Original subtitles

Breakfast is ready.

Morning. Morning, boys.

In the hills above Keno City, population 20,

Rick Ness and his small crew are preparing to turn their season around.

What do we got? Biscuits and gravy, French toast?

Bacon and sausage?

This is the best Canadian biscuits and gravy I've ever had before.

How does it stack up against the American biscuits?

Well...

Let's roll.

Thanks, buddy. Thanks for breakfast.

You got it.

Let's go.

Rick has sunk more than a million dollars into his operation.

And he's now under pressure to stay on the gold.

Man, we're in trouble.

Last week we went in the frozen cut, but it was a bust.

All we found was clay.

And I'm nearly out of pay in the creek cut extension here.

I really can't afford to set this lock plant down.

The ground in Keno is patchy and hard to read.

And Rick's new operator, Brennan Rualt, is struggling to follow the pay.

There's a lot of variables in this ground.

I get...

Some of this pay I've been digging lately over here just doesn't seem that

looking.

We hit a really deep clay mud hole.

Rick told me last year when they found some really good gold it was that really

red stained rock.

Now I haven't seen any of that red gravel. It's all dark grey.

Can I check the box?

I don't look good.

That doesn't look very good at all.

In the first few cleanups we did, it was actually pretty nice looking in the

box, and right now it looks like it must just be the pay starting to sizzle out

over there.

Hey, Rick. Yeah.

Figured I'd call you down and see what your opinion was.

Just feeling like I'm hitting a dead end here.

Ah.

It's really tandy.

It's not usually a good sign.

That tanned down real quick, which means there's not a whole lot of heavies in

there.

This isn't good.

Forms a speck right there.

This isn't good.

And we've got nothing else to do, nothing else to run.

What about the other side of the creek there?

There's all those big spruce. Doesn't look like it's ever been tucked.

Maybe that consistency starts going back up on that area. It'd be nice if

there's enough in there to keep us rolling and make the bills fade.

I mean, I guess we'd go over there. I mean, get an excavator over there, poke

around.

You know, there tends to be permafrost.

Hopefully it's thawed. All right.

Sounds like a plan. Thanks, buddy.

Brennan thinks the creek cut pay streak might continue in a strip on the north

side of the valley.

But any gold -rich pay dirt could be covered by permafrost.

I hope my hunt pays off here. You know, if Rick wouldn't trust me and be really

nice, he'll have no problem trusting me in the future.

It's actually looking pretty good.

No frost.

No way.

This is great.

Well, let's hope there's nuggets in here.

Otherwise, you're never going to trust me again.

Look how red that is.

Hopefully, it's some paste.

That one right there. Paste.

Oh, what did you find there, buddy?

Some gold.

Yeah. Nice.

See that one there, one there.

A hell of a lot better than where we were at.

So we're mining, eh?

Yeah, it is.

Every bucket that comes out of the ground has gold in it like that.

We just saved our ass.

Yeah, man. Let's do this.

Rick is back in the game.

Brennan must now get the new cut strip to pay to give the crew a chance of

hitting their target.

So we're just starting this new long, narrow strip, kind of like a strip of

bacon here, just off the tree cut.

You know, there's all sorts of layers and glaciated and stuff, so that'll

probably be a little trickier to learn, but, you know, after seven years of

doing it, I got a good deal for it. So, so far, so good.

I'm hoping that we can finish this off with a bang and get that much closer to

our final target of 2 ,000 ounces.

We're down in the dumps right now. We're getting our asses kicked out here

daily. We're exhausted.

We're running 22 hours a day, seven days a week.

In his second year mining, ex -Special Forces medic Fred Lewis is playing a

desperate game of catch -up.

Six weeks into the season, he's mined less than two ounces of gold.

But that might be about to change.

We've gotten down to bedrock for the first time, piled through all the

permafrost, tore all the muck out. This is our first chance. This is the real

first test on bedrock.

And that's what we're here for.

Gold.

Oh, yeah.

It's got that color impurity looking like it's about 80 % to 85%, so this is

right on the money.

It tells us that we're validified for coming here and trying to do the crazy

-ass thing and creating a mine out of nowhere.

Now that he's finally down to pay dirt, Fred needs a walk plant.

Hey, Paul.

Oh.

And he's found one, 130 miles away.

You know, I spoke with Paul earlier in the season, was about to lease land from

him, and things didn't work out.

But that doesn't mean we can't still have a relationship.

So I've managed to convince him to let me come check out his wash plant to see

if it's something we can use, which is a big deal because in the beginning, he

wasn't willing to let that wash plant leave his property.

Fred's old veteran crew could have a season after all.

What's up?

Got some news.

So I think I have found us a wash plant.

Really?

Yes.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little kind of getting shocked from last season.

The last loss plan was an absolute failure.

Last year, we should have invested a lot more, and we were new at it. We assumed

that was going to work. Well, no, we were supposed to get everything in good

working order, and that was, you know, obviously was not the case.

I want to know if you, like, dropped mad money on something.

That's already kind of a need to be repaired.

So I haven't seen it yet, but I'm going to go investigate it, check it out.

But... I think this is going to be our wash plant.

I hope so, man.

You guys good?

Good job, guys.

Fingers crossed.

As Fred heads off to inspect the wash plant, former recon scout sniper Stuart

McKenzie stockpiles pay.

Purple Heart recipient Stuart is hoping this will be the year he brings home

gold for his wife.

and four -year -old daughter.

Last season was an absolute disaster.

You know, and one of the main things that we had problems with was the plant.

So I'm really hoping that Fred came through with this.

But, you know, I'll be excited. I'll be a little bit more excited once I get to

see the thing in person.

Fred's wash plant is a three -hour drive away.

Almost 2 ,000 feet up in the hills.

Is that wash plant close to here?

Yeah, it's up the valley about half a mile.

Kind of so.

Oh,

look at that.

Go four foot New Zealander.

Small, easy to move, self -leveling.

So this was running last season?

Yeah.

Hydraulic ripples work? Yeah.

Just needs a few tune -ups.

Okay.

Well, you think we can get this thing fired up, see if it runs?

Oh, we can find out.

She runs.

What were you thinking the yardage it puts through now?

Could run at about 40 yards an hour.

The target I have when I come out here was 60 to 80.

If you can up the volume down here, put a fan out each way and you'll double the

volume.

Hmm.

So it needs a two screens change, a liner change, and a few other changes.

We're talking time and money.

Up to you.

Paul is offering to lease the plant, as is.

If Fred wants any repairs or upgrades, he'll have to pay for them himself.

Okay. Well, we're going to have to get the professionals on him.

They're going to charge for that.

Oh, Fred has to hold the plant half a mile to the highway.

So I've never moved a wasp plant before.

It's a real sketchy spot. It'll be spinning around and going past like

Oh, jeez, yeah, okay.

Be very careful.

But if you start sliding sideways, just put the bucket down. Put the bucket

down, right?

I'm sketched right now.

He should be fine, I hope.

Good task for him.

Kind of out of my comfort zone here, that's for sure.

Can't get this to turn.

Uh -oh!

Watch out!

It's starting to tip a little bit.

So far, so good.

Whoa.

See, this crack is on straight ice now.

You just never know. Somebody actually just died up here in the Yukon not very

many days ago in a tragic accident involving ice.

If this breaks, this thing's going to hit.

It's still low.

Keep going.

The bank is falling apart.

Boom.

just pull this one track on try to get the machine to get out of the ice oh oh

my gosh keep that way a bit yeah go

One piece.

I'm not in one piece. I'm like in eight different pieces after that.

So you have no traction on ice whatsoever.

So she's here. Now we get Rogers, the guy that's going to come pick it up.

Hey,

guys. How are you doing?

Good to meet you. Hey, I'm Fred. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too.

Now to load the plant onto the truck for its journey to the repair shop.

I want to have my fingers crossed on this one. I actually do like this plant

quite a bit, and I don't like moving things not to use them. So let's hope it

works our way.

Cold blue. I'm going to call it cold blue.

Hey, Minnie!

Can you get over there for a second, please?

Okay.

Since it's not going to be the Indian River this year, we have to find some

stuff to do because we have investors that give or take $5 million.

Tell me about it.

We got 40 people hired.

So we got to do something.

After losing half his operation on Indian River,

King of the Klondike Tony Beetz is struggling to pick up the pieces His

source of revenue is his son Mike's trommel running on Paradise Hill

But it's not enough He needs another plant

and he's only got one option So better get the troops in

So here we are.

Five million dollars spent.

Hi.

One thing is for certain, we are not going to lay down, of course.

We have a little piece of hunker that we could go to and take some payout and

finish off.

The hunker cut? Oh, it's a problem, problem, problem.

For the past few years, the hunker quarters took a punch to the beats.

Time and time again.

From frozen pay.

They seem to have hit some frost.

To catastrophic floods.

Nope. What?

Must. And countless breakdowns.

Should have named it the curse cut, not the hunker cut.

That is so pretty.

What a day. Well, I know, but what do you do, Pumper? We don't have much of a

choice.

Let's go down there and check it out.

Okay.

To save his season, Tony will have to defeat the curse of the Honka Code.

I'm pretty focused.

We've got to pay how many to water.

The pay currently sits under three feet of water.

Before he can mine it, he'll have to pump the water out into nearby Honka

Oh yeah,

got the plant sitting here.

Just going to make it work somehow.

First, they have to transport the pump and its half -ton generator to the cut.

Gavin, do it.

Tighten it up.

Are you ready, Gavin?

Yep.

Let's get this thing in there.

Good night, good night, good night, good night.

There.

Cool.

Wait a moment, wait a moment.

Put him down a little bit.

Down.

to make up ounces anywhere we can.

While this gutter's ready to go, all we gotta do is drain it, all the work has

been done on it.

So right now we're just hauling down the hoses, and we're just gonna hook it all

together, bada bing, bada boom, and make some water go.

So let's just get this thing on the go.

Be nice and start closing here sooner than later.

Hey, got the other one?

Fire up the generator.

Pump some water.

The 268 horsepower pump drains a thousand gallons a minute through a pair

-inch hoses out into the creek.

Yeah!

Always nice when they go, huh? Oh, yeah.

That's it.

Give it two, three days to drain.

And then, bingo, then we should be ready to sluice.

Hopefully by the weekend we'll put some rocks in the box. That will be nice.

Yeah, I think we're getting close.

I can't wait to see what Joel has to say. I can't wait for him to get a look

this wash plant, tell me what he thinks.

Fred Lewis has secured a wash plant.

Now he's headed to fabricator Joel Famolaro to find out what it'll cost to

repair.

You must be Joel.

I am, yeah. Nice to meet you. Hey, nice to meet you too.

So this is her, right?

This is it.

Bam!

She's all unloaded on the ground and safe.

What do you think?

Need some work for sure.

Right now she's running about 30 yards an hour and we really need to be around

60 to 80.

What's limiting you now is with the screen inside that barrel.

It's wrapped.

Okay. It looks like it's been packed for years.

Just redo the whole thing.

This feed hopper needs relining.

It's paper thin.

I think it's worth spending the time and the money and getting it right.

Do you have any guess on what I'm looking at for repairs?

Give or take a few dollars.

Ballpark figure, about $30 ,000.

Okay.

Yeah, I don't think the budget's going to allow us to put the money that we

to.

I just thought this plant was in a little better shape than it is in.

Fred's investor has agreed to a maximum upfront payment of $25 ,000.

$5 ,000 short.

What if I were to come and volunteer my time and help out and be a hand? I mean,

I don't have a lot of skills in welding, but I could definitely turn a wrench or

lift or whatever you need me to do.

That would help a lot.

Okay.

Joel's plan is to line the worn -out hopper with a half -inch steel plate and

remove and replace the trommel screens.

Fred's first job is to re -skin the two -ton hopper.

Fred, have you ever used one of these before?

Nope. This is an Aerox gouger. Just be careful because it shoots sparks far.

A graphite rod creates an arc of electricity between the rod and plate.

This heats up to around 5 ,000 degrees Celsius, melting the metal.

We're going to cut a piece of steel to fit here and weld it in place.

The hardened steel plate weighed 400 pounds.

She looks really good. I think this will last at least a couple of seasons.

I love it.

Good work.

I don't usually see mining bosses getting hands -on.

His mentality towards being a boss and doing the work is going through.

I think it's that Green Beret mentality where you just get in and get it done.

And I think that's what's going to set him apart from the next guy.

We cannot just stop or slow down.

You got to keep on going.

Tony beats this struggling to save his season.

Mike is running 200 yards of gold -rich pay dirt an hour through his trommel on

top of Paradise Hill.

And down in the valley, Tony has put his other son Kevin in charge of defeating

the hunker cut.

That looks unworkable.

The Kiwi Wash plant has been idle over the winter, sitting in thick snow in

temperatures down to minus 40.

To get it running, and keep it running, means a complete overhaul.

We've had a few problems with the Kiwi plant last year, so make it work

I think a solid day here and we'd have everything pretty much done.

Okay.

This board needs to get put back so we don't have these giant rocks falling on

people.

Beautiful.

Pass up that plate.

There we go.

Beautiful. Need to adjust the tiny.

That's perfect.

Sexy.

Cool.

Everything

is

attached. Everything is put on.

Good turn.

Fire up.

Get ready.

Fingers crossed.

pocket of this diesel for this plant.

A failed thermostat has caused the engine to overheat,

warping the cylinder heads.

We're so close.

Of course, the cursed leg.

I thought this hunker cut might be a nice, quick, easy little cut.

But right now, it looks like we're dead to the father.

That is depressing.

pretty good.

I'm down about two feet and I'm already hitting pay here. No frost and it's

really nice looking.

When the pay streak he was mining ran out, Rick Ness opened up a new gold

strip to the north of the creek cut extension.

I'm actually quite excited about it.

Put some gold in the piggy bank.

First load of hay coming out of what we have dubbed the bacon strip.

Chris Cruz is the only one of Rick's buddies to have come back after last

season.

At the end of the day, we get a hot ground and find a bunch of gold.

I go home with a pocket full of gold in the shape of a bonus.

And right now I'm away. My new wife is planning our wedding reception for when

get home.

A nice fat gold bullet could go a long way to having a pretty kick -ass tin dig

for us and our friends for our wedding.

I'm trying to get some pay hauled up here.

Kruze makes the job really easy, because he puts the stuff right where it should

be. He backs right up it, and like, he'll go as high as he can.

Again. Rick, you got a copy?

Yeah, let's go for Richard.

My truck's dead on the pay pile.

Now we'll restart.

You want to come up next to me and nudge the back of the box?

Okay, I'll be over there. I'll help you out in a bit.

I'm going to rock truck that just saw that on the pay pile.

So, down people and machines.

And, yeah,

not looking too good right now.

The steep incline has caused the fuel to cut out, triggering the emergency

brake.

It's still right now.

It's right next to the plant.

I might just have to play it down for a second.

I

have to

pull it off the pile.

And so it's on flat ground.

If you tip this

thing over, it's going on your record, not mine.

We'll just see what happens.

Wait a second.

It's pushing into the dirt more, isn't it? If you dig out where my front bumper

is dug into the ground, that's what's keeping me from rolling off the pile.

Yeah.

Rick clears the ground in front of the bumper to try and free the 34 -ton

Alright, I'm just going to get up there and I'll give it a little tug.

There's so much weight to be pulled that's, you know what I mean? Like, it's

40 -ton truck.

I don't want to pull the front of that box off.

When I got a mechanical issue that I can't figure out, I called my dad.

Good, how you doing, bud?

We don't have a mechanic.

Is there a way to manually override the parking brake?

Oh, I don't feel good about that.

It's dangerous.

I'll do my best.

All right. Thanks, bud.

The only way to release the brake by going under there and try to find the

hot and release the pressure manually, because I'm going to have to be under

truck to do that.

It's not a good idea.

I don't know. It's just really the only way to release the brake.

It's not ideal.

No.

I mean, I think I can handle it.

Be very careful.

All right.

Chris must manually disable the automatic braking system.

But releasing the brake could roll the truck.

It's just a potentially sketchy situation.

The parking brake automatically locks up.

So what we got to do is get this little tool out of here and release the

pressure off the parking brake manually.

I'm not a mechanic.

This is not a spot that I really belong in.

All right.

There it is.

Watch yourself here. I don't know what's going to happen.

Release it up. I felt something.

Fingers crossed.

Susie seems to think he's got the parking brake released.

So, I've got to just get the thing to roll down the hill.

It's starting to roll.

Here it comes.

Oop.

Stand back!

Hmm.

Right.

Uh, there we go.

You should be good. Oh, did I... myself?

No, but my ass swallowed the seed.

Just need to get the goddamn thing flat and start it right up.

Fire it up.

Oh yeah, there you go.

That was a little tricky, but we figured it out. You know, no mechanic here, but

we still...

Still managed to keep limping along, so we'll get back to loading pace.

What's going on, Joel?

Hey, Fred.

How's it going?

Oh, she's coming along.

Fred Lewis is back for one final punch.

Looking fantastic.

To get his wash plant fixed and on the road.

I'm ready to go to work. What do you got for me?

Sir, can you just cut him the length of the punch pipe?

Okay.

We're going to get this one cut.

These will basically be welded in like this.

One here, one here, and so on.

Looks good, bud.

Good.

Yep. She looks really good.

She's good for at least a couple of seasons.

Oh, for sure.

Can't wait to see it back together again.

Oh, yeah.

With the trommel complete, it's time to lift the three -ton heart of the plant

into position.

We need to lift this barrel up into this tray, and this end plate can't be

damaged. So you've got to give me left, right and keep me centered so that I

don't crush that because if we do, we're back to square one and we're going to

rebuild the tray.

It's dangerous.

So just be careful.

I've never done anything like this before.

A little nervous.

Okay, we're going up.

Okay, pull towards me a little.

Okay.

Okay,

we're going up, right?

Yep.

Whoa.

Up, up, up.

Watch this bar right here.

Don't let it go. Bring it back this way.

Go up a little.

Bring it this way a little bit more.

You might be better off up there.

Slow.

We're going to make sure that it doesn't land on that thrust roller.

Okay, go ahead.

Towards you a little bit.

Do it.

Check this side.

Yeah, it needs to go back that way like two inches.

Yeah, I think we're good.

Okay, I'm going to take the pressure off of here.

Oh, my.

Perfect,

Fred. Yeah.

Yeah, man, that's good.

That went really well. And it looks like we didn't damage anything.

So that was a little bit nerve -wracking.

It's looking good.

You know, I put a lot of time and money and sweat equity into this wash plant.

It's the heartbeat of the entire season. Without this wash plant, we've got

nothing. So coming out here and doing the work means the next time I see this

plant, it's going to be coming down my road, my claim, to start pulling gold on

California Creek.

And that's the big deal.

What's up, Jabroni?

Hi. Hello.

Oh, Jim Jabroni.

What's going on, Popkin?

What's going on, Pooh Bear?

You guys got cute little names for each other?

I guess.

It's been an interesting week.

Mm -hmm.

It's tough to pivot from one cut to another, but, you know, luckily, this

ground, it hasn't had a whole lot of overburden. Mm -hmm. And, Brennan, you

able to get in there and start stripping right away and keep us going.

Definitely. Thanks. Yeah. I bet you, man, anything I can do.

Yeah. Another week of limping along without a mechanic, but we keep making

work. Yeah. I mean, at this point, we're going with everything, calling up

fathers.

Did you call your daddy to get your truck? Oh, yes, I did.

I'm not ashamed to admit it. All right. Yeah, so I do have some gold in here.

You ready, buddy? Sure. All right.

Rick needs over 100 ounces every week.

to stay on track for a season goal of 2 ,000 ounces.

50, 60, 70,

75 .92.

Worth over $135 ,000.

We went down a bit, but in a week where we had to pivot quick and we kept going,

that ain't too bad.

But now, you know, it's up to me. I've got to build this team up a bit more.

And we've got some serious ground to find this year. And it's going to be a

tougher, but the path's going to be bigger.

And that's what we need to get to our 2 ,000 -ounce goal.

So that's what we're here for. That's what we're here for.

Let's keep her moving. Love it, too.

Yeah. All right, boys, let's get out there.

Yeah.

It's really nice to have people you can trust on your team.

We keep making smart moves. I know we're going to get 2 ,000 -ounce moves.

Hey, girls. Hi, Papa.

Hey, guys.

Hello, brothers.

Hello, sister.

So,

I heard you guys went down to Anchor. How'd that go?

How do you think?

Kind of quick.

I mean, we lost half of it and did our plan to get it going.

Called the show for it.

Ruby and I didn't call, like, the curse cut.

Giggled.

Very funny.

Come up with an extra bright idea, I suppose.

How did your plan do this week?

Pretty good. Ran all week.

Good enough. Let's do it. Like we have.

This season, Tony's averaged 172 ounces.

20, 30, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120.

Fifty... 173 .32.

Over $300 ,000.

But well below the pace he needs.

That $9 ,000, I don't think we're going to get even close.

So let's try for $4 ,500 and even at that, I'll be pretty happy.

Because remember, no end you're ever.

That will be a tough one.

So let's get out there.

Thanks,

guys. See you later.

Don't worry about it.

It can only get better. It would have been nice if everything panned out, but

yeah, whatever.

That would have been too easy, you know.

Well, everybody else would be doing it too now, wouldn't they?

Yeah.

I have a bottle I can give her.

Oh, yeah. You know.

Right, young lady? Right.

There. Maybe it tickles a little bit.

Right?

Okay, I've got to go to work.