Original subtitles

This is the spot where.

One of the biggest gold rushes Of the 20th century started.

Previously...

Let her rip.

Whoo!

Parker and his team Worked to clear a landslide.

From the kukukuku's mine...

Yeah! Whoo-hoo!

All this has to get moved? Yes.

Learning how the Tribe risk their lives every day.

Hard-rock mining A steep mountain.

What they're doing up here Is actually chasing the vein,

The source of the gold.

Parker experienced The dangers firsthand...

Parker!

When he was washed down A mountain ravine.

I thought he was a goner.

Now parker's team Has a new mission...

Find a less dangerous location For the kukukuku to mine...

There's gold nuggets This size?

Yes. Wow.

I can't stand that They have to use mercury.

Burning it off in front of The whole family.

I'm used to seeing it. Fred is not.

And a safer way for The tribe to clean their gold.

Here's the moment of truth.

But nothing comes easy In papua new guinea.

There's been a massive Flash flood out of nowhere.

Captions by vitac... Www.Vitac.Com.

Captions paid for by Discovery communications.

It's day 10 Of parker's 5-week expedition.

Across papua new guinea.

I'm feeling pretty sore.

A little banged up. A little bruised.

Don't feel the best.

A bit of a cut On the top of my head,

But, I mean, luckily, Nothing's broke.

So I'm ready to get Back in the saddle.

In 20 minutes.

Whoo!!

Okay, coming!

Sorry, diana.

So let's do it. We're ready to work.

How are you guys doing?

A little tired. A little groggy.

So I figure we should just Start out by getting down there.

And seeing What they're doing.

I'm sure there's still Mud to move.

And all sorts of To do in there,

So just keep helping.

And keep the gold Coming in for these guys.

It's dangerous work.

I'd like to really Just get with demas.

And take a tour Around the place with him,

Try to find them A safer setup.

We got a lot more Digging to do.

Demas?

Do you mind if I just take A quick look down here?

Is that okay?

Leaving karla, fred, and sam.

To clear the last of the mud And mine for gold,

Parker heads off to see If there's a safer location.

To mine on demas' land.

That's edie creek? Yes, yes.

Is that right on Your guys' boundary?

Where those two Black rocks are?

Gotcha.

Do you know Where in the valley.

That gold First got discovered?

Just around The corner?

Yes. Wow.

In 1927, Over 110,000 ounces of gold.

Were dug out by hand At edie creek,

Part of which demas owns.

And lies in the valley Directly below his mine.

So you mined In here?

With machines Or by hand?

All by hand?

Wow.

It's a very different scale Than what I'm used to.

I've yet to see A machine in here,

And demas wants machinery.

But he's just working With what he's got, you know?

But to mine it, it takes a lot Of money and machinery.

What's that?

Very heavy.

So you're saying if you get Further into the mountain,

There's gold nuggets This size?

Yes. Wow.

If that was gold, It'd probably be 600 ounces.

3/4 of a million bucks.

Makes sense now.

That's why he's not Mining in the creek.

Over thousands of years,

Some of the gold In the quartz veins.

Washed down into edie creek,

Where it was mined during The gold strike of the 1920s.

Demas and diana believe there's Still large gold deposits,

Including huge nuggets In the veins.

On the mountainside Where they're mining.

It's pretty high-risk In there.

If there's gold Like that in there,

Then I can see Why you do it.

I hope You guys find it.

None of this made sense to me Until that conversation.

Because they're just Barely getting by.

In hopes of...

Finding massive chunks of gold In that mountain,

And they'll die trying.

Wild.

But while they try To find a big nugget,

They still need to process The smaller finds.

To make money and keep Their operation going.

You're asking a lot of work Clearing this landslide.

To get back to this vein.

If we can meaningful amounts Of gold, then happy days.

If not, The work's been for nothing.

We put some elbow grease in The last couple of days.

In exchange For shelter.

Fingers crossed There's a lot of gold.

All by hand? Yep.

The whole family, They're so excited to find gold.

I can't stand that They have to use mercury.

The mercury potentially Is going into the same water.

That they're drinking.

These small-scale guys, it's Really the only way to do it.

Mercury's cheap.

It's terrible for The environment,

And it's not good for anything.

Except pretty effective At catching gold.

So he's just Rubbing that in,

And the mercury Grabs on the gold.

It's called amalgam,

And it's just like The mercury's stuck to the gold.

It's like a magnet?

It's basically mercury Is a gold magnet, yeah.

Wow. Yeah.

See the gold and the silver Together there?

All kinds of it.

So they just burn off The mercury.

What are some of the effects Of mercury toxicity?

Bad.

Does it go To the brain?

Yeah, You go crazy.

Don't breathe the smoke.

Not the healthiest thing In the world.

Certainly not With family around.

Breathing in Mercury vapor can devastate.

A person's nervous, digestive, And immune systems,

As well as damaging The lungs and kidneys.

It will eventually Result in death.

I'm gonna take a few steps back.

Throwing a bunch Of mercury in there.

And then burning it off in Front of the whole family.

I'm used to seeing it. Fred is not.

Fred.

You know, those fumes Are not good to breath in.

I know as a father...

You want to provide for Your children and your family.

That's all I live for in my life Is my family.

I can feel from father to father How that must feel to him,

And I can see it in him.

And then the other part was Just seeing the kids, you know?

I mean, the only way They have to get that gold.

Is to basically Put everybody in danger,

And there's no other option They have right now.

This is the best He can give his kids,

And that just kind of hit home.

So what is that? Gram, gram and a half?

1.8.

1.8 grams of gold Is worth just $27.

With 1.8 grams, you can afford To feed your family?

No medicine, No...

Okay, I understand.

You alright?

It's just seeing The kids, you know?

I mean, I think about My own kids, and...

It's just horrible.

I'm sorry. No, you're alright.

I just can't imagine My own kids.

Having to Go through that.

I spent my whole life Trying to help people.

And just trying To make things better,

And there's just really Not a lot we can do.

Makes it pretty real.

Yeah.

I just wasn't ready For that.

Coming up...

We should do something about.

The mercury situation.

Parker, you seem like You're in your happy place.

I know. I don't get to Do this stuff normally.

I'm looking forward To seeing.

Your Gold-catching creation.

I'm hopeful that it'll work.

Fred!

Pretty vulnerable spot Right now.

There's been A massive flash flood.

Slip and hit your head, And you're a dead man.

I was just thinking about That cleanup we watched.

Of demas' And the family last night,

And we should Do something.

About The mercury situation.

These guys are Subsistence hand to mouth.

They're never gonna be able To afford a gold table.

Like you guys have In the yukon, you know?

Well, And I don't think.

They think of The chemicals or...

They're not thinking Of health issues.

They're just doing Whatever they have to do.

To get that gold So they can feed their family.

We're never gonna get them To not use mercury.

It's too easy,

And there's no other way To do it...

But we could certainly.

Help contain it A bit better.

If we can build them A retort.

When we saw them Burning it off.

With the whole family Around,

I think We can prevent that.

That'll contain The fumes inside of it?

Yeah. Boom.

That's an awesome idea.

You think it's doable?

Sam and I could go To the nearest town.

And find The welding shop.

They're pretty simple To build.

I love that idea.

But I think That's the game plan.

Good luck.

I need to make A phone call.

Parker puts in a call To a local contact.

Hey, this is park schnabel.

Good, how are you doing?

I just wanted to Pick your brain about.

A mining setup That we're at right now.

I'm just hoping that we could Find some place with a welder,

And I was gonna try to build A retort for them to use.

What we're looking for is A piece of five-inch pipe.

With an end welded on it.

And a piece of steel That fits in the pipe.

Okay, great.

We'll make it down there.

Maybe we just have to do Some hunting around.

All right, bye.

That was actually A really helpful phone call.

Let's go get on the road.

I really like His idea.

I think It's amazing.

It'll improve This environment for the kids.

That would be awesome.

Let's go to work.

Yeah. Yes.

Parker and sam Head to the nearest town...

While karla and fred get back To work with demas and diana.

So, you're rerouting The water.

To hit different area?

Fred and karla Will divert the water channel.

To hit another section Of overburden...

Before releasing the water,

Pushing the mud Down the mountain...

Revealing another part Of the quartz vein,

Which they hope Contains more gold.

Getting to that spot is The most important thing,

Getting to the gold.

We'll get it.

Let's get this beast Out of the way.

Coming a rock down. Big rock.

Those big ones Feel good.

Good.

Can you get This one?

I'm already tired.

This is really hard work, And the elevation's not helping.

All right, let's go. I'm good.

Water's coming.

The dam has been released.

Whoa, heads up!

They're just using nature,

Using the force of the water To clear all this out.

It's so clever What they're up to.

Parker and sam Have traveled two hours.

To the town of wau.

What do you reckon The deal is here?

Do we just knock On the door and say hi?

The gate's open.

Should we just Go in here?

Hi.

I'm parker. I know.

Through "Gold rush."

Seriously?

You've seen "Gold rush"? Absolutely, yeah.

I'm a fan.

I can't escape it.

What can I do for you? What was your name?

Richard... Richard's my name, parker.

Nice to meet you. Glad to meet you.

And this is sam. Hey, sam, how are you?

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

What can I Help you with?

We're in A village close by.

And helping them Gold mine.

They're using mercury,

As most miners Around here do, right?

Sure, yeah.

I'm just hoping That we could.

Build a retort For them to use.

Absolutely.

My shed's your shed.

I'm a little bit Lost for words.

I'll be honest With you.

Of all the people in the world, You walk in through my door.

It's a very good welcome. Thank you.

Exactly what are You looking for?

Do you just have A scrap bin.

That I can Take a look at?

Because I can make Almost...

It doesn't need To match perfectly.

It's gonna be pretty crude No matter how we do it.

Something like this, Pipe like this,

If you have Any other pieces.

Yeah, is that Too big or too small?

No, That'll work, I think.

Okay, I might have Something else over here.

Let's have a look.

I don't know if I'll know What I need until I see it.

This is some "Macgyver" Right here, parker.

Yeah, that'll work. That'll work?

That'll work perfect.Alright.

I've got some 40 mil And 50 mil over here.

Let me think about this.

Okay, I think we just need A cap on this.

Do you have Any rolled steel?

Just, like, round stock?

Yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah.

But not A bent piece.

We got a couple.

Well, actually, The bent piece.

You might not Charge me money for.

I won't Charge you anything.

And then this will go Over top of that...

That'll go On top of that.

And they'll build A fire around that,

And it'll melt The mercury.

And leave the gold In the cup.

A retort is A purification device.

The gold and mercury amalgam Is heated in a crucible.

At 674 degrees fahrenheit, The mercury will boil,

Turn into a gas, And separate from the gold.

The toxic gas is contained out Of harm's way in the chamber.

Once the gas cools and Forms back into liquid mercury,

It collects At the bottom of the water bowl.

Safely separated from the gold.

Give it A bit of a clean up,

Get some of that Surface rust off.

It's not real pretty.

No, no, It's not gonna be pretty.

Nothing I usually do Is pretty.

That's why I have Very good mechanics

'cause I don't do That kind of stuff.

I just break stuff. You break stuff.

What are the odds Of parker turning up in my shed.

On a saturday afternoon?

I just can't believe it.

I really can't.

We build buildings.

We're not into The mining side of it.

And especially the chemistry Side of the mining.

We got a grinder, guys.

Above and beyond.

I appreciate it.

Funny how things happen.

We've wandered into This fab shop,

A bunch of random stuff Laying around,

And we're gonna build a retort.

And to top it off, the owner's A big fan of the show.

I guess sometimes, Being on tv has its perks.

Parker's building A purification device.

To clean the kukukuku tribe's Gold safely.

Burnt a hole in my new shoes.

Back at the mine,

Karla and fred are helping To process dirt.

In time for his return.

Me and fred Have been manpowering.

For the last four hours.

In order to find the gold And provide for their family.

Trying to get This overburden out of the way.

So we can get to the gold.

Is that my eyes, Or is it moving?

It's like a glacier Just kind of...

You think your eyes Are playing trick on you,

But it's moving.

Eventually, it's just gonna go.

Fred, get out!

Fred!

This is another level.

You just got to look around you At all times.

Because just happens.

You get like A one-second warning, and boom.

Whoo-hoo!

We're helping out, Pretty successful.

Hope that parker and sam Are just as successful.

In their mission.

Alright, So that piece is done.

That's our crucible and holder.

Don't judge my welding.

I'm looking forward To seeing.

Your frankenstein Gold-catching creation.

Basically, we're making A gold and mercury barbecue.

Damn it.

How's it looking, Parker?

Yeah, I botched it A little bit, but it's alright.

I've done worse.

Parker, you seem like You're in your happy place.

I know. I don't get to Do this stuff normally,

Except in the summertime, And even then,

Mitch doesn't let me touch Any of the cool stuff.

Should we see what A finished retort looks like?

So we got this thing.

It's gonna go on top Of a bowl of water.

With this thing...

Underneath it.

This goes on here like so.

This goes on here like so.

We'll build a big fire in there.

Mercury and gold, Which is in there.

And then this fills With mercury gas,

Leaves the gold behind...

And condenses down in The water that it's all sat in.

It'll save the mercury,

And they can continue Using it again and again.

Rather than just Letting it burn off.

While the kiddies breathe it in.

The boys made you A quick box to...

Wow!

Easier to carry Wherever you're going.

Thank you so much.

You didn't Have to do that.

You guys have gone Above and beyond.

Really glad we ran into Richard and the guys here.

That let us use their shop And scraps and yeah, it's great.

Well, it's 500 somewhere In the world, isn't it?

Here, cheers, parker.Thanks.

I think You deserve that.

Cheers. Great meeting you.

There is a lot of gold In papua new guinea.

There's new mines Opening up all the time.

And of course, the mercury issue Is a bit of a worry,

But at least What he's built here's.

Gonna contain the mercury And keep it safe.

Thanks, guys.

I hope you find some gold In them hills.

Starting to get To the end of the day.

We're getting right to the point Where we're about out of water,

So I don't know how much more We're gonna be able to get done.

We're finished.

That's good work, Though.

Good hustle today.

I think We got further.

Than they thought We were gonna get.

I mean, It is getting late.

It's starting to rain.

I'm starting to think Sam and parker.

Are not On their way back.

I'm a little worried.

What's going on here?

Roadblock?

I don't know, Roadblock or something.

All the cars Are piled up.

Let's check it out.

Beautiful, sunny day.

There must have been Rain upstream.

Because there's been A massive flash flood,

And the road's been Cut in half, basically.

We've got lorries, trucks, Lot of locals on both sides.

There's a dude trying To get across right now.

You slip and hit your head, And you're a dead man.

It looks like we're stranded Out here for the night.

It's nuts, right?

You don't want To up in there.

This must have been what, Like, a little creek?

There must have been Rain upstream.

Because there's been A massive flash flood,

And the road's been Cut in half, basically.

There's a lot of cars On that side...

And we've got lorries, trucks, Lot of locals on both sides.

So yeah, we're stuck.

They brought in an excavator,

And hopefully they're gonna Be able to build a stone bridge.

So that we can get across.

It's about two hours that way.

To meet up with The rest of the crew.

It's raining.

We really need this to work.

So I'm trying to gauge This excavator here...

And whether he's gonna Be able to get us across...

Going downstream in this.

It's a recipe for disaster.

These locals, though.

Dangerous place to be.

Are they moving?

Look.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Look, they're moving.

The cars are moving.

That's it, man. They've done it.

The vehicles are starting To move, so great news.

We need to get the vehicle here And get across this.

In case the water Rises any more.

Alright, well, The excavator's.

In the middle Of the creek.

Letting cars by right now, So we might make it across.

They're letting everybody Come this way first.

Look.

No way.

Good evening!

They're collecting what?

The owner of The excavator is charging a fee.

To cross the road.

How much money Do they want?

50? Yes.

Alright, lads, Thank you.

Good road, man.

Love it.

You, too.

See you again.

They saw us coming.

Hello? Hey!

Yes, yes, yes. Holy.

You guys must be freezing.

It was terrible. Get inside, get inside.

You guys.

What the hell, guys? Avengers?

Yeah...

The road got cut in half.

We had to wait for a local guy In an excavator to, like, come.

And basically build a new road Through, like, a raging torrent.

What? Yeah.

And then he ripped us off For what, a 50?

Alright, did he ask for A hundred keys there?

I would literally Would have given him.

My entire life savings.

My.

So parker's built A retort.

Okay.

It's a Self-contained unit.

The mercury stays All confined in this.

Wow.

What'd you get up to?

Well, That landslide's gone,

And tomorrow, we're gonna Reach that frickin' main.

Yeah, Overall good day,

Sounds like, From all of us.

Right now, I need some sleep.

- Yes. - Yeah.

Have we found The vein?

Yes.

That's the vein.

Parker, yes. Gotcha.

This boy's just told me I finally got down to the vein.

You know, It still runs pretty deep.

We got a lot of digging to do.

It's parker And his team's last day.

At the kukukuku mine.

They're finally on a quartz vein They hope is rich with gold.

I really want to learn More about this whole process,

And I think that It's really just a matter.

Of finding the best part Of that vein.

By panning, And then you start crushing.

You know, there's a lot of steps That need to be taken,

But the first one is just To see what we can do.

To help find some gold today.

And take it from there.

Alright.

You saw that there's like 8 or 10 little line.

Yeah.

And it's gonna be one small one That's carrying the gold.

That we need to help find.

Right.

I'm sure it's like that wide.

Yeah.

When gold is deposited in veins,

It doesn't concentrate evenly Throughout.

Some parts of the vein have gold And others don't.

Follow the line of the rock. Yes, follow this.

Okay. White line.

I'm gonna start Testing like each layer.

And hopefully, we'll find A spot that has some gold.

And then we'll Chase that section.

Alright, let's try Panning this stuff.

Sorry.

I suddenly Feel like a weakling.

Yeah.

Whoa.

Demas machine.

The more time we spend here With demas...

Is, like, pretty cool.

Like, I'm actually really Enjoying the puzzle of this.

This I find way more fascinating Than anything I've seen...

Mining-wise ever.

Fascinating.

I kind of do Feel like a kid again.

Because I was finding gold Before I really remember.

You know, like with my grandpa At the wash plant, whatever,

You know, I don't remember Falling in love with mining.

And it's cool to come here, Someplace completely different,

And kind of fall in love With it again.

Nothing in this one.

Try another spot.

Pretty vulnerable spot Right now.

We've got a spotter, And it's just gonna let us know.

If there's any falling rock.

We'll try to work hard and fast.

And try to get out of here As soon as possible.

Whoa!

Are you okay?

Yeah.

Are you still okay?

Yeah.

I'm sorry. It's alright.

You didn't do it On purpose, did you?

No.

Maybe when I'm in there, I'll dump it.

Maybe no prying On the roof.

When you're in the hole. I'll not be in there.

I think That simplifies things.

We've been jumping around A whole bunch of different spots.

Trying to find the best spot,

And demas reckons This might be the best one.

We kind of need this To deliver, really,

Given our timeframe, Right?

Right there in there?

Those two? Yeah, yeah.

Look at that. Yes!

Is that gold?

Yeah. Yeah!

Yes. Found gold?

Nice!

I'm not even Done panning,

But there's two pieces Right there.

It's a lot Of hard work, demas.

Should we go Get some more?

Yeah, yeah.

We're on it now. Sweet.

Let's do it.

So we finally got into a spot Where there's some good gold.

It's good to finally see, But we're on it.

We're gonna go back in there.

And get as much of it out As we can.

Coming up...

We built something to Try to help with mercury.

It's a pretty big moment Right now.

Here's the moment Of truth.

What the...?

What is that?!

Ooh. Hi.

What are you Digging for?

Whoa, whoa. Weird-shaped egg.

What kind of bird?

So you eat?

The megapode bird Is found exclusively.

In the volcanic region Of australasia.

And doesn't incubate her eggs By sitting on them.

Instead, she buries them In the warm volcanic ash,

Providing the primary source Of food and income.

For the locals.

Wow.

Digging for eggs.

That's so cool.

Maybe you found Your next calling.

So freakin' amazing.

Thank you. Such a nice pleasure.

Hi, lima bean. How are you? Lima bean.

In papua new guinea,

Parker and his team have spent A week hard-rock mining.

On the side of a mountain With the kukukuku tribe.

Is there gold in here? I think like this one.

These kids are awesome.

For them, the stakes Are very high with this.

Hopefully in all these rocks We're crushing up,

There's some good gold And this retort works.

Like many small-scale miners,

Demas has to use mercury To get the gold out of the rock.

My main priority is The health issues for the kids,

And being able to contain That mercury.

For me, that's super important.

I'm gonna let demas Do this process.

Kind of got mixed messages On this.

I know we found gold,

But I hope we found enough To make a difference.

The gold looks so much Like everything else in there.

I'm guessing there's gold in it.

Yeah!

Yes.

I was getting nervous. I didn't see anything.

This is step one.

Next step's gonna really Make a difference to me.

They're so excited to find gold.

That the whole Family's coming around.

So, demas, Before we burn that off,

We built something to try To help with this process.

And I'm hopeful That it'll work.

If it doesn't work, We're not gonna lose anything.

Basically, the mercury goes In there with the gold,

And then this goes Overtop of it.

The mercury will evaporate.

It's a contained system. There'll be no vapors.

Which is a good thing.

All the gold will stay in here,

And you can catch it afterwards.

He's trusting us.

The challenging part of this Is gonna be.

Getting it hot enough.

You need probably A good fire.

It's a pretty big moment Right now.

Pretty intense to me.

I'm just kind of hoping It works.

All right, well, Here's the moment of truth.

Hey, hey, look at that!

Nice little chunk of gold.

4.2 grams of gold Is worth over $60.

That's over 10 times The average daily income.

For small-scale miners In papua new guinea.

You happy with that, Demas?

That's good.

This is for You guys.

I hope you use it. It'll work quite well, I think.

Feel like we left a pretty Good impact on these people.

We've shown them a way To save on the mercury,

And more importantly, their kids Aren't gonna be inhaling it.

That's gonna leave a huge impact On these little ones.

Patrick.

Good job.

Demas.

Thank you For everything.

When I show up in another Mine site that is like here,

I can look at the ground.

And have an understanding What is happening.

It's been a lot of fun.

Thank you so much For having us.

It's the strongest Work ethic I've ever seen.

Thank you.

I truly honor And respect these people.

See you, Man.

They take what they have And they survive with it,

And I'm inspired by it.

And they taught us Everything they know.

I am really sad To leave this place.

We've made some friends.

I have so much respect For these people,

Like, the sense of humor, The adaptability,

The toughness, you know.

We've seen people Risking their lives.

To try and get The tiniest pieces of gold.

That has been one of The most breathtaking.

Five days of my life.

Right there, man.

Thank you.

Much appreciated.

You guys are legends.

We've put a lot of hard work In here with demas.

And his family.

We helped them find some gold.

It's been A really great experience,

But the big thing is

I kind of do feel like I'm in love with mining again.

Next time...

Look at that!

This is one of the biggest Gold deposits in the world.

Look, look, look, he's Climbing the fence right here.

These kids steal from the Other side of the fence.

That guy has an ax.

The mine has shot people before.

This gold, it belongs to me. This belongs to my land.

We're in a war zone.