14x11 - Frankendozer

[bunniefuu]

It's been a tough couple years,

and as the season goes on,

I've been getting my
confidence back a lot.

I learn everyday out here,
and that's for damn sure.

Forty-two-year-old
gold miner, Rick ness,

is in danger of stalling
out his comeback mission.

We're looking for
1,000 ounces this year,

that's what I will need to
be able to keep coming back.

The crew's running
the bacon strip,

and gold's not great.

They are gonna fast run out.

Rick's current cut,
the bacon strip,

is nearly tapped out.

And the only other
cut he has open

is rally valley.

I need to get
back at rally valley,

that's where I know
the best gold is.

But it's just still
a little too early

to get in there, it's a
little too dangerous,

the walls are still
shedding rocks.

With no options
left for a quick score,

Rick's season now rides
on him finding a new spot

to mine on his notoriously
streaky Duncan creek claim.

To get on the gold,

he's using some
insider information.

Troy Taylor, whose family

mined this before I did,

they had really
good luck up here.

They said that they mined
in this one particular spot

and, got 400 ounces.

There's no reason
that there couldn't be

another one of
them days up here.

So, I am excited about
this spot, this area.

What we're looking for
here is a bench on top

when the creek ran at one time.

Thousands of years ago,

an ancient river carrying gold

flowed over Rick's claim.

Over time, it eroded the ground,

cutting a valley and leaving
gold deposits in the benches.

Rick's already hit
one of these hotspots

in rally valley.

Now, he's looking to hit it big

on the other side of the creek.

- Hey, Troy.
- Hey, Rick.

How you doin'?

Sixteen years ago, Rick's
landlord, Troy Taylor,

found one of these
bench paystreaks.

Now Rick, hopes
to pick up the trail.

I'm definitely on bedrock,

but I don't see a
whole lot of gravel.

Yeah. It doesn't look too good?

No.

I think we're maybe
just a little too low

is where we had mining.

Just over there, there's a nice

- bedrock channel...
- Yeah.

And it's at a higher elevation

- I see.
- Like, if we were a little higher,

we'd probably tap into that.

Okay. So this is...

This is the section
that you guys did?

Yeah.

This is where we got
a 450-ounce cleanup.

Yeah.

If Rick can find the
same pay streak,

it could deliver a
game-changing gold bonanza.

We did find a 1-ounce
nugget up here.

Okay.

My main focus would
be going this way... Yeah.

Follow this as far as you can.

Yeah. And can
you see pretty easily

where you left off...

And that's an easy spot for me

- to get the excavator there...
- Yeah.

And then see if this
channel continues in there.

I just gotta be totally honest,

I just can't guarantee you

that it's gonna stay this good.

We do remember it's very spotty.

Yeah.

The question is, is
there enough pay up here

to make it worth your while?

Thanks for coming up here today.

- It should be good, hopefully.
- Hopefully good, yeah.

- All right.
- All right. Thanks, bud.

Troy showed me
exactly where they left off,

and then the channel
I did mine previous

is actually visible.

So I can dig straight
down right here.

Looks like it might
be hidden down

the gravel area down there.

So that would be a good sign.

It's definitely undisturbed
gravel, that's for sure.

I'm gonna grab a pan

and take it down
the creek with me,

see what we got in here.

It's a bit exciting
just because it's,

you know, it's a new area.

I don't know what to expect.

You know what I
mean? It's... i'm...

You're always waiting
for that one time,

you know, you pull
a pan and it's just...

The whole bottom's
covered in gold.

It's never happened yet to me.

There's always that chance.

Hey.

Ooh. You got some dirt?

- Hey, buzz.
- Looks like dirt.

Hey.

Fairly nice season going here.

Well, for such a big
guy, you're just so gentle.

You're killin' me.

See any colors?

- Yeah, look at that.
- Gold, gold, gold.

Gold, gold.

That's awesome.

It's pretty small.

Small flecks,

but might have just
missed the big pieces.

We're in the spot
to go for gold,

I think this might be it.

Rick could have found
the bench pay streak

that will turbocharge
his season.

Now, he needs to open a new cut

and get down to pay dirt all

before the bacon strip runs dry

and his money runs out.

Little -yeah.

As a show of good faith,

I'll give it back to the earth.

Bring us more! Bingo.

Sweet.

I love it.

100 miles west.

King of the klondike,
Tony beets, is struggling...

Having banked just 182
ounces of gold this year.

Tony is now scrambling

to get his paradise hill
operation on the gold,

praying he can still hit
his 6,000 ounce gold.

He's clearing his old boneyard

where he's going to
set up and run pay dirt

from the super pit through
the repaired trommel

for the rest of the season.

T beets on the hill,
and I'm in the Indian.

We are all hands on deck.

With no gold coming
in yet at paradise hill,

40 miles south at the
beets' Indian river claim,

responsibility for keeping
the family business afloat

rests on daughter,
Monica's shoulders.

We've been
sluicing in the Indian

for a little while now.

We've had a couple of ups,

but we are getting gold,

which is better than the hill.

Not that Tony's not crying,

but it's taking a lot to
get going over there.

Having the trommel taken apart

and moving to a new spot,

nothing seems to be
going as fast as we want,

and Tony's gung h* on
getting this 6,000-ounce goal.

We have to do what
needs to be done.

Monica's doing
a really great job

of taking care of everything,

the plant's running smoothly.

Experienced operator,
Ruby Mahoney,

loads pay dirt for Monica
to haul to the plant.

She's a great boss,
and, you know,

I might be a little bias,
she's my best friend,

but I love working with Monica.

- It's nice to...
- What the?

What the is going on?

Where is all this
water coming from?

Monica, do you copy, Monica?

Yeah, Ruby. What's up?

There is water flooding in.

I don't know where
the it's coming from.

Okay. On my way.

What the is going on?

Check this out!

Holy.

I don't know where
this water's coming from,

but we're gonna
lose this culvert.

A flash flood has burst
the banks of the creek

that runs through the claim,

threatening to wash
out Monica's operation.

This road is our
way to the plant,

to our cuts, to everything.

Being washed out
like this us right up.

Holy.

On Indian river

Chelsea, I need your loader.

You shut the plant
down, I'll grab the loader.

Monica beets is racing
to save her operation

from a mystery flood.

This is.

There's water everywhere,

our culvert's trying to escape.

Better put some
more material on there.

I'll get the loader
from the plant

and I'll get this fixed quick

so we're not down for too long.

A creek runs through
neighboring mines,

onto the beets'
Indian river claim.

A culvert channels it
under the only access road

connecting Tony's
camp to his cuts.

But a flash flood from upstream

is surging down the creek,

overwhelming the culvert

and washing away
part of the road.

To save it,
Monica will pile dirt

onto the culvert
to secure it in place

before rebuilding
the vital access road.

The water's come up.

I don't know where
the it's coming from.

It's gonna me up

'cause this is our
only access road.

The plant's that way.
The cuts are that way.

All my people are that way.

So I need to get this
water to come down now.

Tony is heading to Indian river

to check out the
state of his claim.

What are you doing here?

Well, as soon as I
get this culvert covered

I'll come and talk to you.

What the every time
something breaks

Tony shows up.

Got a nose for it, I swear.

Somebody give me a
truck over here, please,

at the culvert.

Well, it's not pretty
but hopefully it holds.

The water's come
down quite a bit.

I was wondering where
all the water came from.

Yup.

Tony has a hard time
giving up the control.

He's the micro manager.

He's always been that way.
He'll always be that way.

And we have like 20
something million yards of dirt

to move here over the
next however many years.

Mine boss Parker schnabel

may have bitten off
more than he can chew.

So these problems stem
from buying dominion

or kind of strapped for cash.

I don't like that too much.

Um, we're obviously
in a bunch now.

Like we needed a year's
worth of ground and we got 10.

And it just leaves
us really spread out.

I don't really know
what the solution is.

To pay for his
dominion creek claim

and bank as much
gold as possible,

Parker's over committed his crew

across three locations.

In the money pit
he's joined the crew

prepping the site to
run pay dirt in a week.

We just definitely need a
lot more money coming in

so it'd be nice to get
sluicing at dominion.

10 miles southwest on
kennan Stewart's ground,

Tyson Lee is sluicing
the El dorado cut.

So I'm just trying to
focus on getting pave

through the plant.

7 miles east on
Parker's new operation

Australia creek,
foreman Mitch blaschke

is opening up an 11-acre cut.

And needs 2 more
acres down to pave

by the end of the week.

But he's struggling
with limited resources.

Parker's only given
me the smallest dozer

that we have in the fleet.

Trying to open a cut
like this this time of year

definitely not gonna
get very far very fast.

If we got any chance of
getting through this this season,

we're gonna need some
big machines up here to do it.

I gotta go talk to Parker

and see if we got
some bigger dozers

that we can get out here.

Now, I'm hoping Parker
sees this the same way I do.

We got a mountain
of mud to move.

If we don't do
something about it

and get on it and stay on it,

we're certainly not
gonna be sluicing

this ground this season.

This is looking pretty good.

Yeah, it is. It's going good.

We're getting somewhere anyway.

I was really hoping
you're gonna be at a spot

where, I could grab
this dozer from you

and grab the other 11, too,

and take 'em up
to Australia creek.

I don't see us getting
through the dirt

without the big dozer.

Yeah, me neither.

Like, we've paid
royalties on the pits.

We have to get the pits done.

We're gonna need
something with a big blade

and a bunch of horsepower
to move all that material.

And one 11's free.

But this is spoken for.

The one that's in the yard,

I don't think it's ever
even been ran here.

We should go talk to
bill and Jordan about

what needs to happen to it.

- The other one that's apart down there?
- -Yup.

Maybe they can
Rob enough parts off

the one on stands and
make one out of the two?

Yeah. Well, we also have
a third one that's on stands.

So we have three donors
and we need one alive.

Well, man I'll go
talk to those guys

and see what they think.

All right, see you, mate.

Cool, man. Thanks.

I don't like sending
junk out into the swamp

but that might be
what we have to do.

Chief mechanic Jordan sands

now faces a daunting task,

resurrect a dead d11 dozer.

This machine was bought
by the owner of dominion gold

weeks before the
sale went through.

So it was hauled
in and put on stands

'cause it's in very,
very poor shape.

Only the core of the
dominion dozer remains intact.

Everything else
needs to be salvaged

from other junkyard d11s.

So basically in the
state this thing was in,

things that were
supposed to be full of oil,

were full of mud.

Last I checked, that's
a very poor lubricant.

And this thing has
been through a lot.

To bring the 115 ton
monster back to life,

Jordan must take
the body of one d11

and fit it to the
15-foot track frames

of another dozer.

Wrap the tracks
and finally walk it

onto the 20 ton blade of a third

to create one
giant franken-dozer.

So here we go setting
on the crack frame.

I just follow bill's
direction and all goes well.

They just slip right on.

There we go.

We're gonna, wrap these tracks,

see if we can get
this thing on its feet.

As you can see these are
used rails going back on it

for our Frankenstein
assembly here.

We're gonna pull 'em up,

put the cat in reverse,

suck the tracks over the back.

Tighten the tracks.

It'll be good.

Good.

This blade is the last
piece of the puzzle here.

Not bad, it won't be moved.

Goodness gracious.

Come on, come on, come on. You.

Yeah.

We never thought
we'd see it together.

It's as good a shape as it is.

A brand new one is 2 million

so we saved a lot of money
by this one here for sure.

Really a dozer.

Who knew, right?

So how is this thing?

It looks like a
normal cat inside.

- Yeah?
- -Waiting for a stereo to show up.

- You got a dash?
- Yeah.

- Everything works?
- Yeah.

Dude, this thing's sweet.

The resurrected franken-dozer

is now ready for
its first challenge

getting Australia
creek down to pay dirt.

We got a tractor.

Yeah.

I mean I shouldn't
speak too soon.

- It's not in the dirt pushing.
- Yeah.

I'm building up the
last bit of the road

so that hopefully this
doesn't happen again.

Before the beets crew

can get back to
sluicing at Indian river,

they must finish repairs
on their flooded access road.

It's costing us huge downtime.

We had to shut down the plant
so that we could fix the road.

Without that road we
don't have any access

to the plant so
we have to fix it.

Thanks, Ruby.

Glad we could fix
this pretty quick.

Time to get this loader
back so we can get sluicing.

Tony believes an unknown miner

settling pod burst its dam,

causing a flash flood
onto his property.

To avoid further flooding,

Tony wants the
creek to be diverted

before it enters his claim.

But under his
restricted water license,

he can't move creeks.

So he needs to call in a favor

from his next door neighbor,

whose license does allow it.

Five years ago, Parker
asked Tony for permission

to draw water from his land.

So I'm not gonna
get your permission

to pull water from
your property?

What you're telling me right now

is to end my mining season.

Now the balance
of power has shifted.

Y'all can't move creeks?

Well, that's where it's
been flowing for a decade.

You just don't want
it to be your problem.

Yeah.

Tony has a creek right here

that flows onto his side.

So he wants me
to move it over here

but I am not associated
with any of this

and he wants me
to eat all the water

and I'm not... I'm not thirsty.

This time, sucks to be him.

I gotta stay in the game.

I gotta be up here stripping.

I really need to get
this opened up quick.

Rick ness is on a
one-man mission

to strip the bench cut

before the bacon strip runs out.

I've got several
days of stripping here

easily before we
can start hauling out.

So we've got minimal
equipment, minimal food.

I really needed
some new people here

just to pick up the slack
so I can get ahead of things.

The new guy starting
today, his name is Bailey.

I think he'll be a
good asset here.

First time ever on the
gold mine, first day.

So far so good.

I'm really enjoying it.

500 feet away in
the valley below,

Rick's new recruit,
25-year-old Bailey car ten

keeps wash plant
rocky fed with 100 yards

of bacon strip pay dirt an hour.

I've always wanted
to go gold mining

and I saw Rick put out
an advertisement up online

for operators
and I jumped on it.

Rick said that
he'll work with me

and teach me all the
stuff that I need to know.

I can't wait to find this gold

and actually see it and
maybe hold it in my hand,

like, I think that would
be the coolest thing.

Bailey, you excited
to be out there, bud?

Buddy, I'm taking right now.

I'm loving it.

Well, welcome to
the team, buddy.

I'm sure we'll get
along just fine.

Trey told me that
these channels up here,

you know, they might be spotty.

But if it ends up being
some good ground

that we can mine,

well, then I'll be
ahead of the game.

Yes, it's a gamble
but this is pretty...

It's pretty low risk at
the moment, you know.

Through track.

The track's right off the...

Sitting out here.

I've been pinned in mud.

Hey, buzz, you gotta copy.

Go ahead, Rick.

Can you bring that 700 up?

I got bad track off
the 460 up here.

10-4, I'll be right there, man.

We'll get it fixed.

In the end, it's just
like a bicycle chain.

We got it all.

Yeah.

We got a lot of dirt to
move, a lot of gold to find.

It's just wasting precious time.

There's no textbook
for putting track back on

on a bush like this.

Everyone's different.

Blow your away.

She's so close.

Hey, Rick.

Jump in, track that, and head.

That way?

Now she's on.

Yeah.

That's a relief.

She's fixed.

A little bit of delicate balance

between brute force
and finesse, I guess.

Is it off the sprocket?

Track is off.

Yeah, it's the
worst spot there is.

Rick ness's one-man mission

to strip the bench cut is
turning into a nightmare.

Yeah. Yeah.

His 460 excavator
has popped its track

for a second time.

You.

Idler came out.

Yeah.

I see buzz and Rick are having

a really tough
time with that track.

It looks like it's
completely off still.

Maybe we should
shut this plant down,

you know, see if they
need a hand, right?

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, see if the young bucks

can help the old farts?

We're gonna shut
down the plant now.

What should've been a simple fix

is now a full-scale
rescue operation,

costing Rick valuable gold.

We're gonna go see if
buzz and Rick need a hand.

That smaller hoe up there.

You think everything.

So now, we just gotta
slide this piece in.

Okay. Let it down.

Buzz, we could
pull it on this side.

Watch yourself.

Just gonna pull it
this way a little bit.

Yup. Keep it going, keep
it going, keep it going.

Let a little slack.

All right.

Come on. This way,
this way, this way.

Locked.

That was horrible.

Just gotta tighten her up, bro.

Yeah.

Finally.

You don't need to say thanks.

Thanks for doing your jobs?

Yeah.

You're welcome.

Everybody came together

and we all got it back together

and a bunch of
annoying got fixed.

Thankfully.

Track fixed, the crew
can fire up the plant,

and get back to
chasing bacon strip gold.

I know everybody's got stuck in

freaking kick some a*s,
another day on the mine.

We've gotta do what we can here.

Get this ground stripped

up here at Australia creek.

Parker's got some bills
that, gonna need to get paid.

To get 2 acres down to pay

by the end of the week,

Parker has sent two
dozers to Australia creek.

Mitch leads the charge

with backup from Damien browne

in the newly assembled
110-ton franken-dozer.

This is my first day down
here in Australia creek.

I've been sent down
to help Mitch out

obviously strip
off all of this mud.

There's no way in hell one
cat would keep up with this.

I knew it was
going to be a task,

but, man, is it ever
messy around here?

Jordan and bill did
such an awesome job,

getting that old
11 back together.

It's helping us huge.

Pretty cool to see
something like that

out here whaling dirt.

What the hell?

Mitch, have you
got a copy, Mitch?

Yeah, what's going on, man?

This cat is coming up

with a clogged
filter warning light.

That's not good. It
shouldn't be doing that.

No.

I really don't want runners
with a filter block warning.

No.

All right.

Why don't you jump in this cat

I'm running and I'll switch you

I'll and take that
thing back over to the,

pickup there

and we'll see if we can
figure out what's going on?

Okay. Perfect.

So we've got the pilot filter

just underneath the floor here.

Pull it out and we'll
see what it's all about.

In we go.

All right.

And we're gonna
look in the bottom here

and see what we got.

What we're hoping
for is no metal.

So this is our filter here.

If Mitch finds
metal in the filter,

it's a sure fire sign

that the hydraulic system
has a serious problem.

That would mean
the franken-dozer

will need to be
pulled apart again.

There's nothing in
there. It's all clean.

This is an aftermarket filter.

You know, it is a
possibility that it might be

causing the alarm
to think that hey,

there's something
blocking there.

I think this, dozer
thinks it has a problem

when, I don't
think it really does.

We're gonna go grab
the filter, change it out

and see if that fixes it.

We're gonna put this filter in,

fire this thing up

and see if the alarm's still on

and hopefully it's good
to go back to work.

We're gonna
tighten this thing up.

All right.

And we're just gonna
fire this thing up.

Here on the dash,

we're just getting
our engine hours

and the engine
speed and no warning.

So, that's a good
sign that it's happy,

we're gonna go out
and move some mud,

hopefully it stays that way.

After a three-hour delay,

the franken-dozer
returns to the cut.

And with two dozers
working around the clock,

they're back in the race

to get 2 acres down to
pay by the end of the week.

Well, it's a great deal

to finally get back out
here and move some dirt.

We've got slucifer running
down at Ken's ground.

And then before too long,

hopefully we've got
a plant running here

out Australia creek.

Let's go.

So, I just got a radio call

that there was a mama moose
and a baby moose up river,

so maybe we'll sneak up
and see if we spot anything.

I think I see the mama
and the baby comin'.

People like to call
moose swamp donkeys

'cause I guess donkeys are ugly

and I guess moose are ugly,

but I think moose
are cute, so gangly.

Moose outnumber
miners in the Yukon,

one hundred and thirty to one.

I've been taught a
pretty good moose call,

if you are interested
in hearing it.

You put your hands
together and you go,

"hey, moosey, moosey,
moosey, moosey."

Hey, moosey, moosey,
moosey, moosey.

I'm so sorry.

What's up, jabronis?

Howdy.

Hey you, guys.

It's some gold there.

So what'd you think of
your first week anyway?

Pretty good man.
I really enjoyed it.

Hopefully, I did
well for you, guys.

- You know?
- You didn't.

Okay.

That's fine.

- I'm still here so...
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm doing something right then.

No, dude, you're
doing just great, man.

I... I'm glad to have you here.

I'm glad you're happy here.

Anyways, should we
see what the bacon strip's

- giving us this week?
- Yeah.

Yeah.

Rick's only banked 170
of his 1,000 ounce goal.

And last week, the bacon
strip delivered just 30.

It's 10, 14, 16, 18,
20... 24, 27, 28, 30,

and

32.56.

Worth over $65,000,

bringing his total
to 203 ounces.

Yeah. It's more than last week.

A little better.

- A little better.
- A little better.

- But...
- Improvements are good.

Yeah, yeah.

Even if it's just a little bit.

I'm not mad at it,

but, you know, it should be 60.

Yeah.

We're gonna need
to start getting totals

like that if we're gonna
hit 1,000 ounces, so.

I really think that
this bench cut

has got a lot
more potential to it.

So, I'm excited to get there.

Yeah.

Hi.

Is it tasty?

No?

Well, why are you drinking it?

So did you have fun
with all that excitement

with all the water
come rushing down?

Yeah.

Well, you get down there,

there's a river coming
through or there was a creek.

Yeah.

Catch it sooner,
a lot less work.

Maybe we should see
how much we have.

So far, the beets have mined

just 182 ounces of gold.

- Ready?
- Yeah.

10, 20, 30, 90,
100, 110, 120, 130,

140, 150, 161.94.

Despite nearly doubling
their season total,

the 343 ounces
they've now brought in

is less than 6% of
their 6,000 ounce

season target.

I know.

Maybe we should pack
it up and go back to work

and get some more.

Sounds good. I'll
head back to the Indian.

What's going on, man?

The mechanics
resurrected a dozer for you.

Yeah, they did.

When everything is being
used and you have some old,

you know, spares laying around,

well they're not
spares any longer,

couldn't have opened
up as much ground

as fast as we did without it.

We ended up getting
two 11s up there,

the one they resurrected and,

those things moved dirt.

- They're crazy.
- Yeah.

And you had a good week, Tyson?

You tell me. Did we
have a good week?

I know... I know the plant ran,

but did we catch
any gold doing it?

Well, we got some.

Parker's banked just over 1,000

of his 5,000 ounce gold.

And with dominion creek
gold still a week away,

he needs Ken and
Stewart's El dorado cut

to deliver to stay afloat.

So far, it's averaging
200 ounces a week.

Who wants the honors here?

Well... I think Tyson
should do that one.

It's loose. It's your machine.

Let's do it.

Is it pretty heavy doing it?

They all get heavy nowadays.

Here we go.

20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 140,

- 200... - Yeah.
- 220, 230, 240.6.

Worth over $480,000.

- Very nice.
- There you go.

It's not bad.

With the 240.6, our
season total is 1,274.55.

Not bad for one plant

and starting as
late as we did, right?

Yeah.

For sure.

It's been running right?

And it's the only plant we
got running so keep it going.

- Yeah.
- Right.

I'm still just hope...

Really hoping we
made the right decision

with Australia creek.

We're in it now.

I know.

Like, I wonder if at the end
of the season we'll be like,

"we should have not done that."

There's a good chance.

It'd be nice to get
dominion going.

Start sluicing that.

Yeah.

As long as there's gold
in the ground, we'll be fine.

I'MMA bag this stuff
up and we'll get ready

- for another week and...
- Sounds good. - Yeah.

Keep her running, t.