On the Bering sea
the homestretch of
winter mining has arrived.
After his season turned
upside down by a brutal El nino...
This ice is not good.
Mining regulations mandate every
miner must be off the ice by April 15th...
We got a lot of work to do yet.
Before the melting ice
becomes too deadly.
Everything's melting and turning to.
Leaving the fleet less than one week
to put their plans into action.
Time to get some gold, baby.
We gotta make it down
Finish strong...
We're back on the hot gold. Yeah!
Stay on it.
And not crack under pressure.
You're gonna piss me off.
We are literally sinking. We
gotta get outta here right now.
If this doesn't work, I'll have to start over.
Stressful? Little bit.
I've been building my empire
up, and building and building.
Now I'm putting it all on the line.
If everything works out
the way it's supposed to,
I won't be broke.
But if this doesn't work
out, I'll have to start over.
After weeks of struggle,
Mr. gold finally has his ice operation
booming on his home turf of tomcod.
Thirty-five.
Nice job, guys.
I think we've done
pretty well for ourselves.
Now... We've got some gold to suck up.
Shawn's got Joe and
his team cranking away.
Man, it's looking really good.
While he focuses inland
on the biggest gamble of his career.
I'll never get down to the pay
dirt in time if I don't get this running.
The new inland mine
encompasses over 9,000 acres.
And somewhere,
hidden on these grounds,
is the site of the
original known gold rush.
It's assumed the old
prospectors left nothing behind.
But Mr. gold's research suggests
they only took gold from the top layers.
While 70 to 80 feet deep,
a fortune bigger than any ever
seen and known lies dormant.
And with modern mining
technology it's there for the taking.
But it'll take every penny
Shawn has to find out if he's right.
Stressful? Little bit.
Right now, we're getting set
up, getting the pump in there.
We gotta make it down
We're way behind.
The plan was to make
a ton of gold on the ice
and then start breaking
ground on the inland.
But 56, it was a total nightmare
and threw us way off schedule.
Keep finding all kinds of mine shafts,
and railroad tracks, picks and axes.
I'm excited.
Now we have enough
ounces to start digging.
We do well on this and I think
there could be 54,000 ounces
just in this area that we're working.
But there's a problem.
We got a lot of work to do yet.
The pit, it's filled full of water.
Almost 60 feet at the deepest part.
We gotta drain it.
'Cause with spring coming, in a
matter of days it's gonna start melting.
And if you don't beat it before it thaws
it turns everything into a soup
and you can't load it.
So we gotta do it now
while there's still time.
This is the suction line,
it goes out into the water.
The screen keeps the sticks
and all the debris out of the intake
so the pumps can pump clean.
This needs to happen
fast, a day or two tops.
And the boys, they gotta keep
that gold coming in on the ice.
'Cause with equipment and labor
it's gonna cost a small fortune.
If anything goes wrong during
this process it could ruin me.
Intake's going on.
Coming together good.
We get the discharge hooked up,
make sure we got it all
piped to go over there,
get the water out of the hole,
get to the gold at the bottom of the pit.
Yeah! We're pumping.
One step closer to getting the
gold out of the bottom of this hole.
We got the water pump setup.
Please just keep running.
Please just keep running.
While Shawn finally breaks
ground on the inland mine,
out on the ice...
Okay. You ready to rock and roll?
Plan's super simple, we're
gonna get back on the hot gold...
Okay, let's bring it back
into the box to right here.
And the consequences are extreme high.
In winter's homestretch
reaper nation may finally
be hitting their stride.
Sluice box is all setup,
everything's up and running.
Last time out the team
brought their old sluice box,
the coffin, back from the dead.
Now, the captain hopes it
brings their fortunes back to life
as a big bill is about to come due.
I'm feeling lucky today. So we're
gonna get gold. Everything's good.
This situation is simple, we need 50
ounces of gold for our summer season
to pay for the crawler to be ready.
We're nowhere near that
much and we're running
out of days, but help has finally arrived.
Our old sluice box leaked like a faucet.
Yeah.
We were losing tons of gold.
So we brought back our old coffin
sluice box from a few years ago.
We tested it, and it looks
like it solved our problem.
That's actually really good for an hour.
And right now, we're on a hot pay streak
and the material looks amazing.
So John can go down
and hopefully we can start
keeping the gold that we find.
This is the start of a hot
finish for reaper nation.
Damn.
It just looks worse because of the wind.
The wind's blowing from that direction
and it's really making it look bad.
Well, hey. You know
what? Don't look at it.
I mean, it doesn't look that
back. Just look over there.
It looks great over there.
So the coffin's leaking bad.
I bet you there's gold in
that box at the end of the day.
It's old, it's made of wood,
and it's been pounded with
material the last few days.
And also, we didn't end up caulking it.
That could have been too much for it.
That is hilarious.
But we're running out of time.
It's better to work with sluice box
than try to take the time to fix it.
John, how's it going down there?
Yeah! Good job!
At the end of the day, we're
gonna see where we stand.
Everything's gonna be great.
Okay, Paul's calling me now.
Okay.
Paul, how you doing, my man?
I can kind of hear you.
Let me turn this down.
We're out on the ice right now.
We got a couple little problems, homie.
But don't... Nothing I can't handle.
I've got a crack crew of
miners with me right now.
We are definitely working hard.
Okay. Well, I'm not there yet.
I've given Paul half the money he needs
to upgrade the crawler for summer.
So he's halfway done.
But he needs me to hit
or we're gonna have a useless,
half-built crawler on our hands.
Look, everything is working good.
We're gonna come up with the money.
Like, I'm looking at the sluice box
right now and everything's going great.
You know, I can just see the gold
flowing through there right now.
Shut the up.
How's the crawler coming?
Okay, we don't have the money yet.
We don't have the money yet.
Don't be nervous, homie!
I take care of everything.
Thank you, buddy.
Okay, well, we gotta get to work.
We're working hard right now.
Okay. I'll talk to you later.
Okay, bye.
- Well, that went like.
- Yeah.
I don't know if we're gonna have his
money at the rate we're going, you know?
It's gonna be an interesting day.
Time to get some gold, baby.
We're just getting the
final pieces together.
Getting ready. Got the holes
cut and hose is in the water.
And we're gonna be rock and rolling.
This winter, no one has been hotter
than current gold count
leader, Chris mccully.
Yeah.
And now brimming with confidence
he's taking on a new risk as he
sets his sights higher than ever before.
We're on fire.
I've been aiming for 100 ounces
and I think we're gonna crush that.
So I'm gonna go for more by a lot.
When we get the new
crawler for the summer,
we're gonna we gonna launch it off
the north back, which is my landing craft.
So I really wanna
upgrade it in a serious way.
I'm gonna replace the old
frame with a bigger one,
and I'm going to install a
new state-of-the-art sluice box.
Fire it up.
So I'm going for double the
gold. From 100 to 200 ounces.
It's gonna be tight,
but I think we can do it.
If we don't, I'm gonna
have a lot of unpaid bills.
Okay. It's your turn.
All right. Sounds good, buddy.
Get ready.
Wilson dove yesterday,
and I dove last night,
now it's time for Geoff to dive.
All right, g. It's showtime, yeah.
We've been going nonstop on this box.
We're gonna have a
monster cleanup today.
Today's gonna be a good day
'cause I brought both left boots.
That's how you know
it's gonna be a good day.
Your boots don't knock no more?
Boots don't knock no more.
How's that ground down there so far?
Yeah. Copy that.
Wow!
Whoo!
In winter's final days...
We got on some really good gold
in that other hole.
Yep.
That's a lot of digging.
The adkison camp is on the move.
Come on. Come back, move back.
And on target to hit their goal.
You got a few more feet, if you want.
We may be down to one
diver, but we're hitting our stride.
We tapped into a smoking hot pay streak
and we're seeing the best
numbers of the season.
- That's a nice one right there.
- Awesome.
But now, we're following
that pay streak to a new hole.
Bons temps rouler, as
they say in Louisiana.
Let the good times roll.
We found a flat spot out
here where the ice is thick.
Okay, let's hope this
one fills up a little bit more.
Okay, watch your feet.
I'm gonna start this b*tch up.
Already threw the
chain. I think it walked off.
Hold on, let's set it right here.
Yep, Roger.
Gary's feeling the pressure
of being our only diver.
And he gets frustrated easily.
Especially when he's dealing
with inexperienced people.
He wants things done the right
way. And he'll let you know it.
I'm about to tighten them back down.
Dude.
And Chris, he's inexperienced,
he's overly emotional, he's overeager,
and he's a know-it-all.
That's made for some
tough times this season.
So, Chris, that's number one priority.
Don't get that thing wrapped.
Okay. All right, I'm telling you!
- Why are you...
- just listen!
Idiot.
It's gonna be a challenge, boys.
Let's see if this works.
I'm exhausted just taking
this thing out of the hole.
g*n it. Come on back.
Yeah.
Believe so. Ready? Yeah.
Chris?
You did just put that mother side down,
like I told you not to do
it, and you did it anyway.
You'll breaking this mother.
You don't wanna listen to me. I
don't give a what you do, then.
What the?
You wanna see what I did mother?
Move outta my way. What am I saying?
I picked it up by the handle.
I picked the saw up like this.
Like this. And I set it in there like that.
- No you did not.
- You're gonna piss me off.
Like, somebody else just
came here and flipped it over?
It was the other way and I flipped it over.
Just trying to talk to you.
Being reasonable about it.
All you said was, "hey,
you're doing it wrong.
If you carry it, do it like this.
Hey, you're up. Hey, don't put it like that."
You think I would put
the saw upside down?
I'm done. I'm done.
Gary, you wanna micromanage
how I hold my when I take a piss.
You, dude. I know what I'm doing.
I'm showing you how to do it.
I'm giving you enough confidence
to get in the hole, in the water.
Not my fault you yourself up.
Coming up too damn
fast, that's a diver error.
What a dumb-a*s right
now. Pissing me off.
Yeah, no. I'm not dealing with it.
All right. Okay. Everybody
needs to chill right the out.
I gotta keep my crew together.
You guys don't want to follow my lead,
I don't really care to have
you around, you know?
We gotta get this settled down.
At the adkison camp,
tensions have boiled over.
We've all got our quirks, right?
Gary, he's got some
quirks to him. As do I.
So, I'm just trying to keep
this whole -boree all packed together
and finish out this season.
When personalities clash,
productivity goes in the toilet.
I just lost it today.
I think I've been bottling it in
for like, weeks, you know? Like...
And that's what's happening.
My crew is yelling and screaming
at each other instead of mining.
That's my job.
I do the yelling and screaming,
and they do the diving.
That's not gonna put gold in the box.
I have no time for it.
Well. Well, man. I don't
even know what to do.
I don't know. I definitely
don't wanna be a quitter.
But that's what I would be.
You can only take so much insanity.
I feel like I'm turning into a crazy
person being around a crazy person.
You know?
Gold mining has broken a lot of souls.
There are very few people
who are cut out for this.
Most don't last more
than about a heartbeat.
So, I gotta make sure my team
can hang tough or else we're done.
I tried to get along with him.
I tried to like, balance
this line where I'm like,
treating him like a nice guy.
And I really tried to show him
the respect that he, you know,
that he feels that he deserves and I,
but he is just insanely negative
and constantly micromanaging
Vernon, you're not
holding your stick correctly.
You need to hold it up about two more
that's the kind of... it
just... it never ends. And
I know you need him more than
you need me right now, I believe.
Well, I need both of you.
But fact is, I need him
more than I need you.
So if the two of you
can't get along, then...
Well, the writing's on the wall.
I know he's hard to work with. Yeah.
But on the other hand,
y'all are all a pain in the a*s.
- Yeah.
- Including you.
Sometimes you don't listen too good.
I apologize for letting you
no, you don't gotta
apologize to me for anything.
We've come to the end of
Chris' brief run on the Bering sea.
All the tension, and heartache, and grief,
getting the hell out of this
nuthouse might be the best thing
that's ever happened to him.
Well, fire that thing up,
Chris. Let's get outta here.
Hopefully, this will take all the drama out
of the team and we can get back to mining.
Back on land...
Go check on this pump.
See how much water
we got out of the pit.
Mr. Gold is racing against the clock.
Yeah, that's coming down.
Ha! Yeah!
You can see where the
water... How high it was before.
I gotta get the excavator fired up,
get over here, get some
of this ice out of the way.
I'm dealing with a lot right now.
The thaw's coming fast
and I gotta be here every day to make sure
things are moving in the right direction.
And I got Joe and the
team on the ice without me.
I'm praying they've got
tons of gold coming in
so I can pay for all the
costs of the inland mine.
It's stressful, but that's gold mining.
We've got all this ice in the way.
We've got to get all
this ice out of the hole
so we can keep moving the intake down
and the pump down and keep
we've got to get down to bedrock.
Instead of digging dirt, we're digging ice.
Moving along good.
Got about all the ice out of the way.
I'm getting ready to
move the pump down.
All right.
Come on.
There we go.
Yeah. Yeah, got it.
Got the pump dropped down.
Water's got to come out of the pit.
No ifs, ands or buts.
Yeah!
All right.
Now they're a step
closer to getting that gold.
Hey, John.
Okay, buddy.
For over four hours, the
gold has been peaking.
Idle down!
And for reaper nation,
the coffin has been leaking.
See how much material
is on the ground?
There is a load of
material in front of the box.
The coffin's been leaking
more than the last sluice box
and it's made the ice like a lake.
Everything's sinking in the slush.
It's a mess.
Josh.
We're sinking. We're sinking fast.
We've got to get out of here right now.
Everything's cool. Let's get out of here.
Okay!
This is turning into one of a cluster.
Okay, let's pack up!
One of these days, we're
going to have a great day.
I promise you.
8 miles west...
Good day today.
Got water pumping in the pit,
and Joe and star are out here.
The boys called. They
said the box is loaded,
and I'm coming to clean up the gold.
Juggling the inland mine
and his ice operation,
Mr. Gold is checking
the team's progress.
Yeah.
Payday.
How's it going, Joe?
Yeah.
Looking good already.
Pickers.
There you go.
Nice job, guys.
That's what it's about right there.
Joe and star dog crushing it,
that's exactly what I need.
Looks good.
I'm overseeing the inland,
this gold, it's gonna
keep everything running.
Let's load 'er up and head to the house,
clean this up and see
the fruits of the labor.
Yeah.
They're k*lling it.
We're gonna make a lot of gold this year.
After nearly 6 hours...
Sweet. What a great day.
Team mccully is still charging hard
towards their new season target.
The dive this way
looks... it looks really good.
When I got down here,
this spot over here,
I got one of those troughs
and it's got big yellow gravel.
Yeah!
All right. You wanna take
a quick look at the box?
You can see gold all in the corner.
Look at the little guy sitting right here.
Jeff absolutely k*lled it today.
I mean, the box is loaded.
With all the hours that's in the box,
the scale is gonna light up.
We're going for 200 ounces this season.
It may seem crazy,
but I think we can do it.
I squeezed every lemon
drop out of this day,
and I'm proud of that, so.
Not a lot of miners can do that, so.
I'm proud of it.
Wow!
Chris mccully is happy.
We're going to check
my Instagram account.
And now, it's another
social hour with Vernon.
Let's see what the intelligentsia out there
has to say about my world.
No.
We'll see you next time
for another social hour with Vernon.
Bye-bye.
I'm hoping to see a nice big pile.
We've got $60,000 to $100,000 a week
going out right now on the inland mine.
I need every ounce I can get.
Shawn's inland project
has started pumping.
Well, we gotta fire this noisy thing up
and watch the gold grow.
And now, he's hoping to
see gold piling up on the scale
after his team's effort on the ice.
I've already spent a fortune
gaining access to the inland mine,
and when the pit's finally drained,
I'm gonna be spending a ton more.
Not looking bad.
$500, $500, $500.
The gold from this winter, it's critical.
That's startup money
I need to work that pit.
Hopefully, Joe and the
boys were on it today.
Yeah.
That's good and dry.
Yeah, it looks like it.
Pretty nice.
Moment of truth.
Well, here we go.
Yeah. Booyah. It looks good.
27.8 ounces is worth 65 grand.
And Joe helps the team move
closer to their 100-ounce goal.
Keep it up.
Nice job.
The tomcod, man.
That's where it's at.
Fifty-six, we spent weeks on it,
and we were nowhere near our goal.
But since we switched
back to the tomcod,
we've been raking it in.
Between ice and the inland,
things are starting to click.
Well, I've had about
enough fun for one day.
Let's get the hell out of here.
Yep, hard work does pay off.
Across town...
So it's a sad day at the reaper camp.
It looks like less than an ounce.
Despite a productive
dive from Yukon John,
reaper nation faces a sobering reality.
I mean, we're all thinking we're seeing it.
But we're not catching it.
Today we hit rock-bottom.
We need way more gold
for the crawler project.
I know we were on good ground.
None of it made it in the box.
Okay, here we go, ounce for weight.
Moment of notice.
- 0.8.
- 0.8.
0.8 ounces is worth about 1,800 bucks.
And for the Kellys,
the coffin may have
been the kiss of death.
I thought the coffin was gonna
breathe life into our season.
One bad cleanup will break
up a crew so fast, it's insane.
But now I'm worried the
crew will start losing faith
if I don't turn this around.
I'm also worried the
crawler's never gonna happen.
This is a science.
You just got to figure it out.
Trial and error.
We're not scientists.
We'll go back to the old sluice,
do what we can to fix it and fight on.
Things are looking bad.
All we can do is keep pushing forward.
If it gets any worse, you know, like,
we're gonna be on food stamps.
What did I do to deserve this life?
Down the road...
Cleaning gold.
I feel good.
With new bills to pay,
nome's young g*n
needs to hit the bull's-eye
the rest of the season.
Let's see what I got...
or what we got here.
Wow.
Jeff, come look at this, dude.
Sick!
- There it is. Lumps.
- Dude, that's...
That's cake.
That's good stuff right there.
So far, it's looking good.
All right, dude. Little cleanup.
- Finish it up.
- Let's finish it up.
- Weigh it!
- Let's do it.
that's more gold than
we've racked up all year.
Hey!
- Hey! 34.7!
- Boom, 34.34.7.
Wow, we're getting better, baby.
We're getting better.
34.7 ounces is worth over 81 grand.
And just like that, 200 ounces
may not be such a crazy goal after all.
Dang!
That clean up right there was awesome.
What a k*ller team.
We're just nonstop this season.
We're definitely going to see 200
ounces before this winter is over.
I don't think there's
anything that we can't do.
Yes!
Bam!
Wow, man.
Wow.
Chris mccully breaks into triple digits
as Mr. Gold revs up for the final push.
Next time...
Gary's getting his ya-yas off.
On Bering sea gold.
Right now, we've got a few days left.
Hopefully, we're heading
in the right direction.
Either there's gonna
be a bunch of pay dirt
or there's not.
Whoo!
Yes, sir!
Yeah! Look at that picker, dude.
Come on up, Gary.
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18x10 - Downside Up
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The show follows boats equipped with various setups to achieve gold mining in a summertime, cold northern latitude, shallow water, ocean environment.
The show follows boats equipped with various setups to achieve gold mining in a summertime, cold northern latitude, shallow water, ocean environment.