All language subtitles for Gold Rush - Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan - S04E10 - School of Hard Rocks HDTV-1080p.mkv

[suspenseful music playing]

[birds chirping]

When it comes
to liberating gold

from hardrock,

do you have to be crazy enough
to go and get it? Yes.

Rock, rock.

Underground, everything wants
to kill ya.

Out, out, out, out, out.
We gotta go,

we gotta go, we gotta go.

[Chad] It is the hardest form

of gold mining to get into.

The mill site
has a couple of flaws.

The whole process,
it's very demanding.

We're not getting there

as much gold as we should be.

We can go a couple days
without seeing anything.

[Chad] I have put
a lot of money into this,

hard life savings.

I've personally invested

probably a quarter million
into the project.

[Harry] I gotta take care
of my mom and my family.

We are all gonna fail
together or succeed together.

[Sean] It's this or possible
financial ruin.

And that's why I am here

100% asking for help

so that this could be turned

in to a viable,
livable outcome

for me and for the men
on my team.

[Chad] I've put
all my savings into this.

Um, I don't know, man. Sorry.

[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] 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.

[Freddy] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Shut it down.

[narrator] Who are about
to lose everything.

Eyeballs.

[narrator] To revive
these failing mines,

Freddy and Juan engineered
the impossible.

-[man] All good.
-[Juan] Well, I've never heard
of a under sluice 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.

But it's 10 times
the amount of gold.

-Woo!
-[Freddy] That's awesome.

[laughter]

[birds chirping]

It's 8:00 in the morning
and it's only, uh, 85 degrees.

Yeah. Nice brisk 85.

Perfect welding weather.

We're on camera.

You better smile.

-First job in California,
buddy.
-Yeah, I know.

-Hopefully it's not our last.
-[laughs]

Well, shoot. It's pretty
desolate out here, Fred.

[Freddy] Yeah.

[narrator] It's late spring,
and Freddy and Juan

are in a remote corner
of California's
Mojave Desert,

at the Gretzner Mine.

Already facing triple-digit
temperatures,

they've landed at their first
ever hardrock rescue

of a problem-plagued
operation,

struggling
to stay above ground.

[Freddy]
This isn't a mine for sure,

but it's the right address.

Well, there's been
a lot of gold
come out of California.

-Tremendous amount.
-Yeah.

[narrator] Gold was first
discovered 18 miles

from here in 1881

when miners came in search
of a gold-bearing quartz vein

up to 10 feet thick.

Over 100 years,

this region has produced

185,000 ounces of gold

worth $350 million

in today's money.

-[Greg] Howdy.
-[Chad] How's it going?

[Greg] Oh, my gosh.

Good meeting you.

-Chad?
-Glad you can make it.

-[Juan] How you doing?
-Nice to meet you.

-I'm Chad.
-Juan.

-Freddy.
-Greg, I assume.

This is my wife, Sallie.

-Hi, Sallie.
-Hi.

-Hi. How you doing, brother?
-Oh my gosh.

I'm so excited
to meet you, guys.

Where's your mine at, then?

Our mine is few miles
that way.

And you can see the hills.

-[Freddy] Those mountains
over there?
-[Chad] Yup.

-Right there.
-[Freddy] Okay.

[narrator] In the last
five years,

44-year-old miner Chad

and his crew of investors

stake seven hardrock claims

with access to over 260 acres
of land,

13 underground shafts,

and 16 tunnels.

He built a rock-crushing mill

from salvaged equipment

located 7 miles
from his mines.

[Chad] The first time
I felt gold was, uh,

when I went gold panning
in the San Gabriel River.

I found the first gold ever.

I was super excited.

I've been in retail.

I've been in sales.

I've been in service.
I've been in construction.

But I like the hard work
of gold mining.

The chance to live off
of the land,

to build something
for my family.

And one day have this turn
into a successful business.

Right now, gold mining isn't
my full-time job.

I am a research engineer.

There's sometimes a large gap

between contracts and I find
myself without work.

And so, you definitely
get nervous wondering

where your next paycheck
is gonna come from.

[narrator] In the 10-month
mining season,

Chad lives away
from his family by the mill

with his dad, Greg

and his stepmom, Sallie.

The gold mining operation

is really at the heart
of the relationship

I have with my dad.

I know it would
really be hard

on both of us
if it didn't succeed.

We have had
our ups and downs.

There is a big gap
in our relationship,

uh, over 20 years.

So, being able to mend that

has been an important part
of our life.

I'm a different guy than I was

back in our strange years.

I pursued, you know,
the rock and roll thing

and little partying too much,

but we figured out a way
to mend things up.

And now, we are just...
We're solid.

Setting up a hardrock
operation ain't cheap,

you know, especially
when you got a mill set up
and everything else.

What kind of money you guys
have invested into this?

Uh, we have between
$150,000 to $250,000

depending on how
you look at it.

Yeah.

-[Chad] Yeah.
-Okay.

Have you recovered
any of your money back yet?

-No.
-[Freddy] No?

Very little.
We're not getting near

as much gold as we should be.

So, what does your
mining season look like?

Is it year round?

We would like it to be, but

the heat, the summer months,

it's so hot out here
we can't run our equipment

over 104 degrees for some
of the electrical motors.

-[Juan] Oh, for sure.
-And we have to shut down.

So, what's your goal?

We need to be able
to hit 20 ounces

before summer.

I've put all my savings
into this.

We need to start seeing
a return on this.

[narrator]
In the Mojave Desert,

peak summer sun causes

heavy equipment to overheat,

shutting down operations
until the fall.

Where you guys
at right now on that?

We're at 2 ounces of gold.

[narrator]
With just seven weeks
before they must shut down,

the Gretzner Mine
needs more than

2.5 ounces a week
to stay afloat.

So, what do you guys have
to lose

if this doesn't
work out for you?

We have a...
Our life savings invested

in this, uh, along
with our partners.

Now, is there
multiple partners,

or just you guys?

[Chad] Uh, multiple partners
on this.

Uh, we got five.

-Did they have money
invested as well?
-[Greg] Oh, yes.

-[Freddy] All of you do?
-[Juan] Everyone's
all out, huh?

-[Freddy] Y'all got
skin in the game.
-[Greg] Oh, yes.

[Chad] I've put a lot
of money and time

into making this successful.

-So, is the rest
of the crew here?
-Yeah.

-Check out the mill.
-[Greg] Let's do it.

-All right. Sounds good.
-[Greg] See you
a little bit, honey.

[Sallie] All right.

This is the first rescue
that Freddy and I have done

that's a hardrock mine,
um, that's got a mill set up,

but, uh, you know, we actually
came out from that industry.

That's actually
where I started mining

and I know Freddy's had some
experience there as well.

So, uh, it's kinda good
to be back to our roots.

[Freddy] Now, hardrock mining.

It's definitely harder
in a lot of ways

than placer mining is.

You gotta free it
from the rock.

You gotta blast it,

pick it,

crush it,

and then do all these
other things

that you don't have to do
in placer mining.

It's a tough game.

-Hey. Nice to meet you.
-How you doing?

-I'm Ron.
-Ron, Juan.

Nice to meet you, Juan.

Hey, we really appreciate
you coming out.

[narrator] Over two years,
Chad assembled a crew

of part-time
weekend warriors.

Ron, Harry, and Sean,

who are also investors.

Well, we'll have a look
at what you got.

Why don't you show us around?

-[Sean] Come on in.
-[Ron] Okay. Come on in.

[Greg] Let's go.

[Freddy] You got a couch.

-That's the office.
-Is that right?

-[Chad] Yeah.
-[laughter]

[Juan] So what does your gold
look like?

[Chad] So our gold
is super fine.

This is, uh, this is what

the finished product
looks like for us.

[Juan] There you go.

[narrator] Gold rich rock
is found in quartz veins

that rise through the earth
over millions of years.

Hardrock miners
chase these veins

by digging hundreds
of feet underground

to extract the ore rock.

Good ground is equal to eight
to ten grams per ton of ore.

The Gretzners
have extracted six tons

ready to be processed
through their mill.

[Freddy] Well, you guys
wanna fire up your mill?

-What do you think?
Two-hour test run?
-Yes, sir.

-[Juan] Let's try it.
-[Freddy] See what it does.

-[Chad] Let's do it.
-[Freddy] Let's do it.

[Chad] Let's crush some rock.

[narrator] Stage one,
gold-bearing ore is fed

into a large hopper
and crushed into pieces.

Then it's transported
to a surge hopper

where the oversized rock
is removed.

And the final stage
of the process,

the small rocks are ground
to a powder

in a milling machine.

Water is added

and the mix is piped
to a table

where gold is separated
from the worthless material.

When operating correctly,

the process should be
fully automated

with very little
human intervention.

[Freddy] I [bleep] hate
those chain balls.

[Juan] Yeah.
Those are painfully slow.

[Freddy] Four and a half
minutes to pick those

first bag up and dump it
in the hopper.

[Juan] Right now
it's not really efficient.

It takes four guys
to load the plant.

[Freddy] Just have
to feed it by hand
with a shovel up there.

There's a lot of wasted time
right there, Freddy.

A lot of wasted time.

[narrator] Next step,
Chad pushes the rock

through the hopper
into a machine

called a jaw crusher,

which pulverizes
the large rock into pieces.

I'm a little embarrassed,

because there's
so many things wrong

with our equipment,
and they're seeing it.

And there's no way to hide it.

Is that on?

There's nothing.

Right now, the hopper,

it's not feeding the material.

He's feeding the material

into the jaw
with a shovel, so.

To make work,

they'd almost be better off
feeding it directly

into the jaw
out of the ore sack.

They really...
They really would be.

[Freddy] We got a bunch
of issues going on here.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Juan]
That's green right there.

We need to do something
better about that.

[narrator]
The vibrating screen

that sorts the rock
lacks enough power.

So, Chad's crew must
also do it by hand.

Right now he's down there
with a hammer.

He'd hire a trained monkey
to do that, but no.

Essentially,
it's become a manual screen,

even though he has
a vibrator on it.

[narrator]
With the rock sorted,

Ron and Sean
now reduced the flow

of material up the conveyor.

[Freddy] Well,
and then we've got him here

putting everything to center.

Why are you putting that
to center like that?

[Sean] Any more than this
and it overloads the table.

[Freddy] Okay. Understood.

They got time killers
all down the line.

[Sean] I'm seeing
a little gold in there.

[Ron] Yeah, it's mixed
with the black sand.

[narrator] The shaker table
uses water and gravity

to separate gold
from lighter material.

[Freddy]
Lot of rocks on the table.

[Ron speaking]

[narrator] If larger rocks
reach the table,

they risk
displacing fine gold.

[Freddy] I'd hang a light
from the roof,

like an eight foot LED
over the middle of 'em.

That's what I have
on all my tables.

[man 1] How far up?

-[man 2] Oh.
-Oh, yeah. Okay.

Right here so it's not
shining in your eyes,

but it's enough
to spread the table.

[Harry] That's a good idea.

All right. Shut it down.

[narrator] After two hours,

time is called on the test.

[Juan] All right.
Let's shut it down.

-[Freddy] Hopper's empty.
-[man] Hopper's empty?

Thank you, sir.

[Freddy]
On the test run today,

Juan and myself seen
a lot of manual labor.

You got all this equipment,

yet it takes manual labor
to make it work.

That did not
impress me at all.

It wasn't good.

And we've got some ideas

to save 'em a lot of labor,
a lot of time.

At least
if they're not doing the job,

they don't need to be doing,

they can be doing
other things
to catch more gold.

It's a tough game,
hardrock mining is.

We might have taken on more
work than we can handle here.

[suspenseful music playing]

I wouldn't mind
panning a little bit

-to see what the gold
looks like down.
-[Juan] Take a look at it.

[Freddy] Yeah.
You wanna do it, or me?

[Juan] You go ahead and do it.

I haven't watched
your videos enough.

[narrator]
Deep in the scorching
Mojave Desert,

the Gretzner crew
clean up the gold

from their two-hour test.

[man] I hope we have gold
for Freddy on one.

[narrator] Freddy takes a pan
for an early indication.

[man] This is nothing.

[Freddy] Lots of rocks in it.

Yeah, that's not good.

[Freddy] Why don't you guys
get it cleaned up?

'Cause that's just one pan.

It wasn't good
is all I can say.

I've done better pans
out of the bank on a creek,

so, you know,
hopefully there's more
in that concentrate

and we'll find out more
in the morning.

That pan did not
thrill me at all.

[Harry] It's real fine.

-[man] Oh, yeah.
-[Harry] Looks like
a thin line of gold

right at the top.

There's a lot at stake.

I mean, there's been so much
money invested already.

I put a good amount of money
in myself.

And, uh, if things get
a little shaky,

it's not gonna be that easy
to weather it.

It looks like a little flake
right there.

When it comes to gold,
it's location,
location, location.

Hardrock testing can be
a hell of a lot harder.

Your underground,
your chasing seams,

the vein disappears,

but at the same time,
the ore can be really rich.

You can do really well.

Well, that wasn't very good
for that first run.

[Juan] Oof.

They've taken on a lot,
you know,

for them to get together,

purchase the building,
put the mill up,

get all the equipment that
they needed for the mill.

That's a quite
a big undertaking.

Really, their whole process,

it's, uh,
very labor-intensive.

It's time
to eliminate some jobs

so they can get on
to better things.

[Juan] Yeah, absolutely.

[crickets chirping]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Harry] Here you go, Chad.
Grab this.

[narrator] Next morning,
back at the mill site.

You know, I could probably use

that connection
off of your air compression.

I can hook up
to my sand blaster.

[narrator] Chad and Harry
have cleaned up the gold

from one ton of ore
the crew ran

through their two-hour test.

Chad's definitely
one of my good friends.

Um, we've been at this
for a while

and we've learned
about each other

and we've grown over time

and we've shared a lot
of thoughts and trouble,

so, yeah, we're close.

[narrator]
Right-hand man, Harry,

has been on Chad's crew
for six years

and invested $40,000

into the mining operation.

When you're on the vein
and on the gold, it's awesome.

Getting gold out
of the ground
and turn it into a bar,

I mean, that's pretty rad.

Everything I've ever learned
in my whole life

has just been working
with my hands

and I like digging holes

and it's just
a natural fit for me.

Turning wrenches,
fixing equipment,

and blowing up rock.

[narrator]
Harry first met Chad
on a prospecting mission

in 2017.

His experience in engineering

makes him a valuable member
of the team.

[Harry] When I first got
together with these guys,

I gotten outta
the Marine Corps for a while

and, you know,
I was having a rough time.

These guys have brought me
back to where I need to be

and it's helped me at home

and relationship
with my family.

-[Freddy] Well,
weigh it up on one.
-[Juan] Yup.

-[Freddy] You guys got it
all dried up?
-[Harry] Yes, sir.

-[Chad] Yeah.
-[Juan] Well,
let's take a look at it.

-Where's your dad at?
-You know,
he's pretty tired.

He's not feeling good.

-Okay.
-He put his all

into being out here
with you guys, uh,

it kinda kicked his butt.

[Freddy] Right. Right.

Well, hopefully
he feels better.

-[Freddy] Mmm-hmm.
-Thanks.

I feel pressure.

Not only have I seen our team

invest everything
they have in this,

my dad and I,

we've invested a lot in this.

If this doesn't work out,

it would be
really hard on him.

So, I don't want...
I don't wanna see that.

I wanna see us succeed
and we'll find a way.

[Freddy]
Well, let's weigh it up.

-Yup.
-You do the honors, Chad.

[Chad] All right. Here we go.

[narrator] Chad and his team
need to make $700 a day

to breakeven.

[Freddy] Don't spill it.

-[Juan] .03.
-[Freddy] .03. Yup.

Nine-tenths of a gram.

-[Juan] Almost a gram.
-[Chad] Almost a gram

-from one ton of ore.
-Hmm.

[narrator]
Worth less than $60.

It's not even enough
to cover fuel for the mill.

Five guys, right?

Five guys, uh, a day
to pull one ton from the mine.

-[Freddy] Yup.
-[Chad] Haul it here...

-Yup.
-[Chad] and then a day
to run it and...

Yeah.

[Juan] That's a tremendous
amount of work

for that small of a payday.

Yeah.

What is required
for you guys to be able

to pay your bills
and pay your guys something?

We'd come up with what,
two to two

and a half ounces a week.

-[Juan] You know...
Well, with this ore...
-[Freddy] With this ore...

-it's not possible.
-it's not gonna be possible.

[Chad] Maybe we get your help

on finding
some better ground.

Well, that's a tough one
in the time we're here.

Without running it,

there's no way
I can tell you anything.

-We'd love to look
at your mine.
-[Juan] Yeah.

But we need to spend
most of our time

making your equipment
more efficient

so you can test your own mines
at a quicker rate.

And then once you find
that vein, that good vein,

you'll be able
to rock and roll

and just blow it
right through the mill.

We've both worked
underground before

and I've seen just crazy veins
come out, you know,

where it's visible gold,
2,600 ounces a ton.

-[Harry] Yeah.
-[Freddy] So it all comes down
to the ore.

[Chad] Hey, I'm glad
you guys are here

because we need the help.

We're ready for the challenge.

-[Harry] Definitely.
-We're ready for it.

[Juan] The good news
is that Freddy and I,

we did notice a lot of things
in the mill

that we can improve on.

Ultimately, it's gonna
come down to a combination

of getting the production up,

but also getting
on better ore.

They need to get out of those
other veins they've got,

those other mines,
and see what's there.

And once they find
that better gold,

they will have a plant here

that not only
is it the test plant

to find the better gold,

but it's the one that
puts gold in their pocket,

puts money in the bank.

[narrator] Freddy and Juan
have four more days

to put the Gretzner's
on track

for their 2.5 ounce
a week target.

[Freddy]
What do you think, Juan?

Well, Freddy, I think
there's quite a few things

we can improve on
inside that mill.

Yeah.

[Juan] I'd like to get rid
of that chain ball.

-[Freddy] They're slow.
-[Juan] Ah.

[Freddy] Miserably slow.

[Juan] Yeah, terribly slow.

[Freddy] I'm thinking on this.

They got that little vibrator
on there,

-on that hopper.
-[Juan] It's doing nothing.

Yeah.

Do one of your eccentrics
down below here,

will be able to get more throw
out of that hopper

so it feeds properly

instead of having
to get up there

-and shovel it by hand.
-[Freddy] Yup.

[narrator] An eccentric motor
uses offset weights

to create
a throwing movement.

Freddy and Juan's plan,

first,
they'll upgrade the hopper

with an electric winch

and whole new shaking process

for moving pay
into the jaw crusher behind.

Next, at the second hopper,

they'll add a screen
at the top

to divert oversized rock.

Finally, after the rock
has been milled to dust

and the gold liberated,

a vibrating screen,

a new sluice box will help
catch the bigger gold

before the fine
get caught on the table.

How's it going, guys?

[Chad] Hey.

Well, we watched
you guys run and, uh,

you know, multiple things
we think we can help you with.

What we really wanna do
is make this circuit,

the crushing circuit
a one-man job...

-Yeah.
-without being, you know,

a five-man team,

you know,
starting from the beginning.

We're gonna put
an electric wench

so it's not...

[Freddy] Four minutes of bag
just to get it up.

On this, we wanna redo
your hopper assembly there.

We're gonna put airbags on it
and then put a real
eccentric in it.

-Oh, wow.
-Okay. [laughs]

So, your surge hopper,

where you've got your screen
there is the exact wrong spot.

Even if we have to cut in to
your hopper just a little bit,

we wanna put a screen
up there.

Pipe it down, have your
wheelbarrow right there,

and get it back in this test.

So another idea that we had
is coming off your mill here,

but a small tiny sluice box,

but it'll have a screen
on top of it.

[man] Keep it from going
on the table.

Keep it from going
on the table.

-Wow.
-So it'll catch 40% to 60%

of your gold
on that sluice box.

-That'd be awesome.
-[Chad] Much needed.

[Juan] Now we need to talk
about the money situation.

-All right.
-We're gonna need

about $2,000 in material.

And then on top of that,
we would like you guys

to cover our expenses.

[Freddy]
Let's throw some dice here.

If we don't get you 10 times
the amount of gold

that was in that
first cleanup,

our labor's free.

We could make this work,
right?

Can we pull together
and we'll make it work?

[man] Yeah, we'll find a way.

[Juan] You guys are good
with it? We're good with it?

[Freddy] And you guys
are ready to help?

-Because we only have
-[Chad] We're ready to
work this.

a limited amount of time.

-Done.
-All right, guys.

-All right.
-[Freddy] Deal.

Deal.

[Chad] The fixes that Freddy
and Juan have proposed,

they're ambitious in such
a short period of time.

It's gonna be some long hours

and we're gonna have
to give them a hand

and help them however we can.

[dramatic music playing]

[Freddy] Whoa. What is that?

[narrator] Coming up.

[Chad] Let's get outta here.

Out, out, out, out, out.

We gotta go,
we gotta go, we gotta go.

[tense music playing]

[instrumental music playing]

[Chad] Hey, Dad.

[narrator] At the Gretzner's
Desert mine,

Chad's dad, Greg,
back on the job.

Hey, how you feeling?

Yeah, hanging in there.

[narrator]
Diagnosed with degenerative

nerve damage in 2010,

Greg's found salvation
in mining

but the desert heat
takes its toll.

Yeah, as long as I have,
you know, uh,

some time off here and there,
I can regroup and heal up.

I'm always rooting for him

and encourage him to try

to lay it low,

cut back because, uh,
he's been in pain.

[narrator] Although they
now work together

on their hardrock mine,

Chad and Greg
haven't always had

the best father-son
relationship.

He had left us and divorced
my mom when I was 14.

Dad loved rock and roll.

You know, around the rock
and roll atmosphere

and a lot of alcohol there,
a lot of drugs,

a lot of women, and, uh,
usually that doesn't work out

well for a family environment
with kids.

[Greg] The years
that I was kind of being,

you know, dumb, if you will.

Looking back it's, like,

yeah, I could've been
a little wiser.

I thought
it was a lost thing,

but, uh, last few years,

my son and I have had
a great relationship.

Uh, just makes me
really happy.

I love it.

[narrator]
Reconnected since 2016,

father Greg has invested
all his lifesavings

but still struggles to find
his place on the mine.

Man, that gold weight
just didn't come in the way

any of us were anticipating.

Oh, really?

Yeah, the .03 ounces
to the time or .9 grams,

that was dismal.

We've overcame obstacles
before.

So, I know you got it in you.
I know I do.

We can't go any lower
so we can only go up.

[Chad] Yeah. I know.
And you push yourself hard.

So, we all appreciate that.

Oh, thank you.

Right. I'm giving it my all.

-All right, Dad. Thank you.
-All right. Get over here.

-All right. Appreciate that.
-Yeah.

All right.

[acoustic music playing]

We gotta divide
and conquer a little bit here.

[narrator]
Inbound for the day,

Freddy and Juan
plan their attack.

I wanna start working
on that hopper.

Kinda have in my mind
what I wanna do there.

Well, then I think
I'll that run out,

look at their mines

because the ore
that we ran yesterday...

-Yeah.
-it's no good.

-No bueno.
-Yeah. No. It's not...

It's not worth running.

We could double
their throughput

but still double the gold

of what we just saw
still terrible.

Well, just making 'em gold,
go broke faster.

-That's good.
-That's what that would do.

[dramatic music playing]

We're gonna see
how we can't put some people

out of work here.

At least,
if they're not doing the job

they don't need to be doing,

they can be doing other
things to catch more gold.

We can... We can always
mock it up and see.

[Juan] Yeah, 'cause right now,
the one I have...

-[Harry] Yeah.
-it's probably shoot.

It's gonna be another
six inches shorter.

-[Harry] Six inches?
-Longer than... Yeah.

-See what it looks like.
-Okay.

[narrator]
To get the ball rolling,

Juan and Freddy begin
with an easy win.

A new electric hoist.

[Freddy] Uh, I'm just setting
up this new, uh, hoist.

Electric hoist.

It's a hell lot easier
than pulling on that chain.

[acoustic music playing]

So, with the chain fall,
you know, it was...

it was four minutes,
up and down.

-Minimum.
-Minimum.

And then on top of that,
by the end of the day,

you got sore arms, you know?

-And our hope...
-Yeah.

is that you guys are gonna run
so much material.

You're not gonna want
that chain fall.

You're gonna want something
fast up and down.

[electric hoist whirring]

The cable hoist looks like
it's gonna help us out a lot

and keep Chad off the top
of that machine

and we can focus more
and just getting bags in there

and not starving
the jaw crusher.

21 seconds, 22 seconds,

plus another 5 seconds
to take it in.

So, let's call it 30 seconds.

So, we've cut this
by three-fourths.

So, you got 75% less time
with the winch.

-[Greg] Hey, Juan.
-[Juan] Hey, Greg.
How you doing, buddy?

-[Greg] Good.
-[Juan] Feeling better?

Yeah, yeah.
I'm doing a lot better.

Do you wanna give me
a hand real quick?

[Greg] Yeah, most definitely.

[narrator] Next, Juan and Greg
redesigned the hopper.

Go ahead and pull that off
and then what I'll have you do

is once I get these parts
cut out, you can help me.

We'll start getting this all
welded together.

-[Greg] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Getting it all jigged up.

-[Greg] I like it.
-Perfect. Thank you, sir.

In order to feed the material,

that hopper has to move enough

that it actually can push
that material forward

and it doesn't have enough
power to do that.

[narrator]
Mounted with springs,

the hopper lacks the ability
to shake out the material.

Juan's fix,

install four sets
of adjustable airbags

to control the force
of the hopper's movement,

a first for Mine Rescue.

Give it a little lift.

Yeah. Okay.

So, what I'm doing
is I'm cutting out
the brackets right now.

These brackets are gonna be
for the airbags to support it

and give it that cushion
it needs so when it vibrates,

it actually vibrates.

It's got the hole through
the mounting brackets

and then also,
the hole for the air.

[narrator] While Freddy
prepares the hopper

for the new fittings,

Juan is assembling the frame
to house the airbags.

[Juan] I'm gonna rust
these mounts together,

we're gonna put some supports
on them

and that way,
when it's vibrating,

it'll absorb that impact

so it doesn't bend it over.

-[Greg] Very cool.
-[Juan] Well, let's get it
rigged up on your side.

You wanna get those, uh,
hooks in there?

[Greg] Yup.

All right.

[Juan]
Greg was wanting to soak up

everything I was going.

And hopefully,
by us being here

and helping him out, you know,

he's able to learn
a little bit.

Working alongside
of Freddy and Juan

is so amazing
and awesome to me.

Their honest concern
and their willingness

to do these changes,

I was happy I could jump in

and help out wherever I could.

[Juan] You wanna keep an eye
on both [indistinct]
all right.

-Awesome.
-Back on.

These are just really simple.

They're actually kind of
an automotive airbag.

But, you know, sometimes you
gotta use what you can get.

And that's what we could get

and they work good,
so we're gonna use 'em.

[Greg] Awesome.

-Very, very cool. Thank you.
-[Juan] Good work.

Yeah. No problem.

What do you guys think
about running out

to your mine real quick?

[narrator] Across the claim...

-We're gonna show it to you.
-Yeah.

[narrator] Freddy is keen

to get eyes on Chad's mine.

Pretty weak
around that first one, so...

-[Chad] All right.
-[man] Let's do it.

[Chad] We have hardrock
gold mines

that we own
all the mineral rights on.

They are also proven mines
that the old timers worked.

So, being able to go
into existing workings

and then sample there
and develop it.

The downside
and negative to that

is it's expensive
and dangerous

to get into these
old workings.

So, Freddy could
absolutely help us out.

[Chad] I think you'll like
the work we've done on it.

There's a lot of things
that Juan and myself can do

to help their plant.

But the gold, I wasn't
really impressed with.

They're losing money
right now.

They have six other mines.

You got the right ore

with the right amount
of gold in it,

you can do really well.

[narrator]
Freddy and Chad head

into the mountain
7 miles west,

where hundreds of tunnels
on their claim

crisscrossed these
historic gold fields.

[Freddy] How long have
you guys had this place,

-your family?
-[Chad] Uh, four years.

-[Freddy] Four years?
-I don't know why.

I just have this drive,
Freddy.

This determination.

I'm gonna find a way
to make it work.

Our team does look to me
as the mine boss.

So, it's a big responsibility
to lead these guys

and I don't wanna
let them down.

I wanna make sure
that I'm doing my part

to lead us
in the right direction.

We're here.

So, this your hole
in the ground, huh?

[Chad] Sure is.

[Freddy] I've worked
underground enough

to know how tough it is.

It's far more expensive

and dangerous
than placer mining.

It's a hard game to play.

Sure, the ore is richer
and the rewards are great,

but the risks are many.

Well, I guess get geared up
and head down, huh?

[Chad] Yeah.

-[man] Yeah.
-Let's get him tied up.

[Chad]
Just watch your little hole
but you got a deck here.

You can step on it.

[Freddy] Getting darker,
that's for sure.

[Chad] No run. Rock, rock.

[narrator] The quartz vein
they are working

is 85 feet below the ground.

Hey, guys.

Don't take any of the film
crew any further than that.

[Chad] The hanging wall
is separating two inches.

There are stools
holding it up,

but that's the danger zone.

I'm not going back there.

[Chad]
Um, this is one of the spots

we're working and sampling.

[Freddy] I can see
the vein structure there.

Not easy to get out
of here either.

[narrator] Over 95%

of the world's gold
left unmined

is believed to be underground

with over three trillion
dollars in gold reserves

yet to be mined.

Almost all large
mining companies

draw their gold

from a hard rock source.

[Freddy] You got a microscope.

-Search some gold.
-There's a piece.

-Right.
-[Chad] Yeah, all right.

-[Freddy] That's so small.
-A lot of times,

that doesn't cut it, right?

So, we typically have three
to four guys work in here.

I mean,
if everybody's available,
we'll have all five.

-And you're doing it by hand?
-[Chad] Yeah.

-Getting out.
-[Freddy] I see
your buckets here.

Is that how you're mucking
this over?

Every bucket is probably
50 pounds coming out of here.

-Forty, fifty pounds.
-[Chad] Yeah.

Ooh, so to get a ton,
it takes a lot of manpower.

[Chad] Our record in one day
was eight tons.

You ever have any of this
hanging wall bust off on you?

I see you got it curved
in a few places here.

[Chad] Yeah, you see
little pieces like that.

[Freddy] Yeah. Well, it's dark
and it's tight.

It's not the easiest place
to get in to.

There's just not enough gold
in the ore.

So, go to a different spot.

Whoa. What's that?

[Chad] A piece fell off
the roof.

[Freddy] Guys, I wouldn't go
any further.

-[Chad] Let's get outta here.
-[Freddy] What the [bleep]
going on?

[Chad]
Out, out, out, out, out.
We gotta go.

We gotta go. We gotta go.

[dramatic music playing]

[Freddy] I'm not going
back there.

[Chad] Yeah.

[narrator]
In the Mojave Desert,

a rock fall has halted
Freddy's investigation

into the Gretzner's
hardrock mine.

[Freddy] It's not a job
for the timid in that mine.

It's dark and it's tight
down there.

And those guys,
I can tell they have

to work their butts off

to get that ore
out of that mine.

Hand chisel each piece
of rock out

to get it out of there

to find out
if there's enough gold in it.

Right now, these guys are
deep in the hole, cost-wise.

If all their mines
are similar to this one,

then, uh, they won't be
in business very long.

Yeah. The structure
you're on right now,

-you're gonna go broke on.
-Yeah.

You know? Average wage

is with the amount
of labor you had in it.

Well, it was taken you guys
were averaging

about 50 cents an hour
apiece, so...

Oh, yeah. That's horrible.

Trying to sample
and prove out the mines,

uh, but then also
at the same time trying

-to make gold.
-[Freddy] That's what I think.

We got six other mines
to go look at.

But, there's a lot of things
that have to be done

to make this plant
run more efficiently.

We haven't got a lot of time.

So, if we can
streamline that,

it's gonna help
the efficiency in the field.

Hopefully, get, you know,

your mill running
more efficiently,

you can test

these different main
structures you've got

or different parts of 'em...

-Yes.
-at a more efficient rate.

[dramatic music playing]

[Juan] Whatever we can do,
we'll do it.

[narrator]
Back at the Gretzner Mill,

one pushes on
with the second hopper fix.

[Juan] We're kind of behind
the 8 Ball now.

[narrator] Having fitted
the new airbags,

he needs to upgrade
the vibrator.

I'm already starting to work
on all the brackets

for the eccentric vibrator.

We gotta get going on it

'cause if we don't
get started now,

we'll never finish
this project.

So this is something different
that we haven't really done.

This is a... This is
gonna be a vibrator

but what we're actually doing
is doing an eccentric

before they had a little,
tiny vibrator on the back here

that wasn't doing anything.

All it was doing
was compacting the material.

[narrator]
An eccentric vibrator

uses off-center weight
mounted on a bar

to create a throwing
back and forth movement.

Juan's theory,
this movement will help

the hopper stay unclogged,

saving time and manpower.

We're gonna use these weights
that we cut out on the table

and we'll have
opposing weights,

so one this way,
one the other way.

All that weight will be
off-center on the shaft

and what it'll do,
it'll actually throw

the material forward.

So that's what these are.

[narrator]
By spinning heavy weights

on a bar below the hopper,

the eccentric vibrator
will pulsate

a steady supply of rocks

into the jaw crusher.

[Juan] It took five guys
to feed it,

so what we're trying to do
is trying to eliminate

all that extra labor

to make it one
smooth transition

where you feed it,
it feeds itself into the jaw,

and you catch it
on the other side.

[Ron] That's brilliant.

Everything
that we've got going here,

they look at it with new eyes

and they see stuff
that we haven't seen

and they pull really
cool tricks out of the hat

and make it work.

[laughing] I'm really happy
about it.

Chad'll have to file
for unemployment. [chuckles]

-[Juan] Should be good.
It looks okay.
-[Ron] Yeah.

Hopefully it works
as good as it looks.

[Ron] Almost looks like
you know what you're doing.

Kind of.
I saw it in a book once.

-[Ron] Saw it on a cartoon?
-Yeah.

[laughter]

[narrator] One of the most
experienced miners

in the crew, Ron,

is Chad's largest investor.

Yeah, I've personally invested
probably a quarter million

into the project.

[narrator] Building contractor
by night,

gold miner by day,

Ron is determined
to make a success

of the Hard Rock Mine

with his band of brothers.

[Ron] I've invested
all I could.

My mom left me a little money
when she passed.

I wanted to...

[sobbing]

I wanted to...

Sorry.

Wasn't expecting this.

Um, I just wanted,

uh, her legacy to live on

and then I hope
that my boy and grandsons,

if nothing else,
they'll learn the camaraderie

and the hard work
that comes with that.

I know that we can succeed.

I can't quit... Can't quit.

I'm not a quitter.

I'm trying to find Greg.
I need a little bit of help

on that screen
I'm gonna build.

[narrator]
With the Hopper complete,

Juan turns his attention
to the next planned fix

with Chad's father Greg.

But he's nowhere to be seen.

-[Juan] Hey, Sallie.
-Oh, hey, Juan.

-How's it going?
-Good. How you doing?

[exhales sharply]
I'm doing okay.

I'm trying to get this mess
cleaned up a little bit.

Cleaning up a little bit?
Nice.

-Yeah.
-Hey, is Greg around?

Uh, he'll be out
in the afternoon.

-[Juan] Okay. Okay.
-Yeah.

Yeah, I was just gonna
have him help me

with that screen
we're gonna build.

He normally works
for a couple of days.

And then, he has to probably
lay down and take a little nap

and then, he'll be
out this afternoon.

Hopefully he feels
a little better

but when he has a chance,
come out and give me a hand.

-[Sallie] Yeah, I will.
Definitely.
-Awesome. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[narrator] Married in 2005,

mining mom Sallie
has been by Greg's side

through thick and thin.

[Sallie] He was a musician
when I met him.

And I think
that drawed me to him.

So here we are
22 years later, married.

[narrator]
Living on a fixed income,

Sallie and Greg have
gambled everything

on this gold hunting venture.

[Sallie] We have a lot
at stake here.

We have a lot of money
invested into this mill site.

So, it could be devastating...

if it doesn't work out.

-Juano.
-Hey, Fred.

[narrator]
Back at the compound.

[exhales] It's hot.

-It's a warm one, huh?
-Yeah.

No. Look over there
at the mine site.

Well, I went underground

to that one they're playing
around with down there.

And, you know,
they don't have the resources

to really go underground

-right at this moment.
-Yeah.

[Freddy] You know, they're
handpicking down there,

then they're pulling it out
in buckets. Holy cow.

You know, I got
a lot going on here
with the... With the build,

so I'll be tied up doing this
for the next day or so

but if you can go out there
and give them a hand,

you know,
that's really what they need.

You know, underground mining

is a whole different animal,
you know.

You know, you and I both have
been underground before

and it's a whole
different type of mining.

-[Freddy] Yup.
-It really is.

You gotta have rich ground
to go underground

-on a small scale. Yeah.
-Yeah.

Yeah, especially doing it
the way they're doing

with picks and shovels.

That's tough.

-That's a hard way to do it.
-85 feet

to the surface...

and then loading it in trucks

and hauling it in,
crushing it.

But they're mucking it all out

by hand underneath there.

-So it's a lot of work.
-Yeah.

[narrator]
Commercial operations can
mine lower ground ores

and still make a profit due

to the huge volumes
of material

that they're able to process.

But Chad's mine runs
only a ton a day.

Refocusing his manpower

could get him closer
to the gold.

That big brown bushing
in there
is probably wore out, huh?

[Freddy]
Juan and I are spinning a lot
of plates right now.

[Juan] There's some space
in there.

But the stage these guys
are in right now,

getting rid of the labor
in here

helped the efficiency
in this building.

It's gonna help
the efficiency in the field,

because two or three
of them can go.

And they can start
getting more ore.

If there's not enough gold

in the spot
that you're testing,

get out of there before
it takes your money away.

[dramatic music playing]

Juan, can you come over?
We need your help.

[narrator]
In the California desert...

Curious what they have
to say about that.

[narrator] Freddy and Juan
face their first
hard rock rescue...

[Sean] We think that might be
the banging noise.

Probably so.

[narrator] At a mine
run by Chad Gretzner

and a crew of investors.

So, yeah, I'll let you yank
this out, Chad.

All right.

[narrator]
Freddy's most urgent task

is to investigate
the other mines

on Chad's property

and find more gold.

But first,
he will lay the groundwork
of the next fix.

I'm pretty proud
of this design,
but it's not doing what I--

This is backwards right here.

So what I wanna do
right here,

I'm gonna build
a screen up here

so we'll get the material
while it's going

into the surge hopper,

catch it, and then,
you can run it back through

while you're running
your crushing circuit.

[narrator] To help sort
the crushed rock

into different sizes,

Freddy will remove
Greg's inefficient screen

at the bottom of the hopper

and build a new classifier
at the top

to remove larger rock.

This is an exciting fix,

because now we can run
more material

and it takes two guys

off of this
whole process back here.

-Ready?
-[Chad] Yup.

We're gonna take...
Pick up the front.

-[Chad] All right.
-Go.

[Chad] Oh. Perfect.

Perfect is good enough
if you can't do any better.

That's what I'm talking about.

Right there
is your screen, huh?

[narrator] As fixes stack up,

Freddy looks to save
time and money

by salvaging material.

[Freddy]
Well, it's a little wore out,

-but it should work, huh?
-[Chad] Yeah.

[Freddy] Use what you got.

[Chad] All right.
So let's get this out of here.

[Ron] Are you ready?

Lift with your back.

-Two, three.
-Stand her up.

If you don't keep working,
it doesn't get done.

Okay.

I'm gonna start
on that other screen deck

-up top under the hopper.
-Yup.

So I'm gonna build it.

We'll use
one of the vibrators on it.

Yeah.
If you want me to buzz off

-the frame for you real quick.
-[Freddy] Okay.

Well, you're on
your project too though, so...

Yeah,
but I'm gonna be cutting.

Right now I'm designing,
so I can cut

a bunch of [bleep]
real quick for you.

[Freddy] Yeah.
So picture a four-foot long...

-Yes.
-flat bottom,

10-gauge bottom in it
probably.

-That'll work.
-[Juan] No problem.

[Freddy] I'm gonna start
building a screen in here

over the top
of their surge hopper.

Hopefully we can get
that material screened

before it goes in, not after.

You know, Freddy and I,
we always divide and conquer.

Right now,
I'm gonna try to cut out

that little screen for him

so he can put his vibrator

and his mesh material on it.

Chad and the guys
did a great job

installing everything here
in the mill.

I think they just don't have
some experience

with some of the other
equipment that we have.

[narrator] Designed program,

Juan's cut table uses a torch

burning a 25,000-degree
jet of plasma

to slice through
three-quarter inch steel.

[Juan]
As we start doing our builds

and start seeing
what we can do in the mills,

sometimes that doesn't really
come to pass.

So what we have to do
is kind of alter our plan

and make it fit
for their situation.

We're gonna have
to make it work, you know,

because we're gonna build
a separate screen.

It's a lot more work,
it's a lot more build time

but, you know what?
This machine is a time saver,

so we just gotta keep
on plugging along.

That cut out on the table,
that saves us, you know,

a day worth of work.

[dramatic music playing]

Freddy, what can I help with?

Well, we're gonna need to move
this around a little bit.

-Pivot?
-Right, well...

Or tilt?

[narrator]
When he's not working
in real estate,

hard rock mining
greenhorn Sean

spends his weekends
at the mill chasing gold.

Freddy's expertise
and Juan's knowledge

at fabrication can really
get us over the hump

and get those ounces
per week we need.

[narrator] Sean's gold fever
started over 20 years ago

during a trip to California.

[Sean]
The first time I found gold,

I was in a river
in Northern California.

I pulled back
the flap on a dredge.

I saw a line of gold
lying across the mat,

and I was absolutely hooked.

I reached in,
I picked that gold up.

Like a marlin hitting a lure.

I mean, bang, I was on

and... [makes sound] fish on.
There was...

My life's never been
the same since.

[narrator] Finding gold

might have rocked
Sean's world,

but bricks and mortar
pay his bills.

[Sean] Real estate
has been wonderful to me.

But there are forces
that are making that

real estate business
extremely difficult,

and it's not financially
as viable anymore.

My wife and I sit down
at the beginning of the month

and it's time
to write some checks

and pay some bills.

Scares the heck out of me.

It's sleepless nights.

I was up last night

thinking about this stuff.

I wanna be able
to not survive but thrive.

And the opportunity that
we have with Freddy and Juan,

I think, we've have a shot
at that.

I don't have a backup plan.

It's this
or possible financial ruin.

That's thick enough
to weld to, isn't it?

-[Freddy] Oh, yeah.
-Or do you want a screw to it?

[Freddy] Fine to weld to it.

[narrator] Juan has cut
all the pieces

for the screen deck.

Now, he must weld them
in place

before Freddy can install
the wire mesh.

At the top
of the second hopper,

the new screen
will divert oversized rock

down a chute

so it can be rerun through
the crusher immediately.

[Juan] So I'll get started
on that surge bin screen

so all the material
go into the surge bin.

Anything that's over
half inch

is gonna go back to the...

to the crusher.

I guess that's it.

This will make it a lot more
efficient, it will be nice.

Well, we essentially put about
four guys out of work, Freddy.

[Freddy]
Four different jobs, yeah.

[Juan] Yeah.
Four different jobs.

[Freddy] But there's lots
of other more beneficial jobs

-for them to do.
-[Juan] Yup.

All right, Fred.
I'mma get back to work.

Okay. Thanks, Juan.

Well, you guys ready

-to hang this?
-[Sean] Yes, sir.

[narrator] With Freddy scouted

the other mine
sites pressing,

Ron and Sean help
and test his design.

[Freddy]
Let's do a test run on it.

You wanna hand me some
of that gravel there?

-Well, you ready?
-[Ron] Yeah.

You ready, Sean?

[Sean] Hold on.
Plugging it in.

[Freddy] There you go.

Take her down
a couple more degrees.

Right now, it's not shaking
quite strong enough.

We're gonna have to pitch
it down just a little bit

for these square rocks.

Okay. Come up.

Come on.

Fire it up!

[machine whirring]

-[Ron] That's worse.
-Yeah.

[Ron] That's [bleep]
locked in though.

[narrator]
A frustrating setback,

as the sharp rock catches
in the mesh screen.

[Sean] Yeah.
Because of all the angles,

-it's all crushed.
-Yeah.

I'm frustrated
on every fix sometimes,

especially when you're behind
the eight ball.

Things take longer
than you think they should

where you planned them.

You just keep your spirits up
and you keep workin'.

I wouldn't mind cuttin'
another inch off your hopper.

[Ron] Okay.

When you're crushing rock,

it's all angular,

so it doesn't flow
like a river rock.

I think Freddy is getting
a little frustrated,

but he's sticking to it,
he says he doesn't...

He's not gonna let it
beat him.

Just square-ass rocks
and just no time left.

Yeah, I don't think
this is gonna [bleep] work.

[bleep]

[dramatic music playing]

-[Sean] Here we go.
-Fire in the hole.

Nope. Shut it off!

Shut it off!

[dramatic music playing]

[Freddy] You can see rocks
still stuck in the screen,

and they're jammed in there,

so it's gonna get worse
the more it runs.

I'm gonna have to bring it
down about 3 more degrees.

Right now,
it's probably 8 degrees.

[Juan] Is any much
coming off of it or no?

-Very little.
-Yeah?

[Freddy]
There's a lot of things
that have to be done

to make this plant
run more efficiently.

If we leave a couple pieces
of the puzzle out here,

we're not gonna get
the efficiency rate

that we'd like to see
out of it,

out of what we're gonna do.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] With the salvaged
wire screen unusable,

Freddy goes back
to the drawing board.

[Freddy] I kind of drew up
a generic punch plate here.

What do you think?
Can you cut me one out?

I'm not liking that
wire cloth on there

-that screen cloth.
-[Juan] Yeah. That's easy.

-We can do that.
-Thank you, sir.

I'll spend
the rest of the afternoon

looking at some
of their other mines.

[Juan] Okay.

All right, Freddy.
Sounds good.

[Freddy] Juan and the guys

will have to carry on
without me

and get these fixes done.

[dramatic music playing]

We got a lot of work
to do to the plant,

but we also gotta try to find
some better ore,

so it's time to get out

and look at
some of the other mines.

So the mine
that we're headed to

is made up of
a few different mines.

And it's like
an underground city.

It's impressive.

[narrator]
After a narrow escape

from the previous mine,

Chad's hoping
he can convince Freddy

his second mine
has potential.

Now, these veins strike
over 5,000 feet in length.

The vein's as wide
as the truck.

[Freddy] What year
did they stop mining here?

[Chad] '42.

[narrator] Completed in 1916,

Chad's other mine extends

300 feet below the surface,

with a labyrinth of tunnels

that chase gold veins
up to 12 feet wide.

In its 26 years of operation,

it produced 67,000 ounces

worth $127 million
in today's money.

[Freddy] So this
is your other spot, huh?

[Chad] Yeah.

We're at
the main hollow shaft.

This goes down 300 feet.

How far does this mine go?

The strike of the vein
is over 5,000 feet.

-It's a deep hole.
-[Freddy] Yeah.

At 300 feet, I'm not building
that long a ladder.

You got any maps
or anything in the mine?

[Chad] Yeah, I do.

Back in the '80s, uh,
some geologists explored

the mine, mapped it,
and then took some samples.

This is one
of the parallel veins

right next to the largest
gold mine in the district

going over 1,250 feet deep.

Your cost of playing with this

are gonna be high.

Your other mine,
your costs are high

when you're underground,
right?

[Chad] Right.

[Freddy]
Maybe a half-ounce a ton

to make a profit.

It ain't gonna work.

It's not even worth
looking at your other mine
sites

if this is the best one
you have.

But what do we think here?

That's gonna be
all dump material?

Dump material over there,

just sitting here
on the surface.

[narrator]
When the old-timers decided

gold ore was too low value,

they dumped the rock in piles
on the surface.

[Freddy] So I'm gonna say
100 feet,

let's average it by 20 feet?

You don't have to haul it
from underground.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Freddy's hunch,

rock left at the entrance
of the mine

known as an ore dump
could be far richer

than what Chad and his crew
are currently mining.

I'm just flippin' a coin,

but I'd test
the old-timers' waste

that they couldn't get
the gold out of.

And I'm serious.
I got a friend,

that's what he does
for a living.

[Harry] Amazing news.

-[Chad] That's pretty rad.
-[Harry] Yeah.

[Freddy] This is where
I'd start,

because there's a whack of it
sitting here.

[Chad] There is.

They didn't have
the jaw crusher sometimes.

You know, some of those
really old mines.

They had to cherry-pick
the highest grade stuff.

-They high graded it by hand.
-Yeah.

Yup.
"No, that's not good enough."

That's only
quarter ounce per ton, right?

We have a few mines
with mine dumps on it.

[Freddy] I guess if this
is a quarter ounce per ton

and just sitting here,
40,000 tons,

we're standing on?

40,000 times .25

equals 10,000 ounces.

[Chad] Yes, sir.

So $17 million worth of gold

you're possibly
standing on right here.

[Harry] I like those numbers.

[Chad] Yeah.
I like those numbers.

If you got more of this.
Who knows?

You may never have to go
underground again.

[narrator]
If the numbers are right,

this dump site could not only
be profitable

ahead of summer,
but gives them capital

to explore the other mines
on their claim.

I'm super happy
what Freddy just told us.

What we have here at the mine

and what we can get
on the surface,

we're excited
to get after it.

[Freddy]
You know, the sky's the limit.

[Chad]
I like the sound of this.

This actually could be
a lifeline

for our team
and for our season.

But the only way to find out
is to do a bulk test.

I don't want the guys
to get too excited.

We can't bank on anything
right now

until we have the numbers
and the gold to prove it.

So it even becomes
more important

for Juan and myself
to get their mill

operating better
than it was in the past

so they can get more material
through per day

and get the gold
in their pockets.

Off to see the wizard.

[dramatic music playing]

[Chad] I'm excited to run
a sample from that dump.

[narrator] Back at the mill,

before Chad
and his investor crew

roll the dice

on the old-timers'
ore dump...

Awesomesauce.

[narrator] They need
to confirm Freddy's hunch

and crush a 5-gallon sample

to see if it contains gold.

[Chad] All right.
So this thing's, um,

gonna get it down to 8 inch.

This is as true of a sample
as we could get.

I love the science
behind hard rock mining,

the geology, the engineering.

That's what has captured
my attention,

and that's why I do what I do.

[dramatic music playing]

It seems like gold fever
is a disease.

Absolutely.

To help control it,

I try to base my hope
on science

and some of the testing
that we do,

because gold fever

can sometimes steer you down
the wrong route.

So you gotta make
good decisions,

you gotta know
for a fact it's there,

you gotta test like crazy,
sample, sample, sample.

That's a good crush there,
Harry.

If you don't,

and you're just going on
that hunch,

there's a really
good chance that

you might be throwing
your money down the drain.

[Harry] Greg, ready for it?

-[Greg] Yeah, it's running.
-Okay. Cool.

[Chad] Yeah.
Let's go get it over there.

[rock music playing]

[Juan]
So we're just finishing up

the punch plate with Freddy.

We have the wire mesh,

but the wire mesh really
didn't work for we want it.

[narrator]
With just two days remaining

at the Gretzner's
hard rock mine,

Juan puts
the finishing touches

on Freddy's new screen
for the surge hopper.

So there it is.

So I'm gonna go
give it to Freddy

so he can get it installed,
keep on workin'.

-It's ready to go in, buddy.
-[Freddy] Nice.

Thank you, sir. It looks good.

[narrator]
Before, oversized rock

collected under the hopper

and had to be removed
by hand.

Now, Freddy's new screen
will divert

oversized rock down a chute,

ready to be rerun
through the crusher.

[dramatic music playing]

[metal clanking]

[Freddy]
What do you think, Juan?

I like it, Freddy.

[Freddy] Can get some rocks
and throw on there.

[Juan] See what it does, huh?

Just getting
the rocks screened out,

so all the material
going into the surge hopper

is the size it needs to be,

and it allows them to re-crush
that material

on the same circuit

with the same ore

so they aren't watering down

another batch of material.

[country music playing]

[Freddy]
Well, the screen is working

but we only had
the one vibrator,

so use what you got,

and there's no
getting one in time.

She may not be
the prettiest girl

at the dance
but she's at the dance.

[Juan] I like it.

[Freddy] It oughta work, huh?

Okay.
Are we ready for milling?

Yeah. Boy, look at the color
of that.

[narrator] With the ore dump
sample crushed,

Greg steps up
to mill the material

into a fine powder
to release the gold.

[Chad] So, Dad,
I got your mask right here,

I'll set it in your screen
so it doesn't blow away.

-All right.
-Yeah.

This has been quite
the seven years.

If this works out,
we're gonna have

a great opportunity
to take your job off

and you'll fulfill your dream.

Yeah. Thanks, Dad.

That's been,
you know, my dream, too.

-You did a lot of work, man.
-Thanks, Dad.

-We got lot more coming up.
-Yeah.

So thank you
for sticking with it

and, you know, keeping us...

keeping us rolling.

Yeah. We all love it.

We haven't let any
of these challenges

that we've faced,
you know, come between us.

All right. Well, let's get
some gold, darn it.

-All right.
-[chuckles]

[Greg]
He's a big part of my life,

and I wanna see
his goals reached.

He's put so much work into it.

And to have him
make this thing work

and maybe quit his job
one day,

it'd be such a blessing.

I would love that.

[narrator]
After milling the ore...

[Chad] Awesome.

[narrator] Greg runs it
through a small sluice.

We get about 87% recovery
on the first run.

All right.
Clean up after this one.

-Hey, funky-doo.
-Hey, honey.

-How are you feeling?
-I'm feeling good.

I brought you a water.

How's your hands feeling?

Yeah, they're okay.

-Yeah?
-Yeah. We'll get by.

You know, mining with Chad

has given Greg
a new sense of purpose.

And he's just a new man

being closer to his son.

This had rock mining
is not easy.

You know, I've seen him
build it from the ground up,

and it's amazing
what they've built.

It's nice to see you
and Chad working together.

Yeah, okay.
Are you kidding me?

-I love it.
-That's just amazing.

We turned
into a hell of a team.

Absolutely.

[Chad] Gonna take
this final pan over.

-[chuckles]
-This is really cool, son.

The results of this test
is very important.

This is...
This is a crucial test.

I'm hoping that
we'll be able to find out

how many grams of gold
we could recover.

From what I'm seeing
in this pan right now,

I am super excited,
because I am seeing some gold.

Yeah, baby.

[laughs]

Man, we need this.

Oh, I can't wait
to show the guys this.

Hey, guys. Grab Freddy,
he needs to see this.

[Sean] What's that?

This might be better
than we were anticipating.

-I can see it from here.
-Oh.

Yup. And this
is from the dump?

This is from the dump, sir.

Well, if that's 10
[indistinct]

we multiply it
by 200 per ton, right?

[Chad] Yes, sir.

That's $300 a ton material.

Okay.

[narrator] Chad could earn
up to $3,000 a day

running this grade of pay
through his plant.

[Freddy] Well guys, that looks
pretty good in the pan

for that dump material.

It's better than what you ran
the first time, it looks like.

Let's run it
on the final test,

and let's learn together
on what lives in it,

how much gold's in it, okay?

All right. Thanks, Freddy.

[Freddy] Yeah.
See you in a bit, guys.

[birds chirping]

[Chad] He ran the math,
and he looked at it

and said, "That's $300 a ton."

-What?
-What?

[Chad] On the dump.

We can literally go and pull
this from the surface.

-Wow.
-That would be amazing.

-Unbelievable.
-That's awesome.

-I'm like, "Really?"
-Man.

-[Ron] That's awesome.
-It's amazing, man.

-Oh, my God.
-[laughs]

It's good. I'm telling you.

-Yeah.
-We need this.

This could not only save
our season now,

but next year.

[Greg] It sounds like
we're sitting on a gold mine.

[chuckles]

So... Literally.

I just did not expect
this to happen.

You... sometimes,
you don't see it.

It takes somebody else's eyes
to show it to you.

Wow.

Where's Freddy?
I need to hug him.

[laughs]

-Good panning.
-Great news.

-Good sluicing.
-Nice.

Oh, thank you.

Seeing that much gold

for such a small amount
of material

tells us that it's possible

that we can be successful
doing this

and making a living at it.

It's never easy,

stuff will always break down,

but we know
that when we persevere

and we sample, sample,
sample, we can do this.

[dramatic music playing]

-Hey, guys.
-Hey.

We're gonna have to do
some grading on this road

before we get
the mini ex here.

[narrator] In the blazing sun
of the Mojave desert,

the Gretzner crew collect ore
from the old timers' dump

for a two-hour run.

Yeah, working out here
in the California desert,

chasing the American dream.

Hopefully, this bulk test
is gonna bear some fruit.

The thought of 10,000 ounces
being here,

this would change the lives
for our team.

We're hopeful
that we'll be able

to run the volume that we need

to get the gold
out of this ground right here.

[Harry] This will be
our last bucket load.

-[Chad] Oh, yeah, we're full.
-[Harry] Both bags are full.

-That's done.
-Secure our load.

There are so much left
in the hills.

Is it easy to get?

Yes.

-Let's go.
-Let's go.

[dramatic music playing]

[Juan] So I was thinking about
coming out the top there.

[narrator] At the Gretzner's
hard rock mill...

What do you think?

[narrator] With just 12 hours

before the final test,

Juan races to finish
the sluice

that will be positioned

after the mill crushes
the rock to a powder.

We're gonna do
a small sluice box

but on top
of that small sluice box,

we're gonna build a little
bit of a screen

to be able to cut
that bigger material out.

[narrator]
To prevent small rocks

disturbing the flow
of gold on the table,

Juan has fabricated
a vibrating screen

to remove them

and made a mini sluice to
catch gold before the table.

-Juan.
-Hey, how are you doing, Greg?

-Oh, doing a lot better.
-Feeling better?

-Yeah. Yeah.
-Happy to hear that, buddy.

You know, we love
the whole dynamic here,

you know, you and your son,

and if we can help you guys,
we wanna help you guys,

you know, reach your goal.

Well, I can see you
already have immensely,

-so again, thank you so much.
-Hey, no problem.

From the bottom
of my heart, man.

-Hey, thank you.
-All right.

-I'll see you in a bit.
-I like your setup, too.

-Thank you.
-[Greg] It's pretty bitchin'.

Take care, bud.

Working alongside
of Freddy and Juan,

at first, I was,
I mean, nervous,

you know, it was like,
"Oh, my gosh.

It's Freddy and Juan."

But then, when I saw
their work ethics

and they're just
regular guys,

it just makes you
really happy.

[country music playing]

[Juan] What do you think
of that little guy, Freddy?

[Freddy] I like it.

[Juan] I narrowed it up
a little bit

so it would fit
inside that trough.

[Freddy] That's perfect, yeah.

I just finished up the screen,
all it's gonna do is cut out

anything that's eighth
of an inch and bigger,

gonna cut it out
into a bucket,

the smaller material
in the water

should still travel
down the sluice box,

and be able to get recovered
here in the little riffles

we're gonna put in, and then
make its way to the table.

[country music playing]

[Juan] I need to drop this
a little more in the front.

Yup. You do.

Yeah, it's hitting
the bottom of that chute,

taking away
some of the vibration.

You know, this is not ideal.

You know, typically,
Freddy and I

like to get done
a little quicker

so that way we have a little
more time to work out...

Iron out any bugs
if there's any.

But unfortunately,
we didn't have that

with this build.

[country music playing]

[Juan] Well, I'm excited
to see it run.

-Looking forward to it.
-[Freddy] Yeah, me, too.

It's been a hard work, though.

-It's been a busy week.
-It's been hard,

hot, lot of work.

Mmm-hmm.

Get the material
in here and run a test.

Let's do it.

Well guys, what do you think?

Ready to do a test run?

-Yes, sir.
-Yes, sir.

Well, I hope this material

has got as much gold in it
as that test

that you guys crushed
in that little crusher.

[Juan] Let's do it.

-[Chad] We got fuel.
-[Freddy] Turn it on, Juan.

Lining up the jaw crusher.

Oh, I am tickled to see
all these new fixes work.

[Chad] Clear the belt.

-I'll set a timer.
-Yeah.

Two hours.

Light it up, Harry.

[dramatic music playing]

[Chad] All right.
Going uphill first batch.

[narrator] Hard rock sourced
from the old timers' ore dump

is loaded into the hopper.

That's perfect. I like it.

[narrator] Previously,
with the chain pull,

it was a four-minute
four-man job

and ore could compact
in the hopper.

[Freddy] The way
that eccentric's designed,

there's two weights
on each side,

so as we bring those back
opposite of each other,

you can slow down that feed
down, we can speed it up.

[narrator] Now, the winch
takes less than 20 seconds

to unload the bag

and the eccentric motor

aided by adjustable airbags

helps throw the rock directly
into the jaw crusher.

Freddy, it's working good.

I don't have to rake anymore.

[Chad speaking]

[narrator] In the first test,
oversized rock

clogged up the milling
process in the second hopper

and on the gold table, losing
valuable time and gold.

Look how fine this is

with the...
With the oversize knocked off.

Well, that screen down there
didn't work at all.

You had to sit there
with a hammer,

so now we're getting it out
of there

when it needs to be
out of there.

[Juan] Yeah.

[narrator] Now, Freddy
and Juan have fitted screens

throughout the system

which will filter out
any small rocks

that block the finer gold
from settling on the table.

[Chad] Oh, yeah,
look at the line of gold.

[Freddy speaking]

Yeah.

And it's not competing
for the same space

-that the gold is, you know.
-[Juan] Exactly.

I'd rather deal with it here
than down here.

[Chad] Absolutely.

System's primed.

[narrator] Outside,
while the test continues...

Here comes the water.

[narrator]
Harry is trying to rescue

another valuable commodity...

water.

[Chad] Can you check the table
and see if we got good flow.

Go look.

All right.
I'll check the water. Copy.

[Harry] It's not pumping
at all right now.

[Freddy] So what's going on?

[Harry] For some reason, this
sand screw stopped performing.

[narrator] A sand screw
is able to recycle water

for the gold table

by separating it
from the gravel.

The spiral of metal,
known as a weir,

slowly turns upwards
carrying the sodden material.

As it lifts,
the water runs down

from the weir blade

to collect
in the calming pool below.

The gravel sticks
to the blades

and travels up to the top

becoming drier tailings.

Oh, that's all [bleep] up.

Oh, [bleep],
it's plugged solid.

Look how soupy this is.

It's probably 30% water.

Out here, every drop of water
counts for you guys.

-I'll bet you.
-[Harry] This is true.

[Freddy] We can save
a bunch of his water here.

Right now, it's not working.
It's too steep, for one.

It's set about eight degrees

steeper than
the steepest point

you should have
a sand screw out.

Something I was thinking
my way through,

figure out a way
to make it work.

It's 26 degrees.

First thing I seen
and I'm like,

"That thing's way too steep."

So I think
we pick this end up,

and then we just shovel out
from under it

and then keep coming down
with it

-until we get probably 15.
-Yes, sir.

Well, let's lower it down.

[Harry] Clear.

Keep going.

We're down.

Right now, we're at about 19
and a half degrees,

which is a lot better than 26,

because you seen it would
not carry your material up

at that pitch.

Well, let's put some material
in it and some water.

See what it does.

[narrator] Freddy's simple fix
could save the crew time

and over 50% of their water.

[intense music playing]

We got a problem down here.

It's still blinding down
in the bottom.

I don't know.

I really don't know.

Well, I have to figure
something out

and I don't have time
for you guys right now.

Just leave me alone
with the cameras for a bit.

[intense music playing]

[Freddy]
Vulture gold mine, Juan.

[narrator]
While traveling the Lower 48

helping struggling miners,

Freddy and Juan take a break

at the famous
Hard Rock Vulture mine.

There's 5,000 people here,
Juan at one time.

[Juan]
Man, think about the families
that lived out here,

the men that worked out here.

-[Freddy] Men that died here.
-[Juan] Yeah.

It was a tough way to make
a living back then.

Still is.

I've worked underground enough
to know how tough it is.

-Better not be claustrophobic.
-[Juan] Nope. Nope.

[Freddy] When the lights
go out, it's darkness.

[Juan] Oh, you've never felt
darkness like that.

[Freddy]
There is no darkness like it.

No. [laughs]

In Colorado,
you'd go in at, like,

12,000 feet, be 40 below zero,

and get down to the bottom,

it's 110.

Every bit of you is just wet.

That's why they call it
the dry up top.

Yeah, exactly. [laughs]

These old timers
were tough, Freddy.

Damn tough.

It's a rough life back there,
but I guarantee

if we'd had
the opportunity to...

-Yeah.
-We'd probably been there.

You know, I think
it's kind of in our blood.

-[Freddy] Is that allure?
-[Juan] Yeah, exactly.

[laughs]

[country music playing]

[Freddy] Eyeballs.

[tool whirring]

[Freddy] Is it scary of me
cutting your machine up
like this?

[Harry] There's a lot
of things that scare me,

but cutting a piece
of metal's not one of them.

[narrator] At the Gretzner
mine in California,

an hour into the test,
Freddy spotted a problem.

Takes a lot of resources
for these guys

to get water out here.
They have to haul it,

so every bit we can save

is gonna save them money
down the line and time

where they could be doing
other things,

such as finding
better gold deposits.

I'm gonna take a little
less out than I initially was,

just in case your material
doesn't like it.

We can always take more out.

[narrator] In order
for the sand screw to work,

Freddy cuts a drainage
channel down one weir

to let more water drain out.

Well, let's dump
some sand and water in it

and see what it does.

[Harry] Roger that.
Sand's coming.

[Freddy] Well, hopefully
this works here

'cause we're running out
of time fast.

I'm really curious to see
that plug working.

That's something
I would've never thought of.

That's why these guys
are out here.

[Juan]
How's it working, Freddy?

Is it working good? Nice.

Look at the water
how it's heaping, heaping,

heaping, heaping,
then look up here.

[Juan]
Yeah, it cuts it out by a lot.

[Freddy] It's cutting 90%
of the water out of it

from down here.

[narrator] Freddy's idea
to drop the angle

of the sand screw

and cut a drainage channel
in the weir

has paid off.

-Huge difference, huh?
-[Juan] Looking good.

[Freddy] Just from that
little gap right there.

[Juan] It's crazy
how something so simple

-works so well, Freddy.
-[Freddy] Yeah.

Well, if this thing
keeps working like it is now,

you just lost a job out here.

[Harry]
I don't mind that part.

-[Freddy] Yup. Welcome.
-And much appreciated.

[Harry] Yeah, working
with Freddy's been cool.

Anytime I meet someone new

and work with someone
I haven't before,

to get an opportunity to see

some of the tricks
of the trade

and been watching 'em
carefully,

so that's been nice.

-[Ron] How's it going?
-[Greg] Not bad. No visible.

-No?
-But that's usual.

[Freddy] All right.
Shut it off there, guys,

'cause by the time
this gets up to the belt,

it will probably be
exactly two hours.

[Chad] Right.

All right.
Let's shut her down.

[narrator] In the two-hour
test run,

the Gretzner crew has run
double the amount

of pay through its mill.

There's gold in it.

Right here.

-A whole band of gold.
-Right here.

Up here is a bunch of gold.

[Harry] Water's off.

[Freddy] These guys have been
great to work with.

You know, they're not lazy,

you know, they aren't sitting
on their thumbs.

They wanna get involved

and that's good.

Without that involvement
from this group,

we wouldn't have got
the amount of things done

that we got done.

[country music playing]

[Freddy] How's it going, guys?

-[Chad] Hey, Freddy.
-[man] Hey. There they are.

-[Chad] Hey, Juan.
-You got the gold all dried?

-Yeah, we do.
-Oh, yeah.

Let's do it. [Juan]

During the first
two hour test run?

[Chad] Yes.

It wasn't good, you know,
for that amount of labor

that you guys put into it.

I know it's labor of love,
but when you're going broke,

it's not worth it.

Well, weigh it up, Juan.

[Juan]
Well, let's let Chad do it.

-[Freddy] Yeah.
-[Juan] There you go, Chad.

[Freddy] It's your mine,
you do the honors.

[narrator]
To make the mine viable,

Chad must produce
at least a quarter
of an ounce of gold.

-[Juan] There we go.
-[Freddy] Okay.

[Juan] 0.01.

[Freddy]
We're past what we did...

-Yeah, there we are.
-what we did last time.

-[Juan] Yup, yup.
-[Freddy] Yup.

There's still a lot
of gold in the jar.

-Wow.
-0.07, 0.09, 0.10, 0.11.

-[Sean] Wow. Look at that.
-[Sallie] Wow.

[Freddy] 0.20, 0.23,

-0.25, 0.26.
-.26.

[man] .26.

[cheers]

[Freddy] Just over
a quarter of an ounce.

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

-Yeah.
-That's sweet.

[narrator] Worth almost $500.

Freddy and Juan
have increased

the Gretzner's gold by 767%.

So it's dang near 10 times
the amount of gold

in that pan
with a lot less work.

[narrator] Freddy's gamble
to run the old-timer's

ore dump has paid off.

Remind us again,
what was your goal

for the rest of the season?

We got to hit 20 ounces

before summer heats us up,
you know.

Okay. And we don't have
a whole lot of time left

-to do that, but--
-Yeah. Maybe six weeks.

[Freddy]
That's achievable, easily.

You're gonna exceed your goal.

If you can get a 10-hour day
running here, right?

At 1.1 tons per hour,

that's 11 tons a day, right?

If you kept it
running every day,

that's 100,000 bucks a month.

[narrator] In just 30 days,

the crew has the potential

to beat their 20-ounce
season goal twice over.

That's no joke.
That's some serious money.

[Sallie] Yeah. That's amazing.

[Freddy] There's 40,000 tons
there roughly.

You'll be grinding
on that stuff for a while.

[Chad] What do
you guys think about that?

-That is awesome.
-[Chad] That's massive.

-[Greg] Wow.
-I gotta...

I couldn't be happier,
you know,

because what we've done here
may change these guys' future

and seeing the smiles
on their faces

when we weigh the gold,

you know, nothing beats that.

Oh, my gosh, that's so pretty.

Right?

Gold mining has definitely

brought my son and I
so much closer.

I wouldn't trade it
for the world.

It didn't just solidify
my son and me,

but our whole team.

Our whole team, so yeah,
one hell of a week.

We're excited for you guys.

You know, honestly,
we see that,

it makes everything we did

and all the hard work
you guys have put in,

you know, worth it,
because now
it's a possibility.

This is a real possibility.

Freddy and I are actually
leaving today

knowing that the adjustments
we made in their mill,

they at least have the tools
to be able to make
themselves successful.

Stay in touch, guys.

Chad, good working
with you, buddy.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

-Take care.
-Take care. Bye.

I'm really excited about this.

The potential now
with what I saw today.

Prior to that gold weigh,

we were running this
out of our pockets,

because we weren't making
enough gold

to basically even pay
the electric bill.

Now, that's off the table.

With what Freddy and Juan
have designed for us

and the efficiencies
that we have

and this gold dump
that Freddy discovered

is gonna put us
in the profit column.

The future definitely looks
bright in this regard

considering the gold recovery
we just got

and what we're potentially
standing on,

but I'm gonna go through it
and make it happen first.

And then... And then
I'll do the happy dance.

Our future is wide open.

Our future is so bright,
we got to wear shades.

Like it's gonna be wonderful.

[Chad] Well, this week
has been a roller coaster.

The gold recovery that we have

and now what that means
for our team,

what matters most to us
is relationships.

And I think, we'll...

We have a strong relationship
now than even ever.

Our future looks bright, guys.

Let's go make it happen.

[Greg] What do you say
we go get some...

-Go get some gold?
-[Ron] Yeah.

-Let's go get some gold.
-[Greg] All right.

[truck honks]

[upbeat music playing]