All language subtitles for Gold.Rush.Mine.Rescue.with.Freddy.and.Juan.S03E11.Army.of.Juan.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H

Hey, buddy.

- Hey, you got a minute?
- Yeah.

You wanna meet
me down at my truck?

Yeah, I'll meet you
down there in a second.

Hey, Freddy.

You doing all right?

No, I'm not feeling good.

I just gotta get home
and get to the doctor.

It's the first day
of a new rescue.

And Freddy dodge faces
a serious health crisis.

Well, do you want me to
stay here and help these guys?

Yeah, we've got to.

- All right, I'll do that then.
- Okay.

Once I'm done here, I'll
head down to Colorado.

- Come see you.
- Okay.

All right, brother. Love you.

Ditto, Juan.

I know, buddy.

Go home.

I'll take care of this.

- All right, buddy.
- Juan, I hate letting you down like this.

You're not letting me down.

You're not letting anybody down.

See you in a bit.

- I'll see you soon, bud.
- All right.

No one ever likes to see their
friends be hurt or sick and...

Especially knowing how Fred...

Fred's the type of guy that he
just goes and goes and goes.

You know, it doesn't
matter what's going on and...

For him to say that he's
gonna go home and...

And take some
time off, you know,

he's gotta really not
be feeling right, so.

It's a tough spot to be in.

We'll do what we can.

On this episode of Freddy
dodge's mine rescue,

we'll go fire it up.

Hey, Rick..

That's not good.

This is a big treasure hunt.

The bond of military
brother to brother,

it's always there.

Montana weather is always a
challenge throughout the year.

There's so much to do.

I'm trying to do
it all on my own.

We need help.

It's just gonna be a long night.

I got a huge favor to ask.

I could really use your help.

Hey, guys, my
reinforcements are here.

I'm a little stressed, you know?

I worry for Fred.

This is serious.
This is not a joke.

This is the first time I've done something
like this without Fred by my side.

I'm confident in my abilities.

I know I can get this done.

This one's for Freddy.

Juan wheels his way

through Lewis and
Clark county, Montana,

en route to the
remote birds eye mine.

If the name sounds familiar,

Dave turin and his crew...

We got water.

Fought tooth and
nail here in 2019...

And recovered more than
200 ounces in ten weeks.

Tons of gold!

- Yeah!
- Man.

Yeah.

All right, man!

Today, two miners struggle
to pick up where Dave left off.

You know, I've actually
been out here once before

when Dave... Dave
was mining out here.

And, helped him out.

Freddy filled
me in a little bit.

Both are vets.

So, we feel like, you know,
we own 'em something.

Gentlemen, I'm Juan.

- Mark's your name?
- Juan, it's an honor to meet you, man.

Nice to meet you, Mark.

- Rick. Pleasure.
- Rick, nice to meet you.

Unfortunately, Freddy had...

Some personal things
he had to take care of.

So, he... he's not
gonna be able to make it.

But, you got me.

Half the crew is
still just as good.

Yeah, well, yeah.

Yeah.

We're gonna... we're
gonna give it hell, so.

Absolutely.

How long have you
guys been mining here?

I've been mining here
approximately three years.

Three years, okay.

Is this your full-time job,

- or do you guys have full-time jobs, or?
- No.

No, we... we both have full-time
jobs with the army reserve.

Okay.

In 2017,

Iraq veteran staff
sergeant Mark mcdonough

transferred to an
army base in Montana,

working as a
military instructor.

When I got to Montana,

I found an army
in it that I've...

Loved ever since.

I met Mark through work.

Since we work in
the same building,

we get to see each other a lot.

You're looking really
good on the tailings, bud.

Sounds good.

I've been prospecting and mining

since approximately 2014.

I started out in nugget
lake, Wisconsin.

Eventually,

I realized, you know, I
like to see bigger gold.

And the best way to see that

is to go where the gold
fields are, in Montana.

In the long run,

Rick would like to
work with me more

and I'd want him to.

It would help
not just his family,

but hopefully, we can
make this sustainable

where it's profitable
for everybody.

While serving
together in Montana,

Mark and Rick cemented
their ultimate goal.

To make a living
mining full-time

once they leave the military.

Do you have any of the gold
that you've recovered from here?

I do, and I'd like
you to look at this.

This is, this total
season right here.

And it's 16th of an ounce.

- That's your season?
- That's it.

That's it?

Between the work,

the weather can also
be a... a factor out here.

And breakdowns are continuous.

So I think maybe 40 days.

So you kind of have
a limited season?

Yeah, absolutely.

So what do you got
invested into this operation?

- Almost $30,000.
- Wow. Okay.

That's a big chunk of money.

What do you need to make
it profitable for you guys?

Five ounces a season.

You know, one thing that,

that Freddy and I, we've
always told people is,

we come in,

we can assess what
you guys got going on,

your plan and everything else,

but we can't put gold
in the ground, right?

Absolutely.

Mark currently mines
just two days a weeks.

But he hopes to go full-time.

Each mining day,

he must recover at
least .12 ounces of gold

to hit his five ounce
season target.

That would give him the
potential to upscale production,

and make at least
$36,000 a year.

A healthy addition
to his retirement fund.

You guys haven't
seen that at all yet.

I definitely need help.

I've actually stayed
out here overnight just to

conserve travel cost
to and from the mine.

I spent all my money.
Gold mining for nothing.

So it's serious?

- It's very serious.
- Wow, this is...

The stakes are high.

At this time, the mine is
definitely unsustainable.

I could use all the
help I could get.

Well, do you want to
show me your plant, Mark?

Let's fire it up and
see what she does?

- All right, let's do this.
- Let's do it.

All right.

There we go, there we go.

You have it.

We got it.

The birds eye mine sits on an
18,000 acre claim on silver creek.

Six miles from the
historic drum lummon mine.

Discovered in 1876,

drum lummon was
mined until the 1950s,

producing a million
ounces of gold.

Today, worth
around $1.8 billion.

The gold here at birds
eye mine is very sporadic.

It's hard to read the ground.

Where you think there's
gold, the gold's gone.

And sometimes,
where there's no gold,

you're getting gold.

We're gonna run
the first test run here.

We're gonna throw
the first bucket in,

and once he does, I'm
gonna start the timer.

First bucket, Rick!

Mark's small wash
plant was macgyvered

by a fourth-generation
gold miner back in the 1980s.

Now, Juan's four-hour test

will determine its efficiency.

The name of the
plant is spruce goose.

Hopefully one day it'll fly,

but right now, it's just
weighing me down.

The only machinery
Mark has on site

is a 61 horsepower skid-steer

which he uses to load
dirt into the hopper.

It's like a video game where
you gotta shuffle the bucket.

Back and forth, up and down.

If too much goes in at one time,

it'll unbalance
the whole system.

To move a mountain
of dirt like that

with a little, tiny skid-steer,

That's quite the task.

The material is then washed
by two-inch spray bars

before it heads through
the 20-yard long trommel

and into the 12 foot sluice box,

where the gold should
settle in the riffles.

Hey, Mark, everything's
looking pretty good.

I'm liking the feed rate.

That looks good.
We'll let this plant eat.

While Mark loads just a
quarter bucket at a time,

Rick's job is to check
it can eat what it's fed.

Slowing down a little bit.

But the low power trommel
is easily overloaded.

My electric motor
is kind of worn out.

I can't get the amount of
pay I want through the plant

to get the yardage.

They got a lot of problems.

One of the biggest issues he has

is that trommel drum,
it's not perfectly round.

So what it's doing, it's actually
separating away from the cog.

And when it does,

that's causing
that trommel to slip.

We'll have to keep an eye on it.

You know, all the amount of
hours that he sacrificed on this,

- just unbelievable.
- Yeah.

You know, a lesser man would
come out here after about two days,

- be done with it.
- Yep. Be done.

I'm glad I can come out
here and help him with it, too.

Well, you're a good friend.

Well, that's what it's
all about, you know?

We're brothers in arms.

We fight in wars together and...

Come out here and we
always do things together.

- That's awesome.
- That's what it's all about.

That's what it's about.

I got injured in
Iraq in 2003 and...

Over the years,
it's gotten worse.

It makes everyday
work a struggle, for sure.

But what am I gonna
do when I retire?

I can't just sit around.
I'm not that guy.

Stakes are high.

It's very important that I
am able to keep mining

and if I can't do that,

my dream to
sustain a retirement,

it's just dying.

There's a lot on the line.

Mark spent a lot of money.

If this doesn't work,
what do we do?

We're still gonna have
bills at the end of the day.

I'm 100% here to help Rick.

Rick has his wife, Ashley,
and has his four daughters.

Mark doesn't
have a lot of family.

And we try to be
his family for him.

We celebrate Thanksgiving
together every year.

And it's, you know,

there's a bond there
that can't be broken.

Just a little bit more
than I wanted to go into it.

Hey, Rick. That's not good.

Got the sprocket, just
sitting there, running.

Not turning the trommel.

She's doing all right, bud.

You just dumped
her a little heavy is all.

It happens every time
you over fill the trommel.

It starts slipping
on that sprocket,

and it does nothing.

So, we'll try to
correct that issue.

The trommel isn't Mark
and Rick's only issue.

Every one of these dribbles
all the way up the box,

it's completely packed solid.

So there's really no
where for that gold

to be able to go
in and get stored.

So I got a pan full of material
coming off the sluice box.

I'm gonna see
what lives in there.

Gold coming out of
the end of the sluice

means Mark and
Rick are in trouble,

if you're gonna work that hard to
get the materials to the plant and run it,

you wanna catch
as much as you can.

And right now, we got about
three pieces in that one pan.

So, that's not good.

Hey, Rick.

- You wanna call last bucket?
- Yeah, Juan?

- Last bucket, last bucket.
- Okay.

We'll shut it down,

take a look at the sluice
box, and go from there.

Well, hopefully
we got something.

Yeah, let's check her out.

Well, let's clean it up
and we'll go from there.

- All right, it's a good plan.
- Awesome.

Beautiful view up
here, guys, holy cow.

- Yeah.
- It's...

It's top of the world.

Well, you wanna pour?

- It's your gold.
- Sure.

Pour right here.

After the benchmark test

on Mark mcdonough's
Montana plain,

he and partner Rick need this
gold to weigh to deliver .06 ounces.

Well, that's .037.

You know, that's about
60 bucks worth of gold.

Yep.

This first test delivers
only half the target amount.

We need help.

Barely covers, the
fuel let alone the cost

- of running.
- Yeah.

Let me sit down for a minute.

Let me come up with a game plan.

And, we'll meet
back up at the plant.

- Awesome.
- Okay.

- Thanks, man.
- All right.

- See you in a bit.
- Thanks again, Juan.

It's very important
that, you know,

we drive the gold
up for our accounts.

And that way, we can actually
make this a sustainable operation.

I have full faith in Juan.

I believe in the end,
we'll have more gold.

It's frustrating to see that.

Mark spent a lot of
money to get to this and...

It's really hard for a guy
to make a go out at it.

You can't cover fuel.

And... and I'm really hoping
that we can increase it.

I did notice a lot of the things
that needed to be repaired.

One of the biggest
problems that he has

is the drive system.

That actually slows
it down to the point

where it actually starts
skipping the chain.

And the rollers that
he has for the trommel,

they're positioned wrong.

The sluice box is
completely wrong.

And... and on top of
that, to add to my list,

really, I would like to
take a look at the ground.

Usually Freddy and I,
we divide and conquer.

You know, he'll
focus on one thing,

and I'll focus on the other.

I'm a little
overwhelmed right now

just because Freddy
is not here to help them.

You know, usually we have,
you know, two guys on the ground.

But now I got double the
work and just one guy, so.

Hey, guys.

- Hey, Juan.
- How you doing, Juan?

Absolutely.

Kind of wanted to go
over just a few things.

- Sure.
- Um,

there's a lot of things I really
wanted to do with the plant.

With ground that's marginal,

the key is, get as much
ground through it as you can.

- Right.
- And we can't do that

when we're constantly
worried about

- the... the plant.
- Yeah.

So if we can set it up
where you can just feed

as much as you want through it,

then... then we don't
have to worry about that.

- That's huge.
- That... yeah, that's beyond huge.

That sluice box,
your riffle system,

you know, they're set up
for... for really coarse gold.

So what... what I wanna do is

build a new box,
put new riffles in it.

Tailor it for... for fine
gold and coarse gold.

So that's the first fix.

That gear box,
your assembly there.

It's just completely worn out.

That motor, that's
probably from the '60s.

We're gonna build
a new drive system.

- Okay.
- You'll be able come over here

and just start it right up.

Sounds good. I'm excited to
see how this is gonna turn out.

Realistically,

what we just talked about in
material alone, we're gonna be...

Probably close to $4,000.

But... Freddy feels
terrible that he's not here.

So Freddy and I wanna
pick up the entire tab on this.

We're not gonna
charge you guys a dime.

That is awesome.

- Yeah, thank you so much.
- You know we wanna... We wanna do it.

That is beyond
awesome. I appreciate it.

Between the three
of us, it's a lot of work.

Really, we have no time to waste,
we should probably get going on it.

If you guys wanna start getting
some of this stuff ripped apart.

And I'm gonna start making
some calls, getting some parts.

- I like it.
- All right guys.

Let's get it started.

Juan's gonna have a
lot of good positive things

that he can change
and help us out with.

I'm happy Juan's here.
It's always great to have,

a professional's
eyes on the ground.

Juan plans to increase run time
and volume through the plant.

The 60-year-old
motor is underpowered.

And the worn out drive system
is causing the chain to skip.

Juan will replace
the old electric motor

with a new 420cc
gasoline engine.

And he'll upgrade
the drive system

so it can turn the
trommel without skipping.

Mark's sluice is too small

and only set up for coarse gold.

Juan will build a bigger
sluice box with adjustable legs,

to get the perfect pitch,

adding riffles
specifically designed

to catch the fine
gold Mark was losing.

Hey, Freddy.

How you doing, buddy?

Nah, shoot. Don't
worry about that.

We did out gold weigh
today. It wasn't great, Fred.

The ground's pretty marginal.

At least the stuff he's
running right now, it is.

Between the plant issues and...

And everything else
going on, I'm kinda limited

on what I can do as far
as the time goes, so...

They're not doing
too well financially

and I don't know there is a...

There's really a lot to
spare to be honest with you.

I'm just gonna waive the fee.

I agree.

I'll make a few phone calls,
Fred. I'll keep you posted on what...

What we decide and
we'll go from there.

All right, buddy.
Talk to you in a bit.

- Feel better. Bye.
- Bye.

Back at the wash plant,

Mark and Rick are getting
started on the first fix,

replacing the old drive system.

Let's start with the motor.
We'll get the motor out.

All right. Sounds good.

Look at that.

Chain off. Ta-da.

- How's your back, Rick?
- Getting a little sore.

But that's all right,
bud. Gotta keep moving.

- Need a hand?
- No, I'll be all right.

As veterans, it's very
difficult to adjust back

and sometimes all it takes is a
helping hand of a fellow veteran

who's been through
the same exact stuff.

For Mark, a profitable mine,

would be life changing.

Having coping mechanisms

and... and different
hobbies and such,

take your mind off of things.

We're taught how to be soldiers

we're not taught
how to be human.

Right now this is the beginning

of the new sluice box for Mark.

What we're gonna do is, we're
gonna actually make it 24 inches

of actual sluicing area, so
we're gonna widen it out a little bit

to be able to
accommodate more material.

- How's it going, Juan?
- Hey, Mark. How you doing, buddy?

We're getting there.

Have you done much
fabricating, Mark?

I've used a stick
welder a few times.

Trying to keep the
old plant together.

Yeah.

You wanna give it a shot?

- You wanna weld a little bit?
- Sure. Okay.

Easiest thing, Mark, scratch it.

Scratch it like you're
starting a match.

Okay.

There you go.

Move a little
faster, a little faster.

A little, a little... Okay, that's
good, that's good, that's good.

You know, if you're
gonna have a mine,

you're gonna have
to be able to weld well.

- Fabricate. Yeah.
- That's...

- That's key...
- Like I said,

my welds aren't the prettiest.

Aye, you know, they
never are in the beginning.

Without a welder, without a
fabricator, without a mechanic,

you don't have a mine-site.

Keep her hot. That's good.

So, how long have you
been in the military, Mark?

Just shy of 23 years.

- Twenty three years. Wow!
- Yup.

You've been a lot of
places, seen a lot of things.

Yeah. Kuwait, Iraq...

Wow.

Had one of the longest
deployments over there.

So, we were at about, 22 months

is the record on that.

That's unreal.
That's a long time.

Man, it shaped your world.

I bet it changed your
outlook on a lot of things

one of the biggest challenges,

is you need to fill
the voids in your life.

Otherwise, you can kinda
get just swallowed up.

You know mining for
you is kind of a way to...

Probably de-stress?

Yeah. For some people
they like to garden.

For me I like to turn rock.

Yeah.

I'm a little concerned about
the time that I have here.

The amount of work that
the plant needs and then

on top of that we need to get up there
and prospect a little bit of the ground.

Freddy can spot
where the gold's great.

I'm not good at it. So I'm gonna
see if there's a couple of people

that we can call in to
give me a hand because,

Freddy not being here,

it's, it's gonna take some, some
help to be able to get this done.

Hey, what's going on?

Well, I got a huge favor to ask.

Are you available
for a couple of days?

You are.

But only a couple of days.

Well, I could really use your
help here in Helena, Montana.

Yeah, just grab what you need.

Yeah, bring him too. Perfect.

Appreciate it.

We'll see you in a bit. Thanks.

This is perfect
weather for welding.

I'd rather it be
snowing than raining.

True.

Montana weather's always a
challenge throughout the year.

We have everything from
snow sometimes in July

to, warm weather in January.

With Freddy out of action,

Juan has just three days
left to upgrade the wash plant

and find better ground.

But... He has a plan.

Hey, guys. My
reinforcements are here.

Whee. Nice.

Turino!

What's going on, Dave.

Good to see you brother.

I didn't expect snow and mud.

I told you, good time.

Master miner and
prospector, Dave turin,

along with Juan's
brother-in-law, Travis,

an expert mechanic

and longtime friend,
Alex, a skilled welder,

give Juan some much
needed reinforcement.

- Dave, Richard.
- Richard? Nice to meet you.

Four years ago,

Dave prospected
and mined at birds eye.

Gimme some gold.

He pulled nearly
226 ounces of gold

worth over $400,000,
out of the ground

from a cut just 100 yards
from where Mark now mines.

All in!

We were a full season here.

Learned a lot about the
ground. It's really hit and miss.

I don't know every
spot you hit or...

- Yeah.
- Tested or dug, so...

That's a wealth of
knowledge I need.

Anything I can do to help out.

Freddy's got big shoes to fill.

They're tiny feet but
they're big shoes to fill.

Yeah.

You know, I know
he feels a lot better

that you're here to help me out.

So, I can appreciate you
making the trip out here, Dave.

- You're welcome.
- I really do. And you guys too,

Travis and Alex. You know.

Any time.

We got the plant ripped apart.

I got boxes I gotta build, I got a
drive system I gotta build as well.

And then also on top of
that we got the ground issue.

I know what we're gonna do to the
plant is gonna help him tremendously

but we need to find
gold in the ground.

It's why I'm here.

So what I'd really like to do
is kinda divide and conquer.

You and Mark can go
out and start prospecting

and find some
better ground for him.

That's, that's what I wanna
do and then the rest of us

Rick, Alex, Travis and myself,

we'll get the plant
up and running.

- Okay.
- We only got a few days.

We gotta buckle down
and get a lot of this done.

- Sounds good.
- Sounds like a plan.

Juan and Freddy have
helped me many times.

And so, the least I can do
is come out here, help him.

But I've only got two
days to help Mark find gold.

And find some good ground.

I'm really happy Dave,
Travis and Alex made it.

You know, if anyone knows
this property, it's gonna be Dave.

Right now, we don't really have a lot
of time. We had to divide and conquer.

Dave can help me out
on the prospecting side

and I can concentrate
on the plant.

Let's see what
you've been doing.

Was this your cut
here? Where you been...

Yeah, right in here. We
got a sand layer on top if it.

This is kind of an interesting

geology, because
this, it looks to me, like...

Probably some type of, glacier.

Because you got
some, like, Clay.

You've got some washed rocks.

Yeah the gravels are
mixed all throughout it.

Could definitely
have gold in it.

Right. And tests have
proven there is a little bit.

The problem with it and
you probably know this,

is this got some
serious Clay in it.

That starts to ball up.

Lot of times those travel
down to your sluice box

it collects gold.

This is about the level that
we were running here, Mark.

- Okay.
- I think we ought a run a test.

- Sample some of this.
- Okay.

You know, maybe
run five yards of it.

The other spot that
I was thinking, Mark,

is over there where we left off.

Yeah, I've never
touched it over there.

So, that's all new to me.

We were just running outta
time and running outta weather.

We never really
finished this area up.

I think there's a possibility of
some good gold under there.

I think what we ought
to do, is run two tests.

- Okay.
- Let's run five yards

of what you were mining.

We'll do the upper gravels.

And then we'll go
to where we ended,

do another sample
and see if we can find

some gold the
old timers left us.

Dave plans to run
two five yard tests

to see which has a
higher yield in gold.

The first, from
Mark's existing cut.

The second, from
untouched ground

next to where Dave
finished mining in 2019.

We ought to bring
excavator in here and...

Pull some samples, check it out.

Everyone's doing something.

Hopefully we get
it done in time.

At the trommel, Juan
needs to find a solution

to the drum's irregular spinning

and the skipping sprocket.

So, what I'm doing,
is I'm going in there

and I'm adjusting it. I'm gonna
shim it away from the, the drum.

So that way it's as
close as it can be

to the sprocket, so that way it
doesn't have any separation.

We're gonna eliminate
the chance of it slipping.

Yeah, this'll be
a great fix, Juan.

You know, when
Freddy and I do these,

type of repairs, he's kind of,

the voice of reason.

Me by myself, I
wanna take it all on.

But... I get it, big man.

He has to ground me sometimes.

I get it.

- I'm happy with that.
- Tell you what, Juan,

that is way better.

Not flapping all over the place.

Yeah. Everything's
looking really good.

Making it a lot easier
to turn, a lot smoother.

You just lead, I'll follow.

Yeah, that looks straight.

Straight-ish.

We're dead nuts, right there.

Juan welds a base for the new
420cc motor and drive system.

So, this thing really wasn't
designed to have this much weight

off to the side of it.

It's putting a lot of leverage.

It's actually pulling this gear
away from the, the trommel.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna put a few stiffeners in there

and just support it, so
it doesn't rip itself off.

Perfect.

The new motor will
turbocharge the plant

allowing Mark and Rick to
run twice as much pay dirt.

- Well, that's it.
- It's a hell of an improvement.

I'm really hoping that Dave's
on the gold. Because really,

if we don't find the gold, all
these repairs are for nothing.

Whoo! Rock and roll.

Over at the cut, Dave
has called in a favor

to get the right
tool for the job.

The land owner, towie,
is a good friend of mine.

He's got an excavator
he'll let us use.

- Hey, Mark. Good.
- How's it going, Mr. Turin?

Man, this is quite
a little unit here.

It's a road legal excavator.

On wheels.

We got teeth. We can dig now.

Well, we can certainly
dig some holes.

Dave first pulls five yards of
dirt from Mark's existing cut.

Right here, this,

should be virgin ground. It's...

It's sand, it's got
some rocks in it.

I'm trying to go down to
just above what Mark ran.

We'll run that
as our first test.

Dave then takes
another five yards.

This time from untouched ground

under his old haul road.

All right, this
will be exciting.

There's your pay, right there.

Digging tight.

Big rocks.

That's what we're
looking for, right there.

Good to go!

Start running some dirt.

At birds eye mine, Dave
turin and mine owner Mark,

are ready to run back-to-back
tests from two pay dirt samples.

Give it a little more water.

I brought the beetle in.

Juan and I built that thing.

You know, a few seasons
ago in the off season.

The beetle is Dave's
custom-built test plant

designed for prospecting.

It gives a quick indication
on the quality of material.

It's exactly

what we need here.

I mean, what's the
point of upgrading a plant

when we don't have
dirt in the ground?

These tests are so important

to make sure I know
what's in the ground.

Otherwise, I'm not gonna be
able to sustain with the operation.

Right here,

where it dumps in,
just keep an eye on it.

Sometimes it plugs up
and it'll start overflowing.

Mark first run the upper layer
of dirt from Mark's current cut.

I'm in my element right now.

I love this stuff.

You know, you got dirt, trucks and
seams. What more could a guy ask for?

This is my last bucket.

And this could be
the end of the first test.

And hopefully, we got
some good gold here.

- Well, let's pull the mats.
- Okay.

We'll just wash
'em out in the tub,

put 'em back in, and then
we'll go for test number two.

Next, through the beetle,

the pay from the old hall
road Dave never mined out.

I'm pretty confident
in this one.

It was about this
time we had to leave,

because it was
starting to get froze out.

And we had to
leave the haul road.

So hopefully that
works out for Mark.

Right now, it's
all hands on deck.

We have Dave,

Juan's steadily
working on the plant.

And we're over
here. We're testing,

but all this has
to work together,

otherwise it's all for nothing.

Well, Mark, we're
losing daylight.

Let's get this outta here,

and start panning
the concentrates.

- Okay.
- Let's get her done.

We've got it right there.

And then find the
center, wherever that is,

and cut it in the center
and we got both legs.

At the bird's eye mine,

Juan and his a-team are
under pressure to finish the fixes.

I got the right
team for the job.

Everyone's working hard.

Travis and Alex are
working on riffles.

Rick and I are working
on the sluice box.

We still got a
ton of work to do.

If we don't hit it hard,
this doesn't get done,

we don't have a final test.

We really don't have a rescue.

All we want to do is get the
gold to find where it, like, so it sits.

Hopefully this block should
have a nice, yellow color to it

- by the time we Nick it.
- I like it.

All we need is the gravel now.

Well, we're almost there, Mark.

This is...

First pan.

Dave has panned the concentrate
from their two-five yard bulk tests.

Out of the top levels
above the Clay,

where we ran five
yards through the plant,

that's this test.

Okay.

There's you know, three to four
grams. I've done this quite a bit.

Three or four grams is
gonna give you, you know,

- six to eight bucks a yard.
- Okay.

$6 per yard is worth
around $400 a day.

This pan was over
there from the haul road?

Yeah.

There's five or six grams.

That's gonna run you
ten to 12 dollars a yard.

Wow.

Paydirt from the haul road

could potentially deliver more than
twice the gold Mark currently brings in.

To me, it's pretty obvious.

I think you ought a
go after the haul road.

I think we start
hauling some dirt here.

- Yeah, let's get her done.
- All right. Let's go.

We had our chance. We're like
the old-timers. We're gone, right?

I mean, we left outta here.

So if I can get it
for Mark, I'm happy.

I don't have any regrets that we
didn't get it. We gave it our best shot.

Let's jump in there and I'll give you
an understanding of the excavator.

- Okay. I'm not gonna know unless I do it.
- All right. Let's do it.

To succeed, Mark will
need to extract gold-rich

pay dirt as quickly as possible.

So, expert operator Dave
shares some nuggets of wisdom.

So that one you gotta pull up,

and this one wants
to dig and dive.

So you're pulling both of them
so you keep a constant flat.

Smooth altogether motion?

And then when
you get ready to dig,

put your blade all the way
down and it stabilizes you.

And then that way, you don't
pull the machine into your hole.

Okay.

Play with it a little bit so
you kinda get the feel for it.

Okay.

Now take your right
hand and... yeah.

Swing a little bit.

And this is exactly what Mark
needs. He needs an excavator.

Spend some time in
it, get proficient at it.

This could really
help his operation out.

How's that for a
full bucket, Dave?

Full bucket!

There's your pay.

Obviously he's been
around equipment a lot,

and I'm impressed.

Getting full buckets.

He's careful, he's smooth.

Doing good.

I believe this is the
key to his success.

Hi-five.

All right. Good job.

Masterclass complete,

Dave heads to the cut trailer
for some final heavy lifting.

That is a hell of a sluice box.

Thanks, Dave. Came out nice.

You think Freddy would approve?

He probably wouldn't wanna give it to
me, but he'd give me the seal of approval.

Mark's pretty fortunate to
have you guys helping him out.

Yeah, you too.

It's really a big deal. I appreciate
you coming out here giving us a hand.

You and Freddy have
helped me out many times.

So the least I can
do is pay back.

You know, when it comes
down to it, the brotherhood of

miners is kind of
a tight-knit group.

- It is.
- We help each other out when we can.

Appreciate it, Dave. Let's jump
on and let's get those moved.

Dave's discovery of high-grade
pay and the drive system upgrade

will count for nothing if
Juan's custom sluice box

isn't finished in time.

- That's perfect right there, Dave.
- You good there?

Yeah, I like it.

All right. I'm gonna go dig.

Bye-bye.

We're in a hurry right
now. It's getting dark.

We're gonna be working
late. We got a lot to do.

And very little time to do it.

It's just gonna be a long
night, but we'll get through it.

Hey, Juan. Remember
building this?

Yeah. I'm actually kind of excited
to see you're still using it, Dave.

It's a great little plant.

You know, the only thing I don't
really like about it is the name.

I like the beetle, but we
should've called it the dung beetle.

- Dung beetle?
- The dung beetle.

I think that would've
been more fitting.

Yeah, because dung
has a lot to do with gold.

Well, no. You know, a lot of times,
we're going after the scraps, right?

I see.

It's a dung beetle.

Guide me in right here, please.

It's the final 24 hours at soldiers
Mark and Rick's bird's eye mine.

Juan's crew rush to complete the
fixes before their time here is up.

We worked late into the night last night.
Honestly I didn't think we'd get it done.

But we're here, we
got the motor mounted.

Put the sluice box in, so we're
that much closer to running.

You know, better
late than never.

We've had Juan
building everything here,

and then we got Dave helping us
find some new ground. I tell you what,

you combine those two things,
we're gonna find some gold.

- That's pretty damn close.
- Pretty close.

Hold on.

Pull Alex's side
down or yours up.

Close enough.

Well, I'll tell you what, Juan.

You said it'd be in by two
o'clock. I got 1:57 right now.

The adjustable sluice is
the final piece of the Jigsaw.

Come up on it, guys.

Make sure it's one to one.

Two, three, four,
five, six, seven,

- eight, nine, ten.
- Right there is good.

Okay, okay. Good.

The whole trick to having a good
sluice box, you wanna have it as level

and have the
right elevation for it.

So we made it a 100 per cent
adjustable so that way, on the fly,

we can make change
it as we need it.

Well, we're adjusted.

Where we need to be.

I like it.

We're pretty much ready to run.

I have no words.

Well, hopefully it catches gold.

Hopefully somebody gets 'em
on the gold so the gold isn't lost.

You know, when we came out here
and Freddy wasn't feeling the greatest,

first guy I thought
about was Dave.

So I'm really happy he was
able to give us a few days of

- his time to come up, give us a hand.
- You bet, you bet.

I appreciate it so much, Dave.

You're welcome, you guys.
You know, Juan and I have talked.

We got a lot of
respect for you guys.

You served our country.

You know, you're vets,

so whatever we can do to help,

we're all about that.

Helping each other out.

- That's it.
- Thank you.

Well, now you know, you guys are
in the brotherhood of miners, right?

Yea, we do.

What do you guys
say? Let's run the plant?

- Yeah. This is awesome.
- All right.

Hey, guys. I've gotta
head out, you know.

I told you I had two
days, and my time's up.

I'd love to stick around
and watch this thing run,

see the gold in the
box, but I gotta go.

All right, Dave.
Totally understand.

Thank you so much.

- Yeah, man.
- Appreciate everything.

- Pleasure, thank you.
- Thanks for coming out.

Thanks for your time.
We really appreciate it.

You're an awesome teacher,
Dave. Really appreciate it.

All right, brother.

- All right, guys. Thanks.
- Be safe, Dave.

Well, gentlemen.
I guess it's us.

Let's run it?
Let's get it going.

The final test run?

All right. You get
that. I'll get the pump.

- Okay.
- Fire her up.

- We got the water.
- You got water?

Let's throw some dirt.

Juan's had five hard
days without Freddy.

Battling Montana's snow
storms and a lack of equipment.

Now it's time for the
crucial second test.

Let's do it!

Mark's 12 foot-long sluice box was
too narrow and set up for course gold.

Juan built a wider sluice box with
adjustable legs to optimize pitch.

And added new riffles to catch both
course and the previously lost, fine gold.

Mark's old motor and
drive system was worn out,

and would regularly
skip the chain.

Juan's powerful new gas
motor and sprocket system

means the wash plant can process
twice the pay without any stalls.

Finally, the upgraded
wash plant will be fed

with the new pay dirt Dave found,
which could contain twice as much gold

as the pay from Mark's old cut.

First bucket going up the ramp.

- Start that timer.
- Start!

- What do you think, Mark?
- Good.

You see how all the material's
getting tumbled right in the water?

Washing it really good.

That motor's great.

It works a heck of a lot
better than the old one.

Up to my fourth bucket.

Everything's looking
good right now.

Trommel's spinning faster
than I've ever seen it spin before.

Probably five times speed
than what I'm used to.

Box is looking great with those
Hungarian riffles, we've removed those

for the fine gold.

We may have a fully
operational plant that

produces a good amount of gold.

Yeah, I think she's looking
really good, bud. I'm super excited.

Where we at? Four hours?

Just hit four.

Well, let's call last bucket.
That's the end of the run.

Hey, last bucket!

Awesome.

We'll shut the pump down, shut the
trommel down. See what we got in the box.

You better come take a
look at this real quick, Rick.

- What do you got, Juan?
- Look at all that there. On the carpets.

All the way through it.

I've never seen it
packed like that before.

Ever.

We ran the plant for four hours,
the box looks halfway decent.

But really, we don't know
until we dry it up and weight it.

This is pretty fast.

I don't think we're gonna have
to worry about the box ever again.

No, I don't think we will, bud.

This could be your
retirement right here, bud.

Well, we'll find out.

You know, I'm a little
nervous about this gold weigh.

Because there's so
much riding on it, right?

Yeah.

The last gold weigh
was 0.037 ounces.

To hit Mark's
five-ounce season goal,

this four-hour test needs to
deliver at least 0.06 of an ounce.

Well, guys. Travis,
I'MMA let you pour it.

Nearly...

Look at that, guys.

Whoa.

0.54.

That's over half an ounce.

- We slammed it.
- Yeah, in four hours.

0.54 ounces. A massive increase

of 1300 percent on
the first gold weigh.

- That's nuts.
- Over half an ounce.

So on a four hour test, we
did a little over half an ounce.

Now imagine if you did
a full-day run, you know?

- Eight, ten, 12 hours?
- Yeah.

You can actually make
some real money with that.

Thank you. Good
meeting you, Mark.

In a six-month season, Mark could
net over a quarter of a million dollars.

More than enough to keep his
dream alive of retiring from the military.

And mining full-time.

I've never seen that much gold.

We can have the
brotherhood of mining.

You know, we go from
combat vets into gold vets now.

This is life-changing.

And you guys
deserve it for sure.

I know you guys have worked
your butts off and sacrificed a lot.

Thank you, Juan.

- Thank you.
- No problems.

I have gotten absolute confidence
from working with Juan and with Dave.

I am beyond grateful.
I will never be able

to thank those guys
enough for what they did

for me and Rick.

I am now in the
position to retire,

and do this full-time.

You know, there's no words to describe how
I feel right now. It was a great outcome.

- Hello?
- Hey, Freddy. How you doing, buddy?

Doing all right.
How are you, Juan?

Doing excellent. Hey, I
just wanted to call you.

We just had our
final gold weigh, Fred.

How'd it go, bud?

- It was damn good, Freddy.
- No kidding?

Yeah. Honestly,
Freddy, I'm relieved, bud.

How you feeling?

Doing all right.
Starting to feel better.

Yeah, I went to the doctor. All the
bloodwork and stuff came back okay.

Awesome. I'm happy to hear that.

- Drive safe, okay? See you soon.
- All right, Freddy. Thanks.

Bye.

I'm happy that
Freddy's feeling better.

It was a great week
helping those guys out.

I'm ready to go home.