All language subtitles for Gold.Rush.Mine.Rescue.with.Freddy.and.Juan.S05E06.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta[EZTVx.to]

[bird screeching]

If you've ever seen
a big amount of gold,

that's enough to turn anybody
into a gold hound for sure.

It's my second year being
a gold miner and I love it.

My dad bought this property,

thinking that it would
produce a lot of gold.

Then we have...

none.

[Travess] The gold here
is flood gold.

It's so super hard to catch
because it's so fine.

[Travess speaking]

All of our gold's washing away

because we don't have
the right equipment.

The mine is Andrew's future,
so it has to succeed.

I've got stuff
all over the place

that's half together

and I don't really know
how to make it work.

Freddy and Juan,
this is a plea.

This operation is on the edge
right now.

If we're not able
to get on the gold,

we're finished here.

[narrator] Freddy Dodge.

I'd rather have gold
in the bank

than gold in the mountain.

[narrator] And Juan Ibarra.

[Juan] Not bad for built
in the field.

[narrator]
Want to make you rich.

It turns your dream out here
into a reality.

[cheering, laughing]

[narrator]
In the past five years,

the value of gold
has doubled.

-[Freddy] There's a $3,000
nugget right there.
-[man] Woo!

[narrator]
But rookie miners...

[man] Whoa, whoa, whoa!

[narrator] ...find it
more elusive than ever.

If we don't recover more gold,

then we could lose everything.

[narrator]
But there is hope...

Miracles do happen.

[narrator] To turn desperation
into fortune.

Freddy and Juan
have one week...

What you just did was genius.

[narrator]
To deliver a golden payday.

They have a future

and they know
what they need to do.

[dramatic music playing]

[Juan over phone]
You know, it's always nice
to be back in Canada, Freddy.

Yeah, and I love
British Columbia.

But it sounds like Travess
is in pretty rough shape,
financially.

Yeah, you were saying
a little bit about that.

He's got a ton of money
sunk into the mine site

when he really hasn't
produced much, huh?

No, he hasn't.

So who's Travess out here
mining with, Freddy?

[Freddy over phone]
He's out here with his son.

You know, there's easier
ways to have a father-son trip

than going out
and working your tail off

and losing a bunch of money.

Definitely one.

[narrator]
In British Columbia,

Freddy and Juan are en route
to the Long Bar Mine,

where father and son team,
the Allens,

work a 3000-acre claim

along the Fraser River.

[Juan] Historically,
the Fraser River's produced

a lot of gold over the years.

Yeah. But you know
as well as I do,

gold's where you find it.

It's not everywhere.

We've got a really
tight corner here, Juan.

[Juan over phone]
All these mines we go to,

they're in rough spots
to get to.

-But that's just gold, huh?
-[Freddy over phone] Yup.

[narrator] In the 1860s,
the Cariboo Gold Rush

drew thousands of miners
up the Fraser Valley

in search of fine gold flakes

along the river bars
and benches.

Those who endured
the unforgiving terrain

pulled in over
$8.5 billion worth of gold

at today's prices.

[Freddy]
Another mine, huh, Juan?

[Juan] Yeah, good to be here.

-[Travess] Hi, guys.
-[Juan] How you doing?

-Hi, I'm Travess Allen.
-How you doing? I'm Juan.

[Freddy] Nice to meet you
in person, Travess.

-[Andrew] Andrew.
-Andrew, nice to meet you.

-Andy?
-Oh, good to meet you,
Travess.

Good to meet you as well.

-How you guys doing?
-[Freddy] Doing all right.

-How are you doing?
-[Travess] Yeah.

My son and I are down here

hacking away at Long Bar,
trying our hardest.

Make it work. [laughs]

How long have you guys
been out here?

This is our second year
of mining here.

How much gold you do?

Last season...

That's the thing. We only did
about 5 ounces of gold.

We hadn't figured out

how really the ground worked
here quite yet.

We've learned
through trial by error

that it's mostly
flood gold here.

Small gold, then.

It's all very small gold,
flour gold.

Do you have any
of what we can look at?

Yeah, you bet. This is
what we're chasing here.

This is Fraser River gold,
some of the purest gold.

[Freddy]
What's the purity of it?

[Travess]
High 90s, you know, closest
to 100% you're gonna get.

My family has always been

in the mining and logging
industry.

When I was 16 years old,

I wanted to leave the family
logging outfit

to learn how to gold mine.

I met an old fella
from Salmon Arm, BC

and joined his crew,

and I literally saw
5-gallon pails full of gold.

Oh, that was totally
the minute

I became a gold junkie.

I love being on gold mines.
It's awesome.

I'm really good
at running the excavator

and feeding the plant.

I'm pretty confident
about that.

[narrator] Two years ago,
Travess set up Long Bar Mine

to create a legacy
for his son.

I have learning disabilities,

but I know I can become
a mine boss.

I'm trying to show my dad

I'm trying to put as much
effort into it as I can.

[Travess]
Andrew's my whole world.

I'm trying to install
the work ethic that I have

and give him the mining
experience he needs

so that he's able to thrive
and succeed in this world

just like anyone else.

[Juan] What's your investment
out here?

Well, we're, uh,
we're in the ballpark

of, you know, $400,000

spent in the last
two seasons here.

And you only got $11,000
worth of gold last year, huh?

-[Travess] Yeah.
-[Juan] You're a ways away.

-Yeah, a long ways away.
-[Freddy] Yeah.

My son and I are out here

picking away
at this ourselves,

trying to make it work
the best we can.

Now what's your goal
for this season?

My goal for this season
is 25 ounces.

What's on the line here?

Well, it's kind of everything
on the line this year, Freddy.

A good friend of mine,
he's owed over $50,000.

And if we don't get
on the gold this year,

Andrew and I are looking at,

you know,
possibly losing something

in the value of $50,000,

you know,
an excavator or a loader.

We wouldn't be able
to bounce back

from something like that.

So, without the gold,

we're not gonna make it,
Freddy.

Gold's money
and money is gold.

[Travess] Yes, sir.

That's why we're desperately
in need of a hand

to get on track here, so...

What we like to do is come in,
we'll do a four-hour test run.

We wanna watch the plant,
we're not gonna get involved,

and that way we can kind of
get together and figure out,

you know, what we can do
to help you.

[Travess] Thanks, Juan.

Well, let's go look
at the plant.

[dramatic music playing]

[Juan] So, out of curiosity,
what's all this about?

[Travess] Well, my son and I
have been buying stuff

all over the place
at auctions,

trying to piece together
a good operating gold mine.

But I don't really know
how to put it together

the way
that it's supposed to.

[Juan] It looks like
you got most of it,

but there's a lot
of little odds and ends
that you don't have

-that are kind of important.
-[Travess] Yup.

[Juan] Ideally,
we would love to do that one,

but I just don't know that
we have enough time for that.

You know, when Travess told us

that he's 400K
in the hole here,
I can see it.

He's got tons of equipment
that he doesn't even use.

But, you know,
gold fever does that.

So how long have you been
running this small plant?

[Travess]
That's what we've been
running all season.

To be honest with you,
it's been a struggle.

We've been managing to do
a couple of grams a day,

doing 12 yards a shift
type of thing.

[Freddy]
So do you own this trommel?

This plant, I'm just renting.

[Juan]
What's the payment on that?

$2,500 a month.

That's got us eating out
of cans for dinner.

Well, let's run for four hours

and see what kind of gold
we get.

We'll show you
what a four-hour test run
will give you.

Let's get this show
on the road.

Start the generator!

[generator revving]

[Travess] Here comes the dirt.

-First bucket launched.
-[Juan] There it is.

Washing for Freddy and Juan

does feel a little bit
like going to school,

but I respect their knowledge
so much.

[narrator] Travess feeds
virgin pay onto a conveyor,

feeding a 10-foot
rotating trommel.

Spray bars inside wash
the pay from the gravel

into a 6-foot wide
dual sluice run

where the gold
should be recovered.

Water for the plant is pumped
from a small holding pond

and recycled from the sluice
back into the pond.

Looking at it right now,
we can see

-handful of problems already.
-The sluice?

That sluice box is about four
times too big for that plant.

They don't have enough water

to carry that wide a sluice.

[Juan] That's not enough water
for one side,

-let alone two sides.
-[Freddy] Nope.

[Juan] And you can look
at the drum.

I bet over 50% of it
is clogged up.

[Freddy] I bet you're right.

I'm worried about the ground.

[Juan] We can go out there
and make them

the most efficient plant
in the world.

[Freddy] But if there's
no gold to catch in it...

-[Juan] Yeah.
-[Freddy] yeah.

All you're doing
is washing rocks.

[Travess] How's our trammel
looking, son?

Keep a close eye
on the tailings.

It's building up.

[Travess] Well, just sweep
them away with your hands.

So the reason
I have to do this by hand

is because our angle
is not down far enough.

We're not able
to lose our tailings.

[Juan] He's gotta go in there
and clean that out by hand.

How long is that gonna last

before they're worn
completely out, right?

[Juan]
No, that's a bad deal, Freddy.

There's no one else
I'd rather be out here

working with than my son.

This is more rewarding
than anything.

Especially if we can bring
home some gold.

Better solution!

[Travess]
I wanted my son to be able
to take the mine over.

So this is going to be
a supercharge

for Andrew's mining education.

Working at the logging outfit

is not the same as
having your own gold mine.

How long have
we been running, Fred?

Roughly two hours.

I don't know if that pond's
gonna make four hours, Juan.

[Juan] Well, you can look at
how much tailings

-we have in it right now.
-[Freddy] Yup.

This water's now turning
into a milkshake, right?

So when that water gets thick,

that really fine gold
like they have here,

you tend to start losing it.

The thicker the water gets,
the more gold you lose.

That's what happens when you
sluice out of a mud puddle.

The water's so thick now

that I'll go tell him
last bucket

and we'll let that feeder
clear out.

Yeah. Sounds good.

[Freddy]
Hey, Travess. Last bucket!

[Juan] Shut it all down,
let's see what we got.

[Travess] Kid, kill the pump!

[dramatic music playing]

[Travess] Look at all
of our black sands

and gold that's piled up here

out at the end
of the sluice run.

So, you know we definitely
were losing it.

[Juan] Some of the bigger
stuff's here,

a couple little pockets.

[Andrew]
It's all up at the top,
though, it seems, eh?

Do you see any color down
that low in the small stuff?

[Freddy] I haven't yet.

You guys wanna get this
cleaned up

-and we'll meet up later?
-[Travess] You bet.

We'll let you know
how we made out.

[Freddy]
Okay. Sounds like a plan.

I've seen other people,

you know,
in similar situations.

People get gold fever

and sometimes
bad things happen, right?

You throw a lot
of your money away

and that's what I'm seeing
here right now.

So hopefully Juan or myself
can help them.

[birds chirping]

[suspenseful music playing]

[crows cawing]

[Freddy]
Be curious to see, huh?

[Juan]
It's gonna be interesting.

[narrator]
At the Long Bar Mine
in British Columbia,

the results are in for
the two-hour test run

on the Allens'
wash plant rental.

[Juan]
How we doing, gentlemen?

Good. Hi, Freddy. Hi, Juan.

So here's our dried gold,
Fred.

Okay.

Let's see what we got.

[tense music playing]

0.03.

[narrator] 0.03 ounces
worth just $69.

-[Freddy] It's not good.
-Not good at all.

It's not enough to cover
the fuel that you used.

Not enough at all.

You can't continue to mine
that way.

-No, definitely not.
-You know, the more you run,

the quicker
you're gonna go broke.

Yup, that's a hard way
to go broke.

At this rate, a fast food job

would be paying you
a lot more.

I appreciate, uh,
the harsh honesty of things

for sure, Freddy.

But, uh, hope is not lost.

We're gonna sit down
and have a chat,

see what we can do
with the plant.

That would be fantastic.

My son and I
really need the help

at this point as you can tell.

[Juan] Yeah, you do.

[Freddy]
Here's your gold, sir.

Don't spend it all
in one place.

[Travess] Thank you, Freddy.

-Well, let's go have
a chat, Fred.
-Yup.

-[Freddy] Not good, Juan-o.
-[Juan] No.

We didn't wanna burst
their bubble,

but $70 worth of gold
is not acceptable.

Not even close.

So it was a little bit
of a reality check

but sometimes that's needed.

Having this bad news
from Freddy and Juan

is definitely humbling.

I think if we can focus
on making a few fixes,

there's still a chance
of saving the season.

[bird screeching]

[Freddy]
They're sure some nice guys.

[Juan] And I love the fact
that he's doing this

to be able to set his son up.

[Freddy] It's always good
to see a family operation.

But, you know, they're, uh,

they're kind of
in a rough shape.

-In really rough shape.
-Yeah.

That plant that they got is
basically a prospecting plant.

It's one step up
from a hobby mine right now.

And really with the gold
that they have,

-it's not gonna cut it.
-Yeah. It's not enough.

And it's gonna plug on him
nonstop.

Yeah.
But really more than that,

-it's not his plant.
-Mmm-hmm.

He's renting it right now,
you know.

He's got money
going out the door

before he's got money
coming in.

So, I'm really thinking that,

you know,
he has all those parts there.

Let's set him up
with his own plant.

[Freddy] Yeah.

He's kind of like
a used equipment hoarder.

He's got a bunch of stuff
laying around,

-but none of it works.
-Well, none of...

It's all mismatch, right?
You know, like none of it

was really designed
for each other.

But I think
with what he has there,

-it's kind of a good start.
-I agree with you.

I think what we can do

is take that old shaker deck
and repurpose it.

We would have to build
a new catch pan
for the bottom.

And this screen
has no water system,

-so we're gonna put
spray bars on it.
-Mmm-hmm.

We'll have to build a manifold
then, Juan.

-Yup.
-And we should also modify

and reuse that
yellow sluice box

he's got sitting there.

That's perfect.

But we can only use one side
of the sluice.

Yeah.

He doesn't have enough water
to run full width,

but if we get it into one,

then we'll be in good shape.

It's a lot of work,

-but at the end of the day...
-That's all right.

...he's doing this to be able
to set his son up.

So I'd be happy to waive our
labor fee on this, the labor.

He covers the material,
we cover the labor.

-I'm good with that.
-Yeah. Done.

[Juan] All right. Let's do it.

[narrator]
In an ambitious plan,

Freddy and Juan
will send back

the trommel rental

and resurrect Travess'
boneyard shaker deck.

A new hopper will be fitted
to feed the plant.

They'll install
a complete water system

to wash the pay

and make the pond
four times bigger.

The lower screen
will be replaced

to trap extra fine gold.

And a new distribution chute

will direct gold-bearing
concentrates

into one side of Travess'
secondhand sluice.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Travess]
Hey, Fred. Hey, Juan.

-[Freddy]
How's it going, guys?
-[Travess] We're doing okay.

[Freddy] We went
and talked things over.

[Juan] Yeah, we came up
with a couple ideas.

Um, one of the things
that we really wanna do

is whatever we do here,
we wanna make sure

that we do it on your plant.

[Freddy]
You don't own the trommel,

so we'd be fixing up
somebody else's equipment

-if you lost it.
-Yeah.

So we wanna work on
your screen

that you have, that you own.

That's fantastic news.

But it's gonna be
a lot more work

than what we anticipated.

We're gonna have
to build a feeder pan.

Then at the bottom,
we're actually gonna have

to build a funnel
to be able to funnel

all that concentrated material

into the sluice box.

[Freddy] And reuse that
yellow sluice box,

but only half of it,

because you don't have
enough water

to run 6 foot a box.

You get enough water
for 3 feet.

[Juan] We still have to do
a water system.

We'll have to build
a manifold.

We'll have to build
spray bars.

But I think all in all,

that's gonna be a better plant
for you guys.

-Absolutely will.
-[Freddy] And you own it.

-[Juan] Yeah.
-Yes, sir.

And what we came to is $5,100.

And that's strictly material.

Uh, we talked about the labor.

We're gonna donate
our labor 100%.

Well, guys,
I really appreciate that.

That helps us huge.

Um, $5,100 is a...
Is a pretty big number.

[Freddy] I'd say
send this trommel back

so you aren't paying
2,500 bucks a month.

[Travess] Yeah, I agree.

-It's a deal.
Thank you, Freddy.
-[Freddy] Yeah.

Meet us down there,
you guys can help us.

-[Travess] Absolutely.
-Yeah, we're gonna need
your help to get this done.

And we'll teach you
some welding skills.

-All right.
-Excellent.

-Thank you.
-All right.

Good stuff, son.

-Well, let's get to work, huh?
-Yup.

[narrator] Freddy and Juan
have less than four days

to resurrect
a boneyard wash plant

and turn
the Allens' fortunes around.

[Freddy] What do you think?

-I'm gonna start cutting.
-Okay.

[Juan] I'll do that screen
and then the discharge chutes.

I might go look
at some ground real quick.

-Yup.
-All righty.

Let's make it happen.

We're gonna cut this out
of one sheet of steel.

[narrator]
First, Juan fabricates
an extra fine gold screen

for the new wash plant.

[Juan] Right now,
they're screening way too big

for the gold that they have,

so we're gonna cut that down
a little bit.

The better that
your classification is,

the better the concentration
is gonna be.

And you won't be having
that larger material

compete with that smaller gold

and pushing it out
of the sluice box.

[narrator]
To recover the fine gold,

Juan's plasma cutter
precisely carves

3,000 one-eight inch holes,

four times smaller than
the shakers' original screen.

We're gonna have
about five hours

of cut time on this screen,

but we don't have any room
for error.

Right now is not a time
to make mistakes.

[machine whirring]

-[country music playing]
-[birds chirping]

I'm extremely concerned

about the amount of gold
in these gravels.

So, I feel like
I'm in a little bit

of a hornet's nest here.

[narrator]
Freddy's first priority,

get eyes on the ground
Travess has been mining.

[Freddy]
Are all these your tailings

or was somebody in here
before you?

No, this is my tailings
from last year.

Whose tailings are those?

They're all mine.

[Freddy] And you only got
5 ounces out of all this?

[Travess] Yeah.

[Freddy] Oh, man.

Yup. I wish I would have known
when to quit.

[Freddy] Rough estimate,
you ran 5,000 yards.

[Travess] Wow.

Yeah, I had no idea
we washed that much gravel.

[Freddy]
There's a tenth of an ounce
per hundred roughly.

[narrator]
Travess needs to recover

10 times this amount of gold
to turn a profit.

Travess wants, you know,

this to be a legacy
for his son.

And as of right now,
I don't know

if there's enough gold here
for that to really happen.

[birds chirping]

[Freddy] Did you test
any of this material?

[Travess]
We just weren't testing

the way we should
have been testing

and we ended up
washing gravels

that were not great.

This is your most
important tool out here

to start with.

There's one of these
in every piece
of heavy equipment, right?

Whether it's a loader,
whether it's a dozer,
whatever.

Every piece of equipment
that I owned

had a gold pan in it.

And if you run across
something that looks neat,

you know, get out and pan it.

It gives you kind of
an indicator on...

-Direction you're going.
-Yeah.

[Travess] So this is what
the bank looks like

when you cut into it.

[Freddy]
That's what I wanna see.

It's definitely been
reworked by water,

which is a good thing.

See our flat rocks?

So when water flows,
it can't stand up, right?

Your flat rocks go flat,
and they shingle up.

[narrator]
The flat rocks are a sign

that the gold-bearing
Fraser River

once flowed through
this part of the cut.

[Freddy] The layer
at your knee is the best...

-[Travess] Yeah.
-[Freddy]...that I can see.

Would you go a little deeper
and see what's down there?

Try it and see.

You know, it may change
or maybe a layer under this

that has a different matrix
to it.

You aren't done yet.

-Just keep testing.
-[Travess] Absolutely.

-Thank you, Freddy.
Looking forward to it.
-[Freddy] You're welcome.

My worry
is he's got gold fever.

And when he sees, you know,

three specks of gold,
he gets excited.

Hopefully the things
we're teaching Travess here,

he'll keep embedded
and he'll get on the gold.

[birds chirping]

We have a lot of stuff
to do today,

so we just got
to get rolling here.

[narrator]
On the Long Bar Mine

in British Columbia.

Test lift first.

[narrator] In a bid to save
their mining operation,

the Allens move
their scrap shaker deck

to Juan's fabrication
base camp in the Boneyard,

where it can be worked on
more easily.

[Travess] You're coming
with us, big girl.

[tense music playing]

You can feel the strain
even on the undercarriage.

Don't get too close, sunshine.

Big load.

It's heavy.

[Juan] Let's set it
right here.

Perfect. Right there.

[narrator]
Shaker deck in place,

Juan starts work
on a new hopper.

The hopper's gonna be
where we drop the material in
with the excavator,

and that way it can feed
on top of the screen,

but also it'll have
a water port on the back

to be able to push
that material in.

If I can get
everything cut out

between today
and tomorrow morning,

hopefully we'll be able
to start getting things
on the plant

in the next day or so.

It's gonna be a lot of build.

[Freddy] It's definitely
faster to refurbish half
this sluice box

than to build a whole new one.

I'm gonna put
all new angle clips in.

'Cause you see how
this one's already bent up?

-[Travess] Yes, sir.
-[Freddy] Well,
it's just welded on the top,

so it lets you use a wedge
on this three or four times,

it's gonna snap them off.

So we need 14 of these.

[Travess] Sure, Freddy.

No worries.

Nothing is cheap at all
in gold mining.

The sluice boxes
were around $5,000 each.

So it's good to see them
being put to use

instead of just sitting there
getting rusty.

[Freddy] Hey, Andrew, I might
get you to grind for me

where these angle clips
are gonna go.

[Andrew] Sure.

[Freddy]
Grind that whole area.

[Andrew] You bet.

-Like that?
-[Freddy] Close enough.

So, you enjoy working
with your son?

I really enjoy working
with my son, actually.

-[Freddy] Good.
-We're very close.

I can definitely tell
you guys are pretty close.

I pretty much raised him
since I could hold him

in one hand by myself.

It was tough
as a single father.

The early years
were really good.

The older he got, I started
to see changes in Andrew

that had to do
with, uh, his special needs.

It's a type of autism

that not very
many children have,

but he's got
what he needs here to make it.

I will help him
to learn the ropes

so that he's able
to take the reins.

This is protection for him,

for his future,
for both of us.

[Freddy] Thanks, Andrew.

I think it looks pretty good.

I'll start welding on this.

[dramatic music playing]

Just trying to get in here
on the good level ground

so we can get all
the good pay.

[narrator] While work
continues on the sluice,

Travess follows up
on Freddy's tips

in the Long Bar cut.

Finding out that
our gold averages are so low

is hard to take.

But like Freddy said,

try to follow the pay layers.

That's interesting.

Bigger rock here.

Let's go a little deeper.

Looks like we've got
an obvious change in here.

I think I'm gonna go
get a gold pan

and test some of this pay.

Freddy had some great advice.

If we're breaking the ground,

we should be panning it
before it hits

any kind of a wash plant.

Starting to get down
to the good stuff now.

It might be small,

but it has gold.

[dramatic music playing]

[Travess] All right.
Freddy, I found another layer.

I thought I'd show it to you
before I take it down too far

and lose any.

[Freddy] Don't be scared
of losing a spec.

Time's money, right?

[Travess] Yeah.

[Freddy] It's got gold in it,
10, 12 colors.

-[Travess chuckles]
-[Freddy] Well, that's better

than the other stuff by far.

Dig it up. We'll run it.

[Travess]
All right, Freddy, thanks.

[Freddy]
No worries. Thank you.

[dramatic music playing]

So right now I'm working
on the manifold.

These are the side pieces,
and we'll just build

this big rectangle
that'll be the manifold.

[narrator] One's manifold

will distribute
pressurized water

to the spray bars above
the hopper and pay screens

to separate the extra
fine gold from river gravels.

Well, there it is.

That'll be
the four-inch coming in,

and then three inch and a half
valves for spray bars.

Two inch valves
for a spray bar

on the back of the feeder.

Also, when he gets
a bigger pump,

he can cut a hole in here

and put a six-inch port

so he can run a bigger pump.

[upbeat music playing]

[Freddy] You wanna cut
some carpets, Andrew?

-[Andrew] Sure.
-You can see

we're six foot wide
and eight feet long, right?

[narrator] In the Boneyard,

Freddy and Andrew
make new sluice mats

to trap extra
fine Long Bar gold.

So we need four,

4 foot by 3 foot
sections of carpet.

[Andrew] Okay.

Grab the tape.

Measure twice, cut once.

[Andrew] Yup.

[Freddy] So just follow
your line and cut them.

[Andrew] Yeah, I will.

I am very excited

to learn things
from Freddy and Juan.

It's important for me

if I wanted
to become a mine boss.

Freddy, I got some finished
carpet there for you.

[Freddy] All righty.

-So let's put him in.
-[Andrew] Sure.

[Travess] Watching Andy work
next to Freddy is amazing.

He's learning from me,
and he's learning
from Freddy and Juan.

[Freddy] Now, let's grab
our miners moss

and put it up top.

[Travess] I think
these are all footsteps

going forward for him,

taking the reins one day.

[Freddy] There you go.

[upbeat music playing]

Hey, Juan, what have
we got going on here?

So this is the beginning
of the chute.

The material
that's been screened properly

will drop into this, and then
all the oversized material

can go right off
the front of it,

-out into the muck bay.
-[Andrew] Uh-huh.

[narrator]
To keep gold concentrates

clear from the tailings,

the new chute
will make a 90-degree turn

into the sluice box.

[Andrew] Can I help you
with anything?

Have you ever done
any welding before?

I was pretty good
when I... Back in high school

when I was doing it.

If you wanna get
that welding coat on...

-[Andrew] Yup.
-...those gloves
and that hood.

Yeah, sure.

[upbeat music playing]

[Juan] Well,
let's see what you got.

So you strike it like a match.

Yeah.

A little closer,
a little closer,

a little... There you go.

Perfect.

Let's weld up to there
and see how you do.

-Okay?
-Okay.

[Juan] It's always
a big worry of mine

to take on such
an ambitious build,

knowing that we only have
a few days to do it.

I'm hoping with Andrew
and Travess here,

uh, we should be able to get
most of this done,

but, uh, we'll see.

-There you go.
-Good job.

Thank you, Juan.

[Juan] Well, we just got
the chute all welded up,

so we're gonna get it
installed.

This bottom goes
on the bottom of this.

Okay. Let's get this side up.

Can we just twist it?

[Freddy] Yeah,
you're gettin' her.

Keep going. Whoa.

[Juan] Lift it up tight.

That pan's all [bleep] up.

With a gap like that,
water's gonna splash
out of it.

[Juan] It's definitely
gonna be hard for Freddy

to be able to weld it
in place, 'cause right now

it's probably got a three
quarters of an inch of gap.

[narrator]
The Boneyard shaker deck

has warped with age

and they can't connect
the new chute.

When they built it,
they didn't build it
strong enough

to be able to hold its shape,

so we're dealing with it now.

[tense music playing]

I was thinking of
putting a jack off there,

-if I can reach in there.
-Yup.

[narrator]
At the Long Bar Mine,

Freddy and Juan fight

to connect
the new discharge chute

to the beat up shaker deck.

Any gaps
could leak fine gold.

[Juan] Underneath the screen,
it's bowed.

So right now, Freddy's trying
to pull that chute down

to be able to get it close

to the new discharge chute
that we built,

to be able to weld it
in place.

[dramatic music playing]

Well, we got it pulled down
most of the way.

I'm gonna run a bead
of silicone through it

to seal it up.

We're just stopping
a little bit

of water splash.

[narrator]
With the gap below closed,

the sides
must also be welded.

[Freddy] Hey, Juan.

[Juan] Hot tack it?

Try it.

I'll hit it right here.

It'll take me a second
to bridge it.

Yup.

One more.

Okay.

Yup.

-Perfect.
-Yup.

That's what you call
hot tacking.

When you got a gap,

get a tack
in the middle of it,

hit it with a hammer
and smash that weld in

and it'll pull the weld in.

So I had a gap like that,
now it's pretty tight.

[Juan] That's one of the big
pieces we had to put in.

We still have a hopper
we have to install still

and the complete water system.

So we're getting closer

but we still got a lot to do.

[dramatic music playing]

[bird caws]

[Freddy]
How's it going, Travess?

All good, Fred. How you doing?

[Freddy] Oh, doing all right.

[Travess] Good stuff.
It's starting to come along?

Little by little.

Today, we gotta get water
in here

'cause without water,
we can't sluice.

-[Travess] Absolutely.
-[Freddy] 'Cause when we ran
two hours last time

and it silted up.

I'd like to raise that dam
on the far side of the pond.

Raise it another foot or so,
so we can get more water.

-For sure.
-[Freddy] All righty.

I'm gonna get to work.

Thanks, Freddy.
I appreciate it.

Talk to you soon.

[narrator] To pump cleaner
water into the plant

and improve
fine gold recovery,

Travess raises the Earth dam

to make the pond
four times bigger.

[Freddy] Travess, he always
may not know everything

about gold mining,

but one thing's for sure,
he's a... He's a good operator

on that track hoe.

He's one of the guys I trust.

[Travess] Raised it up
a little higher

and packing it in
a little tighter,

and see if we can't make it
hold water.

I think it's going to be
high enough for now.

Hey, Freddy, what do you think
of the berm?

[Freddy] She looks good, man.

We're one step closer, Freddy.

We hook everything up
and then start pumping.

I'm gonna get back at it.

Okay, Freddy.

Thank you.

[narrator]
At the cut trailer...

That's the beginning
of the spray bar.

[narrator] Juan fabricates
new spray bars

to wash the pay gravels.

Just used the plasma table
to blast out all my holes,

that way it goes
a little easier

instead of having
to go in there

individually drill every hole.

We have four bars
that we have to build,

so it's quicker this way

just to set up the table
and burn them out.

[Freddy] Spray bars
are in place.

We still gotta get
the screen in.

And then, you know, we also...

There's that thing
about running it.

[Freddy]
Pick up on that screen,

so Juan can get his forks
under it.

You bet.

[Freddy] Go ahead, Juano.

[narrator] The Allens
help Freddy transport

and install the 200-pound
fine gold screen.

Let's just slide it
on manual, guys.

It's all yours, Juan.

[Juan] Thank you, Fred,
watch out, buddy.

Coming up.

Keep going back.

Shove it up there, son.

Watch your fingers.

-Now, give her grief.
-One, two, three...

Go.

[grunts] There we go.

Got her.

She's all coming together.

-Piece by piece.
-[Freddy] Coming up.

[narrator] The final piece
of the puzzle

is Juan's new hopper.

Go.

[dramatic music playing]

-Steady there, Juan.
-That's it, buddy.

Well, this build took a little
longer than what we expected,

but, uh, now, it's a mad dash

to get the plant dragged
back over.

Stick up, stick up.

[narrator] Travess moves
the upgraded shaker 300 yards

to the pad
for the second test run.

[Freddy] It actually looks
like a plant now.

[Travess] A week ago,
this wash plant

was just sitting
in the corner rusting.

It really looks good
to see it back together.

Curl your bucket in.

Come on.

One of the most exciting days
for a gold miner

is happening right now.

Oh.

Crack in a little bit more.

[Freddy] Whoa.

[Juan] We're in good shape,
huh?

[Freddy] Perfectly center.

Perfect.

Both you and Juan,
you're gonna change
our future.

Thank you. That means a lot.

[Juan] Let's get out
of here, huh?

Put things away and get ready
for a test run.

Let's do it.

[Juan] It's a huge
transformation.

We basically took
essentially scrap iron

and built
a full functional plant.

Hopefully, tomorrow,
we're gonna be full of gold.

But, uh, we'll see.

[Freddy] Come here, Willow.

[narrator]
In a moment of downtime,

Freddy gets back
to his ranching roots

with dog Willow.

[Freddy]
You see those chickens?

-Come on, Willow.
-[barks]

[Freddy] Get around
those chickens. Herd them up.

I grew up on a ranch.
We had cow dogs.

Lots of sheepdog with
a desire to herd something.

That's the instincts
that those dogs have.

I can't get those instincts
out of her today.

Herd them up. Get around.

Get around.

It's not my day
for a dog trainer.

Well, I tried.

[country music playing]

[Travess] Hey, Freddy.
Hey, Juan.

What do you think, Travess?

You guys ready to run?

Yeah, you bet.

Well, let's run.

-Let's go.
-Let's do it.

[machine revving]

[narrator]
At the Long Bar Mine,

the Allens fire up
their new wash plant

for the second test run.

[Travess] Let's see
if she shakes for us.

[machine whirring]

[Freddy] Looking good,
sunshine.

Here's the first scoop.

[Freddy] First bucket, Juan.

-Four-hour run?
-Yeah.

It feels great
to run this plant

for the first time.

It's been sitting in the field

for a couple of years.

I've never ever thought
it would come together.

[Freddy]
Sluice is running good,

the plant's running good,

the water's cleaning
the material,

the rocks
are coming off clean.

I don't think
I've ever seen a wash plant

run this good before.

[dramatic music playing]

[Travess] Makes me
more confident that we can get

to our 25-ounce gold.

Looks like we're running
about double the production.

[Freddy] Overall,
I'm pretty happy with it.

You know what we did
with this?

We resurrected a dinosaur.

[Juan] Yeah. Something that
was fit for the scrap pile,

now it's actually
a running plant.

[Freddy] And he owns it.

[Juan] Yeah.
Hopefully, we see some gold

in the box.

What is that?
Is that four hours now, Fred?

Four hours right on the money.

Last bucket.

[machine revving]

[Juan] Let's go see the box.

There's quite a bit
of material in it.

[Travess] Oh, look,
here in the carpet.

[Freddy] See, that's why
we double layer, right?

[Travess] Yeah,
it's all over the top there,

all over here.

Some more bigger pieces
in here.

[Freddy] Good.

We'll know more
'cause the scale doesn't lie.

[Travess] You bet.

-Let's go weigh it up, Freddy.
-I'm curious.

-Yeah, me too.
-I'm worried too.

Yeah.

[Freddy]
Where's your gold at, guys?

I got some gold right here
for you to weigh.

We did a 0.03 last time.

You know,
you gotta be right around

a quarter of an ounce a day,
right,

to be able to finish
the season off?

Absolutely. That's what
we're shooting for.

Let's weigh it up.

[narrator]
The Allens' final hopes

rest on a boosted recovery

from Freddy and Juan's
upcycled wash plant

and the new prospected pay

from the Long Bar cut.

Well, we're way past the 0.03.

[narrator] After doubling
their last two-hour run time,

they need to see
at least 0.1 ounces

to save their season.

-Huh.
-Look at that number.

-[Freddy] 0.20.
-[Travess] Wow.

[Juan] Just shy
of a quarter ounce.

Wow.

[narrator] Almost $500

in just a four-hour run.

More than triple
the gold recovery

of their wash plant rental.

-That's pretty good.
-That pretty excellent

compared to what
we've been doing.

You know, in reality is,
an eight-hour run,

you'd be closer
to half an ounce, you know.

-Absolutely.
-[Juan] And that's doable.

-Wow.
-[Juan] That's $1,200 a day.

Wow, that's pretty good.

-Well, you weren't gonna
survive before.
-[Andrew] Absolutely.

[Juan] The way the plant
is set up, you're only
running at half capacity.

As you ramp things up,
you start making some money,

you can get a bigger pump
and start, you know,

using both sides
of the sluice box.

-And hopefully
get an ounce a day.
-Exactly.

[Travess] It's nice to have
my own plant up and running.

This is actually light at
the end of the tunnel for me.

This is the best news
we've seen.

Man, do I appreciate it,
fellas.

Juan and myself
gotta hit the road.

-Thank you, Freddy.
-You're welcome.

-Thank you, Juan.
-[Juan] Hey, no worries.

-Thank you, Juan.
-[Juan] Hey.

Thank you, Freddy.

[Travess] There's our future
right there.

[Andrew] Miracle in the pan.

Both Andrew and I
are just ecstatic.

Doesn't even feel real

what Freddy and Juan
have done for us.

I never thought
it could happen.

But it has happened.

We'll make it here.

We can survive.

I wanna say
to Freddy and Juan,

thank you very much for coming
down to our gold mine

and saving the day.

I can't be any happier.

A miracle has happened for me.

If it was easy,
everyone would do it.

But, uh, honestly,
I have a lot of hope here.

Andrew is driven

and he's made a decision.

He wants to be a miner

and he's gonna continue
with this.

But now, he has
the right tools to be able

to continue with this career.

[country music playing]

[machine whirring]

Here's an update
from Long Bar.

Since we've seen
Freddy and Juan,

the updates
have helped us tremendously.

[Travess speaking]

We're washing around
a hundred yards a shift

doing anywhere from
three-quarters of an ounce

to an ounce a day.

I'm so happy to be able

to share it with my son

and show him this is how
we can claw our way

to our future
one scoop at a time.

Now we just wanna
wash, wash, wash.

We'll be here
until the snow flies.

Things just look
that much better

for us now
and for Andrew's future.

We're able to pay the bills.

Thanks again, Freddy and Juan.