All language subtitles for Gold Rush - Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan - S04E08 - Zeroes to Golden Heroes HDTV-1080p.mkv

-[slow dramatic music playing]
-[distant birdcalls]

[crossing bell dinging]

[Ryan Merritt]
What I do know about gold
is it's in the ground...

[chuckles] ...but I'm having
a hard time getting it out.

I have all my money
invested in this mine.

We're trying to find gold
and we can't pay our bills
and this stresses me out.

My boy, Nolan,

he's real green.

He likes to get
his hands dirty.

Alls he wants is a career
in gold mining.

Once you see that
first glimpse of gold,

you're kinda already hooked.

[Ryan] I'm doing
the best I can to try
to teach him the ropes,

but I'm learning a lot
as we go as well.

It would be my dream
to pass this mine on to Nolan

and let him take control of it
one day.

[Nolan] I sacrificed
my day job to come up here,

and I'm really excited
to start my next journey

and try to pursue
a gold-mining dream.

[Ryan]
This is the last season

we're gonna be able to be
up here if we can't make it
and find gold.

And that's gonna be
a real hardship for my boy.

And I don't want to
let him down.

I'm his dad, so...

it's pretty... It hits home.

[Freddy] Let's make
some gold, guys.

[narrator] Freddy Dodge...

There's no guarantees
in gold, buddy.

[narrator]
...and Juan Ibarra...

All right.
Well, let's do it, huh?

[narrator] ...have mastered
the art of getting gold
out of the ground...

[Juan] Look at that.

[narrator] ...in the most
rugged places on Earth.

[Juan over radio] I'm feeling
a little sick, Freddy.

[narrator] Now, they rescue
struggling miners.

Ooh, that's not good.

[narrator]
...who risked it all
to be rich...

[man] Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Shut it down!

[narrator] ...but are about to
lose everything.

[man] Eyeballs.

[narrator]
To revive these failing mines,

Freddy and Juan
engineer the impossible...

[man] Well, I've never heard
of an undersluice before.

[narrator]
...deliver some hard truths...

This material
you're digging now
is totally worthless.

[narrator]
...and track down the gold.

That's what dreams
are made of right there.

[narrator] But if they
don't at least double
the miners' gold recovery,

they won't take a dime
in return.

-Collected ten times
the amount of gold.
-[man] That's awesome.

[all laugh]

[humming]

-Thanks for the coffee, bud.
-No problem, buddy.

I'm sorry I'm not gonna be

-much help this week.
-No worries.

I'm sitting there
looking at it.

It's really not
that noticeable.

That little support thing
you've got going on.

No, you know,
you barely see it.

I tore my shoulder up
pretty bad.

So I'm not supposed to lift
anything with this hand.

Just move it.

[Juan] It's a good thing that
Travis and Alex are here
to give us a hand.

Yeah. I got one good arm
to hug you with, buddy.

[both laughing]

[narrator] Freddy and Juan
are in Baker County, Oregon,

heading for the Mammoth Mine,

a 13-acre claim
owned by Ryan Merritt.

Historically,
one of the richest

hard-rock mining areas
in the region.

The site is six miles outside
the mining town of Sumpter,

famed for producing
millions of dollars'

worth of placer gold
annually

in the early 1900s.

[Freddy over radio]
It's good to be back here,

but, you know, this area's
been hit pretty hard.

A lot of the gold that was
around here is in somebody
else's bank account now.

So what do we know
about Ryan, Freddy?

Well, he bought
this property up here

and he said
his recovery system,

he thinks it's pretty lacking,
but we'll see
when we get here.

[truck horn blares]

[birds chirping]

-[Juan] Good morning.
-[Ryan] Freddy. Juan.

Wow. We're very glad
to see you guys.

-How's it going?
-[Ryan] Good.

-Nice to meet you.
-What's your name?

-Nolan.
-Nice to meet you, Nolan.

It's good to meet you guys.

It's a beautiful spot
you guys got out here.

-[Ryan] Thank you.
-How long you been out here?

About the last three years
we've been actively mining it.

Okay. So what's the relation?

-So this is my boy Nolan.
-[Juan] Okay.

Yeah. He really wants to be
a gold miner.

Sure, if it's profitable
and I can make
a living out of it.

Is that your end goal then,
to one day
take this over, then?

Yeah. Hopefully upgrade
my wash plant
so I can run more material

and be profitable.

[narrator] Two years ago,
22-year-old Nolan Merritt

quit his pressure
washing business
in Central Oregon

to join his dad
and follow his dream

of gold mining.

[Nolan] Leaving my day job
to come up here,

and you're basically
gambling, essentially.

I'm not an expert
by all means,

but I'm hoping to get
a future in this industry.

[speaking]

But the main problem is
we're finding
very minimal gold.

[narrator] Two hundred miles
from his home,

the lack of gold
is taking its toll.

[Nolan] I'm bringing in
no money.

I've got bills to pay

and, I mean,
it's an expensive world

for a 22-year-old
to grow up in.

I kind of grew up
my whole life being told,
"Never work for free,"

so now I'm working for free
and, uh...

it's kind of hard
to wrap my head around.

I'm just gonna
keep chipping away

and hopefully
start seeing some color.

[Ryan] We actually have
a hard-rock pit over there.

I've heard from all
the local people in town

that the values
of the ore in there

were some of
the richest around.

So it would be really neat
trying to get the trommel

to make enough money
that we can actually
go underground someday.

That gets expensive fast.

[Ryan] Yeah, that does.

[Juan] Yeah.
A whole different animal.

So how's your season
gone so far then?

[Ryan]
We're not doing real hot.

I mean, we're roughly getting
about a tenth of an ounce
a day right now.

-[Juan] Ooh.
-It's just not
covering the costs.

Yeah, 150 bucks a day,
170 bucks a day?

Yeah. A couple of 100 dollars
a day isn't doing it for us.

That's not enough
to cover the fuel.

-Fuel. Exactly.
-[Nolan] Mm-hmm.

[Ryan] The last three years,
the best season,

it's been $5,000.

-Yeah, it's not good.
-[Juan] Mm-mm, it's not.

Realistically,
what do you need daily

to be able to make this work?

About an ounce a day,
really, is what we need.

-[Freddy] I can see that.
-Yeah.

So if you can't
make enough gold here,
then what are you gonna do?

You know, if we can't make
something happen this year,

then this'll probably be
the last season we mine.

It's a dream to me to watch
my boy be able to carry on
the tradition of mining,

and it would be
a real kick in the gut

if, you know, I couldn't
watch him carry that on.

So it's kind of
a legacy thing then?

-Yeah, building one, for sure.
-[Nolan] Yeah.

-Well, we're here.
-Let's watch it run.

-See if we can help you.
-Yeah.

[dramatic music playing]

[distant bird cawing]

[narrator]
The Mammoth claim
is staked over

a number of ancient river
channels near Bear Canyon.

Although this land
has been mined before,

Ryan hopes,
with modern machinery,

he can retrieve the gold
they left behind.

-A four-hour test?
-Yep.

The timer's going.

Let's go.

-First bucket, Juan.
-[Juan] First bucket.

[dramatic music continues]

Hopefully, I can haul
some good pay here.

[narrator] Nolan drops pay
through grizzly bars

into an 11-foot hopper,

which funnels down
into the rotating trommel,

where a spray bar
washes gold off the rocks,

to be caught
in the 10-foot sluice.

Look at that sluice box, Fred.
That's not good.

That's the worst
sluice box I've seen. [scoffs]

Now, that's a gold-losing
sluice box,

-that's for dang sure.
-Yeah.

-It's like it got ran over
by an excavator.
-[chuckles]

I'd be embarrassed
to take that in
for scrap iron. [chuckles]

[Juan] I can see why
they're only getting
a 10th of an ounce.

I'm gonna look at that box
real quick.

Freddy and Juan aren't gonna
like that sluice box.

Feel that nugget riffle up top
right here.

Half the riffles
are popped up.

None of the riffles
are touching.

That hold-down system
is not good at all.

I can just imagine
what they're thinking
of that sluice box right now.

I've always had an infatuation
with digging in the dirt,

and I always wanted
to buy a mine.

And ended up up here
with the realtor

showing us around
some properties,

and they said this is for sale

and there's rumors that

there's really good gold,
so we jumped on it.

[narrator] Inspired by stories
of huge gold hauls,

Ryan subsidized the mine with
his construction business.

But now, the falling market
has changed his luck.

I have a construction company
in Central Oregon.

Times are very slow right now,
as far as construction goes.

There's been
a lot of hardship.

We're not guaranteed anything
right now.

To be able to pay my bills
and get out of debt,

for the last three years,

we decided
we were gonna hit this
mining operation hard.

[narrator]
Originally a weekend mine,

it's now become his lifeline.

This doesn't give me
enough money
to pay our bills.

I have a family
counting on me to find gold,

especially my boy, Nolan.

I really want to watch
my kid prosper.

I want to pass this mine
on to Nolan

and let him take control of it
one day.

But we can't find gold.

This is a big, big week.

Freddy and Juan coming up
is gonna

either make us or break us.

We got a problem here.

[dramatic music playing]

It's just boiling over.
Nolan, get that bar.

[Nolan] Whoa!

Not good. We've got a rock
plugged in there,

jammed stuck.
It's overflowing with water.

Looks like it's
clogging up our trommel.

It's not getting down
in there.

[narrator] If the jammed rock
isn't dislodged in time,

gold could be lost
over the side of the hopper.

[Ryan] There it goes,
there it went.

Yeah, you got it.

[metal clanging]

[Juan speaking]

Juano!

[Ryan] I was pretty sure
we had a gold nugget

stuck in there for a minute,
but it ended up being a rock.

[Nolan] Getting ready
to run again.

That was a bit scary for me.

What I want to do is,
I want to grab
a handful of that material

coming off the end
of the trommel,

pan it and see what's in it.

You know, it seems to me
that there's a lot of material
coming out

that should be getting down
into the sluice box
and getting recovered.

[suspenseful music playing]

Oh. [bleep]
Juan's got a gold pan
in his hand.

That makes me nervous.

[Juan] The reality is,
out of one pan,

all that material
should have gone
into the sluice box

to get recovered.

I don't see any gold though.

I didn't have any gold
in the pan, but still,

if we're losing
that much material,

there's a chance
we're losing gold.

I took a pan
out of the tailings,

coming off the end
of the trommel.

There was a lot
of fine material,
but there was no gold.

How about off the sluice?

I haven't done that yet,
but I want to take a pan
from the pay.

-[Freddy] It doesn't
look good to me.
-[Juan] Yeah, it doesn't.

Doesn't look like
anything spectacular.

[narrator] Panning the pay
should show gold is
going into the wash plant,

even if it's being lost
out the other end.

[Freddy] What are you seeing,
Juano?

[Juan] Nothing yet, Fred.

[suspenseful music playing]

Nothing to speak of.

[Freddy] That's not good.

Let's go look at their pay
where they're digging it.

[narrator] With two hours
still left on the test,

Freddy and Juan need
to track down the pay.

-[Juan] Nice old boiler.
-[Freddy] A lot
of history here.

-[Juan] Oh, yeah.
-[chuckles]

[Freddy] That's where
he's getting it from.

No wonder they're only getting
a 10th of an ounce a day.

This is all garbage.
It's all tailings.

Every bit of it's tailings.

Yeah. Let's see
what you get in this pan.

[Juan]
There'll be nothing in it.

[Freddy] This creek is
completely mined out.

-Nothing.
-[Juan] Not a speck.

It's pretty consistent ground.

Pretty consistent garbage.

-That's not good, Freddy.
-What do you think?

Should we stop 'em?

-I think you shut 'em down.
-Shut 'em down.

Yeah, he's just burning fuel.

Let's just call it.

-[suspenseful music playing]
-[distant birdcalls]

It's not worth running.

No, it's mined out.
It's weird that
they didn't see that.

But, you know, they haven't
been around like us, you know.

[narrator] In the Beaver State
of Northeast Oregon,

Freddy and Juan
face a mining nightmare.

[Freddy] Well, right now,
we're in a dilemma.

We panned
out of their pay pile,

that they're calling
their pay pile,

which is actually
a garbage pile

because it's already been run.

This whole creek's
been mined out,

and they're just digging
tailings and running them.

So they're
out of business here.

[Freddy] Hey, Nolan.

-[Nolan] Huh?
-Last bucket.

[Ryan] What the...

[Nolan]
We've got to shut it down.

[narrator]
After just two hours,

-Freddy and Juan
pull the plug.
-[motor stops running]

[Freddy] The reason why
we shut you down at two hours
instead of going four...

-Right.
-Everything here's tailings.

It's not virgin.
It's been run multiple times.

This whole 13-acres
as far as placer goes...

-It's dead.
-It's dead.

-Nothing. Yeah,
not even worth it.
-[Freddy] Mm-mm.

The hill you own over there,
that's all tails.

-Yeah.
-[Freddy]
On the lower part of it.

Everything.
Everything here is tailings.
It's all been run.

They hit her side to side
and upside down.

We hate to be
the bearer of bad news.

-[Ryan] Yeah
-But the truth is,
right now it's not worth it.

[Ryan] Yeah, we want honesty.

Definitely not
what we want to hear.

Kind of like
a kick in the gut.

We don't have good ground.

There's nothing
we can do about it.

[Nolan] My father's invested
a lot of money and time
to come up here

and try to get things
going for me,

and he tries to
hand it off to me,

but if there's nothing
to hand off, then, um,

there's no sense in being
up here and wasting my time.

[Freddy]
What's your thoughts, Juan?

Well, Freddy, you know,
that ground is
completely played out.

-[Freddy] Mm-hmm.
-You know, and we took pans

and, uh, not a speck of gold.

-It was all tailings.
-Every piece of it.

I think it had been run
more than once.

That sluice box is probably
the worst we've ever seen.

-[Freddy] It's a disaster,
that sluice box.
-[Juan chuckles] Yeah.

[Freddy] The bottom of it's
shaped like a banana.

You can't hold
the riffles down.

Even if there was gold there,

the gold would just shoot
right under the riffles.

Oh, this is the first
sluice box we've ever seen

where the riffles are
actually just for show.

-They're not doing anything.
-[both laugh]

-Show riffles. [laughs]
-Yeah.

Yeah, Well, all we can do is
put our heads together
and figure this out.

-But I think we're in a pretty
tough spot here, bud.
-I agree.

[distant birdcalls]

[pleasant music playing]

[distant bird cawing]

Good morning, guys.

-Good morning.
-[Freddy] How's it going?

That's the flattest spot
I could find to weigh it.

[narrator] To get
a true read on the ground,

Freddy and Juan want to weigh
the two-hour test cleanup.

[Juan] How are we looking?

[Ryan]
Yeah, it's a little light.

-[Freddy] Little light?
-I don't think there's much
but fly poop in there.

[Freddy] That's all pyrite.

-[Ryan] Yeah.
-[Freddy] That's a nightmare.

[Ryan] Yeah, that is
a nightmare for us.

[Freddy] There is
10-cents worth of gold,
20-cents worth of gold.

Yeah, right.

So there's no use
weighing that.

I don't think my scale can
even weigh it.

This will be the first cleanup
we don't attempt to weigh,

-because this scale here...
-Won't weigh that little.

[Freddy] No.

But right now,
you just got to stop.

[Ryan] Okay.

I don't know what to do. Yeah.

You guys can tell us
what we should do.

You know, this may not be
the property that you're
gonna be on forever.

-Right.
-[Juan] So, let's put
our heads together

and come up with a game plan
and we'll go from there.

[Ryan] Thinking of that,
it doesn't make me
feel very good.

And I feel like
I've let my kid down.

Back to square one,
starting over again.

Freddy and Juan said
that's the worst
they've ever seen,

which is definitely not
what we wanted to hear,

but what we've seen now,

after doing cleanups,
there's nothing here for us,

so we've got to pursue
something different.

[narrator]
With one of the worst
gold results on Mine Rescue,

they have just four more days
to take the Merritt mine

from zero up to one ounce
to keep their dream alive.

[Freddy] It's a tough one,
Juan. This may break 'em
from gold mining.

I hope not.
What are your thoughts?

My thoughts,
I'd go prospecting.

Well, really, I honestly think

-that's the best use
of your time here.
-Yeah.

If you can go out and start
doing some prospecting,
help them out,

-that's gonna be
first and foremost.
-Yeah.

One of the things
we can do, Juan, is,

-you know, teach Nolan.
-Yeah.

-Give him our experience
and our knowledge.
-For a young guy,

-Nolan's heart's already set
on being a miner.
-Mm-hmm.

So let's at least give him
some of the tools

-that he's gonna need
to be able to do that.
-That's right.

-Yeah.
-We didn't know
there was no gold here.

No, and...

We kind of walked
into a hornet's nest
is what we did.

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] First lesson
for greenhorn Nolan,

learn how to prospect.

[Freddy] So even without
seeing your cut up here,

-I knew it was all tailings.
-[Nolan] All right.

[Freddy]
Looking at the tree growth,

everything we're walking on,
everything you see here
has been ran.

Well, how can you tell
by the tree growth
that it's been mined?

[Freddy] Because all the trees
in the valley here,

where the placer gold was,

-they're all younger trees,
you know, 30, 40 years old.
-Right.

You've got old growth
up on the hill

where they didn't
mine the gold, right?

And there's
probably trees up there
that are a 100 years old.

-[Nolan] Right.
-[Freddy] But not
down in the valley. Yep.

So, you can see, this is where
your cut was the other day,
right?

[Nolan] Yeah.

[Freddy] Why don't you grab
the trackhoe

and let's dig a little trench
right here?

Okay.

[narrator]
A trench will expose

the geological timeline
of the ground

and show if it's been
previously mined.

[Freddy] Nolan!

Come on down here, buddy.

You guys thought it was
virgin ground.

[Nolan] Up here, right.

Right. No, it's... It's not.

So, if it was virgin material,

you'd have layers
of material, right,

that have rhyme and reason
to them.

Your flat rocks would be
laying flat from water, right?

Because when
they get in water,
they're gonna lay flat, right?

Like my hand.
They're not gonna
lay like that, right?

-And it's gonna be
tight-packed.
-Okay.

[Freddy] You see how water is
running through it?

-[Nolan] Yeah.
-[Freddy]
If it was tight-packed,

-it'd running on the surface.
-[Nolan] Okay.

And you're gonna have
different layers
from different eras.

-Right?
-[Nolan] Right.

The stream flowed here,
slow for a while,
you get a sand layer.

It's faster, you've got
more rocks in it.

They're just all jumbled up

-and you see how easy
it is digging.
-[Nolan] Right.

They had hundreds of thousands
of years to become a puzzle,
all locked together.

Now the puzzle is just
in pieces everywhere,

and all the gold
taken out of it.

-But right now,
this is just pure tailings.
-Right.

And I bet the old-timers
probably hit it in the 1800s.

But somebody else has
mined it since then
with heavy equipment,

probably in the 1980s,
looking at the trees.

But what we could do is
we could knock
this tree down here,

get a chainsaw
and look at the rings in it.

[dramatic music playing]

[tree creaking]

[Freddy] Perfect, bud.
You wanna go grab a chainsaw?

[Nolan] Yes, sir.

[chainsaw buzzing]

[Freddy] You see how easy
that fell over?

-[Nolan] Yeah.
-[Freddy] 'Cause there's
loose soil, right?

[Nolan] Right.

Perfect. Let's bring it
out here in the sun
and count rings.

-Forty-four.
-Forty-four years ago.

-Yep.
-That was when
it was last done.

Well, that's when
that tree started growing,

probably a few years
after they were done mining
when it started growing.

So, you know, 44 years...

-Nineteen...
-'79, let's call it?

-Yeah.
-1980.

-I was guessing 1980s,
so right in there.
-Yeah.

But whoever mined it
did a good job.

They stripped it
pretty clean of gold.

The only gold they lost
was the hardest-to-catch gold.

[narrator]
With their placer mining
dead in the water,

Freddy explores
their only other option
on this land.

Hard-rock mining.

[Freddy] I've seen a vein
over here when I was
wandering yesterday.

We can look at it
because that's
your only shot here.

-[Nolan] We'll go up
over this way.
-[Freddy] Okay.

[narrator]
Hard-rock prospecting

involves searching
for underground veins

rich in deposits
of high-grade gold.

It's a prosperous
but perilous form of mining.

With miners digging
deep shafts,

then punching tunnels
into the mountainside

to chase
the gold-bearing veins.

[Freddy] You can tell
the old-timers punched
into the mountain here,

-and they didn't do it
for their health, right?
-[Nolan] Right.

[Freddy] So they found
something on the surface,

and then they started in
to see if it was
gonna be good enough gold.

Did they mine it out?

-Or is there a whack of gold
still living in there?
-Yeah.

-There's only one way
to find out.
-Right.

Have a look at it.

-[grim music playing]
-[birds chirping]

[Freddy] I don't know, Juano.
It's not good.

[Juan] No.

[Freddy] They are screwed
as far as the placer goes.

[narrator] At Ryan Merritt's
Mammoth Mine...

[Juan] It's in somebody else's
bank account now.

[Freddy] Mm-hmm.

[narrator] ...the placer
deposit has played out.

So Freddy is on the hunt
for hard rock,

and the flooded shaft
might be the answer.

So how the old-timers
would find the hard-rock gold,

which can be the richest,

they'd start
with the placer gold

and they'd pan their way
up a creek valley,

and then when it ended,
they'd back up,

and then they'd start looking
up the mountain
for the hard rock.

There's a reason they stopped
mining it, though, right?

Was that because
gold prices went down?

Was that because
the claim owner passed away?

Or maybe they got to a depth
where the ore played out,
you know.

There could be
a lot of factors.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] To find out more...

Well, thanks
for driving for me.

Oh, not a problem, man.
I'm sorry you're hurt.

[narrator] Freddy seeks out
some local knowledge
in nearby Sumpter.

Right here, isn't it?

Uh, yeah, this is it.

[Freddy] How's it going, Greg?

-Hey, Fred. How are you?
-[Freddy]
I appreciate your time.

Hey, thank you.

[narrator] Ex-Mayor Greg Lucas

has access
to the county records,

so is the go-to guy
for the mining history
of the area.

[Freddy] It sounds like you
probably know more about it
than anybody in town.

So what information
can you help me out with
on this mine route?

It was actually founded

through the placering process,
about 1872.

-Okay.
-They were working
their way up the creek,

they got to a point
where there was
no more placer gold.

-Mm-hmm.
-Backtracked,

and that's where
they found the hard rock.

-Yeah.
-The original founder
was James Reilly.

Um, he had some partners.

They worked the lode

and got what was
easily available.

But that mine has had
boom and bust over the years.

[Freddy] From what I can tell,

the placer has been completely
mined out on that property.

When was the last time
the hard rock was mined on it,
do you know?

My best guess is

-back in the 1930s.
-Yeah.

-Before World War II.
-Yes.

There's about
300 feet of tunnel,

-almost all of them
filled up with water.
-Mm-hmm.

When I was a kid,
it wasn't full of water.

Okay.

There's at least two shafts
in at least two levels.

And they discovered
another vein

that ran about 200 feet,
18 inches

into the rock
from the main tunnel.

So the potential is there.

It's just that
hard rock's an expensive game.

-It is.
-Especially on one
that's been full of water

for a long time
and everything else.

-Yeah.
-All we can do is
have a look in there.

-Yeah.
-See what it looks like.

-See if it's not caved in
or anything and then...
-Mm-hmm.

And then maybe try to get
that water out of there.

[Greg] Yeah.

[Freddy] Well, I sure
appreciate your time, sir.

-[Greg] You're welcome, Fred.
-Have a great day.

[Greg] Good luck.

[Freddy] That mineshaft
is the last chance
for this piece of property.

From the surface,
it's a guessing game.

What's in there?

I wanna see underground.

[birds squawking]

[birds chirping]

-[Freddy]
Thanks for coming up.
-My pleasure.

-Let's go over and...
-It's pretty cool to see this.

Well, let's hope we can
find something for you.

[narrator] To explore
the flooded mineshaft,

Freddy calls in
some high tech.

[Tristan] So this here,
we've got our underwater ROV.

And on the front,
we've got a 4K camera.

Along with a sonar
on here as well.

We've got six thrusters,
two on the top
to bring us down

and then four on the side
so we can move
in any direction.

[narrator] Mountain springs
have flooded the shaft

on the west
of the Merritt's claim,

where there's an entrance

to an abandoned
hard-rock mine,

first excavated in the 1870s,

with records suggesting
a network of tunnels

stretching over 300 feet long

and on different levels
up to 80 feet deep.

If structurally sound,

they could be pumped out
and explored

for highly profitable
hard-rock mining.

I'm excited about
getting down in there

with the underwater drone

and seeing what could be
under there, because
that could be the future.

[Ryan] Find the gold.

[Freddy] There it goes.

How deep can you go down?

So this unit here will go down
to a 1,000 feet deep.

So right now I'm just
trying to find the access.

We're able to see that there
is rock formation right there.

And then as we get
closer to the walls,

we'll be able to see more.

[Ryan] I'm hoping to see
at least an entrance

or some kind of timbering
in there

that's gonna give us hope to,
you know,

carry on our dream
of mining up here still.

[Ryan] It's murky.

Yep, I was afraid of that.

But you never know
until you try, right?

[Tristan] Absolutely.

We may be able to go
a little bit deeper here.

[Ryan] Looks like
we got something, huh?

[Tristan] Yeah, it looks like
we've got something
right in there.

[Freddy]
That's pretty cool, huh?

Some timbers.

[Tristan] It looks like I can
see the timbers right there.

[narrator] The timbers
form the opening
to an old-timer's tunnel.

[Tristan] We can see
the entrance here.
We just can't get in there.

Unfortunately can't get in.

Yeah, full mud,
it looks like, huh?

It's definitely
full of something.

Hopefully gold.

But you definitely
are seeing some
evidence of a tunnel.

It could be the original
mine timbers in there still.

We're butting
right up against it.

-There's no access.
-Yeah.

Unfortunately, I think
it's just caved in.

This is not good news.

[Freddy] That's a shame.

We'll have to hit it
another direction.

[narrator] The tunnel opening
is caved in.

Meaning it's inaccessible
for Ryan.

His last hope is flooded out.

[Ryan] To pump the water
out of the mineshafts
underground,

it really is lots of money.

There's nothing
we can do about it.

I got to try different
avenues now, I think.

The hard rock
they've got here,

it looks like
it's a nightmare.

We couldn't get that ROV
in the mineshaft

because it's evidently
caved in,

so it's not the end
of their dream.

At least I hope not.

-[grim music playing]
-[birds calling]

-You know, this has been
one of our nightmares, right?
-Mm-hmm.

You know, coming up
to a mine site
where there's no gold.

[Freddy] It's a disaster.

They are screwed
as far as the placer goes.

That ground is
completely played out.

And the hard rock,
it's just a nightmare

because it's caved in.

So we're really gonna have to
come up with something
to help him up.

[contemplative music playing]

[Freddy]
What's your thoughts, Juan?

We're here, we need to
take advantage of the time
we have here.

Let's fix the plant.

So that when he does
move to the next spot,
he'll have the plant.

-To be able to
run that ground.
-Mm-hmm. I agree.

[narrator]
In Northeast Oregon,

with no mineable ground left
on the Merritt's claim,

Freddy and Juan hatch a plan.

[Juan] What I'd like to do
on the wash plant,

-I want to build a straight...
-[Freddy] A whole new sluice.

-A whole new sluice.
-That's garbage.

It's completely bowed.

It's got problems.
So let's build
a whole new sluice.

-Get rid of those
riffle system...
-Yeah.

-...they got in there.
-Get proper riffles in it.

And then, on top of that,
over here on the trommel,

he's got a spray bar
that comes in

and it's just shooting
one little spot on the bottom

-that the material
is not even getting hit.
-Mm-hmm.

So what I'd like to do is
build a proper spray bar
for it as well.

Yeah, I agree. We're here.
He asked for our help.

He's gonna have to move.

So, we've got to get out
and find them
some better ground.

Maybe not on this
piece of property, but...

It won't be on this property,
but they're great guys,

and I totally respect
what he's trying to do.

So as far as cost goes,
I don't want to
charge him anything.

He's already
hemorrhaging money.

Right now, he's spending
a dollar to make a dime.

Yeah. He's already got
a ton of money
tied into this operation.

-I agree.
-I think we just do this
to help him out.

Hopefully, you know,
he can keep on his legacy,

build his legacy and be able
to do what he wants to do.

[narrator] With the hope
of Freddy finding
new ground to mine,

Juan will replace the spray
bar with an angled system.

To better wash
pay dirt off the rock,

and we'll cut away
the existing buckled sluice

and replace with a new box
and signature riffle systems.

[Juan] I came up
with a few ideas.

The plant, there's a bunch
of things that are just

completely wrong with it.

[Freddy] Fixing the plant up.

If you've got more
ground later,

then you've got a plant
that'll catch the gold.

-[Juan] Yeah, sluice box
is just trashed.
-Yeah.

-[Ryan] Absolutely.
-[Juan] We're gonna
throw that away.

We're gonna build you
a whole new one,

and we're gonna set it up
properly to be able
to catch the nuggets,

fine gold whatever you
come into, we'll be able
to catch it.

-And spray bar--
-Right now that spray bar
you have on the end of it,

it's pretty much
going into nothing.

Freddy wants to really
spend some time

and go out and do some
real prospecting.

If you don't have
gold in the ground,
the plant's no good.

-Yeah.
-[Juan] So I think
for the next few days,

the biggest push
is to be able
to go out there

and see if Freddy
can find some decent ground.

Okay.

We know this is something that
you guys want to really do,

and you guys already spent
a lot of time out here.

And with the gold,
the way we saw

you know, we don't feel
right by taking any money.

-Wow
-[Juan] So what we're
gonna do,

we're gonna do
100% free.

We're going to do it
for nothing.

-[Juan] Yeah.
-Wow.

Just get it done
for you guys.

-But if you guys
are good with that...
-We're awesome.

-Yeah. I mean--
-Appreciate it.

-That sounds--
-Let's get it done.

[Ryan] Yeah. Deal.

Them willing to make
the fixes for free

is super, super
awesome for my dad,

even 'cause, as you know,
we're running out of funds.

So, yeah, that's gonna be
super awesome.

Biggest thing
is having a plant
that we can go run,

you know, successfully.

Them willing to come up here
and volunteer their time

and their own
hard earned money
to fix up our plant.

I think that's an amazing
thing you for us.

[narrator] First up,
Freddy must find ground

in this valley
for the Merritt's to mine.

[Freddy] You know,
this area's been
hit pretty hard,

but there's still some
good gold here.

You just
got to search for it.

What we need to do is
put our detective eyes on

and go looking around here.

Make some phone calls.

Now it's turned into
more of a treasure hunt.

[narrator] Since 1862,
the mountains
of northeast Oregon

have witnessed thousands
of prospectors searching
for gold.

By 1913, massive
floating dredges raked in

over 32,000 ounces
of gold worth over
60 million dollars today.

But a patchwork of land
ownership in this region,

has left specific areas
less hit than others.

So Freddy hopes
to track down
one of these claims.

That still may have
worth in the ground.

[Freddy] So the number one fix
that we have to do for them

is to find them some more
ground with gold on it.

If not,
these guys are done.

[motor whirring]

[narrator] At the claim,
Juan gets stuck
into the old sluice

with helpers
Travis and Alex.

[thuds]

[Alex] That was a rock.

-[Juan] You all right, buddy?
-I'm good.

It's just my bad knee.

You know,
it would looked bad

before when
it was on the plant.

Now that we got it off,
it looks really bad.

[chuckles]

[narrator] Seven miles south,

Freddy's gold mining contacts
might have struck it rich.

[Freddy] I just talked
with a claim owner,

half hour from the mine

Over some ground.
It's got a good gold on it
that Ryan can lease.

So I'm going to see it
with Ryan, right?

Because good gold
is not what they have

up there on that
13 acers.

Once upon a time
probably had good gold,

but it's been gone over
with a fine toothed comb,
and then some.

[narrator] Downstream
from the Mammoth mine
is a 70-acre claim

that Freddy
is taking Ryan to.

Its owner is looking
for a miner
to install a wash plant

and line the ground
season by season
on a profit sharing lease.

The old timers hit this.

-You can see
the tailings here.
-Right?

[Freddy] So there's
definitely gold here.

Let's hope they didn't
get all of it here as well.

That's all we can hope for.

[narrator] If there is gold
in this ground,

Ryan can move his upgraded
wash plant here.

And give the owner
a percentage
of the gold he finds

each season
as the leasehold payment.

-[Freddy] How's it going?
-Good. How you doing?

-[Freddy] Doing all right.
-[Ryan] How you doing?

-[imperceptible]
-[narrator] Jim Eckstein's
found gold on his land

and wants someone
to mine it for him.

[Freddy] That's pretty gold.

-And you're wanting
to lease your ground out.
-[Jim] Yeah.

That's what we're
looking for, right there.

Well, your property probably
was like that before they
mined all the gold out of it.

How many yards
that come out of?

Uh, six tractor buckets?

So that's about 600 times
better than your gold.

Let me show you
where this came from, Freddy.

[Freddy] You have
a beautiful place here, Jim?

[Jim] Uh, thanks.

I was digging a hole
looking for water
for my pasture.

-[Freddy] Okay.
-[Jim chuckles] I found gold.

So how deep is the bedrock
under here, Jim?

It's about probably,
Freddy... [sighs]

Probably another
four foot farther down.

[Freddy] Okay.

So most of this up here
probably won't contain
much gold.

Now we get farther down.

You see how we've got
tight material, right?

Yeah. Compact.

So this is a whole
different ball game
compared to what you got.

Your deposit there's
no rhyme or reason to it.

It's how it got
put back by man.

-Not how it was
left there by nature.
-[Ryan] Okay.

[Freddy] You can tell this
was left here by nature

and not put there by man.

It's compact, it's tight.

This is all virgin.

Yeah, after looking
at this...

-[Freddy] Completely
different. Yup.
-[Ryan] Completely different.

-Mine is man-made.
-[Freddy] Yep.

And I'm seeing it now.

-I wish you'd have known
that months and months ago.
-[Ryan] Yeah, that--

So it would have saved you
thousands and thousands
of dollars, right?

-[Ryan] Yes. Absolutely.
-But if you come over here,

if there's good gold here,
it's a second chance.

Proof's in the pan, right?

[Freddy] You've got
lots of heavies in it.

-That can be a good sign
or a bad sign.
-[Ryan] Good sigh? Yeah?

[narrator] In northeast
Oregon,

Ryan Merritt's
gold mining future

rests on a pan
from the new ground
Freddy has found.

Well, I've seen
a piece of gold there.

Look at that.

And a couple of them
are decent size too.

One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.

Nine, 10, 11, 12.

-And there might be more.
-[Ryan] What's that
mean, Freddy?

-That means
[bleep] mine it.
-[Ryan] All right.

That's more gold
in the one pan

than we did out
of 30 yards at your mine.

-So look here.
-[Ryan chuckles] Yeah.

-I like it.
-[Freddy] I'm saying
that's a good pan.

That's a dang
good pan, right there.

The way
the topography is here,

there could be
a whack of it.

-[Ryan] Okay.
-[Freddy] And this one's
easier to get to

-than where you're at.
-[Ryan] Absolutely.

-[Freddy] Right?
-Yeah.

-I'd say...
-[Ryan] You say mine it--

...say this is your future.

Seeing that gold in that pan
puts a whole new perspective

on Ryan's future,
is what it does.

Gives him a spot
that he can mine.

All I can say is
smiles, ear to ear.

Well, Jim looks like you got
some mineable ground here.

-[Jim] Oh, good.
-Are we in?

-Yep.
-[Ryan] All right.

[narrator] In exchange
for a percentage
of recovered gold,

Ryan has new ground
he could lease.

And a gold mining
future for him and Nolan.

That's great news.

I mean, that's the best news
I've heard all year. [laughs]

[Juan] Well,
let's get to work.

[narrator] Back near the claim

Juan redesigned
a new sluice run.

We're gonna build them
100% new sluice box.

One thing that's kind
of special about it
is we're gonna put ribs on it.

If you look at the sluice box
that they have,
it's completely twisted.

The bottom is not flat.

And that's because
it has no support.

So right here
these are ribs.

And these are gonna go
on the side

and on the bottom
to reinforce the bottom pan
and the side walls.

So that way we'll actually
keep the bottom of the box
true and flat.

I'm gonna hand them over
to Travis and Alex.

We'll get them all cleaned up
so we can start
putting this box together.

When you cut them
on a plasma table,

you get a little bit
of a ridge.

You just want
to flat them off.

That way they're nice
and flat and flush.

Trying to knock off
all the big chunks.

It's easier for Alex
to polish them up.

That was the last rib
right there.

All the ribs
are now polished.

The ribs need
to be welded on.

Perfect.

All right, guys,
we'll flip it.

Oh, yeah, it's only heavy.

[Juan] If I fully weld it
before the ribs are in,

it sometimes has a tendency
to move around a little bit.

So to keep it stiff

from shifting around,
we'll put all the ribs in.

[buzzing]

We've got all the ribs
in place where
they need to go,

so we're gonna start
getting it all welded up.

And I'll get it flipped around
and do the full welds.

Juan's having me
cut some carpets
for this sluice box

and then some
miner's moss.

So one more step closer
to getting it installed.

When you weld,
you get all these BBs here
that are stuck to the floor.

So I'm just
cleaning these up.

[Freddy] How's it going, Juan?

[Juan] Oh, we're just
about done, Fred.

Looks good.
It's a stout sluice
box there, Buddy.

-[Juan] Come out pretty good.
-[Freddy] Yeah.

Well, that ground
we looked at at Jim's,

that uh, Ryan can lease.

Look good,
took one pan of it is all.

But there was 12 colors
in the pan.

[Juan] And that's what
he needs, you know,

so he has other options.

You know, he can keep
his dream alive.

Well, we're doing this one.

We're going to get
a dump truck

and take a couple
loads of that new
material at Jim's...

-[Juan] Up to the plant?
-...up to the plant.

-Perfect.
-Yeah, and see what's in it.

That's a great idea.

I'll get this finished up
and we'll get it up top.

-[Freddy] Got it.
-All right, Buddy.

-See you in a bit.
-See you in a bit.

I'm really excited
for Nolan and Ryan
with that ground.

And the sluice box
set up properly,
catching that fine gold.

Their dream
is still possible now.

So I couldn't be happier.

[narrator] There's one
final modification
to complete the sluice box

before it goes to the claim.

[Juan] I'm gonna weld
these jacks on the side
of the sluice box.

I got the box
at the right angle,

where we're gonna have it.

And then that way,
when I weld these on,
I can weld them level

so that with the jack legs
coming down they're straight.

So if you look at it,

it's got the angle
of the sluice box
coming down.

But the jack,
perfectly level.

If you put the jacks in wrong,
it will actually want to push

or pull the sluice box
away from the plant.

So this way we
actually just lift up
the front of the sluice box.

And we're not putting
any unnecessary strain

on the pins or on the bolts.

Just ready to go.

All we got to do
is load it up

and get it up
to the mine site
and get it in place.

[Freddy] While we're digging
up the material

that we panned
that looked good,

so we'll take some
loads up and get it
run through the plant

and see what kind
of gold lives in it.

[narrator] To give Ryan
and Nolan a better idea
of the profit they could make.

The second test run
will use pay
from the new claim.

I'm excited to see it.

I'm excited
as well, Freddy.

-I think it's, yeah it's out--
might be our future.
-[Freddy] Excited to run this.

-Yeah.
-[Ryan] It's on the line.

[laughs]

This is a good feeling,
knowing that we've actually

got some material
with some gold to ride.

Get that new
sluice box on there.

Get your spray-bar
cleaned up

and run this material,
it's your future's
probably here.

[Ryan] Cool, that's what
we like to hear.

Our probability
of catching gold, I think,
just went up 100%.

We've got a full load.

Hopefully,
there's gold in there.

[Juan] All right.
You guys want
to get it unstrapped.

Get it all rigged up,
and let's walk it over
and get it put in.

-[Travis] Sounds good.
-[Juan] All right.

[narrator] To have any chance
of catching gold.

Juan's 1000 pound sluice
needs to be fitted

onto Ryan and Nolan's
existing wash plant.

Lift up.

Go up just a little bit.

[thuds] There you go

Okay. Go down
just a little bit, Nolan.

Good fit.

Right there.

The most important
piece of equipment
on that site

is that sluice box.

If that sluice box
is not up to par,

you're gonna lose gold.

[honking]

[narrator] Sluice box on
and with Ryan trucking pay.

Juan hits his final fix.

[Juan] The spray bar
is just one nozzle,
and that nozzle,

unfortunately, is pointing
right at the bottom.

The material
is off to the side.

So what we want to do
is concentrate that water

on the material to be able
to wash it properly.

And get that gold
bearing material and gold

down into the sluice box.

I'm using PVC
because I don't really
want to put a bunch

of weight on it
by putting a steel bar.

So by putting the PVC's
it's going to be
a little lighter,

we don't have to worry
about this breaking
or twisting off.

We want to try to keep
all the holes in line,

so what we're gonna do
is use the measuring tape
as a straight edge.

What we'll do is we'll try
to drill them at an angle.

The water's going to shoot
that material back

and give them more time
inside the trommel.

[whizzing]

Right there.
It looks pretty good.

I think we should be set.

This sluice box will last
the rest of your life.

-You've to take care of it.
-Okay.

[Nolan] Freddy's gonna
show me how to lay out
a sluice box.

Something I've never
done before.

So, I usually have my dad
do all that work.

But that's probably why
we're not catching gold
out of the old sluice box.

I want to be up here
finding that gold, [chuckles]

so it's going to be awesome
to hear what he has to say.

[Freddy] There's our carpets,
here's our riffles.

So I want you to take
the green carpet

and run it all the way down.

Start from the top here?

But I'd start
from the bottom.

[Nolan] Why?

Because how do
the shingle
s on a roof work?

-They overlap
one another. Right?
-[Nolan] Right.

[Freddy] So if you started
your shingles at the top,
it'd be wrong.

[Nolan] Right.

-And that one goes?
-[Freddy] That one,
right up here.

-Okay.
-[Freddy] Yeah.

Then we'll leave it
long, right?

-[Nolan] Right.
-[Freddy] It doesn't matter.

So now let's put some
miners moss up top.

What does
this miners moss do?

Well, it's got
a deeper loop to it.

So it'll help hold
onto that gold.

So we're going to leave
a little gap here.

[Nolan] For what?

-Well, it makes a change
in the sluice box.
-All right.

Change is good
when it comes to gold,

So let's put our light
expanded in the bottom.

-[Nolan] That's the smaller
stuff here.
-[Freddy] Yep.

-So you see how it's bowed?
-[Nolan] Right?

[Freddy] So we want
to have where it's bowed
in the middle down, right?

That way when we
put the boards down,

-it'll pinch it down.
All the way through.
-Okay

-This way?
-[Freddy] Good.

Okay, let's grab our
heavy expanded

and start
at the top there, Nolan.

-[Nolan] Okay.
-[Freddy] There you go.

Perfect.

Okay, now let's lay
our boards in.

-[Nolan] These, a long one?
-[Freddy] So-- Yeah,
grab a long one.

[Nolan] Okay.

Yeah, my dad always
took care of this part, so.

-Well, it's up to you now.
-Right.

-[Freddy] 'Cause you're
the future.
-Yeah

So now grab some wedges.

Here you go, buddy.

We want those riffles
tight into that carpet

-so that gold can't
get underneath them.
-[Nolan] Okay?

[Freddy] Don't hit your thumb.
Watch your hands, son.

I'd your hand
out of there.

Let me show you something.
Here. Here.

So you're holding
right here, right?

If you slip
with that hammer.

-Bam! Broke thumb.
-Right.

So, bang bang,
bang bang.

So just use your hammer

to do what you were trying
to do with your hand. Right?

-Okay.
-Drive it in.

Right.

So if you if you
break your hand,
then what?

-You're out of work, right?
-Yeah.

-Yeah. Then you
aren't making any gold?
-No. No gold.

So use that tool.
Use it properly.

There you go.

Tap those last four
and we're done.

That's it.

Well, let's make some, man.

Yes, sir.

It was great.
Freddy taught me a lot.

He even showed me
some techniques.
How to use a hammer.

So that was super
helpful and stuff
I haven't learned before.

So hopefully,
I can get that
wash plant running

and start washing some gold.

Wow.

That's an improvement.

I thing it looks like
it'll actually catch
some gold now.

Yeah, and it's adjustable.

So we put the trailer jacks
on the end there.

So that way, if we need to,
we can adjust the pitch
up and down.

Okay.

[narrator] Five days ago,
Freddy and Juan

saw a wash plant
that ran on empty

but the real kicker
with no gold in the ground,

it was game over.

Now the father
and son team have hope.

On top of that,
what we did over here.

We put a little spray bar
in there for you.

-It's real simple.
-Oh, wow.

-[Juan] We just used
some PVC in there.
-[Ryan] Yeah.

But before you had
that little fire nozzle,

and it really wasn't
washing material.

-No, that looks awesome.
-Yeah, that's awesome.

-Oh God, you guys,
did it really, really fast--
-We didn't do a whole lot

to the plant,
but the biggest thing we did

was try to find your gold.

-Absolutely.
-Because no matter what
happens to your plant,

if there's no gold
in the ground

-like this piece of property
is mined out.
-[Ryan] Yeah.

So the biggest thing
that Juan and myself
did for you guys

and you were involved
in it as well

is to tell you,
you're done here.

And let's go find
some gold somewhere else.

-Absolutely.
And it's a hard lesson.
-[Freddy] So, and--

And we found it.
When we tested it
we found gold in it.

So that pile of pay there
that we brought from Jim's.

It's probably your future.

So with what
Juan's taught you

-and what I've taught you.
-Yeah.

You're just gonna
have to move your plant.

Absolutely.
Well, we're prepared
to do that.

Well, there's only
one way to find out

how much gold's
in that dirt, Juan?

-Let's do it.
-Let's do a test run.

-Run it
-All right, let's do it.

Fire it up.

I'm really excited
to start running.

We've got some
new pay up here,

so I'm hoping we can start

washing some gold
and make some money.

[motor starts]

[Freddy shouts] Juan.

First bucket.

[narrator] At Ryan Merritt's
Mammoth mine...

Give her hell, Nolan.
Let's make some gold.

[narrator] The second
test is underway.

Running two hours
just like the first run.

It will give Freddy and Juan
a chance to see

how their fixes have worked.

And whether the new ground
really does have gold in it.

This material is downstream.

Quite a few miles
from where we're at, right?

That we're running right now,
in the second test.

Well I guarantee that there
is decent gold in there.

Some of the gold
that were running from

five to six miles away
came from this property

before it was mined out
years ago.

So you know,
that's pretty cool.

This looks like
some better pay
dad brought me

[Freddy] You know,
we've worked with quite a few
father and son operation

over the years,

these guys get along well?

Yeah, they work
great together.

[Freddy] Yeah,
they're a good team.

Nolan, the young
man has been
very respectful.

-He's a good man.
-Yup.

-He's not afraid
to work hard.
-[Juan] No.

Works hard
and he's respectful
to his father.

Can't ask for much more
than that.

[narrator] Straight away
the new spray bar
hits the mark.

Look at that, Fred.

-[Freddy] Pretty darn clean.
-[Juan] Yup.

We can take that.

Take that any day
of the week, Juan.

Yep, that's good.

Freddy the rocks are getting
their hair washed now,

not just their feet.

[Ryan] Oh, it's doing great.

Spray bars
that they installed,

it seems to be washing
in the gravel. Awesome.

I haven't seen any gold yet,
but I know it's in the box.

And it'll be a good
cleanup today.

[Freddy] It's little
lean on water.

[narrator] Not enough water
in the sluice could reduce

the amount of gold
the mats can hold.

Go down
a little bit, huh?

[Juan] I'll get on
that side real quick.

-On four. One, half.
-[Juan] One--

[narrator] Freddy
and Juan dropped
the angle of the sluice

to increase the speed of water
and helped the gold get lodged

in the mats below.

-[Freddy] Three.
-[Juan] Three.

-[Freddy] Four.
-[Juan] Four.

-[Freddy] Five.
-[Juan] Five.

Much better.

Spot right there is good.

-[Juan] Take a look
at the box, huh?
-[Freddy] Yeah.

That feels really good, right?

-[Freddy] Yeah.
-[Juan] I like it.

You know, it was a little
lean on water,

so we had to increase
the pitch.

But it feels really good.

Yeah, for the amount
of material is running

-in front is just fine.
-I like it.

We can probably pick up
the amount of material
running less uh,

-material per hour now
than the first run.
-[Juan] Yeah.

[Freddy] But uh,
everything's running good.

I can smell the gold in this
what I've been waiting for.

[Freddy] You know,
we weren't able
to do a lot here,

-but what we did is gonna
make a huge difference.
-[Juan] Yeah, it will.

So, that sluice
they had in here before.

It was like I said earlier,
[chuckles softly]

-it was two steps
below scrap iron.
-Yeah. [chuckles]

It really was.

Effective sluicing
area in that entire box

it was probably
only about a foot.

-[chuckles] I don't think
it was even that.
-[Juan] Yeah.

At least here,
they've got a full 12 feet

-of effective sluicing--
-[Freddy] Sluicing area.

-[Juan] Yeah.
-[Freddy] Yep.

And multiple changes in it.

And this will be
a sluice box

that they can have
for years to come.

A 100 times better
than it was before.

[Freddy] I know the plants
are covering gold,

but if there's
not enough gold,

in that material
we found, that's on me.

'Cause that's what
I spent my time here

in the past days doing.

If there's not enough,
gold that dirt...

That's my butt.

[narrator] After two hours...

[Freddy] Hey, Nolan?

One more.
That'll be the last bucket.

[narrator] Freddy calls time
on the test run.

-There there's gold.
-I see gold there.

[chuckles] I see more gold
right there in dirty water

than you had in that
first pan.

-[Juan] Oh, come on, Freddy.
-[Freddy] I'm not [bleep]

-[Ryan laughs]
-[Freddy] Right there.

-[Ryan] Yeah, I know.
-[Freddy] Yeah.

[Juan] In the money now.

Well, we'll see.

[Ryan] It is a better
ground anyway.

[Juan] Look at that.

[bleep]

[chuckles]

[Ryan] That's a nice
hey... [chuckles]

[Juan] A nice little flake.

Right there,
that one piece right there.

-It's 1000 times...
-[Juan laughs]

-the amount of gold you had
the first two hour run.
-[Ryan] Right?

-One piece of gold.
Right there.
-[Ryan] Wow.

-That's weighable.
-Yeah.

-I think you can weight--
-Yeah, I can weigh that.

[all chuckling]

-[Juan] Pack. Pack,
pack, pack.
-[Freddy] With gold?

-Yeah. Yeah.
-[Freddy] Nice.

Wow, that's a good one.

That's gonna be
a fine cleanup. Nice.

From our first test run.
It wasn't looking good.

So I'm glad we found gold,
So I'm excited about that.

I think we found
the silver lining,

you know, at the end
of the tunnel,

in our case,
the gold lining.

Well, Freddy's a little
hurt right now,

so I had to bring a little
extra muscle with me.

Hey, Juanito, can you
grab me my gloves?

[Juanito] No problem, Dad.

All right. I need
my welding hood, please.

What's taking so long, Bud?

-Thank you, sir.
-[Juanito] It was on
the top shelf.

It was on the top shelf?

It's a good thing
you're taller
than Uncle Freddy.

I'm gonna go work
with uncle Freddy
'cause he pays better.

[Juan] What?

[Juanito chuckles]

How's it going, Juanito?

[Juanito] Can I work
with you again?

Can you work with me again?

Well, you sure can.

Let me pay you
for yesterday.

Come on, let's go to work.

Have you panned much, Nolan?

No, not much.

[narrator] Keen to see
an early indication
on the run.

Freddy has one last
master class for Nolan.

-[Freddy] So I know
it's a round pan.
-[Nolan] Right?

[Freddy] But I'm going
to call that the corner
of the pan, right?

We want that gold
right in the corner
of that pan.

Hoo-hoo. Seeing gold.

What this pans telling me
is you guys need to move.

Look at that, guys.

[all cheering]

-[Freddy] Holy cow!
-[Ryan laughs]

-All right, all right.
-[Freddy chuckles]

Look at that.

And that's a quarter
of one pan.

-[Ryan] Wow!
-[bleep]

[Ryan] That's what
we're looking for.

-[Freddy] That's more
than I expected that.
-[Ryan] Was it?

-[Nolan] I'm gonna pass out.
-Thank you, Freddy.

-Come on.
-[Nolan chuckles]

-Look at that.
-Wow!

[Nolan] That's fun.

Yeah, that's fun.
I like--

-That's the stuff dreams
are made of, right there.
-[Ryan] Yeah.

[Freddy] You just gone
from going broke fast.

To make a living,
that's what you've done.

[Ryan] Absolutely.

[Nolan] Oh, man! I mean,
I've never seen very much gold
really physically in my life.

So, unbelievable.

I'm itching to go
get some more right now.

That's just unreal.

It's awesome.

[Freddy] When I put that
little bit of gravel

that was in the mat
in the pan

and panned it,
I couldn't have been happier.

It looked good.

So basically
get it cleaned up now.

Get it on the scale.

Because one thing for sure,
the scale doesn't lie.

[Freddy] How's it going, guys?

[Ryan] Good.
How are you guys today?

-[Freddy] Good.
-[Juan] Not bad.

[narrator] It's time to see
if this father and son
have a gold mining future.

[Ryan] Well,
we've got some stuff.

-[Freddy] That's about
a 1000 times more than before.
-[Juan chuckles]

-[Ryan] Yeah.
-A 100,000 times

-more than the first run.
-Yeah.

[narrator] Ryan and Nolan
need one ounce
a day to turn a profit.

But after a disastrous
first cleanup,

There's no use
weighing that.

I don't think my scale
will even weigh it.

[narrator] Finding
new ground was key.

-Well, let's see.
-All right.

[Freddy] 0.14.

[Juan] Look at that.

[whooping]

That's amazing.
That's awesome.
What do you think, Nolan?

-I say yeah. Thank guy's.
Appreciate it.
-Yeah, I like that.

-[Ryan] Thank you.
-You're welcome.

You guys are amazing.

[narrator] The result
of the second
two hour run is equivalent.

to three quarters
of an ounce of gold per day.

But they need an ounce
in their pocket
to turn a profit

and have to give Jim
a percentage
of recovered gold

as part of the lease deal.

Which means
they need at least
1.5 ounces of gold a day

to have a future.

-But if you double your
production one ounce a day.
-That's enough. Yeah.

-Ounce and a half
a day, right?
-Yeah.

The thing is that you were
feeding it super slow.

You can still run a ton
more material through the box.

-The box
can handle more
-Right.

-So you could have doubled
your production, right?
-[Juan] If not more.

-[Ryan] Yeah.
-You can actually get
to the point where you know

you're making an ounce
and a half a day.

That's above and beyond
what we would need to,

you know, stay profitable
and keep mining.

Yeah, that's all.
Yeah. [laughs]

[Juan] I'm really excited
for Nolan and Ryan

because of that
second gold weigh
is where they need to be.

Really, the big win here
is that their dream of having

a father son operation
is still alive,
and it's possible now.

So I'm extremely happy.

[Ryan] It's really exciting
for Nolan and I

to be able
to work together.

You know, he was thinking,
you know, going home

with his tail
between his legs

I was thinking
the same thing.

Thinking I was going to
let him down.

So seeing this last
gold weigh,

that just brings a smile
to everyone's face.

After seeing
that first gold weigh

I wasn't very happy.

I was just wondering
if I was wasting my time
coming over here

and trying to pursue
a gold mine dream.

But we found gold.

So, you know what?
I think we've got
a future here.

We were scared to death.

We were like, "What are we--
What are we going to do?"

-There's-- There's no
gold here.
-[chuckles]

We just went to fix
a gold mine where there's
no gold left.

[all laughing]

We're screwed.

-You know, Juan.
-Yeah.

Really that--
That's the best--

Best possible outcome
we could have thought of.

-Yeah, I think so.
-Yeah.

-[Ryan] All right.
-Pleasure.

-Thank you.
-Gentlemen.

-Hey, Thanks.
-Freddy.

-Thank you.
-[Ryan] Thanks a lot.

-All right,
take it easy, Buddy.
-Yeah.

Don't forget your gold.

[all laughing]

[Freddy] It's been
a fairly difficult week.

You know,
my shoulder hurts.

Then the biggest thing,
though beyond that

was getting here and finding
that there was no gold left
on the property.

So It makes your mood
go downhill fast,

But if we wouldn't
have came in here,

they'd have been out
of business pretty quick.

So now they can
mine some ground that's
got good gold on it.

So their future is bright.

You know,
just run, run, run!

Put gold in your pocket.

[Ryan] Hey,
Freddy and Juan.

We've got a chance
to mine

a little bit more of that
pay dirt from Jim.

We're doubling
our production now.

So, You know,
we're getting up to an ounce
and a half a day now.

[Nolan] Oh, yeah,
the gold's in there.

That sluice box
was built so well,

it might last
my whole life.
[chuckles]

[Ryan] Without your
guidance help, we would be
dead in the water.

But you know,
you showing us
some new ground

and fixing up
our plant stuff.

It's been really
a blessing to us.

Hopefully, we have a future
to work together

and you know,
there's nothing better
than having a family,

someone that you can trust.

-Thanks, Freddy and Juan.
You guys are awesome.
-Awesome.