Original subtitles

Nine years ago, I came to the Yukon.

This is just the beginning.

You know what I mean? That tan, we're going to be throwing thousands of those

through a plant every day.

The pond bank brings all sorts of crazy people together.

I've seen a lot show up trying to make their fortune.

A lot of people have come and gone.

But we're still here.

But gold miners are in for a shock this year.

You know, you're paying more for just about everything.

Inflation hit a 30 -year high last month.

The world's all screwed up.

Fuel prices are crazy.

Spare parts are hard to find.

And crazy high gold prices are gone.

One thing about these issues is it's going to burn some people up.

Tony Beats is struggling with red tape.

Fred, he's in the middle of nowhere.

Lack of experience is going to hurt him.

Rick Ness.

Rumor has it he's not even coming back.

We have to hammer down like never before.

This season is going to be our toughest season

yet.

on this season of Gold Rush.

Let's make some money.

By the time they box me up, I would like to leave some ground behind for the

kids. So the guys, they got to take over. They're going to have to run the

circus all by themselves.

It's do or die this season, and right now we are trying to survive.

Let's see what we can do this year.

We're hitting with everything we got.

This is what we've been waiting for.

You're watching rock.

Hoppers asked me to come from Australia to help them with the election

operation. If you need to stop really fast, use this one.

This is like the best fan I've ever had.

I mean, miracles happen, right?

Not in my world.

What the f*** is going on with the Hulk?

No!

Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Stop, stop, stop!

Get out of my face and leave.

A lot of sacrifices go into making this happen. It's hard.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Listen, we're on a mine site. Let it work.

Looks like Fairbanks. Day one.

One thing we don't do is quit.

One, two, three.

Nine, ten.

Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, eighty, one hundred.

110, 120.

40, 50, 260.

448 .95.

Yeah. 50 ,000 ounces of gold.

50 to go.

Snow is very deep.

It's the most snow since I started mining up here, you know, nine years

Mining wonder kid Parker Schnabel came to the Klondike nine years ago.

Since then, he's pulled over 45 ,000 ounces of gold out of the ground, worth

million.

But all good things must come to an end, and Parker is planning his exit.

Looking like this season is going to be massively different than the last few.

We're in a brave new world.

The Klondike Park in you is fast changing.

All the best ground is taken and restrictions are increasing.

With the state of permitting right now, you know, everybody's businesses are at

furious risk.

To keep his gold mining dreams alive.

Park is expanding, opening a new claim in Alaska.

We are going to Alaska and we are setting up a new operation over there.

The biggest challenge this year is going to be figuring out how to manage two

mine sites in different countries.

There's a lot of money at risk. It's really difficult surviving those kind of

expansions.

He's planning a Klondike bonanza.

Getting things going here in Scribner is now the main focus.

We've got a lot to do.

You know, when you start adding up all the projects, it sounds like a hell of a

lot.

And if that wasn't enough, at the end of the year, Parker will lose his main

water license on his Gold Ridge airstrip claim.

There's no wiggle room. You know, normally with mining, it's like, oh,

don't get done, you just can do the next season.

On this ground, this season, there is no next season. Any gold that we leave in

the ground is probably staying there. So we need to get it all done.

With fuel prices rising to record highs and the supply chain that feeds his

operation in tatters, there's no margin for error.

But Parker's ambitions know no bounds.

The big thing for me is that...

I really like to push ourselves and find more gold each year, like last year was

a huge season.

But I think we might be able to have a 10 ,000 -ounce season.

Oh, but it looks like they're getting some stripping done.

I'm guessing that's right.

How's it going?

Pretty good. You, man?

Oh, not bad.

You guys have been busy. Yeah, got camp sorted and we're out moving dirt. Looks

like it.

Plant boss Tyson Lee has started early on stripping the airstrip.

A chunk of ground that's delivered over $9 million worth of gold so far.

Okay, so you guys are just going to plug away here.

You might just leave it, like leave the snow from where that line is forward.

Just leave it undisturbed and just carry this stuff up.

corner it out up that way, you know?

Don't want the ramp turning halfway through.

No, and that's what's going to happen.

So the line with Tony must be right in here somewhere, huh? Yeah, it's pretty

close.

Parker leases all the claims at the airstrip.

Bar two.

Those are owned by Klondike Kingpin and occasional enemy, Tony Beetz.

Okay. Where is he?

Tony?

I believe at the hill.

He hasn't done anything out here?

No, I haven't seen him. I brought a couple trucks out the other day, but

than that... Wait, so he's moving equipment out of Indian River Can?

Yeah.

That doesn't make any sense.

Not much does with him.

Like, we've done better and better the further downstream we've gone.

The license is going to expire with the gold in the ground.

I'll go talk to him.

I'm just going to go sit down with Tony and see what his plan is, because if

he's not going to mind it, then I'll probably ask him if we can.

You know, Tony and I have always had a bit of a rocky relationship, but then,

like, would we be where we are if Tony hadn't given us...

You know, a chance in the beginning when we first showed up in the Yukon?

Probably not.

The truth is, he's helped us out a lot. That's worth something, I guess.

Hey, Mark.

Tony B. How you doing?

A veteran miner of 30 years.

Tony gave the 18 -year -old a shot when no one else would.

And it paid off for both of them.

It is great, Parker.

Keep it up.

But as the stakes got higher, egos collided.

That really is no joke.

That pisses me off. Just show up in the spring and shut us down?

I mean, that's what happens when you're nice to people, I guess. That's it for

today. You fool your people. Have a judge tell me that, Tony.

Climaxing in an explosive battle over mining the airstrip that Tony owns.

But for which, Parker holds the water license.

Give me one good reason not to tell you to go south.

The last two years, I don't know, it's been weird.

Parker finds himself once again attempting to broker a deal with the

Klondike over this long disputed piece of land.

Tony? Good. You.

Hi. Hi, Parker.

How are you?

How's it going, man? Good. How are you? Perfect. Good to see you. Yeah, you bet.

How was your winter?

It was good.

It was good? What did you do? Not COVID.

Yeah, I heard that part.

Have you heard from Rick Ness?

Nothing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Yeah, he's got some dislogic to money. I have no idea.

Right?

How was your winter? Good.

Boring as usual. The boys are starting to do more and more. Yeah, so Holly will

go to the cut maybe once or twice a day, stand there, look stupid.

You've still got a lot of years left in you, Tony.

Well, if I'm lucky, my grandmother's got to be 103.

My mother is, what, 89, and I think we'll have to club that one.

She's not going soon by herself either.

So, yeah, the chances are there, Parker.

Are you going to, like...

get old and grumpy, or are you going to get... The chances are pretty good,

yeah. The chances are pretty good, yeah. I was going to trade the wife in for

the younger one, but then I may not get that old, so I don't know.

No, Minnie will kill you.

You're not very helpful.

I know Minnie well enough to know that you would not get away with that. No.

Right? So, I mean, life is good, but let's get ready for when things toughen

Hey, how is your ground hunt going?

Not great.

No? No, it's tough.

I mean, it's, yeah, it's, you know, everything that's good is either tied up

been mined, right? It is, or they want a fortune for it. Right. It is, yeah.

And the scary thing is now they're starting to get it.

You think you're going to have enough to keep busy here this summer?

We have a lot going on. That's part of the reason I wanted to talk to you.

Right now we're stripping up to your line.

Mm -hmm.

and you've still got a couple of claims on the bottom end of that.

But you haven't been out there at all.

Not going through either.

To be honest with you, Parker, Indian River for me this year is off the map.

I have no intentions, no licenses. I'm done.

So are you open to optimizing it?

If you think you can handle it, yeah, please.

The same conditions as we did before, then you're more than welcome to it.

Okay. Because if we don't get another license on it, it'll be in the ground

forever.

And then do you think for those two claims, we could have them just a flat

royalty at 15 % rather than applying to like that sliding royalty scale?

I would think so, yes.

Because business -wise, either we take that or it's going to sit there.

Correct. So I think if that is fair, that should be fair. Yeah, I don't think

you'll have a problem with that at all. Okay. No.

We'll do our best to get that done.

I can't promise we'll get it all, but... Hey, do whatever you can. And we're

going to sure as hell try. All right. Well, that sounds like a deal to you.

are going to have your work cut out.

I better go get to work.

Yeah, get off your ass, don't speak.

Parker, thanks for listening. You betcha.

For now, for me, it doesn't make no sense. I'd rather take the 15 %

don't have to worry about it, the ground will be mined and it'll be done.

That's the result we were looking for, but I think we kind of just doubled our

workload for the season here.

Before he even steps foot in Alaska, and despite already being stretched thin,

Parker's just secured more ground than he's ever mined before in one season.

Still a lot of snow on the ground, isn't it?

Forty years ago, Tony Beats left the Netherlands, seeking his fortune in the

Klondike.

There's more snow here this year than I've ever seen, with the six or seven

of places.

Over three decades, he built a gold mining empire from scratch.

Last season, he invested millions on monster machines.

to continue expanding on the Indian River.

But those plans were decimated when he couldn't secure a permit.

So, no license.

This season is pretty well down the tube down there.

No, that's not good, right?

I know.

To hang on to what he's built, Tony needs to maximize every asset and acre

ground. This year, instead of gold for 5 ,000 ounces, for that, we have to open

up a lot of ground on Paradise Hill.

When the prices go, it's all nice and then, but on the end of the day, fuel

prices are sky high, wages are up, food prices are up.

It's hundreds of thousands of dollars a week.

So by the time we get done stripping, you take a million or two, three in the

ground just to get some gold out.

So it gets to be very serious business.

Hemmed in by regulations, Tony's only option is Paradise Hill.

He needs to be digging pay dirt in just two weeks to hit his target.

But winter has been harsh, and his path to the claim is blocked by the deepest

snow on record.

I hate snow right now. Every time you remove the snow, it snows again.

There was so much of it this year that we had to probably find a place to put

it. Youngest son Mike is in charge of the startup crew, clearing snow and ice

from the only access road to the site.

There's very few people my dad can trust to do this job because someone else, if

it starts to slide, they'll panic and they'll do something stupid they're not

supposed to, and they can get themselves seriously injured.

If I get killed off my site, who's my mommy and daddy going to sue?

My mommy and daddy?

Mike, do you copy? Mike?

Yeah?

I got stuck in a snow bank with the loader.

Loader operator got a little too vigorous and went a little too far.

Found a hole.

To haul out the 38 -ton loader.

He's sitting right on ice.

Mike brings in the 18 -ton D6 dozer.

You ready to go backwards?

You're in there good.

You're on ice.

Thor, I need something a bit heavier.

The ground in front of us is frozen, so there's no traction.

We need to get something with a little bit more weight than a D6.

So I'm thinking of the Grader.

The Grader will have nice traction, but it'll also have quite a decent amount of

weight on it, but I don't know if it'll have enough either.

My cup's the NT.

with a 28 -ton, 275 -horsepower grader.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold it! You got that thing out of the way

for enough time there?

What's up behind you?

Here we are, beginning of the season, trying to get going, and what are we

doing? Turn around.

I'm going to scrape the ground down a bit, scrape that snow off, see if we can

get it down to the gravel.

I'm going to put the rock truck in front of it, and then we are going to load it

out of there.

Somebody bring a rock truck over here. I need a loaded rock truck.

We've got some weight on the aft end. Silky shit pull it out, no problem, I

hope.

We've got another round of doing over here, so let's get something bigger in

front of it.

The plan is to weigh down a 31 -ton rock truck with heavy overburden, creating a

67 -ton beast.

Shake it forward.

One more time. Back it up. Hit it.

Yeah, you might as well go back where you came from.

Okay, now that we've got this thing out of here, let's have a get -together and

make sure everybody knows what we're going to do down there, and let's get on

with the season.

Tara! In Washington State, military veteran and rookie gold miner Fred Lewis

been held up.

A decision on refinancing his home to fund his mining season has just been

Up until this point, we've relied on investors, and Kara and I both believe

that needs to stop.

Everything is on us at this point.

We're not taking any handouts. We're not taking any favors.

It just got a lot more serious.

How did it go?

It's looking pretty good. We got it.

Okay. We got it. And you're okay with the rest?

No, I'm not okay with the risk. I never said that, but I mean, I have to be. I

have to be, so I guess I am. Have we ever failed?

Have we ever failed?

No, we haven't. No.

We got this. All right.

Funding secured.

Fred prepares to set out alone on the 1 ,500 -mile trip to the Yukon.

I'm pretty excited, but...

It's scary at the same time. It's a win because we're going to mine, and that's

something that we needed to have happen.

But at the same time, our house is on the line.

So I'm going to be nervous until the season's over at least, probably.

I'm having issues.

Stepson Christopher Parker will be joining Fred for his second season as a

miner. I want to be able to go in there and be like, we really did it. Like, we

really accomplished something.

Being as small as we are.

And I'm ready for it. I'm ready to go.

Just waiting on Fred's word to leave.

There's a lot more we have to figure out here.

Equipment we have to find. Hire new people.

There's just so much involved right now to make this season work.

Gold mining never ceases to amaze me. I mean, there's always stress involved.

This was a little different because it's real personal to us. You know, Kara and

I are really taking huge risks in this maneuver.

Just to get the cash to get the season started.

I think it's time.

Yeah, we'll set it.

Well, let's, by let's we mean.

It's only a three -day drive.

Thanks for being here.

Big job ahead of us. Yeah, there's a lot of work.

After striking a deal with Tony Beetz, Parker Schnabel now has more ground to

mine than ever before, but only has until the end of the season to complete

We had about two million square feet to do, you know, of what was leased to us.

And then these two additional claims from Tony is like basically doubles

It's a lot of extra material. It's not even stripped, though.

No, it's not.

It makes for a very busy season, and I'm not sure if we're going to be able to

get it all done or not, but with the last year on this license, we're going

give it a college try here.

I don't think a lot of us... I don't think too many of us went to college.

Ray did.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's a few smart people here.

Hey, Jordan, you got a copy, Jordan?

Yeah, man, looks like one of the pins in the track on the 480 snapped on me.

The last thing we need right now.

A broken pin has stopped Tyson's 480 dead in its tracks.

You know, these pins, they hold each segment together. It's like a zipper.

One of the links in the zipper broke, and now I can't use it.

The 58 -ton excavator's 35 -foot track is made up of links held together by

52 coupling pins.

One has snapped, causing the track to slip off its rollers

and the tensioning idler to drop out of position.

The idler must be put back into its housing.

track pulled onto the frame and a new pen inserted.

Just going to pull the track up over so we can just put it all back together

right here.

That's a broken pin there. That's a broken one.

Before the track can be secured back onto the frame, mechanic Jordan Sands

guide the tensioning idler back into its housing.

Hey, Tyson?

Tyson?

Mike, can you just push on the idler? We're just going to crack the adjuster,

and you can just ease into it with the blade instead of trying to push on it

with the bucket. Okay.

Tyson must maneuver the 19 -foot dozer blade with pinpoint accuracy.

He's going to push the idler in for us so it's back in its little slot.

Jordan's in there with a bar trying to hold it up, and he just needs me to push

on the idler very gently while he's trying to line it up. I can't see

so I'm totally relying on Jordan right now.

It's a very delicate process.

You know, a deep end would push this hole over sideways.

Hang on.

Back off a little bit.

clutch and just steer over like this far.

A bit more.

In the hole, boy.

For the final part of the fix, Jordan maneuvers the replacement pen through

holes in the track.

Come on.

Tucked up.

Tightened up with grease.

Good to dig dirt and make money.

Tyson and the 480 are back in the game, digging ditches to prevent the melt

water from flooding the cut.

It's like it's all back together, working as it should, so probably have

best mechanics in the Klondike.

We're taking a huge gamble. There is no safety net. It's a lot more real for us

this season. We've put everything we have into this. We're not relying on

outside sources. This is all us.

Military veteran Fred Lewis is gearing up for another season.

In the midst of a precarious economy, Fred's refinanced his home in the hope

striking it rich for him and his crew.

I started this all to help veterans, and that's still my long -term goal.

I'm doing this for my band of brothers.

With no cash reserves, this will be Fred's last year mining if he doesn't

gold.

So I've set a goal for this season of 500 ounces.

It sounds like a big jump from our last season's total of 110, but that's what

we need.

After just six ounces in his first season...

Fred hit his stride in his second.

Not only did we do it, we beat it. I can't believe it. Banking 110 ounces and

breaking even.

But costly disasters... This one's done for the season.

...left him needing more cash to start this season.

I've got my claws sunk so deep into this.

I think at this point I would take just about any risk if I thought it was

feasible to overcome. So we're going for it.

Fred's claim lies deep in the wilderness, 46 miles west of Dawson

To get there, he must cross the mighty Yukon River.

This is the first look I've gotten at the river this season.

I expect it to be way less than this. Right now we're looking at several, I

mean, maybe even over a week for this to be broken, and then they've got to get

all the big ice cleared from upstream, has to pass down.

This is bad.

Over four long winter months, an ice road across the river had connected

with a highway to Fred's claim.

But as the ice melts, crossing becomes impossible.

With precious little time to get on the gold, Fred's forced to wait for the ice

to break up and the ferry to start running.

We have this 200 -meter stretch of river we can't cross. So right now, we can't

do anything.

Can't go to our claim, can't get anything set up.

And so Mother Nature lets go of women.

It's a horrible start.

I mean, this is just a mess.

Blocked by the frozen river, Fred faces a further challenge, convincing claim

owner Jörg Lotz that this year's plan is viable.

On the way to see Jörg, you know, Jörg is one of the best claim owners I could

have hoped for, and the ground they're on right now is so solid and so proven.

I've got to do whatever it takes to maintain this relationship.

I did.

How you been?

You're almost ready to move in, huh? Yeah.

How's everything going up here?

White. Yeah, I noticed the river.

It's not going to make it easier for us right now, but I think we've got a

pretty good game plan.

We're setting a goal for 500 ounces this year.

500? I really believe. I know it's a big jump from last year, but if we can get

a wash plant running at least 60 yards an hour, I really feel like we can hit

it. Yeah.

But, you know, it's a huge step.

And if you get the same hose, the same size of excavators, it's a very

goal. I would be very happy if you come up with 250 or 300 or something at that

size. I would love to just have 250 as my goal, but at this point I really feel

like we need to be ambitious and we need to buckle down and really go for it.

Yeah.

I really feel like by the numbers, if we put in the hard work and get the right

manpower, I think we can do it.

You have to start very soon. So if you want to achieve this goal, which is very

high, you absolutely need a dozer. You need it full time. I guess it's not

enough to borrow it.

You need it to rip the permafrost. You also can use it to push the tailings

the plant.

You need it.

Well, don't have a dozer yet.

But I know we talked about it last season. It's something I'm going to

It's just one of the reasons why I'm here early.

Okay. Right now I have zero leads.

I'm not trying to make you nervous about it, but, I mean, miracles happen,

right?

Not in my world.

I'll get out of your hair. See you soon.

Yeah, see you soon.

Well, I thought he'd be a little more optimistic, but...

He's got a lot of experience, a lot more than me.

But if we don't have a dozer, we don't have a mining season.

So we need a dozer. There's no other way.

We had so much more snow this year than usual.

Anyway, we're ready to get as much stripped and opened up as we possibly

Klondike legend Tony Beetz and his crew.

are two days ahead of schedule.

They've cleared the snow and are ready to start mining for gold.

But first... Tony gathers

three generations of the Beats family.

Hey, guys.

Everybody back on the table.

Hey.

Like we never left, Tony. Yes.

Some things got a little bigger. The kids grew up, didn't they? The corns on

their last year.

So what's the plan this year?

So they're going to be new in the river again this year.

I thought we had that lined up. Yeah, well, we had, and then they took the

license away.

ground and whatever.

So for now, I think this will count on that being completely off the table

for another year.

We are going to disconcentrate on the hill hard and heavy.

This year, I would like to put in two big cuts.

How deep are you going?

Well, the one we took a chunk of last fall, by the time we get down there,

be well over 130 feet.

That's deep. That's deep.

So we have kind of a job cut out for this.

Tony's Paradise Hill Claim contains the Klondike's legendary White Channel

Pastry.

To hunt it down, he's going to dig deeper than ever before.

First, he'll start by opening the cold cut, a sprawling nine -acre site, where

he hopes to find pay dirt at 130 feet.

A hundred yards away, he'll chase the pay streak as it rises to 30 feet by

opening the blue cut.

But with fuel prices rising, it'll cost millions just to get down to pay.

What we have planned here, we'll have a lot of ground to pull from. You think

so? Whether they have gold in the ground, though, that's a different

Clearly, that's where the gold is.

Gotcha.

Can you point that out? Can you point that out?

Some good news for you guys this year.

I'm going to get Mike to look after all the cuts.

And then Kevin, you, you're going to look after all the mechanics around the

yard.

Because you guys are spotty. So like they say, if you want to up your

inheritance, here is your chance.

Hey,

Monica, you'll be back in the gold room.

Hopefully we get 5 ,000 ounces. That should keep you and your daughter

down there.

While you guys are all hard at work, me and Minnie will be at the auction sale

somewhere. Oh, Lord, yeah, you better get a lot of gold, mate, because

we cannot afford the auction sale.

Okay, we've got people standing there waiting, so let's go.

We'll see you guys later.

Yeah, later.

Welcome back, guys, to see some old places and some new places here, so

see how that goes.

In the past, I've always been micromanaging around here.

I'm most likely still going to be king on the hill here, but if you've got a

mechanical problem, call Kevin.

If you've got any other problems, call Mike.

But whatever you do, don't call me, okay?

Aaron from Dayton, Eric.

You're all rock truck drivers.

Lisa, James, you two are going to be on the 750s.

Ruby, you're going to be on the 950.

Mike, you're going to be my co -dozer.

My dozer's blocking the road. We're going to treat it like a pole breaching

ship in space.

I'm going to go first, and everyone on the outside is going to slowly come in

with me.

With an ambitious plan to hit pay in just

one week, Tony's sending Mike and a fleet of ten rock trucks, three

excavators,

And two giant dozers to the cold cut.

Follow me.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. So let's get with it, okay?

Let's see what we can do this year.

We had a pretty cold winter. We had a lot of snow this year.

So we're going to have a lot of frost in the ground that we've got to deal with.

We're going to strip a new cut. It's called the cold cut.

While it's frozen, we're going to be able to get it out.

We're literally throwing everything we have at this cut right now.

Everyone knows what we're doing and everyone's going. Just go, go, go, go,

Be like clockwork.

We seem to have a pretty good crew so far this year. Hopefully it'll be good.

We're all just trying to work together in this chaos.

This year we have so many new excavators, so many new trucks, so much

equipment, so much more than we used to.

My dad says he's going to let me take charge, which would be good, because

he's also not always running around like a chick with his head cut off. I feel

like we can expand even further, do more.

He likes the micromanagement. I don't blame him. He didn't become this

successful from relying on others.

So it makes it very hard for him to do that.

I think Mike's going to do a great job since he's doing it already since he was

young. And as long as he can keep that balance between operating and also

sure that everything is running efficiently and everybody's doing their

properly, I don't see it going wrong.

That's about time that I take a step back, I guess. This way I can call once

a while or whatever or have a nap in the back of the cup.

This is a big freaking deal. And I have never seen anything like this.

Fred has gathered with the town folk of Dawson City to witness a revered annual

event.

Miners have monitored the spring breakup of the frozen Yukon River since the

1896 gold rush.

The exact time is recorded by a wire connecting a tripod on the ice to the

shore. When the ice moves, the wire snaps, signaling the start of the mining

season.

It is official.

A lot of work ahead, but it's the first step to getting us across the river, so

it's go time.

See the massive amounts of ice coming down here. It's going to be a while.

Probably the best news we could possibly get. This is the catalyst for the

beginning of our season.

But now that it's broken, we don't have any time to mess.

So at this point, all hands on deck, ready to roll.

It's go time.

We have a lot of ground to get through, a lot of rocks we have to wash, and

right now we have no wash plant running.

On Parker Schnabel's airstrip, plant boss Tyson Lee races to dig ditches

the mother of all snow melts causes a flood.

Not a day and not a dime.

Rock truck driver Tatiana Koster hauls dirt to build the berms.

So much ground to go through this here.

It's insane.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Hey, what's that?

Tyson,

Tyson, you got a copy, Tyson?

Go ahead, Peter, talk.

You've got to come here right now. The cut is flooding.

It's like Niagara Falls is dispersed into the cut.

Come here right now.

Okay, I'm on my way.

Snow melt is filling the ditch fast and threatening to flood the cut.

If it does, acres of gold -rich ground could be submerged, delaying mining for

weeks.

We have practically Niagara Falls, and this is because of a record snowfall

year, and it's starting to warm up, so we have to deal with this now.

The only thing I can think of is we have a six -inch pump.

I'm going to radio Alec.

The 74 -horsepower pump has been on the bank all winter.

In bitter temperatures, dropping below minus 50, Tyson and mechanic Alec

Kelly must bring it back to life before the melt floods the cut.

You'd say closer to the river is more thawed than further away?

Looks like it, yeah.

All clear?

Oh, yeah.

It's gonna wash away its berm and the pump's gonna be in the drink.

We could move your truck and get the hoe in and get that staged up at least. If

we hook up to the teeth on the front. Yeah.

real tight you can kind of like roll the bucket and it'll pull the pipe straight

with it oh yeah i just really don't want to break that pipe

come

down a little bit try curling the bucket up tyson uses the two ton excavator

bucket

Down just a little bit. To separate the connection without damaging the pipe or

the pump.

Hold it right there.

That'll do.

These Bauer fittings can work on different angles, but as you can tell,

impurities can cause it to leak.

By smoothing the Bauer fitting, Alec creates a better fit.

Let me see if that wants to feel for us. I'll give her a try.

Hey, move your ass. Go on.

With melt water continuing to fill the ditch, the cut faces imminent danger of

flooding and total shutdown.

Okay.

Up just a little bit.

Use just your stick to bring it in.

Right there.

Lift her up and swing her away.

See what happens this time.

Oh!

Woo -hoo!

Problem solved.

B -pump's falling.

Tyson can get back to digging.

We have the whole valley of water coming down to this one spot. It keeps coming

and coming, and I'm trying to get this drainage in place.

With winter only starting to release its icy grip, mining

sites still lie dormant.

An echo.

Of former glories.

But in the mountains above Keno...

Oh, I love it,

my barrels.

Fred Lewis is on a mission.

Now the river has thawed.

He's called in mechanic J .B. Mayer.

to help source a vital piece of equipment for the season.

I have a couple leads on a dozer. Oh, really?

This dozer is probably the most important thing we could acquire right

That is the biggest missing part to our season this year.

If we can't get a dozer, obviously we're not mining gold this year.

They're heading to Duncan Creek to meet mine owner Troy Taylor, who has a dozer

for sale.

He is Rick Ness's claim owner.

Oh, okay. So he's got experience in gold mining quite a bit.

I would think, you know, if he sold us some junk and then, you know, we get it

up there and it, you know, it breaks out.

We know where he lives. Yeah.

You

see

this thing?

How's it going?

Good, how are you?

Nice to meet you. You found me. Yeah.

Holy cow, this thing's big.

The Komatsu D355 weighs in at 53 tons.

It's a beast.

It's done a lot of work for us over the years.

The 14 -foot blade is capable of shifting almost 30 tons of dirt in one

at 410 horsepower i think that's what it's rated at that's like a d9 yeah

right something like that what year did you say it was uh 1984.

it's got a leak in the final drive so i can show you that and how to deal with

that well we want to can we get can we hear starting up and hear the roar sure

are you ready for that oh wow yeah oh wow

Okay, here we go.

Uh -oh, sounds like the battery's a bit weak.

Yeah.

It's not a good start, eh?

I've got some jumper cables in my truck.

Blow anything up here.

Okay, you ready?

Come on, baby.

Come on.

Come on. Come on, baby.

Come on. Woo -hoo -hee!

Isn't it nice?

She's purring like a kitten now. This is what we wanted to hear.

Yeah, keep your hand on the blade.

You know, that thing's so tall.

That's a massive amount of snow and dirt right there.

J .B. has 20 years' experience working on heavy equipment in the Army.

So I looked over here. I don't see anything new coming out hydraulic -wise.

Everything looks good and solid.

I did see on this side there's one roller that is wobbling. Okay. You see

that one's smaller?

Yeah. And there's a gap there. Is it missing a seal or something? No, it's

starting to go out, the rollers. The rollers go out.

Is it a big fix or is it an easy fix? No, easy fix.

Man. I don't know. What are your thoughts?

This is, you know, to me, this is a big deal for our season.

I think we need to feel it. I think we need to say yes.

All right, so I guess the only other thing we have to ask is price.

What are you thinking?

What we think it's worth is $45 ,000.

And so... Okay. Do you mind if JB and I go and have a little talk?

Sure. Talk it over? Yeah. Okay, cool. We'll be back in a minute. All right.

Man, I tell you, I think you're getting a deal of a lifetime.

I do, too.

I hate to nickel and dime, but if we can get that down to $40, it opens up extra

money for us, and it would pay for the shipping.

You're the budget guy, so I mean, you know what I mean. But I'm just telling

from my opinion, I think it's worth, you know, every penny of it.

Oh, how do you think?

We definitely want it. Yeah.

I want to ask one question. I don't want to offend you.

With our budget being super tight right now, is there any chance you could go

down to 40?

Well.

How about this? Before you answer, because I can tell you don't like it.

What if I offer you 1 % of a goal bonus at the end of our season from what we

pull?

Because that would save our budget now, and at the end of the season, we'll give

you that plus some.

Yeah. Okay.

If I take 40 and a 1 % gold bonus, yeah.

Yeah, I think we could do something like that. That sounds good.

Awesome. Let's do it.

And our target right now is 500 ounces, so it should be enough to more than

cover that 5 grand, and it really helped us out in the bind, so I really

appreciate it. You got a dozer?

That's awesome, man. I'm super happy. You have no idea. Yeah.

All right, well, we'll get out of your hair. All right, yeah. I'm super

Thank you so much. Thanks, Joe. Thanks.

Take care.

If we want to get this cut down and done well within the next week, all this

stuff is nice to work right now. It's frozen.

The moment it starts to thaw, it makes it a lot harder, more expensive to work

it.

The Beats family, led by son Mike, are throwing everything they've got into

stripping 700 ,000 tons of dirt from the cold cuts.

All in the hope of hitting Paradise Hill's fabled white channel pay in less

a week.

If we don't get this cut done in the time allotted, it's got to be us. We're

just going to have to work harder.

Thanks. Go for Kevin.

Copy,

take that truck back to the yard, please. Main yard, main yard.

I'll be back.

As they churned through the deep overburden, Tony's eldest son and chief

mechanic, Kevin Beats.

is battling to keep the rock trucks in working order.

There are several bolts missing from this machine, which are kind of

You're not supposed to do that.

Kevin, do you copy? Kevin?

Kevin, go for Kevin.

Kevin, it's Jeff.

The cat truck is, uh, uh, behind the cab.

Cool. May as well run to the staging yard as well then.

Oh, that's not good.

Oh, that's a lot of smoke.

Hey, Kevin. Copy, Kevin.

Copy, Kevin.

Okay, let's have a look -see.

I'm good.

Looks like a hose busted.

In a matter of hours, a third of Tony's fleet of rock trucks are out of action.

What's going on with this?

Uh, ride line's busted.

We need an O -ring piece, which we don't have in stock.

So, uh, truck's down for a bit. How long you figure?

With the way shipping's been, probably a couple days.

That's no good. I need as many trucks as possible right now.

You gonna call Tony, figure out a plan?

No.

You thought trucks were the Indian, right?

I believe so.

Only take me a day to slip into the Indian and go grab the truck. That's

I'll go line that up to make sure stuff don't break around here.

Yeah, sounds good.

No longer needing to check with Tony, Mike decides to leave the cut at a

critical time, gambling he can get back before he's missed.

Because the more trucks we got, the more production we're getting.

In the mountains above Keno City, rally crew member Nathan Thornington

maintains the equipment as he waits for the arrival of his boss, Rick Ness.

How you doing, buddy?

Hey. Yeah, it's been a couple of seasons. It's been a while, eh?

How's things going anyways?

Going great with me. It'd be nicer if I knew more of what was going on myself. I

know. Yeah, because I've just been up here in the dark a little bit for the

week, ten days or something.

We're going to liquidate some stuff here and, you know, thin the herd out, I

guess. And hopefully we'll be back at her soon, right? But as of us mining

season, I have no idea.

It's not very good.

We're already at least a couple weeks behind by now.

Last year was awesome. You'd think, like, what happened?

This will sound really good.

No!

Doesn't that look cool, though? Look at that. That represents victory right

there. I don't know how to top it. I mean, I will. I'll top it next year.

I haven't been able to talk to Rick much.

To be honest with you, I have no idea what's going on.

No, I hope everything's all right.

Yeah.

All we can do is tighten up some stuff around the yard here and hope and pray

that we're out here mining soon, right?

Now we're here.

So we'll go see about getting that rock chop out and going.

Mike Beats is on the hunt for a working rock truck at the family's shuttered

Indian River camp.

To speed up the stripping at Paradise Hill, Mike also grabs a spare D6 dozer.

Three rock trucks down, Mike faces a 40 -mile sprint back to Paradise Hill.

To avoid road bans, Mike takes the back routes.

It's an icy, mud -slick journey back to the hell.

Lost all my momentum on it.

Bumps, holes, rodents, garbage.

Ah, look at this.

The road is way too greasy.

Not going to be able to get up.

The steepest part of the journey back.

It's a dangerous game trying to drive up that hill when it's this muddy.

I don't

know about you,

but I've been flipping and flying across.

Everywhere I've been going.

I'm most definitely not going to make that hill.

Oh, okay.

Do we have a game plan?

I don't know.

I'll have a chat with my dad.

Tony Beach, you got me, Tony Beach?

We came out to the Indian to replace the rock truck that was down.

But the road is so greasy right now, I'm pretty sure I ain't going to make that

hill.

Okay, I'll be there.

Okay, I'll be waiting.

See how tough of a job I got, huh?

Sit.

We have a bit of practice in the morning, then it's perfect to start

However, when you leave too late, the road falls out, and then the road gets

awful messy.

And then, of course, you can climb a hill, or you have trouble staying on the

road.

We're hoping to make this quick.

And get that rock truck back so we can get it to work.

But as is, I think it's going to be pretty late before that rock truck makes

back to camp.

Back to the bottom of the hill.

And then I'll stop you and get on and off.

And then just get a cattle row behind you.

Front of the hill, shelter. Okay.

Tony's plan is to first unload the 18 -ton D6 from Mike's low loader.

Without the weight of the D6

and traveling at speed, Tony reckons the low loader should make it up the hill.

I know.

You think I'll make that out?

We'll find out.

Okay, I'll run up ahead, Mike, okay?

all over the place.

Bump on that thing.

Give me a sec.

That's the gear.

Yeah, I've seen that.

Come on. Come on.

Oh, yeah. There we go.

Woo -ha!

That doesn't make it at all, but just barely.

It's okay.

Get up on top. That's all that counts.

The truck and the D6 dozer are finally headed to Paradise Hill.

With Dad's help, Mike's back on track.

So I better hurry and get the dozer and that rock truck back to the hill.

Try and get them working. It won't be long until we start hauling pay.

With more ground to mine than ever before, and plans to

open even more in Alaska later in the year,

Parker convenes an executive meeting with trusted lieutenants, foreman Mitch

Blaschke and gold recovery expert Chris Dumit.

It's good and bad. It's good because we have lots of ground.

It's bad because we will have an additional, whatever, 2 million square

mine with Tony.

That's a lot of solution on its own, let alone anything else.

Yeah.

There's a lot there. There's a lot to do.

I wouldn't be suggesting it if I didn't think we could get it done.

So at least it's with a pretty busy season. A lot of landlords to keep

Yeah. Not a lot of us.

Sounds like too much stress. I quit.

We know what we're doing, don't we?

With the cut now protected from flooding, Mitch sprints out of the

It's going to be a crazy challenge to try and get through all this dirt this

year.

And the only way we're going to get it is if we do it right.

And even doing everything right, I still don't know if we're going to get

through it all. There's going to be so much pressure on sluicing, which means

that these watch plants have to run flawless.

It's the earliest Parker's ever tried to sluice.

Wash plant Big Red has lain frozen in the cut all winter, with record snow and

temperatures dropping below minus 50 degrees.

You about ready to fire up? Yeah, just got to throw some water at it, hopefully

all that works. All right. And then see if she remembers how to shake.

a long winter. I beg you to let it.

Right

now

we've got our water pump fired up. We're just going to let it warm up here, but

it's sending water up to Big Red.

Wash plant Big Red separates gold from the dirt.

using gravity and water.

Pay dirt is loaded into the feeder and blasted with 90 ,000 gallons of water

hour, washing out the dirt and rocks while the heavier gold settles into the

sluices.

As long as all that's working and happy, we can start putting this dirt in there

and start turning it into gold.

Ready?

Here we go.

Come on, baby.

For Parker to hit his target, Big Red will need to swim nonstop

in its longest season ever.

You know, for this lock button to sit up here through a Yukon winter, got her

fired right back up here, a little back to watching rocks. And you look around

here, you know, we're the only ones as far as I can see doing it. So that just

tells you we're off to an early start because everybody knows if you're going

make any money up here, that's the only way to do it.

Send it, man. Let's go.

With Tony a week from running pay, Fred not even at his claim, and Rick Ness

nowhere to be found,

Parker is well ahead of the pack.

There we go. That's what it's about.

Not going to lie, it feels pretty good, man.

As long as that trouble's not staying, all we're doing is spending money and

getting nothing.

I just want to get the job done.

On Paradise Hill, the Beats are striving to get on the gold.

Expert operator Ruby Mahoney has been digging for 10 strike days, reaching 70

foot down in the cold cut.

Go ahead, Ruby.

Do you mind coming over here for a minute?

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

Oh, yeah.

I think we finally hit pay.

Well, that's good. It took us long enough.

No kidding.

That's definitely hay right there. You can see it all over. That yellowy stuff.

Yeah, that's good stuff.

It has that nice sound when you drop it, too. That click, click, click, click of

the rocks. I love that sound. Yep.

Perfect. With me, we can say exclusive soon. And we'll have a massive cut to

work from.

The distinctive iron -stained yellow soil contains rounded riverbed rocks,

a good indicator that the ground contains gold.

If it is quality pay dirt, it could mean they've struck the massive 60 -foot

-deep white channel pay layer earlier than expected.

Tony B .C., copy. Tony B .C., copy.

You calling for me?

Hey, Dad, we struck pay.

Well, let's have a look at it.

Okay.

I'll go and do some planning. See what we've got.

Tony's test will determine just how profitable his season will be.

Let's see how much gold we can get out of the ground.

We got that gravel there.

So we're planning down.

See what we've got.

On Paradise Hill, the beets have finally hit pay.

But Tony won't risk running it through the wash plant until he's sure there's

enough gold in it.

You've got to remember, you've got to get at least an ounce for every hundred,

and that's not even that great.

In the olden days, they'd get way more than that.

If we can get an ounce for every hundred, I'm pretty happy.

Let me put it this way. If I need my glasses, we're not slushing it.

So there's one lousy piece in there, and that's just about it.

Tony's banking on the cold cut if he's to hit his 5 ,000 -ounce target.

It looks pretty good.

Nice fine colors. There's even a couple of flakies in there. That means they're

all through the pan. I think I'll sluice that. I'm happy.

Nice to see some colors out of the cut.

After hitting pay early, Tony could be on for a bigger payout than the king of

the Klondike expected.

We're going to have to get that trommel going because I'd like to see some more

of this.

This is always a bit encouraging that you have the fourth pan as that good.

Then you know you didn't spend all your money in vain, right?

The mighty Yukon River

has finally thawed.

Fred and JB are joined by Buzz Lago, a trusted and experienced local miner.

I feel kind of jittery, kind of excited. I'm ready to get this moving. You know,

once we cross that river, That's pretty much when our season begins.

To get to his remote California Creek claim, Fred will have to cross the Yukon

River, drive 46 miles at an altitude of 3 ,000 feet

along the top of the World Highway, then turn off -road down a treacherous half

-mile dirt track to reach his base camp.

Came out here kind of thinking that there would be some snow. It's

winter up here.

Oh, man.

I just looked back at one of these side roads off of the main road here, and I

think we're going to be snowed out.

Oh, boy.

Look at all the snow.

This snow here is three to four feet

deep. Yeah, we're going to have to do quite a bit of snow removal.

The road to Fred's claim is buried under thick snow and ice.

With Fred's new dozer still in Keno, all they have at their disposal is Buzzer's

little dozer.

Fred's pre -ordered half a season's worth of fuel, and the tanker is

If they can't open the road, it'll have to leave, and Fred will suffer yet

another setback.

Hopefully that fuel truck's not going to leave, so that's my biggest concern

right now.

out here was a gamble. I honestly didn't know what it was going to be able to

do. I hadn't anticipated this much snow.

So had we not gambled with that, we'd be up the creek right now.

This thing is an absolute savior.

He's ready to go. He doesn't have any more time.

So we're just going to have to get moving to get out of his way.

Oh, boy.

After two frustrating weeks, Fred is finally ready to start his season.

I know the gold's there, but it's on me to get it out of the ground and on the

scale.

Let's go down there and check it out.

What the... that?

Holy crap. I thought we were mining a creek.

Wow.

Oh, my God. Wow.

Our entire claim is under ice.

That's a glacier right there.

Last year, Fred mined the banks of California Creek.

Now the gold -rich pay dirt.

is buried under a sheet of ice.

Oh, this blows my mind.

What the hell are we going to do, man?

So this is where we separate the men from the boys.

Right now I feel like a little boy, and we need to think really hard about how

we're going to tackle this before we tackle it, because someone could die in

there. Oh, for sure. Easy.

How's it going? Not too bad.

Back in their gold room, Parker's crew are ready for their earliest gold way

ever. And then there's Parker.

Hi. Hey, youngster. Do you want to come in?

Oh, what's up, Doze Man?

Are we going to have too much ground this year?

I mean, since when have we not, like, taken on too much?

We basically have been bitten off a lot. This is like the all -you -can -eat

Vegas.

But if you look at that ground down there and how much of it there is, if we

get through it all, I think we could have a hell of a season.

Yeah.

All right, Chris.

Do you want to see how we start it out? Yeah, why don't you go. Mitch?

Let's see it. Looky, baby.

It's your machine, Big Red. It takes everybody, man. It's your machine.

After running for just four days, the team are eager to see the results of the

new Tony Beats claim.

All right, 20, 40, 60, 70.

Come on, keep going.

80, we're going to break 100. We're going.

100. We're going.

110, 120.

137 .8.

Worth over $240 ,000.

Not bad for a first round.

Not bad, yeah.

And you got to think about how early it is.

And it was thawed.

Yeah. So all I can say is thanks, Tony.

Thanks, Tony. Yeah.

It should be a busy place down here this year if we get through all that ground.

Yeah. Especially once you get solution for going.

This place gets hopping.

Keep up the good work. Thanks, guys.

Thanks for coming back this year, too.

Chris?

I heard my name.

Yes, Lord.

Thanks for coming back this year. Oh, thanks for the invite.

It's good to have the gang back together. It is. Things seem solid, and

equipment's running good, and we've got gold on the scale, and... Yeah.

Knock on wood.

It's all downhill from here, right?

Yeah.

I'm out, Steve.

Cool. Okay.

We definitely have a lot to do this year.

The plate's overflowing.

But...

This is a good start. We're going to try to get it all done. But my dad would

not be impressed if I were saying things like this. You've got to be optimistic

and, you know, good after it. But we'll see.

Rick's a pretty closed -off guy, but it just seems like lately he's been a

little bit more closed off.

Last year, Rick did over 2 ,000 ounces, and the fact that he's not up there,

they're just chomping at the bit to try and do even more this season is a real

head -scratcher for me.

I was actually going back up for a scratch and give him a hand, and now

the point where I can't even get a text message back.

To be receiving text messages and phone calls from family asking why he's not up

there, it's a little worrisome.

I mean, I've asked him the text messages, are you good?

There's kind of no response.

That's why I feel like it'll just be better for me to drive over to his house

now. I just feel like something's definitely going on.

I don't know. I love the guy, and I hope he's all right. That's all I really

want.

Let's see if he's here.

There's Ruby.

Awesome.