Original subtitles

On the Bering sea

the homestretch of winter mining has arrived.

After his season turned upside down by a brutal El nino...

This ice is not good.

Mining regulations mandate every miner must be off the ice by April 15th...

We got a lot of work to do yet.

Before the melting ice becomes too deadly.

Everything's melting and turning to.

Leaving the fleet less than one week

to put their plans into action.

Time to get some gold, baby.

We gotta make it down 70 feet before we hit pay.

Finish strong...

We're back on the hot gold. Yeah!

Stay on it.

And not crack under pressure.

You're gonna piss me off.

We are literally sinking. We gotta get outta here right now.

If this doesn't work, I'll have to start over.

Stressful? Little bit.

I've been building my empire up, and building and building.

Now I'm putting it all on the line.

If everything works out the way it's supposed to,

I won't be broke.

But if this doesn't work out, I'll have to start over.

After weeks of struggle,

Mr. gold finally has his ice operation booming on his home turf of tomcod.

Thirty-five.

Nice job, guys.

I think we've done pretty well for ourselves.

Now... We've got some gold to suck up.

Shawn's got Joe and his team cranking away.

Man, it's looking really good.

While he focuses inland

on the biggest gamble of his career.

I'll never get down to the pay dirt in time if I don't get this running.

The new inland mine encompasses over 9,000 acres.

And somewhere, hidden on these grounds,

is the site of the original known gold rush.

It's assumed the old prospectors left nothing behind.

But Mr. gold's research suggests they only took gold from the top layers.

While 70 to 80 feet deep,

a fortune bigger than any ever seen and known lies dormant.

And with modern mining technology it's there for the taking.

But it'll take every penny Shawn has to find out if he's right.

Stressful? Little bit.

Right now, we're getting set up, getting the pump in there.

We gotta make it down 70 feet before we hit pay.

We're way behind.

The plan was to make a ton of gold on the ice

and then start breaking ground on the inland.

But 56, it was a total nightmare and threw us way off schedule.

Keep finding all kinds of mine shafts,

and railroad tracks, picks and axes.

I'm excited.

Now we have enough ounces to start digging.

We do well on this and I think there could be 54,000 ounces

just in this area that we're working.

But there's a problem.

We got a lot of work to do yet.

The pit, it's filled full of water.

Almost 60 feet at the deepest part.

We gotta drain it.

'Cause with spring coming, in a matter of days it's gonna start melting.

And if you don't beat it before it thaws

it turns everything into a soup

and you can't load it.

So we gotta do it now while there's still time.

This is the suction line, it goes out into the water.

The screen keeps the sticks and all the debris out of the intake

so the pumps can pump clean.

This needs to happen fast, a day or two tops.

And the boys, they gotta keep that gold coming in on the ice.

'Cause with equipment and labor it's gonna cost a small fortune.

If anything goes wrong during this process it could ruin me.

Intake's going on.

Coming together good.

We get the discharge hooked up,

make sure we got it all piped to go over there,

get the water out of the hole,

get to the gold at the bottom of the pit.

Yeah! We're pumping.

One step closer to getting the gold out of the bottom of this hole.

We got the water pump setup.

Please just keep running.

Please just keep running.

While Shawn finally breaks ground on the inland mine,

out on the ice...

Okay. You ready to rock and roll?

Plan's super simple, we're gonna get back on the hot gold...

Okay, let's bring it back into the box to right here.

And the consequences are extreme high.

In winter's homestretch

reaper nation may finally be hitting their stride.

Sluice box is all setup, everything's up and running.

Last time out the team brought their old sluice box,

the coffin, back from the dead.

Now, the captain hopes it brings their fortunes back to life

as a big bill is about to come due.

I'm feeling lucky today. So we're gonna get gold. Everything's good.

This situation is simple, we need 50 ounces of gold for our summer season

to pay for the crawler to be ready.

We're nowhere near that much and we're running

out of days, but help has finally arrived.

Our old sluice box leaked like a faucet.

Yeah.

We were losing tons of gold.

So we brought back our old coffin sluice box from a few years ago.

We tested it, and it looks like it solved our problem.

That's actually really good for an hour.

And right now, we're on a hot pay streak

and the material looks amazing.

So John can go down

and hopefully we can start keeping the gold that we find.

This is the start of a hot finish for reaper nation.

Damn.

It just looks worse because of the wind.

The wind's blowing from that direction

and it's really making it look bad.

Well, hey. You know what? Don't look at it.

I mean, it doesn't look that back. Just look over there.

It looks great over there.

So the coffin's leaking bad.

I bet you there's gold in that box at the end of the day.

It's old, it's made of wood,

and it's been pounded with material the last few days.

And also, we didn't end up caulking it.

That could have been too much for it.

That is hilarious.

But we're running out of time.

It's better to work with sluice box

than try to take the time to fix it.

John, how's it going down there?

Yeah! Good job!

At the end of the day, we're gonna see where we stand.

Everything's gonna be great.

Okay, Paul's calling me now.

Okay.

Paul, how you doing, my man?

I can kind of hear you. Let me turn this down.

We're out on the ice right now.

We got a couple little problems, homie.

But don't... Nothing I can't handle.

I've got a crack crew of miners with me right now.

We are definitely working hard.

Okay. Well, I'm not there yet.

I've given Paul half the money he needs

to upgrade the crawler for summer.

So he's halfway done.

But he needs me to hit 50 ounces to finish the job

or we're gonna have a useless, half-built crawler on our hands.

Look, everything is working good.

We're gonna come up with the money.

Like, I'm looking at the sluice box right now and everything's going great.

You know, I can just see the gold flowing through there right now.

Shut the up.

How's the crawler coming?

Okay, we don't have the money yet.

We don't have the money yet.

Don't be nervous, homie!

I take care of everything.

Thank you, buddy.

Okay, well, we gotta get to work.

We're working hard right now.

Okay. I'll talk to you later.

Okay, bye.

- Well, that went like. - Yeah.

I don't know if we're gonna have his money at the rate we're going, you know?

It's gonna be an interesting day.

Time to get some gold, baby.

We're just getting the final pieces together.

Getting ready. Got the holes cut and hose is in the water.

And we're gonna be rock and rolling.

This winter, no one has been hotter

than current gold count leader, Chris mccully.

Yeah.

And now brimming with confidence

he's taking on a new risk as he sets his sights higher than ever before.

We're on fire.

I've been aiming for 100 ounces

and I think we're gonna crush that.

So I'm gonna go for more by a lot.

When we get the new crawler for the summer,

we're gonna we gonna launch it off the north back, which is my landing craft.

So I really wanna upgrade it in a serious way.

I'm gonna replace the old frame with a bigger one,

and I'm going to install a new state-of-the-art sluice box.

Fire it up.

So I'm going for double the gold. From 100 to 200 ounces.

It's gonna be tight, but I think we can do it.

If we don't, I'm gonna have a lot of unpaid bills.

Okay. It's your turn.

All right. Sounds good, buddy.

Get ready.

Wilson dove yesterday, and I dove last night,

now it's time for Geoff to dive.

All right, g. It's showtime, yeah.

We've been going nonstop on this box.

We're gonna have a monster cleanup today.

Today's gonna be a good day 'cause I brought both left boots.

That's how you know it's gonna be a good day.

Your boots don't knock no more?

Boots don't knock no more.

How's that ground down there so far?

Yeah. Copy that.

Wow!

Whoo!

In winter's final days...

We got on some really good gold

in that other hole.

Yep.

That's a lot of digging.

The adkison camp is on the move.

Come on. Come back, move back.

And on target to hit their goal.

You got a few more feet, if you want.

We may be down to one diver, but we're hitting our stride.

16.16.

We tapped into a smoking hot pay streak

and we're seeing the best numbers of the season.

- That's a nice one right there. - Awesome.

But now, we're following that pay streak to a new hole.

Bons temps rouler, as they say in Louisiana.

Let the good times roll.

We found a flat spot out here where the ice is thick.

Okay, let's hope this one fills up a little bit more.

Okay, watch your feet.

I'm gonna start this bitch up.

Already threw the chain. I think it walked off.

Hold on, let's set it right here.

Yep, Roger.

Gary's feeling the pressure of being our only diver.

And he gets frustrated easily.

Especially when he's dealing with inexperienced people.

He wants things done the right way. And he'll let you know it.

I'm about to tighten them back down.

Dude.

And Chris, he's inexperienced,

he's overly emotional, he's overeager,

and he's a know-it-all.

That's made for some tough times this season.

So, Chris, that's number one priority.

Don't get that thing wrapped.

Okay. All right, I'm telling you!

- Why are you... - just listen!

Idiot.

It's gonna be a challenge, boys.

Let's see if this works.

I'm exhausted just taking this thing out of the hole.

Gun it. Come on back.

Yeah.

Believe so. Ready? Yeah.

Chris?

You did just put that mother side down,

like I told you not to do it, and you did it anyway.

You'll breaking this mother.

You don't wanna listen to me. I don't give a what you do, then.

What the?

You wanna see what I did mother?

Move outta my way. What am I saying?

I picked it up by the handle. I picked the saw up like this.

Like this. And I set it in there like that.

- No you did not. - You're gonna piss me off.

Like, somebody else just came here and flipped it over?

It was the other way and I flipped it over.

Just trying to talk to you. Being reasonable about it.

All you said was, "hey, you're doing it wrong.

If you carry it, do it like this.

Hey, you're up. Hey, don't put it like that."

You think I would put the saw upside down?

I'm done. I'm done.

Gary, you wanna micromanage how I hold my when I take a piss.

You, dude. I know what I'm doing.

I'm showing you how to do it.

I'm giving you enough confidence

to get in the hole, in the water.

Not my fault you yourself up.

Coming up too damn fast, that's a diver error.

What a dumb-ass right now. Pissing me off.

Yeah, no. I'm not dealing with it.

All right. Okay. Everybody needs to chill right the out.

I gotta keep my crew together.

You guys don't want to follow my lead,

I don't really care to have you around, you know?

We gotta get this settled down.

At the adkison camp, tensions have boiled over.

We've all got our quirks, right?

Gary, he's got some quirks to him. As do I.

So, I'm just trying to keep

this whole -boree all packed together

and finish out this season.

When personalities clash, productivity goes in the toilet.

I just lost it today.

I think I've been bottling it in for like, weeks, you know? Like...

And that's what's happening.

My crew is yelling and screaming at each other instead of mining.

That's my job.

I do the yelling and screaming, and they do the diving.

That's not gonna put gold in the box.

I have no time for it.

Well. Well, man. I don't even know what to do.

I don't know. I definitely don't wanna be a quitter.

But that's what I would be.

You can only take so much insanity.

I feel like I'm turning into a crazy person being around a crazy person.

You know?

Gold mining has broken a lot of souls.

There are very few people who are cut out for this.

Most don't last more than about a heartbeat.

So, I gotta make sure my team can hang tough or else we're done.

I tried to get along with him.

I tried to like, balance this line where I'm like,

treating him like a nice guy.

And I really tried to show him the respect that he, you know,

that he feels that he deserves and I,

but he is just insanely negative

and constantly micromanaging

Vernon, you're not holding your stick correctly.

You need to hold it up about two more

that's the kind of... it just... it never ends. And

I know you need him more than you need me right now, I believe.

Well, I need both of you.

But fact is, I need him more than I need you.

So if the two of you can't get along, then...

Well, the writing's on the wall.

I know he's hard to work with. Yeah.

But on the other hand,

y'all are all a pain in the ass.

- Yeah. - Including you.

Sometimes you don't listen too good.

I apologize for letting you

no, you don't gotta apologize to me for anything.

We've come to the end of Chris' brief run on the Bering sea.

All the tension, and heartache, and grief,

getting the hell out of this nuthouse might be the best thing

that's ever happened to him.

Well, fire that thing up, Chris. Let's get outta here.

Hopefully, this will take all the drama out of the team and we can get back to mining.

Back on land...

Go check on this pump.

See how much water we got out of the pit.

Mr. Gold is racing against the clock.

Yeah, that's coming down.

Ha! Yeah!

You can see where the water... How high it was before.

I gotta get the excavator fired up,

get over here, get some of this ice out of the way.

I'm dealing with a lot right now.

The thaw's coming fast

and I gotta be here every day to make sure things are moving in the right direction.

And I got Joe and the team on the ice without me.

I'm praying they've got tons of gold coming in

so I can pay for all the costs of the inland mine.

It's stressful, but that's gold mining.

We've got all this ice in the way.

We've got to get all this ice out of the hole

so we can keep moving the intake down

and the pump down and keep

we've got to get down to bedrock.

Instead of digging dirt, we're digging ice.

Moving along good.

Got about all the ice out of the way.

I'm getting ready to move the pump down.

All right.

Come on.

There we go.

Yeah. Yeah, got it.

Got the pump dropped down.

Water's got to come out of the pit.

No ifs, ands or buts.

Yeah!

All right.

Now they're a step closer to getting that gold.

Hey, John.

Okay, buddy.

For over four hours, the gold has been peaking.

Idle down!

And for reaper nation,

the coffin has been leaking.

See how much material is on the ground?

There is a load of material in front of the box.

The coffin's been leaking more than the last sluice box

and it's made the ice like a lake.

Everything's sinking in the slush.

It's a mess.

Josh.

We're sinking. We're sinking fast.

We've got to get out of here right now.

Everything's cool. Let's get out of here.

Okay!

This is turning into one of a cluster.

Okay, let's pack up!

One of these days, we're going to have a great day.

I promise you.

8 miles west...

Good day today.

Got water pumping in the pit,

and Joe and star are out here.

The boys called. They said the box is loaded,

and I'm coming to clean up the gold.

Juggling the inland mine and his ice operation,

Mr. Gold is checking the team's progress.

Yeah.

Payday.

How's it going, Joe?

Yeah.

Looking good already.

Pickers.

There you go.

Nice job, guys.

That's what it's about right there.

Joe and star dog crushing it,

that's exactly what I need.

Looks good.

I'm overseeing the inland,

this gold, it's gonna keep everything running.

Let's load 'er up and head to the house,

clean this up and see the fruits of the labor.

Yeah.

They're killing it.

We're gonna make a lot of gold this year.

After nearly 6 hours...

Sweet. What a great day.

Team mccully is still charging hard

towards their new season target.

The dive this way looks... it looks really good.

When I got down here, this spot over here,

I got one of those troughs

and it's got big yellow gravel.

Yeah!

All right. You wanna take a quick look at the box?

You can see gold all in the corner.

Look at the little guy sitting right here.

Jeff absolutely killed it today.

I mean, the box is loaded.

With all the hours that's in the box,

the scale is gonna light up.

We're going for 200 ounces this season.

It may seem crazy, but I think we can do it.

I squeezed every lemon drop out of this day,

and I'm proud of that, so.

Not a lot of miners can do that, so.

I'm proud of it.

Wow!

Chris mccully is happy.

We're going to check my Instagram account.

And now, it's another social hour with Vernon.

Let's see what the intelligentsia out there

has to say about my world.

No.

We'll see you next time

for another social hour with Vernon.

Bye-bye.

I'm hoping to see a nice big pile.

We've got $60,000 to $100,000 a week

going out right now on the inland mine.

I need every ounce I can get.

Shawn's inland project has started pumping.

Well, we gotta fire this noisy thing up

and watch the gold grow.

And now, he's hoping to see gold piling up on the scale

after his team's effort on the ice.

I've already spent a fortune

gaining access to the inland mine,

and when the pit's finally drained,

I'm gonna be spending a ton more.

Not looking bad.

$500, $500, $500.

The gold from this winter, it's critical.

That's startup money I need to work that pit.

Hopefully, Joe and the boys were on it today.

Yeah.

That's good and dry.

Yeah, it looks like it.

Pretty nice.

Moment of truth.

Well, here we go.

5 ounces

13

20

27.8.

Yeah. Booyah. It looks good.

27.8 ounces is worth 65 grand.

And Joe helps the team move closer to their 100-ounce goal.

Keep it up.

Nice job.

The tomcod, man.

That's where it's at.

Fifty-six, we spent weeks on it,

and we were nowhere near our goal.

But since we switched back to the tomcod,

we've been raking it in.

Between ice and the inland, things are starting to click.

Well, I've had about enough fun for one day.

Let's get the hell out of here.

Yep, hard work does pay off.

Across town...

So it's a sad day at the reaper camp.

It looks like less than an ounce.

Despite a productive dive from Yukon John,

reaper nation faces a sobering reality.

I mean, we're all thinking we're seeing it.

But we're not catching it.

Today we hit rock-bottom.

We need way more gold for the crawler project.

I know we were on good ground.

None of it made it in the box.

Okay, here we go, ounce for weight.

Moment of notice.

0.8 of an ounce.

- 0.8. - 0.8.

0.8 ounces is worth about 1,800 bucks.

And for the Kellys,

the coffin may have been the kiss of death.

I thought the coffin was gonna breathe life into our season.

One bad cleanup will break up a crew so fast, it's insane.

But now I'm worried the crew will start losing faith

if I don't turn this around.

I'm also worried the crawler's never gonna happen.

This is a science.

You just got to figure it out.

Trial and error.

We're not scientists.

We'll go back to the old sluice,

do what we can to fix it and fight on.

Things are looking bad.

All we can do is keep pushing forward.

If it gets any worse, you know, like,

we're gonna be on food stamps.

What did I do to deserve this life?

Down the road...

Cleaning gold.

I feel good.

With new bills to pay,

nome's young gun needs to hit the bull's-eye

the rest of the season.

Let's see what I got... or what we got here.

Wow.

Jeff, come look at this, dude.

Sick!

- There it is. Lumps. - Dude, that's...

That's cake.

That's good stuff right there.

So far, it's looking good.

All right, dude. Little cleanup.

- Finish it up. - Let's finish it up.

- Weigh it! - Let's do it.

7, 8, 10, 11

14, 16, 17

21, 25...,

that's more gold than we've racked up all year.

Hey!

- Hey! 34.7! - Boom, 34.34.7.

Wow, we're getting better, baby.

We're getting better.

34.7 ounces is worth over 81 grand.

And just like that, 200 ounces

may not be such a crazy goal after all.

Dang!

That clean up right there was awesome.

What a killer team.

We're just nonstop this season.

We're definitely going to see 200 ounces before this winter is over.

I don't think there's anything that we can't do.

Yes!

Bam!

Wow, man.

Wow.

Chris mccully breaks into triple digits

as Mr. Gold revs up for the final push.

Next time...

Gary's getting his ya-yas off.

On Bering sea gold.

Right now, we've got a few days left.

Hopefully, we're heading in the right direction.

Either there's gonna be a bunch of pay dirt

or there's not.

Whoo!

Yes, sir!

Yeah! Look at that picker, dude.

Come on up, Gary.