12x20 - The Alliance

[bunniefuu]

[Tony speaking]

[Paul] For two years,

Klondike Kingpin, Tony Beets,

has been trying to unlock
his gold rich ground

on Indian River.

His problems started
with a gut punch in 2019.

We don't have
a water license.

We have to leave.

[Paul] Denied a water permit,

he tried again the next year.

[Tony speaking]

[Paul] After striking out
twice,

he applied again this year

only to be crushed once more.

[Tony speaking]

Now, at Paradise Hill,

Tony is running


of white channel pay
through Mike's trommel,

hoping to hit 4,500 ounces.

[Ruby] We've had a relatively
successful season,

but I'm disappointed

that we couldn't get
into the Indian

and reach
that 9,000-ounce gold.

[Paul] But the king
hasn't given up

on his prized
Indian River yet.

[Tony speaking]

[woman on phone] Hi, Tony.

[Paul] He's brought
in a hired g*n

to advise
on a new application.

[woman on phone] We took
soil samples,

we did a small
vegetation inventory.

I'm completely encouraged
by what we saw.

I have 95% confidence

that this license
should and will be issued.

[Tony speaking]

[Paul] After three years,

Tony now believes again

that a new license is imminent

and he doesn't want
to waste any time.

[Tony speaking]

[Paul] To be ready to sluice
the Indian River claims,

Tony's breaking out
the 40 foot BC trommel.

[Len] Tony, do you copy?

[Tony speaking]

[Len] I got stuck on the hill.
*bleep*.

[Tony speaking]

[Len] I heard a bang
and it didn't had any
traction anymore,

and then I had
a look under it
and the oil came out of it.

So, I noticed a crack
one side to the other side
of the gearbox.

[Tony speaking]

[Paul] The crane
and Kenworth truck combined

weighed just shy of 100 tons.

The 20 degree hill

is the worst possible place
to break down.

[Tony speaking]

[Mike speaking]

[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

- Yeah.
- [Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

The gold at Mud Mountain
is definitely looking better,

but we already
blown the budget
out the window,

so we'll see.

Hopefully, the gold continues.

[Paul] With just four weeks
left of the season,

27-year-old Parker Schnabel

has finally found the gold
at Mud Mountain.

Now, his team is running
all out to cash in.

[Mitch] Trying to get
this stuff ready.

As we've been working
our way through
the Mud Mountain,

the gold's been
gettin' better.

And looks like
this downstream end of it,

this is the last piece
that we stripped,

seems to have the best gold.

I probably should know better
than tryin' to rescue
my season on one cut.

But who knows,
maybe it's there,
maybe it's not.

[Paul] The other linchpin
of Parker's season

rests in the hands
of plant boss Tyson Lee,

who's running
promised land ground,

four miles away.

This time of year,
we're makin' a huge push

to just grab every ounce
of gold that we can.

That kind of steers
Tyson's still plugging away.

It's going fast, you know,
the... the bad cut.

[Tyson] I think
Ken's a little off
on the naming of his cuts.

The good cut
did not do so good,

the bad cut
doing better than
the good cut.

And the ugly cut,

I don't know.
You never know
until it's in a jar.

Sluice first is gonna be
done in the bad cut

and looking to move
to the ugly

and the ugly is
far from ready.

So, there's a lot
of work to do,
a lot of dirt to move.

You know, this year
we've been stretched

thinner than any other year,

and that's 'cause
the Mud Mountain and it
being 60 feet deep.

[Paul] The ugly cut

is nearly double
the size of the bad cut.

And with just four weeks
left of the season,

Tyson will have to
double his production rate

to mine it all.

He has a radical new plan

if Parker will agree.

Hey, man, how is it goin'?

- Good, how are you?
- Pretty good, thanks.

What's goin' on?

In this next plant pad set up,

I was thinking
of setting Sluicifer up.

So, you know,
how normally we have
the wash plant pad height

being the same height
as the wash plant,

thinkin' of setting
the wash plant
up on a pedestal.

Let's say this is
our wash plant pad, right?

And this is where
the wash plant
would normally sit.

I wanna kind of
stick it out here,

so the fines
can travel around.

The only comment
I would have is,

if you were gonna have
undermining issues,

but if you've got
lots of nice big,
coarse, um, bedrock,

then I trust your judgment.

- Right on.
- And whatever you can do to stay

as self-sufficient as possible

is the best thing for us

'cause we're spread
so thin as you well know.

I'm thinkin'
if things work out the way,

I think it will, we should
be able to get away with

three guys on days
and two on nights down there,

and that'll free up
another guy to be
in the truck.

I'm not gonna say
you're on your own down there,

but act like
you are until you need...
until you really need help.

Right on.

- Well, I'll go get to her.
- Thanks, man.

[Paul] In a normal setup,

tailings from the wash plant
build up

and the crew
has to clear them.

Tyson's plan,

use 40,000 tons of material

to build a mega pad

and allow the fine tailings
to fall away from the plant,

saving on time and crew.

[Tyson] So, right now,
we're trying to
build our wash plant pad.

My main concern
is getting this wash plant pad
done in time

before Sluicifer's
done the bad cut.

It's gonna look like
a different planet
down here in a week.

Well, we're digging pay
and what they call it
the bad cut,

but really, it turns out
to be a good cut.

I figure tomorrow
will be a very close
parking lot over here.

[Tyson] Normally it takes us
about a week

to build the wash plant pad
and we started yesterday.

Well, the pressure is on.

And now we're at the point
where we can just...
Holy *bleep*.

This *bleep* thing has
some gremlins in it.

My other hoe's down
'cause it's doin'
a parked region,

this one's on the fritz.

Holy *bleep*, this *bleep*
piece of *bleep*.

ECU failure,
communications failure.

Now it won't *bleep* move.

And now it just died.

Holy *bleep*, this *bleep*
piece *bleep*.

And now it just died.

Yeah, she *bleep*.

Come on, Jarv, let's go.

[Paul] At Indian River,
Tyson Lee is racing

to build a 60-foot mega pad,

but his biggest available
dirt mover,

the 700 excavator,

has been shut down
for five hours.

[Taylor] Absolute mess
on top of the batteries here.

How's it going, T?

Want me to get
Dermet's canoe for you?

[Taylor] Yeah,
we might need it.

Is there any chance of it
running tonight, T?

- No way. No way.
- No?

You'll have to probably use
one of the...

- one of the other hoes.
- Okay.

[Paul] With the 700
out of action,

Tyson is forced to finish
the pad using the 480.

[Tyson] Hey, you know,
normally, we use
the 750 or the 700

which is a lot bigger than
a 480 but...

I guess, I gotta make do
with the 480

for *bleep* sakes.

[Laurie] Final bucket.

Get ready to shut her down.

Hey, Tyson, you got a copy.

[Tyson] Go ahead, Laurie.

There's the last bucket
here, buddy,

we're ready to shut her down.

[Tyson] Yes,
I'll shut her down,
now, Laurie.

[Paul] Now, Sluicifer
will be lying idle

until Tyson can finish
the new mega pad.

[Tyson] So that's it,
bad cuts done,

and I still, have go to build
the pad.

[Fred] So, the beginning
of this season
went really well.

I was thinkin' we were
hittin' a stride.

The last couple of weeks
have been nothing
short of disastrous.

[Paul] Sixty miles away

at California Creek,

Special Forces medic,
Fred Lewis

has mined just over half
his 100-ounce season goal.

We're not even coming close
to hitting our low end goal
at this point

if this continues
and Sandro and Joerg

are definitely not happy
with what we're pullin' in.

[Paul] Fred needs to ramp up
his gold production

before the winter
shuts him down.

Right now,
we're kinda *bleep*.

We gotta figure out
how to get ourselves
to where we're not.

[Stuart] As hard as we've
been pushing this season,

it's been a struggle.

We've really outgrown
our equipment.

We're pushing everything
to the max every day,

including ourselves.

[Paul] Now, Fred's landlords,
Joerg Lotz and Sandro Frizzi

are here to find out if Fred
is hitting the targets
he signed up to.

- [Fred] What's up, guys?
- How's it going, Fred.

- [Fred] How are you doing, sir?
- Good.

So, let me show you guys
the cut, we've just opened up

and what we're down to
as far as pad.

[man] Yeah, okay.

How many yards you have done
at this point?

- Right now, we just crossed 6,000 yards as a team.
- Total?

Total as a team from the day
we started.

You remember
what's in the contract?

It's 35,000 so...

- [Fred] Yeah, that's... Yeah.
- Wow! You're far away.

You don't wanna wait 20 years
until this creek is mined.

A real miner to a good miner,
an experienced miner,

would have done,
probably in a week.

You know, you wanna
be feasible

and you wanna earn some money.

- And with machinery this size, you won't earn much more.
- Yeah.

[Sandro] This is not
a sandbox.

You know, stripping is the key

for the success of this.

To come to the point,

in order to come back
next year, you need
bigger equipment

now this fall. Not next year.

Fred, uh, you're missing

a big dozer here,
let's be honest.

Okay, I can do that.
I can work on that.

We hope so.

[Paul] With two small
excavators,

Fred's been running just


He's banking on a dozer

to move dirt three times
as fast

and hit his
contracted minimum.

For them to make money
on this operation,

we need to be putting
a lot more material
through our plant

and giving them a lot more
gold in the end,

so they want better.

I mean, if we wanna stay here,
we want this to be our home

for the next four
or five seasons,

we're gonna have to perform,
we're gonna have
to find bigger equipment,

and we're gonna have
to do what they want.

[Tony speaking]

Hey, Tony, this is Fred,
how are you doing?

[Tony speaking]

So, my claim owners are kinda
puttin' an ultimatum on me

to step up, uh, my...
my production a little more.

That would entail me
finding larger equipment

and I'm not finding
anything locally.

[Tony speaking]

We were looking for a D8
or a D9.

[Tony speaking]

All right. I really
appreciate it, Tony.
Thank you.

[Tony speaking]

Yep, bye.

Well, that was a strike out.

- Brandon!
- Hey, Fred, what's goin' on?

Oh, just fixin', you know.

- How's it been?
- Good, you?

Oh, man, we're actually
not good.

[Paul] Neighboring mine boss,


also leases ground
from Joerg and Sandro.

Sandro and Joerg came over
and kinda put
an ultimatum on me.

They're like we need more
from you

- if you're gonna stay here.
- Oh, no.

We've got into a point
up there

where our equipment is just
scraping away.

We're putting like 250,


So if we had a dozer,

obviously a dozer would solve


Fred, I really wish
I could help.

I'm stretched right now,
as it is trying to run

just a day shift.

Like, I'm pulling 900
on one shift

with the trommel right now.

And we're at the point where
we're struggling as well

to try and get it up
fast enough

- to make a full day, right? So...
- Right.

I'm short a hoe right now.

- Right.
- Like I, I need one with the plant,

I need one stripping.

Maybe if I can use
another hoe,

like one of yours and then
I can give you my dozer.

Yeah, I think that's something
we can work on.

- Um.
- Hmm.

Maybe there's a way
we can work together.

So, what are you
trying to say?

That if we could somehow
figure a way

where I could get used
to some of your
bigger equipment over here,

I think there may be a,
kind of, a middle ground

we can come up with where
we just consolidate
our equipment

- where it helps us both.
- Uh, like a partnership.

- Yeah. Yeah.
- Okay.

- You know, I've got buzz. I can run on nights.
- Yeah.

I think it's a good idea,
actually, Fred, really
if you think about it.

I mean, I'm only running


and we're gettin' to the time
we're *bleep*
starting to freeze.

So, I wanna run 24 hours,

basically, have to,
to keep my plant going

- and not freezing overnight.
- Freeze.

- Yeah.
- Yeah. Mmm-hmm.

We can't run two plants
at once,

that's the only issue.

I would be willing to pull
that plant completely...

- Yeah.
- ...put it on reserve up there

and run your plant.

And we'll pull from my area,
your area, just

*bleep* get dirt
around this season.

And, uh, we could just split
the gold 50-50.

Split 50-50.

- I think we... I think we got a deal.
- I'm down with it.

Give me the courtesy
of running it by my guys,

see what they think and then
we'll just move from there.

[Paul] The partnership
could allow them

to sluice three times
as much pay dirt

by running the Clayton's
massive trommel 24/7.

And get Fred one step closer

to hitting Sandro
and Joerg's goal,

but only if Fred's crew
agrees.

[Tyson] It boils down
to numbers.

If we combine forces like,

really partnered with Brandon

and started pulling our pay
over to his plant,

we're gonna be able to put

up to 18,000 yards a day
through his plant.

- Yeah, right.
- And we're putting 300 through ours.

The only downside that I see

their equipment is down
like all the *bleep* time.

- Yeah.
- That would be my concern.

'Cause they, you know,
they break down too.

[Fred] The other risk is
we end up hating each other.

- You know.
- [Fred] I mean, what kind of season do we want?

That's the question.
Do we wanna scrape by

and pull 100 ounces and hope
that Sandro and Joerg

see that as our best,

or do we wanna prove to them

if we had bigger equipment...

- Brandon's...
- Yeah.

...this is the difference?

I don't wanna go home saying,

"Yeah, we scraped it by."

I wanna go home
with our heads held high

and a pocket
full of freakin' gold.

You know,
it's a little bit risky,

but I really think this could
save our season, guys.

As long as we're running pay

and pulling gold,
then we're good.

I don't want to have
another season

where we go home with *bleep*.

- All right, guys, we're good with this?
- Yeah, man.

This whole thing is a risk.

- Let's do it.
- Yeah.

All right. Let's get it then,

let's get this work done
and move forward.

[Paul] Brandon's crew

and Fred's misfits
get going on day one

as a united team.

[man speaking]

[Warren] I'm feeling
really good
about the collaboration

and, you know,
things that we might not have

they bring to the table

and what they don't have,
we bring to the table.

So, I think it's a really good relationship.

[Fred] The only way
I'm gonna prove
to Sandro and Joerg

and to my investor

that we can do this
on a larger scale

is to team with Brandon.

So, right now, we're gonna
show what we're made of.

[Tony speaking]

[Paul] At Paradise Hill,

Tony Beets is loading
the 10-ton BC trommel

to haul it 40 miles
to Indian River.

[Tony speaking]

[man] There we go.

[Tony speaking]

[Paul] The massive load
is so dangerous,

Tony turns to the only person
he trusts to drive it.

Himself.

[Tony speaking]

[Mike over the radio]
I just heard a large pop
and I lost a lot of power.

[Tony speaking]

[Mike speaking]

[Tony speaking]

Basically, with this cord
not fastened securely,

it interferes
with the air flow,

which means my turbo
don't work right,

which means
I'm not getting enough power.

So, until we get
that clamp fixed

my truck's, basically,
got no ba*ls
until I put this back on,

honestly.

[Paul] The turbo uses pressure
from the exhaust

to spin a pair of fans

which force
air into the cylinders,

allowing more fuel to burn
and increasing power.

The air inlet pipe
is disconnected,

losing pressure to the engine

and stopping the turbo
from working.

[Tony speaking]

Hopefully.

[Tony speaking]

- *bleep* no.
- Watch your finger.

[Tony speaking]

Seems to be right there. Yeah.

[Tony speaking]

[Tony speaking]

[Tyson] You know,
with Sluicifer coming
to an end in the bad cut,

it's my responsibility
to get this pad set up.

[Paul] At the ugly cut,

plant boss
Tyson Lee's operation

has been down for 24 hours,

but that's about to change.

[Tyson] Well, there goes
the last rock truckload
of grizzly tailings,

the plant pad's done,
we can drag
Sluicifer over here

and start on the ugly.

[Paul] Now, he's banking
on the high pad

to make up for the downtime.

But first,

he has to get the plant up
the steepest ramp
he's ever built.

[Alec] Right now, we're just
hooking up the cables,

then we're gonna
drag Sluicifer over

to the wash plant pad
we've built.

It's looking pretty good
over there.

Just gotta get her up there safely.

The 700 was having issues

and Alec figures
it's electrical,

so we're gonna have to make it
work with the 480.

You know, this is kind of like
trying to move a dump truck

with a two-door sedan.

That's why it would be nice
to have the 700
to move this thing,

'cause right now
I'm struggling to pull it

and 700 would just move it
like none other.

I think where we're gonna
really struggle

is gonna be pulling it up
the pad and getting it turned.

[Alec] It'll be interesting
to see how

Tyson gets the plant up here

and swings it around.

He'll definitely be

on the sides of it

and that's...
that's a dirt slump,

so that's about as steep
as it's gonna get.

Well, it's gonna be
a foot at a time.

You know, as you can tell,
the 480 is really struggling
to pull this thing up.

Just gotta get her
to the top of this hill

and spin it a little.

This 480 is not liking
this kind of abuse.

[Alec] I wonder how much
you trust those cables.

Because if he's loaded up
like that and they pop,

the excavator could even
just go upside down,
right over.

Yeah, yeah, that's quite
a *bleep* drop there.

- Whoa! whoa!
- Whoa! whoa!

- Oh!
- Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Have a look at that!

Is this one of those ornaments
for Parker's table?

[Paul] In the ugly cut,

Tyson is struggling,

to pull the 45-ton wash plant

onto the mega pad.

- That goes to show how heavy this wash plant is.
- Oh, yeah!

I thought we *bleep*
the wash plant.

The shackle,
I can live with that.

Take two.

Hey! Your stick's
almost full out,

curl your bucket.

You got her.

[Tyson] Keep her going.

Please don't come at me,
wash plant.

Almost at the bottom.

Looks all good.

[Tyson] So, right now,
we're just trying to
spin Sluicifer

and make sure it ends lined up
with the trough I've made,

because if it doesn't,
it's gonna be a fight

trying to move it
side to side.

Oh!

Perfect!

Thank you.

Well, guys, she's in place.

- Yeah.
- Good work, guys.

Good work on the excavator,

that's some professional
level of stuff right there.

That hill on that side,
that was, uh...

- Yeah.
- ...impressive.

- Thanks, man.
- Oh, yeah.

Let's get back at her.

- Yeah.
- Oh, yeah.

[Paul] Two hours later,

the crew are ready to
start running ugly cut pay.

You know, we got Sluicifer
in place level,

banks in places you can tell,

there's a lot of drop
for fine tailings to go and...

...yeah.

It's definitely high up there.

Here we go,
here starts the ugly cut.

That was the first scoop
right there.

You know, I'm actually
really, really excited
this is happening...

whereas right now we'd be able
to eke out 100 ounces,

we're gonna probably triple
that and come out
with like 300.

So, hopefully, we'll be
able to...

...you know, make us all

a little bit of money,
a little bit of gold.

[Paul] At California Creek,

Fred Lewis has shut down
his wash plant

and teamed up with neighbor
Brandon Clayton.

[Fred] All right, now
I am decommissioning

Mount Vesuvius.

We are moving our pay pile,
what's left of it

over to Brandon's plant.

[Paul] He's put the D9 Dozer
to work, ripping pay

in the hopes of running
at least 9,000 yards a week

through Clayton's wash plant.

[Fred] Most of the team
is still pretty green
at morning,

so, I'm just double checking
our cuts,

making sure that
we're not too deep.

Uh, we're taking enough

and we're not leaving
anything behind.

- [Joerg] Fred!
- Hey, Fred!

- Good morning, man.
- Hey! How's it going?

Not too bad, what's happening?

You guys asked us
to kinda step it up,

uh, as far as production goes.

- To get bigger equipment, right?
- Yeah.

So, I met with Brandon
and just talked about...

what issues we are having
and it kinda dawned on us.

I've got two smaller equipment

right now, he's got
two bigger equipment,

so we decided to go
at it together.

[Joerg] Well, I hope
this work out,

you know, before we had
two mining operations,

and now it's one mining operation.

[Fred] It's a little risky,
I mean, for both of us,

- but I think if we work together and communicate...
- [Sandro] Yeah.

...I think you guys will see
a huge production increase
from this

'cause obviously he's got
the bigger capacity.

But with our small equipment
and with our extra guys,

we can help his plant
run 24 hours a day

and get that high yardage,
and sh**t for 1,800 yards
a day.

We will see when is the time.

- You've to prove yourself in a...
- Yeah.

- a few days, so...
- [Sandro] Yep.

...we will be here soon
and check out
what you're doing.

[Fred] I felt like Brandon
and I made a great decision,

and I thought that it was, uh,

the best possible choice
for us going forward,
but now...

...it, it just seems
a lot more high risk.

Uh, it seems like Sandro
and Joerg are really
gonna expect big numbers.

Teaming up with Brandon,
it's kind of a last resort...

if we're going to be able,

you know, to really push...
pull the season off.

We'll finish the season,

but I don't wanna limp
through the finish line,

you know, I want to
come out victorious
with a gold medal.

You know, [indistinct].

- Warren, what's up?
- [Warren] JB.

Oh, I got a problem, man.

Blew a tire, uh, I got
a puncture in the right side.

Holy *bleep*!

[Paul] Clayton crew operator
Warren Binnie...

has blown a tire
on the loader,

he was using to feed
the plant.

- [Warren] Yeah, that's it there, yeah.
- [John] It's right there.

[John]
That's a pretty big hole.

Uh, it's either with the,
the shale rock

that split it or maybe
a piece of metal

in the tailings or something
like that?

So, that's our only loader.
You know what I mean,
that's, uh,

a key piece of equipment
that we need...

to make sure that
the plant is running,

so, it's stoppin' us
from processing the pay.

If this keeps happening, then...

we're not gonna meet
our quota, it's gonna be
a *bleep* mess.

Yeah, at this point,
any accident we have
is gonna result

in us shutting down the plant
because we have such...

- limited equipment, we lose one...
- [John] Right, right.

[John] That's what I was
saying earlier,

you know, one piece
of equipment goes down...

it's catastrophic to the whole
operation, you know?

We're shutting them down.

They ain't looking good
right now.

[John]
So, what do you got?
Let's see.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- They're huge man.

[John] Good deal,
that looks great.

[Paul] JB and his new comrades

must now patch
the punctured tire.

[John] And there it is.

Push the tire down again,
so he can get that ring on.

[Warren] Got you. Got you.

[man] It's going now.

[John] Yeah, she's going now.

Trying to expand
the tire, so...

...it actually forms a seal,
which we got it now.

Let's get her back
on our loader and...

you can start washing rocks
again and get a holiday today.

And that's on there.

Hey! NASCAR does it
a whole lot faster.

[Paul] After three hours
downtime,

Fred has a lot of catching up
to do...

before his claim owners
return.

[Fred] Hey, all this took
way longer than
we wanted it to,

but the best thing
I took out today is,

I'm seeing my guys work
with Brandon's guys,

I'm seeing fist bumps,

everyone's stressed,

and this is not what we wanna
be doing,

we're doin' it together,
and that's what keeps
me happy.

[Paul] In charge of bringing
in the gold at Mud Mountain,

foreman Mitch Blaschke.

Whoa!

Hey, Chris, you got a copy?

[Chris] Yes, Chris, what's up?

Yeah, I'm gonna need you
down here at Big Red.

Yeah, we need to clean up.

So, normally, we go four days,
uh, between cleanups,

this has only been
two days here

and you see the gold already
piling up in all the riffles,

so, it's time to do a cleanup.

This is a good problem
to have.

So, this is just, a, what,
two-day run?

Yeah, this is just two days.

It's sluicing out here.
Look at that.

That's just one handful.

You just picked the chunks up
up off the carpet like that.

And this is the stuff
we've been waiting on

- and, uh, it looks like the wait was worth it.
- Yeah.

[Monica] Hi, family.

- Hey, guys.
- [Monica] Hi, guys.

- Hola!
- Hola!

Buenos dias!

[Bianca] There's a baby.

[Minnie] There's a baby
on the table,

we have lots of babies
on the table it seems like.

It's like every time.

So...

...this week went pretty
good, huh?

[Tony speaking]

[Kevin] Oh, yeah!
[indistinct].

[Tony speaking]

[Minnie] Which truck
are we talking about?

[Tony speaking]

[Minnie] Oh, Lord!

[Tony speaking]

[Kevin] Yeah, no.

[Tony speaking]

Oh, yeah!

Old faithful never stops.

[Tony speaking]

[Paul] To reach his 4,500
ounce season goal,

Tony needs 370 ounces a week.

You're ready, Mike?

- Oh, yeah.
- Are you ready?

Let's do this thing,
chicken wings.

Three, two, one, go!

Five, ten,











Keep going.



[Paul]
Worth over $550,000.

It wasn't a bad week, though.

Yeah, over 300 again,
so that's nice.

[Tony speaking]

But like a wise man
always says,

"Don't count it until
it's dried and wet."

[Tony speaking]

- Oh.
- But on that note,

- we need to GTFO.
- Yeah, well.

- *bleep*.
- I got to go.

Well, guys...

- ...you're ready for this one?
- Oh, yeah.

[Paul]
At California Creek...

I think it was a big gamble.

...a little nervous
'cause Sandro and Joerg,

they didn't necessarily say,
I want you to team up with

my other operation.

[Paul] It's Fred's first
gold way,

since partnering up
with Brendan's crew.

- Hey, Joerg, how's it going?
- Oh, yeah, good.

- Good. How are you?
- Good. Sandro.

How are you doing?

[Paul] And his claim owners
are back

to find out
if the deal paid off.

So how's it going here?

- I'm really glad you guys came today.
- Yeah.

This is our first
real gold way together.

So Fred in the contract,
there were 35,000 yards?

How many did you run
at this point?

- We ran 6,200 yards.
- 6,200, yeah. Yeah.

And I guess
it's an improvement

of the yard
that you did before, right?

We're doing 90 yards
an hour still

we're just running
day and night now.

- Yeah, yeah. So, more hours per day.
- Yeah.

- That's right.
- And it's good.

- Yeah.
- But for sure,

we are very curious,
what's the result?

- So.
- Yeah.

Can we see some numbers?

- Yeah.
- Do you have some number to show, yeah?

Oh, we got some numbers
are you ready?

- Yes.
- Scales over here.

[Paul] Before
they joined forces

Fred and Brendan combined

were averaging just
over 19 ounces.

All right, guys,
Sandro, you want to
call it out?

- Go ahead.
- Now, remember, guys,

this is only half of ours,

so don't get too excited.

Okay, two, three.

- Oh, there's the big gold nugget.
- Four, five.

Nine, ten.



- 17, 18, 19, 20, 23.
- Wow!





- So more.
- 33.



- Holy cow!
- 38.66.

[Paul] Worth just
under $70,000.

More than double,

what the two crews
were getting before.

Fred's half share
of 19.33 ounces,

is his biggest ever
gold haul.

- That's pretty good for you as well.
- Yeah.

- Right?
- I'm happy with that, yeah.

What about you guys?

If you keep going like that?
Yeah, every five days.

Yeah, and I believe if we get
everything dialed in,

- we'll be doing better than this.
- I think this is the...

- this is just the beginning, I think.
- Yep.

- I mean, if--
- Already you doubled your production,

- I can't say that is bad.
- Right.

Now, if you double again,
it's even better, right?

So yeah, it looks,
your idea was okay,

sharing and getting
together with Brandon.

We were a little bit
skeptical, but yeah.

If you do it like in this way,
it's good.

All right, guys. Well,

I think we should
get back to work, huh?

Yeah, I think we go back,
start hauling

- keep washing.
- Keep going.

Sounds good.

At the beginning,
I was kind of skeptical

about this merging
the two company

between Brandon and Fred.

But what I saw today,
I really like it.

I mean, it looks like the guy,

they work together,
they collaborate very well.

And the production
is not bad at all.

Actually,
there is an increase,

so I would say
I'm pretty happy, definitely.

I feel like they saw
the potential.

They see that this is just
the beginning, right?

And we're going to get better.

We doubled our yardage
in five days of running,

which is freaking amazing
if you ask me.

But these gold weighs
will get bigger,

and that's really
all that freaking matters.

What's going on, Chris?

- Hey, Mitch, how's it going, man?
- Oh, not too bad.

- Good to see you buddy.
- You too.

Hey, [indistinct],
how you doing, man?

- Not much, you?
- Cleaning gold.

- Yeah.
- Non-stop.

So you've been busy this week,

you got Slucifer
moved over to the

new wash plant pad,
she's tall.

Yeah, man, it's up there,
it was difficult
getting it in place.

Nice to see it up there
and hopefully

don't have to mess with
tailings too much.

That should be one solid
wash plant pad.

Oh, yeah, man, it was nuts.

I'm looking forward
to the cleanup you're doing.

Hopefully, there's some gold
in it.

Well, you want to see
what we got?

[Paul]
Time to find out

if the last of the bad cut

lived up to its name.

- Take your guess, Parker.
- What you got?



based on how he's holding it.

Ten, twenty, forty, sixty.



- 160.
- It's over.

- 200.
- Ah, *bleep*.







- I was way off.
- Oh, yeah.

[Paul] Worth just under
$0.5 million...

- That's a good cleanup.
- Yeah, no kidding.

It's your last,
from the bad cut, so.

Now we got to see
what the ugly cut's
going to do, right?

Yeah, hopefully not hold up
to its name.

All right,
here's to first of Big Red.

[Paul] Parker spent over
$4 million

getting down to pay
in Mud Mountain.

After drill results showed

it was four times richer

than any other
Indian River ground.

I see you got two pans,
damn it.

So what are you
trying to tell me?

My scale goes up
to 400 ounces

with the way, Mud Mountain
has been going

right here you guys
is 400 ounces.

Well, that's a good way
to start.

That's the first thermos.



This is plus the 400.

Let's see what we got
on top of 400.









For a total of 596.6 ounces
in one week.

- That's incredible.
- Wow!

[Paul] Worth over $1 million.

We've been busy down here.

- Let's put it that way.
- Yeah, buddy.

I mean, just last week,
Big Red had its best

week ever
and it just topped it.

This is the best week

of Red's history from day one.

It's just wild how much

like effort and stripping
went into it

and how fast you're
getting through it.

Every hour of sluicing
probably represents

$1,000 worth
of stripping or something,

right, or $2,000
worth of stripping.

For the week,
you guys, believe it or not,

it's 873.65 ounces.
Jeez!

[Paul] Worth over
$1.5 million,

Parker's biggest gold weigh
of this season.

I never thought
after last week we topped

what we just did, but it's
a matter of if it'll hold out

for long enough
to make it worthwhile.

Let's...
Let's do this again next week.

- Yeah, let's do it again a few more times.
- And again.

- Few more times, yep?
- Yeah.

- We'll try.
- Good job, guys, all three of you.

- Hell of a week.
- Yeah.

So how many...

...how many rounds
of golf did you miss?

- Yeah exactly.
- Yeah.

I didn't know
I was gonna have to work
every day.