12x23 - Last Stand

[bunniefuu]

[Parker] Every season is,
you know, a big push to

find more gold
and mine more ground

and beat last season.

[narrator] 27- year old
Parker Schnabel is in a race

to deliver on the biggest
gamble of his career.

Mud Mountain.

[Parker]
We're still behind.

But the gold from
Mud Mountain,
it's picked up and

the piece that's left is the
center of the cut,

that's where
the best drilling was.

[narrator] Parker has dropped
five million to
get to pay dirt.

So far, he's only found
three million in gold.

But it's starting to pay out.

[Mitch] Last week, every time
we shut down Big Red here,

it looked really,
really good in the runs.

There's so much gold in 'em.

You know, we've got
lots going on here,
at the end of the season.

We've got Big Red
on Mud Mountain.

We've got Sluicifer
on Ken's ground.

Things were motoring along
pretty nice.

[Justin] Everyone's
stretched pretty thin.
Long hours, long days.

Yeah, just want to get
the rest of this cut done.

[narrator] With winter
right around the corner,

Mitch has called in
reinforcements to make
the final push.

Office manger, Nona Loveless.

[Justin] What's up?

[Nona] Not much. Mitch just
wants me to come help
with the tailings.

Just clean tailings
for a bit, so, I'm going to do
that and then...

I'm not going to be here long,
maybe an hour or so.

- Okay, wicked, thanks.
- Okay, sweet. Thanks.

[Nona] Yeah, I've been running
dozers for quite a few years.
[chuckles]

I'm gonna do my
walkaround, check the oil
and if she's good to go,

then I will jump on it.

All is good.

[bulldozer engine starting]

[Nona] I love the office work
but I like getting
out of the office.

I love the machines but
I don't know if I could do it

12 hours a day,
seven days a week, so.

I got the best of
both worlds, don't I?
[chuckles]

Tailings is not forgiving
like natural earth is.

It's very soft underneath so,
you've just got to
take it off, skin it.

Just got to take
a little bit off at a time.

[loud crash]

Oh, my goodness. *bleep*
What have I done?

*bleep*

Holy *bleep*!

[Nona]

I *bleep* up!
I broke the water line.

[Justin]
Are you kidding me?

Hey, Mitch, you got a copy?

[Mitch over walkie-talkie]
Mitch here.

I *bleep* up big time.
I don't even know
what to say, uh...

I just broke the water line
but the whole system,
won't everything come off?

[Nona grunts]

*bleep*

Holy *bleep*!

You can see here,
the dozer snagged this,

ripped the pipeline
right in half.
When this pulled,

it ripped everything
from the wash plant loose.

[sighs]

Not only did the pipeline
get ripped,

that half out there broke
the whole manifold
off the wash plant.

This is what supplies water
to the plant up to the
pre-wash as our bypass.

This is bad as
bad as it could be right now.

Well, it uh...
ripped this pipe clean off.

She gone.

[narrator]
The pipeline from the pump

is connected to the plant
with a 90 degree manifold.

[Jordan] Well, we're just
lifting this out to see what
we can salvage off of it.

[Mitch]
The biggest problem we have
here is this 90 is broken.

We've got, you know,
a few spares here and there

but I'm pretty sure
we don't have a spare 90
kicking around.

We're just going to have to
put a flange right on here.

And bolt this right up
to the top.

We can get away with
not having the bypass.

What that means though,
is when we start
this thing up,

we're just going to have to
turn on the pump
and throw dirt at it.

[narrator] The 90 degree
manifold that attaches the
bypass in the water supply

to the wash plant is broken.

[loud thud]

So, Mitch will have to
remove the bypass that
regulates the flow of water,

strip the hoses from the
manifold and reconnect them
straight to the plant.

This down and dirty fix could
lead to excess water pressure

and flush gold right out
the sluice runs.

[Mitch] This isn't ideal

but it's the end of the season
and our wash plant
just got mangled.

So, we gotta do whatever
we can to make it work.

[Jordan]
Nice and easy.

[chainsaw whirring]

Whoo!

[narrator] After cutting out
the ripped section...

- [Justin] There you go. That's what we need. Right there.
- [Mitch] Right there.

[narrator]
...they fuse the pipe
back together.

[Mitch] Pull hat back
to there.

It's like magic!
It's all back together again.

[narrator] Next,
Mitch brings in flexible hose

to make then bend from the
water supply the wash plant.

[Mitch] We're going to have
at least a 8 inch lay flat

to get us from here
straight down
and over to our waterline.

There it is. Right there.

Start some hardware.

[laughs]

Oh, yeah!
It's heavy.

[Jordan] Just push up. Push.

[Mitch] That looks good.
That'll work.

Here we go!

- All right, let's fire it up.
- Yeah!

[narrator]
Without a bypass,

Mitch is relying on the pump
to maintain the right
water pressure.

[Mitch] There it is.

Here she comes!

Here we go!

[narrator]
After four hours, costing them
$30,000 in lost gold

they're finally
back to sluicing.

[Nona] Tailings is kind of
a tricky one.

I got butterflies
in my tummy just from...

thinking about
what happened
now that I'm here again.

[Mitch] We're just real
fortunate we had enough stuff

here to patch
Big Red back together.

It might not be as good
as what it was,

but it'll still catch
some gold here. We'll get
this thing finished up.

[Mitch]
Time to get some more gold.

We're still in
September here, you know.

Close to the end.
We got snow overnight.

It's just not looking like
it wants to give up.

[narrator]
In the mountains above Keno,

winter has fired it's
first warning shot.

[Rick]
It's a pretty sad sight.

This wash plant should be
cranking out gold
this time of year,

instead it's sitting there
covered in snow.

[narrator] Last week,
Rick's second wash plant,
Rocky,

helped him to his best
ever gold weigh.

[Rick] We can
unthaw the runs, you know,
get the water moving,

as soon as you stop,
this happens again.

It freezes, then you start
the process over again

and pretty soon,
it takes longer and longer.

It's not worth your time.

Yesterday was the last time
Rocky ran for the year.

We're going to have to
focus all of our efforts
on Monster Red.

You know, when I decided
to go out on my own,
and go gold mining for myself,

um, that was
a big risk, you know.

There was some
people that, you know,

they didn't think
I'd make it through
my first season.

But, you know, I'm still here.
You know, they were wrong.

[narrator] Now,
in his third season
away from The Klondike,

Rick Ness has finally
found Keno's big gold

and dropped a
quarter million dollar deposit
to buy his claims outright.

But with the end of his
mining season looming,

Rick still needs 550 ounces
to hit his 2,000-ounce target.

[Rick Senior]
Rick's always been
a risk-taker,

a gambler, so to speak.

For me to watch him go through
life that way is...

Gives me a little
bit of anxiety,
a little bit of stress.

I mean, it doesn't always come
out good for him. I know he's
had struggles in the past but

for the most part,
he's done very well for
himself and continues to.

And I'm certainly going to
always be there for him
if I can be.

[narrator] Like Parker,
Rick is also battling the
deepest ground of his career.

And the deeper he goes,
the better the gold.

[Brennan] We're finally
getting down to the
really good stuff.

It's looking a lot better,
this layer that
I'm digging now.

Here we are.
It's snowed in.

But we gotta hit our


I do not want to walk away
from here failing, so,

we can't just pull out of here
early 'cause of a little
bit of snow.

But uh, you can see
the water I'm dealing with

because we did
finally find the water cable.

And man, there is a
lot of groundwater
coming out.

I didn't think it was going
to be this bad but...

I want to send
a bunch of dry pay
up to that plant

and out it through the plant.

And not have to resort to
sending wet pay up,
that needs time to dry because

at the end of the day,
we want to sluice
this stuff today.

We know we're running
out of time here, so...

I hope uh,
there's a solution
sooner than later.

[Brennan]
Rick, you got a copy?

[Rick]
Yeah, go for Rick.

[Brennan]
Hey, buddy,
you mind coming down

and taking a look at this
water I'm dealing with?

All right, I'll be right down.

[Brennan]
Okay, buddy, thanks.

- [Rick] There's a lot of water here, huh?
- [Brennan] Yeah, so.

[Brennan] I don't know, like,
is it worth me even sluicing
*bleep* right now

- or just wait for it to dry out?
- [Rick] No, no, it's not.

No, we're going to need to get
a pump in here right away

if we're going to
get this pay out.

[narrator]
After digging for 10 weeks,

Rick's crew are 170 feet
down in the Rally Valley

and have just hit
the water table,

a layer of water just above
impermeable bed rock.

Right where all the
gold-rich pay dirt sits.

To drain the cut
and get the dry pay,

they'll install a pump to pull
all the water out of the pit.

[Rick] I gotta get a pump
down there, ASAP.

[narrator] Rick is relying
on 20-year-old pump

that hasn't run
for three years.

[Rick] This pump
right here is uh...
Don't look like much but

it's exactly what we need to
get the water out of the cut.

We can't work underwater,

and that's where--
that's where the good pay
that we've been chasing is.

Let's uh, get this pump
here and uh, it'll keep this
water drained out of our cut.

[Rick] Easy!

Ooh.

Holy *bleep*!

That's the spot where
I want to put my pump.

This is kind of
*bleep* spooky,
not knowing...

what the floor
looks like under here.

- [loud splash]
- *bleep*

[groans] *bleep* *bleep*

[narrator]
On Duncan Creek,

Rick Ness is on the best pay
he's ever mined.

But the cut is flooded.

*bleep*

[Rick]
Ah! I knew I was
going to get in there.

Especially since
it's underwater,

I can't see where
the *bleep* boulders are.

[man] Which way
you want it facing?

Yep. Stop here.

Nailed it!

This thing doesn't
need to be flat, right?

[Rick] So,
suction line and some layflat,
we'll be in business

but I've got to get this
water out of here tonight.

Um, because we need to be
hauling pay out here
in the morning.

[narrator] After six hours,
setting the pump,

suction line
and discharge hose,

the entire success of Rick's
season now depends on
a 20-year-old pump.

[Rick] This is uh,
it's too late in the season
for *bleep* not to work.

I really need this pump to uh,
prime right away and start
*bleep* doing its job.

Stay here late, get it done.

[pump starting]

[Rick] There she goes.

What do you know?
A pump that works.

*bleep* me.
That's all I needed.

[narrator] With temperatures
expected to drop ten below,

Rick's hoping the pump can
drain the cut before
the water freezes.

Well, that's that.
We're pumping water.

By morning time,
cut should be nice and dry.

Bingo-Bango.
Just what we needed.

[narrator]


the King of the Klondike,
Tony Beets is still 900 ounces
shy of his season goal.

With the big freeze
about to hit,

and Mike's trommel producing
just 300 ounces a week,

Tony is about to do
the unthinkable.

[narrator]
The New Zealand plant
is 100 yard per hour trommel

sitting on
a stockpile of good pay
beside Hunker Creek.

It could hold the
key to Tony's season.

But over the last two seasons,

the Hunker Cut has been
an absolute disaster.

I think the chain just
*bleep* broke.

[narrator]
Frozen pay...

[woman] Shouldn't have this
big of rocks in here.

[narrator]
...mechanical failure...

It must be a hole.

[narrator]
...and flooding have sent Tony
packing multiple times.

[Kevin]
No! What the *bleep*?

[narrator]
Just 17 weeks ago,

when Tony tried his luck
once more...

Holy *bleep*!

[narrator] ...the Kiwi plant's
main generator seized.

[Kevin] The engine is
*bleep* *bleep*.

[narrator]
And Tony was
defeated once again.

*bleep* damn cursed cut.

[narrator] Now, Tony's rebuilt
the motor on the generator

and the cut has dried out.

He's determined to
reverse the curse.

[narrator] To get the
operation running,
Tony send youngest son, Mike

to set up the water supply.

[Mike] 'Cause my dad wants to
get some more sluicing done
before the end here

because he wants more gold.

And since we can't
go to the Indian,

this one of the only other
places we can go to
at the moment.

So, I'm just making sure
to start getting stuff ready.

Look at that!

That *bleep* thing is stuffed.

That thing's full of dirt.
I'm gonna pull it up
and see how much.

You like breathing, right?

So, imagine I were to shove
your nose and your mouth
just full of *bleep*,

makes it harder to breathe.

Well, the pump likes having
water flow through it.

So, it's full of *bleep*.
It don't like that.

*bleep* thing is broken.

Whole thing is going to
have to get fixed.

[narrator] The screen that
protects the water intake
is plugged solid.

[Mike]
I think someone is going to
have to fix that.

[narrator]
But that's not all.

[Mike] I just dug out
your thing, and I tried--
I pulled out the uh,

suction because it was
*bleep* chuck full of mud.

Your hose is broken and
the suction screen's *bleep*.

Just letting you know that
you're going to need--

If you want to get this thing
started up today,

it's going to be a little
bit of work before
you get her going.

[Tony] Oi-oi-oi.

[Mike]
Chuck-full, obviously.

[man]
Oh, wow. Yeah.

[Mike grunts, chuckles]

[Tony speaking]

[narrator]
Mike loads the intake hose

and 220 excavator
onto the Oshkosh
and hauls them to the yard.

[Mike] The Oshkosh,
it just *bleep* died.

[Mike] The Oshkosh,
it just *bleep* died.

[narrator]
At Paradise Hill,

Mike's military
tank transporter
has fallen victim

to the curse of
the Hunker Cut.

[grunts]

[narrator] Tony calls in
the 520 horsepowered
D-10 dozer

to pull the 20-ton truck
and it's 36-ton payload
to the yard.

- [Mike] It is in neutral.
- [man] All right.

[Kevin] Oh, it's coming
out of our hose.

[Kevin] Mike was coming
up the hill, uh...

he had low power
so he was going to
shift to lower gears

and he stopped.
And it died.

[narrator] A leak in the
cooling system caused
the engine to overheat

and a safety system
shut it down.

[Mike] What can you do?
We're going to lose

a day's sluicing which is
kind of a pain in the a*s.

All you can*bleep* do is
fix it 'cause we ain't got
much*bleep* time.

Just another delay
trying to the Kiwi going.

Cursed cut strikes again!

[Parker] I saw what happened
at Big Red with the pipeline.

And I know Nona's kicking
herself pretty good but

we all make mistakes.
I know I've done it before.

Almost that exact thing.

[narrator]
At Mud Mountain,

Parker is in a race to extract
every ounce of gold

through Big Red before
winter shuts him down.

But right now,
he's stepped into
his D-11 dozer

to deal with a more
pressing issue.

[Parker] It's a tough
balancing act because

we're behind on gold
and we want to get
gold out of the ground but

if we don't do reclamation,
we're just screwing our future

because we won't
have a future.

[narrator]
Before this season ends,

Parker must reclaim
his mined out ground
to recreate

the natural habitat of ponds
and earth where plants
and animals will return.

[Parker] You know,
as big of a push
we're making for gold here,

from a long time
view of things,

reclamation's
way more important.

There's two ponds
right here that,

as long as we slope
the banks in good,

and have good
vegetation around,
they're going to be wetlands

and they'll have birds
and ducks and swans.

So, stabilizing creek beds
and water flow is a
big part of it and then,

of course, putting organics
over top that let it regrow.

[Parker] We'll leave this
place looking really good.

We're not just here to
take the money and run.

[narrator]
At the other side of the cut,
rookie miner, Justin Fraser

is still running Mud Mountain
pay dirt through Big Red.

[Justin] We gotta get
as much as we can
through Big Red here.

If we get this plant
turned up anymore,

I don't know if it's uh,
going to be able to keep up.

[Justin] The plant! The plant!

[Mitch] Holy *bleep*!

Gonna shut off.
Gonna shut off.

k*ll the water!

*bleep* *bleep*

Ah, we got to
shut the pump off but
the plant is solid with dirt.

[Mitch] Oh, wow.

You probably got
two feet of material
in that thing.

[narrator] Water and pay dirt
are funneled through
the distribution box

which distributes
the mixture evenly
across four sluice runs.

In an effort to
up their production,

Justin has
overloaded the plant,
blocking the distribution box

backing up Big Red.

We're going to have to
shovel all that out.

That's why all this water's
bailing out the end.

- [man] Pure sacrifice right there.
- [Justin] What a good boy.

[Justin] Should've just given
you the rain gear.

- Then we can just turn the water on.
- [man] That would be the best.

[Mitch laughs]

[Mitch] At least it's not like
fertilizer and you're
standing in poop.

You're such a
glass-half-full kind of guy.
That's what I love about you.

[laughs]
Just try and get the
hole opened up there.

Could be worse.

- [Justin] Yeah.
- [Mitch] Could be a heck of a lot better too, but...

[grunts]

I think we'll throw a little
bit more water at it here.
Let's get this thing flowing.

[machine starting]

[Justin]
Water's moving.

It has to work.
[chuckles]

Oh, yeah!

Doesn't look to be
pouring out any of our joints.

- Oh, yeah, there we go!
- Yeah!

Nice job!

Do you feel like you just dug
your way out of jail
there or what?

Honestly, it reminds me
of the time I did.

[all laughing]

[Mitch]
All righty, then.

We got our water
back on, we're gonna
go ahead and

flip the switch here
and get the shaker deck shaking.

We're going to throw some
material on Big Red here,
see what it wants to do.

Here we go!

[machine starts]

[Justin] Best part about
working here is...

Guys that have nothing
to do with the plant
or anything like that

all come together
to make *bleep* happen and

I don't know,
that's the only reason
that we're running right now

is 'cause everyone
works together and...

I just-- I don't know.
This place is pretty wicked.

[Brennan] Un *bleep*
believable.

This is lame.

[narrator] At Rally Valley,

the high-grade pay
Rick is relying on
to save his season,

is still under six feet
of water.

[Brennan] You know, uh,
we're finally down
to the good pay.

Rick got us a pump.

Told us that this cut
was gonna be bone dry.

Got here in the morning,
flooded right out again.

And, uh, you know,
just one step ahead,
ten steps behind.

And it's getting really
*bleep* frustrating.

[narrator] Rick's
six inch pump

is no match for the 6,000
gallons of ground water,

bleeding into the cut
every minute.

- The water didn't really move.
- Yeah.

[Rick sighs deeply]

*bleep*

[Brennan] You know,
that six inch
just could not keep up

for how much volume of water
we have here.

And it's a pile of*bleep*
and barely works.

The Taylors have
a *bleep* ten inch.

- [Brennan] Do they?
- Sitting up there.

- [Brennan] Oh, really.
- [Rick] Yeah.

For what I remember,
there's nothing wrong with it.

- It just hasn't run in a couple of years, so...
- [Brennan] Yeah.

[engine whirring]

[narrator] Rick heads
to the lay down yard

he shares with landlord,
Troy Taylor.

[Rick] The six inch pump,
just did not have

enough jam to get
the water out of the cut.

And I need that *bleep*
water out of there now.

I mean, there's a nice
ten inch pump here.

You know, it's got
everything we need

and more to get
that water out of there,
but it ain't mine.

It's the Taylors'.

And I can't *bleep*
get a hold of Troy
to see if I can use it.

His *bleep* phone just keeps
going to voicemail.

So, I don't have
another *bleep* choice.

I mean, we have to get
the water out of there.

Screw it.
I'm just gonna use it.

Let's go.

[machinery whirring]

[narrator] Troy's pump
has a capacity of 8,000
gallons a minute.

More than triple
the flow rate of Rick's.

[Brennan] We're going
to, hopefully have this
ten inch fired up here

within the next, you know,


You know, after, uh,
switching crews this season,

I would really like my
first season with Rick
be his best season.

It's just a personal goal
that I've had all year.

- [horn beeps]
- [Brennan] Just watch yourself!

[clatters]

[Chris] Perfect. Nailed it.

[narrator] All that's left
is to plumb up the hoses.

[Rick] Dude, we kinda need
to spin this a bit more.

I think that we should leave
it right there.

- [Chris] Yeah.
- Everything reaches.

I say drop it down.
We'll unhook this for now.

[Rick] Is there a loop
on the side there?
Something to hook to?

[horn beeps]

- [Brennan] What the *bleep* are you doing?
- [Nathan] What?

This is like watching
grass grow.

- [Chris] Hey, nobody's amused by your bull *bleep*.
- [laughs]

- [Rick] There you go. Nice catch.
- [Chris laughs]

[Rick] It's*bleep* snowing
right now.

I don't know how much time
we have left,

but I do know that the time
we do have left,

needs to be spent
running this good pay.

And, the only thing
standing in our way right now
is this *bleep* water.

We got this ten inch in here.

Hopefully it's got the jam
we need to get this thing,
uh, dried out.

[buzzing]

I think she's on there.

[Chris] Fire it up.

[engine starts]

[pump whirring]

[Brennan] Whoa-h*!

Yeah, boy!

[Brennan] *bleep* I love
the sound of those old gas.

[narrator] Powered by
a massive 465 horsepower
dozer engine...

*bleep* yeah!

[pump whirring]

[narrator] ...this ten inch
pump can empty
an Olympic swimming pool

in just 70 minutes.

You can see the water
moving from all the way
over there already.

- See that?
- [Nathan] Yeah.

Oh, yeah, you can already
see it.

[Rick] Well, this pump...

Man, it should work,
and if it does,

we'll be able to come in here
in the morning,

and finally start getting
this good pay out of here,
you know.

All we've been worried about
for the last couple of days,
is water.

And, uh, we need to be
worried about the gold, so...

Fingers crossed morning comes,
gold's coming out of here.

[pump whirring]

[Rick] Oh, yeah,
it did its job.

Sometimes you just need
bigger equipment.

It's definitely dried
out a good six feet
of this pay layer.

So that's good.

Next step is, uh,
get the trucks rolling.

And, uh, start bringing
pay to the plant.

[Brennan] We're finally back
on track, you know?

We're back to digging
this good pay.

Long as the pump
keeps working,

and the weather holds up,

I don't see why we
won't get to our target.

And that's the only thing
that matters.

[Rick] We don't have
much time left.

And we still got a lot
of ounces to bank
to get to 2,000, so...

Just keep up with this pump.

Keep hauling this stuff,
and we should get
where we need to be.

[clanging]

Firing up the Kiwi
hasn't gone worth a *bleep*.
Let's be honest.

So, slowly but steadily,
we'll make it work.

[narrator] On Paradise Hill,

the Beets are fighting
to get their second
wash plant,

the Kiwi up and running
in the cursed Hunker Cut.

So far, a plugged screen,

broken intake hose,

and sudden engine failure,

have stopped them
from firing up the plant.

We got a lot of rocks.

and I was too lazy
to get the steam cleaner here.

So I do it this way.

[narrator] Kevin makes up
a new coupler

to reattach the screen's
cage to the hose.

[Kevin] We got
the new coupler on.

That is perfect.

Now we've just gotta
go back down
to the Kiwi plant,

plug everything together,
we can finally start
sluicing down there.

[narrator] Down at
the cursed Hunker Cut...

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] ...it's time to put
it all back together, again...

[Kevin grunts]

[narrator] ...and pray
it all works.

[metal clanking]

[Tony] One, two, three, six.

[Tony speaking]

[Kevin] Come on!

[engine misfiring]

[Tony speaking]

[engine misfiring]

[Kevin] Yeah, no juice.

No sparks, means no power.

So, we're just gonna
take this *bleep* battery
out momentarily,

put a bigger *bleep* in there,
and zoom, zoom, zoom,
bang, bang, bang.

- [Ruby] Okay.
- It's awkward as *bleep* otherwise.

[Tony speaking]

[Kevin] There you go.

Now we can *bleep*
do something.

She gonna turn over?

[engine firing]

This cursed cut.

Oh, *bleep*, this cursed cut
has been nothing but problems.

But now we're up
and running, so...

[chuckles] Hopefully
the cursed cut can give us
a little bit of a break.

[narrator] With the curse
of the Hunker Cut lifted,

Tony now has two wash plants

sluicing gold-rich pay dirt
at a combined 450 yards
per hour,

giving him a fighting chance
of hitting his 4,500 ounce
season goal.

[Tony speaking]

[Tony groans]

*bleep*

[narrator] On Paradise Hill,

an overnight cold snap
froze Mike's trommel,

just in time for the cleanup.

[Mike] They're *bleep* frozen.

[Mike yells]

Hopefully, this cleanup
has lots of gold in it.

The more gold,
the more money,

the more profit,
the more, uh,

the more the company
expands, the longer we last.

Oh, *bleep* me!

Hey, Nick.

That's a nice one.

Hey, boys, all done.

Let's get her up there
for jigging.

You and Ruby can start,
uh, jigging.

Nobody likes cleanups, ever.

Especially not when
everything's frozen.

*bleep* kidding.
No *bleep* kidding.

[Monica] Hey, guys

[Tony speaking]

[Mike groans]

[baby crying]

[Monica] It is obviously
getting cold out.

Little girl's got
warm blankets,

instead of just the muslins.

[Tony speaking]

On a sunny day
that was slightly brisk,

you're like,
"Doesn't she have a hat?

She's gonna get cold."

Like, come on,
man. [chuckles]

You can't have it both ways.

Well, we're all
wondering about that, Tony.
[chuckles]

[all laugh]

Uh, how was this week?

So, the trommel
was running all week

- while all this other stuff went on?
- Yep.

That thing is nice
and dependable, isn't it?

[Tony speaking]

And I love dependable.

Not me.

[Tony chuckles]

[Minnie] I think we should
do the Kiwi first.

[Tony speaking]

[narrator] Tony is still


of his 4,500 ounce
season goal.

[Minnie] Look, there's some
chunkies in there.

[Faith] 20, 30,





[Tony speaking]

Nice little hole you found.

[Faith] Okay. Let's do
Mike's trommel.











[narrator] For a total
of 360.28 ounces,

worth almost $650,000,

bringing their season total
to 3,988 ounces,

over 500 ounces shy.

We're getting pretty close.

I mean, that's quite
a bit more than
we've been getting.

[Tony speaking]

[Minnie]
Don't count it until--

[Tony speaking]

All right.

[Kevin] Or we'll just
keep going until we do.

[Minnie] You have
fun with that.

We will be in Mexico.

[laughs]

Just the people
I wanted to see.

How she going, Ricky?

Not too bad.

Oh! That's heavy.

You think it's heavier
than last week?

- It feels like it.
- Oh, boy.

[narrator] Rick's lost two
days sluicing while he battled
a flooded cut.

With he big freeze threatening
to shut him down,

he needs the Rally Valley
to deliver.

You know, we had
a few setbacks this week.

- Nice.
- [Rick] If there wasn't so much damn water down there,

um, you know,
that six-inch pump

would have been able
to handle it.

We would have been
a little farther ahead
than we are, but,

that 10-inch pump,
like, that's certainly
got the power to do it.

- Yeah.
- But, uh, unfortunately that came at a price tag.

I talked to Troy,

and it turns out they didn't
have a problem with it
as long as I bought it.

Ooh. Wow. [chuckles]

- Oh, yeah, 40 grand for a pump.
- Ouch.

- We needed it, so at least it was right on site.
- Yep.

And it kept us going,
and, uh,

- it's keeping our cut dry.
- Yep.

- It's the price you pay, I guess, you know, but, uh...
- [Brennan] Yeah.

And by the weight of this,
I think it's starting
to pay off.

- [Brennan] I love that.
- I know.

Good stuff.

So, let's weigh it up.

This jar's already got


Woo-hoo. I can't wait

All right. Here we go.

[narrator] To hit his


Rick still needs
a massive 550 ounces.

[Rick] So, we got,










over 100.

- Go, Ricky.
- Wow.



[Brennan] Oh, my *bleep*!

Nice.

S0, 106 plus 100,
that's 206

[narrator] Worth $370,000.

[chuckles] *bleep*

- Wow, that's awesome.
- It's amazing.

[narrator] Rick is 300 ounces
shy of his season goal.

If he can keep
Monster Red running,

he still has
a shot at victory.

[all laugh]

[laughs]

Even though we were
down for days,

the team pulled it off.

This is great.
I mean, 206 ounces.

*bleep* Man, that's awesome.

If we just keep going deeper
in that *bleep*, it's just
gonna get better.

- That's the next challenge, right?
- [Rick] Yeah.

Hopefully, that's a panful
of nuggets at the bottom.
[laughs]

- I can't wait for that.
- [Brennan] Oh, man.

- [Parker] Hey, Mitch.
- Oh-h*!

Does it feel a whole lot
better in here than
it does outside.

- [laughter]
- [Parker] It's starting to get a little chilly out there.

[Doumitt] Maybe you're
colder than the beer.

It felt good coming in here
though with that stove
running, man.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Doumitt's burning as much fuel
as a D11.

[all laugh]

[narrator] To beat last
season's gold total,

Parker needs the final weeks
to go off without a hitch.

I hear Nona hooked
the water line.

I was gone for

just long enough
for it to go bad, you know.

It's a good thing
the pipe broke when it did.

- That's all I say.
- Oh, yeah.

The pipe took
the brunt of the punishment.

If it didn't break there--

The next step was
the sluice runs being like
crumpled up and drug out

into the fine tailings.

Yeah, that was what
would probably have
happened next, like--

[Parker] With gold in it.

[narrator] With the season
nearly over,

Parker's closing in
on last year's total
of 7,504 ounces.

To stay on track,

Parker needs his wash plants
to bring in 420 ounces of gold
per week.

First up, Sluicifer,

which has been running pay
from the ugly cut.

Here we go. 10.













So it's ugly and bad.

How did we do?

Our hopes now, anyway,
my... is we at least get
Mud Mountain paid for,

and not take a loss.

[narrator] Parker has
invested over $5 million
in Mud Mountain.

He still needs 900 ounces
before the cut will start
to make a profit.

[Mitch] Keep her coming'. 50.









Keep going. 300.







[narrator] Still over
of the break-even point.

So, for the week, you guys,
we got 483.85 ounces.

That puts us at 7,141.7.

About 360 short
of last season.

[Parker] Given the way
our season has gone.

Unless there's some
miracle in Mud Mountain,

we can safely say that we are
a quantity mining operation,

- not quality.
- [chuckles]

[Parker] *bleep* the quality.

- We will mine tons of shallow ground...
- [all laugh]

- ...and if we go broke then we covered lots of area at least.
- Yeah.

I totally agree.

We can go broke
in one stupid *bleep* hole.

[all laugh]