Roll it!
[narrator] On this Gold Rush...
Whoa, shut down the plant. Fred, shut it down, bud!
With the season more than half way over...
Babe, we have a huge problem.
The Lewis crew morale takes a nose dive.
John, shut the [bleep] up!
Just face it and shut your fat mouth.
Tony Beets reaches the end of his honey hole.
This is crunch hour.
I'm always nervous leaving. It just seems like that's when we have problems.
And Rick Ness puts his crew in charge.
Karl, we got a big hole in the conveyor here.
Stop. Stop! Whoa!
Hurry up back there. Let's go!
At Elkhorn Creek, rookie miner Fred Lewis is fighting
to get his mining season back on track.
The goal is to get as much paydirt through the plant
and pull all that gold out of the ground.
The crew is running pay dirt from the Liberation cut,
with best gold he's had so far.
It's all coming together finally.
Got to keep working hard at this Liberation cut.
Make sure we could find as much pay as possible.
Fred sunk his last $20,000 into the Elkhorn claim
with the hopes of paying his team in gold.
[Khara] Babe, we have a huge problem.
We're almost broke again.
But more than halfway through the season,
he's banked just 1.1 ounces of gold,
worth only $2,100.
And he's running up debts fast.
We need more gold or we need more money.
If we had the money, we can get more gold.
We have a laundry list of debts to pay right now
and we we don't have enough
in the account to cover the balance due.
Actually, I think the only way we'll be able to do this
is with an outside investor.
But we need to show gold to get an investor
Or somebody I know that trust me.
Got a buddy, Karl.
If we can give him a good enough deal,
might be worth it.
Karl and I, along with Stefan, have been through
one of the toughest times in the military I've been through.
A firefight in Afghanistan, lasted almost 48 hours.
Since he got out, he's been investing a lot in military drones.
That did really well, so I know he's good with money.
I'm kind of hoping this could be his next investment.
-Karl. -Hey, what's up?
I know you're busy. I know you got a lot of stuff going on,
but I want to know if you would maybe be interested
in investing in my gold mine in Oregon.
Wow. Do you do that? That's a big ask right there.
Dude, I think really the only way I'm gonna be able
to actually show you is to get you out here.
Yeah, I could make it out there.
I definitely want to see what you got going on.
Sweet. Glad you're interested.
I'll send you over the information of where to travel.
And then let's go from there, bro.
That sounds great, man.
Well, Karl's agreed to come out to the claim,
which is fantastic.
But if he doesn't like what he sees
and doesn't agree to invest, could be the end of the Elkhorn.
[narrator] In the Liberation cut,
Special Forces Master Sergeant Stefan Generally digs paydirt with the 400 excavator.
And I know Karl. Known him for years.
We were on the same A-team together.
And I can tell you, he's going to want to see
a cohesive, well-oiled machine of a team before he agrees to invest.
I can't blame him.
[narrator] In the 225, Sergeant Stuart McKenzie feeds the plant.
The amount of problems that we've had,
it is astronomical.
Fred has just talked to an investor, which, at this point in time,
in dire need.
We need more money up here, and we need it quick.
[man over radio] Hey, looks like there's something wrong.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, guys, shut down the plant.
Fred, shut it down, bud!
Screen deck is out.
Holy [bleep].
We lost one, two, three, four, five of these bolts.
[narrator] The lower screen deck is secured by 16 carriage bolts
held in place by half-moon washers and nuts.
The vibration of the deck has rattled the bolts loose.
Without them, the ancient wash plant could shake itself apart.
These vibrations are so violent
it's loosing itself, and the bolts
and half-moon washers are falling down into the sluice
and going over into our tailings, so they're lost forever.
I clearly see the problem here, but what's our fix?
Our fix is to get the correct carriage bolts,
-nuts and washers. -You're talking all of them that are gone?
Yes, every single one of them.
These washers were fabricated by Freddie and Juan.
We need to order them in.
It means more down time.
But we'll be able to run longer in the long term.
Ordering all those parts gonna take two days.
It's getting to a point now where if we don't run now,
there's no chance of this season being salvaged.
This thing is bouncing rocks all day.
We've got to fix it long-term.
No, I get it. But, you know, the plant's never been 100%.
I feel like we should be running.
Right now, we go for that long-term fix.
I love your enthusiasm, but I just want to make sure
that we're doing things as solid as we can.
Okay.
What I find so amazing
is somebody so keen and happy to shut down all the [bleep] time.
That's the stupidest [bleep] thing in the world not to run for it.
Hey, Fred.
Kendall doesn't care.
It doesn't feel like he cares if you fail or not.
Or if you pay back your debt. I do [bleep] care.
There's plenty of other broken-down pieces of equipment around here.
We'll go find them.
-Maybe at least come look. -I'll look at them.
[narrator] If Stuart can salvage the right washers from the bone yard,
they can get the plant back up and running.
We got these ones right here and then on the other side,
I saw some, too.
Just take a stack of those.
Maybe even go look over around here.
But there is [bleep] here that we can use.
-I like this. -Okay.
Worth a shot while we're sitting around.
I know. That's exactly what I'm saying.
I like your way of thinking.
Right now, we're few washers short.
The easy solution is to call somebody to have him make them,
and wait two days to have it be made.
Stuart was right, we don't have time for that [bleep]
If we're going to try to prove ourselves to an investor,
we really have to be running.
I'm gonna put these washers on and try and bend it into place.
[grunting]
Push.
Just a kind of brute strength and turn it into a shape we need.
[narrator] Stewart bends the salvaged flat washers into a half moon.
We needed a half moon, so made a half moon.
-You bet those washer is in there? -Yeah
We still get all fired up, to solve problems, so right now,
it's looking like he may have done it.
We have so many down days, and so many days where something breaks.
If we have water, we have a capability of a running plant.
We have gas in the excavator, we should be running.
All right, so we're ready to test this bad boy out?
Johnny, you ready?
[narrator] Now to find out if Stewart's bush fix has worked.
All right, Fire it up.
It's fantastic.
It's gone on [bleep] okay, basically taking the bolt.
You know, when it comes down to the part
if no one else wants to do it, then I guess I got to fix it my [bleep] self.
I don't think that's a permanent fix.
I don't, but it's working.
It's working well right now, so I'm not gonna want to [bleep] with it.
Now, I let Kendell as the one to make decisions,
but if somebody comes to me with a better one,
we're going to go with that. Good call by Stewart.
I'm pretty happy with the way things are going right now.
The plant is styled in, everything's running nice and smooth.
Unfortunately, just like every other season, though,
there's been some major [bleep] bumps along the way.
And that's caused a gaping hole in my pocket right now.
[narrator] More than halfway through the season,
Rick Ness has banked over 500 ounces.
He needs around 70 ounces a week to hit his $1,000 season goal,
but now he needs to pay an overdue fuel bill to carry on mining.
I gotta go and sell some gold so I could pay these bills.
I'm always nervous leaving.
It seems like that's when we have problems.
There he is.
-Ricky. -Well, uh, I just want you guys to know
that I got to go sell some gold to keep fuel truck coming in.
So it's gonna be up to Karl to keep things moving while I'm away.
Yeah, you better, yeah.
Like when he's asking you to do a certain thing,
he has that authority, you listen to Karl.
-Perfect. -And that being said,
we're over 1,800 bucks an ounce.
Where that's really going to add up is when you guys get bonus, right?
The more gold we get, the more gold you guys get.
Hopefully I can get back before any real [bleep] happen.
-Okay. -Yeah?
-I'll get up there. -Let's do this.
-Okay, man. -You good?
All right. Yeah.
I'm always a little apprehensive of leaving the mine.
I don't really have a choice.
I've got a lot of big bills right now.
Pretty sure Karl's got it handled.
[narrator] While Rick's away, it's mechanic Karl Rosk's job
to keep wash plant rocky running a hundred yards of creek cut every hour.
I take care of things for Rick when he's not around,
and he trusts me, right?
So I try to do the best job as I can.
We want to see lots of gold in the box.
So just keeping everybody keeping their eye on the prize, right?
[narrator] With less than two months before the Yukon winter shuts them down,
every yard counts.
Trees are changing. We never even got summertime.
Every day that goes by is one day closer to get frozen.
Karl is actually the perfect guy to leave in charge here
when Rick's not around. He really, really gets it.
I think he is a natural boss. [laughing]
I mean, he's kind of bossy.
He certainly has a temper,
but he's got the most experience.
[narrator] Karl met Rick...
When he joined Parker's crew in 2015.
He started mining with his late grandfather when he was 12 years old.
[Mark] Karl's got big shoes to fill here.
Let's face it. No one's got a work ethic like him.
I got to work every day for 90 days straight,
and not bat an eyelash.
[narrator] Karl's high school buddy, Mark Doverspike feeds the plant.
Basically, we're just trying to keep this working.
We've had some long days, but that's called life.
Ultimately, if Rick succeeds, we all succeed with him.
Yeah.
[bleep]
Karl doesn't like it.
Hey, Karl. Can I get a copy, bud?
-[Karl on radio] Go ahead. -This hopper feeder's plugged.
All right, buddy. I'll be right down.
-What happened? -It's plugged.
This first couple loads were more or less mud,
and the upper feeder's now jam-packed with clay.
[narrator] Clay is a gold miner's worst nightmare.
-[bleep] man. -Never ends.
I think it's plugged solid, man.
I have never seen a hopper this bad in years.
You got clay and rock together?
Yeah, the rock is like the support, and the lay binds it.
It's like building materials.
It's kind of a pain in the butt.
You know, Rick's been gone for not even half a day.
And we already miss him.
[narrator] Every hour the plant is down,
makes it harder for Karl to hit Rick's 70 ounce weekly target.
You want to try to hit the bucket in there and I'll be your eyes?
That would help, I hate.
[narrator] Faced with hours of digging,
Karl comes up with a risky solution.
So we're just going to try to get the bucket in here, the bucket is bigger.
But we're gonna try to move this dirt around just like that
because it's hard as a rock in here.
Try to do it the easy way, but with all racking.
It's kind of dangerous later.
Huh. What do you do?
Karl's gambling on the 11-foot three-ton loader bucket fitting in to the hopper.
There. Slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down.
Okay, you're getting close.
Nice and easy, buddy. Nice and easy.
Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.
Yeah, that's about it. Now, give it a curl up.
Stop.
Woah!
Stop.
Woah! [bleep]
You all right?
I wasn't ready for that. I was like... [grunting]
Just a little nerve-racking up there.
Three.
We got a hole.
[narrator] At Dunkin Creek, Karl Rosk is running Rick's operation while he's gone.
But a clogged hopper feeder has shut the plant down.
We cut that hole in the top now.
Hopefully, we can get it to sloughing on itself.
Just using the lid there. There's a little bit of weight on it,
trying to get it shaked up.
The hopper is clean, right?
Coming out of it, eh?
Little by little.
-Nasty [bleep] -[Karl] Look at that.
We're moving now, buddy.
Rick would definitely be fuming right now
because the plant's been off for a while, eh.
It's been an expensive morning.
[narrator] The shutdown has cost two hours of down time,
and nearly $4,000 in lost gold.
We gotta get this thing fired up,
get thrown in the air, get some loosing.
Hold it, keep this running for the rest of the day.
I got the power running right,
but we lost some gold but hopefully the rest of my day is easy.
[narrator] With record-high gold prices,
king of the Klondike, Tony Beets,
is all in for a 3,000-ounce season goal.
[narrator] Mike's trommel
is chowing through the 18-acre mega cut,
and the shaker is running 50,000 yards
of old-timer tailings,
which have already produced 200 ounces of gold
worth over $360,000.
This is the cheapest way of gold mining I have ever seen.
It's just me and Terrence out here running the whole show.
[narrator] Three weeks into the tailings,
the two-man operation
is down to the last 12,000 yards.
Ruby Mahoney feeds the plant
while mechanic and rookie operator,
Terrence Swanson, runs the loader.
Hey, Terrence.
Hey, you know what? Hey, you can show me
how to be a mechanic.
I work better alone with God.
[chuckles]
[Ruby] Today is a little bit more interesting than others.
I have a different loader operator.
So right now we have Terrence.
And that's my boyfriend.
So right now, I just get to sit up here
and judge all of his operating skills.
[laughs]
I'm gonna hop down
and just show you a little trick with the edge, okay?
[Terrence] Okay.
[narrator] It's boyfriend Terrence's first day
in a loader.
So you're making quite a burn for yourself.
A really good thing to do is, every time you go and dump,
when your bucket is tilted like this,
you can put it down
-and scrape this part back. -All right.
So that you're killing two jobs at once.
Okay.
Sounds good.
-Thank you. -Good luck.
[Ruby] We've been given very different roles here.
He's not an operator.
He's a heavy-duty mechanic.
I run the machines.
He fixes them when I break them.
So the fact that he can even run them a little bit, like,
if roles were reversed,
I'd be like, I don't know, I know how to put in oil.
[laughs] Like...
Yeah, it's been great working with Ruby.
She's taught me a lot already.
I didn't realize there was so much to operating.
There's a bunch of things you'd never think of,
just to be a little bit more efficient.
Whoo! You guys are really making me work here,
talking and operating at the same time, jeez.
I love you.
What the [bleep]!
[rumbling]
[rumbling continues]
-[sighs] Holy! -[Terrence] What happened?
I don't know. I think the plant is jammed.
Kevin, we have a major problem here at the shaker deck.
-[Tony speaking] -Yeah.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Welder and wash plant specialist,
Cody Hunter, steps in.
When a belt has been loose, and not gripping,
the pulley spins inside the belt
instead of gripping to the pulley.
So that makes the inside of the pulley shiny, almost.
When that happens, it's called a glazed belt.
So you're losing traction, basically.
So what is happening when you lose traction
is this shaker is not shaking.
So it's not separating all the material
the way that it should.
So we're gonna change this pulley
and put a new belt on.
Ten, 15 minutes, we'll be rolling.
Oh, wait a minute, need the bigger one.
Uh, Terrence just brought the new pulley.
So all we gotta do now is just slide it on.
Beautiful.
[whirring]
Oh.
[bleep]
So we're trying to change this pulley here,
and the way that these go together,
it's just a shaft coming out of the motor.
And then there's a taper lock that holds
this pulley on to the shaft.
And the taper lock has now come apart in pieces.
So it's, uh...
They're usually quite simple, but, uh, this taper lock
has seen better days.
[narrator] On Tony's shaker deck,
a taper lock secures the pulley to the shaft.
Kevin has removed the grub screws,
but the taper has cracked and jammed inside the pulley.
If [bleep] wasn't broke,
we'd have that [bleep] pulley off already.
However, the taper lock that's in there,
well, it's in pieces.
This thing is gonna be miserable [bleep]...
-The whole [bleep] way. -Yeah.
It's kind of a shame how it's just one thing after another with this [bleep].
[both] She's out.
This is what it's supposed to be in there.
This is what holds the pulley tight to the shaft.
So when you go to take this apart,
you use the bolts that are in it
to push this lock away from the pulley.
This is what was in that one.
When it broke in half, all the bits and pieces come out
and we had no threads for the bolts to push it away.
So it just required some tender love.
[Kevin] Yeah, and now we gotta put it all back together.
[machine whirring]
[Kevin] Okay.
Got a new belt on, new pulley on.
Hopefully it works.
[Tony speaking]
Everything's together, about to fire her up.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] The Beets are back on the gold.
I'm just hoping that it was just a hiccup, 'cause this is crunch hour.
We need to get through this material as fast as we possibly can.
[narrator] Rick Ness is in Dawson City
selling gold to pay his fuel bill
and keep his operation running.
-Hey, Rick. -Darren.
-How's it going? Good to see you, man. -[Rick] You too.
[Darren] All right, let's see what you got.
All right.
Not bad for a cleanup. That's pretty good.
So what is the gold price at today?
-Uh, we're just at just over $1,900. -Right on.
So, you're at Duncan Creek, right?
Yeah. Duncan Creek, obviously well known for its silver.
Yeah. So you're gonna have other medals in the gold there.
And silver made a huge jump this year.
Yeah, that all helps, right?
-Prices are up across the board. -Yeah, I know.
Price of silver's up. Price of gold's up.
-It's a good year! -It's a good year to be in the business.
-Doesn't make it easier to find it though, does it? -No, it does not.
-[Aaron laughing] Thanks very much. -Yeah.
[Aaron] I'll pop it in the safe.
We'll, uh, send it down and give you some money tomorrow.
-[Rick] Awesome. -Good luck for the rest of the season.
-We'll see you soon. -Yeah, thanks man.
[Aaron] All right.
Having a small crew's awesome, but sure makes
for a lot more work for everybody, right?
[Narrator] Back at Duncan Creek, mechanic Carl runs the operation.
After losing half a day to a clogged topper,
Carl is doubling up his mechanic and loader operator to keep the plant on pay.
If there's no [bleep] leadership or direction, we'd be [bleep].
I try to do even better when Rick's gone.
You can't ride anybody else if you're gonna be lazy.
So, I'm moving the fines right now.
Get him away from the plant.
We... we have to deal with it.
So I'd work my ass off, right?
[Narrator] In the creek cut, rock truck driver Chris Kruse is hauling pay.
[Chris] The good thing is, Rick's got people here you can trust.
Carl stepped up. He's taking the reins here
in Rick's absence.
I think the last thing that Carl wants to do is let him down. I know that.
This material that we're digging in here
is super saturated, so if you don't dig it correctly
and put it in a machine properly, that [bleep] shut down the plant
-for the day. -[Narrator] Newest crew member Ben Bellai feeds the plant.
There's no room for [bleep] ups around here.
If you [bleep] up anything, all the gold goes off,
so there's no point in being here if that happens.
So Carl runs a very, very tight ship.
Oh, no.
[tense music]
[grunting]
Hello, Carl?
Yeah, buddy, you better get down here.
Ahhh, we got a big hole in the conveyor here.
Not [bleep] good.
Yeah, dude that's huge.
You could fit your head through there.
[Carl] [bleep] me, man. What I need is a new belt.
[Ben] Well, is there any possibility to get a belt right now?
[Carl] With the time frame we got, I won't get a belt
'til the season's over, right?
[Narrator] Every hour the wash plant is not running,
Carl is losing Rick two thousand dollars.
-[Ben] What we'll do... right. -[Chris] We're gonna cut this out.
[Narrator] Running the belt yesterday while the hopper was jammed
with rocks, has worn a hole.
We're gonna cut that [bleep] up section out. Put a new section in. Found me a piece
of rubber. There's not the same thickness so it's a little scabby. But it's
all we got, right? So, I'm gonna roll the punches here and get her up and running
and get back sluicing.
What, send it over the crane?
Hey, when you got time, I... I'm ready.
Carl] Yeah, I know. This [bleep] crane is slow as [bleep].
[dramatic music] Almost over top!
Yup! She's good to go. Bring her up!
Right now, we're putting some wood crosses to brace it.
So we have a nice flat surface to work on.
-There you go. -This is nice.
Just like we know what we're doing.
Almost.
Um, I'm gonna cut that section out.
I'm gonna put it on here. Trace it out,
put it back in there,
and Bob's your uncle.
[bleep] yeah, it's gonna be scabby as [bleep]
and I don't want my name beside it but it is what it is.
It's what you gotta do in the Yukon, man.
[heavy drumbeats]
[bleep] Oh my God.
No, I'm gonna do one, two, one, two. And then we can put this in here.
[Carl] Since I've been with Rick, I've been his right hand man.
You know, I just try to fill his boots as best I can, right,
when he's not around. Try to do an even better job
when they're away, right? Just as a peace of mind for Rick.
Might not be the best mechanic out there
but I'm definitely a hardworking one.
We've been down all of the day. We've lost twenty thousand dollars, easily.
In the big picture,
that's a lot of money, right?
Back to minin'!
Good job, buddy.
[Narrator] Carl's lost the best part of a day, but he's got them back on the gold.
[victorious music] Good job, yeah!
We're back sluicin' now, so hopefully this thing'll hold together.
[Carl] We need to get gold in those runs if we want to get to our goal.
Really, our point right now is to get our "A" game on and to operate as smoothly
as we can so we can prove to the investor we're worth investing in.
[Narrator] Fifteen hundred miles south, in Oregon,
rookie mine boss Fred Lewis is out of cash
and needs investment to keep his operation running.
We're kind of point where we need to bring somebody on board
to help pay the bills if we're gonna make this a success,
and I think Karl's the perfect person to do that.
Make sure that valve by your knee is open.
Yeah, that one.
Just make sure it's open.
[Narrator] Fred's foreman, Kendell Madden, is the only member of the team
-with mining experience. -[Kendell] Teaching these guys... something
I take a lot of pride in. And with Fred's friend talking about investing,
I hope what he sees is enough to keep him interested so we could keep going.
I don't have to worry about what another guy's doing.
I've got to worry about this machine and that machine.
[Narrator] Marine Staff Sergeant Johnny Stanz is in charge of
-getting water to the plant. -When we're all new to mining, We're really trying to
figure it out. Instead of just showing us what we should be doing,
Kendell still tries to give orders.
[Kendell] Johnny's job is to be working our water.
He's working two pumps and a couple hundred feet of hose,
and I kinda gotta make sure that he's doing everything step by step.
You can tell Johnny's strugglin'. Don't wanna have to baby him,
but there's quite a few tasks where you gotta hold his hand
-[Johnny] Hey Kendell. -[Kendell] Go ahead.
[Johnny] We got a hole that sprang an awful lot.
So, can you come down here and check it out?
[Kendell] Yeah, I'll come down there and check it out.
Shut it down.
Looks like your topside dam is having a whole bunch of issues, too.
-[Kendell] It's just gushin' straight through. -A freaking damn road,
gosh dang it. I gotta see what the heck's wrong with that.
[Narrator] Silty water from the sluices is flooding into the feeder pond.
The screen broke on the... on the upper dam
and there's a hole in the hose down there, so now we gotta fix 'em both.
Yeah.
So, Johnny, dam is workin' down there perfect.
What?
What the [bleep]?
Thought we had enough people.
Enough people? This is your job!
Could we just tape it like that one?
You like half assing your job?
[Johnny] Are you kidding me? I'm up there fixing the filter.
-Okay. -Fix the friggin' thing.
John, shut the [bleep] up. Are you gonna [bleep] do anything right?
Or is everyone gonna have to fix your [bleep] for you
all the [bleep] damn time, huh?
Just fix the holes, you [bleep].idiot.
Then give me the wrench.
I'm sorry. Who is in charge of who here?
Fred's in charge of me. You ain't the boss.
Oh, I'm not the [bleep] foreman!
How much [bleep] experience do you have
in a [bleep] mine, huh?
None. What do you think you're the [bleep] water boy?
Just fix it and shut your fat mouth!
You're not doing anything here anyway.
Go [bleep] sit on your ass like you normally do.
No paid pension. Like normal.
Just getting of everyone else doing his[bleep] job for him.
When two problems come up at once,
we got to call another person.
Who's the one guy who's always not doing something?
Freaking Canyon.
Ge ain't the box. He's the freaking
sit in the seats by six douchebags.
[bleep] Johnny.
I'm doing Johnny's job like every other [bleep] time
that something goes wrong with his thing. It's a constant thing.
It be one thing if it was like a [bleep] learn from your mistake.
But this stupid bastard just keeps [bleep] up.
[narrator] At Elkhorn Creek, rookie mine boss Fred Lewis
is out of cash. And his crew is at a breaking point.
[man] There's an urgency to the things that we're trying to do here.
-Fred. Fred. -What's up?
Freaking idiot.
-What? Kendall? -Yes.
So you just missed "John, what the friggin' heck..."
I'm like, "Freaking idiot, there's two of us.
There's two of us. There's two problems. One person per problem, right?
All right, so let's deal with this as a group
'cause some things he does, they're robbing other people
wrong, too. Let's do it like we do in the military.
Let's have an after action review. I know you're pissed off.
He's probably got his story, too.
We'll hash it out, and if he has a problem with everybody's opinion,
he's gonna have to make some adjustments.
I'll address it.
You know, with my investor car coming in,
I really want to nip all these problems in the bud,
so I'm gonna go ahead and do an after action review.
Someone wise once told me it's not how
you handle conflict, it's how you resolve it.
Can I get everybody to shut vehicles down
and come to the colonel, please?
[vehicle engine powering down]
I kind of wanted to gather everybody together
and do like a little after action review.
We're all getting tired, and annoyed that we don't have gold yet.
It's wearing on us all.
But we've got to come together as a team.
If we're not a team, what this is for?
I want us all to respect each other
better than we're doing right now.
On lines of respect, you guys have to understand
that Kendall's been doing this a lot longer than all of us.
So his opinions are valid.
I was just upset about how you presented the...
'Cause we had two problems going on, two of us.
I hopped on you a little rough.
I... I agree.
And I'm sorry I did.
But, Kendall, the problem is, everybody feels a little bit too managed.
The path that you're taking is a little off.
Oh, I can't agree with that.
I think does... Is everyone else...
[Fred] That's why I'm here.
That's why I want everybody else... Stuart.
I don't know. I just feel that somebody does something,
makes a call and it doesn't work out.
Sometimes you get a little bit hotheaded.
Agreed. Agreed. I'm a little high head.
I guess that's why I keep trying to jump in is because I know
when things were gonna fail
and I can see it from a mile away.
But there's only a few of us on this mine site,
so we have to stay as a team.
And if that means I got to swallow my pride
a little bit, I'm gonna have to do it.
[Kendall] Johnny, get over here.
Exactly. Let's get a group hug.
-[Johnny] I'm sorry. -[man] It's all water under the bridge.
[man 2] Let's get some work done.
[Johnny] Me and Kendall definitely had our scuffle.
But you've got to get over it.
You got to accomplish the mission.
We've apologized, we're friends again.
[engine revving]
[man] RPMs are good.
Roll in.
[Fred] Everything's looking good.
[Fred] So I think the ARA did its purpose,
a lot of the tension that we're having
is because we aren't pulling any gold.
Right now we need to move forward as a team
so we can prove to the investor we're worth investing in.
[woman] I'm very curious to see what the mines
are gonna look like after all of these old timer
tailings have been sluiced.
[narrator] At the shaker deck,
Operator Ruby Mahoney is feeding the plant
with the last of the old timer tailing.
One of Tony's biggest gambles of the season.
This year, with gold prices being so high,
we were able to take risks that I don't think Tony would have taken before.
But fuel prices being so low, Tony is going to get
a good payout for a very minimal investment.
This is the last scoop going in.
We can hold mats, do its clean up.
And we will see what these old timers have left behind for us.
And just like that, we're done. Good job.
No, no. No operation of reruns completely smooth.
And I'm just really hoping that all of the downtime
and headache that these old timer tailings
put me and this plant through are worth it.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see what's in here.
[narrator] The rest of the Beets family
joins Ruby for the final cleanup.
We had a bit of issues with the plant,
but while I intend to set up a plant again,
there's always seething issues.
Hopefully, this time we get another good payout.
And we get that much close to the 2,000oz goal.
It's free money. So excited to see what we got.
[man] That's the last of the old timers tailings.
Shame there wasn't more, but it was free, so let's see what we get.
[narrator] At Dunkin Creek, after a week of shifting dirt,
gold room operator Carla finds a way to keep cool.
[Carla] I've been eyeballing Duncan Creek in months,
so I'm gonna give it a try.
[laughing]
Whoo! It's rushing.
That was awesome.
I would do that all day.
It's the only reason I work hard is to play hard.
I'm gonna do it again.
I've invested every penny I have into this, and I don't have a lot left.
[narrator] At Elkhorn Creek, rookie miner Fred Lewis needs a cash injection
fast to save him from shutting down the mine.
So he's called on his military buddy, Carl Smith, to see if he wants to invest.
Carl is a really good friend, but he's such a good friend
I know he's going to be honest, and that's a little nerve-wracking.
What's up, man? It's good to see you, brother.
-How you been? -What you got for me up here, man?
This looks pretty awesome. Beautiful area. A little slice of America.
[Fred Lewis] Ready to check it out? [Carl Smith] Yeah.
All right, dude. Pretty much right here.
You could see the whole thing.
-That's all we got, okay? -So what's the gold like?
You know, I'm not going to lie.
The gold coming out of the ground is a lot harder than I thought it was going to.
I know the guys are new.
It's not that. Eighty percent of the time we're down is because of equipment,
and it's just costing me more money than I thought.
If we could just invest a little bit more,
we got a really good shot here.
-All right. -You want to go see what my staff is up to?
-Hell, yeah. - Stefan, I got somebody here wants to talk to you.
You got a minute?
[Carl] What's it been, like, eight years since I seen Stefan?
[Fred] Yeah.
[narrator] Carl spent three years in the military with Fred and Stefan
serving on the same Special Forces team in northern Africa and Afghanistan.
Oh, [bleep]... What's up, man?
Not much, man. It's great to see you.
[Stefan] What do you think?
It's a lot. I'm impressed.
Let you get back in the hole, man.
This is Candle and Stuart.
First impressions always mean a lot.
And the first impression, the team is real good.
You know, you want to see a good operation,
but, you know, from the business side,
we've got to sit down and talk some numbers, so this is nowhere near a done deal yet.
So what do you think, dude?
It looks good. I like the guys absolutely. I mean, obviously
with Stefan being out here, that really adds to it.
So what's your estimate right now,
what this claim can give you? Will give us, right?
-Yeah, you're right. - We're gonna partner on this.
You're right. I think there's a possibility
to pull fifty ounces of gold out of this one acre.
And that's pretty ambitious, obviously, because you're starting out.
What are the numbers here to get you through this season?
We have about eight to ten weeks left, depending on the weather.
We have lease costs, fuel costs, and maintenance costs.
On average, you could run the mine for about five grand a week.
And I'm confident that if we had that capital,
we could mine till the end of the season, no problem.
Compared to my other investments, there's a lot of risk here, Fred.
Yeah, and I'm telling you right now, Carl, it's a gamble.
But I feel like the biggest investment
you could make is not in the gold that we're going to get this year.
but in the team. We're going to pull
-every ounce of paydirt out of this claim that we can. -Yep.
And if the gold's there that's supposed to be there, we're going to do really well.
But that's the risk you take in gold mining.
From us being teammates, man,
I know that you can solve most any problem put in front of you.
I like the guys. They're vets, you know, That gives me
a higher degree of confidence that you guys could make this happen.
Putting myself out there quite a bit for you,
but that says a lot about my faith in you.
But for that, I need 10 percent and the repayment of the loan,
- Okay. -and I'll cover your expenses to get you through this season
You know, 10 percent's quite a bit.
I've still got to get the claim owners 15.
The guys still have to get a cut, but you need to have some skin in this.
I think that... I think ten percent's pretty good.
All right, we got a deal. Let's do it.
[narrator] With a deal secured and investment until the end of the season,
the team's hopes of striking it rich are still alive.
Hey, everybody, Carl is officially on board.
We have an investor.
Let's get that gold.
-Back in business. -[bleep] Yeah, man.
Getting Carl on board, getting that investor, that's [bleep] awesome.
That's exactly what we needed.
That means we can keep going the rest of the season
and hopefully can find all that gold.
[Carl] Fred's done a phenomenal job selling me on the vision.
But at the end of the day, this is business.
and I'm investing my money and I expect to get the full return.
[Fred] It's not just my money now, it's one of my best friend's money.
So from here on, it's gonna be a lot more focus on what we're doing
and where we're spending money and why.
But it gives us the financial freedom to keep mining and to keep that dream alive.
-Hi, guys. -Hi, Mike.
[narrator] At Paradise Hill,
the Beets family assemble for their weekly gold weigh.
-How did your trowel go, Mike? -Slow, consistent.
But I would like them trommels so much more than [bleep] screen decks any day.
[Minnie Beets] So how was the shaker deck?
So we cleaned up that last bit of tailings, eh?
So should we weigh some up, then?
[Minnie] Yeah, we should. We should do the shaker deck first.
[man] Let's do this.
[narrator] The old timer tailings have averaged 66 ounces a week.
[Minnie] Twenty 30, 40, 51.48.
- Not bad. -Yeah, right?
[narrator] Worth close to $100,000.
Total for screen decks, 250.52.
[narrator] Tony's gamble on the old timer tailings
has delivered half a million dollars.
-Yes. -[narrator reading] Mike's trommel has been running
- mega cut pay. -[Minnie] That's a nice jar.
[narrator] To hit their 3,000-ounce season goal,
the Beets need to average 205 ounces a week,
so Mike's trommel needs to deliver at least 154 ounces.
[Mike] 180, 190, 200, 209.8.
[narrator] Worth $400,000.
So that's an ounce and a half an hour?
So what's our season total?
Our season total is 1,827.76.
[narrator] Worth $3.3 million.
You guys should go on to do some more.
Nice seeing you all.
I think you sure done well.
How you doing, man? What's up, guys?
[narrator reading] Rick Ness is back at Dunkin Creek
to find out how well mechanic Carl
ran the mine while he was away.
[Rick] That always does give me anxiety.
It just never seems like a good time.
Right? It's like leaving a bunch of teenagers
at the house for the weekend, right?
[woman] Yee-haw.
Thanks for stepping up, Carl.
-I appreciate it. -Pretty big boots to fill, my friend.
-I don't know about that. -You know, we had a struggle,
but, we still did some sluicing, at least.
[Rick] You guys did what was right.
You know, you solved the problem and you got her going.
Well, should we weigh up what we got?
Let's see, man.
[narrator] To his his season-long goal of 1,000 ounces
[Rick] All right, here we go.
[narrator] Rick needs to hit seventy a week.
[Rick] Forty, 50, 60, so over 70.
[man] That is impressive.
-[Rick] 73.46. -[narrator] Worth over $130,000.
Amen to that, guys. That is... That's the real deal there.
[narrator] And pushing his total to 597 ounces,
more than he got in the whole of last season.
-Better than last year. -[Rick] Better than last year.
Awesome, awesome.
Let's just put it this way.
I think we're at about a quarter of the cost.
Gold price is way up A third of the time,
We're ahead of where we were last season.
That's worth [bleep] cheers, right?
[man] Yeah, man.
-Cheers, guys. -Cheers.
Yeah.
[narrator] On the nextGold Rush .
Come on, Doyle.
[narrator] A new generation joins the crew.
They're sluicing out of a mud hole, an actual mudhole.
[narrator] Fred needs a hero
[Fred] Let's see if we can winter down. [narrator] to save his season.
This is our best shot right now.
Kendall, Kendall, whoa.
That's the last scoop.
-Yeah. -[narrator] And it's the end of an era.
What a nice feeling. [narrator] for Parker and his crew.
We got some pretty good numbers of gold out of this thing.
That's never enough.