

A wash plant has a trommel or a shaker deck

or something attached to it.

- We're just building a sluice. - Sluice box.

- Okay. - But close enough. It doesn't matter.

- [Diego laughs] - Don't worry.

[narrator] To build Parker's sluice,

Tyler and Diego must find materials

to make a two foot by five foot wooden channel.

[Tyler] Before we leave, check all these measurements

- 'cause that's a big drive back out there. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- It's a long drive. - [Tyler] Yeah.

Of them all, we spend more time together

and we learn more from each other.

I think mining is really interesting.

It's exciting.

I've been saying that it's like hunting.

- There we go. - Si.

That's perfect.

[Diego] I don't know if I could call it, uh, gold fever.

But it's like a lottery.

Just not knowing what's gonna happen,

not knowing if the ground is good or not,

I think that's exciting.

Are we all squared up?

- [man] Si. - [Diego] Si.

[in Spanish]

I'll take these ones.

- That was a good shopping trip. - [Diego] Yeah.

I feel confident we've got everything on the list.

I'm glad Parker wants to test the creek.

I'm just hoping they find some more volume.

[Parker] Well, what do you figure?

[Danny] Oh, this is a bit different, isn't it?

[Parker] That's the other creek.

What about this?

Probably can get an excavator through here.

- Should we try a pan? - Yeah.

[narrator] One mile from camp,

Parker and Danny are at the heart of the main creek.

This 30-foot-wide area at the lowest point on the property

is a perfect spot for the heavy gold to settle.

[Danny] So, when the conquistadors were here,

could they have been finding the gold

in, like, proper chunks, or how do you think?

Well, they probably had some sort of sluice box.

That's why that, I'm guessing that's why that dam was there.

Oh.

- Saw the dam when we were walking through. - [Danny] Yeah.

Gotcha.

[Parker] But there's definitely some gold.

[Danny] No [bleep]!

This isn't bad, is it?

[Parker] Yeah, that's a good pan.

There's a whole bunch of real fine stuff.

- [Danny] [bleep], yes! - [Parker chuckles]

[Parker] This area is the place to test.

We knew that there was gonna be quite an extensive amount

of kind of effort that we had to put in

to find out whether or not this place was worth mining,

and we've seen gold in the pan.

And it's enough to get us to the next stage.

[Parker] Tyler and Diego should be back soon.

[Danny] Okay.

[Parker] We're gonna build a sluice box

and we're gonna find some gold.

[Tyler] We got you guys a snack from town.

[Parker] What's this?

[Tyler] It's llama jerky.

- [Parker] Oh... - [Tyler] Oh, my [bleep].

[Danny] Oh, wow. That looks absolutely rank.

[Tyler] Why is it white?

[Diego] Soaked, skewered, and dried with salt.

That's an Incan innovation. They created jerky.

Is that right?

[Diego] Charqui, that's called charqui.

Jerky come from charqui.

They were, they used to dry meat like that with salt.

[Tyler] Eat some, Parker.

Go on, mate.

- [Tyler] Oh, my [bleep]. - [Danny] Go on.

Go for it, yes, release the beast.

- Is it rough? - [retches] So much salt.

[Danny] Ew! He's gonna puke.

Ugh, man.

I might pass on that.

[Tyler] How'd you guys go?

[Danny] We went for quite a big wander down the river.

[Tyler] Mmm-hmm.

[Parker] Most of the gravel is in this section

- and there's one more, like, half a K down. - [Tyler] All right.

[Danny] We saw a whole bunch of gold.

We're gonna be like Incans.

[Tyler laughs]

- Should we unpack it? - Yeah.

[Tyler] Okay, show you what we got.

[narrator] At their Bonanza claim...

[Tyler] I think we got everything.

[narrator] With $1,000 invested on supplies...

[Danny] Make ourselves a little football pitch.

[Tyler] Yeah, play some soccer.

[Parker] Oh, man.

- Fancy. - [Tyler] Yeah.

[Danny] No expense spared.

[narrator] The team must build a small sluice box to run a bulk test

and prove the grounds.

[Diego] What if it collapse?

Well, I can go down and start setting the pump up and all that [bleep].

- This is pretty straightforward. - [Danny] Yep.

I would wrap the carpet over the top

and nail it to the bottom of the front.

- [Danny] Right? - [Tyler] Yep.

[Danny] All right, we'll do that.

[Tyler] All right.

[Danny] Wow. Grab the other end of this bit of wood.

[narrator] Even with a 5-foot sluice box,

the team will be able to run nearly 20 times more paydirt than panning.

Panning in a river is great for prospecting,

but it's not going to help us if we want to know what the mining potential is.

So that's why it's really important we do some bulk testing.

There's a lot of pressure on this sluice box,

and there's a lot of pressure on today.

- [Danny] You know what we could do to get really fancy? - [Tyler] Yeah, what?

- [Danny] We should put some handles on the side. - [Tyler] Yeah.

- Sweet. - Done. Good work.

That's what we like to see.

All right.

[Danny] Now, let's test these handles.

- Beautiful. - [Tyler gasps] That's great.

Should we take it down to the creek?

[Danny] Let's get it down there.

Okay.

[Parker] Sluice box, right here.

[Tyler] All right. I'm gonna cut down to the left here.

There we go.

It's great.

[Danny] All good. Ready to rock.

[Parker] Fire it up.

[Danny] Here it comes.

Gotta grab the end of the pipe.

Grab the end of the pipe. Grab the end of the pipe.

- [Danny laughs] - [Tyler laughs]

[Danny] Yay! There we go.

- [gasps] - [bleep]

- [Parker] Tyler, could you not? - [Tyler laughs] Sorry.

Actually don't know if I can hold this.

- [Danny] Really? - It's quite a lot.

- [Parker] Tyler, why don't you help Dan fill the wheelbarrow? - [Tyler] Yes.

[narrator] While Danny and Tyler collect paydirt...

[Tyler] It's a bit tight in here.

[narrator] ...Diego loads the sluice.

[Danny] Be careful, dude.

[narrator] And Parker keeps it clear of rocks.

For not very much money, you can, like...

...build a pretty effective sluice box

out of not much, you know?

I would bet we're gonna have, like, a 70% recovery rate.

I think there's some, probably some coarser gold we're not catching.

Without riffles, you lose a steady, open place for gold to fall in.

The individual bristles of AstroTurf kinda serve that same function,

but on like, a micro scale, right?

Long as it stays open, which is why I'm here.

[Diego] Oh...

Sorry about that.

[Parker] Oh, it's all good.

[Diego] For a second, it was not all good.

I saw your face.

[Parker] I'm scared of you now.

[Tyler laughs]

[Parker] You know, this is an interesting little piece of ground out here,

and now we'll actually be able to run maybe...

...probably about a yard.

In the Yukon, we run about a third of a gram a yard.

Ounce per hundred.

And so if we can get that, it would be good.

[Tyler] Good excavating.

Rock truck driving.

[Danny] Now stay there, stay there, stay there.

- Get all that gold from around there. - Yeah, I can see it.

[Danny] [bleep] Oh, yeah, get it. Beautiful.

- Ty! - [Tyler exclaims]

Dan...

Don't scare me like that,

- 'cause I'm gonna shout, and he gets mad. - [Danny chuckles]

[Parker laughs] "And he gets mad."

[laughs]

But where are we at?

[Tyler] About a yard.

[Danny] Yeah, what do you want to do?

- [Parker] Oh, let's do a clean-out. - [Danny] Yeah?

[narrator] After two hours, the team have run one yard of dirt

through their hand-built box.

[Parker] Let's move this sluice box.

[Danny] Oh, yeah, let's use the handles.

[Parker laughs]

How are we gonna pick it up?

- [bleep] Masterpiece of engineering. - [Tyler laughs]

Oh, my [bleep]. Diego.

- [Diego] Is it heavy? - It's really heavy.

You know why it's heavy? Don't you guys?

- [Tyler laughing] - You know why it's heavy?

- [Tyler] Full of gold. - It's full of [bleep] gold!

- [Tyler laughs] - [Parker] Shut up, Danny.

[Danny] Huh? Be working in your foundry.

[Parker laughing]

- [Diego] You got it? - [Danny] This is our moment, guys.

Whoa, look.

[Parker] That, yeah, flip that side. Yeah.

- Yeah. - [Diego] Yeah. Oy!

[Danny] Oh, teamwork, as well.

[Tyler] Your first mat pull, Diego.

[Danny] Squeaky clean.

You wouldn't be able to do a bit of heart surgery on it.

- How's it looking? - [Parker] Um, okay.

There's a lot of panning, but I need some time to do that.

[Danny] Okay.

I hope we find something here.

[Tyler] Same. Gonna be back to the drawing board if we don't.

[Parker] This is the last pan, and then I just need to Demag it.

- [Danny] Yep. - And we'll have a rough idea

of if it's, like, yay or nay.

We won't have a wait.

[Danny] This is the pan.

[Diego] This is the pan.

[narrator] Parker needs to see at least a quarter of a gram

for this ground to be viable.

[Parker] Our sluice box is working.

No [bleep]!

That's not [bleep] bad, is it?

[Parker] It's actually pretty decent.

[Danny] Thank [bleep].

- I'm proud of that. Are you? - I'm stoked.

- I'm very proud of that. - I personally think it was the handles.

Box works fine. Like, look at how much [bleep] dust is in there.

I bet that's a little over 500 milligrams.

We ran probably a bit over a yard,

so it's, like, a third of a gram a yard.

That's what we're mining in the Yukon.

[narrator] Equivalent to over $25 per yard,

the ground is as rich as Parker's Yukon claim.

- [Tyler] I'm proud. - [Danny] Yeah.

Peeking out of the ground like that.

[narrator] With setup and running costs in Bolivia

a third of the price of the Yukon,

this ground could yield $1 million more in profit.

If this ground is anything like the Yukon,

then, like, the coarser gold is gonna be further down.

It's, like, I'd like to know what's deeper, so...

If you guys don't mind us sticking around here for a bit...

[Danny] No. Oh, we should definitely explore more.

- I mean, we're here, yeah? - Yeah.

I think that'd be great.

Let's find where the coarse stuff is.

All right.

Today's actually been one of the best days for, like, the team, I think.

I think this is the first time we've really come together as a four.

We managed to build a sluice that caught gold.

The ground's actually good.

So basically, today has proven that this place is worth giving a good red hot shot.

[Parker] That's a pretty good first test.

Like, we ran a bit over a yard,

got a third of a gram or so.

If it's an indication that it's gonna get better as we go down,

that's really good.

Anything on the scale that we were looking for is taken and developed,

so I'd really like to see what's further down.

You know, it's rare to find good ground that's not being mined

and the owners being open to a deal.

Of all the places that we've been,

probably this is the one with the most potential.

It's worth exploring.

[Danny] We're moving! We got one.

[Parker] We're in business.

[Danny] This is really starting to come together.

[Parker] I'm running this show right now!

I've done this a [bleep] hundred times!

Go, go, go. No.

[Tyler] Make sure I'm getting those full buckets.

Just don't put your hands anywhere you wouldn't put your [bleep].

[Danny] Suddenly, we are super-charged in being able to find out

whether or not this place is actually worth having a proper go at.

[Diego] Machine, another machine, pumps,

a generator, a sluice box, what else?

[Tyler] We're gonna find so much gold.

[bleep] hailing!

Just a pain in the ass.

[Parker] I feel very ready to take gambles.

Oh, my [bleep]!

This is giving a hell of a lot of food for thought.