Original subtitles

My main focus is more and more and more about finding more ground.

It's a very hard business to continue to scale.

On the Indian River,

26 year old mining prodigy, Parker Schnabel

is in survival mode.

Short on ground,

he bet big on a claim with a narrow pay streak

that's the deepest he's ever mined in The Yukon.

But could also be

the richest.

I think it's a great opportunity.

The gold purity is good over there.

My hope is we find a ton of gold.

Looking it and feeling,

it looks like overall depth should be like 60 feet deep.

At the end of the day, it's just moving dirt.

It is very expensive though.

Getting down to pay will take at least another month,

and cost over one and a half million dollars in crew and fuel.

Definitely is quite the gamble.

So far,

Parker's only working wash plant, Sluicifer,

has produced just 84 ounces at the airstrip cut.

Less than half of last year's average.

It's just weird.

It's really strange because...

the gold was so consistent

when we left there last fall and we just picked up where we left off.

I've gotten a little first clean-up jitters.

Maybe...

the finance company will come and repo all our

You never know. It's gold mining.

Suspecting a problem with how the plant is catching gold,

he sends in gold recovery expert,

Chris Doumitt.

So our clean-up was 84 ounces.

That's not good.

Doesn't come close to paying the bills and the money,

we have invested in Mud Mountain right now.

Doumitt began his mining career 11 years ago

when he came to Alaska to work as a carpenter for the Hoffman crew.

Over the years

he learned to mine.

Chris, welcome up.

In 2013

he joined Parker's crew.

Ain't no vacation.

You know that.

Now, he is one of the best gold recovery experts in The Yukon.

We move a lot of dirt

for a little bit of gold.

And it's too rare, it's too valuable to lose it.

So, we're gonna do everything within our power to capture as much as we can.

What's goin' on, Chris?

- What are you thinking? - Hey, Mitch.

I think we'll shut that plant down,

and see where this gold is going.

Mining is more of a science than it is just digging.

It's just not a matter of turning a machine on,

and turn the water on and start running dirt.

You gotta figure it out.

I think this is our problem right here.

See how fine all this gold is?

This is usually where the materials hits first.

And it catches the coarse gold.

Usually it's one of the best mats, the first mat.

But what I'm seeing is real fine gold.

It's too much water.

It's not letting the gold settle where it's supposed to.

In wash plant, Sluicifer,

water jets wash gold-rich material from pay dirt,

vibrating screens separate out the rocks from fine material.

In the sluice runs,

riffles force the heavier gold to sink into thick mats.

Doumitt believes

excess water is forcing gold out the back of the plant,

Water's our best friend and our worst enemy.

We can turn that pump down and reduce water volume,

and stop washing all this gold out.

So we run down here

and take a look at the pump.

That's not good at all.

Yeah, that pump can't run any slower.

So...

We're going to have to do something else.

Hey, Mitch. You got a copy? Mitch.

Can you meet me up at the plant please?

There's no real resistance against that pump.

It's almost level with the wash plant right now.

- Normally, water pump's down in a hole. - Right.

Plant's up high.

The pump has to work a lot harder,

- to get the water up to the wash plant right? - Right.

Now, it's just rifling water over here.

So can we shut down some of these spray bars?

The first spray bar has six outlets on the bottom. Right.

We could put plugs in those six

that go directly down.

That's the water that blasts right here at the top.

- Okay - So, we'll cut that water out.

What if we open the bypass and divert water from there?

It's gonna lose a lot of volume.

But we gotta start doing something different.

I'm gonna plug off the four in the center here,

and reduce this water that we have going into the top of the deck here.

We have to be very careful that we don't restrict too much water.

'Cause if you don't have enough water,

the runs are gonna pack and then the gold can't get down in the carpets.

So, I've got the bypass valve completely open.

We're bypassing as much water as we possibly can.

Opening the bypass valve diverts water from the pump,

around the plant and into the settling pond,

reducing how much flows through Sluicifer.

Alright, we're under, we'll take a look-see and see how we're doing.

- Fire it up.

Looking a lot better.

A lot better.

After three hours,

costing almost $12,000,

Sluicifer

is back up and running.

Parker, I think this is looking a lot better.

Well, we won't know until the next clean-up,

but I think we'll have a Happy Parker now.

Oh!

Shut her down.

Looked like anaconda.

All that's holder her in there is that pile of dirt.

And if...

it came out of the ground, it would have just been...

flying around.

Would have a lot of

The increased pressure in the bypass hose

has broken it free from its foundations.

When it gets to whipping, it goes crazy,

and somebody could actually get hurt by that thing.

Think of a fire hose this big around, right?

I mean, it just--

Until it's secured,

Parker's only money maker

is shut down once again.

We're gonna sleeve our bypass hose inside this pipe.

And that'll keep it from wanting to walk around.

And then, we're gonna armor it all up.

- It's gonna be tough getting it through. - Yeah.

I'm in your way, here.

It looks like the boy's got a plan that might work.

Oh, it'll work.

Guaranteed.

Everything around here has the five minute or five feet warranty.

So, Tyson's got some really super coarse tailings.

And he's got probably seven or eight tons of rock on top of that pipe.

It's sleeved so it won't get crushed.

We're pretty much at the point here,

where we ready to flash up the pump and see if it works.

Might wanna step back.

Fire it up.

Well done, young man.

This looks really nice.

Well there's no kinks in the hose.

It's solid.

- Good boy. Good boy. Thank you.

I just wanna make it clear though.

If you spill any nacho cheese in that excavator,

you're going right back in that truck.

Okay. I'll make sure I don't.

Yeah, but you can't tell me,

that you don't have a thermos full of nacho cheese in there.

- I

A 100 miles away from the Klondike in Keno,

Rick Ness is on gold-rich ground.

But he's still working at reduced capacity,

with a skeleton crew.

Though I do appreciate you puttin' in your stint, Nate,

I hope it wasn't too torturous on ya.

Are you sure, or are you just blowing smoke up my ass?

New crew member, Nathan Thornington digs pay in the 480 Excavator.

Rick loads rock trucks with the new million dollar 750.

I mean the gold's good.

And it's coming in consistent, so that's always good,

but that's just not gonna be good enough this year.

I spent a lot of money.

We all got some big machines in here.

If I'm going to hit my 2,000 ounce goal,

I need more people in here.

We really got to be running at full capacity if we're gonna get there.

To ramp up production,

Rick has rustled up a few new recruits.

It's a little different this year, you know.

I'm having to hire not just friends of mine,

but you know, people that I don't know and, uh--

It's a little different feeling this year.

In the gold room,

new hire, Heather Folster.

We'll figure it out. We'll get it dialed in.

Heather learned gold recovery on Parker's claim,

as Chris Doumitt's apprentice.

We're gonna see if I can do it on my own.

Without Doumitt.

I think he taught me well so we should be okay.

Start uncurling.

Hard joystick, there you go.

Whoa!

- A little touchy? - Yeah.

At wash plant Rocky,

Rick's most experienced miner, Brennan Ruault,

teaches rookie operator, Kyle Lawson, how to feed the plant.

Let's go down, down, down, down, down, down.

There you go. Now,

pull them out.

As you're doing that, try to uncurl that towards the window-- Okay.

There you go.

Didn't see that

In the cut...

Do you want me to keep going?

Yup.

Oh, gosh. Here I am driving all over the freaking place.

Rick's hometown buddy, Chris Kruse,

trains Greenhorn Rock Truck driver, Leah Turnbull.

Don't let your tires drop over into that trench?

I have zero experience in rock truck driving.

I hadn't even stepped foot in one,

um, until this morning so...

I think I'm doing pretty good.

I took her along...

For about five trips while I drove.

And then she drove with me in the cab for like five trips.

That's the way I was taught.

I don't know if that's the right way but...

My not be getting a rock truck for the next six months,

depends on her success in there,

so I'm really rooting for her.

Coming in a little hot there, bro.

Felt that.

Leah comes from mechanic, Carl Rosk's hometown in BC.

Carl's been a good friend of mine for years and...

Keeps inviting me up here

for a visit or to work and finally, I decided that this was my year.

I've never been really afraid to...

try something out and...

once I set my mind to something, I gotta do it,

and I gotta do it well.

Real nice.

Real nice. Now straighten out the front of the truck a little bit,

so when you dump, you're not cock-eyed.

And you're gonna let her fly right there.

Ahh!

Think I found my replacement with the rock truck.

I did it.

With his three new crew members,

Rick can now run wash plant Rocky

at a 100 yards per hour

24/7.

What do you think?

- You'll be okay? Oh, yeah!

Yeah, I think he'll do great at it.

- Seems cautious. Yeah.

It's great having new crew here.

I mean these guys all seem to be fittin' in really well.

If I'm going to get double the gold this year,

I need these guys to work out so...

So far, so good.

Yeah.

Stop! Stop! - Oh [bleep]!

Is Leah okay?

Where is she? Is she out of the truck?

Yeah, she already out.

Yeah.

Back here.

That was scary.

You alright?

I stopped in time.

At Duncan Creek,

greenhorn Rock Truck driver, Leah Turnbull

has crashed into the 20ft deep tailings pond.

I'm fired, aren't I?

Is it really, really bad or?

Yeah, it's really bad.

- No, we're not laughing about this, - I know it's not laughable.

If Leah had driven another few feet,

she could have drowned in the quicksand-like silt

that fills the pond.

I built that pond.

It's a damn settling pond full of silt.

It's an endless pit.

Hey, shut the plant down.

Everybody get over to the tailings pond.

We're about to lose a truck.

Now Leah is safe,

Rick needs to rescue his half million dollar rock truck.

I mean, I've flipped thousands of these things back over,

but I never had one...

...quite sitting like this.

We'll talk-- I'm sorry. I'm just--

I was just nervous. I didn't mean to laugh.

We'll just talk after we get this thing out, okay?

This is literally the worst case scenario right now.

Like hired new people.

Trained them up in a rock truck.

And then watch them almost drown.

I know I feel like an idiot like

Just stay quiet and...

Stay in the sidelines for now.

- I know-- - I'm just--

Yeah, go sit in the truck for a minute.

We'll be a few minutes.

Alright. This thing almost has to come straight back though.

Yeah.

I don't see how else to save this thing.

You just leave that there.

I'll unload that quick, as much as I can.

Then I'll move that down.

Watch out!

The 45 ton load of pay dirt

is causing the truck to sink into the fine silt of the pond.

You know if that cab goes in the water, then we're

'cause then the engine's under the water, the cab's under the water.

Like that truck will be done.

Just have to be real, real easy and gentle on this.

See if that's it, you know?

It's gonna have to be.

Ready?

Push it! Come on, baby. Come on.

It coming up? Yeah.

It's like I'm holding tension.

We're gonna get someone in the cab now 'cause I'm running out of power lift now.

I'm going in.

Work with me when you go, Kruse.

Just super slow, okay?

Yeah! Whoo!

yeah.

I was worried my weight might make a difference

- and tip her over into the water.

You're just water weight, it'll balloon back.

Right on, Ricky, we're done! Whoo!

It was close. Could've been a lot worse.

I need to talk to Leah. Where is she? Is she in the truck?

I hate this part. I don't take pleasure in firing people

or letting people go or having to make those decisions.

Yeah. I don't want to have anybody get hurt.

No-- You know, on the site.

It's your site, it's your job, it's your livelihood.

Um, I 100% get that. So, um, sorry, I don't mean to cry.

It's okay. Um, if there's any way that we can, uh...

Okay.

Fix it.

I know the seriousness of it, I really do.

I'd really, really love an opportunity to actually get to know you

and, like, work hard for you, and, uh, not have like this happen again.

Yeah. And, uh, please, really do think about it.

Okay. And, uh, I'd really love to stay.

I really wanna be here, man.

Okay. I really, really do.

And I think I can do it and I think I can be safe and not up.

Okay. All right, give me a little time.

Okay. Okay.

Just go and relax.

No, don't film me, please. Not a good time.

King of the Klondike, Tony Beets,

has gambled over $5 million on new equipment,

and months of crew time preparing to mine 2,800 acres

of gold rich ground on the Indian River.

But over three weeks into the season, Tony's equipment sits idle,

while he waits for his Indian River water permit to be issued.

Until the license comes through,

Tony's only source of gold is Mike's 30-year-old trommel on Paradise Hill.

Lots of ripping, lots of dirt moving.

In the eight acre Nugget Cut, son, Mike, digs pay.

So much dirt.

Lots of nuggets, lots of nuggets.

Beets family friend, Ruby Mahoney, loads rock trucks.

I'm sending you some pretty good pay. How's it looking over there?

Ruby's high school buddy, Megan Gaudet, feeds the trommel.

It's looking pretty good, actually.

With 200 yards of pay dirt an hour.

We've been friends for quite a few years.

So it's awesome with us working together now.

And, like, we started calling ourselves the dream team.

Tony didn't know what he was gonna get, pairing us together.

Well, he's gonna get his money's worth, that's for sure.

We are missing someone, though.

I sure wish Monica was here with us.

Me, too, but, at least, she's having little babies.

While Monica takes maternity leave,

Tony tasks son, Kevin, with keeping the dream team sluicing

and his business afloat.

With Monica away right now, I'm going in even more directions than before.

It's nuts these days.

Well that's not any good.

So as you can see, we've got a little hole here.

That material should be going in the box.

Anything that falls, we're not gonna catch

till we dig it all up in three years.

The distributor, which feeds the sluice runs, has worn through.

Make it work, make it work. Basically our motto.

Okay.

Damn it, eh, Megs? - Yeah, what the hell?

I can't believe we're getting shut down.

Well, good thing I was here 'cause nobody else would've noticed that.

We'll do a quick fix for now, get it done proper in a bit.

Oh, this is very complicated engineering we're doing right now.

That's about as bush fix as you can get, I'd say.

That's probably a bit extra, but that'll work.

This should allow us to keep going for a little bit.

And, hell, if it doesn't hold, I'll put a bigger stick in there.

It's gonna work.

It's not proper or pretty, but you know what?

It's gonna work. It's better than it was.

Yup, had to jam a stick in there, so...

This is bull

On Paradise Hill, Tony Beets' only moneymaker is shut down

after son Kevin's push fix fail.

Tony orders freelance welder, Kent Simonson,

to head up the Hill and get his trommel back on the gold fast.

We'll have to patch this piece up with a chunk of angle.

It might look a little patchy in places,

but I think it'll hold better than the stick.

Ah, Tony, I think this distributor's done. It's looking pretty good.

After a four hour shut down, costing over $14,000 in lost gold,

Tony's only operating wash plant is back in business.

Now we don't want any more big shut downs,

so, hopefully, we'll be able to run all similar to what we've done

and if not, we'll make it work somehow.

I just wanna get this stupid mud out of this stupid hole.

On Indian River,

Parker Schnabel is two-thirds of the way through stripping his deepest ever claim,

Mud Mountain.

He's invested over $1 million digging so far.

Every day adds another $50,000 in fuel and crew costs.

It's definitely a lot of dirt to move.

It's gonna take everything we've got, for sure.

We'll get it done. Maybe, I don't know.

We'll give it the old college try.

A mile away at the airstrip,

Parker's only operating wash plant, Sluicifer, is back catching gold

after Chris Doumitt's plant tune up.

We're trying to keep up with Sluicifer,

and, uh, it's definitely chewing through all this thawed ground.

Foreman, Mitch Blaschke,

and plant boss, Tyson Lee, build a stock pile of gold rich pay.

You know, Mud Mountain, everyday that goes by,

it's costing more and more money.

And Sluicifer's finally up and going

and it's nice to finally be getting Parker's bank account

back looking a little happier.

Loader operator, Tatiana Costa, feeds Sluicifer 220 yards of pay an hour.

I love running the loader. You know, rock truck's fun,

but yeah, no, my thing is, it's the loader.

I just have such a good time, and it's just fast pace. I love it.

Tyson, Tyson, please, can you come here? The pat is being flooded.

Right now, our settling pond is kind of trenched under the mud.

It's cut the thawed mud out and now it's flooding into our cut like crazy.

Increased water from the bypass hose

has filled the 28 million gallon settling pond and breached the berm.

If the cut floods, Parker's only source of thawed pay dirt

will be shut down for weeks.

It's coming in like a river, man.

It's cut a channel right underneath all the mud.

Our whole system is gonna be underwater here in a matter of minutes

if we don't get this plugged off.

I'm gonna smash that GoPro if it's not moved in the next 10 seconds.

Our flooding.

While Tyson plugs the breach,

Mitch races to drain the rapidly flooding cut.

We're gonna lose this whole cut.

We gotta dig out our line here.

Try and discharge some of this back to the river from our clean side

and so that's what we need to do here.

And, uh, we gotta do it fast.

It would take half a day to dig a ditch to the Indian River.

By then, the whole cut would be underwater.

See what we got going on over here.

Looks like there's an old stream bed here.

And I don't know if the water, maybe at one point,

ran this way or if there's water running from this direction to it.

But maybe we can do something with it.

There's no time to survey the stream bed.

So Mitch will dig a ditch to connect it to the Indian River.

Pump flood water into the channel

and hope the gradient flows down to the river.

Got the 700 here with, uh, tiger teeth on it.

These are the most aggressive teeth we have for this bucket.

Use it to try and chew through this permafrost.

So much easier if this ground was thawed.

Come on, baby, come on.

If this doesn't work, I really don't know where to go with this.

30 minutes after the berm breach.

Hey, Mitch, I got it plugged off a little bit.

It's seeping through other spots now,

but there's not a hell of a lot of water coming at you anymore.

How's your trench looking? Do we have flow to the river yet?

We got a completed trench,

so all we need now is some water.

Where the ancient stream bed meets the cut,

loader operator, Tatiana, holds the crew's dewatering pump above the flood water.

You wanna raise it up, so our pump's not sitting in a pond?

Don't move. I'm gonna climb over.

Right now, Tyson's gonna hook a chain up to our suction line.

You good, buddy?

Far from good.

If Brennan was here, I'd definitely have Brennan hooking the chain out today.

He would find a reason not to.

Wanna try to fire that up there?

Come on, you piece of

There we go!

Hey, Tyson! How's it look?

It's good, Mitch!

Mitch's gamble has paid off.

The ancient stream bed goes down to the river.

At this rate, the cut will be dry in two hours.

Man, I gotta say, that's one of the closest calls we've ever had.

Ah, we've never had the berm let go like that before.

So if we wouldn't have got that sealed up that quick,

- this whole thing would be a swimming pool right now. - Yup.

- So, let's go and get some dry clothes and get her again. Yeah.

It is time to get going.

On Paradise Hill.

We really need every speck of gold that we can get.

It's looking great on my end. Hopefully, we get some big nuggets out of her.

While Tony Beets continues to wait for permission

to kick start his mining operation on the Indian River,

his dream team runs nugget cut pay

through Mike's 40-foot trommel.

There's, like, 30 plus of us working here right now.

If we're not making gold and actually running it through the plant, then...

no one's gonna be able to get paid. And that would suck.

Just try to move dirt as efficiently and quickly as you possibly can

and keep the plants running,

and just try not to lose your mind.

'Cause it is fun, but it's also insane.

Ah, The chute's pissing material.

Hey Tony, hey Tony. The chute's leaking pretty bad.

The chute that carries material from the trommel

down to the recently repaired distributor

is losing gold from past repairs that have worn through.

It's another case of quick fixes coming back to haunt the Beets.

Well, last year, we laid steel.

Instead of welding those in, we did a quickie.

We put in bolts.

Now, of course, all that material flowing over the bolt heads,

it's like a grinder.

So those wear out and hole, hole, hole, hole.

Ah, for sakes.

We're more of a nightmare than a dream.

No, we're the Nightmare Squad.

Tony's only option is to drag six of his crew off of other jobs

so they can replace the shoots 40 foot steel base.

Each hour the plant is shut down

costs $3,600 in lost gold.

This year, we do it in a proper way.

Once in a while, you have to do some light maintenance.

It sucks, but that, that's the way it is.

Now, they must weld the new base into position.

It was your decision to become a welder. Don't blame it on me.

This is a money-maker, so, uh, we have to start closing.

Otherwise, no paycheck.

It takes six hours to weld in the new chute base.

It's finished.

Everything's ready to go now, so let's turn it on, get some gold.

Hey Tony, hey Tony. Plant's fired up. It's running. I see no leaks.

Everything looks good.

After a ten-hour shutdown, costing $36,000,

The Nightmare Squad, Megan and Ruby, are back sluicing.

To become the Dream Team once again,

they must now run the plant nonstop for the rest of the week.

There's really not a whole lot of time to waste.

Correction, there's no time to waste.

Well, if there's one thing that I've learned as a miner,

it's that you're only as good as your crew.

At Lower Duncan Creek, Rick Ness runs wash plant Rocky

at 80 percent capacity.

Washing a hundred yards of gold-rich pay an hour.

I need people right now, you know?

We've got a lot bigger goal this year.

You know, and, uh, I'm having a really hard time finding people,

uh, to come out here and work.

Three days ago, new recruit Leah Turnbull

crashed her rock truck into the tailings pond.

Now, Rick must decide if he should cut her lose.

So, how does it feel being back on the job after, uh, your...

let's call it a less than stellar parking job.

Um, I'm a little nervous, to be honest.

And, um, happy to get a little bit more, uh, training.

I wanna get good at this. I wanna stay.

I wanna work hard and be here for the whole season.

I think that's a, that's a, a goal we can strive for.

So, now, do you know where you got a spot picked out?

Okay, so, I'm feeling straight.

- Kay. - But there's a pile of rock behind me.

Does that look like it's gonna affect me or am I pretty straight?

Uh, no, that's, that's off because there's your center line.

But start backing up. We gotta get somewhere.

Real nice. Real nice. And you're gonna let her fly right there.

Hey, Kruse, can you come up here for a second?

Yeah, give me about four minutes. I'll be right there.

What's up, guy?

I don't know. What do you, what do you think about, about Leah?

Well, I mean, obviously, I have some skin in this game.

Uh, but, I don't know, when you're down here all day, like,

she shows signs that she's gettin' it.

I know that she wants to be good at this.

- Yeah. Uh, she really does.

I mean, there are some things that have started clickin' in her head for sure.

Right now, I, I, I'm, I'm g-going with my gut, and I should fire her.

I mean, the way she rolled that thing. Drove it right into the tailings pond.

- You know that c-- you know how bad that could've been. - I...

Believe me, I know, I mean...

I'm no stranger to tipping over rock trucks. We know that

And I'm still here.

I've rolled 'em, too, man. I've rolled 'em, too.

But that, that right there, she, you know, drove right through a berm and--

Uh, I, I get it.

Um, I mean.

Obviously, you're the boss, it's your call, but

we really do need somebody in that truck.

I vote for second chance.

Yeah, I don't know what to do.

I mean, I need her in a truck,

but I also can't afford for her to make another mistake like that.

I got some thinking to do. Thanks, man.

Yeah, let me know.

I know I, uh, screwed up and

I'm really worried that, um, I'm not gonna be able to stay.

I don't wanna get fired.

It's not really, uh, in my hands anymore.

I just gotta wait and find out what Rick decides.

Hey, how, how ya feelin'?

Pretty

Yeah. Well,

I've, uh, kinda cooled down a bit, given it some thought.

Um, I don't feel like I was too hard on you, but--

Um, I think I'd, like, I'd like to give you a second chance.

But I don't want you to look at this as, like, a free pass.

It's like, I want to make very sure that you understand how serious that was.

I don't know if it's like, I wouldn't say it's probation,

but I guess it actually kinda is a probation.

You know, like I'm...

I really want you to, you know, keep your head down, learn,

and, uh, you know, show that you're serious and that you respect, you know,

the dangers around here.

Like, that's gonna be really important.

- I really appreciate that. Thank you. - Fair enough?

- Thanks. - Yeah.

Well, I'm super relieved I get to stay.

And I know I can do this and

I don't wanna let Kruse down

because I know he's looking forward to gettin' out of the truck.

So, yeah, it's been a tough, uh, first week.

Come on, Jacks. Come on.

Over two thousand feet up in the Yukon mountains.

Fore! That's golf.

Timber!

Rookie mine boss Fred Lewis preps his campsite,

ready for his crew to arrive in a few days.

The core camp layout is set.

Uh, just a couple more little details like this just to make it

livable.

And then, we're ready to move down to the claim.

I feel like getting the effort to get this camp set up,

to feel more like a home than a base, is super important for my guys' moral.

And I want my guys coming home at night, rejuvenating

so you can focus and just drive forward and get that gold.

That's the name of the game.

She has good size hands and she has good size feet.

The rest is very tiny.

Oh, poor little girl, we're just laughing at you.

On Paradise Hill.

You better feed her some more.

Three generations of Beets gather for the gold weigh.

Mike is weighed down by gold.

Got a fat ass.

Well, yeah, shaker's down, so...

This week, while he waits for permission to mine the Indian River,

Tony's only gold has come from the nugget cut.

A good thing my trommel's running,

otherwise, we'd be up creek, now wouldn't we?

10, 20.

Tony needs 475 ounces a week

to hit his 9,000 ounce season goal.

50, 60, 70,

80, 90,

100, 110, 120.

Roughly an ounce an hour, eh?

So, what's that make our season total now?

461.62.

Wanna wrap this up?

Let's roll out. Bye!

Bye, children.

Bye, Mike.

Well, I wasn't planning on drinking this weekend

but I'm feeling like 35 beers are gonna go down tonight.

At Lower Duncan Creek.

- Hey, shooter. - Ah, buenos dias, guy.

Rick's original four-man crew gathers for the gold weigh.

Well, I mean, it's good having some new blood in here, you know.

- You know some new people. - Oh, yeah, for sure.

I'm tired of looking at just you guys. - Yeah.

That being said, we've all gotta be, you know,

the four us, we gotta be extra cautious,

and extra awareness this, this week comin' up, you know.

And make sure that everybody stays safe.

This week, wash plant Rocky shut down once

when Leah's rock truck crash made Rick's operation stop dead.

I thought the truck was gonna roll over.

I really did.

And nobody's perfect. I mean, we all know what I did last year.

Yeah. Oh, and I've done that.

We're just giving her a second shot.

We're gonna need all the help we can get if we're gonna get to 2,000 ounces.

- Right? Yep.

Speaking of that, let's see how much closer we are here.

To hit his 2,000 ounce season target,

Rick needs to average 105 ounces a week.

This bottle's heavy.

So that means we're all doin' something right.

Last week, he banked 90.

Ready? 20.

40.

50... 70...

80.

That's it. What?

A big 92.48. - Holy crap.

Awesome.

Worth over $165,000.

That's more than last week, so.

Makes sense. We added more people, we got more done.

sweet.

Clicking at the heels of 2,000.

That is fantastic man.

I believe that's what people call an upward trend.

And puts him on track to hit his season goal.

I mean, obviously, more people means uh...

more dirt to the wash plant.

Equals more gold. I mean, the ground's consistent.

And uh...

That's a good thing.

Unfortunately, we're running low on the ground in the creek cut,

so we're gonna have to open up something new.

- But as of right now, it's looking good. Right on.

At Scribner Creek,

Parker's crew assemble for the gold weigh.

- How's it going man? - How you're doing, young man?

What's up?

We were just talking about our week. Yeah.

This week

Parker spent $350,000 stripping his deepest ever ground,

bringing his total spend to $1.4 million dollars.

He needs his only operating wash plant, Sluicifer,

to bring in over a 180 ounces just to break even.

Last week

it banked just 84.

We had to fight for this stuff.

- It wasn't just an easy week. Yeah.

We had to make some adjustments.

Cut the water back.

Really try to fine-tune it.

And it seems to be running a lot better.

And we did see gold

in the upper mats.

You wanna see the rest of it?

Yeah, I wanna see how we did.

Okay, here we go. Ready, Mitch?

Time to find out if Doumitt's plant fix worked.

- It's gonna go quick. - Alright. 20, 40, 50.

70.

80.

100.

140, 150, 160, 180.

220.

250.

300.

- 330.

337.45.

Worth over $600,000.

I like that a lot better. Yeah.

That's a lot better.

That's four times what we got

- on our first clean-up. Little more hours.

Triple or quadruple the gold.

Yeah, we went from an ounce an hour to three.

You know, so if we can keep that plant running.

Keep your mouth shut.

Don't be saying that too loud, that thing'll hear ya.

- It's got a mind of its own. - You shut your mouth.

- No problem there.

Sounds like a plan.

I'll pack this stuff up. We'll go get something to eat.

Chris. Nice clean job as usual.

Mitch, thank you for taking care of business out there.

No worries Yeah.

Pay some bills.

I was gonna open a better bottle of wine,

but they have them in the safe and I don' know the code.

- Try the safe.

out of here.

Oh!

Yeah, we had a really good week, this week.

I mean...

Last week was an embarrassment and this just proved it.

Everything that we have done,

everything that we have progressed to be now,

is all in on the line in Mud Mountain.

You know, that's a scary part.

We just got 337 ounces of gold.

It's given us a total of over 400 ounces.

Doesn't come close to paying the bills and the money,

we have invested in Mud Mountain right now.

We haven't even started sluicing it yet.

So we got long ways to go.

If we can keep this up we'll be paying some bills.