All language subtitles for Gold Rush - Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan - S04E07 - Fire on the Mountain WEBDL-1080p.mkv

This is
the biggest casino there is.

You have no idea
if there's anything
beneath the surface or not.

You're just hoping there is.

I've watched
enough guys on TV

cleaning enough rocks to go,
"I'll get this. I got this."

Yeah, I was wrong.

We're 400,000
US dollars into this,

we need to see gold.

I got more in my teeth
than we found last season.

So you spend $1,000
in fuel digging hole,

nothing in the hole.

It was... it was so bad.

Way tougher, way tougher
than any of us expected.

You can't stay mining up here,
and, you know,

pour money down
into the hole for nothing.

We're new to this,
and we're rookies.

We're not quite getting it.

If we don't get
100 ounces this year,

that's it, it's over.
The dream ends.

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
engineered 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 miners' gold recovery,

they won't take a dime
in return.

It's ten times the amount
of gold. That's awesome.

Hey, Juan, I sure hope
this is the right road.

Yeah,
he was saying it was down
the logging road, right?

So I'm imagining this is it.

Do they have much experience
mining, Freddy,
that you know of?

I don't think they have much
experience mining at all.

They started getting
set up last year,

and, uh, they just started
to run a little bit.

I think we may be
in a tough situation here.

Dang it. Okay.

We'll learn more shortly.

In the central
interior of British Columbia,

Freddy and Juan
are answering a call for help
from the Naver Creek mine.

Located in an area
with rich gold potential,

during the Fraser River
Gold Rush of 1858,

around 30,000 gold miners
converged on the area.

In only a nine-year period,
they produced gold
worth over $3 trillion

in today's money.

How we doing,
gentlemen?
How's it going?

You're a familiar face.

- Jay.
- Jay, nice to meet you.

- Freddy.
- Trevor.

Pleasure.

- Trevor?
- Yes.

Trevor and Jay.

Hi, I'm Sacha.

- Nice to meet you, Sacha.
- Very nice to meet you.

Hey, Sacha. Juan.

- Hi, Freddy. I'm Mark.
- Mark.

Mark, Sacha, Trevor.

Well, it's great you guys
are here. Welcome to Canada.

We need you.

Help.

I'm not
a psychiatrist.
Just so you know.

Damn, what we need.

What did your season
look like last year,
as far as gold totals?

Last year was a bust.

Oh, really?

It was a bad bust.
We found about
3/4 of an ounce.

I mean, digging through
30 feet of clay
to try to get to bedrock.

It was just... it was nasty.

So last year
was bust, this year,
how are you doing so far?

We just got set up here.

We've been running
for about a week.

Wow. Okay.

This is what
we got out of there.

Sixth of an ounce.

Sixth of an ounce, yeah.

And I'll guarantee you,
we lost half of it.

Oh, yeah, guaranteed.

That's it, huh?

So, so far,
everything you've found
is about that size then?

Yeah.
Not a lot
of finds in it, huh?

As far as financially,
what do you guys have
tied up in this?

From claims, machinery,
maintenance, odds and ends

that we've had
to put together,

total $400,000 US.

And nobody's getting
a paycheck unless
we see some gold.

I started gold mining
with a friend one summer,

and I got the bug.

You've seen it on TV.

It looks adventurous.

It looks fun.
It looks like it can be done.

So you give it a shot.

Last year we pulled together
a couple of good buddies.

I asked Jay
and Trevor and we said,
"Let's do the adventure."

We did not get
very much though,
not even an ounce.

So it's a really tough year.

I wanted to give it up.
I really wanted to give up.

Last year,
Mark Skakun

met local gold enthusiast
and claim owner, John Olsen.

It's been a hobby of mine
for many years,

and these claims took me
quite a while to acquire.

I saw an opportunity
and I grabbed hold of it.

But it soon overtook me
and it became too big for me.

I know there's better gold
on here because I've found
better gold here.

Some are fairly chunky.

I had to make
a decision, so I got
the other folks involved

and we're trying
to make this work
and make it worthwhile.

Meeting with John,
being good friends with him,

and then seeing his property
having a chance to help him,

and we're all sharing
the gold, what we find.

When John purchased
the claim five years ago,

it came with several
mining relics

and a broken wash plant.

Located on 1,600 acres
of dense, wooded terrain,

Mark recently moved
the operation to a more
accessible area.

There's actually dirt
going through a trommel.

It's being washed.

We're actually seeing gold
in a pan.

Like, this is light-years
ahead of last year.

What's your
season goal this year?

We'll have the goal
of 100 ounces.

This is the turning point

whether we just tuck
our tail between our legs.

We don't want that. You know?

That's why we're here,
it's to help.

Ah, and you know what,
we need it.

There's only one way
to find out.

Let's do a test run.

Okay, let's do this.

They're just
barely starting out,

and they've got less than
half an ounce of gold
to a goal of 100 ounces.

It's a lot.
It's a massive undertaking.

To be honest, I just
don't know if that's
even possible right now.

Fire it up.
Fire it up.

Freddy and Juan
will conduct a test run

to identify problems

and measure how much gold
Mark's wash plant
can catch in four hours.

There it is, Freddy,
first bucket.

Let's get some paydirt
into there.

Trevor and Mark
haul pay from a cut
600 yards from the wash plant.

We'll take full loads here
because we're now
starting to move.

The pay
is loaded into a hopper

and drops into
an 8-foot rotating trommel.

A spray bar blasts the dirt,

washing the small material
and gold

through the screen
and down into the sluice box,

where gold should be
caught in the mess.

I know there's a lot of people

that only dream about
living their lives this way,

and here we are,
playing the big sandbox.

It's fantastic.

We've got to get
the 100 ounces this year,

or we're not gonna have
another season.

I don't want to come back
empty-handed. Not this time.

From a distance,
I don't like the look
of the material

they're running
out of that pit.

It's kind of a glacial till.

Not much gold in it.

This little plant
is not made for what
they want to do.

No, this is to drag around
behind to pick up
the test ground left.

Not to mine. Not to try
to make a living off of.

The bucket is
bigger than the plant, Juan.

Yeah.

It's, kind of, missing.

Look at all that fine material
that's getting spit out
on the ground.

They're rookies
to mining. You can tell
there's a lot of inexperience.

That sluice's
running like crap.

Not near enough water.
Not enough water.

Crooked.
Yep.

That's why
we weren't seeing
much fine gold in that jar.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

The poorly-configured
sluice box is uneven

and doesn't have enough water
to properly wash the rocks,

causing material
to build up on one side.

Piling up at the top.

Both of which
will cause gold to be lost.

It's a mess, Juan.

Yeah. I don't even know
where to start, Fred.

There's just so much
going on here.

The plant has quite
a few problems.

These guys,
they lack experience.

Is that their pump?

Small pump, huh?
Yeah.

Lot of... and a lot of line

going down through there.

And half their water
is going on the ground,
not down the sluice box.

They've hardly got
any material through it.

They're probably doing
five yards an hour.

It's like watching
paint dry right now, though.

Juan...

- Yeah.
- We're just here
over four hours.

- Yeah, call it, Freddy.
- Yeah.

Last bucket!

Copy that.

That's it,
shut it down.

There's
some gold in it.

Let's pull the mats
and see what's in them.

Let's pull the mats.
Let's do it.

You know, the plant
in itself is an issue.

You know?
Everything.

In order to make
this plant viable,

we're gonna have to
take it all apart.

- Everything.
- It's still not going
to do the amount of yardage

- they'd need though.
- No.

Well, that's not
a production plant.

This is definitely
a test plant.

Yeah.
- Ten yards an hour max.

And that's not where
they need to be.

Exactly, Juan.

These are probably the most
inexperienced miners
we've ever helped.

Their goal of 100 ounces
is unobtainable...

the way they're running now.

Well,
it didn't look like
very much gold, did it?

It didn't, Freddy.

Well, we're gonna see
what it is.

At the Naver Creek mine
in British Columbia...

This is my son, Dustin.

Dustin?
Nice to meet you, Dustin.

- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, Dustin.

Nice to meet you, too.

John. Fred.

Sacha's son,
Dustin, and claim owner,
John joined the crew

to see the results
from the four-hour test.

Well, I guess there's only
one thing to do now

at the moment,
is weigh it up, huh?

Let's see what
we came up with.

Every speck counts.

With approximately 100 days
in the mining season...

In this situation,
it really does.

Yep.

...this four-hour test

must deliver
at least 0.4 ounces

to hit their one ounce
a day goal.

0.02. Not good, guys.

No.
Not good at all.

It's painful.

That doesn't even pay
for the fuel that you used
on your plant.

You said your goal
was 100 ounces this year?
- Yeah.

Yeah.
So that means
you gotta get an ounce a day.

That's nowhere near it.

No.

0.02 was
extremely disappointing.

A lot of hard work
and effort went into that,
and it's a reality check.

What we're going to do
is we're going to come up
with a game plan.

Hmm.

What's that about?

Do you have another plant
in here then?

I have no idea
whether this thing works.

None of us have
ever seen it run.

It's pretty rough.

Well, let's go chat about it
and see what we can
come up with, Fred.

Okay. We'll see you guys
after a bit.

All right. Thank you.

Thanks, guys.

Well, that wasn't
very impressive.

- 0.02.
- Yeah.

We could fix that small plant,
but it's not like
putting lipstick

on a pig for your eyes
because they can't run
enough material.

- It's way undermatched.
- That's right.

We're only here so many days.

Do we have the time
to fix this bigger plant?

There's no discharge chute.

But the hopper,
the feed hopper, that's...

The grizzlies are missing.

You know, ideally,
if we could see it run

for, you know, a day
or for just a couple of hours

to figure out what
the problems are--

There's no saying
it'd run. It's in pieces.

It's completely unknown.

You know, it might have
a bad gearbox,
may have bad rollers.

We don't know
until we actually
get in there and run it.

You know,
it's a gamble, Freddy.

What we've got here
is a puzzle that might not
have all the pieces.

Yeah.

- Without it, they don't
have a chance.
- No, they don't.

We're gonna
have to help them out
with that bigger plant

because, honestly,
there's just no other way.

You know, running six, seven,
eight yards an hour

is not going to cut it
for these guys at all.

Let's go put some
rough numbers together, huh?

Let's do it.

For the first time ever,
Freddy and Juan

will completely refurbish
a plant that hasn't run
in years.

Their aim, quadruple
the amount of pay
that can be processed.

To feed the plant,

they will attach the hopper,
install new grizzly bars

and plumb in
a pre-wash system.

To power the trommel,

they will replace
the old electric motor

with an entirely new
gas-powered engine.

Finally, the old sluice box
will be modified
with higher sides

and given a new riffle
and carpet set up
to catch both course

and fine gold.

The goal, 100 ounces
in the remaining
three months of the season.

Well, that's a lot
of money, Juan.

Well,
let's see what they say.

How we doing?

Good!
- Doing good.

Yeah? Okay.

Getting organized?

Well, we, kind of, came up
with some numbers.

We wanted to see
what you guys think.

If you guys have any chance
of being able to get
the ounce-a-day goal,

you're going to have to go
to that bigger plant.
Yeah.

But in order for that
to happen, there's quite
a bit we've got to do.

A lot of cost involved in it.

With motors,

pumps, the steel,

you know, we've got
a rough estimate

of about $14,000,
just in material.

Wow, that's a bunch.

But reality is, without
that bigger plant running,

you have no chance
of being able to reach
your goal.

Well, on top of that, guys,
we're going to have to bring

other people in
on this one to help us
because there's no way

we can get it done
in the amount of time.

So on top of the 14,000
in materials,
six ounces of gold

at the end of the season
you pass.

Wow.

Because right now,
you need an ounce
a day to survive, right?

And you think this mine
can produce that?

Gold's got to be
in the ground, of course,

but I'll find
some better ground to run.

- You can't keep running
that stuff.
- No. Clearly.

Without you guys, we're stuck.

Hold on a second.

I really need you
to back up for a second.
Okay.

So let me see
if I got this understanding.

There's... Right from
the from the front,

right from the grizzly
right to the back end,

there's a whole rework
that has to be done.

- A lot of stuff.
- Yeah.

14,000,
plus six ounces of gold.

I'll tell you what,
we usually want to
double the amount of gold,

but in this situation,
double of very little
is still very little.

If we don't get you 20 times
the amount of gold

in that first cleanup,
which was not a lot, right?

Yep.
- Then you don't
pay us for labor.

Still pay for the material.

So 20 times more gold
from what we had

on our first test run,
that's nearly half an ounce.

Yep.
- So it will get you to that
half an ounce in four hours.

So that gets you--
In 10-hour day,

you're roughly doing
an ounce of gold a day.

Yeah.
Right.

- I'm good with that.
- Okay.

- All right, deal.
- All right.

Awesome.
Yep.

- Thank you.
- It means everything.
Thank you.

So we're gonna call
in some workers of ours

to come and give us a hand.

But we're still gonna need
your guys to help.

You tell us what
we need to do,
and we'll be getting it done.

We'll go start planning stuff.

Yeah, we gotta make
some phone calls. Let's do it.

All right. Sounds good, guys.
See you in a bit.

Thank you.
- All right.

If we can get
to that 20 times
of what our cleanup was,

this will actually
start to pay for itself.

But that's a great deal.
It's a fantastic deal.

The issue is the time
constraint that we have.

You know, we're gonna have
to do a lot of work here,

so we need to get
on the phone right away
and call Travis and Alex.

Have them start
heading this way.

Whoa!

The first step
for Freddy and Juan's
complete mine makeover...

It's a pretty
heavy steel, Juan.

...unload
the 30-foot trommel

so that they can
assess the work ahead.

This plant's been sitting
in the field

for the last 20, 30 years,
so no one's seen it run.

Well, we're going
to try to revive it.

We're going to get it
on the ground.

Start getting all
the measurements
and figure out what exactly

we need to make
this thing run.

Come closer this way.

That's good right there!

Right there, Trevor.

He's gonna pull out!

Great to see
that thing on the ground,
I tell you.

One step closer.
It's exciting.

Hey, Trevor,
let's have a look
in your pit here.

While prep
continues on the trommel,
Freddy wants to get eyes

on the paydirt
they've been running.

I mean, the amount of gold
that was in that cleanup
for four hours was miserable.

I mean,
we're trying to get down
to bedrock in here.

Well, there's just something
in here that doesn't
look good to me.

The rocks aren't really
shingled really well, right?

Shingled rocks
are smooth and round

as a result of being
constantly rolled
in running water.

Their presence
indicates the location
of ancient riverbeds,

where they act like riffles
in a sluice box,
collecting gold.

This hasn't had
any erosion on it.

It never gets re-sluiced
by nature, right?

This is just an exercise
in futility, really.

I wouldn't play
with this anymore.

Let's leave this alone
and let's find you
some better gold.

Let's do it.

I don't like
the look of the material

they're running
out of that pit.

No matter what we do
to their plant,

if there's not enough gold,
there's not enough gold.

Mark,
how you doing, buddy?

Pretty good. Pretty good.

At the Naver Creek mine
in British Columbia...

Give you a hand on anything?

...Juan's first challenge
on the wash plant renovation,

install the new engine.

- We pulled off
that electric motor.
- Yep.

We're gonna go
with the gas 20 hp
V-twin motor.

So it's gonna be
a little different design
than what you guys had before.

It's gonna be hopefully,
a little more reliable.

The new
gas-powered engine

will be connected
to the gearbox

by an adjustable belt.

Juan must build
a custom mounting plate
to hold it in place.

So what I'm going to do
is I'm actually gonna
put the motor

- right where the old motor
used to be.
- Okay.

It's kind of guarded
underneath that hopper.

But what I'm doing is
I'm building a new base plate
for the motors.

You're doing your own washers
and you're doing
your own shims.

Yeah, that's everything.
Yeah, we'll send it over
to the table.

And now let's cut it.

We'll just hit start
on the machine.

Nice.

So there we are.

Part number one.

Juan's computer-aided
design table

precisely cuts
the 10 base plate components
in under six minutes,

saving hours of manual labor.

Well, that's it.

We'll pull them all out
and I'll have you help me
get them cleaned up.

Sure.
I'll start
putting it together.

Seems like everyone's got
a little bit of money into it,

but it sounds like
you've got a little bit more
than everyone else, huh?

Everything from all
the machinery, the fuel,

any repairs,

- everything came out
of my wallet.
- Oh, really?

So this is your money
on the line, huh?

Yeah, it is.

There's no extra check
coming in,

but we've put
a little bit away,

so we'll survive
while we're out here
and cover costs.

We need to see gold.

The new wash plant
could run up to four times
the amount of pay,

giving Mark a fighting chance
at making his money back.

It's got great bones,
you know,
she's a little older.

But I think
with what we've got,
it's a good start.

Oh, yeah, if you want
to get that going,
I'll keep on plugging along.

- We've got a lot to do, so.
- Not a problem.

Thanks for your help, Mark.

Mark has $400,000
invested into this operation,
and that's a lot of money.

I'm hoping that we can
get their plants set up,

get them
on some better material,

so that way
they can turn that around.

And this can be
a viable operation,
not just a dream.

Well, let's have a look
at your maps, John.

The material we ran
the first test run,
it's no good.

So now the pressure is on me.

Hopefully, I can find
some better material.

Where are we at
right now, John?

This is the whole area
that we're in

and where we are mining
is just down in here.

On the hunt for better ground,

Freddy looks over old maps
of the area
with claim owner John Olsen.

- So that's the stuff
they ran right here.
- Right there.

- Right here?
- Yeah.

Okay.

That's no good.

Is this a creek here?
Yes, it is.

- That's a little neighbor.
- Okay.

Where the plants are set up.
Where the plants are set up.

The old creek bed
for a little neighbor creek

comes along and meanders
down through this valley.

I've panned all the way
down into the creek here.

There was gold found there,
and some of it can be,
you know, fairly chunky.

You know, looking at the map,
there should be
better gold there.

Oh, yes.

So I'd like to go down here
because it's more
of a creek bottom.

But there's only one way
to find out.

- That's right.
- Let's dig a hole in it.

- I think that's a good plan.
- Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you, Fred.

So once the river was here
and now the river is here.

So if that's the case,
if that's the case,

then there could be
a virgin layer
of gold-bearing material

left there.

It may be 10 feet thick,
maybe a foot.

The only way to find out
is to go down there
and dig a hole.

- The creek would have been
up here, right?
- Yep.

With the information
from John's map,

Freddy recruits Trevor

on a hunt
for the ancient creek channel
near the small wash plant.

I can see right now
this has got
a really rounded rock in it,

so that's a good sign.

So through erosion,
they get rounded out,
and glaciers.

Rounded rocks could
indicate an old stream
once flowed here,

leaving behind gold
concentrated in the gravel.

Let's punch a hole here
and just see
what it looks like.

All right,
let's get in the machine.
Let's get this done.

Trevor, take one more
scoop there.

One more? Okay.

One of the biggest things
we can do here,
besides working on the plant,

is to teach these guys
how to prospect,

what material to look for
in the future.

Without doing that,
then they're never gonna
make their 100 ounce gold.

Trever, you want to hop out
with me
and let's have a look at this.

Yeah, you betcha.

Well, that's not that far down
the bedrock, Freddy.
That's kind of exciting.

My hope here is it's
an ancient old bench channel
up here

- or an old river bench
creek bench.
- Yeah.

And then it would have
concentrated the gold.

I think
it's an old stream bed.

You know, the stream's
cut its way to where it's at
now, right?

Yeah.

But at one time,
the stream bed was up here.

And then erosion happens.
Picture the Grand Canyon.

- Yeah.
- Right? We're eroded
a mile deep now.

Well, same with these canyons.

So, as that erodes down,
it can leave
those upper benches.

And you may have
some other benches this way
to some old ones.

A bench deposit
forms when gold settles
in a river bank.

As the creek cuts a new path,
it leaves behind
an area of concentrated gold.

How important is it
to make this mine operational?

I mean,
it's about making money.
It's about a lifestyle.

You know, even going back
right now

wouldn't really make much
of a difference
if I was back in the city.

It's no work there anyway, so.

I work in the film industry
in the Transport Division.

I haven't worked this year.

Due to the writer's strike
going on,
the whole industry is down.

Ninety percent of the people
are laid off right now.

It's bad, you know.
That kinda
screws up your life.

I don't want
any of that ever again.

Gold mining. It's hard.

It is hard on the body.

But it is so easy on the mind.

For me, this is paradise.

- That's a neat way of life.
- It is.

- It's incredible.
- You can't keep
throwing money at something,

if it's not making money,

- Look at that. That guy.
- Look at that.

- That guy.
- Yeah?

That guy.
Well, there's gold there.
That's for dang sure.

That's some good gold there.

- I like it.
- Yeah. I like it, too.

My thoughts are
we dig our pond there
for the bigger plant.

- So you have more water.
- Yep.

Then we sluice up.
We're killing two birds
with one stone.

The gold bearing
bench is next
to the old wash plant pond.

Freddy's plan, dig out the pay
and stockpiling,

then fill up the cut
with water

to create
a settling pond system

to provide clean water
for the larger wash plant.

I'm learning a lot from him.

He's an amazing teacher.

His wealth of knowledge
is incredible.

You can tell he's been
doing this a long time.

These guys are only here
for a few more days.
It's go time.

And we've got
to make it happen now.

This morning,
over 400 wildfires

are raging
across British Columbia.

Huge areas to the north
of the province
have been evacuated.

In parts
of the central interior,

residents are being advised
to stay indoors

as thick smoke
has caused the air quality

to reach
its highest level of alert.

Looks like
we're made today.
Yeah.

30 miles south of the fires...

This must be it.

...Freddy and
Juan's reinforcements,

Alex and Travis arrived,
with much needed supplies.

Well,
we got a bunch of work
ahead of us, guys.

We're going to have
to bust ass on this one.

We've got
a complete drive system
we've got to build.

We've got
to rebuild the hopper,
the grizzlies on that.

Freddy is rebuilding
the sluices right now.

And then on top of that,
we've got to get it in place,
get water around to it.

We've got to dig out ponds.

- It sounds good.
- All right.

So let's get all that steel
and everything unloaded.

- Yeah.
- Copy that.
All right, guys. Thanks.

All right.

We're gonna put him
right to work.

Hopefully, with our help,
we'll be able to get
everything we need done.

No strangers to a mine site,

Travis Stockman
and Alex Voight
have helped out before.

When they give us a call,
you know they're far behind.

Travis and I
are always willing
to help these guys.

In 2022,
when Freddy left a rescue
for a medical emergency,

the guy stepped in
to help military veterans Mark

and Rick
increase their gold recovery
by a huge 1300 percent.

Back a little.
We'll just set it sideways.

Better work here on now.

Hey, Freddy.

How's it going?

Behind the trommel,

Freddy prepares the sides
of the old sluice
for an upgrade.

Just getting started grinding
these old bankers down.

So I'm going to put
higher sides on it.

And then we'll put
a different wedge system
in it.

- Okay.
- I'm gonna remodify
everything on here.

- Man, it's smoky.
- Yeah, we've got
forest fires burning nearby.

Coughing all the time.

Yeah, we've got one far away,
but a new one's
just popped up,

- so we'll keep our eye on it.
- Okay.

- We've got all our heads
on a swivel.
- Yeah.

Anything you need me to do?

Just keep an eye out
so I don't catch
something on fire.

Copy that.

And then I'll probably have
your help put the plates on.

- You got it.
- Thanks, sir.

All right.
It's really tinder dry
right now.

There's a lot of fires
in the area,

and there's a lot
of particulates in the air,

so it's a little hard
on the lungs.

Just hold it for me
and I'll mark it.

Okay. I got it.
Perfect.

Eyeballs.

Alex and Jay help
Freddy weld high steel sides
onto the sluice box

so they can run more material.

We've got to clean
the inside of this

because this is gonna slide
inside there.

So once we mount the motor
onto this plate,
we can adjust it.

At the plant, Juan and Travis
installed the new motive.

The 20 hp V twin gas engine
has the torque capability

to turn the drum fully loaded
with rocks
at 20 revolutions per minute.

Get it here, get it in place,
line it up and weld it.

Yeah.

Hopefully I'll get it running
before the end of the day.

I'm very happy
looking at some monster motor.

This is gonna be beautiful.

Just weld it.

I'm really happy
the way it's coming together.

We got it in.

It's lined up properly
and we've got the mount
that we designed installed,

so that way we can adjust it
and it should be good.

So the carpet is catching
all the fines, right?

Sluice welds complete,

Freddy shows mine operator Jay
how to assemble the box
for maximum gold recovery.

We're using this carpet
to trap the gold,

but we're also using
different mannerisms

in how we put
this box together.

You want to grab
one of those riffles?

- Can do.
- Yep.

I've made these,
so they'll tip in.

- So see how they tip in now?
- Okay.

- For speed, right?
- Yeah.

So now we'll take
our short boards there
and get some wedges.

We've got
six different changes
in this sluice box.

Every piece of gold
is different, right?

Yeah.
- So you're a piece of gold,

it doesn't like this situation
for some reason.

- You may not like
that little first change.
- Right.

You may keep skipping
down the box

and find that
this is the change,
get hung up in there.

- It's always
something different.
- Oh, that totally makes sense.

Did you grow up
in a Cornell area or?

No, it's a city.
I'm strictly a city guy.

My brother,
he introduced me to this area.

When I was impressionable.
12 years old.

- Yeah, it was good times
as a kid.
- Yeah.

Did he do
a lot of prospecting?

Yeah, he did. He did
a lot of panning up here.

So you and your brother
still go out gold panning?

I lost my brother
a few years ago,

but ever since that time,
I've always wondered
about gold.

I'm sorry to hear
about your brother.

Yeah, it just sort of
stays with it.
You just move on, right?

Yeah.

He's a good man.

I took after him
in a lot of ways.
I looked up to him.

He was 10 years older than me,
so he was like a father
and brother.

When this opportunity came up,
it was just
after my brother's death

and I jumped on it
because it just felt right.

When I'm here,
I feel him everywhere.

I know he would just be
in his element here,

and I know
he'd be proud of me.

Let's get all the stuff in.
It looks like
a nice sluice box, huh?

You betcha.

Well, if you wanna knock
the wedges in,

I'm gonna go get busy
fabricating stuff.

Okay, Fred. Got it.

See you in a bit.
You bet.

Every mine you go on,
people are people, right?

You're gonna find out
a lot more about a person
by working with them.

He got into prospect
as a kid with his brother.

He's out here, you know,
living his dream
and his brother's dream.

This plant, to my knowledge,
hasn't been ran
in a lot of years.

So, you know,
it's kind of a mystery

whether that gearbox
is good or not.

So we're going to find out.

The gearbox reduces
the revolutions per minute
of the motor

and rotates the trommel
at the correct speed.

If seized,
the trommel won't turn.

If that gearbox is bad,
we've got to start
from scratch again.

We'll have to get
a new gearbox,

and I don't know
if we can source one in time.

Well, Freddy, moment of truth.
I'm gonna start it up,
see what it does.

Fire it up, Juan.

Uh-oh.

Impressive.

This is great.

Oh, isn't that pretty?

That's it. It runs.

Beautiful. Beautiful.

I can't believe it did run.
This is excellent.
This is really nice.

It's been sitting
in the field
for 20-plus years.

No, it's fantastic.

It actually can run.

Well, I'm gonna get on
to other things.

Yeah, me too. Thanks, Freddy.

I didn't know
what kind of conditions
the gearbox was in.

But now that
we've actually seen it run,

its spinning on its own power,
the RPMs are proper,
that's half the battle.

Now, we kind of see
a little bit of light
at the end of the tunnel.

Smoke warnings here
on the indexes,
it goes one to ten.

It's over a ten
in terms of smoke in the air
and it being unhealthy.

Dang, Freddy.

Well, this morning
we got out to the trucks

and they were just
all full of ash.

With just 48 hours remaining
at the Naver Creek mine...

Smoke's worse here.
- Yeah, it is, way worse.

...a change in wind direction
brings the air quality index

to dangerous levels.

- This is kind of rough
breathing this in all day.
- Yeah.

If conditions worsen,
it could shut down the rescue.

I'm tipping it forward.

First task of the morning...

Yeah.
- I'm trying to put
all the gold.

There's no corner
in a round pan,

but I'm going to call it
the corner.

- Okay.
- That's the corner.

Yeah.
...class is in session

as Freddy gives
greenhorn Sacha a lesson
in panning for gold.

I want that gold
right in the corner
of the pan.

- Right there.
- Right.

- So in your mind, picture it
dropping right there...
- Okay.

...with the angle of your pan
and stuff.

- Bigger ones like that,
get rid of him.
- Yeah.

- Wow. That's quite a bit, eh?
- Really...

Well, there's a lot of pie
right there, too,
that you're seeing.

So how are you
to tell the difference?

- Gold never sparkles.
It's always a dull yellow.
- Right. Okay. Got it.

- Yeah. Look at your rings
and your jewelry. Right?
- Right.

- This guy here
is a piece of gold.
- Right.

Well, those
are a piece of gold.
All this is pyrite.

Okay.

It's not fantastic,
but we'll know more
when we run it, I guess.

- Yeah.
- But yeah, we wanted
to test different layers.

- Okay.
- Like the stuff
right on bedrock,

the stuff
in the decomposed bedrock
that far down

and some like that far down.

- Okay.
- This is what we want
to do there.

Right?

So what got you
into gold mining out here?

I came up last year
with my kids just to get away.

Is that right?

The first time I saw gold,
those little specks,
those little beautiful specks,

I was hooked.

Trevor and I are dating,
and he suggested
I come up here

and just be part of the crew.

I've just struggled
for so long with two children,
raising them,

trying to support them
as best I could.

So to prosper in gold
financially would be amazing.

This year,
Sacha's 22-year-old son,
Dustin, has joined her

in the gold fields.

Dustin is working
on the machines.

He's doing
whatever needs to be done.
He just loves to be useful.

I don't have
a retirement plan,

and if this is successful,

it'll be a game changer.

I'm circling, but I'm also
taking material out of the pan
at the same time.

- You see those
rocks going out?
- Okay.

Yeah. I think I'm too timid
with how I've been panning.

Yeah.

- You see me?
I don't mess around.
- No, you don't.

You get the job done.

Here we go.
That's looking better.

Oh, good.

- These guys. That's
a good-sized piece there,
- Nice.

another piece there

and a whole bunch
of little guys
out through here.

Oh, beautiful. I love it.

Well, there's one good sign
right there.
I'm gonna get back to welding.

- See you in a bit.
- Thank you, Freddy.

By giving these guys
little tricks, you know,

after we leave,
they'll still have
those tricks.

And they can, you know,
do it on their own

without having to worry
about Juan or myself
helping them out.

Dang, Freddy.
It's really bad down here.

As the rest of the crew
begin their day,

concerns about
the smoke worsen.

One thing
that we've got to take
into consideration, too,

it's not just us, you know,
we've got an entire crew
with us, too.

The rescue takes
place in what is now
the worst wildfire season

in Canada's history.

Over 10,000 square miles
of forest burns
in British Columbia,

with one blaze
less than 20 miles
from the claim.

There's the man.

What's your call?

The air quality index
is ten out of ten.

You can see right now,
it looks like it's snowing

and it's just ash
coming down on us.

Yeah, I know you guys
got a lot of work to do,

but for the safety
of everyone here and the crew,
We have to evacuate.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

We gotta go.

- You ready, Juan?
- All right, let's go.

As smoke and ash
descend on the valley,
rescue shuts down for the day.

Already on a really,
really tight timeline.

We don't have enough time
to lose a day.

No. We didn't have enough time
to lose half a day.

Right now, the smoke's
cleared out quite a bit.

You can actually see blue sky.
We've just got
to get this done.

The rain overnight
has dampened down the smoke

and the team is back on site.

If we make it on time here,
it'll surprise me.

Well, I'm getting
the settling pond,

getting bed carved out,

and then fill that thing up
with water.

Everybody is racing today

and for the next few days.

So under the gun
is an understatement.

We're way
behind schedule now.

We're trying to make up
all that time we missed.

So you need
some help on this, Juan?

Twenty-four hours
remaining in the rescue,

the team must fix
and attach the hopper,

fabricate a spray bar

and complete
a new pond system.

Yeah, if you wanna
help me, Freddy,

you can start putting
those grizzly bars together.

Weld the tops on them

and I'll start
getting all this ready.

I'll build the bars.

Okay.
- You build the support for it.

Let's do it.

How much gap
do you have there?

Oh. Half inch.

Work, work, work.
Weld, weld, weld.

While Alex
helps Freddy fabricate
the grizzly bars,

Juan and Travis

weld the supports
into the hopper.

What we want to do
is make sure that

the material that's
going through the grizzlies

into the hopper
and into the trommel

are under eight inches

because we don't want
anything big getting in there

and getting it clogged up.

I got the frame ready to go.

I'm gonna start getting
a line where they need to go

and get them welded in.

We're out of time.

We've gotta get
this done today.

Travis, let's clean
that up real quick.

This is the last
grizzly bars we've got to do.

We're gonna get them
welded in place.

Okay.
Where we at? On yours?

Right there.

Perfect.

We got the grizzly
all welded up.

We're gonna
lift it up right now.

We're gonna get it in place.

It's kinda
the moment of truth.

Hopefully it fits right.

Yeah. That's good.

Watch yourself, Travis.

- Watch your hands, Alex.
- Yeah.

Watch your fingers.
Coming down.

Get out of there.

Hold on. Hold on.

We're going
to strung that guy.

Go around out front, Alex.

There you go.

All here on the front.

Did the chain just go?

Our hook came loose.

At the Naver Creek mine,

one of the four chains

lifting the 2000 pound hopper

has become unhooked.

Right now, I don't
need any distractions

is what I'm thinking.

Okay. We're gonna
have to get back up there

and hook that back up.

Okay. Coming back up, guys.

Watch out.
Okay.

How's it look
on that side?

It's so above
over there.

Travis, that's good.
- He's got it on this side.

You got it?

For the hopper
to feed correctly,

the square pillars
must insert vertically

into matching pockets
on the frame.

Is it there?

It's real close.

Come on down a little.

This side's in.
There you go.

It's in. Perfect.

And it's tied up
against the trommel.

Nice.

That's a big relief right now,
and we've got the hopper on.

And that's a major part
of the trommel.

Still got a lot
of plumbing to do,

but we're that much closer

to being able to get this down

to the site
and getting it hooked up.

These guys are pretty green.

So, you know, it's always good
to put an eye on stuff

before it gets
too out of hand.

With the clock ticking,

the miners have been tasked

to dig out pay

and create a new pond.

It looks like
we're almost ready

to start putting water
into this thing.

Hey, Trev,
we're gonna be coming in.

Freddy is with us.

Yeah, I'm just down
in the hole here.

Freddy checks in
on the progress of the dig.

You're gonna
need more pay than that.

We've got to get
all that pay out of there.

I thought you
already had it done

or I'd have been
out here yesterday.

Try it deeper in bedrock.

Let's say go six inches
into that bedrock.

- All right?
- Okay.

Sounds good.

More pay
must be dug out.

Freddy's plan,

once the pay has been
removed and stockpiled,

use the new cut
as a settling pond.

Get it all ready

so we can start
filling it with water.

All right,
let's get her done.

Let's get to it.
I'm gonna
get the welding.

All right, man. Thank you.

Well,
one thing's for sure.

Without water, we won't run.

So we've got to dig
those ponds out,

get water in there.

We've just got to get it done.

This has got me
really stressed out.

Those guys gotta be
out of here real soon,

and we're still
digging a pond.

We don't have a new piece
of four inch pipe,

so I'm gonna reuse
what they had.

I had to cut all the
little different plugs

that they had on there
and all the adapters.

We're going to turn this
into the spray bar

in the hopper.

We're actually gonna
put a jet on the back

of the hopper itself.

What that's gonna do
is push that material down

into the trommel.

We're gonna call it
the pipe with many patches

that my grandpa gave to me.

It's all cobbled together.

I had to put a bunch
of patches on it.

But it will work.

It's a sexy piece
of pipe, huh?

It's a sexy one.

Oh, yeah.
- It's sexy.

All right, let me get up there
and see if I can weld it in.

That's it. Done.

Yeah, but I think we can start
filling this thing with water.

I mean, it's as deep
as I can make it.

Okay. So, Sacha, Dustin,

if you guys can get
the pump fired up.

Copy that.

Everybody is racing.

All of us are moving.

Well, Freddy, Juan,

our team doing our part.

Working the pressure
go up the line.

Okay. One second.

Okay. We're good.
We've got water.

Good job, guys.

Thank you.

That's
a good angle right there.

Yeah, I know, it works.
That looks good.

With both ponds
now full of water...

Let's just backfill it
from here.

We've got a pipe now
going from our tailings pond

over to our settling ponds.

What it does is
recirculates the water.

We don't have to keep
pulling in fresh water.

The new
settling pond system

is in place.

The dirty water
will exit the trommel

with the tailings
into the first pond.

As it slows and the heavy silt

sinks to the bottom,

clean water flows downstream

through the culvert
into the second pond.

From here, the clean water

can be recirculated
back into the plant.

They're definitely bigger
than our other pumps.

Yeah, no doubt.

A new
four inch pump

will move almost

five hundred gallons
of water a minute

to the trommel.

It's a bit of a push
to get it all set up

but I think we can do it.

We're all working really hard.

Yeah, so what we'll do
is we'll unwrap this.

This one goes into the pond.
Okay.

There you go there.
Nice. Don't fall in.

There you go.

I was up at, I think, 6:30
to turn on the little pump

and from there,

it's just been nonstop
go, go, go!

I can't believe this huge pump

is gonna make
a huge difference.

Way bigger than the ones

we've got already.
Oh, my God.

Hey, Trevor, just across here?

Yeah, buddy. Yeah.
That's great. Thank you.

We got her.
It's done.

Nice.

Okay. What do you think?

Literally, the trommel
is the next thing in place.

Other than that,
everything's done.

I think we're there.
I love it.

Perfect.
- Good job.

Thanks guys.
Yay!

And all
of a sudden you're

starting to think
more like a miner

and feeling more successful
in what we're doing.

We're gonna do this.

We're gonna make it work.

Okay, Juan,
you done on your end?

With a few hours

remaining on the Naver Creek
mine rescue...

I'm all done, Fred.
We're ready to go.

...the team must maneuver
the newly tricked out trommel

to its position on the pad
600 yards away.

I can go grab Mark
and get his big loader,

- get him in it.
- Let's do it.

Okay, Juan, if you can
let me know how close

they get when I back up.

We don't have any time
for any mess ups.

I'm just hoping we can get it
down there in one piece.

You can probably
get over this way

quite a bit, Mark.

Let's go.

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

The 10,000
pound machine

is too big for the road.

Trev, you
got that chainsaw?

Let's knock
that one down, huh.

Well, we're about
to get into a tree here.

The last thing we want to do
is work this hard on something

and bend it up
putting it in place.

You ready, Mark?
- Ready to go.

Slow and easy.

Okay. We're getting
into a pinch point here.

It's gonna be a little tight.

That's good there, Mark.
That's good. Right there.

Stop there. Stop there.

Now we gotta
hook up all the plumbing,

get the pumps
hooked up, sluices.

Let's do it.
Sounds good.

These are
the final measurements

that he's doing
that really decides

whether you catch gold
in the sluice box or not.

Come up
a little more. Easy.

It's amazing how
it's all come together.

We're gonna be
running dirt tomorrow.

This is the dream
that's coming together.

The sluice is in.

We're just ready to hook up
that last water line

and we're ready to go.

Okay.

Completion is another step

towards where we gotta go.

I mean, look at this thing.
It's a behemoth.

We haven't
even got to see

this trommel run yet.

You know,
we've put a hell of a lot
of work into it.

Tomorrow morning
is the moment of truth.

Well,
it's a big day, Freddy.

Yep.
Get that plant running.

You know, I'm a little
nervous about it, though.

You know, these guys are
gonna have to hustle more...

- Yeah.
- ...with this plant

and the smaller trommel.

Yeah, right now,
it's going to be

more important than ever
for them to be organized

in what they do.

Previously,
the mobile wash plant

maxed out
at 10 yards per hour.

Now, Freddy and Juan
have reignited a mining relic,

a giant 40 yard
per hour wash plant,

complete with new ponds

and water system.

Well, Juan,
show them around, huh?

Yeah, let's do it.

You guys saw
what we were doing
with the grizzlies.

We actually put some
bigger grizzlies on there.

Properly spaced.

We put
an electric start motor,

so that way
you're not in there

trying to pull a pull cord.

The big thing, too, is now

we've got a four-inch
water line coming
to your plant.

We redid all this.
It doesn't look that sexy,

but it's gonna work.
Yeah.

I got to say,
this thing looks strong.

Well, you can see
the sluice box, guys.

We reconfigured one of yours.

Yep.
- Different sides,

completely different
lockdown systems.

So, it's set up
to catch fine gold

or coarser gold as well.

Yeah, you'll be
surprised how much more gold

you'll actually see

in different riffles,
you know.

Wow.

Well,
let's fire it up, guys.

Yeah.

The trommel's
ready to go.

I think we're ready to go.

We can't wait to start it up.

I'm pretty nervous
about the four hour test.

This is definitely
a pivotal moment
for us miners.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen,
fire in the hole.

Golden sluice.

You know, Freddy,
it's really hard because,

you know, we watched
a little plant run.

We didn't get to watch
this one run,

so we really didn't know
what it was gonna need.

You ready, Jay? First bucket.

All set for the first bucket.

It's a huge
difference in there

compared to the first test.
Different plant.

The guys have
more knowledge now,

a better recovery system,
so we'll see what happens.

And we are moving
so much more material.

Two hours
into the test,

the team have churned through
80 yards of dirt,

four times the amount of pay
from the previous run.

Honestly,
for a shot in the dark,

I think we did all right.

Yeah, I think so, too.

The sluice is running good.

Yeah.
- The water system's
running good.

The grizzlies
are working good.

I mean, what a difference.

This is really
moving material.

That worked,
hey Juano!

First time running,

- I'm happy with it.
- I am as well.

This wash plant
was a complete unknown.

We didn't know how
it was really going to run.

But it's going great.

Nothing's holding us up.

Now we've got
the flow of that water,

see it's moving
all the way across,

and now that water has
to make a long journey

before it gets
to your other pond,

it makes the silt drop out.
Yep.

They're running
a lot more material.

The material coming off
the end of the trommel.

Clean.

Very proud, very happy.

And excited to see

what's gonna happen
at the end of this.

That's what it's all about.

They're a lot smoother
as a crew now.

I wouldn't say
a well-oiled machine just yet,

but they're doing pretty good.

- Lightly oiled.
- Lightly oiled.

I think they're getting
the general gist

of how it's supposed
to go down.

They're doing good, though.

Looking good, buddy,
looking good.

Well, Juan...

Last bucket, huh?

- Four hours.
- That's the run.

Hey, Jay.

Last bucket.

Copy that. Last bucket.

To see how much gold's
in the sluice box.

That's it.
Shut her down.

Hopefully,
it's in the mats.

Mm-hmm.
Yep,
buried in there.

We'll let you guys
get it cleaned up.

All right.

I always like
to see a lot of gold

when you shut down on the mat.

I didn't see a lot.

Sluice box didn't
look great at all.

So I don't know if we made
the right call going 20 times

from what we had
on our first test run.

Freddy said it,
so we gonna stick to it.

But maybe that
was the wrong call.

You wanna see something cool?
What's up?

Well, somebody made
something for you

that I'm supposed to give you.

- Really?
- Come here.

I'll show you what it is.

Well, your wife already made
your bulldog a custom cape.

Yeah, it's pretty sweet.
I like it.

Another friend of yours
made you...
No kidding.

...a hat. Hat and cape.
That is awesome.

It even matches my hard hat.

Exactly. Look at that.

Probably, smells less.

Does it fit?

Oh. Fits perfect, too.
Oh, yeah.

I like that. He looks
more distinguished now.

That's pretty cool, Juan.

It's perfect, Fred.

Absolutely perfect.

It takes five minutes
just to fill up these
little pans.

At the
Naver Creek mine,

the crew begin their cleanup.

I'm sorry
about just jumping in.
No, no, no.

Thank goodness.

But the gold bearing
concentrate

is still filled
with other heavy minerals.

What are you doing, Freddy?

Right now, we're just
using this magnet

to get the magnetic
heavies out of it

so we don't have
to deal with them.

Right.
So we are
fighting our way

through them
to get to the gold.

Yep.

Here, I got
my contractor's license, Fred.

Oh,
so you can release.

Freddy's
mining hack,

use the magnet
through a piece of plastic

to quickly release
the worthless heavy metals.

Fantastic, you guys.
Thank you.

Even though
they're novice to mining,

they're not novice
to hard work.

If you have a crew
that you enjoy being with

and you can work with
and work hard with,

you know that's worth
its weight in gold.

I mean the University of Gold
by Freddy and Juan,

we've got our
two professors there

teaching us
what gold mining is.

Getting rid
of all this.

Wow.

In five minutes

I already learned so much.

With the magnet

that was a game changer.

We cut from nine hour
clean-up to one.

So that's huge.

Got it all cooked up.

When I looked
in that sluice box,

my heart sank.
Mine too.

Yeah.
Really?

To hit Freddy's
20 times gamble,

and put the miners on course

for their 100 ounce
season goal,

from this test,

they need at least 0.4 ounces.

- It looks better
than the first one.
- That's looks a lot better.

Oh, yeah.

Okay. We just went past
your first run.

Wow.

Uh-oh.

Look at there.
There's 0.4 right there.

- There's 20 times.
- Twenty times.

There's 20 times.
Yeah.

There's a little more
of gold left.

0.49.

0.49.

Dang. Near to a half an ounce.

As far as I'm concerned,
that's a half ounce.

Half an ounce
in a four hour run.
- Thank you.

So realistically,
in a full day,

you can do an ounce.

Yeah.
Well, that
puts you on target

- for your 100 ounce
season, right?
- Yeah.

You know,
quite an ambitious goal

of a 100 ounce for the season.

With the gold weight
we just had right now,

that's a possibility.

But more than anything,
they have a future here.

Well, guys,
I couldn't be more happy.

I mean, look
at the difference.

Your guidance has been huge.
Thank you.

You guys take care. Okay.

Thank you.
Thank you so much.

Thank you guys.
- It was a pleasure.

It means everything.

It means
I get to live the life

of a gold miner.

It proves my theories
about this claim.

I'm more than happy
with everything.

You question, "Am I gonna
get a return on this?"

Freddy gave us a good path.

Juan showed us a good path
and it's working.

We're getting our money back

out of what we put
our heart and soul into.

Hey, Freddy, Juan,

just want to give you guys
a little update here.

The first snowflakes
started to fall.

But we've made it back,

and we do have some
good news for you.

Freddy, you showed me
how to prospect.

We managed to open up
some other cuts

and we really have some
great success with it.

But we can't believe
what you guys did for us.

I was really running there
at the end of the season.

The sluice box,
it's working amazing.

Now we're getting
all the gold at the top end.

You guys want to know
what our total was?

You guys, you nailed it.

You crushed it with us.

117.3 ounces

Freddy, Juan...
We love you.

We're coming back
next year.

That's the most important
thing there is.

Here's to next year.
We're coming next year.

We're coming
next season.
- Thanks, Freddy and Juan.

- Thanks guys.
- Thank you so much.