Original subtitles

That's pretty scary.

I've never done anything like it.

There's so much dirt that has to be moved here. If we move the wrong dirt

all the way down in the wrong spot, I'm going to go broke.

Yukon miner Rick Ness is pushing his operation, quite literally, to the edge.

That's going to cost pretty much everything I have.

So the stakes here are massive.

But the payoff at the bottom could be life -changing.

The deep cut, it turned out to be a great piece of ground. We did get 130

out of there, which is great. It's a good boost for mid -season. It just

last as long as we'd hoped.

In the mountains above Plino, Rick is out to prove he's the heavyweight gold

miner.

Halfway through his fourth season, he's chasing a mammoth 2 ,000 ounces.

More than he banked in his first two seasons alone.

I'm looking at some other sections of my claims here, hopefully with some great

gold.

Tired of scratching for small scores in patchy ground, Rick wants to find one of

Keno's infamous hot spots and is planning his riskiest move yet.

Hey, Troy.

Hey, Rick. How are you, man? Rick's called on two of the most experienced

of the region,

landlord Troy Taylor.

and plaster geologist william labai to help locate a rich streak thanks for

coming i've got the two most knowledgeable people in the valley here

right now i don't know how to do much better than that i'm looking to go move

some different ground here on site obviously but i just was wondering where

guys have had some real good luck around here you know i mean what is really

significant is this was like a relative hot spot we had Cleanup after cleanup

after cleanup, it was kind of like our glory days. What kind of numbers were

looking at over here? It was like a week of probably less than a week of

sleuthing, and one cleanup we had was like 450 ounces.

Oh, wow.

That's incredible.

And you're talking about near a million dollars in less than a week?

It really doesn't happen very often. Yeah.

But I'm just worried about you going into this ground because we had that

year in 98 right in here.

I remember coming up in March 99 to move over 100 feet of overburden.

Spent a ton of money in fuel and wages.

But when we got down to it, we just didn't have enough volume of pay to pay

for all the costs of getting down there. And it was a disaster for us.

If we had just been 10 yards over more...

It would have been a world of difference. To go down 100 feet and to

yards make that much of a difference, that's pretty scary.

Over 150 ,000 years ago, a glacier eroded gold from the mother lode.

When the ice melted, gold settled into pockets.

The ancient riverbed, or paleochannel, lies somewhere over 100 feet beneath the

surface.

To find the elusive jackpot, electrodes will pass current through the ground.

How quickly it bounces back will reveal the location of the channel, which could

contain 3 ,000 ounces of gold worth over $5 million.

I can't say enough how scary it is, you know, having gone through it myself to

go into that deep ground.

I admire your determination.

Well, I appreciate that. And every now and then you just got to kind of pick

your balls up and put them on the table and risk them, I guess.

Help me get the minimal amount of risk on my balls here, guys.

Get up the first line.

This is the resistivity meter.

So it's going to be the one that's actually taking the readings.

Receiving and reputation now rides on technology.

and his expert's ability to decipher their findings.

Okay.

Yeah, it's starting to show the resistivity values. This looks good so

We're able to see the silt layer that turns up quite well.

We also see the bedrock contact coming in here.

And in between, I think, is the paleo channel.

What did you find out?

She's deep, brother. Yeah, how deep? Well, depending on where you're going

we've got a bedrock hole here at 210 feet.

That's a lot.

You say the deepest I did was about 40 feet, and I don't think anybody's done

this much, have they? No. We're looking at over a million yards of overburden

that has to be moved.

Wow,

that's a lot. It really is.

With just three months left in the season, Rick has to gamble on whether

reach pay.

Otherwise, it's game over.

Steve, that channel looks clear as day.

I think it's doable.

I think I'm ready to pull the trigger.

I can't wait, man.

This is a big undertaking.

Yeah. And I'm glad to have you here with me this year. I appreciate it, buddy.

I'm glad you got your homework.

There's a lot of gold down there, and if we're going to get it this year, we

better hit it.

Sounds good, man. Awesome.

This is one of the scariest things I've ever done in mining. This is a dangerous

game going that deep, but I think that I've got the right people here to give

the best shot at doing this right.

Boy, does it feel good to finally get up here and get started on the deepest cut

we've ever done, ever.

Brennan. And the 475 Dozer clears overburden into previously mined ground.

Rick's lean crew normally shifts 60 ,000 yards a week.

Now, they'll have to move over 100 ,000, all before winter sets them down.

But for now at least, the crew have a goal.

There's so much dirt to do here, so I'll have some fun here in the 475.

Hopefully we'll put a huge stint in it and we'll get down to pay and we can run

some before the end of the year.

We're doing it.

Calling the rally valley.

We're calling it that because by the time we're done here, it's going to be

hell of a valley.

This is the deepest I've ever gone for gold by far, but the payoff at the

could be life -changing.

The glory hole is done.

80 peppers still running. But of course, that is going to run out. So I got some

ideas as to where to go because we're going to have to keep these goat

toadstools up.

Otherwise, we're not going to reap our coal this year.

Yukon legend Tony Beetz ticked off his season with a major error.

He invested millions on mining equipment for his Indian River claim, only for

the water license to be declined.

It's a blow he's yet to recover from.

We invested five million bucks this winter and nowhere to go but Paradise

So we got to think where we got some decent ground to mine.

So I'm going to do a look at this one spot over there that we're thinking of

opening up.

We found it last year a bit already and never got to it.

Hey, Mike D. Carvey, Mike D. Carvey.

Where is it?

Yeah, that's all right.

Do they make me come behind the drum, please?

Yeah, on the way.

We're going to have to open up more ground, and we're going to have to do it

reasonably quick.

With the 80 -puck cut almost out of pay, Tony's identified a 25 -acre patch of

ground between it and the nugget cut.

So. I think that if we take that whole chunk out and the piece behind, then

there should be a couple million bucks in there.

That always was good ground before, and it is the right white channel, but we

have all this black muck sitting there. It's worrisome.

Sitting deep within Paradise Hill, the white channel pay layer was created by

ancient river of glacial runoff.

It's given Tony the best pay dirt he's ever mined.

If the layer continues between the two cuts, it could hold $3 million in gold.

But before he can test it, he has to shift 100 feet of overburden, and the

around the bottom is too soft for a dozer or rock trucks.

Well, you ain't going to be, at this point in the year, you ain't going to be

able to get lemon up there.

Mike and Tony's plan is to bring in a powerful water cannon known as a monitor

to blast away the mud whilst an excavator clears overburden from the top

cut.

I always liked the monitor.

You couldn't move that dirt any deeper.

For 150 years, miners have used water jets to excavate soft ground quickly and

cheaply.

A monitor can throw 185 ,000 cubic feet of water per hour with a velocity

of 150 feet per second.

To open the inaccessible new wall cut, Tony sees it as his secret weapon.

Hey, Mike.

Straight ahead, folks.

A 175 -horsepower pump will feed the monitor.

Hey, lift it up, Mike.

Drive that pump right up to the wires.

Put the hook over top, then swing it in place.

Give them wires a life, so watch out for it.

Okay, walk underneath him.

Keep it going.

Watch yourself. All the way.

Okay, Mike, bring it in.

Okay, lower down.

Down, down, down.

Okay, just take the hook off until he puts it on the other side. Okay, good.

There you go, Mike. Boom down and get yourself some distance, okay?

Up, up, up, up.

Up she goes.

Hey, Mike!

Down, down, down.

Go the wrong way. Hey!

Mike! What's up?

Hold it, Mike. Give me that, the cable.

Okay, boom it down a bit more, boom it down a bit more.

Walk it straight ahead, huh?

Idiot. Straight ahead, folks.

Okay, Mike, bring her in.

Lift it up.

Did you hear her call him?

Idiot? Yeah.

Well, once in a while you got to remind people, you see.

Bring her in, bring her in.

Walk her. Hold it right there.

You go ahead. We got to hook that up and then we'll slap this together, okay?

They must now run 200 feet of hose to feed the monitor.

Guys, move it on.

Hit that thing.

We'll open up the wells and we'll have water.

D. Garvey, Brandon D. Garvey.

Open up the big valve, close the bypass, Brandon, please.

Oh, let's see what it does.

The monitor blasts a worthless overburden with nine gallons of water a

sending the runoff one mile downstream and filtering it out through Tony's

settling ponds.

Mikey is going to start throwing dirt, and then we can play some real havoc to

blow this top of the hill.

Now we're really moving so much, you see.

We're just over halfway through the season, and it's been an uphill battle.

There's a lot going on. You know, it's definitely a lot busier than we've ever

been, and bigger projects than we've ever taken on right now.

Eight years ago, Alaska native Parker Snabel arrived in the Yukon in a quest

knowledge and to seek his fortune.

He's now mined $60 million worth of gold.

But out here...

You're only as good as your next mine, and he's running out of ground.

You can bite tooth and nail to be more productive, or you can go out and find

ground that's twice as good.

Now we're on to a good piece of ground in Alaska, and border restrictions look

like they're easing, so I'm heading over there now.

Parker calls in right -hand man and foreman Mitch Barkey.

Hey, man. What's happening?

What's on your mind?

I'm pretty anxious about the reserve we've got, and I'm going back over to

Alaska and figure out where the future for us is. We're going to need it

we've been motoring through ground here.

We're chopping through ground like crazy.

Hopefully you can just pound out those 700 ounces from the strip and get big

right up to Mud Mountain. It's a real priority.

Go find us some ground, and we'll keep everything motoring here.

That's my priority.

Best ground we can find.

Perfect.

Everybody's got things here under control.

You know, for me, it's much more urgent to find some new targets in Alaska.

That means, you know, Mitch and Tyson have to be on their game here. And

hopefully everybody can, you know, work together and get the jobs done.

Oh, yeah.

Welcome to the... At the promised land.

Plant boss Tyson Lee runs hundreds of yards of gold -rich pay through Wash

Plants Lucifer.

All I know is Parker is heading to Alaska.

Last year when Parker was gone, you know, and it was a struggle every day.

definitely a lot more pressure on Mitch this year.

Two and a half miles upstream, Mitch runs Big Red in the airstrip.

All the responsibilities of this mine site are getting dumped on my shoulders.

And we got a lot going on right now. It's a lot of pressure and a lot to deal

with.

Right now, our focus is just finishing things up here at the airstrip and

obviously getting Big Red moved over to Mud Mountain.

Partridge wants 700 ounces out of this cut.

Hopefully, we got a lot of gold to show him when he gets back.

Running a mine is more than just moving dirt and sleuthing for gold.

While Parker's away, it's down to Mitch to not only get 700 ounces out of the

airstrip, he must also help Tyson at the promised land.

A clean -up will help Mitch determine if they're on target.

Well, there's some gold in it. You can see up here, a little bit down there,

nothing amazing. And from what I've been seeing, I mean, it's not looking like

we're going to hit that 700 ounce target.

It's definitely a concern here.

Well, you can't add gold to it. No.

Exactly.

Well, we'll just have to wait and see what we have.

How's it looking? I'm halfway through it until it's all done.

I can't tell you, but you're not going to... There's no way. No.

I don't know why Parker was thinking of Zone 3 to have 700 in it. If we got any

chance of getting any more out of Zone 3, it's just going to have to be bigger.

But can you go any bigger?

The road's right there, and we could probably go over another, you know, over

100 feet down that whole side.

Oh, my.

Do you think you'd open that road up before that pad's ready at Mud Mountain?

don't know, man. It's going to, I mean, stretch us even thinner than we already

are. But one way to find out.

Mitch's plan is to extend the airstrip cut at the edge of Zone 3 by digging up

the access road.

A 110 -foot -long strip of virgin ground under 15 feet of overburden.

where Mitch hopes to find the gold he needs.

The only way we've got a fighting chance at getting 700 ounces here out of Zone

3 of the airstrip is to make it a little bigger.

It's a big call.

Opening up more ground means keeping Big Red on the airstrip.

If the road extension doesn't have enough gold...

Vital weeks of sluicing on Mud Mountain would be wasted, pushing Parker deeper

into debt.

Where our road is, it appears that it's never been mined, so right now we're

digging out the roadway, hoping we find some really good gold underneath it.

On Paradise Hill, Tony Beats has gone old school to uncover a hidden hoard

the best pay dirt he's ever mined.

But between him and a three million dollar bounty, it's a thick layer of

If you have the ground open, ready to sluice, just get the money in the bank,

you know.

We're banging lots of dirt in front of the monitor this way.

That monitor will take that load of dirt away. There you go. Gone.

That was right.

I was all getting through this now.

It's actually fun still to me.

I would put it this way. I think we are winning at this point.

I don't mind doing this at all.

Go ahead.

I just lost all pressure.

What's happening with that monitor?

Oh, just lost all pressure. It just stopped.

Any chance of getting the wall cut stripped before the AT pup runs out?

They're slipping away.

See that?

The throttle handle broke off. If the engine does not run at full RPMs, then

don't get enough water pressure at the end of the monitor.

The thing is, you've got to hold the throttle handle there. Since I've spring

-loaded, you've got to put something to hold it down there.

Hey, Brandon D. Copy, Brandon D. Copy. Bring me two zip ties, bring me two zip

ties. Yeah, like right...

How can I think?

Think. Yeah, I'll be over there in a second.

Like we cannot wait for something to show up here welded, nor can you wait

new part. I need that water now.

I got some zip ties.

Okay, we'll try.

Yeah, that's the one.

For now, this will get us by just fine.

We'll see how much pressure we got.

Bingo. Talking business?

Yeah, I think I am.

With a couple of cheap zip ties.

Tony's multi -million dollar operation is back up and running.

In mining, that's what you call improvising. Make a thing run and off

the biggest risk I've ever taken.

Rick Nurse is taking the gamble of his life by attempting to mine gold from the

190 -foot -high Raleigh Valley.

This is definitely a gamble, but it's a gamble in a different way. The gold is

there. The biggest part of the gamble is if we can get down to it in time.

Rick and his crew have just three months to move over a million yards of dirt

before winter puts them down.

If they don't get to sleuth, it could spell disaster.

Rick's best shot at getting to the gold in time is the monster 475 dozer.

We've got a lot of dirt here to move and a lot to move quick, and that dozer is

definitely the machine to do it.

The 475 has a 20 -foot wide blade that moves twice as much dirt in one putt

as a loaded rock truck.

Things built to move mountains and, you know, things pretty sweet.

You know, Brennan's moving a ton of dirt, you know, 60 yards at a time he

in with that dozer.

Moving dirt.

That's not good.

Hey, Rick, you got coffee?

Yeah, go for it.

There's some weird sensor going off on the dash here, and the power kind of

keeps going up and down. Like, it's almost derating itself here.

All right.

It's not fun not having a mechanic here.

Very frustrating, you know. We had someone here that's trained to do the

-bang -boom, done, and we're back at the racing, but that's not the case.

And the future of his season has hit a massive roadblock.

The timing couldn't be worse. We're just about to open the biggest, deepest cut

I've ever done in my life.

We need that machine.

Every second, the 475 isn't pushing dirt.

We're going to have just enough time to pull this off.

It's piling on debt.

So I've got a mechanic here, and hopefully we lose as little time as

because literally time is precious right now.

Rick calls in local mechanic Rob Bailey in the hope he can get the monster

machine back up and running.

So what do you think it is, buddy?

There's so many things that could be wrong with it, yeah.

There's a ton there to move in. We're going from...

Trying to open up a huge pay date to, you know, possibly going bankrupt here.

we don't have that machine, I'm going to be in trouble.

It's becoming a big problem.

If it's this wiring, that's relatively cheaper to fix.

But we've got a million wires under there, and there's no way to remember

one is which.

I'm just blowing all the dust, as much dust as I can out.

And hopefully, that'll fix our problem.

We'll lob test drive it and hopefully we don't get any bad pressure readings.

We'll know once we run it for sure.

Okay, I'll jump in there and get it going.

Here you go.

The Yukon, the difference between success and failure, is measured by a

particle that can take down a $500 ,000 dozer.

That was perfect at the end of the day.

With a bunch of this ground done, we could get down to pay and run a bit here

before the end of the season.

We got lucky on this one, man.

I think this is going just about as good as it can at the moment.

I mean, if we're going to hit our 2 ,000 -ounce goal, we've got to get to the

bottom of this, and this 475 is going to get us there.

So, onward to the goal.

It's really important that we get this extension done here as fast as we can.

On the almost depleted estric cut, Big Red has been down for three days while

Mitch searches for gold under the old access road.

The pressure is definitely on today for us to get down to St. Peter, get it

through a wash plant and see if we can't get to that 1 ,100 houses.

Hey, Mitch.

What's happening?

My excavator went down. Great, now we're screwed.

Have you got anything else you can do down there in the meantime?

No. That's your next thing?

That's the only other.

Gotcha.

I'll have to come down and take a look at it.

It's always something.

Tyson's only excavator is situated all the way over at the promised land.

So Mitch is forced to abandon the estric cut.

Lots to do and not enough hours in the day.

You know, this is a struggle. If I could spend the whole day down here at Big

Red, well, we can get that where it needs to be.

But that means things are going to stop over here at Ken's Ground.

You know, that's part of being a foreman. You got to, you know, go to

biggest problem is. And right now that seems to be everywhere.

Well, with any of these problems, you just have to work through them.

Just takes time.

Just all time that's lost.

No, she ain't going to go.

That starter is done.

The starter's probably just started its last start here, which means we're going

to have to pull this out and get a replacement in here.

It's the nightmare scenario for Mitch.

Every hour Big Red is down, he loses over $3 ,000, and his final dig at the

airstrip falls further behind.

At the same time, Lucifer is at risk of a shutdown if Tyson's excavator can't

be fixed to stockpile pay.

The biggest thing that we run into is just...

having enough time in the day. You know, we're always trying to get every

minute, every hour we can of sleuth time because that's how you get good

cleanups. That's how you have a lot of gold at the end of the season.

We're spread 50 -10, amen?

Exactly.

It all needs to be done and we only have so many machines and so many people.

We're good to go.

So when I holler, I have to just hold it. Hopefully it'll start cranking and

catch and then just let off.

Go ahead!

Nailed it!

Now that I have the 480 back, I can get back at her.

But, you know, right now at the air skirt, Mitch is going to be in a tough

Only so much one guy can do in a day.

After losing four hours to repairs, Mitch gets back to clearing overburden.

I'm out here trying to get some more material up. We're able to get it

the wash plant quick. You know, it could be the difference of hitting our mark

here, getting 700 ounces.

But we're not down to pay dirt yet.

Striking a balance between helping others and helping yourself is key to

a smooth operation.

The biggest struggle is just machines and people. We just don't have enough

people, and it's really tough to move a lot of material.

So we're going to cross our fingers and hope there's no more problems.

Hey, Mitch, you got a copy? Mitch?

Yeah, go ahead. What's up?

Hey, man, 460.

Down here, it's Lucifer.

My radio is breaking up. What was that?

Hey, man. I have things pretty well under control down here at Lucifer. Do

need to hand up a big red at all?

Yeah, we got lots going on over here. Definitely head on over this way. Okay.

Sounds good, man. I'm on my way.

You know, Mitch and I are running two separate plants. We're running two

separate cuts. But at the end of the day, it's one company, one team, one

one goal. And the goal is to get as much gold out of the ground as we can.

You know, I thought I'd try to get him in the hand and see if we can get him

caught up.

So awesome to see Tyson came up.

It's nice seeing those trucks rolling that quick.

Happy as a pig in...

But, man, it's just such a great feeling. We've got everything swinging

down here.

You know, you're getting something done, man. You can literally move a mountain

of dirt in one day, in one shift.

Hey, Justin, you got a copy?

Oh, yeah.

Hey, man, I got the first scoop of the Airstrip Road Extension piled up here if

you want to start sending it through that wash plant.

Right on.

I can't believe how much dirt we've moved in. You know, it's just crazy to

that at the start of the day here, we had a road right next to where that cut

was. And, well, you look over there now, and now we've moved a mountain of dirt

here.

You know, it's just so good for morale.

Everybody in the crew, you know, just to see how much you can get done when

everything's rolling real smooth.

Are you not impressed with life?

There you go.

I have a smile at least. Yes, there is.

Two months ago, after being denied a license on the Indian River, King of the

Klondike Tony Beats has been jumping from cut to cut at Paradise Hill.

His new site has yet to hit pay, so it's time to see how the last of the gold

from the 80 Pop measures up.

So how'd it go this week?

A little bit out of there.

That 80 -pup keeps things on the go.

Why don't you weigh it up, see how much we got this week.

Everybody ready?

Yes, we are.

Three, two, one, boom.

Ten.

Twenty.

Five, thirty.

So far, the 80 -pup cut has paid out 180 ounces a week.

Ninety.

100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150,

154 .76.

Worth $278 ,000, bringing Tony's total to 1

,815 ounces.

It's not amazing. It's not amazing.

Hey, we haven't had anything this year that's been amazing. Not really, no.

We're sitting a little over 1 ,800 now.

There's still a long ways away from where we want to be. Yeah.

Yeah, that's the ways we go.

Yeah. I mean, a guy always wants more, needs more.

But sometimes you're going to have to make do with what you get out of the

ground, too.

You cannot worry about it. You can only do as much as you can.

And by that, you will come out ahead.

Believe me.

The product we're after doesn't spoil.

Words of wisdom from Tony B.

At Scribner Creek, it's time to find out if Mitch's decision to dig the access

road has paid off.

Well, you're the new guy. Yeah, well, we have to play catch up. New guy?

Yeah, you're the new guy.

Hey,

come on. How you doing, buddy? Oh, you know, another day, another dollar. How

you doing?

Good, man.

But things are going good, yeah?

Yeah, I mean, well, that all depends on what you tell us here. I don't want to

jinx us or anything, but yeah.

You know, we just need to hit that 700 -ounce target.

you know, move Big Red over to Mud Mountain. And you're doing good down

huh, T?

I'm glad I could help Mitch out for a couple.

So far this season, Parker and his crew have reached 2 ,800 ounces.

Just half of their total this time last year.

152 .1.

Worth $273 ,000.

That's not bad. No.

Okay, Mitchell.

Hopefully there's a lot of gold in that pan.

Well, hopefully, yeah.

Mitch needs Big Red to produce 350 ounces a week to keep up with the costs

stripping Mud Mountain and to hit Parker's 700 -ounce target.

220, keep her going.

That's all I got right there.

281 .55.

Worth half a million dollars.

Oh, that's it. You know, if we didn't do the road extension, man, I think we'd

come up way short. But your next cleanup is going to be critical.

Yeah. But I think you made a really good call on opening up that road.

I think Park would be proud of the way you guys handle these things, right?

Well done, young man. All right. Nice job.

Good job. Good job.

We'll see you next week. All right.

You know, by doing that road extension, it got us a lot closer to where we need

to be.

You know, I mean, we're definitely a team around here, but we got a long ways

go.

So were you excited to finally get that 475, bro?

Man, to be on top of that high wall, it was something I've never got to do

before. I was pretty sweet.

That thing can move a mountain in a hurry, holy.

Yeah, I'm glad you just blew her up there, man. You do.

I would have just cut my phone off and went into hiding.

I mean, you know that something's that much money, it scares the f*** out of

you. That could cripple a guy's season right there, and that's not what I would

want to have on my shoulders. Well, I appreciate that, and I, too, am glad it

was just a sensor. I don't need to be having a heart attack over myself.

Here goes the piggy bank like this until you find that gold, and then you can

balance it out. Yeah, the piggy bank will be pawned after 17 before we start

filling it back up again.

You going to count the numbers there?

Yes. Let's do it.

This will be the final payout from the deep cut.

Brennan, can you even read the numbers? Yep. Okay.

Over halfway through the season, Rick hits just shy of 700 ounces.

10, 25, 35, 45,

60, 70, 80,

82 .8.

That's not a bad number.

worth nearly $150 ,000, bringing Rick's fees in total to 770

ounces.

Nice. I can take one of those. 82 .80. Everybody?

Everybody? High five? High five?

Yeah, I mean, 82 .80, another good number, especially looking at the people

got here, not much.

But, you know, we are still going for 2 ,000 ounces.

All bets ride on Raleigh Valley.

And whether they can move a million yards of dirt in just three months.

It's time to stop.

I think we're done with the small potatoes here. Yeah. We're going on to

things. Time to start swinging for the fences with Rally Valley.

Because we're going to have some big numbers to put up at the end of the year

here.