08x13 - Lost Gold

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
on this "gold rush"...

**

**

If we didn't have
bad luck...

Feeder's gone.
The sluices are gone.

...we wouldn't have
any luck at all.

-Holy [bleep]!
-Whoa!

Todd: hunter's got it
under control.

-Hunter!
-[Bleep]!

Hunter:
holy [bleep]!

**

What happens
if we fall short?

Rick:
parker, shut it down!

**

-[Bleep]!
-Whatcha doing?

I got nothing to hide.

**

**

**

**

Narrator: in the klondike,
after 3 1/2 months,

Tony beets is finally starting
to take his dredge apart.

**

**

So far, tony has failed
to ship a major piece

Of the dredge's structure
back up river,

And time is running out.

**

**

Yeah.

You could knock down
some of the small stuff,

But there's some
big pieces on here.

**

That stacker just looks heavy,
getting that down.

Up there will be a bit
of a [bleep], too.

It'll be some creative
disassembly.

**

Narrator: first up...

...the one-ton pulley block.

Christie:
are we ready, tony?

**

This wants to go!

[ Metal creaking and scraping ]

**

**

Come on!

**

**

Yeah.

This is the most
difficult piece so far.

It's the boulder chute.

Narrator:
the reinforced boulder chute

Carries large rocks away
from the dredge's trommel.

Christie: this is the heaviest
piece on this side,

It's kind of intertwined between
the wall and the roof trusses.

We are gonna pick it up
a bit, swing it back,

Up a bit more, and then out.

**

Okay. Up?

It's gonna be tricky.

**

Winch it up.

Come on you...

Man #1:
yeah! Okay!

Up, sheamus!

Oh, this stupid winch.

Stop swinging [bleep].

No, don't swing that way.

**

Whoa! Whoa!
Sheamus!

**

**

[ Metal creaking,
chains rattling ]

Come on, old girl.

You can do it.
Come on.

Almost there.

**

Good!

**

**

Todd:
we've got two clamps running.

We are still in the game.

Narrator:
in colorado, todd hoffman
is mining on two fronts.

**

At sacramento,
hunter hoffman is running dirt

From the jewelry box
through monster red.

I want to put a lot of yards
through this plant.

I want to see gold in the box
at the end of the day.

Narrator:
and at fair play, freddy dodge
is operating rusty red.

We've got nine cleats
left that we can sluice here.

And right now, gold's going
in that sluice box.

Rusty red's going.

We are getting good gold
out of monster red.

You know what, if we get
a third plant running,

We could have the most
profitable season

That we've ever had.

Narrator: todd has been running
the jewelry box for five weeks.

Last week, freddy dodge got
fair play back up and running.

His new permit from the county
also gave them access

To another 30 acres
of virgin ground.

**

Now we have
all of this new ground.

And nobody's ever touched it
with a piece of equipment.

We're the first ones that
have been here in 100 years

'Cause look at the size
of those trees.

Spinks: yeah.

This could be our big push,

Push to the end,
right here, man.

This year, todd planned to run
three wash plants at once.

Todd: hey guys,
I'll wait up here.

Narrator:
his new land could be the key
to a successful season

If it has good gold.

Yeah, you know,
at this point in the season,

We don't have time
to run any crappy dirt.

So, we're hoping
that this material's
got good gold in it.

If it does, that means
we've got a mountain of pay.

**

All right.

**

-How's it looking?
-About to find out, todd.

**

Holy [bleep].

**

[ Exhales ]
-what did we find?

It looks really good.

Quite a few colors in there.

Yeah,
look at that one.

Super, super fine,
but there's a good bit of it.

That's catchable.

That's actually
a pretty good pan.

We're gonna be able
to mine this whole thing.

-Okay.
-Yeah.

Why don't we
drag double trouble up here

Onto the top of the hill?
-Yeah.

All right.
Let's do it.

**

This is
the old plant.

Narrator: last season,
todd rented a third wash plant

From local miner mike pfister.

We named it
double trouble.

But six weeks ago...

It's no good!
It's no good!

We've got
to shut this down.

Narrator: ...todd broke the deal
and stopped running it

When his cleanups took a dive.

**

Dodge: what the hell,
todd?

**

Feeder's gone.

Feeder's gone,
and the sluices are gone.

Half your plant's
gone.

**

[ Vehicle approaching,
dog barking ]

**

Todd: mike,
what's the deal?

Pfister:
this plant's been
sitting here for weeks.

You're not using it,

And you haven't done
that in a long time.

That wasn't the deal.

A bad miner makes a good mine
look pretty bad,

And you're not doing
very well right now.

Come on. We can work
something out on this.

It's my plant, and I can do
better up on top of the hill.

-Come on!
-I'm gonna move this up there,

And I'll find somebody else
who knows what they're doing.

**

You know what? If I
can't run this plant,
I am really screwed.

If you're not running my dirt,
you're not using my plant.

I'm not gonna take
"no" for an answer.

Any chance that
we can do something?

**

Not my dirt,
not my problem.

**

**

We just went
from 10 steps behind

To 100 steps behind,
todd.

This is the last thing
we need right now.

If we didn't have bad luck, we
wouldn't have any luck at all.

**

**

5,000 Ounces
is a lot of gold,

And we need every ounce
we can get right now.

Narrator:
in the klondike, parker schnabel

Is chasing
a 5,000-ounce season goal.

2,500 Ounces
from each wash plant.

**

Parker:
now, rick's chugging along
down there at indian river...

**

But, you know, things at
sluicifer here are a little bit,

I don't know,
questionable at the best.

This cut is mostly mined out.

I mean, the big problem now
is we're running out of pay.

Narrator: after six weeks
of mining the upper cut,

There's little pay dirt left.

Parker:
this is the last piece of ground
that we've got open

For sluicifer, so...

It's a pretty big problem.

What's up?
-Hey, man!

How's it going?
-Oh...not great.

**

I'm...

Pretty concerned about
how much pay is in this cut.

-Yeah?
-I mean,

I know there's gold here,
it's just,

Is there gonna be
700 ounces?

Narrator: to hit sluicifer's
2,500-ounce goal,

Parker has already mined

The first 80 percent
of the upper cut,

But if the final 20 percent

Continues to pay out
at the same rate,

Parker will get less than half
the 700 ounces he needs.

What happens
if we fall short?

Three weeks from now
we can't make the decision

To open up a new cut.

Well, I mean, [bleep].

We're already two-thirds
of the way through the season.

So, what's your plan then?

If we can get this through
and get it done in a week...

Then...

Then we'll
at least be --

Have that much time
to open up a new cut.

**

Yeah, I mean,
a week, man,

How the [bleep] are we
gonna do that?

[ Sighs ]
I don't know.

Just crank the plant up to 380,
400 yards an hour?

I mean, this --
it should handle it.

Yank the grizzly bars off
so that we can keep up

And just slam her through.

The grizzly bars
are there for a reason.

You know that, and we've never
run that much dirt

Through sluicifer,
have we?

Do you have
any other ideas?

I mean, not for getting --
trying to get it done in a week.

I mean, that's...
[Bleep].

[Bleep] it,
let's do it.

**

There you go.

**

Paullus: parker wants
to not use the grizzly bars

And crank the feed up.
That's his plan.

I don't really know if it's
a good idea, but he's the boss.

So that's what we're gonna do.

**

Beaudry: these grizzly bars
protect that entire plant,

Especially the belts,
from all of the big rocks.

You know, if we're gonna take
them off and run without them,

That's on parker.

Firing her up!

**

Lee:
crank her up to five.

[ Whirring intensifies ]

-That'll keep you busy.
-Yeah.

Beaudry:
throw the dirt at it
and hope for the best.

**

Lee:
right now we're running at
about 380 yards an hour,

And that's the highest
we've ever run sluicifer at.

But when you run stuff harder,
it breaks harder.

So hopefully we just...

You know, aren't gonna screw
ourselves over by doing that.

**

You've got to be
kidding me!

**

[Bleep]!

**

Damn it!

**

**

Roller rack
is all bent up.

That's from one of
the big rocks landing on it

And not really getting going and
just bouncing around up there,

And we're already
seeing damage done

Running
without the grizzlies.

So, it's a ticking time b*mb.

**

Todd: now I have good ground.

It does you no good
when you don't have

A wash plant
on the new ground.

Narrator:
in colorado, todd hoffman
has a chance to open up

A third operation
and save his season.

Now, I need a third wash plant.

It's gonna cost us,

But I think
it's the right thing to do.

Hopefully I can pay for this
thing with this year in gold.

So, I got to go away
for a week

And build a trommel
from scratch.

While I'm doing this,
hunter's got it under control.

**

Dude, where is he?
We need to run!

Narrator:
this season, todd has passed
control of half his operation

To 18-year-old son, hunter.

Hunter!

We need for you to be here
on time in the morning, okay?

The boss can't be late.
Okay?

You've got to be here on time.
-Okay.

[Bleep] I'm tired.

Hunter: this whole season's
been really hard.

**

[ Machine whirs and revs ]

**

Now, when you're running
the wash plant,

You have to be on your toes.

There's so many moving pieces

And a lot of things
then go wrong, so...

You're not just dumping dirt,
you're watching the whole thing.

**

[ Text tone chimes ]

You've got to be
kidding me.

**

-Hey!
-[Bleep]!

[Bleep]!

Man #2:
holy [bleep]!

Cut the power!

**

**

Hunter: holy [bleep]

Narrator: in colorado...

[Bleep]

...young boss hunter
hoffman's reputation...

Somebody get the bypass.

...is on the line.

Cut the power!

[Bleep]

Turn it off, then!

**

Well, what happened?

They didn't have
the shaker going.

Holy [bleep]

Man: nobody turned this on,

And hunter started
feeding the machine.

[Bleep] kidding me.

Oh, gosh!

[ Laughs ]

Holy [bleep]

Man: is it [bleep] up there?

It's full of [bleep]

Hunter: well, we'll have to fire
it up again, I guess.

I didn't notice that
the shaker wasn't even on.

So jammed up.

**

I just don't want
to talk about it

Because I don't want
to get in any more trouble.

Narrator: loading monster red
without the shaker running...

I can't even believe this is
really happening right now.

Narrator: ...means 6 tons of
material is jammed up inside.

Well, hunter, why the [bleep]
didn't you have this turned on?

Hunter: I don't know.

I probably should have
double checked.

Man: how the [bleep] do you not
look at the shaker

When you fire the things up?

I don't know, but I'm, like,
hanging a bucket.

I figured the plant was on.

It's not magically
going to happen.

Somebody has got
to take charge.

We are not babysitters.

The bottom line is, [bleep] like
this shouldn't be happening.

Hunter, get the thing
cleaned out.

Hunter: dude, I don't even know
what to do.

Trust me, there's no
quick way to do this.

Just start hosing it.

So what they're doing is they
are going to blow the deck off,

Blow it into the
tailings conveyor,

And then they'll get off,
and we'll bump

And get rid of the tailings.

Okay, brian, you can
bring the water up.

Real slow, not full,
not wide open.

Just bring it up partway.

**

Holy [bleep]

**

k*ll the water.
k*ll the water.

-[Bleep]
-holy [bleep]

Hey, quit all of the laughing
[bleep] okay?

This ain't funny.
It pisses me off.

Guys are gooning around
when they need to dig

Their head out of their a*s.

Make sure it's right.

I feel like we are
running a [bleep]

Daycare and not a mine.

Hunter, you're going to have
to shovel the shaker.

Hunter: it's, like impossible
to shovel.

It's like concrete
packed in there, kind of.

It just is what it is.

This is going to take
the rest of the day.

**

You've got to be
kidding me.

What a bunch of
freaking meatheads.

Narrator: every minute hunter
was running with the shaker off,

Water was washing gold
out of the sluice box.

Well, I guarantee everybody,

The gold that was in there
this morning is gone now.

So just worked for jack [bleep]

Might as well have stayed
at home and stayed in bed.

**

There's some big [bleep]
in there.

Narrator: at scribner creek,

Parker is determined
to finish the upper cut

By the end of the week.

Parker: we're just really trying
to slam the argents through

And get done
with this upper cut.

So we are just going
to hammer this cut out

And just slam the dirt
through the plant.

I mean, that's why I had
a plant like that built,

Was to get through ground
as fast as you can.

Narrator: against rick's advice,
parker has removed

The protective grizzly bars

To speed up production.

Rick: yeah, we ran into
some pretty blocky

[Bleep] which isn't
really helping our cause

Not having grizzly bars.

**

[ Grinding ]

[Bleep] garbage, man.

**

Parker, shut it down!

**

Parker: what's going on?

Dude, [bleep] hopper
is full of dirt,

And the belt won't turn.

[Bleep]

It looks pretty jammed up
in there, huh?

Yeah.

I can see there's a bunch
of big [bleep] in there.

If there's anything
jammed in that belt,

We are going to be
kind of [bleep] right?

So we should probably
shovel some of this out.

There's a shovel.

[Bleep]

**

Well, running without
these grizzly bars,

That's how the big
rock got in there,

And it looks like a couple
got jammed up in there.

**

**

I kind of think that the guy
who made this decision

Should be the one here
shoveling it out, huh?

I'll shovel
if you want me to.

Actually, I might need you
to work both of the belts

To try and keep clearing
this dirt out of here.

Yeah, I can do that.

All right.
Go ahead.

**

No dice?
Nope, no dice.

Yeah, I'll try it again.

[ Motor running ]

Nope.
[ Groans ]

**

Dude,
there's some big [bleep]

Back there.

[Bleep] plugged up.

It's right on the belt, too.

What the [bleep]

You want to climb
in there and get her?

Not particularly.

You're going to have to go
in there and dig it out

Because I can't.

I won't fit.
You'll fit!

[Bleep] me, man.

I don't want to [bleep]
go in there.

[Bleep]

Oh, yeah.
This is what I'm made for.

Oh!

Ah, [bleep] me!

**

He fit fine.

**

All right.

**

And with one swing of
my hammer, the mountain fell.

There's a big [bleep] rock!

All right.
All right.

Are we good to go,
ace ventura?

Yeah.
Turn this [bleep] on.

-Are we good?
-I think we're good, buddy.

All right.

An hour and a half
of shoveling later.

**

Parker: yeah, I get it.
It's a bit of a pain in the a*s

Running without
the grizzly bars.

Like, that's the risk we take.

You know, you have a jam up.

You get it cleared out,
fire back up.

That's mining.

We've just got to get
this upper cut done with.

**

**

Narrator: 40 miles south,

Tony beets
is finally making progress...

Man: yep!

...tearing down his
million-dollar dredge.

We're really getting
into her now.

It's pretty exciting.

We are actually making
really good progress.

One more thing off of the list!

Yes.

Narrator: his next challenge --

The 70-foot stacker.

I'm game.

Okay, here we go.

**

**

Stands are half off the ground.

**

No way we are lifting it.

**

**

It's a big piece!

Narrator: at thistle creek,
tony beets has hit a hurdle.

I just don't feel comfortable
trying to lift it.

Narrator: the dredge's stacker
is too heavy to lift

With his single 20-ton crane.

I totally agree with that.

**

Yes.

Yeah.

**

Narrator: tony's solution --

Support the high end
of the stacker

With the crane,

Attach a pair of come-alongs

Or hand winches
from the lower end

To the dredge's super structure.

Then, he will cut
the support cable.

With the weight divided between
the crane and come alongs,

He can safely lower
the stacker onto a pontoon.

**

Sounds good.

**

Sheamus: there will be a lot of
pressure on these come-alongs,

But, yeah, if something
were to let go,

The thing would go
crashing down.

It wouldn't be good.

But we have them all rigged
up the best we can,

And we'll just hope
for the best.

Yep, what could
possibly go wrong?

**

All right!

**

Good, man.

Cut them!

**

That [bleep] thing is
not letting us

Get this thing
on the ground.

**

[ Grinding, scraping ]

Geez, I felt that.

**

Bunching down.

**

Getting closer,
getting closer.

**

About 3 feet away
from touchdown.

**

Hold on, you can do it.

**

I'm glad it's on the ground!

**

**

Right now, we are just
kind of humming along.

We are just bailing pay.

It's working pretty well.

Narrator: rick ness is mining
hard at indian river,

But two miles away
at scribner creek,

Parker has reached
the end of an era.

Right now we are just running
the very last of the upper cut.

This is the last cut
we are doing here at scribner.

It's a little
bittersweet, you know?

It was a good place
to learn how to mine.

If I want to play
with the big boys,

I've got to get up here
where the big boys play.

Hey, tony!

Narrator: as a teenager,
5 years ago...

Thanks!

...parker came to mine
tony beets' scribner land

For the first time.

Since then, he's mined
10 cuts here,

Totaling more than 100 acres,

Run over 1.6 million
yards of pay dirt

Through four different
wash plants.

**

Parker: all right, well, this is
the last scoop of pay

From the upper cut, last scoop
of pay from scribner creek.

**

That's it.

It's been a good run.

**

[Bleep]

[Bleep]

**

Narrator:
as parker's claim owner,

Tony has the right to check

If there is any gold left

Before parker fills
the cut back in.

**

Howdy!

**

What are you doing?

We are pretty well
done here.

I don't know what you're
expecting to find, but...

**

**

I mean, are you sure you don't
want to do a few more

And make sure you're happy?

Yeah, I'd like to think
that we kind of know

What we're doing now
after a few years.

Of course.

So are you okay
with all of this?

**

Parker: you know, we are
pretty damn organized,

And we run a pretty
damn tight ship.

So tony is showing up and
panning some bedrock in our cut,

You know,
[bleep] it.

I got nothing to hide.

Narrator: up ahead...

This gold way definitely marks
the end at scribner, huh?

All right.
Let's weigh this [bleep]

-320.
-Shook it in?

-That looks nice!
-[Bleep]

How's that?

Oh!

Narrator: in reno, nevada,
mechanic juan ibarra

Is expecting
an important delivery

With father, juan, sr.,
Daughter addison,

And wife, andrea.

Ibarra:
I'm getting a little anxious.

I'm ready to meet
the little guy.

Man: you have a name yet?

Yeah.
Yeah.

You know, we've thought
about it a long time.

We've been trying to come up
with a good name,

And we finally decided
on juan, juan iii.

Great!

Narrator:
after 12 hours of labor,

Little addison
finally gets to meet juan iii.

[ Baby coos ]
yeah!

Ibarra: she wants to hold her
baby brother.

Addison and juan and mama.

Addison, be nice
to your little brother.

He was just about
shy of 6 pounds.

Mom is doing great.

Baby is doing great.

I just know I'm
tremendously blessed,

And I'm very fortunate to have
the family that I do have.

Balloon.

[ Addison babbles ]

**

Howdy.

Narrator: in the klondike,

It's time
for parker's gold weigh.

-Is it ready? Is it dry?
-Yeah.

Narrator: two-thirds of the way
through his season,

He still needs
almost 2,000 ounces

To hit his 5,000-ounce goal.

All right.
Let's weigh this [bleep]

-Big red first?
-Yep.

-Yeah.
-Sure.

All right.
Let's see what we got.

Narrator: first up, rick's gold
from indian river.

40, 50.

To stay on track...

All right.
There's 100.

...rick needs at least
140 ounces a week.

200.
Parker: yes!

230.

230.
Nice!

236.75.

Wow!

Worth over $280,000.

Man: geez. Well done.
Well done.

-Hell, yeah.
-That's a good week.

Holy [bleep] that's
a great week!

Man: well, looks like the upper
cut had a nice strong finish.

Man, that's a lot of gold.

That is a lot of gold.

Narrator: this week,
parker took a gamble.

**

Last of scribner creek.

End of an era.

Narrator: he ran the final
upper cut pay dirt

At close to twice
the normal speed.

70, 80,
Now there's 100.

Pushing sluicifer so hard could
have cost him valuable gold.

280, 290, 300!

320.
Parker: shook it in?

-That looks nice!
-Oh [bleep]

How's that?

Oh, 358.8.

Wow!

That's a hell
of a lot of gold.

Narrator: 358 ounces
is worth $430,000.

The upper cut's
biggest ever cleanup.

Yeah. I mean, this gold weigh
definitely marks

The end at scribner,
huh?

Yeah.

We sure had a hell
of a run up there.

Little blue, big red,
goldzilla.

There's been a lot
of wash plants

And a lot of gold
pulled out of there.

How much gold did
we pull out of there?

11,000,
12,000 Ounces.

Yeah.

About $14.5 million
of gold.

Pretty cool.
Yeah.

Tony should be happy.

We mined the [bleep]
out of that.

So he's got nothing
to complain about, for sure.

That's a lot of royalties
sent out to him, so...

Yep.

I don't think anybody
would have guessed

There was that much gold
in that ground, huh?

[Bleep]

No, he wouldn't have
given it to us.

[ Laughter ]

Narrator: like all responsible
gold miners,

Parker has been reclaiming
the old cuts at scribner creek,

And nature is fast returning.

**

Hey, how are you guys
doing?

Good?

Todd hoffman is back
from sourcing a trommel

For a third wash plant.

We are going to have
a big monster trommel

That will probably run
400 yards an hour.

I think the wash plant's gonna
cost us $300,000 altogether.

Todd has mined
1,005 ounces of gold...

There's jack.

...just a fifth
of what he planned.

-Okay, guys.
-Hey, how you doing?

I've got it all
cleaned up.

Narrator: now todd also needs
an extra 250 ounces

To pay for his new wash plant.

Rusty red
had 71.65 ounces.

Monster red had 67.3.

Whew!
That's a lot of gold!

139 Ounces
is worth over $160,000,

Covering just over half
the cost of todd's new plant.

Come on, guys.

That's good gold.

What's wrong?

Spinks: well, we had some
problems this week.

What do you mean?

I came up to the plant,
and hunter started feeding it

And didn't have
the shaker deck on,

So the material all jammed
up on top of the deck,

And all of the water was going
and -- I'll be willing to bet --

Probably blew gold right out
of the end of the box.

**

We lost money that day,

And ultimately it's
the boss' responsibility.

**

Yeah, I'm not going to make
any excuses for myself,

But, you know, if I'm not
doing a good job,

Then I don't want
to be in charge. So...

**

**

Todd: hunter is young.
He's made some mistakes.

I don't want my team to fall
apart, let alone my family.

So I'm going to see
if we can work this out,

But...

It wasn't a good night,
really, for me.

I don't want to talk anymore.

**

Welcome to the last cut.

Narrator:
on the next "gold rush"...

This is a nightmare.

Man: first thing, we can get rid
of all of this mud.

We are trying to do
all of this in a week.

[ Screams ]

We're dead in the water.

I hate boats.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's
something wrong with the props.

Not getting
to thistle.

No.

We could come out of here
with our heads held high.

-Watch out!
-[Bleep]

**

Man: we can hit it
with a bucket.

It's not going to work.

I'm not going to do this
every day.