15x25 - Showdown: The Rookie Mineboss's

[bunniefuu]

Let's go for an adventure!

On this "gold rush."

Now I'm putting my
money where my mouth is.

It's the first ever rookie
mine boss showdown...

School of hard knocks, baby.

No, no, no, no!

Of course it's my fault. I'm in charge.

Pitting the three most successful

freshman bosses head to head...

We got a learning curve
to get ahead of here.

There's no doubt about that.

Judging their first year wins...

- Nice win.
- And fails...

This is outrageous.

To reveal who...

We're gonna do it!

Loading the plant, yeah, whoo!

Is the top rookie mine boss.

So, what are you gonna
do about gold this year?

I'm gonna find it.

In 15 years of "gold rush"...

Now I'm gonna start kicking some a*s.

There have been five
rookie mine bosses.

Honestly, it's one of the most

challenging things I've ever done.

But the best of the first year
miners boils down to three.

Teenager Parker schnabel.

It's about making money.

That's what matters.

Heir to Tony beets'
mining empire, Kevin beets.

It's time to show I have
what it takes to be the boss.

And seasoned foreman, Rick ness.

The opportunity is
now. I just got to take it.

Getting off to a fast start is essential

for a first year mine boss.

So the first round of
competition is a showdown

over who hits their first gold the fastest.

Sixteen-year-old Parker schnabel

leaves his junior year of high school

and goes straight into his freshman

mine boss season.

I have faith in your management,

that it will be successful.

Thanks.

Shake.

Pretty big moment. I'm in charge now.

Parker is gifted the big nugget mine

by his grandpa John,

complete with a working
wash plant, iron, and crew,

and needs 75 ounces by
the end of his first season

to keep the family operation afloat.

He has visions that he's
gonna make thousands of dollars

every day, and I hope he's right.

I've got a plan. I'm
gonna execute my plan.

Simple as that.

Parker's plan to see his first gold

is to hit an easy score,

tailings mined over two decades ago.

My grandpa mined this bench up here.

This is all the tailings from that.

If their sluice box caught 50% of the gold

and they got 100 ounces then,

then there would be
another 100 ounces here.

So we're gonna give a crack at it.

Hopefully there's a pile of gold

sitting in there somewhere.

It's the first clean out of dirt

that I've picked out, I guess.

Three fifths of an ounce.

We only ran four hours,

so I think we're gonna
have a good week.

After seeing gold on
day one of being the boss,

Parker spends the rest of his first week

running all the tailings.

It's working!

They're getting bigger!

It's Friday today, so
we're gonna clean out

the whole plant.

This is our first full week of running,

and we've gotten six or seven ounces.

Parker banks almost


within a week of becoming boss.

I must be doing something right.

Parker's tailings are a one time hit.

He still needs to find more
ground to keep sluicing.

So he earns four points
out of five in the first round.

Next, newbie mine boss Kevin beets

also has an opportunity
to hit first gold fast,

but he wants a lot more than 75 ounces

in his first year.

I got big plans to set up a
gold mine and run it my way.

We do have a thousand-ounce goal.

This is a big gamble, so me and faith

have to make this work.

After 20 years working
on the family mine,

clashes with his dad, Tony...

Could have test fired it.

Led to him breaking
away and leasing ground

from his old man...

borrowing equipment to
start his own operation.

Right now, we opened up
a mid-sized cut to get going.

Based on what drill holes
that Tony had and the little bit

of poking around I did,

between 15, 20 feet of muck on top.

Ok.

To get his 1,000-ounce season goal,

Kevin needs to open a three-acre cut

in just four weeks.

If I can keep all the machines going,

our current schedule has us...

Sluicing by the end of the month.

Fingers crossed.

Opening the cut in a
dozer borrowed from Tony,

foreman Brennan ruault.

What the...

something's not feeling right.

That's strange.

Sick of this.

What is this?

Bolts obviously fell off the inside.

Can't keep this old
running for more than a day.

Four weeks into the
season, disaster strikes.

So, yeah, this ain't great.

I need to take out the engine

so I can get to the transmission.

So, it's essentially looking
like it's gonna be down

for a while. It's really frustrating.

I know Tony didn't wanna give me, like,

his best equipment, but
this is a little ridiculous.

I am definitely gonna be talking to Tony.

Hey, Tony.

Well, I need to talk about that d10.

A-ha?

She kind of, grenaded.

Something in the transmission.

Pretty much dead in the water.

I need to have a spare from you.

More equipment problems...

We've had a lot of delays.

We really need to get sluicing.

Slows progress.

Copy there, kev?

I think we're on the pay streak here.

I'll be right down.

It's two months, over a third of the way

through his first season...

There is some yellow in here.

Before Kevin finally sees his first gold.

It's nice to have some
confirmation, ain't it?

We're about a month behind
where we'd want it to be.

We thought we'd already
be sluicing by now,

but delays, delays,
breakdowns, breakdowns.

So the faster we can get this pay out,

the faster we can set the
plant up and get running.

Kevin's problems delay him hitting gold,

but he eventually clocks

a first gold weigh of 33 ounces,

giving him two points in the first round.

Delays are something our last
rookie mine boss can't afford

when he starts his
new mine from scratch.

This year is different. I'm the boss.

It's 100% my operation.

By the end of this
year, I'll either be broke

or I'll have my own successful
gold mining operation,

and a pile of gold.

Rick ness came through the ranks

at Parker schnabel's operation,

and in 2018, decides
to put his own money

on the line and go it alone.

I've never had this much
responsibility before.

I've never put, you know,

my own money on the line like this.

And now, you know, my crew
is gonna be depending on me.

There's just a lot riding on my shoulders.

Let's do it.

Let's go start moving some mud.

- Right.
- Rally!

Rick matches Kevin's ambition
of a 1,000-ounce season goal,

but goes even bigger,

planning to open up
a monster six-acre cut.

Whoo!

Hoping to hit gold in 10 days,

he goes all in,

hiring a 475,

the biggest dozer in the klondike,

for $100,000.

I've got this 475 for 10 days Max.

That's all I can afford,
really, to have it running.

Could be sunk before I even get started.

You know, I need to know
what's in the ground now.

I need to know if it's worth it.

That's pay dirt right
there. Right there, for sure.

Yeah. There we go.

Guys, you're not gonna
believe this, but I actually

got a thawed hole down
here, down to bedrock,

into the pay gravel.
So I'm gonna do a pan.

You guys should come check it out.

We're really going to see if
we've got gold here or not.

All right, man, this is it.

I haven't even seen
anybody pan gold in my life.

- There is gold in here.
- Whoa!

All right.

I'd say there's probably
a dozen colors in here.

If you think now...

The size of this pan, how
many pans there are in here?

That's all we need to see.

That's all we need to see.

It's real. It's a real deal.

It's real now, right?

That's our freedom right in there.

But the only way we're gonna get it

is if we get back to work.

Let's go get it, million dollars, boys.

Let's go then! Let's go.

Whoo!

In 10 days, Rick's dozer
gamble delivers his first

flakes of gold, later
leading to a first gold weigh

of 30 ounces.

Yeah!

- Let's mine.
- Yeah.

Rally!

Rick's master plan gets him
on gold fast and sets him up

for the rest of the season,

giving him the full five points.

At the end of the first round,

Kevin's bottom of the pile,

Parker is second,

and Rick bulldozers his way to the top.

Coming up...

We've got water, so I'll go feed the plant.

The rookies' first
wash plants are put to the test.

About time.

Shut it off, shut it off, shut it off!

Hit the bypass!

In the rookie mine boss face off...

I must be doing something right.

Three freshman mine bosses

are going head to head.

Could be sunk before I even get started.

After scoring points
for hitting their first gold,

Rick is in the lead.

Next up...

We gotta get sluicing. We got bills to pay.

The heart of their
operations are put to the test.

How they set them up, fire them up,

and keep sluicing

in the wash plant round.

Set up and fire up is no
problem for Parker schnabel,

whose inherited plant is ready
to sluice straight off the bat.

We're definitely making money.

We're on a roll.

Hopefully, we can keep it up.

It's going pretty good.

I'm feeling positive.

But the young boss hits trouble

when he strikes bad ground.

Pretty poor.

We need more than a few flakes.

And decides to up the
ante and push his old plant

to its limits.

I'm going so fast, because
I need to feed the plant,

because we're running 10 hours today.

This is my fourth load
in, what, 20 minutes?

Just 30 minutes into his 10-hour shift...

the plant grinds to a halt.

His generator's regulator has failed.

There's nothing I can do up here, really.

Could talk to my grandpa.

We shut down? I guess we stopped.

We had this problem about 10 years ago.

Ok.

With his grandpa's help,
Parker gets a new regulator

and is back on the gold.

In about 20 minutes,
we'll start getting a little...

More confident, and in about
an hour after that, we'll be...

Pretty sure we fixed it.

But it's not long before
the relic is down again.

Hey!

This whole bearing is gone.

This is really not something
that we need right now.

So that's a pain in the a*s.

We're gonna fix this as fast as we can.

As his crew get to work
removing the broken bearing

that spins the trommel,

Parker has an eight-hour round trip

to source a replacement.

The plant hasn't been
running, and we're losing money,

hand over fist.

She's there.

If it's straight, that's perfect.

All right, good job.

Looks good.

At least there's still hope.

Sometimes, like my grandpa
says, "all you have is hope."

Parker's ancient plant
gets him sluicing early,

but his decision to push
it to the limit sets him back

more than once, giving him three points.

The next boss, Kevin
beets, hatches a plan to make

the perfect wash plant setup...

Yeah, look at that.

Now we're almost at the
actual getting gold part

of gold mining. About time.

By spending time and cold, hard cash.

We wanna do it once and do it right,

and just be done with it.

So that's how we're gonna run it.

Kevin blows his life savings
on a new $700,000 shaker deck

and splashes another $100,000

on a gas-powered
generator to run the plant.

Spent a lot of money already.

Got to hit 1,000 ounces
to get of those costs back.

Hopefully, we can hit it.

Kevin takes two weeks to
build a 400-foot long mega pad.

What a good day to see this on the pad.

Delightful.

And a further six days
tinkering to dial in the plant.

Eventually, nearly halfway
through his first season...

As a mine boss.

Slide horizontally.

Little bit, little bit.

He's finally ready to fire up.

I really, really, really
hope it goes well after all

the nights and days that went into this.

So my fingers are crossed,
my toes are crossed.

If I could, I'd cross my tongue.

Holy! That's violent.

All right, I'm gonna open her up.

There we go.

Let there be gold!

Whoo! Yeah!

That's looking really nice, kev.

So excited, bud.

Yes, finally!

I've currently got relief.

Give you a hug for this one.

Nice work keeping her going.

Spending so much time making
sure that everything's gonna

run before we put actual
pay through the plant.

It's a lot of more work,

but we are gonna
save time down the line.

Kevin's Patience and
big investment pays off,

setting him up to sluice almost non stop,

giving him the full five points.

A perfect score that
Rick ness could match

with his own wash plant master plan.

Ruby, we got a wash plant!

I've always had some
input as far as how we set

our wash plants up when I
was with Parker, but ultimately,

he had the final say, and now this year,

it's 100% my call.

Ooh! Now it's time to get some gold.

After spending big on
opening up his first cut,

Rick drops his last $180,000

on the wash plant of his dreams.

Boom, yes!

Look at that beast.

I christen thee, "durt Reynolds."

Ha-ha, yeah.

But unlike Kevin, Rick has
an ingenious plan to get it

set up and fired up fast.

I'm unloading giant legos.

So I've ordered up a
bunch of concrete blocks.

I'm gonna build a bit of a
retaining wall for my plant to sit on.

It should actually be a cleaner setup

and less likely to undermine itself.

I need to get the
wash plant up and running,

and every minute counts.

Rick takes just four
hours to complete the pad

and hauls in the 20-ton wash plant.

Talk about right on the edge.

Does it worry you that
it's hanging off the edge?

No.

Now we're getting somewhere!

All right, I'm gonna start this thing.

Fire it up!

There it is.

All right, I'm gonna put a bucket of dirt in.

Ten-four.

Yeah, we're feeding the plant.

This is a pretty big deal.

Whoo-oo-oo! Yay, people are smiling.

Completely what?

Where does all that water come from?

Karla, hit the bypass.

Hell.

Shut the by... shut the pump off,

hit the bypass.

Shut it off, shut it off,
shut it off, shut it off.

Hit the bypass!

Turnbuckles gave way.

Where's Rick?

I'm gonna need a minute.

Sluice boxes fell off.

Water almost took out the pad enough

to dump the plant off the pad.

I expected growing pains,
but this is outrageous.

After his disastrous first
ever fire up as a mine boss,

Rick calls the only man
who can save his setup.

- How's it going, Rick?
- Freddy, man,

I'm glad to see you, buddy.

Holy. Been too long.

Man, I don't mind telling
you, right off the bat,

I'm in a bad way here.

What do you think?

I think you...

Bought somebody
else's nightmare, Rick.

Freddy dodge replaces
the 10-foot sluice box

that fell off Rick's plant

with fabricated 30-foot
long gold catchers.

Easy, Rick.

Whoa!

Easy!

Perfect right there, Rick.

Whoo!

That's all I need, man.
That's huge relief for me.

And mounts them on an extended
pad to secure them in place.

Yee haw!

Feed the beast.

Sluice box is in place. That's a good sign.

It's running.

Rick's wash plant finally gets running,

but he's weeks behind schedule,

and he's nearly ruined his season,

earning him just one point.

Halfway through the
rookie mine boss face off,

Rick drops to last,

and Kevin's perfect setup

draws him neck and neck
with Parker in first place.

My dad was right.

I'm gonna go home at
the end of the season,

broke with no friends.

Coming up...

I don't care if you guys hate my guts.

- Right.
- I need a little respect.

Can Rick stage a comeback,

competing in leadership skills...

Rally!

And final gold weighs?

We haven't had that much gold

in the pan all summer.

In the freshman mine
boss head to head...

Now the race is really on.

Now it's time to get serious.

The rookies have raced
to bank their first gold,

fired up their first
wash plants and banked points

on the rookie mine boss leader board.

At the halfway stage,
Kevin and Parker tie

for pole position as we
head into the third round.

One of the biggest challenges
for any rookie mine boss

is stepping up to lead their crew...

Let's go.

And dealing with any problems they hit.

Rally!

Round three...

Is a test of leadership.

Kevin beets decides to divide
responsibilities on his claim.

Go move some dirt, folks.

Roger that, boss.

He delegates running
the cut to his new foreman,

master dirt mover, Brennan.

Brennan is gonna be a
great asset to the operation.

You know, I wanna get
as much gold as possible

by the time the snow starts flying.

While Kevin...

focuses on keeping the operation

and machinery running.

Fix this thing so we can run.

Fix that thing so we can run.

After four months of working
together, the plant chews

through the last of
their first three-acre cut,

and Brennan gets to work
opening up more ground.

It needs to happen super
fast because that pile is getting

chewed down so quickly,
it's actually getting scary.

Sakes.

Hey buddy, I'm stuck
down here in the cut.

Sakes.

Water from Kevin's sluice pond next door

is flooding Brennan's new cut.

I think I might try and
nudge you backwards.

Thanks, Brennan, you're the man.

I'm gonna need to get another pump

in here immediately.
We have no extra pumps.

Brennan looks to Kevin for a solution.

Hey, Brennan.

I can't dig pay down here, dude.

I've been needing another
pump for like a week now.

I know.

We just got to do a clean up or two

to pay for the thing.

Can we get another pump from Tony?

I'm not gonna ask Tony until I have to.

I fixed enough of Tony's.

I'm just really struggling down here, man.

I'm just getting frustrated as.

If that pay pad runs out,
that shuts off, we don't have

any money coming in, and I
feel like that's on my shoulders.

Like, what do you want me to do here?

I need a pump.

I don't what to say, like,

we don't have the cash right now.

You don't got a pump.

Tough.

Yeah, well, I'm gonna...

I don't know what else to say here.

Keep that out of my face for a while.

I need a pump.

Weird. Where the he's going?

With Kevin failing to deliver,

Brennan takes matters
into his own hands.

What we have here is a pump
that I went and purchased.

And hopefully she just
starts pumping immediately.

There we go.

Yay!

In 12 hours, Brennan's
$11,000 pump drains the cut

and bails Kevin out of trouble.

That's a very nice little pump

that Brennan went off and bought.

Hopefully, Kevin kind of
finds his footing here and gets

into that mine boss role a little bit more.

Kevin's lack of leadership
almost brings his whole

operation to a standstill,
scoring him just one point.

A low score that could
give Parker the chance

to pull ahead.

I don't care if you guys hate my guts.

- Right.
- I need a little respect.

But the teenager has
leadership problems of his own.

You can run the excavator,

and Gary, you can run the truck.

Parker has taken on his
grandpa's veteran crew,

some triple his age,

and struggles to gain their respect.

I guess that's a no.

It makes me not feel like the boss.

Things don't improve
when the teenager tries

to stamp his authority.

What are you doing?

I'm coming back.

I'm and that's for your grandfather.

My grandpa's not in charge here.

- I don't care.
- Stop a minute.

No, I ain't stopping.
You don't give me orders.

- Why not?
- Because you don't.

You ask. You don't order somebody.

You ask. Have some respect for people.

I think you should
show me a little respect.

You told me to "go haul dirt."

Is that how you treat somebody?

You don't, hey, you don't
tell me how to do my job.

I didn't.

I have not told you how to do your job

one time this whole year.

- I have not told you one time.
- Parker.

Not once!

You are approaching...

This man in the wrong way.

We're up here to make money,

and we're up here to run the plant.

You won't make money
if you chase the help off.

Parker is still battling to
gain the crew's respect

when disaster strikes.

This isn't gonna do me any good.

This is gonna be fun.

Mining authorities threatened
to shut him down for good.

The mine needed to be regulated

by the federal government

and it had been operating
without that regulation

for the 23 years.

Of course it's my fault.

I'm in charge.

The crew looked to
Parker to save their season.

So this should have a knee board.

Parker hires a specialist
to train him in mine safety,

brings his site up to code,

and within just 24 hours

has the inspector back
for a make-or-break verdict.

Will you be able to terminate
the stop work order...

- Today?
- Yes.

- We're good to go?
- Yes.

Ok. Thank you for your time.

We made it!

- It's over.
- All right.

Let's go, boys.

I was gonna wait until later
to run the plant, but I figured

we just needed to start
getting some dirt moved.

Parker's leadership takes
his crew from shutdown...

We haven't had that
much gold in the pan

in all summer.

To one of the most productive days

of their season.

It is addictive after you
see the results of the gold

come out of the material.

It makes it all worth it.

I think it makes us a good team.

After his rough start,
the teenager's hard work,

with gold to show for it,
finally proves to his crew

he can be a leader,
scoring him four points.

Rick has years of experience
leading crews as a foreman

before stepping up to be a mine boss.

Terry, I'm gonna put you

in the excavator loading the trucks.

I'm gonna put you guys all in trucks.

We'll get you in those
machines, get you comfortable,

and no pressure, but in about an hour,

let's be cranking full tilt.

And he gambles

on hiring a crew of loyal
but inexperienced friends...

Water all over.

That he aims to turn into
a first-rate mining team.

School of hard knocks, baby.

We got a learning curve
to get ahead of here.

There's no doubt about that.

I've been instructed
we wanna get the load

as far over as we can.

You're good. Go ahead and dump.

Boy...

Holy! Are you kidding me?

Ryan, you all right?

As soon as I pulled away, it caved in.

He's just gonna flip this thing over.

You're clear. Keep going.

All right, pull it out of there, Ryan.

Don't wanna hit that tailgate.

Hey, can you guys all
come over here, real quick?

Let's have a quick talk.

- Yo.
- What's up?

Look, I love you guys.

You've always had my back.

I don't wanna b*tch at you,

but man, we gotta tighten up, man.

Ryan, I know you flipped a rock truck.

If we keep making those mistakes,

I mean, it's gonna k*ll us.

Right?

You got us.

All right.

Let's get back to it, buddy.

All right.

After his near miss in a rock truck...

It's gonna take me a while
to get the hang of doing this.

Rick moves greenhorn
Ryan to operating a loader,

clearing the tailings at the plant.

He's wandering out into the fine tailings

in front of a plant.

Spending way too long.

I'm not even making a dent.

Really getting sick of dealing with this.

It's too much right now.

I just hit the sluice box.

This, man.

I just hit the sluice box.

This, man.

In the clash of the rookie mine bosses,

Rick ness needs to step up

and prove himself in
the leadership round.

What's up, Ryan?

I'm just getting a little overwhelmed here.

Greenhorn Ryan is struggling to keep up

with the plant's mounting tailings.

Maybe I'll swap out
with you for a minute,

see if I can find anything different to do

or find a rhythm or something.

Hopefully Rick can give me
an idea how to keep ahead

of everything, figure
something out to make this work.

I mean, this is about
as important as it gets.

All of our gold's coming
out of that wash plant,

so you gotta take care of it.

You gotta run it right.

Rick shows Ryan a new method...

driving into the tailings,
grabbing a scoop,

and backing straight out
instead of turning around,

cutting in half the time Ryan took.

I think that's the trick.

And I think that's probably
where I'll make up my time.

Whoo! Loading the plant!

Yeah! Whoo!

Whoo!

Sounds to me like you're
having the time of your life

up in here.

Well, and you're moving
them differently than I was.

Yeah.

And I can see where
that's gonna save time.

You know what, I got
us a little bit ahead here.

- I think I'll be ok.
- Yeah.

I know you will, Ryan. Good luck, buddy!

Rick leads his inexperienced
crew by example

and begins to mold
them into a working team,

giving him the full five points.

At the end of the leadership round,

Kevin drops down the leader board

while Rick claws his way
back to first alongside Parker.

Heading into the final
round, it's anyone's game

as the rookie bosses battle
to the end of the season

and try to hit their first year gold targets.

We're on our final big
push to get to 1,000 ounces.

With just days of sluicing
left, Kevin is desperate to hit

his 1,000-ounce goal.

He hires new crew and
pushes his plant to the limit.

The push is on.

So after everything that
we've faced this year,

I'd be pretty bummed out if we don't hit

our 1,000-ounce target, you know?

Ok, I'm on my way.

The belt that transports
dirt from the hopper feeder

to the main conveyor
belt has ripped in two.

A potential season ender.

No, she's.

My rough battle plan

is that we'll hook up with the 220,

use that to yard it out.

Ok.

Then pick it up with the


and then we can swing it
and set it down on that side.

Refusing to give up,
Kevin races to replace

the entire belt before winter strikes.

I'm gonna hook up our four-point sling

to the frame of this conveyor,

and then hopefully he
can take the weight, and...

Brennan, you can see what
you're doing to pull it out?

Sure.

Yeah, I barely touched the joysticks.

I let them go and it kept
sliding, so sorry about that.

- Yay.
- Beautiful.

There we go.

We're just sliding the belt up.

Golden, pony boy!

Say, that's a success right there.

I'm gonna give it a push.

- Whoo!
- Whoo!

Smooth like butter.

Attaboy, boss!

All right. Piece of cake.

That went really well.
So we'll get back running,

and run hard till we get snowed out.

Get our thousand ounces somehow.

Four days later...

Hi, guys.

So everybody's bringing in gold.

Kevin's final gold is
cleaned and ready to weigh.

We aimed pretty high.

That's what we needed to break even.

Kevin has three weeks
worth of sluicing to weigh.

He needs 320 ounces to
hit his 1,000-ounce goal.

Let's pour, guys.









My, such a relief.

I can finally pay everyone off.

Right?

How much does that make, faith?



Thank you. And it didn't
come just by ourselves.

Like, you guys have helped us out.

A great deal.

Everybody needs a little
bit of help here and there.

Thanks to his final push,
Kevin passes his make-or-break

rookie mine boss goal,
giving him five points

in the final round,

pushing him into a late lead.

But the rookie mine
boss race is far from over.

Parker and Rick still
have to battle to the end

and weigh their gold to
lock in their final points.

It's not over yet.

Can't a guy risk at all
in america anymore?

On the hunt for gold rush's
best ever rookie mine boss,

some new bosses...

Whoa, whoa, that's gold.

It's a rock, ok? False alarm.

Just didn't make the cut.

Here it is.

There's 14.64 ounces here.

My guys are like, they think I've been

gold mining my whole life or something.

Todd Hoffman is only beaten
to rock bottom by Fred Lewis.

That puts our total at 6.39,

which is honestly embarrassing.

I think we kind of take it as a
challenge to beat each other.

It's crunch time in the
rookie mine boss competition.

Right now, the name of the game is gold.

With points up for grabs,
the bosses are making

a final push to hit their
first year gold targets.

After success at his final gold weigh,

Kevin is in the lead.

Next up, Parker.

His first year goal is to
keep the family mine afloat

by banking 75 ounces.



It looks like a lot of gold,

but we spent a lot of money to get it.

Parker's flunked his freshman year

as a mine boss...

Pretty sad, pretty sad day.

But isn't giving up

on his goal of keeping
the family mine in business.

What we'll do is knock this hill out.

Take that slope at
this slope all the way on

down to the bank.

Smith creek, it's kind
of an all-or-nothing deal

for the whole mine.

Parker decides to run
tests on Smith creek,

the only virgin ground at big nugget,

in the hope it will deliver enough gold

to convince his dad and grandpa

to fund his dream of
another season mining.

I'm nervous. This is the last test.

This afternoon, I'm gonna
talk to my dad and grandpa

about Smith creek.

And, you know, if
there's nothing in this dirt,

I don't know what the mine will do.

I'm scared.

Done. Beautiful.

We don't see a thing yet.

It doesn't look like there's anything in it.

Here's a little bit.

There's quite a bit in here.

What the?

Actually, something in here.

That's weird.

This is the little sluice

that's fed out of the jig.

Wow.

There's quite a bit in here.

Gary?

- That's...
- wow.

See, that's, like, not bad at all.

That's not bad at all.

This is what we got
off the pan this morning.

That's not much, was it?

And then I went down below the jig,

and that's what we got
out of the little sluice.

That's pretty nice.

That's what you dug out of the hole?

Yeah, a 45-minute
test out of Smith creek.

That's really encouraging.

Smith creek will have
bigger gold than that.

Are you saying you want
to fund the mine next year?

I'm willing to give it a try.

I'll fund it

for 50% of the gold, we get out of it.

I'll take it.

I come out here and
give it everything I've got.

I feel like...

I've done my job.

Parker banks just half of his gold,

but convinces his grandpa
to give him another shot,

earning him three points,

enough to edge him to
the top of the leader board.

Parker's dropped points

give Rick ness

a chance to snatch victory.

We're so close to our target,

I just don't know what to do anymore.

I mean, we've exhausted
all the thawed ground.

But with just days of sluicing left,

Rick faces catastrophe.

He's run out of pay dirt and is shut down,

27 ounces short of his 1,000-ounce goal.

To find a solution, Rick calls in his dad,

Rick senior.

Where that pile of overburden is,

that's where the bedrock came up,

and that's where all
the best drill holes were,

and it is where we did our best gold.

- You're up against time, so I guess...
- yeah.

What's the best option
for what we got left in time?

Yeah, it. Let's do it.

I'll jump on that d9
and give it my best shot.

Rick's last-gasp gamble

is to open a small extension

to his mined-out cut.

But it's frozen and needs to
be ripped to get to the pay dirt,

and all he's got is a small d9 dozer.

We don't have enough
time left here to do much,

but we gotta give it.

Rick promised me he was
gonna do the 1,000 ounces.

h*-h*-h*.

That ain't good.

It's overheating really bad.

Radiator's got a hole in it somewhere.

Is it bad or what?

You see where it pissed it all
out on the blade right there?

Yeah.

The d9's radiator has blown,

putting it down for the season.

What I was thinking was,
you know, I don't know, I mean

we use sheamus's 475 for
the small area we're trying

to get here, I think that
machine would do it.

We got to make the
decision, I guess, I mean,

that's up to you, what
you wanna do, but...

yeah, I don't really wanna
pay $6,000 for that 475.

But you got to spend
money to make money.

Rick's only option is to up the ante

and rent the monster 475 dozer

he used at the start of the season.

That's really obvious, the difference.

Just the sheer power of it.

So I'm gonna lay down some rips here.

It's gonna take me probably
about an hour to get this thing

ripped up, and then
we'll push it all off again.

Terry, you wanna get yourself

and the trucks down here?

All right, buddy.

Within three hours, the cut is ripped.

This is it, guys.

This is our roll of the dice.

Paydirt hauled to the plant...

Let's fire up durt Reynolds.

And desperate for
gold, Rick starts sluicing.

I wanna make sure we get all
the dirt run through the plant.

Paydirt still frozen and full of chunks,

but I don't even give a.

We're gonna run it anyways.

Three days later,
Rick's managed to sluice

his hail Mary cut and is
ready for his final gold weigh.

Yeah!

About time, Rick.

Can you believe it's been six months?

So, Karla, where did we end up with

on the gold weigh?

We're at 973.

Rick needs 27 ounces to
hit his 1,000-ounce goal.

Might be in that jar?

I think it's time to find out.

- That's 20.
- Looking good.

Yeah.

Those are 27 ounces.

Yeah!

And there's another hundred.

The final gold weigh, 132.49 ounces.

You know what that
means? We're over 1100.

- Nice.
- 1105.

Blew by it!

Are you glad we stuck around now?

Yeah!

- That's awesome!
- Yeah!

Football huddle!

Yeah!

Whoo!

Rick blasts past his season
goal by over 100 ounces,

giving him the Max five points.

At the end of the rookie
mine boss showdown...

There's only one winner.

Rally!

Rick ness is crowned the
best first year mine boss.

Yeah, Rick!

You guys are lunatics.

There was so many
reasons for that first season

to cause me to lose everything,

but that didn't happen.

I'm on such a high, like, you know,

the first season on
my own was a success.