All language subtitles for The.Mightiest.S02E02.Heavy.Metal.Mining.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

In the most
remote parts of the world,

steel giants roam in
search of treasure

unearthed by
rock-shattering blasts.

- Fire in the hole.

One of the
biggest shovels ever built

devours hundreds of
tons of ore.

They look
like big toys,

but they're
very dangerous.

Trucks
the size of houses

rumble through
forbidding landscapes,

hauling precious cargo.

You see the
size of it, right?

Most people never get
to see this.

And vast crushers chew
up an unending flow of rock...

All to create the prize

that people have been
chasing for centuries: gold.

Gold. It's one of the most
precious metals on Earth,

but how is it pulled from the
depths of its rocky tombs?

It starts with
raw power,

vast amounts of
hard rock,

and the mechanical
muscle of giant shovels

that is rivaled
only by the gods.

Yet before they can
get digging,

these miners have to ignite
their search for gold

in an explosive way.

Not like the good old
days. There's no more TNT

and the plunger like you
used to see on Bugs Bunny.

That's not it anymore.

The good old days
of mining weren't good.

They were brutal...

- ...laborious...

...and unbelievably
dangerous.

For
thousands of years,

humans have pried
metal from the earth

by using their bare
hands and heat.

The Roman and the Greek,
the Bronze Age brought fire

and brought the
beginning of using metal

for different purpose.

Metal tools like
pickaxes, shovels, and hammers

allowed a leap forward in
mining technology,

but it was still
backbreaking work,

often done by enslaved
people or prisoners.

The work got easier
but no less dangerous

with the use of
black powder,

the first explosive.

Explosive was
a game-changer in mining.

- Break the rock...

...to get metals
out, including gold.

In the 17th century,

black powder could
crack rocks,

but the results were
unpredictable and often deadly.

Today, at Agnico Eagle's
Detour Lake mine

in northern Ontario,

the blasting used in their
900-foot-deep open pit mine

is much more controlled
and sophisticated.

So, we use an emulsion-based
product for this.

Emulsion is, like, a
gel-based blast explosive.

That's batched up
at our processing plant

that we have here. Then we bring
it down in the bulk trucks.

They're these big
loading units.

They hold about
18,500 kilograms.

Emulsion-based
explosives

are the gold
standard for mining.

The explosive agent is
suspended in oil

and is enormously powerful
and extremely stable...

And I'll stand close.

...until it's set off
with an electronic detonator

that can be timed down
to the microsecond

and is enormously powerful.

The blast is designed
to pull off the wall,

so when we blast,

we want to make sure
that it's as flat as possible,

because you don't want
any loose material

that could
potentially come down

and harm somebody
that's working there.

Once the blast
pattern is finalized,

that's when the boreholes are
packed with emulsion.

That's crushed
rock that we put on top.

We put that on top
of the emulsion.

It compresses
the emulsion down

so the energy doesn't
release upwards.

It releases outwards,
which causes your breakage

to get your fragmentation like
this rock that you see here.

It's a multistep process

that keeps
the blast crew safe

and gets the hard
rock ready for the shovels.

Take the detonator
that goes into the booster.

It goes in, like,
here, and it locks.

The detonator itself,

it'll initiate the booster.

The booster will
initiate the emulsion,

and that initiates
the blast.

Matt, pit's been
swept. Pit's clear.

Ten-four. Thank
you, Vince.

Mark all debts
counted for.

Ready to fire.

Three, two, one.

Fire in the hole.
Fire in the hole.

Fire in the hole.

A million
tons of rock

is blasted free from the
shackles of the earth,

shattered into pieces that are
the right size for the machines.

We need to plan
the explosive in a pattern

that facilitate
the breaking of the rock,

and you don't want to end up

with a piece of rock that
is 10 ton big.

What you want is to have a rock
that is easy to manipulate,

that can easily go
into the shovel,

into the truck.

You may not be able
to get blood from a stone,

but with the ore free,

it's time for the shovels
to start going for the gold.

We move over
300,000 tons

of material
in a day.

We wouldn't be able to do this
without all the machines.

The
Caterpillar 6060

and the Caterpillar
7495 rope shovel

work in unison at
the Detour Lake mine...

Relentlessly scooping the ore up

and feeding the endless
parade of haul trucks

that run
24 hours a day,

seven days a week,

365 days a year.

These are big machines.

They are dangerous, and, like,

you have people all around you.

We all need each other in
this line of work.

We're a very,
very close crew.

If I'm not here,

I can't
load the trucks.

The trucks can't
go to the crusher.

It's like, you feel
like you have a purpose.

I run excavators.

I was on the trucks.

I also ran loaders
and dozers.

I've ran all kinds of
different types of machines.

But the Cat
6060 mining shovel

is bigger and badder than
any of those other machines.

Really big.
We're talking 30 feet tall.

1.3 million lbs.

This is just
a monster.

It's very big.

Sometimes, because we're
in such a big place,

we don't really
see how big it is.

Here I am, running the second
biggest shovel here.

Now, like, I'm here,

and I'm the first woman
on a 6060.

It's cool.

The Cat 6060
is built for power.

It propels toward its
assigned spot,

where it scoops up
67 tons of ore

with every
bucket it fills.

So, now, I
will call in some trucks.

- Go ahead.

I'm loading
the 400-ton trucks,

which are, like,
the biggest trucks.

- Ten-four.

So, right now, my face

is a couple different types
of materials--

high-grade ore,

low-grade ore,

and waste material.

So, all the stuff that I'll
be loading out right now,

since I am in
the high grade,

it's going to go
directly in the crusher.

But even
high-grade ore

contains a relatively small
amount of gold,

anything above 0.02 ounces
per ton.

We don't find
high-grade gold deposit anymore.

The average grade
is going down.

You need to mine with
bigger truck

and bigger machinery,

because size matter.

In the 19th century,

there were rich deposits
of gold all over the world.

When they were discovered,

they caused a series of gold
rushes that reshaped the world.

In that era, miners
were digging up gold nuggets,

virtually
pure chunks of gold.

The discovery of
gold in California

kicked off the first
big gold rush in 1848.

After that, floods
of prospectors

raced to
Australia in 1851,

and the Klondike
in 1896.

Gold rushes brought thousands of
people to remote regions.

Towns sprung up,
businesses boomed,

and new infrastructure
was built virtually overnight.

When you find
a gold deposit,

you basically will
scale your equipment

on the deposit
you found.

Nineteenth-century
miners could dig up

these rich deposits with
just pickaxes and shovels,

but those deposits
were quickly mined out.

12 million ounces of gold,

more than 400 tons were
extracted in five years

in California alone.

It's gold!

The richest
deposits of gold

were depleted by the end
of the 1800s.

Yet annual global yields of
gold continue to rise.

It's basically the result

of our advancing
technology.

The more Caterpillar and
Komatsu and all those company

could build bigger truck
and bigger shovel,

the more we could do.

Size matters
in the gold mine.

Each one of the 6060's
bucketfuls of ore

has about 2 ounces
of gold.

This shovel, since
this is a front shovel,

I am pushing
to fill the bucket.

When you're
using a shovel,

you want to
push forward, right?

It's the same with a
hydraulic mining shovel.

If you want to
move a lot of rock

with as much
force as you can,

you want to
push forward.

So, my truck is here.

We're going to
start loading him.

Operating over
the haul trucks

is a precise operation.

The heavy weight
of the ore,

if dropped incorrectly,

can cause major damage to the
multimillion-dollar haul trucks

or even injuries to the
people driving them.

They
look like big toys,

but they're very dangerous.

You really got to be on your
A game every single day.

A rock could fall
on the truck.

A rock could fall
on me.

Rocks
are a big problem.

I need to
be very gentle.

That's why I'm trying
never to touch the truck.

It can really rough
them up.

Nonstop work
in this punishing environment

takes a toll,
even on a machine

built as tough
as these shovels.

Scooping thousands
of tons of rock daily,

the bucket
takes a beating.

That's why it takes
a full-service repair shop

to keep these
machines running.

Welding,
hydraulics, electrical.

The technicians at Detour Lake

keep some of the biggest
machines in the world

digging up ore.

The rock is
very, very abrasive.

Our operators are
really skilled,

but with that being said,

we do have a very high wear
rate, our attachments,

just due to
the rock hardness,

so we do have
to maintain it.

Well, the shovel is the
working part of the machine.

It's the part that
wears out the fastest.

To replace these shovels,

you're looking at between
$2 million and $3 million.

So each shovel
is equipped with a wear package

that is designed to take
the brunt of the punishment

while being easy
to change out.

I got to cut off all
these wear strips here

and then after that,

clean everything up.

Because the rocks
are so abrasive

that after a
couple months,

it wears right
down to nothing,

and if we
don't fix it,

it'll be full of holes.

Setting up a gouger here.

It's got electricity
and air,

and whenever I
touch it off here,

it melts the metal,
and the air blows it away.

In general, preventative
maintenance is made

in order to proactively
keep your vehicle

in optimal
driving condition,

and that helps you prolong the
life of your vehicle.

Once I cut the seam on
this side and the top side,

it'll just fall off.

Sorry, buddy.

As fast as we get
one fixed,

there's another one
back in the shop.

Preventative
maintenance keeps the fleet

in top shape to traverse some
of the world's toughest terrain.

When these shovels are
working in the pit,

they have to keep an unbroken
flow of ore coming up that hill,

so they've developed

a streamlined
communications system

- to keep things moving.

We
actually have a honk system.

One honk,
and he's off.

Sometimes, the most
effective way to communicate

is the simplest.

Two honks

means "back up a little more."

Three honks
means reposition.

When I'm done loading,

one honk means go.

The 6060 is huge.

But it looks puny

next to the towering Cat 7495,

a rope shovel behemoth.

You see
the size of it, right?

Most people never get
to see this.

The size and power
of today's mining shovels

have pushed the limits
of what is possible

in the gold
mining industry.

If we think about some
of these machines

that can do
massive construction work,

like move a lot of
earth around,

the machines push
what we're able to do,

but they also push what
we even think about doing.

It's almost
like yesterday's magic

becomes today's commonplace
or today's normal.

The Cat 7495 may be
normal for the mining industry,

but there's nothing
commonplace about it.

It's a massive digger than uses
a series of cables or ropes

that pull the
ore into the bucket.

Rope shovels have
even higher capacities

than their hydraulic
counterparts.

There's more power
on the electric rope shovel

because they can install a
massive electric motor

and it can pack a
lot more power

on the back half of the
electric rope shovel

than it can on a front end
of a hydraulic mining shovel.

The 7495 rope
shovel is 45 feet tall,

a full 15 feet
taller than the 6060.

Its bucket is
almost twice as big,

and it has a much longer working
life than a hydraulic shovel.

An electric rope
shovel uses a winch system

and a steel wire rope to
lift up the bucket

while it's excavating the rock.

A hydraulic shovel would
use a hydraulic piston

to push the bucket into the
rock face and then scoop it up.

This here is
my steering.

Just going to walk
it to the face.

Under the command
of a skilled operator,

this shovel can scoop up
120 tons of material

in a single bucket.

It would take 11,000
dudes with wheelbarrows

to do what this machine
does in one scoop.

You know, you can
put a pickup truck

in the bucket of one of
those rope shovel,

a full pickup truck.

It's not like a
regular excavator

where you could work the bucket.

This here just hoists

and push with your crowd, right?

So, that's the way you fill it.

The electric rope shovel
has four basic operations.

There's the hoisting operation

to actually lift the
bucket up with the ore up

so you can load it
onto the truck.

There's a crowd function

that pushes the
dipper in and out.

So, it moves in
a motion

like your hand
scraping the rock face,

and then there's the
swing stage

where you're swinging
the bucket around

to load it on the truck,
usually on the side.

And then there's
the propel motion

that moves the
tracks back and forth

to get into position
up against the rock face.

This colossus runs
on electric power,

so it runs cleaner
than a diesel machine,

and its electric motor
system is simple,

yet engineered to keep on
working for decades

in the most
extreme mining conditions.

Inside the high-strength
steel structure,

a powerful electric hoist motor
gives this mammoth shovel

up to 4,900 horsepower
for gobbling up ore.

This gives the digger
a bigger payload capacity

than hydraulic
shovels.

Beyond the mechanical level,

the operator's eye-line is
34 feet above the landscape

to allow a bird's eye view of
hazards in the terrain

while a wealth of controls
at their fingertips

deliver detailed
information

about the systems
rumbling below them.

It's electric
over hydraulic, right?

So, it's just plug
and play.

I'm not a
big video gamer,

but it is a big
video game, right?

Then I'll reset
my brakes,

and it'll go from
travel to dig mode.

What it is is
a giant dustpan.

You know
what I mean?

Hand shovel.
Like, it's just--

That's what it is.

For most of
human history,

mining meant working in
dark, damp caves

with barely any light
or ventilation.

Everything
was done by hand.

The
earliest known mines

are about 43,000
years old.

Those miners used tools made
of wood, stone, and bone.

For thousands of years,

that's what mining was,

digging with hand tools.

In some parts of the world,

like central regions
in Africa or South America,

there are still miners
working by hand.

In 1835,

steam power was harnessed to
create the first steam shovel,

invented by a 22-year-old
named William Otis.

Its bucket had a
1.4-cubic-yard payload,

and it helped build the Western
Railroad in Massachusetts.

The Marion Steam Shovel
Company was founded in 1884,

and their shovels were
shipped all over the world,

building everything
from the Panama Canal

to steelworks
in the Soviet Union.

Diggers leveled
up in 1904

with the invention
of the dragline,

an enormous
mining excavator

controlled with
ropes and chains.

The largest dragline
ever built was the Big Muskie,

which could heft 325 tons
at a time.

These giant diggers dug
the foundation

for today's
mining monsters,

like the
Caterpillar 7495.

Both my grandfathers
were, you know,

back in the day,
dragline operators,

and I got a brother.
He's on a drill,

and then my son, he's here.

So, pretty proud about that.

Each humongous
payload this bucket scoops up

weighs 240,000 lbs,

about the same
as a blue whale,

so the trucks catching these
loads have to be

every bit as mighty as
the shovels that dig them up.

Mining shovels are
the first responders

in the open pit.

Centuries of
human ingenuity

have created
these towering diggers.

Digging into the earth
is a primal instinct

from children
playing in sandboxes

to mines plumbing
the depths for gold

and the other precious metals
that power modern life.

- Dispatch, you can send

a few trucks
to shovel four.

The shovels get the
race for the gold started,

but the haul trucks keep it
moving out of the pit.

The Caterpillar
798 haul truck

rumbles towards
the shovels.

It's their job
to lug tons of ore

hundreds of
feet uphill...

over... and over...

and over.

So, the Cat 798

is the biggest truck
in Caterpillar's fleet.

26 feet tall, 450,000 lbs.

- D'oh. We got a truck.

So, this truck is
rated at 400-ton capacity.

It has 3,500 horsepower
under the hood.

It's massive.

Heading
downhill in a truck

that weighs half a million
pounds could be nerve-wracking.

So, now, we're approaching

the top of the south ramp,

heading into the pit.

But these haulers are
outfitted with an ARC system,

automatic retarder control.

So, the ARC or
the automatic retarder control

is a system onboard the truck to
prevent the truck's engine

from running faster than
you want it to.

When the
driver engages

the automatic
retarder control,

the speed of the vehicle
is set in a small computer

called an electronic
control module.

That computer senses
the weight of the payload

and the terrain it's
driving on.

Then the ARC uses the
kinetic energy

created from
the truck's descent

and converts it to electric
energy that is then used

to create resistance
within the engine

to slow the truck down.

If it needs to,

the ARC can also activate
the hydraulic braking system

to keep the haul truck's speed
at 18.6 miles per hour.

Well, we got my ARC
setting at 29.9.

It helps stop the truck
from going faster than you want,

especially when
you're going downhill.

So, the ARC now, it's going
to hold the truck back

at that speed the
whole way down,

so I can take my
foot off everything

and the truck will go
down by itself.

When these heavy
machineries are being built,

there are redundant systems

and there are safety
systems that are in place

because once these things
break down and lose control,

humans are just little
tiny ants to them, essentially.

They have
to have a lot of trust

to get this much
material dumped on them.

So, the suspension
only can take so much,

and if you can
be, you know, gentle,

benefits the
truck, benefits the driver.

That was 90 tons he
just dropped in.

In just
a few minutes,

the 798's box is
filled to capacity.

So, we got loaded with
three and a half buckets,

and we have 363 tons.

The loaded
truck begins its journey

out of the pit

as another truck moves
into place

to get its share
of the ore.

At Detour Lake, there are 57
haul trucks in the fleet,

and they run 24 hours a day
to keep the ore flowing.

Each one of these trucks is
the size of a two-storey house.

This mine needs to process
a huge volume of ore every day

to make the
operation pay off.

With its
23-foot-wide axles,

261-cubic-yard box,
and 13-foot-tall tires,

the Cat 798 is a force
to be reckoned with.

The backbone of this truck
is its high-strength steel frame

and deep box
section rails,

which can take the
constant stress

of hundreds
of tons of ore.

This truck is engineered
to haul cargo continuously

for 100,000 hours.

That's 11 and a half
years of nonstop work.

Open mine pits,
there's sand everywhere.

There's dust.

These are
multimillion-dollar machines,

and they're there
to do jobs,

but the environment that they
are working in is really tough.

This mine's fleet
has two models of trucks,

the Cat 798 and the slightly
smaller Cat 795.

They both
do the same job,

hauling ore
out of the pit,

and they are both regularly
rotated out of service

for preventative maintenance
to keep one step ahead

of the brutal
operating conditions

in the mine.

As far
as maintenance goes,

we have extensive high-quality
employees working for us

that maintain
our fleet.

In the
mine's repair shops,

the maintenance team checks
every system on the Cat haulers.

So, basically, I do
everything that's mechanical.

So everything outside of
the tires I deal with.

That's the
hydraulic tank.

So, that's the tank that
controls the brakes,

steering, the box.

That's the oil for the
whole machine there.

Every component on this
truck is oversized.

These trucks are
diesel-fueled electric vehicles.

This truck,
unlike your car,

doesn't have
a transmission.

A diesel
engine runs a generator

that produces electricity,

which powers the
rear wheel motors.

This engine here is about
3,500 horsepower, roughly.

It's about 90 litres.

It's a V16, so it's 16
cylinders in a V,

kind of like
how your pickups

and your muscle
cars are V8s.

This one's got 16 cylinders

instead of eight cylinders,
and it's just way bigger.

This engine
on the ground

is almost the size of a
small minivan or a big car.

And this truck hauls about
400 tons at a time,

so it's got to
have a lot of power

to get 400 tons back
up that hill.

Today's
haulers are high tech,

but in the early days of mining,

getting the ore out of
mines required innovation.

The earliest evidence
of mine carts

comes from
the 16th century.

An old mining book called De
Re Metallica published in 1556

shows primitive
mine carts,

and there are surviving
carts from around that time.

Donkeys,
horses, and even camels

have been used for gold
mining in the past,

but it wasn't long
before miners upgraded

from actual horsepower.

The
direct ancestor

of the modern dump truck
or haul truck

is the dump wagon
or haul wagon,

which works exactly the
same way but is horse-drawn.

The big moment is
the First World War.

Suddenly, everybody is using
trucks in the front lines

and just behind the front lines,

and a billion different
specialized variety of truck

evolved for
these wartime purposes.

This is also just after the
first hydraulic systems

are invented and start
to be popularized,

so for the first time, these are
dump trucks with a push button

to lift the load
in the back.

The first
off-road heavy hauler

designed specifically
for moving earth

was the Euclid
Model 1Z in 1934.

When the Model 1Z was
first invented in 1930s,

it only had 100 horsepower,

which was a lot back then,

because it's still equivalent
to around 100 horses.

However, now the horsepower
are in the thousands.

What that translates to--

it would be bigger,
faster, and stronger.

In less
than 100 years,

these first dump
trucks mutated

into the hulking
Caterpillar 798 and 795.

Pass behind (Unclear).

These things weigh, empty,
about a half a million pounds,

and loaded, they weigh
about 1.4 million pounds.

I guess the biggest reason
I love it is in the cab myself,

like my own
little office.

So, the 798, brand new,

about $10 million.

I'm pretty much driving
a $10-million office here.

These towering
trucks have to be big

to keep the
refinery supplied

with a constant stream
of ore.

The size of the
haul truck is very important,

because you want to
make sure that you're moving

enough tonnage
per hour,

per day, per year

to be able to make
up for the cost

of moving all of
this material.

Max capacity
of this truck is 435.

So, our target's about
378 tons.

We try to get between
378 and 400 tons.

A full
400-ton load

contains about
11 troy ounces of gold

riding up the mine's ramp
on six massive tires.

The Cat 798 subjects its
tires to unimaginable stress

24 hours a day.

A blowout would be
disastrous,

so keeping them
running is crucial

to the mine's
operations.

What gives
the Caterpillar 798

the power it needs on
top of the diesel engine

is the huge tire
mounted on it,

which provides it
with the traction it needs

to do all the maneuvers.

The tires are the
workhorses of the Cat 798

and its slightly
smaller cousin the 795,

and they need regular service
from the mine's tire shop.

- Hey, Rob. We're ready for 233.

Well, today, this
haul truck's coming in

for a front rotation.

Integral part of the
tire maintenance.

Not only do we fix
damaged tires.

We also have
to maintain them.

By scheduling
maintenance at set intervals,

Detour Lake avoids
unexpected breakdowns

and stays in control
of their fleet.

So,
basically, largest tire

in the entire world,

and we definitely push them to
their absolute maximum.

The tires are
very expensive,

about $80,000
per tire,

so, basically, what
you're looking at here

is almost a half a million
dollars' worth of tires.

So, its average life
would probably be

somewhere between
seven to 12 months,

but in that time,
the tires can actually carry

in their lifetime three
to four million tons.

Changing the biggest
tire in the world

requires
some serious brawn.

So, to just change
a tire on a vehicle this size,

you need a special attachment
on the end of a forklift

to grab the tire.

It's amazing.

I'm going to push the
sidewall of the tire in

with the pads of
my machine

so that my partners
can remove

the lock ring
and the O ring.

Three, two, one.

Bring her down.

Now that the hardware and
the lock ring's been removed,

I'm going to remove the tire
from the wheel.

These aren't
ordinary tires.

They are engineered
for the immense weight

of a fully-loaded haul truck
with steel reinforcements

and specially-formulated rubber.

For
the mining industry,

you have
a huge tire.

The tire
has to be huge.

You also have to increase
your load capacity,

because in the
mining industry,

you're going through so
many huge loads.

So, with those
two main differences,

you need to
have reinforced tires

with heavy-duty
steel bars inside,

and your tires have to have
a better rubber compound.

It's about
14 feet tall.

I think they weigh
12,000 or 13,000 lbs.

Pretty big tire. Yeah.

So, now, we've
inspected the tire.

We're going to mark it,
and we're going to throw it out

into our spare pile.

So, after
the rotated tire comes off,

the very next thing we're going
to do is, we're going to grab

our new tire that
we're going to start fitting

in that front fitment.

We are now going to put on
the three-piece lock ring,

and this is what holds the
hardware onto the wheel

so that the
tire doesn't fall off.

We just have to
air this up to 110 PSI,

and then it's good to
go back to work.

But hauling the load
is only half the job.

This beast is also
designed to unload it,

earning its more commonly
used name, dump truck.

We need
to make sure we deliver

at a certain rate
per hour to that crusher,

and these trucks are--

The size of these trucks
are what makes it possible.

The crushers,
like everything else

at the mine,
run 24 hours a day,

and they need to be fed with
an endless supply of ore.

So, now, we're
going to head to the ROM

to dump our load in
the crusher.

Every two minutes
of every day of the year,

another truck delivers
its cargo into the crusher,

depositing 5,511 tons
of ore per hour

into the gold
refining pipeline.

This sprawling complex is where
the rocky ore is transformed

into the stuff dreams
are made of... gold.

We're going to pour it,
and we'll see some gold bars.

It takes some of
the biggest machines

in the world to bring
a constant stream of ore

to the gold mine's
process plant.

But this ore contains less
than one percent gold.

How is this precious
metal unlocked

from the rock
that contains it?

To get the gold
out of the rocks,

the first step is breaking them
into smaller pieces,

and that starts at
the primary crushing plant,

a 7,500-square-foot facility

that devours this ore in
immense quantities.

The primary crusher
crunches the ore

into uniform
5-inch chunks.

Then a pair of
secondary crushers

chews them into
2.5-inch lumps,

small enough to go
to the milling plant.

So, at this plant,
we take the raw ore

from the
crushing plant.

And we extract
the gold.

And we
make gold bars.

People have
dreamed of creating gold

for thousands
of years.

It was the ultimate
goal of alchemy,

an ancient tradition
that combined chemistry,

medicine, and magic.

Alchemists were
spending a lot of time

combining
different chemicals

and trying to create
and change nature.

The ultimate goal
of alchemy was,

"I'm going to control
these elements,

and I'm going to be able to
produce anything I want."

And what did
they want? Gold.

Transmuting
lead into gold

turned out to be
impossible,

but alchemy did provide
the building blocks

for modern chemistry
and metallurgy,

which led to this
state-of-the-art gold refinery.

From the crushers, the ore
is carried on conveyer belts

to the milling
facility,

a 200,000-square-foot
building

that houses four
giant mills.

A SAG mill,
semi-autogenous grinding mill,

is a huge rotating drum
where the rocks are tumbled

and smashed against
one another.

Uses both the rock
itself and steel balls

to break down the
material.

These SAG mills are driven

by two 10,000-horsepower motors.

There's four
mills in total,

so we're looking at
80,000 horsepower

just in this section
of the plant.

The SAG mills
harness that power,

equivalent to a team
of 25 diesel locomotives,

to spin the crushed
ore like a dryer drum.

Inside that drum,

the ore is mixed with water

and pounded by
5-inch steel balls

until it's reduced to
1/8th of an inch chunks.

The final grinding
stage is the ball mill,

a 40-foot-long cylinder

that is 25 feet
in diameter,

roughly the size of
a two-bedroom apartment.

The ball mill is filled with
2.5 inch steel balls

that pulverize the ore

until each fragment
is microscopically tiny.

By the end
of the milling process,

we're down to
microns.

A micron is one
25,000th of an inch,

and once the ore
is this small,

the microscopic flecks
of gold need to be separated

from the other minerals,

and that is done in a series
of 19 6,500-cubic-yard tanks

where the ore is
mixed with cyanide.

Cyanide is used
because it dissolves gold.

We all know the
cyanide pill.

It kills. Only
takes 20 seconds.

Say goodbye.

Cyanide is used in very,
very small quantity.

Copy, Joel.

- Ten-four.

And once
it's dissolved,

the gold has
to be collected...

with coconuts.

So, our CIP process, which is
called carbon in pulp,

which is essentially tanks
full of burnt coconut shells,

they absorb the gold solution
like little sponges.

Coconuts are a
fantastic source of carbon

because of their
microporous structure.

This means they
have tons of tiny pores.

Plus they're sustainable,

and the shells are actually
waste from the food industry.

The gold
adheres to the surface

of the microporous
coconut carbon

to separate it from
the rest of the slurry.

Then it's ready to
be melted down into bars.

We produce around
650,000 to 700,000 ounces

of gold, dependant on the year.

All of the power
and ferocity

of the enormous
machines on this site

are working
toward this goal,

the production
of pure, solid gold.

Today, we're going to
do a gold pour.

The final
step in gold production

is also the
most dangerous.

This molten metal will destroy
any living thing it touches.

In the
gold pouring room,

the precious metal is
heated until it liquefies.

We're going to get
the furnace nice and hot.

It is a simple
elemental process

that will result
in gleaming gold bars.

Once the furnace hits
the right temperature,

we're going to pour it, and
we'll see some gold bars.

I'm looking at the colour of it
and seeing if it's bubbling.

Gold melts
at 1,060 degrees Celsius.

It's relatively
easy to melt,

and it's easy to
work with,

which makes it
perfect for crafting

everything from
intricate jewelry

to precision
electronic components.

This gold
is about 85 percent pure,

but right now, it's as
deadly as it is precious.

It's molten. It will just
melt right through your skin

and, like, a third-degree
burn, no problem.

If I didn't have
my suit on,

it's pretty intense,

but with my suit,

I don't feel the heat.

Fatalities
in the mining industry

are about one tenth of what
they were 100 years ago,

but one false move can
be disastrous.

I think
modern mining is a lot safer

than it was before.

Most of the actually casualty
that sometime happen

in a mine
are human error.

There's always going
to be the human factor

that can create
a problem.

These are the spats
that protect my feet,

protects my legs.

This should
cover most of my body.

I'm going to put my
respirator on.

So, right now,
I'm all suited up.

I'm ready to go,

and I'm going to turn
off the furnace.

As the molten gold
travels down the cascade,

it starts to cool.

So, I'm going to release
the bars from the mould.

So, it's going to get loud.

Throw them on
the car.

And bring them
to a water basin.

These bars develop
slag on their surface,

a glassy by-product made
from chemicals that are added

to capture and isolate
the impurities in the gold.

That one's not bad,

but there's a little
bit of slag on it.

The slag is
not pure gold.

So, it's gold mixed
with other things.

We recover
all the slag.

We collect it,
because it has value.

The yawning chasm
of Detour Lake's open pit

grows wider
and deeper every day

as mechanical goliaths
work tirelessly

to pull more gold
from the earth.

The might
of the shovels

and the power
of the haul trucks

are at the front
lines of the industry

that supplies humanity with
this prized metal.

Each day, hundreds of
thousands of tons of ore

are shoveled,
hauled,

and refined into gold bars.

That's the
final product.

These machines
will keep digging

deeper into the earth
to produce the gold

that humanity has chased for
thousands of years.