All language subtitles for Gold Rush - Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan - S04E09 - Monsoon Millions HDTV-1080p.mkv

It's been a struggle
since we started.

Monsoon season is here.

We're getting shut down
every day, just about,
right now.

There is not a time
in monsoon season

when we're not shut down
because of lightning.

[George] Last year,
the rivers were about flowing.

Everything was gone.

Oh, [bleep].

It was catastrophic for us,

completely had to start over.

It's dangerous out here
and it's not adding up.

[George]
Not running enough yardage,
not catching the gold.

Our investors want
at least 20 ounces

to show them this was not
a complete failure.

We're on a ticking time clock.

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

[narrator] Freddy Dodge...

There's no guarantees
in gold, buddy.

...and Juan Ibarra...

All right, well,
let's do it, huh?

...have mastered the art
of getting gold
out of the ground...

Look at that.

...in the most rugged places
on Earth.

[Freddy on radio]
I'm feeling
a little sick, buddy.

[narrator] Now they rescue
struggling miners...

Ooh, that's not good.

...who risked it all
to be rich...

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Shut it down!

...but are about
to lose everything.

[man] Eyeballs.

[narrator] To revive
these failing mines,

Freddy and Juan
engineer the impossible...

[man] I've never heard of
an under-sluice before.

...deliver some hard truths...

This material you're digging
now is totally worthless.

...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.

That's ten times
the amount of gold.
That's awesome.

[Freddy] That's pretty
cool-looking, huh?

[Juan] Definitely
neat old building.

[Freddy] I heard it was
the oldest town in Arizona,

back when it was part
of Mexico.

Imagine all the early
explorers coming out here

and there was
nothing here whatsoever.

People traveled all over
looking for gold.

They left their homes,
left everything they love,

to help their families out
and do what they could

to try to make a living.

Kind of like the miners
we help.

[narrator] Freddy and Juan
are 11 miles from
the Mexican border

on route to the Kennedy Mine.

With investment drying up,

the mine needs to turn
a profit this year

or face a shutdown.

We've been in Arizona before
in the past, Fred,

and it's always a tough go
here with the heat,

lack of water,
and everything else.

But, you know,
there was good gold here
at one time.

[Freddy on radio] Yeah,
there's probably more
good gold down here

than other places.

[narrator] Gold was first
discovered here 200 years ago

when Spanish settlers
staked claim to the land

during the Pima Revolt.

But the hostile desert heat

followed by months
of monsoon rains

meant only
he heartiest of miners

braved these harsh conditions.

[Freddy on radio]
This is it, Juan.

-We're here, huh, Fred?
-We're here.

-[Freddy] Howdy.
-[George] How's it goin'?

-Nice to meet you.
-George.

-Robert.
-Nice to meet you, Robert.

-Matt.
-Matt. Nice meeting you, Matt.

-George.
-George.
Nice to meet you, George.

[George] We are so happy
you guys came out.

Man.

[narrator]
Texan George Kennedy,
a gas and oil worker by trade,

starting mining part-time
in the desert four years ago

when his business
fell on hard times.

We were in business
for about five years

and, uh...

the natural gas process
fell really bad.

Gold's pretty much
been my hobby.

I sold my oil and gas company,
started looking online,

trying to find a good piece of
property to build a mine.

We looked down here
in south Arizona

and we did a lot
of prospecting,

and this property here, uh,
tested pretty good,

as high as 0.800 of a gram
per yard

and it had
a lot more material.

It's got a lot
of good potential.

Once we bought our equipment,
got the ponds in place,

we're out of money.

We're mining,
but it's just not enough

to even pay the bills.

[Juan] What kind of yardage
are you guys running?

About ten yards an hour
or so?

Oof, we're seven right now.

-Okay.
-Well, do you have
any of the gold

that you recovered?

Yeah. It's pretty fine.

No real nuggets
to speak of.

[Juan] How are you guys doing
for the season so far?

Uh, about seven, so far.

How much do you guys
have invested
in your gold mine here?

With us and small
friend investors and stuff,

I would say probably,
uh, 800 grand.

Ooh. That's not a bank
you borrowed from, then.

It's friends.

Yeah. And we all
have not made any money.

What's the sense of
urgency now?

[Freddy]
Why'd you call us now?

Uh, we need 13 ounces.

We have four weeks
to pay back ten investors

before we have to shut down.

It's gets to a point where
you got so much money
and time

and blood and sweat
and tears involved in it

that, you know, we're in.

We gotta go till
we can't go anymore.

How about you, Matthew?
What brought you out here?

Friendship. You know,
knowing George,

working together in
the oil field.

And I ran my big mouth
one day,

I said, "Hey,
you're gonna need a hand."

[Juan]
If it doesn't make dollars,
it doesn't make sense.

-[George] That's it.
-Well, look
where you're at though.

It's beautiful out here.

Not quite. This weather's
so unpredictable.

Uh, weather's been
shutting us down

just almost daily.

[Robert] Monsoon season
kind of rolls in.

All the pay's wet.
It's hard to work with.

Rain, the material's thick.

It's like-- it just really
slows our process down.

-[Freddy] Yeah.
-First two years we were here,

it didn't hardly rain at all.

It was super-dry.
And then the third
or fourth monsoon season,

it was pretty bad.

Wiped our ponds
completely out.

Had to start over.

It was really kind of
catastrophic for us.

[narrator]
Arizona's monsoon season
typically lasts four months,

beginning in June.

Moist tropical air collides
with dry desert heat,

causing sudden heavy rain,
thunderstorms, lightning,

and flash floods.

[George] Oh, no!

[Robert] Bro, we might
have a problem.

[narrator] This sudden
intense rainfall

is unable to absorb quickly
into the ground.

Rivers move with enough force
to rework topsoil and rocks,

creating gully washers.

Gold previously lodged
in hard-to-get places

moves downstream
to create new deposits.

[Robert] If we really start
getting a lot of monsoon
and rain,

then that could be the call
for the season.

-[George] Yeah.
-Kind of what you're saying

is if you don't get it
turned around now,

you guys are done mining here.

-Exactly. Yeah.
-This is your last season.

[Freddy] There's only
one way to get started.

Let's do a 4-hour test run
and see how much gold we get.

[narrator] With the threat of
monsoon season looming
over them,

Freddy and Juan set
a 4-hour test run

to replicate
half a working day

and determine
how much gold they recover.

Wanna start your timer?

First bucket.

There it is.

[narrator] Using a backhoe,

Robert feeds paydirt
through grizzly bars

to remove large rocks.

Next, a conveyor
transports the pay
to a vibrating screen

where water-jets free
the gold-bearing material.

Finally, a rotating trommel
releases the finds

and a 14-foot-long sluice box
traps gold in the riffles.

What are your thoughts
on that grizzly, Fred?

It's gonna
wipe out the radiator

and other things on
that backhoe.

[Juan] After about
four or five buckets,

that's gonna have
quite the mountain.

[narrator] A rock pile
in front of the hopper

prevents the backhoe
loading the plant.

Matt needs to clear them
by hand

before they can continue.

There's problems there,
that's for sure.

Definitely good to have
Freddy and Juan here

to see how we do things.

Surely could be better.

[narrator] Cousin Robert
joined forces with George
in 2019.

We both watch Gold Rush

and basically
fell in love with it.

It's all fun and games
until you see the first gold.

And then it starts
getting real, you know?

You always want more.

Grizzlies are loaded.

I'm about to take
another scoop.

[Juan] You know, over here
on that screen, Fred...

Yep.

...it seems like it's got
a little bit of choke point,
huh?

Yeah, there are some problems
inside of there.

[narrator] Jammed rocks
prevent the screen
from clearing

and precious gold
from reaching the trommel.

Periodically, you gotta
give it the hoe.

Juan.

[Juan] The rocks are sharp.

[Freddy] It's not smooth.

That hasn't been
reworked much at all.

[Juan] Doesn't look good
at all.

[Freddy] We don't know
how much gold's in the ground.

I think they probably have
more fine gold

than what they think
they have.

You know,
different kinds of gold

like different situations.

To me, for the gold
that they showed me,

we might have an issue here.

-We'll have a look, eh, Juan?
-Yup.

[Juan] Yeah,
there's some fine in there.

[Freddy] Yeah.

That was only
a quarter of a pan.

There's definitely
an issue there.

[thunderclap]

[Matthew]
Looks like that storm
pushed out a little bit north

but still got some weather
to the southwest.

Yeah, I'm steady
keeping an eye on it.

We're just gonna
have to watch it.

Keep an eye out
for lightning, George.

[George] We haven't paid
any money back to
the investors since day one.

They're ready to start seeing
some kind of money back.

Everything's on the line
right now.

-Last bucket?
-Last bucket.

[narrator] Test run complete.

[Freddy] Exactly four hours.

[narrator] George
and his crew power down,

ready to clean up the gold.

[Juan] There's a little bit
of color up there.

A lot of fine stuff, you know.

-Yeah.
-Well, you guys
get 'er cleaned up

-and we'll
go think about it...
-Okay.

...and we'll
get back with you.

That'll work, man.

-[Robert] Sounds great.
-That'll be awesome.

Sounds good.
See you guys in a bit.

[George] I appreciate it, man.

[Robert] It almost looks sad.

There's a bunch of things
on every side of that plant

that are causing it
to lose some gold.

So if we can get
most of those fixed

in the time that we're here,

we're gonna get 'em
a lot more gold.

[thunder rumbling]

We need to go.
We need to go.

[Robert] Thank God it's
right at the end of our test.

We just gotta beat that wash.

When it starts flowing,
we won't be able
to get out of here.

[narrator] A flash flood
in the wash

will cut off the only exit
from the mine.

If the crew don't leave now,

they'll be stranded.

[George] Let's go.

Hopefully when we
come back tomorrow,

the ponds ain't washed out.

[Freddy] Well,
let's see what it is.

[Juan] Moment of truth.

Hey, guys.

[George] How's it goin'?

[Freddy] You got the gold
all cleaned up?

We got a little bit.

[Juan] Yeah?

Ooh.

-Not a whole lot, huh?
-[George] No.

[narrator] 11 miles
from the Mexican border

in the southern
Arizona desert,

mine boss George Kennedy
and his Texan crew

gather for the gold weigh.

Well, let's see what it did.

[George] All right.

[narrator] George must recover
half an ounce a day
in four weeks

to pay investors before
they could pull the plug.

0.14.

[narrator] 0.14 ounces,

half of what they need
in each 4-hour run

to reach their goal.

-Is that normal?
-Like, for four hours?

Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much
what we've been getting.

[Freddy] How many yards
you think you ran?

Right there at seven yards
an hour.

[narrator] At this rate
in the remaining four weeks,

the part-time crew would still
be more than 6 ounces short

of their 20-ounce target.

The good news is
there's gold there, so.

Every speck counts.

Well, and the other thing too,
while we watched you guys run,

you know, we did notice
quite a few things

that we can do
to help you guys improve

with the material
going through the plant

-and then also on
the recovery as well.
-[Freddy] Mmm-hmm.

[Juan]
There's a little bit of light
at the end of the tunnel.

Well, if we could double that.

-Oh, man, that would be...
-That'd be awesome.

That would be amazing.

I'm not saying we can.

Well, we're sure gonna try.

-[Freddy] Yeah.
-Some situations,
it's not possible.

-Right. Right.
-Right.

Let me and Juan
put our heads together

and we'll go from there.

-[Juan] Yup.
-[George] All right.

-[Juan] Thanks, guys.
-All right.

-Thanks, Juan.
-Cheers.

-Let's go talk
about stuff, huh?
-Let's do it.

[Matthew] I wanna help
George and Robert.

They're a good group
of guys.

But I feel like I'm obligated
to have to come out here

right now.

Now, here we are
two and a half years

going on three,

and it's like there's not
gonna be a three.

For me.

It's hard to see
a big future, you know,

with a small gold weigh
like that.

We've been throwing money
at it left and right.

And I'm quite a bit concerned
about how much it's gonna cost

to fix the issues
that they suggest.

It's very, very, uh...
very nerve-racking.

[Freddy] Well,
what do you think?

[Juan] The biggest problem
we're gonna run into
is ground.

It just was not good.

[Freddy] Let's hope we can
do some things for 'em.

You know, we can't put
gold in the ground.

I think one of the big things
is that feeder, right?

And all those rocks
goin' back.

They're gonna take that
radiator out on that backhoe.

[Freddy] So I think we put
a chute on there

and get those rocks
off to the side.

-Yeah.
-And, you know, if we can
fix some of the stuff

-in the sluices...
-Yeah.

...we could get that screen
where they're
not losing material and gold,

then it's all gonna add up.

What I wanna do is get that
eccentric working properly.

-Put some more weight on it.
-Yup. Yup.

[Freddy] What if we weld
some chains on there,

-going down...
-Yeah.

...and then they're gonna
pop up in the air

and they're gonna go
side to side, right?

-Hopefully try to clear
some of that material.
-And clear--

[Freddy] I don't know
if we'll get it to
where they can get 20 ounces,

but I guarantee we can
get 'em more gold.

Here you go, guys.

Oh, awesome. Thank you!

-Thank you very much.
-Thanks so much.
See you next time.

Thank you!

-Let's get out of here.
-Yeah.

-[Freddy] What did you
order me?
-Oh, you'll be surprised.

How come you always get
to pick the food?

[Juan laughing]
You're gonna love it.

[narrator] Freddy and Juan
have found three main problems

with the Kennedy plant.

First, the backhoe
which loads the pay

is under fire
from falling rocks,

risking costly stop downs
for the operation.

Juan will attach a chute
in front of the hopper

to catch falling debris

and safely divert them away
to the side.

Next, the shaker screen
isn't vibrating enough,

so rocks build up and jam.

Freddy will add weight to
the existing eccentric below

to make it vibrate harder,

and in a rescue first,

install chains above
to pound the jammed rocks

free of the
gold-bearing material.

Finally, Freddy and Juan
will extend the sluice
to 18 feet,

replace the mats, and install
their signature riffles

to catch more fine gold.

But if Freddy can't find
better ground to run,

all of the fixes
will be for nothing.

How are you doing, guys?

-Hey, Juan.
-Hey.

[Juan] Yeah, you know,
when we watched you guys run,

we noticed a few things
that we can definitely
help you guys improve on.

One of 'em, that screen
is getting jammed up.

It's actually kind of limiting
how much material
you can run to the plant.

So, if we can get that
to clear properly,

do it on its own without
you having to be out there
babysitting it.

That would be wonderful.
Golly.

And then, situation you're in,
you can't afford a radiator
for your backhoe, right?

Not quite.

So we're
watching you yesterday,

you have to get up there
and throw those rocks

-out of the way, right?
-[George] It's a real problem.
Yup.

So if we put a chute on
the front of that feeder,

the rocks are gonna
shoot out there

and you'll be able to just
pick 'em up with the backhoe.

-Oh, man. Yeah.
-Nice!

[Juan] Then, on top of that,

what we wanna do is actually
extend your sluice box

and reconfigure
your riffles in it as well.

Exactly. Put some fine gold
riffling in there

and carpet set up
for fine gold in there.

-Yeah.
-And the pay we ran
that first test,

it's not good enough.
Maybe we can
find something better.

-Yeah.
-That'd be interesting to do.

We understand your guys'
financial situation,

and both Freddy and I
have been very blessed
in a lot of different ways,

so what we wanna do is we
wanna do our labor for free.

-Yeah.
-If we don't double
the amount of gold you get,

-we'll throw in the material
as well.
-[Juan] Yeah.

[Freddy] We're looking at
about $1,500.

It's all on your little plant.

You guys good with that?

-Man, that is awesome.
-Absolutely, man.

You guys being out here
on our side

and the experience
that y'all bring,

uh, is invaluable to us.

100%.
Really appreciate y'all.

-[Juan] Right on.
-All right,
thank y'all so much.

-Deal.
-Deal.

-Thank you, brother.
-All right.

-Thank you.
-All right.

[George] The deal that
Freddy and Juan came up with

couldn't have come
at a better time.

You know, we have a lot of
investors to pay back.

They could possibly save us.

[narrator] With just five days
to increase
the Kennedy's gold haul,

and under the constant threat
of a storm shutdown,

Freddy and Juan dive in.

Well, let's start on
this chute, huh, Juan?

[Juan] 8 foot right here
to the edge.

So that's gonna take up
a lot of steel.

Yeah.

[George] Freddy got me to
clean off the shaker deck
for him.

That pluggin' all,

this could really help it
run more material.

Well, we've still got a lot of
work to do to the plant.

During the first test run,
this was
their main choke point.

That screen fills up
with rocks

and it's not allowing
that gold-bearing material

to get down into the trommel
to get washed.

It slowed 'em way down.

The solution, find a way
to keep the screen clear

and increase their production
and gold recovery.

-Here you go, sir.
-Oh, yeah.

-Thank you.
-You're welcome.

I'm gonna weld these chains
in that top shaker deck

to try to help knock rocks out
of the screen.

'Cause in theory, they should
bounce up and down

and go back and forth
on there.

So we'll try it
and see what it does.

[narrator]
When the hopper vibrates,

Freddy's innovative chain fix
will unblock the screen

by pounding the rocks,
moving them into
the tailings pile below,

a first for Mine Rescue.

[bleep]

-Thank you, sir.
-Yes, sir.

[Freddy] Well, I've welded
two chains on the screen,

so as it vibrates,
they'll do a dance

and keep that material moving
down or through

and knock those rocks
out of there.

It improves efficiency

and takes away a person
standing there with a rake

having to
rake those holes out.

That person could
be doing something else,

digging pay or whatever
around the mine.

-Hey, guys. You got a second?
-Hey, guys.

[Freddy]
It looks like we probably
have a rainstorm coming

this afternoon.

[narrator]
In southern Arizona,

Freddy and Juan are in a race
against the elements

to complete
their rescue mission.

[Juan] I gotta start
cutting that chute.

-Yeah.
-You guys can help us
down at the plant.

-Heck yeah.
-We'll go down and pull
that eccentric out.

They were doin' seven yards
an hour the first test,

so if they could get it
turned up some more

and get the eccentric
shaking harder

and fix their
fine gold sluice,

every little thing adds up.

[narrator]
In the cut trailer,

Juan designs a tailing chute
to protect the backhoe.

[Juan] Right now, that when
the material falls off
the grizzly,

it's comin' forward, hitting
the front of the backhoe.

By putting
this little chute in front,

it'll catch that material.

It won't hit the backhoe,
and it'll actually slide off
to the side,

so we don't have issues with
it later on down the road.

[narrator] A 25,000-degree
beam of plasma

makes easy work,
slicing through
the quarter-inch steel.

-[George] What's goin' on?
-Hey, buddy. How you doin'?

-[Juan] Are you married?
-Yes, sir. I sure am.

What's your wife think
about you being out here?

Uh, she's trying.
Hopefully it works out

and it's worth all the time
being gone
away from the family

-and stuff, you know?
-Yeah.

You got a couple little ones?

-I got three.
-Yeah?

What ages?

Uh, nine, ten, and eleven.

That's always a killer, man.

Time away from home
and the kids.

[George] I work full-time

to make sure I got enough
money to pay
for my kids' school

and, uh, take care of
the bills at the house

and also support this.

We've already spent
money we didn't have

for, you know...

college for the kids.

Um, definitely
no retirement plan

or anything like that.

There's a lot
of sleepless nights.

[narrator] Wife Tosha
and their three sons

live 1,000 miles away
in Texas.

George is trying
to provide something--

some kind of future for
our family that's sustainable.

We wanna set up our children

to be able to take care
of themselves

further in the future.

If the gold mine doesn't
work out,

I-- I just...

I don't even wanna think
about that happening

'cause it would be
absolutely heartbreaking.

It really sounds like you got
everything into this.

Everything I got.
Yeah, I do.

You gotta make it work.

Yup. I just know, uh...

I got no way out
other than fixing it

and gettin' it goin'
right now.

Well, I guess we could start
workin' on these.

[narrator] At the wash plant,

Freddy revamps
the eccentric vibrator

to help clear the screen
from debris.

Right now,
the way it's running,

it's plugging itself up,
which slows them down.

Essentially, the counterweight
makes a spinning shaft uneven.

So you've got all the weight
on one side,

so when it comes up,

it makes the screen throw up
'cause the weight's goin' up.

And when it's goin' down,
it pulls it down.

So that causes the vibration
in the screen.

Add some more weight to it

and that's gonna add
some more instability.

The goal is to get more
production through that plant.

We want it out of balance,

but we want these welds
in balance.

There you go.

Did you do any gold stuff
before comin' out here?

-No, sir.
-No?

This is my very first
experience with any of it.

Grew up in a machine shop,

worked in an oil field
for 25 years,

um...

never any experience
whatsoever.

The first pan I did
for the first time,

me and George
came out here prospecting.

-Oh, is that right?
-Yup. Yup.

And there was gold in it.

That's-- Uh-oh.

[laughing] The very first pan
I ever did,

it had some gold in it.

-So it was on from there.
-Yeah.

My first trip down here
while we're prospecting,

I'm like, "Hey,
there's fricking gold here.

This is the real deal."

I'm like, "Okay.
Yeah, I'm on board.

Let's make a go at it.

Let's do this."

And, uh... yeah.
And it takes money.

Especially at startup,
with equipment and the claims

and all of that.

Pitch in a
couple thousand here...

It just got
to the point where,

okay, I'm part of it.

Any extra money that I had,

this became where it went.

By now,
in the 100 grand range.

That's me, personally.

You don't wanna walk away
from that kind of money.

Watch your fingers.

You got a wife and kids
back in Texas?

Yes, sir. I got a wife.

We've been married 25 years.

How many kids you have?

One, a daughter. She's 22.

I have a daughter
that's 22, too.

[Robert] We all work at
our garden center every day.

-Okay.
-So, when I'm out,

they have to pretty much
tug the load, you know?

-[Freddy laughing]
-And I leave the haul away.

[Robert] She's behind me 100%.

But the emotional strain of
me and my wife being apart

for extended amounts of time
is real.

Money's not everything.

But, you know, we started
something we wanna finish.

Just can't see
anything in there.

Let's see if it clears.

Okay, it's hittin'
on this side.

-Let's fire it up.
-Okay.

-Ready?
-Yup.

[Robert] Oh, yeah.

[Freddy] We got it shaking
harder now.

It wasn't as easy
as it should have been.

It's one of those
15-minute jobs to install

that took an hour and a half.

We don't have
any extra time here.

You know, we're here
to help these guys
the best we can,

and then we've got
other miners to help.

[thunder rumbling]

-Hey, Juan-o.
-Gettin' there, Fred.

The counterweights are done,

but that lightning's
getting pretty close.

Are we done?

[narrator] Lightning kills
24,000 people every year.

But those who survive

usually face a lifetime
or neurological damage.

With a striking distance
of over two miles,

lightning can hit the claim
at any moment.

We don't wanna be
welding in that.

[Juan] No.

[Freddy] We don't like
pulling out,

but I think this is one time
we need to.

[Juan] I think you're right,
Fred. I think
we need to call it.

And it's getting close, close.

[Juan] It is.

[thunderclap]

Everything we're working on
is all steel.

It's always an issue when
we start running
into weather like this.

It's gonna be hard
to finish this build, Freddy,

because of lightning.

[Freddy] Yup.

[Juan] You know, it's a really
simple chute we built.

[narrator]
At the Kennedy Claim
in Arizona,

Freddy and Juan are
a day behind

after a lightning storm
forced them to shut down.

This is gonna be able
to get that material

off the end of the grizzly,
off to the side,

so, that way,
we're not worrying about it

hitting the front of
the backhoe

or creating a pile of material
here in front.

[narrator] While Juan finishes
welding the chute...

[Freddy] Hey, George,
time to go prospecting

and see what's out there.

...Detective Dodge
goes on a treasure hunt

to find high-grade pay.

The stuff you're running
has never been reworked
by nature.

[narrator] With no dump truck,

George uses the backhoe
to dig pay

forty yards
from the wash plant.

Over millions of years,
one piece of gold at a time

gets into the stream system,

then they concentrate up.

And what we're running here,
it's a lot of angular rock

that have never been reworked.

What we're looking for
in a gold-bearing area

is rounded rocks
that have been reworked,

'cause that concentrates
the gold like a sluice box.

We just gotta find where
it's got concentrated.

-So I like this better.
-Yeah.

-[Freddy] The rocks
are more rounded, right.
-Yup.

-This will flood big-time.
-Oh, I can see that. Yeah.

See, look at this guy.
He's moved a long ways...

-Mmm-hmm.
-...for this desert, right.

Right. Right.

So it's nice and smooth.

This one's fairly smooth
with the rounded edges, right.

Right.

You know,
you can't cut yourself
on any corner of these.

-No, no.
-A lot of those rocks where
you're digging over there,

-you could shave with.
-Yup.

This wash here,
your best gold...

is most likely on bedrock.

-[George] Uh...
-Right here,
'cause it's been reworked

down in the bottom.
That's nature's sluice box.

I know the sides are virgin.

This could be really good
right here.

Yeah.

[narrator] Freddy's hunch,

the best gold
has been concentrated
by monsoon rains

into this old creek gully.

It's said if
there's gold on the surface,

there's gonna be gold
down deeper.

True. All right.

Let's go pan it, huh?

Yup, sounds good.

Well, let's see
what's in it, George.

Holy [bleep].

Look at that.
Right on the surface.

-Look at those.
-Oh, yeah.

There's some nice pieces, too.

-That's exciting.
-I like it.

[Freddy] I say,
for the next test,

if you can get
a dump truck in here,

then, uh, we'll run it
and see what comes out of it.

This may be your future.

Yup.

[Freddy] The gold was
way better here,

but we gotta find a way
to get it to the plant.

Hopefully,
we could find a dump truck.

[narrator]
After Freddy's successful hunt
for better gold,

Juan doubles down
on the wash plant fixes.

Right now, we're building
a custom sluice box for 'em.

The old sluice was too short

and they're losing gold
because of that.

I'm gonna build
a 10-foot sluice box
with new gold riffles,

new mats and carpets.

That way, we can increase
their gold recovery.

[Matthew]
What do you say, Juan?

Hey, Matt.

[Juan] These riffles keep
the bottom from warping.

If you got a swell
on the bottom,

you're just gonna
blow gold out.

Yeah.

Matt, he's been out here
for the last few years,

helping 'em out for free.

But the lack of gold,
the lack of success,

is putting a lot of strain
on him.

I'm hoping this
helps him out dramatically.

Uh, I know he has
a big choice ahead of him,

whether he's gonna come back
or not.

So how's your relationship
with the guys?

Anytime you're involved
in a project that's stressful

and you're around
your friends and...

it can be...

it can be tense.

You know, nothing can ruin
a friendship quicker than,
you know, finances.

That's why we asked
for your help.
You know what I mean?

I got a little knowledge
of gold mining,

family in the past.

So I said,
"George, hit me up.

I can run heavy equipment,
weld, do everything,

mechanic work
if you wanna dig now."

And, uh, so that's how
it started out.

And it was, uh...

a mistake.

I don't get paid at all.

It would be nice if
this were my full-time deal

and still had the time
that I want at home

with the family.

It's nice to see all these
pieces coming together,
you know.

Hopefully, with what
we got goin' on,

we'll be able to get you guys
at least to a point

where you're making
a little bit of money.

I hope so, too, man.

Well, there's our dump truck.

Oh, nice.

[Freddy] Looks like George
came through on that.

[narrator] After a crash
course in prospecting,

George gambles $300
hiring the only dump truck
in town.

If Freddy's right,

running pay from
the new creek gully

could save their season.

How's it goin'?

We're out of time here

and we gotta get some
material moved over there.

Let's get him loaded.

[Freddy]
Make sure it has gold in it.

[narrator] In one day,

the dump truck can haul
90 yards of material,

over three times
what they will need

for the second test.

[George] That feels awesome

seeing a dump truck
pull in here with our pay.

It's normally been
one yard at a time.

It's gonna help us get a lot
more material moved faster.

[Freddy] Well, we'll get
this sluice loaded up

and get it down there.

[narrator] At the entrance
to the claim,

Freddy transports the sluice.

[Freddy] Well,
things are comin' together,

but we're still behind.

Can we spin it around now?

Perfect.

-New sluice.
-No doubt.

[Freddy] We've been getting
shut down by thunderstorms

when there's a monsoon
every day.

And, uh, they're calling for
more lightning this afternoon.

How's it goin', guys?

-Howdy.
-Hey hey.

You get all the pay hauled?

-Yes, sir.
-Yes, sir.

[Juan] Nice.

[Freddy]
Let's fire it up, huh?

[George] Sounds like a plan.

[Robert] We're ready to rock.

[narrator] After five days,
Freddy and Juan

have transformed
the Kennedy wash plant,

adding chains and weight
to the eccentric vibrator

to clear the prewash screen,

increased the sluice
to 18 feet,

installed mats
to catch fine gold...

Hey, George, I'm gonna
start loadin' this box.

...and, finally,
built a tailing chute
under the grizzly bars

to safely divert rocks away
from the backhoe

and prevent delays
in running pay.

Here's bucket one.

There it goes.

All right, he's started it.

Looks like the rock chute's
workin' good.

-Good?
-Yeah. Way better.

[Juan] The screen
is vibrating perfectly.

[Freddy] Never watch you guys
scrape it one time now.

-No.
-Remember before?

You were over there
with a rake.

[Robert] No need.

Here, check that out.

The material's
comin' out clean.

The sluice feels really good.

You can kind of feel
what those riffles are doing,

and every one of 'em
feels great.

So, I'm happy with it.

What do you think
of your new sluice?

Oh, awesome, man.

I've been watching y'all build
this stuff for four years.

Finally.

[Freddy] Well, that looks
pretty good, Juan.

[Juan] Yeah, but if we can't
push it a little harder,

we can't double
their gold production.

Well, these guys are trying
to scrape out a living here,
right?

Yeah.

So we need
to switch gears now,

and hopefully
that pay works out.

Let's do it.

[narrator]
Running seven yards an hour,

George won't make
his 20-ounce target.

Turn it up a little more.

[George] All right.

[narrator] So Freddy wants
to crank up the yardage

to nearly double.

[George] All right,
we're rollin' now.

I can't get to my cooler
to get my lunch.

It's drippin' water.
There's a pack of bees.

If I don't stop the water
from dripping,

the bees are never
gonna leave.

I'm slightly allergic to bees,

but I'm also slightly allergic
to not eating lunch.

If you see me holler
and then haul ass,

you know I got stung.

Oh, [bleep]!

They're gonna get me.

Hey!

Well, it looks like
Juan's sharing his lunch.

This thing appears to be
really just running smooth.

[Matthew]
Yeah, this prop looks good.

It should save us a lot of
time on cleanup and stuff.

[narrator] The Kennedy crew
are near the end
of their second test run.

We got our hopper feeder
turned up to 12 yards an hour,

which is crazy.

We've never ran that much
yardage per hour,

so this could be
a big game changer here

just from the yardage alone.

Super-excited, I know that.

-Last bucket?
-[George] Yeah.

Sound good, man.

Right at four hours.

Hey, Matt,
this is the last bucket.

I'm excited to
see what the weigh is.

[Freddy] Well, the box
looks pretty decent.

But you never know
till you weigh the gold, so.

If you guys wanna pull the
mats and get it cleaned up,

we'll get it weighed up.

-Sounds good.
-[Matthew] Thank, guys.

All right. Heck yeah.
Thank y'all.

[Juan] Let's get it on,
gentlemen. See ya in a bit.

It's been a lot of time
and a lot of money spent

to get to this point.

And hopefully that
all these changes

that Freddy and Juan have done

will get us to
where we need to be,

where this stuff
will start paying off.

I'm excited to see if
the changes that we've made,

um, are gonna be...

uh, what it takes
to keep this thing movin'.

Morning.

-Good morning.
-All right.

[Freddy]
Got 'er all cleaned up,
huh, guys?

Yep, sure did.

Well, it looks
pretty decent, guys.

[George] Mmm-hmm.

-Four hours.
-For four hours,
it looks really good.

Yeah.

-[Juan]
What'd the first weigh, Fred?
-0.14.

0.14, huh?

Well, there's 0.14
right there, guys.

And look how much gold's
left in that pan.

[George] Wow!

[narrator] The Kennedy crew
need 0.25 ounces

to have any chance of reaching
their 20-ounce goal.

But if Freddy and Juan don't
see at least 0.28 ounces,

they lose their
double-or-nothing wager.

-There's double right there.
-Yeah.

-0.61.
-0.61.

-Wow.
-[Juan] That's awesome.

Right on, guys.

Heck yeah, man.

[narrator] Worth over $1,150.

The Kennedy crew quadrupled
their gold recovery.

So a combination of
the yardage,
the fixes to the plant,

and much better ground.

That ground's a big step
in the right direction, right?

-[George] Absolutely.
-And you got miles of that.

We're hoping 10, 20, 30%.

I mean, look at us now.
It's-- it's...

ridiculous.

I'm gonna have a smile
on my face

for quite a few days
after this one.

[narrator]
Running eight hours a day
over the next four weeks,

they could haul in
over 29 ounces,

more than enough to keep
their gold mining dream alive.

You guys wanna be able
to pay back your investment,

actually be able to make a
little bit of money out here,

instead of it
just being a boys' trip...

-[George] Right.
-...and that's gonna
make it a possibility.

A heavy weight's been lifted
off of my shoulders.

We may actually have
a future in this now.

[Freddy] First,
get a dump truck.

There's your down payment.

And if you get your yardage
up even more,

you're pushing
probably $3,000 a day.

$1,000 apiece.

Awesome!

[Juan] The guys were genuinely
concerned about their ability

to stay out here and mine.

Now, going from
what they had before

to what we were able
to get 'em,

you know, this is more than
just a possibility.

This could actually be
their future.

[Freddy] Well, I couldn't be
happier with that second test
than I am right now.

They're happy.

I seen Matt smile finally.

So, uh... [chuckles]

So it must be good.

You got miles of creek.

So, with your small plant,
you're gonna have to push it.

And when you get
enough money saved up
with your ground you've got,

get a bigger plant.

That would be a dream.

And, uh, yeah, if we
keep doing this right here,

I could see that happening.

[Matthew]
I can't thank you guys enough.

Well, you're welcome.

It's been
a learning experience

and, uh,
we all needed that.

Gentlemen, it was a pleasure.

[Freddy] Absolute pleasure.

-All right, thank y'all.
-Good working with you guys.

[Matthew] Now that
we've seen more gold,

I'd love to continue
doing this.

Um, you know,
it's an adventure.

Next season's on, for sure.

[George] This may free us up
for a little bit more
family time with the kids,

which is very important.

We've been waiting on this day
for a long time.

We can actually produce
some gold

and, you know,
follow our dreams.

Hey, Freddy and Juan.
Thank you guys so much.

All the fixes y'all done up,
the virgin ground
that you found us,

it's holding up pretty good.

We've done some more
prospecting for the north side

and the numbers are
holding up.

We bought the dump truck.
We're moving material
seven times faster

than we were before.

We've done a little
fine-tuning with
the sluice box here and there.

But everything's working good.

[George] Our biggest cleanup
so far is an ounce
and a quarter.

It was crazy to see
that much gold
in the sluice box.

We've met our 20-ounce target
for sure.

We're sending money back
to our investors

and it definitely won't
be very long

till Matt, myself, and Robert
start actually
making some money.

So we really appreciate
all the help y'all did.

The sky's the limit.