All language subtitles for Gold.Rush.S14E01.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH

[suspenseful music playing]

[Parker]
History is full of miners

who made a lot of money

but didn't know when to walk
away and lost it all.

Some of us will survive
and some won't.

[man] No, you [bleep] listen.

You took something that
[bleep] belongs to me

and I [bleep] want it back.

[narrator] On the all new
season of Gold Rush...

[dramatic music playing]

Woo. Here we go.
We're back, baby.

[narrator]
The balance of power

in the Klondike is shifting.

You just don't want it
to be your problem.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] The Beets...

[laughs]

[narrator] ...aim for their
biggest season ever.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
But a rift in the family...

You're spending,
spending, spending.

There's nothing coming in.

[narrator] ...threatens
to bring down the dynasty.

[wire snaps]

[Tony speaking]

Everyone's expendable.

-[man] Everyone.
-Ugh.

He's kind of running
it into the ground.

Jumping back in the seat.
It feels good.

[narrator] Rick Ness battles
back from rock bottom.

[Rick]
I need a thousand ounces

to get my life on track.

[Parker] I know we've had
our differences,

but I do wanna see
you make this work.

[narrator] On a quest...

[man] Right now,
the name of the game is gold.

[narrator] ...to put his life
back together...

It's the beginning
of my new chapter.

[bleep].

In layman's terms,
she's [bleep].

Dude, this is nothing.

[narrator]
...and strike it rich.

[Rick] A lot of people didn't
think I'd ever have another
gold way again.

Turns out they were wrong.

We'd need to do 5,000 ounces.

[narrator] Parker Schnabel...

[Parker] This is
[bleep] sick.

[narrator] ...makes
a life-changing gamble...

I can do it however
the [bleep] I want.

[man] I don't know what's
going through the boy's head,

but he does come up
with some great ideas.

We have to be 100%
on our game.

We're in the money
pit right now here.

[narrator] That could
make him wealthy

beyond his wildest dreams...

[man] First gold
of the season.

Yeah, there you go.

[narrator] ...or wipe him out
completely.

When there's $15 million
on the line,

I don't think
you can trust anybody.

[dramatic music playing]

[upbeat music playing]

[Parker] In this business,
you grow or you die.

Do you play it safe and
downsize and spend less money,

or do we go big?

[narrator]
28-year-old mine boss

Parker Schnabel
is at a turning point.

And I don't want to downsize,
you know?

We've spent so many years
building up to

a size of company
where I really enjoy it.

We make good money.

You've gotta go where
the gold is.

The Yukon is the place to be.

[narrator] A decade ago,
18-year-old Parker

came to the historic
gold fields...

[Parker] If I want to play
with the big boys,

we gotta get up here
where the big boys play.

[narrator] ...with a dream
of striking
it rich...

...and building
a mining empire.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] In just 10 years,

he's hauled in over
$100 million in gold...

[man] Collectively
in your career,

you have now exceeded
50,000 ounces of gold.

[Parker] Wow.

[narrator]
...becoming one of the biggest

gold producers in the Yukon.

In the process,

he's chewed through
thousands of acres of ground.

Last year,
we did a ton of gold

and mined a lot of ground,
and it was going really good.

But after 10 years
on the Indian River,

we're done there.
The license is over.

[narrator] To keep producing
record-breaking seasons,

Parker needs gold-rich ground
big enough for his operation,

or he'll be forced
to scale back.

[Parker] We have some
big decisions to make.

Do we gamble
on some new ground

and keep taking big risks?

We have the equipment,
we have the people,

we have the mechanics,
we have the wash plants,

we have the knowledge,
but really only thing

that matters is the ground.

I signed a deal on this
ground on Australia Creek.

[narrator] To keep his mining
career going,

Parker's targeting
one of the last blocks

of virgin ground
in the area...

Australia Creek.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] When gold was
discovered in the Klondike

in 1896,

miners flooded the valleys

and creeks seeking
their fortunes.

But 50 miles southeast
of Dawson City,

and two miles
from Parker's old claims,

the old timers skipped over

a huge block of ground,

8,500 acres
on Australia Creek.

One hundred and twenty-five
years later,

with few options
to choose from,

Parker's secured
an exclusive lease

to mine this unproven ground.

It's kind of a seller's market
and I'm a buyer, right?

Gold prices are high.

So everybody's asking
for high royalties.

[narrator] Parker has to pay
the owners

a 20% royalty
on any gold he finds.

But before he moves
his entire operation,

he first has to find out

if the ground is worth
pouring millions into mining.

[Parker] We don't really know
much about it.

If the gold's not there,

you get in real trouble
real fast.

So this is like a map
with the drill results.

Sonic Results Australia Creek.

[narrator] Parker's only clue

are the test drill results.

Like a treasure map,

they should indicate
where the best gold lies

beneath the ground.

There's some really good
drilling in here actually.

There's a lot of bad
ones as well.

So, we just have to be bang on

because if you put the pit in
the wrong spot in...

On ground like this,
you'd go broke.

[upbeat guitar music playing]

[narrator]
To find the best spot

to start digging for gold,

Parker brings in
team member Tyson Lee.

[Parker] There's a drill
hole right there.

-[Tyson] Yup.
-[Parker] That looks
like it's in a swamp.

[Tyson] Yup.

[Parker] Do we wanna walk
through the [bleep] snow?

[Tyson] Let's get after it.

[guitar music playing]

[Parker] Okay.
So what does this say?

It doesn't look like much.

Well, it's ripped
in [bleep] half.

Hmm, 76?

[Tyson] It looks like it.

[Parker]
There's no 76 on this list.

Uh, okay.

Maybe they just [bleep]
up on that tag.

This should be hole 81?

You're a ways off.
This one's 26, man.

Like, what good is this?

Like, the [bleep] are you
supposed to do with that

when the hole
numbers don't add up?

But there's no reference...

Like, there's claim
lines that don't exist.

[bleep].

What do you do?

[Parker] Oh, this
kind of stuff's so annoying.

We have to sort this out.

The drill hole numbers
don't make sense.

I'm gonna go get Liam.

[dramatic music playing]

The big thing is you do
not wanna put a cut

in the wrong spot.

Um, that's, like, a big,
old number one no-no,

especially when to get
to the size we're at where

every day is so expensive.

[narrator] Parker heads
to find Liam Ferguson,

the region's best driller
to see if he
can help.

I think right now he's on
this property coming up here

at Dean Russell's
Dominion Gold Resources.

So I'll just go talk to Dean,
see where he's at.

-Hello?
-[Dean] Hey, Parker.

-[Parker] Hi.
-[Dean] Hey, how's it going?

-Good, how are you?
-Oh, not bad.

-What you up to?
-[Parker] Not a whole lot.

-How have you been, Dean?
-I've been good.
I've been good.

Um, is Liam over here?

Yeah. He is up
there drilling for me.

I got him proving up
some ground

'cause I'm, you know,
getting on

and I was thinking
of selling it, so...

-Oh, really?
-Yeah.

We've got an American group
that's looking at the mine.

So you're thinking
about selling out, huh?

Yeah, I've been here 10 years.

-It's--
-[Parker] Yeah.

it's been a good 10 years,
but getting on,

got grandchildren
I'd really like to see.

And how many claims is it?

Seven thousand five
hundred acres.

Jeez, that's crazy.

We got seven years left.

-It's on a mining license?
-Yeah.

It's a lot of years of mining.

[Parker] Right.

But we've had offers
on just the claims,

but I'd like to sell it as
a package with all the houses,

and underground services,
and just everything.

Interesting.

[narrator] 10 miles northeast
of Parker's old claims,

Dominion Creek
is 7,500 acres,

an area half
the size of Manhattan.

It's a major
slice of historically

gold-rich ground.

With Dean looking to sell,
he's already got Liam

drilling the property
to prove how much is here.

Um,

I might be interested in
having a look at your ground.

-So Liam's drilling.
-Yeah.

I'll be interested to see

how Liam does
with the sonic rig.

Well, I'll share that
with you if you...

if you wanna take a more
serious look at it.

Do you want to, uh,
split the drilling cost?

I'll... We should talk price.

But I'll...

If you give me first dibs

and if somebody else
is gonna make a deal,

I'll pay for all the drill.

[Dean] Okay.
As long as you move fast.

You got a week.

I don't like being rushed
on deals.

-Um...
-Well, yeah.

But you're not being rushed.
You're late to the table.

Hmm.

All right.

Let's talk numbers and get
these guys out of the room.

-Yeah, for sure.
-Um,

can you guys...

[makes sound]

...get out?

[dramatic music playing]

Well, it's a big number.

It's a big number.

[bleep].

I don't know if he wants to...

The world to know
how much he wants,

but I'm just gonna
tell you guys.

For everything, the equipment,

mining claims, blah, blah,

camp, um, he wants 15 million.

We can't afford it.

That doesn't mean
we can't do it,

but we can't afford it.

Probably means
we shouldn't do it.

[narrator] Parker faces
a massive decision.

Continue on unproven
leased ground

at Australia Creek

or buy Dominion outright

for $15 million,

be his own landlord,

and take home all the profit.

[bleep] I don't know
how to do this.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Tony speaking]

[intense music playing]

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] King
of the Klondike, Tony Beets,

sits atop one of the biggest
mining empires in the Yukon.

[Tony laughing]

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] And at 63,
he's just getting started.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Forty years ago,

the dairy farmer
from the Netherlands

moved to the Klondike

with the dream of a better
life for his family

and making a fortune in gold.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Now,
it's a family operation

that hauls
in millions every year

and controls
thousands of acres

of prime gold-rich ground.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] It's the first day
of the season for the Beets.

The family starts
by clearing new ground.

My dad's done
his years of running
around carrying boards.

It's other people's turn.

[narrator] Youngest son Mike

rips frozen overburden

in the D11 dozer

to get down to the gold
pay layer.

[Mike] If my dad
were to croak,

I'd be the one to take
over operations here.

I'm sure TB has
always kind of had it

in his head
that he was gonna pass

this business on to his kids.

It's kind of what he
is been training us to do

for the last 20-odd years.

[narrator]
In the 750 excavator,

28-year-old daughter,

Monica loads rock trucks
to remove the waste dirt.

Out of all three of us,
me, Michael, and Kevin,

I'm sure Michael wants it.

He's the only one
who truly takes pleasure

and joy in doing this.

While Kevin's trying
to figure out

if this is something
he wants to do, you know?

[narrator] Usually,

Tony's eldest son
and chief mechanic, Kevin,

looks after all
the equipment,

but he hasn't turned up yet.

[narrator]
Together, the Beets family

had their best season
ever last year.

Hauling in a record
5,300 ounces,

$9 million in gold.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Last season,
Tony worked

two lucrative spots.

The nine-acre Cold Cut

and the six-acre Blue Cut

chasing the fabled gold-rich
white channel pay streak.

Now, Tony plans
to mine out the half acre

of ground that lies
between the two cuts,

then extend outward
into the hill

in search of more
white channel pay,

mining a total of 18 acres
of ground,

creating one giant super pit.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Tony needs his crew
to dig down 60 feet

and remove over 4 million
tons of worthless overburden

to hit the gold-rich
pay layer

and wants
the first section exposed

by the end of the week.

[Mike] Everything in the cut's
gonna be frozen

all the way down the further
in the hill we go,

which is a big nuisance
'cause you have to spend

a lot of money ripping
it so you can let it thaw.

[bleep] Turn!

[bleep]

Tony, do you copy, Tony?

[Tony] Go ahead.

My shank just broke.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] The frozen ground
is as hard as concrete

and has snapped
the ripper shank in two.

And with the amount
of [bleep] we have
to get ripped right now,

it's not really a good time

to be down a ripper Cat.

[narrator] Mining on the edge
of the Arctic Circle,

the Beets
have just six months to bank

as much gold as possible.

So, every day counts.

[Tony speaking]

[dramatic music playing]

[Rick] I made the long trek
from Wisconsin

right now and at the moment
I'm up in the gold fields.

I've been gone a year.
I had... I had to take
a year off.

I just had to take a minute
and get myself right
otherwise, uh,

you know,
I was gonna crash and burn,

and I almost did, so...

[narrator] Nearly two
years after he shut the gates

on his Yukon gold mine,

Rick Ness is back.

I'm pretty confident,
you know, in myself here

that I [bleep] know
what I'm doing now.

Things are gonna be different.

[narrator] Eleven years ago
while on tour with his band,

Rick got a call
from a 17-year-old kid

that changed his life.

[Parker] Hey Rick,
this is Parker Schnabel

up here in Alaska.

[narrator]
Chasing the dream of gold,

Rick joined Parker
as his right-hand man.

[Parker]
How many loads are you at?

-[Rick] Seventy.
-[Parker] Really?

-Yeah.
-[Parker] Nice job.

[narrator] And after
six seasons together...

This is our [bleep] gold, man.
This is our year.

[narrator] Rick took a gamble
and became his own mine boss.

-[Rick] Let's do it.
-Ready.

[narrator] But in his
first solo season,

tragedy struck.

[Rick] My mom,
she fought pretty hard.

[sniffs]

It's hitting me now.

[narrator] Despite
his mother's passing,

Rick fought tooth and nail

to build an operation
from nothing.

-[Rick] No.
-That represents

-victory right there.
-[man] Yeah.

[narrator] And after three
up and down years,

Rick triumphed scoring
a record season

and $3.7 million in gold.

I don't know how to top it.

[narrator] Then, last year...

[man] What's up?

[narrator] It all came
crashing down.

[man] Why aren't you mining?

I don't know, man.

Just depression. And I...

That's... It's tough
for me to accept

'cause I didn't grow up
like that.

[narrator]
His life fell apart.

He went MIA.

And during his time away,

Rick lost nearly
all his money.

There was just a lot of...
A lot of turmoil,

a lot of, you know,
mental things.

Just, you know,

a lot of things
I wasn't paying attention to

just kind of came crashing
down on me all at once.

[narrator]
Now, he's on a mission

to get his life back together

and find a ton of gold.

[Rick] Now that I realized
that I've thought about it

and I've seen the wrong moves
that I was making,

well, [bleep] I mean,
once I had clarity,

you know, I got
my [bleep] together.

And now finally I'm up here

and I know what the [bleep]
has to be done.

I am picking up a good friend

that's gonna work
with me for a while.

He's gonna be here for a few
weeks just to get me going.

Because I know
I can trust him

and in fact,
I can't wait to see him.

So I'm gonna go pick him up.

[bleep] looks like his plane
already landed.

There he is.

-Zees.
-[Zee] Yeah?

[laughs]

[Rick] [bleep] made it.

You [bleep] suitcase
is awesome.

-How you doing, man?
-[Zee] I'm good. Good, good.

-How you doing?
-Hey, man. Good.

How's it feel
being back up here?

-[Zee] It was a nice flight.
-Yeah?

-[Zee] Not really.
-Yeah. [laughs]

-[Zee] Back to Keno, huh?
-[Rick] Oh, yes, sir.

[Zee] Let's do this.

[narrator]
Rick's only crew member,

his hometown buddy
Zee Zaremba.

To Keno.

Keno or bust.

[narrator] From Dawson City,

Rick and Zee drive
180 miles east

out of the Klondike

to Rick's claim
near Keno City,

which for the past
year-and-a-half

has sat abandoned.

Huh. Oh, boy.

[Zee] So, you're telling me
the road's here?

[chuckles] Yeah.

That's deep.

[Rick] Oh.

[bleep]

[bleep].

I mean, there's no way to even
get into any of the doors.

We got one small
little excavator here.

We can get that started.
We can clear snow.

Get in here, pop camp open.

-Get us a place to stay.
-[Zee] Okay.

And then we're gonna go
from there.

Let's [bleep] do this.

Let's get [bleep]
camp opened up.

[Rick speaking]

[narrator]
With barely any funds,

Rick needs to get on the gold

as quickly as possible,

but with most
of his equipment returned

to the rental company,

clearing the camp
with just two people

is a mammoth task.

Oh, man.

So much snow.

It'd be better
if we had a loader here.

Knee-high.

[bleep].

Is it slippery up there?

[Rick] No, it's not slippery.
I'm just taking a break.

[laughs]

Oh, geez.

This is brutal.

Oh, so cold.

I don't have the key.

Don't tell anybody
how easy it is.

It's been a couple...
It's been a couple of years.

Come on in.

Oh, buddy. Place is like
we just left it, so...

I know, we can make it
into Monster Red.

I need snowshoes
so I don't go through.

[laughs]

Oh, this is fun.

Oh, I can see it already.

There she is, buddy,
Monster Red.

[dramatic music playing]

[Rick] Dude, look at that,
right where I left her.

[Zee] Did you think
it would move?

You never know.

[narrator] Monster Red
is the heartbeat

of Rick's operation.

The half a million dollar
wash plant

is a custom-built beast

that can run 300 yards of
gold-rich pay
an hour.

[Rick] It almost feels
like I never left,

that we could start it up
right now.

Well, it just [bleep]
hit me now.

It's a little bit of a...

little more emotion in it
this year, you know?

I appreciate you coming up
this year,

especially just to get me
started like this.

-I appreciate it, buddy.
-Yeah. No problem.

[dramatic music playing]

So, Dean wants 15 million
bucks for the place.

It's a steep price.

It's a really steep price

but it's a huge block
of ground.

If we wanna stay
the size we're at,

then this is probably
the only one in the Yukon

that we could
get our hands on.

[narrator] Parker Schnabel

is weighing up the deal
of a lifetime

whether to buy 7,500 acres

of ground at Dominion

or stick with the unproven
Australia Creek.

The final landing place
that we just got to

is five down and 3.75
at the end of this year,

and then more payments
for a couple more years.

If you have 5 million bucks
in the bank account,

but that's normally down
to like less than one

by the time we're sluicing
full bore with two plants.

[narrator] This will be
the most Parker has ever paid
for ground.

If he spends his war chest

on the $5 million
down payment,

he'll be in the red
before he even begins.

[Parker] I've always been
scared of debt.

Can we find a pit that has
$15 million in profit in it?

Because then,
everything else is gravy.

Let's go find Liam.

[narrator] Parker meets friend
and drilling expert,

Liam Ferguson,

to get the lowdown
on Dominion.

Hi.

Are you having fun?

Yeah, same as always.

So, I was talking to Dean

and he said
that you were drilling here

-because he's selling
the ground.
-Yeah.

And I was like, "Oh [bleep].

We might be interested
in buying it."

And him and I talked numbers

and some stuff and...
I don't know.

He conned me into paying
for part of your bill.

-Great.
-[laughs]

That means we get first dibs
if we want to buy it.

-Well, that works.
-So, are you finding any gold?

[Liam] Yeah. It's been
a little bit spotty.

We've picked it up
in a few places,

but there's a few spots
where I'd like to go back

and check a bit better.

Right.

He's telling you
where to drill, right?

Yeah, for the most part.

So, okay, I guess now I am?

If you're paying the bills,
I'll do what you want.

So in my mind, it's like
probably looking for a cut

that would pay
for the place, right?

Like, if there's 10,000 ounces

that we can do
for 5 million bucks,

-the place is paid for?
-Right.

-[Parker] Right?
-[Liam] Yeah.

Well, at the bare minimum,

you wanna make sure
there's enough gold here

to cover the costs and...

not go broke like most people

that have mined here before.

He wants it closed in a week.

[Liam] In a week?

Yeah. Well, I don't...
If there's gold there

and it's a good enough grade,
then it's possible.

Yeah. You and I don't have
a great track record

of drilling out
like our $15 million pit

in a week, or a month,
or a season, or...

We're pretty good
at disproving ground.

[Parker] Yeah. We've done good
at that.

[laughs]

All right.
Send me the results as you can

and I'm gonna start looking
at equipment

and kind of seeing
what the place is worth

from a non-ground standpoint.

And then you and I
can have a chat

in maybe a few days
once you have some answers.

[Liam] All right.
Leave it with me.

We'll see what we can find.

Okay. All right. Thanks, dude.

But I know a fair bit about
this piece of property here

and it's kind of been
one of the biggest spots left

in the Klondike
for a long, long time.

There's been a lot
of people coming,

trying to make it work

and some have had success

and some haven't.

I hope we can find
what he needs.

[Parker] I always like
working with Liam.

He grew up gold mining
like I did

and he has a real head
for this stuff.

If there's gold somewhere,
he's gonna find it.

[dramatic music playing]

When's the last time
you drove on these roads?

It was probably [bleep]
forever, right? [bleep].

Four year... Five years ago?

-[bleep].
-Yeah.

[narrator] Rick Ness
is on a comeback mission

having gone MIA
for over a year.

After opening up camp,

Rick and friend, Zee,
head off to pick up supplies.

So last May
when I was over there,

you was thinking
about going up

and you ended up
not going up, eh?

-Yeah. Mining last year?
-[Zee] Yeah.

[Rick] Yeah, yeah.
I was late in the game

and I just...
Man, I just was not prepared.

Prepared for mining
or prepared for life?

Yeah. Prepared
for pretty much anything.

I mean, it's...

A lot of things fell apart,
you know?

Being totally open and honest,

you know, I just didn't have
the energy to do anything

and, you know, I was doing
a little [bleep]

you know, cocaine
to try and get [bleep] going.

-Yeah.
-And for a while,

it seemed like an answer.

It made me feel good
for a bit.
You know what I mean?

That's all the hell
I was looking for.

But surprise, surprise,
that didn't work.

I lost money, you know?

I hit rock bottom
and I just went,

"What the [bleep]
are you doing, man?"

Like, how the [bleep]
did you end up here?

-Yeah.
-Shape the [bleep] up.

You know what I mean?
This ain't the answer,

so find out
what the [bleep] answer is.

The thing I was always worried
about is just the...

You know, like the depression,

-because I...
-And that's what it was.

I'm not proud
of everything I'd done,

but I [bleep] did it.
You know what I mean?

And there's no use [bleep]
trying to hide it now.

You know, I did it.
I [bleep] learned from it.

You know, that ain't me now.

Like, I ain't going down
that path anymore.

-Yeah.
-It's in my past.

All this stuff, like,
there's something

-that started it.
-[Rick] Yeah. You know,

I lost my mom and everything
went [bleep] after that.

I mean, I held her
as she died in the house

and we brought her
out of the house

and I locked the door.

Couldn't go up there
for five years.

I ignored it.
You know, I ignored it.

I pushed it out.
Like, I don't wanna go
up there.

So...

so, yeah, just give me
a second.

But, you know,
I was pretty solid going in

to deal with it and I did.

I went up there
and got all the pictures

and uh... [clears throat]

I got everything I need,

you know, to remind me of her

and I sold her house.

You know what I mean?
It's just a house.

-It's not her. Yup.
-[Rick] You know what I mean?

It felt really good to do
that, you know what I mean?

So, I did.

I mean, that was
the turning point,

you know, it was like my mom
was helping me out again,

you know, I sold her house
and that was the money

I needed to get back up here.

-Yeah.
-To get gold again, so...

-Ah. It is, you know...
-Well, let's do this.

-Yeah.
-Let's do her proud.

That's why I'm here.

[dramatic music playing]

[Tony speaking]

[Mike] Yeah. She's [bleep].

[narrator] At Paradise Hill,

the Beets family are racing

to get to pay dirt
in the Super Pit

by the end of the week,

but they're down a D11 dozer

with a busted ripper shank.

[Mike] [bleep] There you go.

[narrator] After a 3-day wait,

the replacement 1.3 ton shank
has finally arrived.

But with chief mechanic
Kevin Beets not back yet,

Tony needs his other kids
to step up

and get the dozer
back in the cut.

[Tony speaking]

[Mike] Good.

[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

[Mike] No, I don't know
why it's not doing it.

-That [bleep] is in there.
-Solid.

[narrator]
The D11 dozer's ripper arm

has a hydraulic
pull/push mechanism

that inserts a pin through
one of the three holes

in the shank,

locking the shank in place.

But the hydraulic system

doesn't have enough power
to push it in.

Tony's simple solution,

remove the pin by hand,

make sure
the holes are lined up,

and hammer the pin in

until the hydraulics are able
to lock it in place.

Here. Give me the hammer.

And [bleep] you,
you can hold that,

'cause I've had people
smash my fingers too often.

[Tony speaking]

That's why I'm swinging
the hammer.

[Tony speaking]

[Mike] It's going there.
It's going.

-[Tony speaking]
-Yup.

[Mike] I got a little bit more
I can go in,

but that'll be fine.
We can do that as we work it.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] The Beets must
now strip around the clock

to get down to pay dirt
by the end of the week.

[Mike] Literally throwing
everything we have
at this cut right now.

Go, go, go, go, go.

[dramatic music playing]

I'm in Keno and, uh,
you know, one of the first
things I gotta do

is I gotta talk to Troy,

he's the landowner
of the ground
I've been mining,

and I've been away
for a whole season.

[narrator]
Rick Ness is on a mission

to resurrect
his mining career,

hit a big payday,

and get his life
back on track.

-Let's do this.
-[narrator]
Four seasons ago...

Ooh-wee.

Rick gambled
on leaving the Klondike

to lease new ground
at Duncan Creek.

[Rick] I'm taking this year
very personal.

[narrator]
It was a rough start...

I think we've got
a lot to learn here.

[laughing]

[narrator] But Rick
turned it around...

[Rick] That's a [bleep]
beauty.

Like that's worth
some serious money.

[narrator] ...enabling him
to buy the claim...

We're ready to sell.

[narrator]
...making a handshake deal

with landowner, Troy Taylor,

laying down $270,000
in gold.

Just to be clear,
this is the down payment.

-[Rick] Yup.
-And it's non-refundable.

Hopefully next season
by the end,

you'll have it paid off.

[Rick] Yeah. I'm confident
I can do it.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] But after
Rick's lost season

and missed payments,

Troy has been threatening
to back out of the deal.

If he does,

Rick's mining career is over.

Would I be happy
if I was in Troy's place,

you know, and I was just
gone for a whole season

when I was supposed
to be producing gold

and then paying him money
for the ground?

I don't think I would.

[tense music playing]

-Hey, Troy.
-Hey, stranger.

Um, you wanna have a chat or?

-Sure.
-All right.

Well, okay.

Well...

-[Troy] We have a lot
to talk about and...
-Yeah.

[Troy] ...there's a lot of...
A lot of issues out there.

We had a whole year

-of no gold production.
-Yeah.

We've had people that want
to mine here,

but we've had to say no
because we wanna honor
the agreement.

I know it was not good
for business to be gone

for a year,
a season like that,

um, not good for you
and not good for me.

Mmm-hmm.

I'm hoping, you know,
that you can give me

another chance here,
uh, because...

I feel better than I have
in 10 years

and, uh, and I've got
a better plan.

I do wanna continue on.
I do wanna own this land.

All I need is a shot.

-Mmm-hmm.
-[Rick chuckles]

I'm just nervous about
whether you can pull it off.

Got a lot of catching up
to do.

Now, you're about a year
behind on your payments, so...

-Yeah.
-[Troy] Do you have some ideas
how to deal with that?

[Rick] You know,
I don't... I'm not...
I'm just gonna be honest,

you know, I...
I'm tapped out, you know?

-[Troy] Mmm-hmm.
-I've got... I've got

-operating money. I do.
-Mmm-hmm.

We need something

to get your foot back
in the door there.

Yes, sir.

I'm ready to do,
you know, whatever it takes.

Is there anything
we could work out

in you, regarding your camp?
Like, uh...

I think I paid...
It was $210,000 for it,

so I would be willing to sign
that camp over to you guys,

um, in lieu of gold
and then, uh,

and then, I'd, you know,
be coming back for it,

obviously,
'cause we need to live in it.

And, uh, you know,
and get you the gold,

pay out for that
if you're happy

to have that asset
to hold on to.

Yeah.

Well...

I think we can make it work.

I appreciate that, Troy.

I'm just gonna go
get after it.

I'll get that
paperwork for you

and then I'm gonna get you
some gold.

Okay, Rick. Talk to you soon.

[Rick] Yup.

Well...

that actually went
pretty good.

Um, a lot of hesitancy there

which, you know,
I pretty much expected.

Like I said coming in,
I'd have been the same way.

[Troy] Well, to be honest,
I'm still annoyed.

It's just, um,

we committed to him

and we got a whole year loss.

But I'm also nervous

if he can really
do it or not.

I'll help him as much as I can

but there's only so much
I can do, so...

I don't enjoy putting, you
know, things that I own up

for collateral,
like I've worked very hard

not to have to do that but,

you know, I'm behind
the eight ball here,
as they say, this year.

And I'm gonna
have to do [bleep]

that I'm not comfortable with
probably all season, so...

That's the first one.

First one of probably many.

But it worked
and I'm back on the gold.

[Mitch] You know,
I had a great winter.

Got to spend lots of time
with my daughter,

lots of time with my wife.

And now I'm back to the Yukon.

[narrator] Parker's foreman
and right-hand man

Mitch Blaschke is back
for the season.

Parker hasn't said much
over the winter,

which has me
a little concerned,

but there certainly never been
a shortage of work.

Anybody home?

[Parker] Mitch.

What's going on?

[laughs]

-Good to see you, man.
-Good to see you too.

-How was the drive?
-Oh, dude,

it never gets any shorter.

-You look good.
-Yeah?

I had a great winter, man.
It was a lot of fun.

[Parker] Good.
You do some racing?

-[Mitch] Yeah.
I did some racing.
-Nice.

[Mitch] What's the plan?
Get down to Cam's
and start working on that?

Yeah.

We just signed a deal
on Australia Creek.

Okay.

And I am not sure
what's gonna happen
with it yet

because we're taking a pretty
serious look at that piece
of property on Dominion,

at Dean Russell's.

-Okay.
-Lock, stock, and barrel.

With people being on it
for that long,

is there much ground
left there or is it all--

[Parker] There's quite a bit.
Yeah. There's a fair bit.

It's like the last stretch
of virgin ground

that is on those
like big producing creeks.

-So you're crazy to not
at least look at it, right?
-Yeah.

[Parker] It's a steep price.

And so we need to get
the purchase price hacked down

through just selling
a whole pile of stuff.

But I don't know
what kind of shape
the gear's in it at all.

I was wondering if you could
go look at the gear.

Okay.

My hope was to come up

with around 2,500,000 bucks
worth of equipment.

Okay. Sounds good, man.

-I'll go check it out.
-[Parker] Thanks, Mitch.

Glad to have you back.

Potential for Parker to own
his own ground in the Yukon.

How nice would that be?
No more landlords.

No more paying royalties.

I know it's a lot of money,
but if Parker
doesn't jump on it,

somebody else will.

[narrator] To find $2,500,000
worth of iron,

Mitch starts
in Dominion Creek's
laydown yard...

-[Mitch] Jay Sands,
what's up, buddy?
-Hey, Jordie.

[narrator] ...with mechanic
Jordan Sands

and plant boss, Tyson Lee.

[Mitch] What year do you think
this thing is, Jordie?

It's like early '80s?

-[Jordan] Early '80s, yeah.
-[Mitch] Yeah.

I like the wood
on the side of it though

and the old plastic panel.

How about this one?
This one...

A little newer here.
Not too bad-looking.

See if she'll fire up, Jordie.

Oh, we got $10,000 on it.

-Oh, yeah?
-That's what it says anyways.

[bleep] the thing
won't shut off.

-It won't die?
-No. It won't [bleep] die.

What do you think of your new
service truck there, Jordie?

[Jordan] Wicked. It's got
a screwdriver to start it.

Okay. It'll go. It'll go.

It just needs
a little persuasion.

-Oh, yeah.
-You gotta swear at it.

[Mitch] So we got...

-You know
what this is for, right?
-It's probably like--

Beating yourself on the head
after buying all this stuff?

-Yeah.
-Oh, wait.

Literally, just the case.

Hopefully, the ground
doesn't do the same thing
as that.

-Right?
-Empty.

I don't know.
I don't know if there's...

Do you think
there's 2,500,000 bucks here?

[dramatic music playing]

Do you think
there's 2,500,000 bucks here?

There ain't $500,000 worth
of [bleep] right here.

[narrator] To offset
Dominion Creek's

$15,000,000 all-in price tag,

Parker's tasked Mitch
with finding

$2,500,000 worth
of equipment to sell.

[Mitch] We got
about another $2,000,000

worth of equipment
we need to find easily.

I'm gonna go fix our stuff

and then I'll see you
at dinner

and see if you found
the other $2,000,000.

Wanna go see what
their wash plants look like?

Yeah. Let's go check it out.

[Tyson] Holy [bleep].

That is a behemoth
of a wash plant.

Look at that thing.
Conveyors on conveyors.

[Tyson] I don't know
if this is my dream
or my worst nightmare.

[Mitch] Uh, the conveyors?

That's a nightmare.

Dude, look at this thing.

This thing would hustle
some dirt, man.

[Tyson] No kidding.

It'd be a nightmare
to move it.

It's gotta be worth
easy $300,000

even just where it sits.

-Like--
-[Tyson] Yeah. For sure.

[Mitch] All right.
What else we got right here?

We have a excavator conveyor.

Parker's gonna like that.

And those are not cheap.

So that is a good thing.

'Cause we use those a lot,

and that looks like
it's in pretty good shape.

And we also have another one
right here around the corner.

So two excavator conveyors.

That helps us out a bunch.

-Dreams do come true, Mitch.
-What do we have here?

Can you believe it?

Son of a Slucifer.

Check this thing out, man.

[Tyson]
I think I'm having deja vu.

-Yeah.
-It's like Slucifer but--

[Mitch]
But a little different.

It has not seen much material
go through it.

[Tyson]
No. It looks brand-new.

[Mitch] You look down here
at the chutes,

you look at the riffles...

-I mean, this thing is--
-Still got the paint on it

in a lot of spots, man.

Yeah. This thing is very new,

and that's good
because it holds some value.

With the equipment we've seen
at that other blue wash plant,

we got the excavator
conveyors, you know,

we're probably
at about $1,300,000.

-[Tyson] Yeah.
-Dude, this is gonna put us...

You know, at today's prices
and stuff,

we're probably right
about 2,000,000 bucks.

We might not be
that $2,500,000

but we're pretty close.

[tense music playing]

-[Rick] Oh, buddy.
Look at this.
-Whoa. Whoa.

[both chuckling]

[narrator]
To get his mining career
back on track,

Rick has sold
his late mom's house

and signed his camp over
to landowner, Troy Taylor.

Ooh.

[narrator] He desperately
wants gold by the end
of the week.

To do it,
he needs to find a loader.

There's a lot of snow
to move yet, so...

We [bleep] need one to get
down to Monster Red right now.

All's I know is the sooner
we get gold coming in,

the sooner I can start [bleep]
building this company,
you know?

Yeah.

[narrator] Rick's meeting
Craig Steppler

and Lando Bayliss,

who run a small
mining operation

20 miles from his claim.

[Rick] There you are.

-Craig, how you doing, buddy?
-Not bad. Yourself?

Good to see you.

-This is Zee.
-Hey, Zee.

What's going on?
Nice to meet you.

Yeah. That's Lando.

-[Zee] From Star Wars?
-[chuckling]

-[Rick] Lando,
how you doing, buddy?
-How's it going?

Good to see you. This is Zee.

-Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you.

-[Rick] Nice little spot
you got here.
-Yeah. She does the trick.

[Rick] So I know I explained
a bit on the phone.

We got a lot of snow to move

and we'd like to get
the plant running too.

Really, we need to get going.
I got nothing.

So I am looking for a loader.

-Yeah.
-[Rick] So,
it's a short-term thing.

You know, I'm hoping
maybe in a couple weeks.

-[Craig] I got
three loaders here.
-Yeah.

But two are kind of only
operational right now.

I don't know. We can go
take a look at them I guess.

-[Lando] Yeah.
-[Rick] Cool.

All right.

Well, there's this older
one sitting over here.

-[Rick] Oh, this thing runs?
-[Craig] Oh, yeah.

-[Rick laughs]
-[Craig] Runs for now.

[Rick] Oh, yeah.

What size buckets on it?

[Craig]
It's about a five-yard bucket.

[Rick] That ain't too bad.

I don't know what you're
looking to deal on it for?

Well, we could probably let it
go for about $100 an hour.

-$100 an hour seems fair.
-Yeah.

I'm a little
cash-wrapped right now.

I got a little bit
of gold left on me

from last season,
so how about I just hand you

like say five ounces
of gold right now?

[narrator] Worth $10,000.

It should give Rick
two weeks running.

Yeah. We could probably do
something like that. Yeah.

Okay.

Look, I weighed it
out this morning.

It's chunky gold.
I'm down to stuff

that I didn't really
wanna let go, but...

it's all...
It's all Keno gold here.

-[Craig] Oh, yeah.
-[Rick] And, yeah,

just got her weighed it out.

Well, five ounces of gold
gets this loader.

-[Craig] Perfect.
-[Rick] Beauty.

[Craig] Sounds good.

-[Zee] Got a loader.
-[Rick] Got a loader, buddy.

[chuckles]

I've got a lot of gold
to get this season running,

got a lot to make up for.

Troy Taylor owns my camp.

Right now, I wanna get
gold coming in

as fast as possible
so I can get my camp back

and then start moving towards
making a profit this year.

First things first,
get some of the snow cleared

and get to the plant

and make sure
we get it running right away.

We've got a stockpile
of pay up at the plant,

and I'm pumped.

[narrator] Two years ago,

Rick dug down 190 feet
into Rally Valley,

removing over a million yards

of overburden
to recover nearly

$2.5 million in gold,

before he was forced
to abandon it.

During the process,
Rick set aside
a month's worth of pay dirt

in two stockpiles.

One next to Monster Red

and another 1,700 feet away.

It's a quick score
that Rick needs

to fuel his comeback
operation.

Jumping back in the seat,
it feels good.

Yeah!

[Zee] Two years away,
we're starting
from scratch again.

Rick seems focused
and ready to go.

This is probably the most
motivated that I've seen him,
which is great.

This is old Rick, but with,
you know, new outlook.

Old buddy.

Quasi.

[chuckles]

I mean, everything
looks good on the surface.

I mean, we got to look
a little closer, but,

you know, so far, so good.
What are you thinking
there, bud?

Some valve handles
missing, bent, but...

[Rick] I'm half-tempted
to just get this thing

hooked up to power,
get it shaking.

See if everything's
good there.

I mean, we gotta put
the sluice box together,

and get it all iron it in,

but then we can put
water to it.

I guess, let's just go take
a look at the pump.

Right where I left it.

Yeah.

So, we'll just need a flange,

which I have those,

and then our suction line.

-All right.
-Speaking of that,

where the [bleep]
is the suction line?

[Zee] Would you have
left it right here?

Well, no, I [bleep] know
I left it right here.

We drug it up here
with the suction line

and set it right behind...

Either right here or right
[bleep] behind it.

[bleep].

[narrator] The filtration
basket and suction line

pulls water from the river

and sends it
to the wash plant

where the gold is separated
from the dirt.

Without them,

Rick's dead in the water.

Who the [bleep]
would've came down here?

It didn't grow [bleep] legs,
someone took it out of here.

[bleep].

I'm sure like anything
else up here,

it ain't cheap.
So what does that go for?

Two ten-foot lengths
and a [bleep] basket,

that's about 15 grand.
Yeah. That's not--

Like I got 15 [bleep] grand
to buy another one.

Not a [bleep] chance.

No, somebody knew
what the [bleep] it was,
and they left with it.

They were motivated too,
'cause it's not something

you throw in
the back of a pickup.

Dude, I don't know what
to [bleep] say about that.

I think you know me.

I don't live
in a [bleep] world
where people help theirself

to other people's
[bleep], man.

Yeah. This is [bleep] up.

I'm gonna try [bleep]
tracking it down

before I order another one.

-[sighs]
-[Rick] Man, we can't sluice
without it.

-Let's go [bleep] find it.
-All right.

[dramatic music playing]

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Nearly a week
into the mining season,

Tony Beets' oldest son,
Kevin,

is still nowhere to be seen.

-[Tony speaking]
-[Minnie] Hey, how are you?

[Tony speaking]

No, I haven't.

[Faith] Hi.

We can't see you.

[Minnie] We can see you.

You can't see us?

-[Kevin] No, no, no. Not Tony.
-[Faith] No. Tony's like
all the way in the corner.

-[Kevin] There we go.
-[Faith] Yeah.

[Kevin] You're used to that
at this point.

So how's everything going on
the hill right now?

-[Faith] Well--
-[Tony speaking]

We've been thinking
that perhaps

this year we might
take it off.

Like we just got the house.

We'd like to actually
do something with it.

[Faith] Yeah.
Decent amount of gardening,

kind of fixing up the house.

Yeah. I know.
You gotta be covered.

Things change. It's...
You have no choice sometimes.

-Have a good season.
-[Minnie] Oh, we will.

-Bye.
-Bye.

[Tony speaking]

That's right. We'll just
have to make it work anyway.

Okay. I'll talk to you later.

[narrator] Kevin's absence
leaves a gaping hole

in Tony's operation.

[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
At the end of last season...

Holy [bleep] Tony.
The trommel is [bleep].

[narrator] After nearly
30 years of hard running...

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
Tony's gold-catching trommel

suffered a catastrophic
breakdown.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
Getting it working again

is critical
for a successful season.

Tony needs to move the broken
40-ton, 40-foot-long trommel

to a welding tent
for urgent repairs.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
Mike takes charge of the 950,

Monica, the 750.

Two of the biggest excavators
in the Yukon.

I don't know who drove
this last but I am not

as tall as them.

-Yeah?
-[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

You know, my parents had us
running equipment

since we were 12,
13 years old.

We didn't really get
a chance to explore

other things we might like.

So Kevin taking this time off

to figure that out
for himself,

I think is absolutely amazing.

[Mike] I don't know why
my brother decided
not to come here this year.

It's a shame
when you lose someone.

But I have a saying,
everyone's expendable.

Everyone.

[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

[Monica] The last two years,
I've been staying home

with my sweet small child.

It's nice being back at work,
you know,

speaking with adult humans.

[Tony speaking]

[Monica]
But there's so much yelling.

Just so stressful.

[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Now, the race is on
to get their trommel

up and running
and back on the gold.

[Tony speaking]

[dramatic music playing]

Yeah. This is Rick Ness.

Yeah, I think you got
something of mine.

Listen, I [bleep] know
that you took

my [bleep] 10-inch
suction line, all right?

No. I [bleep] know.
No. Hey, listen. No...

Hey. No, you [bleep] listen.

[narrator]
After asking around,

Rick Ness has discovered

a neighboring miner
stole his only suction line

that feeds vital water
to his wash plant.

Without it, Rick has no hope
of getting on the gold.

[Rick] All right? You took
something that [bleep]

belongs to me
and I [bleep] want it back.

[bleep] this [bleep].

Zee!

-Yo, Zee.
-[Zee] Yeah.

You're not gonna
[bleep] believe this.

-I found the suction line.
-Where?

Some [bleep] on the other side
of the [bleep] mountain
took it.

I went and talked
to [bleep] Kyle.

-You remember Kyle?
He worked for me last--
-[Zee] Yeah.

And, you know,
he says this guy

was poking around, looking
for a 10-inch suction line,

and he saw him.

He [bleep] saw him on site.

-[Zee] He just took it?
-Yeah. He just
[bleep] took it.

I tell you what, dude, I...

[sighs]
Not a whole lot gets me going,

but a [bleep] thief, man...

Yeah, I'm gonna go
[bleep] get it.

[suspenseful music playing]

[engine revving]

-Who are you guys?
-[man] [bleep].

Are you [bleep] kidding me?

I'll turn around.
You can follow me down there.

I'm trying to keep
my [bleep] together right now

because I just saw it
on the trailer

and it's all [bleep] up.

It's all [bleep] smashed.

[bleep],
it's all [bleep] smashed.

If this thing's
[bleep] unusable,

I'm driving straight
out there.

I'm gonna knock
his [bleep] teeth out.

Are you [bleep] kidding me?

[chuckles]

This is ridiculous.

It's [bleep] destroyed.

-[man] Destroyed?
-It's [bleep] destroyed.

And that [bleep] wouldn't
come out here himself.

He sent two monkeys
to drop it [bleep] off.

It's [bleep] it's [bleep]
it's [bleep] up.

Basket's smashed.

The [bleep] hose
is [bleep] crushed flat

and you got [bleep]
duct tape over it.

[metal clanking]

[Rick] Tell your boss
I'm coming for a visit.

[bleep].

Look at this [bleep]

that's what they returned.

[phone camera clicks]

I'm [bleep] shaking, man.

[Zee] What a [bleep] joke.

[Rick] Why even
send this back?

I don't give a [bleep], I say
we go up to him right now

and [bleep] get a new one.

I know. But it's... [sighs]

Honestly, Let's just...
Let's think for a sec.

-He owes us.
-[Zee] Yeah, I know.

Honestly, that can wait.

What is the safer, quicker,

"keep us out of jail"
option right now?

I'm not [bleep]
letting it go with this guy.

[Zee]
I'm not saying you should.

I'm just saying, for now,

let's get the safest,

quickest option
to get us up and running.

We can deal with that later.

[groans]

[Zee] Listen, since you know
what's going on around here

and what needs to be done,
why don't you just stay here?

Hopefully, someone around here

has something we can borrow.

I guess that's... Yeah.

Another reason
why you're here.

[chuckles]

A [bleep] smarter idea.

The voice of season.

[Rick groans]
[bleep] all right.

I gotta stay here
and try to cool down.

-[Zee] All right.
-Thanks, bud.

[Zee] All right.

[Rick] You know what?
I need to cool down.

I got plenty to do here.

I'm gonna deal with this
[bleep] jack later.

[dramatic music playing]

Oh, that's a nice one.

[narrator] On a mission to get
gold by the end of the week

to fund his comeback,
Rick is down a suction line,

damaged by
a neighboring miner.

[Zee] You got a copy?

[narrator]
Buddy Zee is offsite

trying to source
a replacement.

Yeah. Go for it Rick.

[Zee] Man, I got a hose.

Are you down by the excavator

to pull this thing off
or what?

No. I'm in the sluice box,
but you got the hose,

I'll [bleep] be there
in a second.

I ended up picking
this up down the road

from Craig and Lando's.

It's longer than
the one we had

and in way better shape.

We should have Monster Red

up and running in no time now.

This is huge.

Good job, man.

That was better than me
going to jail.

[Zee] Yeah.

[narrator] Just a week after
returning to the Yukon,

Rick is ready to fire up
Monster Red

and start sluicing
the Rally Valley pay piles.

[metal clanking]

Slammed it right up there,
perfect on the first time,
the first shot.

Every now and then,

things line up.

I'm gonna take it
as a good sign.

[bleep] Zee is good,
just the best.

-It's in.
-She's in.

You know what that means?

[Zee] Get sluicing, right?

It should water the plant,

put dirt in the plant,

and then
we see gold in the plant.

[Zee] All good things.

It's been too [bleep] long.
I need to see some gold.

[machine rumbling]

We're gonna run some [bleep]
dirt and get some gold.

The nuggets are just raging.

The sluice boxes are even.

Let's put some power to it.

[machine rumbling]

[Rick] Oh, isn't that smooth?

Smooth, smooth, smooth.

[bleep] yeah.

I hope you don't mind,
but I'm gonna take
the first few scoops in.

[Zee] That's fine.

I'll watch.

But [bleep], it's running,
we got power.

The plant's shaking.
Conveyor's on.

Feeder's on.

You can see they have dirt.

Holy [bleep] holy [bleep]
oh, baby.

[narrator]
After a year off from mining,

Rick is one step closer
to getting gold

and getting his life
back on track.

[Rick]
First scoop of the year, boys.

Oh, my [bleep].

This is awesome.

I mean, it's just been
Zee and I up here,

and we literally got
everything in place.

We got Monster Red running.

We got gold in the box
a long time

before anybody
else in this valley

or anywhere near here.

You don't wanna fight
Mother Nature

in the [bleep] snow
and the ice,

but here it is, baby.

This is the payoff.

[suspenseful music playing]

[helicopter blades whirring]

[Parker] All right.
Are we ready to rock?

[Nona]
We're ready to rock and roll.

[helicopter blades whirring]

[narrator] Parker Schnabel
has less than a week

to decide whether
to gamble $15 million

on new ground
at Dominion Creek,

a deal that would make him

one of the largest landowners
in the Klondike

at just 28 years old.

[Parker] I haven't really
had a good chance

to have a proper look
at the ground yet,

so it'll be good
to have a view of the property

and kind of see what's been
mined and what hasn't.

There's Liam's drill lines.

And the dredge
is right ahead of us.

Yeah.

[narrator] To get insight
into this historic ground,

Parker's brought
along Nona Loveless,

a seasoned miner who now
manages his operation.

I was here in this area
mining with my dad

way back in early '80.

And how did it go?

Uh, the first year
was horrible.

We were very defeated.

But the second year
was better.

After a couple seasons here,
did you have a feel

like the ground's
pretty decent?

I would...

Yes, if we had continued
leasing more ground,

I felt like we would've
been successful.

This is a big
undertaking for sure,
this piece of land here.

That's a big decision,
eh, Parker?

[Parker] Yeah. Yeah.
There's a lot to figure out.

It's a 10-minute
helicopter ride.

[laughs]
That's a lot of ground.

[Nona] That's a lot of ground.

A lot of ground.

Hopefully, Liam comes through

and says there's
a pile of gold there

and we can take it on.

[suspenseful music playing]

Morning.

I got... I got all these

but I don't know
what I'm looking at.

-It's quite the book,
isn't it?
-You've been busy.

[narrator]
Parker has just two days

to decide
if he wants to gamble
all the money he's made

on buying Dominion Creek.

And you wanna see it
on the map?

-[Parker] Yeah.
-Yeah, I'll pull it up

on the computer and that might
make it clear for you.

[narrator] Liam has created
a map of the test
drill results

of gold deposits on Dominion.

[Liam] So this is all the new
drilling that we did

-up top here.
-Mmm-hmm.

[Liam] And this is all
of the old, historic drilling
that we mapped

in the same program.

Green is good.

Red is bad.

Traffic light system.

So you actually have a pretty
well-defined pay streak, huh?

Yeah. It turned out
pretty good.

It seems a little
narrower up top

than what they were
finding down below,

but one of the upsides of that

is it seems
a little bit richer.

Mmm-hmm.

Pull back up to here.

Okay.
So that's like quite good.

There's 200 milligram
holes right next
to each other there.

[Liam] Yeah.
In the same line. 122.

[Parker] That's a hell
of a line.

Yeah. Textbook.

[Parker] We have never really
gotten much of a chance

to mine a ground like this.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Before Parker
does the deal,

he wants to find one cut
that will deliver
10,000 ounces,

$20 million, that would cover
mining costs

and the $15 million
price tag.

If it goes 0.0035 ounces
a square foot,

there would be 40,000...

Almost 41,000 ounces.

[Liam] That's a lot.

Yeah.

[narrator] If it does
pay out 40,000 ounces,

it would be worth
$80 million,

and that's just one area
on the property.

It's probably,
in the long-term, a good deal,

but it's something
that not many people can...

-Can pull off.
-Right.

Okay.

-Can you send this all to me?
-Yup.

[Parker] 'Cause I need to
make a decision here

in the next few days.

Thanks.

No problem.

-You can keep that.
-[Parker] All right.

It'll just be in here.

-Thanks, Liam.
-[Liam] See you, Parker.

[Parker] Have fun out there.

[Liam] It's a little bit
out of my league.

That's a lot of money.

I don't know.
It's pretty scary.

I'm sick of
like jumping around

and hunting for ground.

It's little blocks
here and there,

and it'd be nice to just...

spend our way out
of that problem.

But you spend a lot of money
and all of a sudden,

you're in a situation where
everything has to go perfect,

and in this business,

not all things go perfect.

[dramatic music playing]

[Tony speaking]

[Minnie] Tony, do you copy?

[Tony speaking]

[Minnie] Can you come
to the office please?

[Tony speaking]

-[Tony speaking]
-[Minnie] Hey.

Well, I have
some news for you.

You might like this.

I just got a call.

[Minnie] We got an amendment
through our license.

And we're good to go
to the Indian River.

[Tony speaking]

[laughter]

I'm christening
you Minnie's ATM.

[narrator] 40 miles Southeast

from Paradise Hill,

Tony has over 5,000 acres

of prime Yukon real estate

on the legendary
Indian River.

[narrator] In five seasons,

the family hauled in
over 11,000 ounces...

[narrator] Today worth
over $22 million.

But four years ago...

We don't have a long license.

[narrator]
Tony lost his license,

freezing him out
from the richest ground

he's ever mined.

[narrator] Now, an amendment
to a license

has put Indian River's
treasures

back within Tony's grasp,
and means the Beets

could face their biggest
season ever.

We bought all
the equipment, so...

[Minnie] Yeah.

We are ready for it.

[Minnie] Okay. See you later.

[Tony speaking]

[dramatic music playing]

[Zee] Rick likes
four eggs over-easy.

That's his normal breakfast.

It's one less thing
he's gotta worry about.

Rick!

Breakfast!

[Rick chuckles] Oh...

[exhales]

[Zee] Look at this little
piece of artwork.

What is that?

[Zee] It's a little like
German pancake thing.

-Oh, my God.
-[Zee] [bleep] fruit.

I know you don't
like fruit but--

[Rick] I'll have fruit
every now and then.

[Zee] What do you want
to drink?

Milk.

Yeah. Yeah.

Still happy you came up here?

Are you?

[Rick] Yeah. [laughs]

What'd you say?
You're happy I came up?

[Rick] I said are you still
happy you came up?

Oh, I thought you said,

"I'm so happy
you came up here."

That made me feel really good.

I love you.

[laughing]

[Zee] We're back, baby.

It's just me and Rick
though, so...

It's literally
just the two of us.

[narrator] Just a week
after returning to the Yukon,

Rick is up and running,

sluicing stockpiled pay dirt

from the gold-rich
Rally Valley cut.

[Rick] There is pressure here.

There's no doubt about that,

especially just
being two of us.

But for the amount of work
that had to be done,

you know, Zee and I
made quick work of it

and got this plant fired up.

And, quite honestly, I...

I'm pretty surprised
at how the season has been.

And so far, so good.

Hey, Zee.

You got a copy, Zee?

Go ahead.

[Rick] Well, what do you say,
she's been a long day.

You wanna make that
the last scoop?

Yeah. That's fine.

[Rick] We don't got
a whole lot of time running,

but we ran a fair amount
of dirt through it

and I'm just excited
to see gold in the box.

It's been too long.
I need to see it.

[dramatic music playing]

[Zee] How's she looking?

[Rick] It's really [bleep]
tough to see in this box.

This is just like...

Here, this is
too much in here.

[Rick] Yeah. Yeah.

[Zee] Even I know that
and I'm an idiot.

[Rick] I hope they heard
this thing shaking up and down
the valley though.

[Zee] Hey, hey, hey.

-There's some here.
-Is there?

-[Zee] Yeah. Yeah.
-[Rick] [bleep] great.

-Oh, yeah.
-Right there in the left.

Look at that [bleep].

[chuckles] Look at that.

[chuckles]

It ain't that big
but it's definitely a picker.

-Look at that [bleep]
-[Zee] Nice.

Can't beat that
for how much we ran.

Hell no.

This is huge, man.
I'm proud of you.

Oh, [bleep] thanks, man.

Seriously. It just holds
more weight this year.

[Rick] Yeah.

This is a long journey back.
I really needed this.

I need this
to mean something, right?

Right here, look at that.

Who else got gold
in their box right now?

[bleep] dude.

I couldn't have done it
without you,

so I'm glad you made the trip
up here with me.

Yeah. Anything for you.

You've done plenty
of [bleep] for me in the past,

so it was a no-brainer.
Easy decision.

Well, that's
what we do, right?

We got each other's backs.

Yeah.

I'll always have it, man.

Me too.

-[Zee] I appreciate that.
-You big [bleep] jerk.

Oh, stop it.

Now you're getting on my one
[bleep] feeling.

[laughs]

-[Rick] All right.
Thanks, pal.
-All right, man.

-That's some good stuff.
-You know what?

This first one, you know,
why don't you take that home?

-That's yours.
-Aw.

[Rick] It ain't much
but you deserve it.

Aw.

[Rick] That's all you get too.

[laughs]

[Rick] It means
a hell of a lot just to get
started like this.

And, you know,
I couldn't have done this
without Zee.

And, you know,
it's emotional for me
at the moment,

um, just from,
you know, what I did...

What I had to do
to get back here.

This is just the start.

[dramatic music playing]

[Parker]
It's like buying a boat.

Like if you can barely afford
to buy the boat,

you shouldn't have
a boat, right?

Or if you can barely afford
to buy a plane,

you shouldn't have a plane.

And if you can barely afford
to buy a gold mine,

you shouldn't have
a gold mine,

and I can barely afford to.

[narrator] Parker Schnabel is
moments from making a
life-changing decision,

buy a massive tract
of potentially
gold-rich ground

at a price that could
bankrupt him, or let it go.

I'm kind of excited.
I'm super nervous.

It's like, my approach
towards this business

has been to never
be too exposed

and to keep money in the bank

and be prepared
for bad weather, right?

Like I've spent all this time

and all these years
trying to make some money

in this business,
and we finally have...

We have a young hungry crew

that is just chewing
through ground like crazy.

Not only is there
a ton of ground,

but it's richer.

I don't know.

I don't know.

When there's $15 million
on the line,

I don't think
you can trust anybody.

I guess he's just playing me

to make me
make a shotgun decision.

I don't know what to think.

My brain is mush right now.

[sigh] [bleep] me.

Okay. All right.

[bleep] it.

Dean?

[Dean] Hey, Parker. What's up?

-[Parker] How are you?
-[Dean] I'm good.

Um...

so... I have a check.

[Dean] Well,
I hope it's a big one.

It is.

Definitely the biggest
I've ever wrote.

Um...

I don't know.
Yeah, it's just...

It's a lot and it's a lot
for me to process.

This is only the start
of the battle for me.

-Yeah.
-And you need...

You need me to win
the battle as well.

I need... I need to be
your biggest supporter here.

I think you'll have
a good time here.

I think you'll do well.

The valley's paid
for everybody.

You mine really well
and you'll make a go of it.

Okay. Let's do it.

[Dean] Thank you.

Congratulations.

So how is this
gonna work then?

I'm gonna get my toothbrush
and leave.

-Yeah?
-[Dean] Yeah.

[narrator] Parker is now
one of the largest

and most powerful landowners

in the Klondike.

[Parker] Um, this all feels
super weird.

We've spent
the last five years

looking for a massive project
and we just got one.

I should be stoked.

It's just...

It's a lot of [bleep] money.

It's a lot of money.

I guess the next step
is to go mine it.

[dramatic music playing]