All language subtitles for Gold Rush - Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan - S04E01 - Valley of Riches WEBDL-1080p.mkv

I'm definitely
a rookie miner,

learning from my mistakes

and just trying
to make a future with this.

I've got a great crew.

He's been the best boss
I've ever had.

And I've worked
for a lot
of different [bleep].

I promised him something

and it's not happening.

I'm thinking I'm losing
a half an ounce of gold a day.

When you pan, it's super hot,

and then we just don't see it
in the sluices.

We're down to about $75,000
owing on the excavator.

We probably have about $40,000

owing on the trommel.

I'm $700,000 in the hole.

I borrowed money

from family, from friends,

leasing companies,

credit cards, on and on.

Yup. So it's, um...

I'm in deep.

Freddy and Juan
are my best hope,

my last hope,
the only hope I have.

Let's make
some gold, guys.

Freddy Dodge...

There's no guarantees
in gold, buddy.

...and Juan Ibarra...

All right.
Well, let's do it, huh?

...have mastered
the art

of getting gold
out of the ground...

Look at that.

In the most rugged
places on earth.

I'm feeling
a little sick, Freddy.

Now, they rescue
struggling miners...

Ooh. That's not good.

Who've risked it
all to be rich...

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Shut it down!

...but are about
to lose everything.

Eyeballs.

To revive
these failing mines,

Freddy and Juan engineer
the impossible...

Well, I've never heard
of an under-sluice before.

...deliver some
hard truths...

This material
you're digging now
is totally worthless.

...and track down
the gold.

That's what dreams
are made of right there.

But if they don't
at least double

the miner's gold recovery,

they won't take
a dime in return.

Put 10 times
the amount of gold.

That's awesome.

So what do we know
about these guys, Fred?

We know they're fairly
new miners.

They've only been mining
for around three years, so,

you know, they're just getting
their feet on the ground.

You know,
I kind of take it, Juan,

that these guys
are in pretty deep.

Yeah. 10-4.

Freddy and Juan
journey through
British Columbia

on their way
to the Riches placer mine,

10 miles from the historic
mining town of Barkerville.

Some cool country, Juan.

Mining country
and logging, huh?

Yeah, they pulled
a lot of gold

out of this country
back in the day.

Gold strikes here
in the early 1860s

sparked the Cariboo Gold Rush.

One of the thousands
of prospectors,

Englishman "Billy" Barker,
struck it big,

finding a huge
gold nugget deposit,

paving the way
for a mass migration.

The town of Barkerville
sprang up almost overnight

as miners descended
on the region.

Over 38 million ounces of gold

has been mined here,

worth $72 billion

in today's money.

- Hey, guys.
- How's it going today?

- I'm Vaughn.
- Nice to meet you, Fred.

- Nice to meet you, Vaughn.
- What's your name?

- Rick.
- Nice to meet you, Rick.

- Yeah.
- So how long have you guys

- been out here mining then?
- We had half season
here last year

and now this is
our second season.

So, basically
it's your mine site?

- That's right.
- So what's your job out here?

I kind do a little bit of...
A little bit of everything.

Kind of jump around
and, you know, weld and fix.

Wherever needed, huh?

Figure out
most problems,
if they're small.

Okay.
- Not too much we don't work
our way through.

All right.

Yeah. So you have
a lot invested in it?

- Way too much.
- Way too much?

Yeah. And then it just keeps
getting deeper and deeper.

I've dumped everything,

life savings is
on this property.

Really? Okay.
Everything.

Vaughn holds everything

as far as
the financial pressure.

There's payments every month.

I'm not sure
how much they are,

but I know they're between
10,000 and 14,000 a month.

And every month,
whether we're mining or not,

whether we're bringing
in gold or not,

those payments come out.

I worry about keeping
the plant running,

but compared
to what he's worried about,

there's a... There's
a big difference in worry.

Mine's easy.

You have any gold
we can look at?

Yeah, I do.
I happen to have a vial here.

Pretty fine, flowery.

Hard to catch.

This is all I have
at this moment.

Every week I have
to sell my gold to make bills.

- Yup. That's--
- Understood.

I'm at my wits' end
and need gold...

- Need more gold.
- ...so bad.

- So bad.
- Yeah.

What's your goal
for the season?

200 ounces.

I've got 30.
I need another 170 ounces.

- That's a big jump.
- It's big gold.

Yeah.
It is.

Three months left
in the mining season,

every day counts. Every day.

What have you been getting
so far daily roughly?

Well, an ounce and a half.
Yeah.

Yup. And that's running
12 hours.

If I don't get the 200 ounces
this year, it's bankruptcy.

Then what do you need
to get...

To get through the season
and make bills?

Yup.
Two ounces a day would just...

- 2 ounces?
- ...do it.

That's where you guys come in.

Half an ounce
more gold a day

would get them an extra
$88,000 needed

to pay investors and crew

through to the end
of the season.

Without it,
they will be forced

to shut the mine down.

It's easy mining.

- Infrastructure is all here.
- Yeah.

We just need recovery

and it's not happening.
There's something...

There's something wrong
and we need you guys.

- Well, let's watch you run.
- Yup.

Sounds great to me.
Let's do it.

Let's fire it up.

Vaughn, you know...
You know, he's got

his entire life savings
invested into it.

It's a serious situation here.

You know, we're gonna
have to be able to get them

up to 2 ounces a day
in order to be able

to make this operation
profitable for him.

First bucket, Juan.

Step back.
Start feeding the plant.

Right on.

Juan's operator, Stephan,

feeds gold bearing pay dirt
into the hopper,

which then travels up
a conveyor

before dropping
into a 21-foot
rotating trommel.

A spray bar blasts the dirt,

washing small material
and gold through the screen

and down
into the 24-foot sluices

where gold is caught
in the mats.

Once the system's up
and running,

Rick will be feeding me
in the rock truck

and I'll haul pay to that site
and Steph will run it

into the grizzlies
and we're rolling.

Operator Stephan Gervais

has been working with Vaughn
since day one.

This is
my happy place here.

It's so peaceful.

A little noisy,
but peaceful.

Rick's buddy,
Lenny, completes the crew.

Looks good. We're running.

Everything's turning.

Feeding it pay.

He said their best gold
is right on the surface.

Right there, huh?

Lightly concentrated.

Yeah.
- Very lightly.

Yeah.

With lightly
concentrated gold

throughout Vaughn's claim,

it was left untouched
by the old timers.

But with modern machinery,

the ground can still
be profitable.

I know there's lots
of gold in this ground.

The roots and everything go
between the boulders,

so it becomes really hard
to separate.

Look at the organics sticking
in the screen, huh, Juan?

That's definitely
gonna be an issue.

With all the organics
that are stuck to the screen,

there's a real good chance

that we're losing material
that should be sluiced.

Roots and sticks
from the shallow ground

called organics
clog the screens,

meaning gold-rich material
may be lost

out the end of the trommel.

I got a pan full,

I'm gonna get water in there,
wash it up.

Well...

if you look here,

there's a few pieces of gold
that should have made it down

to the sluice box that never
had a chance to get recovered.

You work hard, you get all
the material to the plant,

you wash it, and for you
just to spit it out,

that's never a good way
to do business,

so that's something
we need to work on.

Holy [bleep].

Pretty violent, Juan.

Too violent.

A little excessive.

The water
at the top

of the sluice box
is running too fast.

They're actually
running light.

And there is
not enough pay dirt

running through
the sluice box.

Right now, I think they're
running about 40 to 45 yards

an hour counting buckets

and the sluices
from what I feel right now

can handle, you know,
double that.

If the sluices
run light on material,

finer gold may be washed

out of the mats
and into the tailings below.

How come you aren't running
more material per hour?

We've tried
and it just seems to pack

our sluices right away.

Your sluices
aren't packed though.

When we were down there
earlier, we were kind of
feeling around

and honestly they're running
a little light.

They're a little lean?
Yeah, they're running lean.

We just found
that when we shut down,

the sluice box is...
Was so full,

and that's why we tried
to dial it back a bit.

You can never judge a sluice
box when you shut it down.

You always have to judge
a sluice box

while it's running
because it's a whole

different environment
when you shut down.

- Yeah.
- You're actually lean
on material...

- It's lean.
- ...on the sluice.

Yeah.

One of the biggest problems
I think we're seeing here,

Juan, we could have twice
the amount

of material going down
those sluice.

Yeah. You know, realistically,

we ought to be able to turn up
the feed on this plant

- by double.
- Double it.

Their hydraulic oil
getting hot.

It will slow them down.

That's an issue.

It's quite intimidating
having experts

such as Juan and Freddy here
looking at everything.

We know there's issues,

but we'll see what
the pros think.

See, that's
four hours right there.

You wanna call it?

Yes, sir.
We'll do it.

- Yup.
- This is the last bucket

of the day, boys.

Thank you, sir.

The good news is,
we did notice a few things

that we can definitely
improve on,

- so that's the problem.
- We knew that was coming.

Yeah.
- Let's pull the box

- and let's get it cleaned up.
- Yeah.

And we'll see you
in the morning.

Vaughn has everything
on the line,

and he's got a lot of guys
here that are depending on him

being profitable
so they can get a paycheck.

His season goal is 200 ounces
for the season.

Right now,
he's barely got 30 ounces in.

We got our work cut
out for us.

Here's our gold, guys.

It's good stuff.

- Just need more.
- Yeah.

Just need more of that.

On the Riches claim

in British Columbia...

- Good morning, guys.
- Morning.

Hello, hello.

Freddy and Juan arrive

for the results
of the four-hour test run.

Well, moment
of truth, huh?

- Ready for this?
- Yup.

Well, she's zeroed out.

You want me to pour it, Juano?

Pour it, Fred.

See where we're at.

Yeah.
- 0.47,

close to half ounce.
Yeah.

It's not good.

It's pretty standard
for what we're doing here.

- It's just--
- Well, that's exact...

It's the numbers
with what you said too.

Yeah.
It is.

So for four hours,
half an ounce.

- Yeah.
- So you said you're doing

an ounce and a half
and 12 hours, right?

Yeah. It's rare
we get any big gold

as well, so it's all fine
like that.

And what
were you saying?

You got to get 2 ounces a day

to be able
to make this work, huh?

Yeah, one and a half
isn't cutting it.

- More will be better.
- We're always hoping
for more, but...

- Yeah.
- ...it's just always been
around this,

you know, five grams
plus or minus.

Out of this...
Out of this cut?
- Yup.

- Got a lot of it too, right?
- We do.

Yeah. We've got 1,000 acres

of this material
right there, so...

It's easy, at least.
I mean...

It is.
- you aren't taking...
having to take

10 feet
of over-burden off of it,
it's the great thing about it.

I think what we need
to do next is let Freddy and I

go back to the truck
and kind of figure out
a plan for you guys.

Okay.
And then
we'll come back

and talk to you,
see what you guys think.

- Here's your gold.
- Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Don't spend it all.

It's already spent.

Well, what do you think
on the plant,

- Juan?
- The plant that they have,

Freddy, is completely
100% driven by hydraulic.

The reason why they're not...
They're not increasing

their production,
they can't run it any faster

than it is because
the hydraulics are heating up.

Yup.

If we put a liquid cooler
or heat exchanger...

- Yup.
- ...it allows us to actually
be able to run

that plant a little...
A little harder.

Yup.
'Cause it'll cool that...
Yeah.

cool that hydraulic fluid down
a lot more than it is now.

So, by cooling that hydraulic
fluid, we actually

can run more material
through it and get more gold.

Well, you know, you see
how those organics
are plugging up,

you know, the screen part
of their trommel, right?
Yeah.

On the tailings
on the trommel, Fred,

- I did find some gold.
- Should have went through.

- Yeah.
- You think about like
a street sweeper brush.

- Okay.
- So we mount it on the side,

the weight of it goes down

and while
the trommel's turning,

it's free energy that'll help

pull those organics
out of there.

- Yeah.
- It may or may not work.

It's worth a shot
because right now,
it's absolutely clogged up.

And if we tried
spraying water,

my worry is we'd make a mess.

So we get
the production up...
Yeah.

...and get the sluices
where they can handle

- the upped production.
- Yeah. Yup. Yeah.

One doesn't
go without the other.

So all those things together

means more gold
in their pockets.

The hydraulic
system that powers the plant

overheat, restricting
its speed.

Freddy and Juan
will fix a heat exchanger

to keep the fluid cool
and double the process speed.

Roots and vegetation clog
the trommel screens,

reducing the ability
to catch gold.

In a first for Mine Rescue ,

Juan will construct a line
of brushes to sit on top

of the rotating drum,

freeing the screens

and allowing more gold

to wash into the sluice.

Finally, Freddy will modify
Vaughn's sluice boxes,

recycling the existing riffle

and narrowing
the bottom sluice

to recover more fine gold.

- How's it going, guys?
- Good.

- How are you, guys?
- Jeez. Good guys.

Good.
- Doing all right.

So, watching the plant run,
we actually saw that,

you know, you can actually run
quite a bit more material.

Feeling the sluice boxes,
Freddy was able
to determine...

Yeah.
- ...you know, the boxes,

they're starving for material.

You know, we're hoping
we can get you up

by 50% more production.

What we wanna do is now that
we're gonna be running
more material,

it's gonna be...
That means more organics.

You're gonna be going
through the trommel drum.

- That's right.
- So what we wanna do
is build a scrubber

for the outside of the trommel

to be able to drag
some of that out of it.

So, it's gonna allow more
of your pay

with the gold in it
to get to your sluice box

instead of puking gold
out the end.

I went down on the end
of the trommel,

- grabbed a pan of material...
- Yes.

...and I did find a couple
pieces of gold in it.

- Is that right?
- No, off the trommel end.

Right now, it's an issue.

Once we start running
more material,

it's gonna be a real
big issue.
Mmm-hmm.

In order to be able
to run more material,

we're gonna put
a little more strain

on your hydraulic system.

- Yup.
- And put a heat exchanger
in there.

Yeah.
Oh, okay.

And by putting that cooler in
on the hydraulics,

you're gonna be able to run
more material per hour.

- Yeah.
- Without your
system overheating.

Next to your ground,
you know, your cut...

Yeah.
- ...the most valuable real
estate is that sluice box.

- Yeah.
- 'Cause that's where all...

You know, all the recovery
takes place.

By fixing the sluices,
we're gonna catch probably

10% more gold in your sluices.

And then get the production
of your plant up,

you know, 50%, you know,
it could be more than 50%.

- Yeah.
- It's gonna take about $6,000

in material to do it.

What we'd like to see
is 4 ounces,

2 ounces a piece
at the end of the season.

- Yep.
- But if we don't double
your recovery,

we won't take a cut,
so double or nothing.

So what are
your guys' thoughts?

You feel, uh,
feel good about that?

We... We're not in a position
to say no and we...

- Okay.
- ...trust you guys 100%.

Yeah.

- Well, it just sounds great
to me. You Rick?
- Yeah. Yeah.

No, I like it. I like it.
Well, deal then.

Whoa.
Yeah.

Well, we better start
making some phone lcalls,
get al

- the material we need.
- Thank you
very much, gentlemen.

- Yup.
- Thank you.

Sounds good.

We have to
trust them. We're trying
our hardest,

but we're not
the professionals.

I'm super stoked
to run some more material

through the plant
and the ground is consistent.

We're gonna get the gold.

It's a 48 by 35 and a half.

That's that.

We'll get rid
of these riffles.

Freddy and Rick
begin by tackling the sluices.

You want me to cut these
or you're gonna--

Oh, yeah,
if you want to

and then,
I'll cut other things.

Rick's over there.
We're repurposing riffles.

While he's doing that,
I'll get all these
angle clips cut.

Talking to Rick,
he's a mechanic.

He's welded. So, you know,

he's the perfect type of guy
to help on a job like this.

So what I'm trying to do,
Rick, we're gonna flatten

this one out, right,
your top sluice.

Yup.

And change the riffle system
in it a little bit, right?

Yup.
This top box
was way too violent.

That's 'cause
of the pitch on it.

You know, for your gold,
you aren't catching

1-ounce nuggets out here.

You're catching 20 mesh gold.
It brings the chance

of catching
that fine gold way up.
Yeah.

Well, the bottom
sluice was plugging up.

So we didn't have
enough water in that box

when we ran that test run.

It was starved for water,
so I'm gonna put

new sides inside of it here.

We're gonna narrow it up
by a couple feet.

It'll run better.

Narrowing the bottom sluice run

should even out
the flow of water.

Eyeballs.

What got you into gold mining?

Did a bunch
of prospecting trips

and found some gold
and got a...

Got hooked?
Yeah.

The thing I enjoy the most
about being out here

is being in the mountains
and just being away.

We're at the end
of the road out here.

There's nobody around.

I was a tradesman

living in the city
for a lot of years.

It's always been a dream
to live out in the...

Out in the mountains and live
out away from the rat race.

Gold mining is definitely
one of the last ways

of being a pioneer
in this day and age.

There's... You know, there's
not many things you can do

where you can be off
by yourself doing your thing

and be, you know,
sustaining an income.

And that's exactly
why I love it.

You got kids?

Just the one,
four-and-a-half-months-old.

That's pretty young.
21 pounds.

He's a...
He's a big boy.

Yeah.
Yeah.

Yeah.

So, you got a lot
of responsibility
on your shoulders?

It has to work.

Yeah.
It has to.

That sluice is warped.

What a mess, huh?
Yeah.

We'd have
to start over, build
a whole new sluice box.

- We don't have time for that.
- Yeah.

The bottom
sluice box is bent.

Meaning the new sides
of the box won't sit flush.

The gap must be filled.

I mean, it's still
gonna catch gold,

but it's gonna take
twice as long to fix.

I have a little
list here of all our bills

and our monthly payments
we make.

On the Riches claim
in British Columbia...

How we looking here?

We owe 25,000 to 30,000
a month with everything.

Well, our bills
are adding up again.

We're looking at fuel
is 10 grand.

We've got parts
for five grand.

They're coming
in like no tomorrow.

The guys are behind
on their wages.

So, they're gonna be wanting
some cash soon.

- They're gonna
be screaming, yep.
- Yup.

This is his dream out here.

He will make it successful.
It will be...

It will be full of gold.

We don't like
to have any down moments

because it does bring
the whole operation down.

It's good to have good spirits

and just stay positive
and it'll work.

It's gonna work.

And we'll have a good life.

We'll have a bright future
is what we always say.

This is for our future.

If it doesn't work
this season, it's done.

It's done.

The dream is over.

You wanna mark that
and get that drill down.

Take measurements.

Juan and Vaughn
begin surgery

on the hydraulic system.

Perfect. Thank you.

The goal, increase
the wash plant's ability

to run pay quicker.

So this is the heat exchanger
and what it has,

has the inlet and outlet.

The hydraulic
oil's gonna come in here,

get cooled off by the water
that's flowing

inside this canister.

And what it does is
it actually cools down
that hydraulic oil

when it comes out
on the outlet,

it should be cooler.

What that's gonna do is
gonna allow them to be able

to run this a little higher
and a little harder

and get more
through the plant.

We could actually run
fresh water to this

and have nice hot water
coming up for a shower.

- Hey.
- See?

Gotta think about everything.
That's right.

There we are.

Good. Perfect.

All right. Well, let's put
these hydraulic lines on.

Sounds good.

The plumbing skills
coming in, eh?

Revert back
to my roots.

There it is.
- Yeah.

All we gotta do
is put it up on top,

zip tie it up to that hose
and call it good.

Pretty simple fix. Looks good.

The heat exchanger
will cool the hydraulics

that power
Vaughn's wash plant.

Now we'll be able
to run the trommel faster,

put more material through
without heating up.

It's, uh, it's perfect.

"High ho. High ho..."

Well, this angle
should fill these gaps in.

In the cut
to plug the gaps caused
by the warped base,

lengths of flexible
angle iron will be welded

to the bottom of the sluice.

This'll work.
We didn't have time

to build a whole new sluice.

The welds look good.

Are they all right?

Yeah, they look good.

Weld it for strength

and then seal it
with silicone.

Yeah.
That sounds good, Freddy.

The silicone makes
the box water-tight,

and the new sides have
narrowed the sluice to 5 feet

to keep a consistent flow
of water.

One down.

Next job, adjust
the angle of the top sluice.

This box
was just way too steep

and too violent before.
Yeah.

More.

I think we'll try her there.

Yeah.

So basically, what we got left
here on the sluice

is, uh, get 'em
cleaned out first

and then start putting
our carpets and riffles in.

We'll get her done.

I'm just throwing
the knots in here.

Good.
Yup.

Hand over a hair a bit.

Bit by bit.

I'll always
put a different gap.

Like, I'll leave a, say
an inch and a half on one,

then a 2-inch gap
between my riffles.

It's a change.

If you look where
you have those changes,

there's always some gold
that likes that change.

Yeah. Yeah.

So we've got
a 3-foot wide sluice box,

a 4-foot wide,

and over 5 feet here.
Yup.

So, hopefully,

when we get running here,

hopefully it kicks ass.

I'm sure it will, Freddy.

We'll do 160.

Okay.
Yeah. On the shaft.

On the trommel,

Juan's prototype brush fix

to clear trapped vegetation
from the screens is underway.

- So it'll be one big roller.
- Oh, okay. Yup.

Arm that comes across here...

- Yeah.
- ...and hold
the brush assembly.

As the trommel turns,
it's gonna use the brushes

to be able to clean out
the screens.

Let me go down to the trailer.
I'm gonna start getting

everything figured out
on the computer.

We'll start cutting
out all the pieces

and if you wanna come down
and give me a hand,

we can start
welding it together.

- You good with that?
- Awesome.

- All right.
- Sounds good, buddy.

The rotating brush assembly

is something
we've never done before,

but what we're gonna do is
we're gonna repurpose brushes,

rotary brushes
for like a street sweeper.

We're gonna build
a new drum for it

and put 'em on top
of the trommel

to be able to help it clean
that organic material

that's getting caught
on the screens
on the trommel.

So these are the pieces
and the spacers

that we're gonna put
on the shaft

to be able to hold the brushes
in center.

There it goes.
Boom.

Let's see what
this looks like real quick.

There it is.
Perfect.

Super happy
with everything

that's happening here.

Do some welding on some mounts

and I'm looking forward to it.

Right. I'll make some coffee.

10 miles
from the mine site

in British Columbia.

Just trying to...
Trying to make things work.

Oh, [bleep].

could you grab me a cleaner?

Hmm.

It's always been our dream
to get away from the city.

We just didn't think
we'd actually be able

to ever make it happen

and, well, now we're here

and now things are,

you know, not really working

as well as they need to be

in order for us
to stay here, so...

We wanna stay in Wells.

I want him to keep mining.

That's what he loves to do.

And, yeah, I don't know.

And I'm... And I'm glad

that she puts enough
faith in me.

You know, there's
also a breaking point

where, uh, it doesn't
work anymore.

So it's, uh...

It's pretty,
uh, pretty anxious days here.

I know they can do it.
They just need
a little bit of help.

Good start to the morning.

At the Riches mine,
the central core,

which will hold the 24
mounted brushes,

takes shape.

Oh, I'm just getting rid
of the extra slag
on these parts.

My pay has a lot of organics,

so these scrubber brushes

are gonna take care of it.

So Vaughn, you told us
in the beginning that there...

You got quite a bit of money
invested into this operation.

You know, I came in
with the basic equipment

and just to get going

and as it progressed,

um, I just needed
more, more money.

So I kept borrowing
and borrowing

from family and friends

just to keep this running.

There has been
no paying back of anybody.

It's all sitting
in the ground here

and I need it.

I worked overseas
for seven years in Africa,

built two gold mines there,
hard rock, ended that career

and went full force

into placer mining
when I got back.

And I have to stop borrowing.

I see the end.

It's not pretty.

Yeah, it's not pretty at all.

Nice.

We're sliding the bristles on
right now.

They're tight, which is good.

It's perfect.

And, you know, these are just
common street sweeper brushes,

so you'll be able
to grab these

at any rental yard
and put 'em back on.

Huh. Amazing.

Yeah. Yeah.

We're plugging away here
and it's almost done.

And, uh, yeah, we're...

We can't wait to see
that trommel fire up again,

start running
some dirt through

and, uh, make some money.

I'm just hoping
that it works properly.

We told him double or nothing,

so if we don't get
that double mark,

you know, we don't get paid
for our labor,

which I'm okay with,
you know, either way.

Honestly, I'm just happy
to be here

to help Vaughn and his crew

because genuinely
these guys need the help.

Let's get it up there
and get it on, huh Juan?

Sounds good.
I'll drive the truck up

and if you wanna bring
that up,

I'll pick it up off you.

Yup.
See you in a second.
- All right.

The innovative
trommel brush

that will clear
the clogged screen

is ready to install
onto Vaughn's wash plant.

I'm really excited to put
this brush assembly together,

this is something new
that we haven't done before.

Um, if it works,
this could be a game changer.

Got her, Fred.
Got her.

Once held in place,

Juan will weld arms
to the side of the trommel.

Okay. I'll get up there.

Thank you.

That looks pretty good.
Yeah, [bleep].

I like it.

It's definitely not
the most convenient workspace,

but we're so close right now,

I just gotta deal with it
and get it put together

and get this on the trommel

so that way we can get going
on our test run.

The arms are
fabricated to hold the weight

of the 400-pound
brush assembly.

These arms,
they're on bearings,

and that way the weight
of the brush

and gravity will do its thing

and push down on the screens
and clean 'em out.

Are you ready for these or no?

Yeah, let's do it.

The arms are braced
to strengthen the build.

Almost there.

Almost ready to run.

- Mucho grande.
Way better, huh, Juan?
- Mucho...

Way better.

Can't wait to see
some gold in the sluices.

- Last weld, Juano?
- Last one, Freddy.

Done.

Let's run a plant,
catch some gold.

Let's do it.

Well, it looks good, Juan.

Hopefully it works
as good as it looks.

So we saw nearly half an ounce
on the last test run.

I'd like to see an ounce
of gold this time.

An ounce of gold
would be fantastic.

There's only one way
to find out.

Let's run it. We gotta run.

All right.
Let's do it.

I think all the improvements
are where they should be

and, uh, we're gonna up
the volume

and rate, speed rate,

so it's gonna be a...

super amazing time.

The next four hours
is gonna be hectic, hectic.

To hit their
double-or-nothing target,

Juan's plant must recover
over an ounce of gold.

All in all, I'm really happy
with what we were able to do.

I'm just not 100% sure

that we're gonna be able
to get as much material

through the plant
that we wanted,

but really, yeah,
tomorrow we'll find out.

We'll find out what we were
able to accomplish here.

- First bucket, Juan.
- Perfect.

Well, let's see
how the hydraulics are doing.

Staying cool.

Right now,
that's extremely cool.

It is.

Juan's heat exchanger

keeps the hydraulic oil
that powers the plant cool,

allowing the wash plant
to be dialed up.

That's pretty neat, Freddy,
you can actually see

- the bristles come through.
- Yeah.

The trommel brush
is a game changer.

By keeping the screens free
of debris,

more gold can pass
into the sluices.

They're a lot cleaner
than they were, a lot.

And we're running
more material.

- Yeah.
- So we've got more organics
coming through.

Exactly right. Nope,
they're doing their job, bud.

Yup. Good job, brother.

We did okay.
We did all right.

Freddy and I
have built a lot
of things over the years.

We had an idea
this would work,

but you really don't know

until you actually put it in
and run it.

And right now
it's doing great.

So I'm extremely happy
with it.

Juan's build with the brush,

it's, uh, it's a work of art.

It's working flawlessly.

Definitely the pressure's on.

We're sending a lot
more material.

Brand-new problem for us.

We're really having
to rush the pay in

and it's a good problem
to have.

It seems like it's moving
in the right direction

all of a sudden.

Vaughn definitely looks
a lot happier

with the way that things
are running now.

I mean, we're getting
more yardage in

and that in turn should
mean more gold.

First time out
to the mine.

Figure what a bit...
Why not a better time

than when Freddy and Juan
are here.

He's definitely
interested in it, though.

Candice was out
here helping me a bit,

but last year
she's run rock truck a bit

on a few different sites
and that.

So, once he's old enough,

he'll probably run
something like that, too.

A couple years
or so.

Two or three
more years.

Yeah.

Hey, Stephan, you got a copy?

Copy.

Last bucket.

Done, last bucket
of the day.

Oh, yeah. Holy.

These are working way better.
You can tell.

Well, we're seeing
some gold anyway.

That's promising.
Yeah.

Well,
what do you guys say?
You guys wanna clean it up

and we'll come back
in the morning
and see what it is?

That sounds great.

That sounds great guys.
Great.

Sounds good guys.
Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

These guys are gonna win

because better production,

better running sluices,

plants not plugged up
with organics.

Uh, so all in all,
it's a win for all of us,

but pretty sure it's gonna be
a really big win for them.

Want a drink, Fred?

Yeah.

Yeah.
It's kind of nice, Freddy.

Beautiful scenery.

Pretty lucky, Fred.

Pretty lucky.

Brought pocket
oysters again, huh?

Yeah, these
are pretty fancy, too.

Nice to relax for a minute.

You know
what that means, Juan?

Yup. Probably time
to get back at it, huh?

Time to get back to work. Yup.

Lunch is over, Fred.

Morning.
Good morning.

Good morning.
- Okay.

Ready to weight some gold up?
You betcha.

On the Riches mine
in British Columbia...

We should probably
do it inside, huh?

Yeah, it's raining
while we're out here.

Success or failure

after a week
of resourceful upgrades

all comes down
to the final gold weigh.

You got the gold?
I do.

Oh, shoot.
Yeah.

Holy cow.
Really?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Really?

Really? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.
Feeling good.

Yeah. Yeah.
Mmm-hmm.

You guys ready?
I think so.

Let's do this.

To prove
the mine's viability,

the result of the second test
must deliver

at least 1 ounce of gold.

Well, there's 0.47, right?
Oh, yeah.

That was the first cleanup.

Look how much more
is left.

We're a third of the way

through what's in
that jar, right?

Yeah.

That's awesome.

There's an ounce.
Yeah.

An even ounce right there.
Oh.

Holy [bleep].

There's still gold
in the jar, guys.

Oh, that's awesome.
That's awesome.

No [bleep].

What?

1.58 for four freaking hours.

Hey!

So that's four
and a half ounces a day

if it stays
at that rate, right?

- Nice!
- It's a 12-hour day.

And that's the same
exact pay

you guys were running
before, right?

And that's... There's a huge
improvement there.

Freddy and Juan's fixes

have tripled
Vaughn's gold count.

It turns your dream out here
into a reality.

It does.
It really does.

It completes...
It changes everything, right?

You know,
from just barely scraping

by having the money
to be able to make,

you know, repairs
and everything else.

Now that actually puts
a little bit of cushion

in, you know, in the bank.

It certainly does, Juan. Yeah.

Freddy, amazing.

Look at all the fines
in there.

There's a lot more fines
in there

- than we have before.
- Oh, that's the difference.

Yeah, there's a lot
more fines in there.

I still don't believe that.
That's huge.

That's awesome.

It's amazing.
No, it's...

We definitely knew
we had losses,

- but not like that.
- Not like that. No.

You know, I haven't seen
you smile this much.

I know.

Or Rick.

- Especially me.
- I know. Yeah.

It's been a... It's been
a struggle for a while

and it, uh, it means
a lot to Vaughn,

I know that for sure.

And it means a lot
to everybody. It's...

It means everything.
And I really, really,

really wanna
thank you, gentlemen,

- like sincerely.
- You're welcome. Yup.

You're welcome. All you guys.

Oh, you're not getting away
with a handshake.

Thanks, big man.
- You're welcome,

very welcome, buddy.

That's awesome.
- Woo!

Holy [bleep].

Truly blessed.
That's awesome.

Yeah.

Changes everything.

Yup. Yup.

There's a huge relief
off these shoulders

and everybody
that believed in me,

that feels nice. Yeah.

Ah, yeah.

Yeah, it's good.

Oh, jeez. Means, uh...

the dream moves forward

and, uh, in a healthy way.

So, uh, I can...

move forward.

Sorry.

They have a real possibility
with their dream.

You know, before they were,
you know, week to week

selling every bit of gold
that they had

to try to pay bills,

uh, without really, you know,

any reassurance
or any future out here.

But now, they have
a solid plan.

They have a solid plan
and a real future

to be able to make
their dreams come true.

It's gonna be
life changing for him.

We're leaving on a high.

Juan and Freddy
have truly, truly turned

everything around for us.

And so now, there is a future

for my family and me
and everybody else here.

Hi, Freddy. Hi, Juan.

Just a little update
from our mine.

We've been doubling
our gold tallies every day.

And I'm actually starting
to pay off investors

and my family members

that have helped
all the way through.

Woo!

The scrubber on the trommel

is still working amazing.

The organics
are not a problem anymore.

The sluice boxes are
still catching everything.

It's looking good,
so it's good times here still,

thanks to you guys.