Original subtitles

[dramatic music playing]

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

[narrator] Since 1896, prospectors have flocked to the Klondike gold fields

with dreams of striking it rich.

[Parker] History is full of miners who made a lot of money and lost it all.

I'm super nervous.

[narrator] Parker Schnabel came to the Yukon

on the hunt for gold when he was just 18 years old.

After years of fighting to establish a foothold,

now, at the age of 28,

he's made the biggest gamble of his career.

We spent $15 million on Dominion.

It's a steep price, but it's a huge block of ground.

Not only is there a ton of ground, but it's richer.

[narrator] In a blockbuster deal,

Parker has gone all in and acquired one of the last big pieces

of ground available in the Klondike.

Dominion Creek.

[Parker] After 10 years on the Indian River, we're done there.

The license is over.

We're moving our yard and our camp over to Dominion.

[Tyson] Come on, Jarvis.

It's time to move to our new home.

-[beeping] -[metal shifting]

[Jordan] All right. Let's go trucking.

[narrator] 10 miles northeast of his old claims,

Dominion Creek covers roughly 7,500 acres,

an area half the size of Manhattan,

potentially holding up to 80,000 ounces of gold

worth $160 million.

Parker is now one of the largest landowners in the Klondike.

But the $15 million price tag could wipe him out before he even begins.

[Parker] It's like buying a boat.

Like, if you can barely afford to buy the boat,

you shouldn't have a boat.

Right?

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

you shouldn't have a gold mine. [chuckling]

And I can barely afford to.

We're moving 10 years-worth of mining operation

in record time.

[adventurous music playing]

This is getting pretty soft.

Yeah, gonna need a push.

[metal whining]

[tires whirring]

Yeah. Push, push.

Yeah, it's going

[narrator] With the majority of his cash spent on buying the claim,

Parker needs to get gold out of the ground immediately to stay afloat.

What's happening?

I'm trying to figure out what the best...

Way of dealing with [chuckles] all of this is.

This property has taken out a few people,

and nobody has really come out of it very far ahead.

And you're looking at 40 foot deep ground.

[Mitch] Oh wow.

And we're gonna have to have a lot of work done

before we're washing any rocks and making any money.

So I think that, like, just like, step one

is to just get those cuts down to gravel

or something that will start falling.

-Right? -Yeah.

Do you have a rough idea of how much you need to pull out

or would like to pull out of the ground

to kind of keep things floating?

Like, to not be totally screwed,

we need to do 5,000 ounces this season.

And so, where that comes from, I don't really know.

[narrator] 5,000 ounces would cover Parker's costs and the payments for Dominion.

But to reach the pay layer,

he needs to remove 40 feet of worthless overburden.

[Parker] If you start thinking about all of it,

that's an overwhelming amount of work.

-Just put on those horse blinders. -[Mitch] Yep.

-All right. Thanks, guys. -[Mitch] Thanks, man.

-[Tyson] Let's go do it. -Yeah.

All right, let's see what this place is all about.

Let's get ready to move some dirt.

[Tyson] I don't know what you're thinking, Mitch,

but, man, this is some deep ground.

It's gonna take a little bit for us to get this out of here.

It doesn't seem that bad when you're just looking at it on paper.

But once you come out here and start moving this dirt,

it's a long way to the bottom.

It's not gonna be easy.

We're in the money pit right now here

because we're gonna spend a whole bunch

before we ever see anything come out of this.

[narrator] To offset Dominion's stripping costs,

Parker needs to find a quick stash of gold.

It's a precarious situation we're in at the moment.

We're going to run out of money in about eight to ten weeks.

I think the only way we can kind of get over this hump

is to sluice a bunch of tailings

and see if there's any gold in it.

[narrator] Gold and tailings from previous miners...

Right there is fine.

...could buy Parker the time needed to unlock

Dominion Creek's $160 million treasure chest.

That is Gold Run, which was a super rich creek,

and where it dumped into Dominion

I'm guessing was, you know, in this area right here.

I think there's gonna be a bunch of gold in the tailings.

If there is, it's great because there's no stripping, they're thawed.

And we need to get some money coming in

because we're going to be broke very soon.

[narrator] To see if there's enough gold to sluice,

Parker runs a test yard of tailings through a mini trommel.

So if we run a yard, we need to get 155 milligrams,

-[Mitch] 40 buckets? -40 buckets.

Holy cow! We're flying!

-[Parker] Last one? -Last one.

We're going to go pan her down, weigh it up, see what we've got.

[narrator] For the test, Parker wants to see

at least 155 milligrams of gold

to know the tailings are good enough to process.

54.

That means it sucks.

[man] Right.

It's so annoying.

[narrator] Parker needs a new plan fast,

or his dreams of $160 million worth of gold will be over before he's begun.

Anytime anybody says, "Oh, so and so has so much money.

They couldn't even spend it all."

I'm like... [chuckles]

Does he want to buy a gold mine?

[majestic music playing]

[Rick] I made the long trek from Wisconsin right now,

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

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

[narrator] Rick Ness has been MIA after his life fell apart.

Now, he's back.

[Rick] There was just a lot of turmoil.

A lot of, you know, mental things just,

you know, a lot of things I wasn't paying attention to

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

[narrator] Rick needs a big payday to get his life back on track.

[Rick] I need 1,000 ounces of [bleep] to make everything work.

Once I had clarity, you know, I got my [bleep] together.

And now-- Now finally, I'm up here,

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

[Zee] There he is.

[bleep] made it.

[narrator] During his year away,

most of Rick's old crew have moved on,

except for hometown buddy, Zee Zaremba.

-To Keno. -Keno or bust.

So last May, when I was over there,

you were thinking about going up, and you ended up not going up, eh?

[Rick] Yeah, yeah, I was leading the game,

and I just-- I just was not prepared.

Prepared for mining or prepared for life?

[heavy exhale]

Yeah, prepared for pretty much anything.

I mean, it's... A lot of things fell apart, you know.

Being totally open and honest, you know, I just didn't have the energy to do anything.

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

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

-Yeah. -[Rick] Surprise, surprise, that didn't work.

You know, that ain't me now.

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

All this stuff like, there's something that started it.

You know, like, the depression.

You know, I lost my mom and-- And everything went to [bleep] after that.

[somber music playing]

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

and we-- We brought her out of the house and I locked the door.

Okay? I didn't go up there for five years.

I ignored it, you know. I ignored it. I pushed it out.

Like, I don't want to go up there.

So...

So, um...

Yeah, just give me a second.

But, you know, I was pretty solid

going in to deal with it, and-- And I did.

I went up there [voice wavering] and got all the pictures and...

[clears throat]

Well, I got everything I need, you know, to remind me of her.

And then, I sold her house.

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

That's not her. Yeah.

It felt really good to do that,

you know what I mean, so-- It did.

I mean, that was the turning point.

You know, it was like my mom was helping me out again.

You know, I sold her house, and--

And that was the money I needed to-- To get back up here.

-You know, to get going again. -Right.

[groans] It is--

-Well, let's do this. Let's do her proud. -Yeah. [chuckles]

That's why I'm here.

[melancholic music playing]

-Huh. -Oh boy.

[Zee] I need snowshoes so I don't go through.

[narrator] Rick's first step to jumpstart his comeback,

get his equipment up and running.

[Rick] There she is, buddy.

Monster Red. Right where I left her.

[Zee] Did you think it would move?

You never know.

The [bleep] is hitting me now.

I appreciate you coming up this year,

especially just to get me started like this.

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

[Rick] Yeah, it almost feels like I never left.

We could start it up right now.

[narrator] Rick and Zee work all week

to get his operations sluicing.

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

[engine starts]

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

The nugget sluice is raging, sluice boxes are even.

-Let's put some power to it. -[button clicks]

-[machinery whirring] -[rattling]

Ah, isn't that smooth? Smooth, smooth, smooth.

[bleep] yeah.

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

That's fine. I'll watch.

[Rick] Holy [bleep]

Whoa Nelly.

[narrator] Rick loads stockpiled pay dirt into Monster Red.

First scoop is in, boys!

[Zee] Rick is probably the most motivated

that I've seen him, which is great.

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

[narrator] After running several hours...

[machine powers down]

...Rick shuts down to check for gold.

[Zee] How's she looking?

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

-[Zee] Hey. Hey, hey. There's some here. -Is there?

-[Zee] Yeah, yeah. -[Rick] No [bleep] way.

-Oh yeah. -In the left.

-[Rick] Look at that [bleep] -[Zee chuckling]

Look-- Look at that.

[chuckles]

[Rick] It ain't that big, but it's definitely a picker.

[Zee] Nice.

[Rick] Who else has got a gold in the box right now?

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

Oh [bleep]. Thanks, man.

-Seriously. It just holds more weight this year. -[Rick] Oh yeah.

[narrator] Rick's one step closer

to getting his life back on track.

[Rick] It means a hell of a lot

just to get started like this, and...

You know, it's emotional for me at the moment, just from--

You know, what I did, what I had to do to get back here.

And this is just the start.

We got a lot of gold to get yet

before we hit 1,000 ounces of gold.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] King of the Klondike, Tony Beets, is determined

to expand one of the biggest mining empires in the Yukon.

[Tony]

[narrator] 6,000 ounces would be more gold

than he's ever mined in a season.

[Tony]

[Mike] If my dad were to croak, I'd be the one

to take over operations here.

I'm sure T. Beets has always kind of had it in his head

that he was gonna to pass this business on to his kids.

It's kind of what he's been training us to do for the last 20-odd years.

We didn't really get a chance to explore other things we might like.

[narrator] To hit his ambitious target,

Tony plans to open cuts on Paradise Hill

and his 5,000-acre Indian River claims.

Tony starts by having daughter Monica

and youngest son Mike lead the stripping on Paradise Hill.

But oldest son, Kevin, has decided not to mine this season.

[Tony]

[machinery rumbling]

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] After eight weeks of stripping at Paradise Hill, and zero gold,

Tony pivots and moves everyone to his Indian River claim.

[man on radio]

[narrator] The Indian holds Tony's best and biggest gold with cuts ready to sluice.

[Tony]

[narrator] But without his chief mechanic,

starting up the second claim is a huge gamble.

-[machines rumbling] -[Mike groans]

[Tony]

[wheel squeaking]

[Monica] Here we go. First bucket of the season.

[narrator] For the first time in four years...

[Tony]

...the Beets are sluicing Indian River paydirt.

[rumbling]

[loud metal crashing]

[Tony]

[machine powering down]

[Monica] For [bleep] sakes.

[narrator] The tailings diverter has broken off

and crashed into the sluice box,

blocking the riffles from catching gold.

[Tony]

[narrator] To get back on the gold,

the king jumps into action.

It's Tony who's got to fix the [bleep] up, man.

That probably makes him more pissed off

than the [bleep] in the first place.

[Tony]

-[Monica] Yeah. -[Tony]

We'll have to start sometime.

[machine powering up]

[narrator] But four weeks later...

[crashing, rumbling]

[narrator] Tony's ancient wash plant fails again.

[Tony]

-[Monica] No, it's not! -[Tony]

[powering down]

[Monica] Steel's bent, bent in half here,

plastic decking is gone.

So what do you think about this 6,000 ounce gold?

Because I don't see it happening.

[dramatic music playing]

[Parker] It has been an outrageously expensive spring,

and we've already spent more this year

than we've ever spent in a season.

The only hope is by throwing everything we've got at this.

[narrator] Halfway through the season,

Parker Schnabel's operation is in big trouble.

The $15 million Dominion purchase has put him way into the red.

Going broke has to be in the back of all of our minds.

Nothing coming in, everything going out. We're going broke.

[narrator] With no gold coming in,

stripping Dominion's 40-foot deep money pit cut

has stretched Parker's finances to the breaking point.

[Parker] We're gonna have to come down here to Ken and Stuart's here

to get a plant going and get some money coming in.

[narrator] Desperate, Parker opens up operations on the Indian River

and on a new claim at Australia Creek.

-[Parker] Coarse gold. -[Mitch] Yeah, real coarse.

I like that.

[narrator] But he's brought in just over 1,200 ounces.

-I just need a lot more of it. -Yeah.

Anything less than 5,000 ounces this year

is gonna put us in a pretty tight spot.

[narrator] Finally, 12 weeks after buying Dominion,

its first cut is ready to be sluiced.

That's pretty good right there.

[machinery whirring]

[Tyson] So here we go.

The first fire up of Big Red of the season.

[whirring increases]

[Mitch] So nice to have Big Red finally fired up.

And if there's any gold out here in the money pit,

guaranteed this wash pan will find it.

End of the week, we'll see if there's any gold in this thing.

We need it to be good.

[Mitch on radio] The dam just blew.

Water is flowing out here pretty quick.

[Patrick] That's not good.

That's a [bleep] ton of water.

That is not good.

[tense music playing]

[Patrick] When the dam blew out,

the only place left for the water to go

is a sump where our pump is.

And if we don't get that pump safe,

then we're [bleep] because that pump is--

The pump is the only pump that will run this plant.

[narrator] On Parker Schnabel's Dominion Creek claim,

a burst dam threatens to destroy Big Red's pump

and shut down gold production.

Hey, Kayden. Just start hogging material.

We're trying to rebuild that dam.

[Kayden on radio] Right on.

[Patrick] Walk, you [bleep] piece of [bleep]

You can still see a gap right where my bucket is.

That's where the failure happened.

So we're just gonna shove a bunch of dirt in there and try to see if it'll stop.

Just want to really seal that up good.

All right. Well, we need to pack the [bleep] out of it.

Now it's just a matter of Kayden shoving the rest of the dirt in there.

I'm super sketchy right there.

Don't take this as a lack of confidence in you,

but I want to do this in case something goes wrong.

-Okay. -It has nothing to do with you.

It's really sketchy.

I don't want you to get hurt.

Sounds good.

I didn't really want Kayden up here

because he doesn't have a lot of time in dozers.

And if something bad happens, there's not much you can do

in a dozer to save yourself.

I don't want to see somebody get hurt.

Sketches me out a bit because I'm right on the edge.

That's super [bleep] sketchy right there.

I'm gonna end up upside down in this pond.

All right. Well, we made it a good ten feet wider.

See if that works.

[narrator] Parker has rebuilt the dam stronger than before,

and Big Red hasn't missed a beat.

We've raised the dam up

and tried to kind of reinforce things.

I've done as best I can.

These are definitely not headaches that we need.

But, hopefully... hopefully, that's it.

Ready to see what a good round at Dominion's all about here?

[Parker] This is really our first proper run, isn't it?

[narrator] After a week of running at Dominion,

Parker is about to get the first true measurement

of how good the ground is.

[Parker] If it's 100 oz, I'm gonna be upset, Chris.

So much riding on this.

[narrator] For dominion to be viable,

he wants at least 230 oz.

Dominion money pit, 70...

Keep going. 100, 130, 150, 180, 200.

Keep her going. 240, 250, 300...

Can that scale go that high?

-Yeah, I'm pushing it. -...340, 380, 410.55.

Thank [bleep].

It's smoking down there.

That's good ground.

That's relieving.

[narrator] To have any hope of hitting his 5,000 oz target,

Parker must keep his foot on the gas

for the rest of the season.

[Parker] This is a good start.

Yeah.

[Rick] I had to make a lot of sacrifices

to be able to come up here this year.

I had to get rid of my mother's house

that I had inherited after she passed.

My ma always knew I was a risk-taker.

It was all...

It's always been all or nothing with me.

I want to do more than just hit our goal.

I want to smash it.

[narrator] 15 weeks into the season,

Rick Ness is barely keeping his head above water.

[Rick] I need enough people here to keep the plant going

while I make our next moves for us.

-Buzz. -Buzz, nice to meet you.

[narrator] After bringing on new crew members...

First time ever on a gold mine.

[Rick] I'm building a team, and that's what I'm most excited about.

Now all we need is the ground with the gold in it.

[narrator] ...and mining hot spots around his claim,

using his small plant, Rocky...

11.93 oz.

That's half of what I was expecting, so.

That's not very good.

[narrator] ... Rick has 552 oz of his 1,000 oz goal

and is struggling to keep up with payments

to his landowner, Troy Taylor.

[Rick] I know we're running out of time.

The gold's coming.

I'll have everything I need to pay you off.

[Troy] I don't see gold coming in.

You're gonna lose the ground.

This is your last [bleep] chance.

[Rick] If we don't get 1,000 oz,

you know, it's likely that, uh, I'm not coming back here.

You know the best gold we're going to mine all year

is here in Rally Valley.

[narrator] In a bid to get the gold he desperately needs,

Rick's digging deep at Rally Valley,

where he believes there's enough gold

to save his season.

[Rick] We're going to get as much pay out of here as we can,

try and run it all

before the winter chases us out of here.

It's going to be a struggle.

The bottom line is we just got to [bleep] fight hard.

[narrator] Before he fires up his wash plant, Monster Red,

Rick's building a massive stockpile of pay dirt.

I'm just gonna run it down by bus

and get, uh, Monster Red set up for the final push.

Yeah. I mean, it's not the most ideal piece of equipment to be running,

uh, but it's kind of all we got right now.

[Zee] The last time I was in a rock truck would have been five years ago.

It's been a while.

No! No, no, no.

Oh, [bleep]!

[crashing]

What the [bleep]?

[Zee] What the [bleep]?

[Rick] What the [bleep]?

Get over to the tailings pond! We're about to lose a truck.

[bleep]

[narrator] At Duncan Creek,

Zee is hanging over a 20-foot drop-off

into a tailings pond.

-You all right? -Yeah. I'll be fine.

[Rick] Just hang tight.

I don't like that it's leaning like that.

I don't want that thing to tip over into the [bleep] water.

[Rick] It's all good, buddy.

There you go.

We grabbed the no-[bleep]-around chain...

[narrator] To rescue Zee...

-Yup. It's good. -Here you go. Good!

...Buzz's excavator is chained to the dangling truck.

If the heavy machine slips off the soft bank,

it could take Zee and Buzz down with it.

[Rick] Don't turn your wheel!

Straighten that [bleep] wheel out!

Straighten the wheels!

[crashing]

[Rick] There we go.

[bleep]

[bleep]

-You all right, buddy? You all right? -Yeah. Yeah.

It could have been a lot worse.

He's lucky.

That's a bad spot to be.

[narrator] With the truck back in action,

the team stockpiles pay dirt and fires up Monster Red.

It's a pretty pivotal moment of the season.

I just wanna turn this thing on.

-[man] Yeah! -[woman] Hell yeah!

Let's do it, man.

It's running!

Basically, we're gonna get one run at this.

And when we shut it off,

we're gonna have it or we're not.

[narrator] Still hundreds of ounces short of his 1,000 oz goal,

Rick's comeback now hinges

on the results of his final push.

[Rick] A lot of people didn't think I'd be back at all,

but I've been putting in the work.

I put together a hell of a team.

All we gotta do is finish this strong.

We're that [bleep] close.

Ah!

This season has been bull [bleep].

[narrator] Without chief mechanic Kevin, Tony's operation is in chaos.

Where's all this [bleep] water coming from?

[Minnie] We're 6, 7 million in the hole.

[Tony speaking]

I know, but I can't pay people with pay dirt, right?

[narrator] Kevin briefly returns to help...

Hey, Tony. You got a copy, Tony?

I mean, we could have tested that a while ago.

Okay.

He's kind of running it into the [bleep] ground.

[narrator] ...but soon leaves,

despite the offer of his own mine site.

The problem is, I honestly don't think I can trust

that you'll keep your hands out of it.

[narrator] To stop bleeding cash,

Tony returns to Paradise Hill.

I'd rather you didn't film me crying.

[narrator] But the breakdowns and setbacks continue.

And with winter threatening to shut him down in just weeks,

Tony has barely 2,000 oz total

and is on track for his worst season ever.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] But there's no quitting for the King of the Klondike.

[narrator] Tony's plan,

run four wash plants in an all-out blitz

to end the season with a massive gold haul.

[narrator] The crown jewel of Tony's 4-wash-plant plan,

the dredge, requires an experienced operator.

[Kevin] I'm back.

So we've been thinking about Tony's offer.

The biggest thing is going to be nailing down

what he's committing to.

[narrator] After taking most of the season off,

Tony's oldest son, Kevin,

returns once again to discuss his father's offer

to run his own operation next season.

[Tony speaking]

We've given some more thought to the Scribner offer.

So we kind of think maybe trying to go with that.

Yeah, no, I think we can make that work.

Okay, I'll go get started with that.

There's the dredge.

Still as pretty as I remember.

Dredging is essentially a lost art form.

Tony wanted me to help run this for a little bit,

get the last few ounces out of the ground

before end of season.

[narrator] Kevin has five years' experience

running the dredge.

[Kevin] Everything looks about the same.

Where is my power switch?

Oh. That sounds like it's on.

Okay. Ready?

Stacker on. Bada bing.

Trommel on.

Bada bing.

Bucket line.

We are dredging.

I ain't even going fast yet. [makes speeding sound]

[narrator] The bucket line dredge can be operated

by just two crew members, allowing Tony to focus

on his three other working wash plants.

[Kevin] Tony has never run the dredge.

I don't think he could, honestly.

It's too much patience.

Oh, you should not be on high anymore.

Slow it [bleep] down, bud.

[banging]

Oh, [bleep]!

Ah, [bleep]!

Bucket line came off.

Yep, it's [bleep].

Oh, [bleep].

Argh.

Hey, Tony. You got a copy, Tony?

Yeah, the bucket line came off.

[narrator] Kevin has thrown the dredge's 34-ton bucket line off its track.

If not fixed quickly,

the breakdown could cost Tony the sluice time needed

to hit his goal.

[Tony speaking]

[Kevin] I think I was a little greedy when I was digging,

so it must have caught the bottom of the bucket line and knocked it off.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Tony will use a D8 dozer to pull on the bucket line,

then lift it with an excavator back into place.

Like, what did you do?

I'm impressed.

Well, let's go.

[narrator] Bucket line repaired,

for the first time ever,

Tony has four wash plants running simultaneously,

the dredge, two shaker decks, and the trommel at Paradise.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Tony is still miles off from his new 2,500-oz goal,

but with Kevin's help, the 4-plant blitz

is the Beets' last shot at saving their season.

[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

Yeah, it's been good.

[narrator] At Dominion Creek,

Tony Beets visits his former protege's new kingdom.

Thanks, Tony.

Yeah, it's been quite the journey.

And I know you and I have fought-- had our fights--

But that's one thing about this

is we don't see each other much anymore.

[laughing] I'm not 22.

[laughing]

I'm 29.

Whoo, she's frosty.

Winter has arrived.

[narrator] In the final hours of the mining season...

[Rick] It's like the end of a battle,

but we don't know if we won yet.

[narrator] ...it's a fight to the bitter end...

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] ...until winter shuts them down.

That pump is not liking the cold.

At this point, you're starting to burn more money

than you're gonna be making.

[Minnie] Hi, guys. How are you?

[Monica] Hello.

[narrator] After Tony's desperate 4-plant gambit

to hit his 2,500-oz goal,

the Beets family gather for the moment of truth.

-Thank goodness. -Yeah.

[narrator] First up, gold from the Indian River,

starting with the dredge.

69.02 oz.

Not too bad.

[narrator] Next, the shaker deck.

60, 70, 80...

85.76.

Here's Sluice-A-Lot.

[grunts]

All right, let's go.

[narrator] Tony's third plant, Sir Sluice-A-Lot.

140, 160, 173.96.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Finally, gold from the trommel at Paradise Hill.

[Mike] 310...

319.40.

So you're looking at roughly 650 oz for this gold weigh.

[Tony speaking]

[Kevin] That's pretty [bleep] good.

[all] Yeah.

[narrator] The Beets family deliver their biggest haul of the season,

bringing Tony's total to 3,054 oz,

worth over $6 million.

I'll be happy to have you back in the Yukon, brother.

-Same. -You love us?

[Minnie] Did I just hear that right?

I can be cheesy, too.

Nice fire.

Uh, nice briefcase.

[all slow-clapping]

[Rick laughs] Oh, yeah, here we go.

Look at me. I'm a businessman.

[narrator] It's judgment day for Rick Ness.

I knew you guys would make fun of me.

That's why I brought it out here.

[narrator] Rick is still nearly 200 oz short

of his 1,000-oz goal.

It's wildly stressful waiting to find out

if you're gonna make it back.

-And, um... -Did we?

I think it's close.

We'll pour out Rocky first.

[narrator] To hit his target,

Rick bet everything on Rally Valley,

running two wash plants in his final week.

First up, the gold from wash plant Rocky.

5, 10, 25, 45...

50.54.

-[Rick] A little shy. -[crew] Yeah.

[narrator] Now, it's all up to Monster Red.

I will tell you this.

It was a good clean-out,

and, um, I did take the first 100 oz out of it.

[man chuckles]

That was a-- that's 100 oz right there out of my--

-Yeah. -[man] We just need 25 more.

-[woman] Oh, my gosh. -50, 20, 25...

I can't even count that fast. 70, 90, 100... 121.01.

-What? -Yeah!

-[woman] Yes! -[man] [bleep] yeah!

[man 2] Hell, yeah, guys.

Oh, [bleep], he's got more!

-[Rick] More gold. -[bleep] more!

[Rick] That's some beautiful stuff right there, guys.

[woman] No way!

[all cheering]

Yeah, there's nuggets, too.

[all exclaiming]

-[bleep] -That looks good, man.

So, yeah. Well, I have 30.17 of just the coarse gold.

[all cheering]

[narrator] Rick's Gamble has paid off,

delivering a total of 301.7 oz,

completing his comeback to hit a total of 1125.7 oz,

worth $2.25 million.

We did it.

We did it.

[exhales] I feel great.

I can look towards the future now,

and like... it's real.

[excited chatter]

I'm back. Yeah, I'm back.

[bleep]

[clears throat]

[bleep]

Where's the beer at?

[Chris] Yeah, knock yourself out.

[narrator] Six months after gambling $15 million

to purchase Dominion Creek,

Parker Schnabel enters his final gold weigh,

on the brink of breaking 7,000 oz,

2,000 more than his goal at the start of the season.

All right, what we got?

Here we go.

[man] We've got 40, 80, 140,

200, 240, 260...

We have 300 even.

And we've got two jars here.

[Chris] Here we go.

[man] Let's see.

We've got 50, 150, 180,

200, 240...

254.35.

[narrator] A total of 554.35 oz,

worth over $1.1 million.

That's nuts.

Well, you threw a 5,000-oz goal at us.

You nailed that.

Our season total is 7,381.1 for the season.

[narrator] Averaging over 400 oz a week from the money pit,

Parker has nearly covered the $15 million purchase price of Dominion Creek

in just one season.

[Chris] I'm beyond happy.

Thank you for getting us a home.

-The final total was 70... -7,381.

[all cheering and applauding]

It sets us up so well for the next few years.

I really want to thank you all.

And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

And I hope that every one of you guys wants to come back,

because every one of you guys has a spot here next year.

[narrator] Parker can now turn his sights

on to the ultimate prize,

unearthing the $150 million in gold

believed to still be in the ground at Dominion.

[Parker] We started out in such a precarious position with ground,

and it looks like this purchase was worth it.

I'm really relieved.

We have an unreal project

with an unreal group of people.

We're in a really good place for the future.