15x05 - On Thick Ice

[bunniefuu]

We have a lot of ground
to get through
and so we just needed

to get sluicing early in order
to try to get through it all.

But, you know, it's always
tough to know whether

you're making the right
decisions or not.

[narrator] Parker Schnabel
is still reeling

from an ugly start
to his season.

Chasing a record
10,000-ounce target,

he started to sluice
earlier than ever.

But setbacks and bad calls
have cost him dearly.

Four weeks into the season,
he's only mined 135 ounces.

[Parker] The plant's running
in the Long cut,

but we are having
cash problems.

Financially,
we're still in a very big hole

and we need money
coming in.

[narrator] Parker is spending
hundreds of thousands more
than expected

to get down to pay dirt
in the Bridge cut
and the Long cut.

But now he has
another problem.

There's lots of keeping
a wash plant running,

especially considering
we're fighting permafrost.

[narrator] As hard
as concrete, permafrost is
a thick layer of ice

beneath the top layers
of dirt.

See these frost chunks
that I'm bailing?

Like, you don't get gold out
of chunks of frost.

And that had me
really concerned.

It's like, did we start
sluicing too early?

[narrator] Parker usually lets
the permafrost sit for months

to melt in the sun,
making it easier to dig

and process in
the wash plant.

But with no other places
ready to sluice,

Parker has foreman
Mitch Blaschke fighting
Mother Nature...

with horsepower.

[Mitch] Parker's decided
that we need to bring in
the big g*ns here,

so I've got this dozer out
in the cut now.

And if it can't get through
this frozen ground,
nothing will.

[narrator]
Mitch scrapes the top
few inches of icy pay

into piles that
will thaw quickly.

Parker said keep that
wash plant running 24-7.

[narrator] An excavator
then loads the trucks
with the thawed pay dirt,

which is fed
into rock sand.

This is a very expensive way
to have to do things here.

Not only the fuel
we're burning,

the time it takes,
but the wear and tear
on undercarriage.

Hopefully at
the end of it all,
we see a lot of gold.

[creaking]

Oh, man, that did
not sound good.

[engine stops]

We just want to have a look
underneath the dozer here.

Everything's looking good
on the undercarriage.

Oh, that's not good.

We got some big old cracks
here on the back of the blade.

Oh, man.

That is, uh...
that's serious there.

[sighs] Man.

Well, as you can see,
this ground out here
is extremely hard.

When you're out here sliding
that blade across here,

it's just grinding
that steel down.

We need to get this dozer
out of the cut,

and we're going to have
to get this cleaned up

and get it repaired.

Parker wanted to start
sluicing early,

and this is
what happens here.

[narrator] The dozer's
20-foot-wide,

carbon-hardened steel
cutting edge is supported by

multiple triangular braces
behind the blade.

The frozen ground has cracked
those support braces

and weakened the blade's
integrity.

To strengthen it,
the mechanics must gouge out

the supports at the base
of the cracks,

then re-weld them into place
before the dozer can return

to action.

Mechanics Bill Horton
and Liam Pukila arrive
to repair

the critical dozer.

[drilling]

I'm just cleaning away
all the dirt that's packed in

behind the blade.

Got dirt in my teeth.

Dirt in my teeth,
gold in my veins.

[narrator] Cracks exposed,

Bill gouges them out using
an arc cutter.

All right,
that should be good.

Now the dilemma is
it's all overhead welding
under here.

So I got to really concentrate
and try to get these welds

laid right in here.

Mitch is really looking
for this thing.

So I'm taking a couple
of shortcuts.

I just got to get this done.

[narrator]
To finish the repair,
Bill grinds excess

molten slag
off his new welds.

[Bill] Ow! What the...
My foot!

Argh! What's in my boot?

Whoo.

[Liam] Oh, no.

-Did it get you good?
-[Bill] Yeah, it's got me
pretty good.

The hot slag went down
inside my boot,
and I felt it hit here.

[Liam] Oh!

You have a Band-Aid.

[Bill] Oh, yeah.

[Liam] Right there.

Oh.

[Bill] We got
a Band-Aid on there.
We're good to go.

Burned a hole right through
my sock. It's what we'll call
a bush fix right now.

[Liam] A bush fix on Bill.

[Bill] Just another day
of welding overhead.

-[Liam] At least
you're all right.
-[Bill] Yeah, we're all good.

Let's just not get burned
for nothing.

-Let's get this thing rolling.
-[Liam] Yeah, absolutely.

[Bill] Pain is such
a waste of time.

[narrator]
Bill's Band-Aid bush fix
has him back in action.

[Bill] Last rod.

Done.

Been a good job.

-[Liam] Great job.
-We nailed it again.

Nailed it again.

You get yourself
looked after.

-[Bill] I will.
-Thanks, buddy.

[engine starts]

Well, it is great to have
this machine back in the cut.

Bill put in a lot of work,
and he kept after

it even after burning
his foot there.

And I tell you what,
we definitely need
this machine out here

if we're going to keep
Roxanne running.

[country music playing]

[Bailey] We're spending a lot
of money right now,

you know,
trying to get this pay out.

So I know Rick's just going
to want to fire up Monster Red

as soon as we can,
put some money in the bank.

[narrator] At Duncan Creek,
Rick Ness' crew are eager
to catch

their first Rally Valley gold
of the season.

We're building quite
the stockpile here right now.

[narrator]
After some early delays,
they've stockpiled 5,000 yards

of pay dirt and are ready
to sluice.

[Ryan]
It's a pretty good feeling.
I'd like to see that pile get

to a pretty good size
by the end of the week.

The gold room
hasn't seen any action
this year yet.

[narrator] No one
wants to find out
how much gold lies at

the bottom of Rally Valley
more than Rick.

[Rick] At the moment,
our 1,500-ounce goal
seems a long, long ways away.

We need to be processing
a lot of gold.

We get as much gold out of
here as we can just in case

we never get a chance
to come back.

[narrator] After learning that
his water license

for next year is in limbo,
this could be Rick's

last chance to pull as much
gold out of Duncan Creek
as possible.

[Rick] We've got
dirt sitting there
at Monster Red,

but all that's missing
is a pump.

This year, I went ahead
and invested in one.

I got a really big 12-inch
pump coming in.

That's all we need.

We're up and [bleep] running,
then putting gold in the bank.

The good news is it's here,
and it should be pulling in
any minute.

What a [bleep] beauty.

This right here means
we can fire up Monster Red.

You know, this could be
a Ferrari in my garage, but...

We'll take a pump on site.

[narrator] Rick's only other
working pump keeps
Rally Valley from flooding.

His new massive 12-gauge
will allow him to run

his Monster Red
wash plant flat out,

sluicing 300 yards
an hour.

[Ryan] I can't wait to see
how much water this thing
pumps, actually.

We could probably run
two plants at once.

We'll just send a hose down
to Rocky and pump it off one.

It's a [bleep] monster, man.

This is the biggest pump
I've ever had on site.

What do you think, Buzz?

-That'll be sluicing
by this afternoon.
-[Buzz] Let's do it.

[Ryan] Cool.

[narrator] To get started,
Buzz has built
a custom reducer

for the monster
12-inch pump to connect

to Rick's 10-inch
suction line.

[Buzz speaking]

[Rick] This pump's
ready to go.

This is the final piece
of the puzzle here
to get sluicing.

This was a big investment.
$150,000 we got to make up
in gold

just to pay this pump off.

[narrator] To pay
for the pump, Rick
needs to pull in at least

60 ounces of gold in
his first week of sluicing.

Can I move a quarter inch
your way?

[Buzz speaking]

[Rick] That's it.

As soon as we get
the suction hooked up,

then we can fire
this pump up.

I'm so excited.

Suction line's on.

Everything's ready.
Everything's in place.

[Rick] Look at that.

What a [bleep] beauty.

Big moment. Big new pump.

[engine spluttering]

Come on.

[engine starts]

Whoo.

[Ryan] We got
no water anywhere.

[Rick] That's...

That is scaring me.

[Ryan] Well, where
the [bleep] is the water?

We got no water anywhere.

[Rick] That is scaring me.

[Ryan] Well, where
the [bleep]
is the water going?

[narrator] In the hunt
for his first gold
of the year,

Rick's fired up
his brand-new pump.

But no water is reaching
his wash plant.

[Rick] We're not getting water
for some reason.

Um...

There might be something
plugging up our intake.

We're gonna go lift
the suction basket,

see if something's clogging
it from down there.

Let's just start at
the source right before
we get all goofy up here.

The weld, that's what
we're sucking air in.

Now that you got water to it,
it's completely leaking
everywhere.

-[Rick] Oh, yeah.
-[Ryan] This whole
piece is cracked.

-[Rick] Yeah.
-[Ryan] We need
to re-weld it.

[narrator] The pump connects
to the intake hose

through Buzz's
custom reducer.

Like a straw with holes in it,
the fitting has cracks
in the weld that

are sucking air in,
creating an air lock that

prevents water from
reaching the pump.

To fix it, they will
weld the cracks shut,

sealing the intake line
and allowing the pump

to pull the water necessary
to run the wash plant.

[Buzz] This is easy to weld.
This is not a big deal
like this.

[Rick] Okay. All right.

I was getting nervous
about this pump.

Well, I knew I didn't
have a reason to,

but I couldn't think
of anything else.

[Buzz speaking]

[Ryan] Anything to keep it
from sucking air in.

[Buzz speaking]

[Brennan over radio]
We're down in the cut,
making some good headway.

It feels awesome.

Just starting to rip
the D10 while

Matt and the trucks work
their way over to me.

Everyone's so excited
to be out here.

I don't think there's
a sad face around here today.

[narrator]
Rookie mine boss Kevin Beets
is learning that optimism

doesn't bring in gold.

[Kevin] We're getting to some
real production now.

But if we want to keep up
and reach our goal,

we're going to have
to make sure the trucks
keep on moving.

[narrator] Slowed by critical
equipment failures,

Kevin is still stripping
overburden at the Lynx cut

and hasn't mined an ounce.

[Kevin] We had a lot of delays
and we spent over
a million bucks.

So we're starting to feel
the pressure to get

some of that back.

We really need to get sluicing
before the piggy bank

gets too small.

[narrator]
To get the gold flowing,

Kevin wants his crew
down to pay dirt

and sluicing
in three weeks.

[Kevin] Bills are still
coming in despite
no gold coming in,

so we really need to be
focused on moving dirt

so I can keep all
the machines going.

Our current schedule
has us sluicing by

the end of the month.

Fingers crossed.

[Brennan] We need to get down
to the pay because we need
to make some money here.

Oh, man, oh, man.

That is soft.

[bleep]

Chase got stuck
in the mud.

Hey, Matt.

Yeah, I'm stuck here trying
to get out of the cut.

[grunts] Give me a second.

Basically, I'm just going
to grab in his box

and give him
a little push.

[laughs]

Thank you, Matt.

Well, we won't be doing
that again.

Huh.

-What happened?
-I got stuck.

The ground was a little soft,
and I got stuck.

[sighs]

But you can see, we've hit
the water table now.

That ditch is full.

And that's why you get stuck,
and the trucks get stuck.

You know, it's miserable
to push.

That just hinders
the production.

I'm not going to be able
to go any lower than
what this water is,

because then the whole
[bleep] cut will just be
a big mud hole, right?

If we can get a dewatering
pump in and start taking

this water table down,
then it'll be easy.

[narrator] The Lynx cut's
water table is the level,

underground, where the water
naturally sits.

Now that it's been exposed,
water is overwhelming

the drainage ditch,
flooding the cut,

turning the floor
into thick mud.

To keep on top
of the constant flow
of groundwater

into the cut, Brennan needs
a dewatering pump...

to completely drain
and then keep the cut dry,

allowing the trucks
to keep working.

All righty.

What's going on, boss?

[Kevin] That's my question.

[Brennan] Did you
bring your dinghy?

Well, this is what we're up
against here without no pump.

They got so much mud
that it's saturating

and they can't drive on it.

I'm getting a little
bit [bleep] frustrated here.

I got some bad news
for you then.

And what's that?

We don't have
a [bleep] pump.

Tony promised that
I'd be able to borrow a pump

that I haven't had time
to get to yet.

Oh, that sucks.

That really sucks right now.

So that's not
the [bleep] answer
I was looking for, man.

I need that pump.
Until then, we're shut down.

[sighs]

[bleep]

[narrator] Without a pump
to drain the cut,
Kevin's crew is shut down.

This is my [bleep] up,
so I'm going to go
get on fixing it.

Well, it's a bit of
a [bleep] up not having
a water pump here.

It's just pushing us more
and more away from

this 1,000-ounce goal
that we have.

He's going to try
and find one,

but we're going to shut down
and have people
sitting around.

[Kevin] I am not prepared.

I'm kind of
dropping ball here.

So I'm going to go talk
to Tony, see what we can do.

[narrator] Kevin drives
three miles west to
his dad's Indian River claim

in search of a solution.

The pump was one of the things
Tony was loaning us

until we can get our own
to help get us started.

I've been kind of relying
on that.

Let's go see Tony.

Hello.

Oh, yeah.

Happens when you don't sleep.

Mostly because I'm fixing
your stuff for you.

Mmm.

-[laughs]
-Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.

Well, remember that pump
we're supposed to get?

The pump.

See, the one you promised
we could have this winter.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

-See, the one you promised
we could have this winter.
-Ah.

[narrator] Rookie mine boss
Kevin Beets
needs a water pump

from his dad to keep
his Lynx cut operation
running.

I was relying on that
being available.

[narrator] A two-day
delay will cost
Kevin thousands

and put his gold-sluicing
deadline at risk.

Okay. Any way
to speed that up?
We're already at groundwater.

So we need it today.

I was relying on it,
and you said we could use it.

[narrator] Until Tony's
spare pump is ready,

Kevin's Lynx cut
stripping operation
is dead in the water.

[Kevin] I mean,
I was hoping for a little bit
better than that.

I kind of trusted that
it would be, you know, ready.

Don't want to sound like
a whiner, but like [bleep].

I mean, I really
should have [bleep] known.

But you know,
you like to hope.

We really can't have any more
delays with the pump.

I sent out a few messages,
but nobody's picking up
the phone.

I did message Parker.

No response.

[Parker] Kevin left me
a voicemail trying to find
a dewatering pump.

I just ignored it.

I'm not going to jump
to attention when you phone me

and say you want
a dewatering pump.

I'm like, what was he doing
all winter?

Pumps are one of
the most necessary parts

of a mining operation.
We have like 20
of the [bleep] things.

It's because when a water pump
breaks and I am like

[bleep], because I don't have
a spare water pump.

That makes me feel dumb.

I feel that way about
every single thing on
the mine site though.

Most of the mining process
is about

just not letting yourself
get screwed.

[narrator] Parker is
fighting problems
of his own.

The only ground he can sluice
is frozen solid

and the costs to get
the gold out are skyrocketing.

[Tyson] We're in the red
and we need gold.

We might be eating
Kraft dinner for the rest

of the season because
we're going to have to cut
some costs.

I love Kraft dinner though.

[narrator]
To help collect the cut's
top layer of thawed pay,

piled up by the dozer,
plant boss Tyson Lee uses

the 480 to send as much pay
to his wash plant, Roxanne,

as possible.

We're just trying to scratch
some thaw and get some pay up.

This bucket is key
for scratching pay.

This gets it right down
to clean frost.

[narrator] The 480's
specialty cleanup bucket
has a flat cutting edge,

ideal for scooping
every available scrap

of the thin layer
of thawed pay dirt cleanly
from the cut.

[Tyson]
PayPal's getting low.

I need to be swinging
in this thing whole hours

of the day to keep up
with Roxanne.

[bleep]

This bucket is not
looking good right now.

With this cutting edge
getting this low,
it's wearing into the bucket.

It's just gonna [bleep]
this bucket completely up.

Janko's already changed
this edge once in this cut

and he's gotta
do it again.

I'll walk this thing
over there.

This is the worst case
scenario.

We're still fighting frost,
but right now,

it seems like a battle
we're losing.

[narrator] The concrete-like
frozen ground has shredded

the bucket's cutting edge.

It's a quick fix,
but Tyson can't send pay dirt

to Roxanne until it's done.

I just put this edge on
a couple days ago,

but they've worn it right down
to the frog again.

Should be able to be able
to reuse it,

so I'll just take it off,
clean up the surfaces,

flip it around,
and bolt it back on.

Holy [bleep].

The [bleep] crack.

There's this big massive crack
on the ear here.

That thing's gonna bust
right off.

[narrator] A large crack in
a structural ear means

the quick fix on
the critical bucket
will take much longer.

I don't think that
this thing is gonna go back

to work like looking
like this.

[Tyson] We've been fighting
frost in here and getting pay
through the plant

and this excavator
with this bucket is like key

to doing that.

Do you think you can have it
going by the end of the day?

[chuckles dryly]

-No.
-[Parker] No?

No.

If that progresses,
what's going to happen is

this ear is just going
to get ripped right off.

So we will need to get
that thing fixed

before this thing
can go to work.

It'll be probably at least
a day's work.

[Tyson] Like, we have
no other buckets?

We don't have any spare
cleanup buckets.

[Tyson] It gets
bad to worse.

Yeah.

[narrator]
Wash plant Roxanne
is cleaning thawed pay

at 250 yards an hour.

Without a spare cleanup bucket
to keep digging pay,

Parker's only working plant
will run out,

shutting down his only means
of getting gold.

-Should we go talk to Mitch?
-[Tyson] Yeah.

-[Parker] Hi, Mitch.
-How's it going?

I'm just feeling a bit badly
because not only was this pit

nowhere near where
we thought it was,

but the weather's not
cooperating at all, is it?

[Mitch] No, it needs
to warm up for us.

[Tyson] What weather
app you got?

[Parker] This is what I see.

[Mitch] Bunch of clouds.
Not very warm.

[Parker] Yeah, this weather's
just an [bleep].

It's not supposed to be above
this for ten days.

[narrator] Ten more days
of cold weather won't
thaw Parker's Long cut.

And the costs of battling
frozen ground

will spiral
out of control.

[Parker] The number one
priority is profit margin

of the whole project.

And right now,
fighting frost in this pit,

our costs are probably double
what they should be.

And they will continue
to be double until we take
drastic measures.

What are our options?

Option one.

[Tyson] Keep fighting.

And we can, you know,
keep working up here.

The more we have to fight,
the more expensive it is.

-Right.
-[Mitch] But maybe
with gold prices

the way they are,
it'd be worth it.

[Parker] Option two.

[Tyson] Stop fighting.

If we're not gonna fight it,
it needs a fair amount of time
to sit.

[Parker] If we do this,
the company's gonna lose

probably over
a million dollars in revenue

in the next month that
we thought we'd have.

I think the best thing
to do is just stop
sluicing entirely.

It's going to sit
for three weeks,
and it needs to thaw.

I just need to accept
that this blows

our gold target out
of the water.

This pit's [bleep].

[narrator] With Parker's
sluicing on ice,

the only money to keep
the operation running now

sits in Roxanne's mats.

Right now, Parker's made
a really big decision here

to shut down Roxanne
and just focus on getting
this cut in shape.

And the reason for that
is we're spending a lot
of the profit here.

Roxanne is our only wash plant
we've had running,

so this is the only revenue
the company is making.

So hopefully this cleanup's
really good,

and it'll hold us over while
this cut's thawing out.

It's frustrating.
I'd like to just
snap my fingers

and all the gold jump out
of the ground.

That would be
a cool superpower.

We need to just slow down
and let the sun do its thing.

The trick for me is
just not running out of money,

'cause time
costs money, right?

And I don't know that
this is the right thing,

but I know what we
were doing was wrong.

[Ryan] Oh, yeah, naturally,
perfectly cool.

Our 90-degree,


had a stress crack around
the whole thing.

Our pump suction
was sucking air, basically.

We weren't getting any water
up at the plant,

so these guys came in
and welded the [bleep]
out of it.

Now we should be able
to turn the pump on,

get full suction,
have full water at the plant.

We're off to
the [bleep] races.
Let's go get some gold.

[narrator]
After fixing a connector
to his brand-new pump,

Rick can finally fire up
the wash plant

and catch his first gold.

Round two, fight.

[motor starts]

Let's go.

[water gurgling]

[Ryan] I hear water.

Yeah, it actually
is working.

Fills up the bypass.
Let's see what it looks like.

[Rick] What the [bleep]
is that supposed to be?

Why do we only have that much
water at 1,400 RPM?

That's weird.

-Are the valves open
on both sides?
-[Ryan] Yeah.

These should all be [bleep]
rocketing water out.

I mean, you look in
that sluice box,

our pumps are cranked up
at 1,400 RPM right now.

And, like, I could piss
more water than that.

This plant takes 3,500 gallons
a minute.

When it's got that
proper amount here,

I mean, these sluice boxes
are [bleep] roaring.

And we don't got nothing
like that.

It's not enough to run
Monster Red.

[narrator] To wash
his Rally Valley
pay dirt properly,

Rick needs to figure out
why his water pressure
is still too low.

[Rick] And at 1,400 RPM,
we should be getting


[Ryan] That's not
even close.

Dude, I just can't see
that pump not being enough.

-[Rick] No.
-[Ryan] We got another
issue somewhere.

-You want
to run down there?
-Yeah.

[Ryan] All dry.
Well, it's lifted again.

Hey, Ryan!

[Ryan] Oh.

[Rick] That whole
[bleep] thing.

-[Ryan] Yeah.
-There it is.

[Ryan] I completely forgot
that we had to try
to squeeze

that together to keep it
from collapsing last year.

[narrator] Last season...

-[Rick] Argh!
-[Ryan] That's a big hole.

[Rick] Look at how
far it's pinched.

[narrator] A pinch
in the intake hose
caused Monster Red

to lose water pressure.

[Ryan] Actually, you can see
through it, dude.

Those pop through.

[narrator]
To get back on the gold,
the crew quickly patched

the pinched area.

[man] Putting a Band-Aid
on a g*nsh*t wound here.

[Rick] It's
definitely damaged.

[Ryan] New pump,
way more powerful.
That's collapsing that.

Almost guaranteed.

-I think you're right.
-I think we should just cut
the damn thing off.

-[Rick] Yeah.
-And I think we reband it.

I mean, we're going
to lose four feet.

All right.

[Ryan] Yeah,
if you're good with it,
we'll get it cut.

-We'll get it
ready to mount.
-Yep.

[narrator] Ryan's new plan,
cut out the damaged section
of suction line

to prevent the monster pump
from sucking it closed.

[laughs]

[Rick] Good job wearing
your safety glasses.

[Ryan] Yeah.

We just cut the bad section
of the hose out

that was collapsing
under suction.

We're going to get it
clamped on.

We're going to get it put back
in the water.

Should have been a pretty
easy fire up,

and it's taking a lot more
time than it should have.

I'm not happy about it,
but, you know,
I'm just trying to stay calm.

[Ryan] Oh, yeah.

-That'll do.
-Are we done?

[Ryan] Yeah.

Fire this [bleep] up.
Let's finally get some gold.

Enough, enough,
enough of this today.

[narrator] Hose repaired,

Rick is ready for
his third attempt to fire up.

[motor starts]

That's [bleep] all.

So where the [bleep]
is the hang up here?

What am I missing?

It should be going straight up
into the plant.

I don't understand why
it's not.

-Hardly any
pressure there.
-[Ryan] Yeah.

It's very discouraging.
Everybody's been working
their a*s off

to get a pretty good sized
pay pile up here.

But there's no payoff
when there's no water.

So...

we've got nothing obstructing
our intake,

nothing through our pump.

We're going
to figure it out.

Just means we're not
gonna sluice today.

We're basically
just sitting around...

-not doing much.
-Bored as hell.

[narrator] Over at Scribner,
Kevin's crew has been
shut down

for two days as they wait
for a dewatering pump.

[Brennan] We'll want
to try to push
instead of waiting,

otherwise we're gonna end up
missing our deadline.

[narrator] Desperate to hit
his sluicing goal,

foreman Brennan makes
a bold decision to get
the dozer back into the cut.

[Brennan] We need gold, man.
I want to hit our target.

It's muddy right here
and I don't want to risk
another truck.

I'll be down here by myself
trying to get it going

and just keep
moving material.

The water pump is about
as important as this D10

has been
the whole time here.

I honestly don't know why
we don't have one already.

I kind of feel like
Kevin still maybe hasn't
quite made the full leap

to be in the mine boss yet,
just because he's so used

to being the mechanic.

[honking]

Who's that?

[honking]

This is the pump Tony said
he'd have ready and waiting
for me to borrow.

Let's [bleep] go!

[Brennan] Whoo!
Nice work, Kev!

[Kevin] Beautiful.
And that's where
she's going to live for now.

Finally nice
to have her here.

Let's just hope that
we can get drying our cut
out here.

[narrator] Kevin and Brennan
immediately get to work

installing the pump.

-That's it.
-[laughs]

You made that look
too easy again.

[Kevin] Right?

You notice how
few godverdommes are involved?

What the [bleep] gibberish
are you talking?

Or are we just drunk?

-Oh, that's "God damn it"
in Dutch.
-Oh. [laughs]

[Kevin] We got
the pump down there,
so we're about to go

get it fired up and start
the draining the cut.

[Brennan] I just hope
that this one's
up to the task.

It seems like everything
we get is always something

that we need to work on.

Are you going to put
the throttle back this mid?

[Kevin] That should be idle.

We should be good
to try her.

[engine spluttering]

[sighs]

[bleep]

You sabotaged this before
you brought it here,
didn't you?

Every time we borrow
something,

it's [bleep]
nine days of fixing.
Never ends.

This pump should have been
in here pumping.

I don't want it to be snowing
before we finally get

a wash plant
because everything's [bleep]
broken every two minutes.

[Kevin] We'll get
nicer things.

[Brennan] I'm not
mad at you, Kev,
by any means.

I just feel for you.
Like, I don't know how
you can deal with this

all every year after year.

It's [bleep] crazy.

It's amazing what you get used
to when you don't know
any better.

-[Brennan] Oh.
-[Kevin] Oh.

Is that a Murphy?

No wonder.

-What?
-That's a [bleep]
Murphy switch.

[Brennan] What's that mean?

Oh, uh, you got
to press that in.

Otherwise, it's not going
to fire up.

-It's a dead switch.
-[Brennan] Oh?

[Kevin] It's so, like,
low oil pressure.

This gets too hot,
the Murphy switch goes,
shuts off.

-[Brennan] Oh, yeah, yeah.
-It's written up there,
so I didn't see it.

So this should.

[motor starts]

There we go.

Look how quick
that's drying up already,
you know what I mean?

[Kevin] Oh, I know.

[narrator] Father Tony's pump
has Kevin back on track.

Well, buddy, high five
on that one.

[bleep] yeah.

Let's just pray tonight
that this thing doesn't
break down,

because this is the lifeline
right now.

Who put the treats in here?

Nom, nom, nom, nom,
nom, nom, nom, nom.

I hope Kevin and Faith
budgeted for Brennan's
eating habits.

He's eating like
three plates a meal.

The guy can eat
like crazy.

That's true.

All the gold we find is going
to go to Brennan's food bill.

It kind of, like,
evens itself out

because, like,
I don't eat that much.

Like, I eat like a bird.
He eats my portion.

He's a growing boy.
He needs to feed his muscles.

[laughs]

Better give meself
a pick-me-up.

Straight up eating protein.

-[bleep]
-Gross.

-[Ryan] What's up, man?
-[Rick] Yo.

[Ryan] So the pump.

Yep.

Ended up putting gauges
on our suction,

-put gauges
on our discharge.
-Yep.

Basically calculated out
all the line,

everything we needed to do,
and the pump is doing
everything it can.

That's perfect numbers
is what they're telling me.

Our issue is still not enough
water pressure.

[narrator]
Mechanic Ryan's tests
show Rick's $150,000 pump

is working perfectly,
moving huge amounts of water,

but isn't designed to generate
the force needed

to clean pay dirt.

[Ryan] Basically,
we're coming
to that conclusion

that it's a volume pump.

It's all about volume.

So you're saying I bought
the wrong pump?

[Ryan] And I know
it seems crazy,
brand-new pump,


sounds like [bleep],
that's perfect.

But pressure-wise,
it's not the right pump.

How the [bleep]?

I know that in my head,
there's a difference between

a volume pump
and a pressure pump.

[bleep]

That was... it was weeks
getting that one,

and holy [bleep],
I screwed that up.

Hey, dude, can you chill out
for a minute?

-Give us a second.
-Just give us a second,
would you?

Like, holy [bleep].

That's a lot
of [bleep] money.

You know how long it took
to get that thing here.

[Ryan] Yeah.

[narrator]
Rick's costly mistake means
Monster Red can't run.

Argh, I'm just so [bleep] mad
at myself right now.

It's such a stupid mistake.

How the [bleep] do I spec out
the wrong pump?

Monster Red's sitting there,
pile of dirt with a ton
of [bleep] gold in it,

and we can't even run it.

I need that money.
I need that money
in my account.

I need that money
to pay bills,
and here we are.

We got no way
to [bleep] run it.
So, [bleep], it's stupid.

[bleep] stupid mistake.

[bleep]

[sighs]

[exhales heavily]

[Brennan]
Look how much water's
in this ditch right now

and it's only half full.

Yeah, you can see how high
it was this morning.

[narrator]
Unlike Rick, Kevin's pump
is drying out his Lynx cut.

[Kevin] It seems to be nice
and chugging along.

[Brennan] Man,
this is awesome.

One step closer to getting
that plant put up, eh?

One step closer to sluicing.

I think we're actually going
to hit this deadline now.

-Ah!
-Yay!

-Oh, [bleep].
-Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

[narrator]
Cut cleared of water,
Kevin and Brennan get back

to work with a chance
of sluicing in less
than three weeks.

Well, I'm very happy
with the way everything's
looking down here.

We've got the pump in,
it's been running great.

It's drying our cut out,
which is what we needed

and we wanted.

I see the trucks are just
clipping along really nicely,

so I'm very, very happy.

[Chase] It's way better now.

The water's finally dropped
a little bit,

so hopefully no more
getting stuck.

[Kevin] I'd love
to start off with
brand-new equipment,

but even I don't have
that much capital.

So we'll make do with what
we got and just work
towards it.

It's starting to look like
a real mine now.

-[Tyson] Hey, Mitch.
-What's happening?

[Tyson] Yo, yo.

Well, we definitely, uh,

broke some stuff
this week, hey?

Oh, man. Yeah, that frost
is unreal out there.

It's tough.

[narrator] An expensive
battle against frozen ground

has forced Parker to shut down
sluicing in the Long cut.

You look at the abuse
the machines are taking,

and I mean, that was
a big old crack in that bucket
of the 480.

And then you look at the dozer
blade just trying to push off

every little bit of thaw
and get it down to the frost.

-[Parker] Yeah, man.
-And once you get to it
and it hits it,

it's like, oh,
you just feel it catching it.

Yeah.

That's an expensive way
of getting little pay.

I mean, it'd be nice
if it keeps loosening,

but, man, we need it
to warm up.

[Chris] Yeah, I wonder if
maybe we just didn't

jump the g*n
a little bit this year.

-Started too early.
-[Tyson] It's starting
to seem that way, isn't it?

It's a tough call because
it's a big pit that has

to come out this year,
but then the frost makes it

extremely expensive.

So we just...
we pulled the pin
on it.

-[Chris] Oh, you did.
-This cleanup will be
the last one for a while.

Despite all this mayhem,
did we find any gold?

Yeah, we did.

[narrator] Parker's expecting
the Long cut to deliver

at least 200 ounces
a week.

-[Mitch] He's got
a big jar there.
-[Tyson] Let her rip.

-[Chris] Come out.
-[Mitch] 20, 30, 50, 60,



-[Chris] Yeah.
-120, 130, 140, 152.3.

[narrator]
Worth over $380,000.

But falling short of what
Parker wanted.

[Mitch] That is not what
we needed.

You guys might have to work
for free for a couple months.

[bleep]

You starting to see
the 10,000-ounce goal
kind of dwindling away?

-[Parker] We probably
could do 10.
-[Tyson] Right.

But then, like, our costs
would go up by, you know, 50%.

Because there's only
so many ounces
on this property,

and if you mine all of them
at a really bad profit margin,

then that's bad.

-Yeah.
-Right? and I think that
one of our principles

has always been doing things
when it's the most efficient

to do them.

I hate it when we're having
to, like, do things that

we don't want to do.
In a way that we don't want
to do them

because, like, we're in
a rush to get ounces out
of the ground.

I hate that.

[narrator]
Until warmer weather thaws
the Long cut's pay dirt,

Parker's march towards
a $25-million season

has been stopped cold.

Definitely a tough decision
to make, turning off Roxanne,

but at the end of the day,
we've been fighting it a lot.

[Parker] We're still learning
this piece of ground,

and the Indian River,
where, you know, where

we've basically mined
our whole careers,

is much more forgiving.

And I really don't like
shutting a wash plant down

right when we started it,
basically.

And right now is not the most
efficient time to be sluicing,

so we shouldn't be doing it.

I gotta figure out a way
to keep stripping this
when we're not sluicing.