16x19 - Rick's Mess

[bunniefuu]

This time of season right now,
I mean,

I can tell summer's gone.

We're well in the fall,

and we have no time
for delays anymore.

Four months into the season,

Rick Ness is deep in the hole.

I mean, at the moment,
we're not even at 500 ounces

yet, so we can't afford to be
wasting any more time.

If we don't see some gold soon,
there's no way we're going

to hit our 1,800 ounces.

Just seven weeks remain
in the mining season.

Rick's now spent a million
dollars moving a mountain

in his Valhalla Cut and
he's finally close to hitting

the pay layer.

This whole Valhalla Cut here,
you know, it's huge.

It's probably the biggest
project I've ever taken on

up here, and, you know,
it's really starting

to eat at me a bit.

If things don't go exactly
as they have to go,

then I'm broke.
I'm done.

Bailey's got a lot done
in the cut.

I mean, he's doing a hell
of a job down there.

It's looking like any day
we're going to be down to pay,

and we need to get
sluicing quick.

We need to see some gold.

The guys that are with me
on it, I know that,

and they've been working
their asses off,

and that's just what we're
gonna stick with, because

if Valhalla pays off,
it could be the best decision

I've ever made.

Hey, Rick, you got a copy?

Go for Rick.

Can you come down
to the cut?

Oh, boy.

Well, buddy, I got some
honest opinions.

From there, you can see how
it dives right there.

That's the slope, and then
it continues there.

But everything from,
like, that edge...

Yeah.

...I dug 25 more feet down

as far as that [bleep] thing
can go down,

and it was just still
pure clay.

- What do you mean?
- No pay.

Rick believes an ancient
dried-out riverbed

filled with coarse gold

runs across four miles
of his Duncan Creek claims.

The 50-foot pay streak is
proven to run under

Rally Valley and then
downstream to Vegas Valley.

Rick assumed this pay layer
would be at the same



But after digging down
for over a month,

instead of hitting paydirt,

Bailey has run
into a 25-foot clay layer

with no gold.

Dude...

So all this clay, like,
where the [bleep] do we take it?



- That's too much.
- Too much for this year.

There might be rich pay
farther down, but you think

about it, we don't know
what's down there.

Yeah.

I dug a test hole pretty much

just across from that elbow
right there...
- Yeah.

...to, like, the edge of that
over there.

But it's just clay?

Oh, it's clay all the way
to the next cut, man.

Doesn't make any [bleep] sense.

Sorry that I got to tell you,
but, like...

the ground don't lie.

This is all dead zone.

It's a smack to the face, man.

I know we did
all this work, but...

Yeah.

...is it worth it?

All right, give me a minute.

Yeah.

We have no clue what's
underneath this clay,

and we got to figure out
something quick

because time's running out.

Quite a bit going on today.

You know, Rick's doing some
soul searching right now,

looking for what
he wants to do.

So a lot of thoughts
going through his head.

I really thought that this
whole Valhalla Cut was going

to be huge for us.

Bailey gets on this clay layer,

and we just have no way to deal

with that this year,
it's just not gonna work.

I'm out here with seven people
trying to move a mountain,

right, to get down to a little
spot in the bottom

that's got a bunch
of gold in it.

I wanted to make these big
decisions that would leave me,

by the time I was done with
this, with something that I

could hold and not sell and be
able to do what I want after

that, that's the whole [bleep]
reason I'm out here, right?

It's, you know,
I don't wanna be mining

until I'm 100 [bleep] years old.

I wanna learn this, I wanna do
it, I want to do it right,

and I want to be happy
after this.

And, you know, now...

I'll walk away
with nothing, you know?

And that's...

that's the [bleep] opposite
of the plan.

I wanted to walk away from this
with everything.

And, uh...

Yeah.

Is this...

This whole endeavor could be
the thing that...

makes my entire life
[bleep] great,

or it could be the thing
that [bleep] ruins it.

I can handle all that.
I can, [bleep], I can.

I've been handling it,
but, like,

just some [bleep] days, man,
it's just too much.

And I don't talk about it
with my guys.

I don't talk about it with
anybody, because if I talk

about it, it makes it real.

And then I can't
[bleep] control it.

It's just not where I thought
it would be

when I made the decision.

[bleep] and it's frustrating.

And I don't understand.

I'm wondering if it ever
is gonna be.

[bleep], man.

Yeah, I'm [bleep] struggling
more than I thought I would.

Damn it!

King of the Klondike,
Tony Beets, is on the verge

of breaking records.

There's still almost two months
of the season to go.

And Tony is already closing in
on a massive milestone.

Tony has three
washplants running,

Sluice-A-Lot and Find-A-Lot
on the Indian River,

and the trommel
on Paradise Hill.

To hit his target, Tony needs
his entire arsenal

of washplants running
full bore this week.

At the Corner Cut,
Sluice-A-Lot accounts for half

the Indian River's weekly
gold production.

My responsibility is
running the plant.

We've got to watch the fines
and the coarse tailings that

build up, you know?

Oh, [bleep].

Oh, you see the metal
separating from the edge

of the drum?
And that's not good.

You can blow up that
end pulley, and then you get

a major jam-up, and then your
runs get filled, and you end up

blowing gold out of the boxes
because your runs will get

full of rocks, eh?

We got to do something
about it.

A broken drum pulley on
the coarse tailings conveyor

has jammed, taking Sluice-A-Lot
out of action.

[bleep] start
to the day, though.

Didn't think I'd be doing this.

Shoveling.

A little bit of a project.

We can't just take
the drum out.

We got to take the whole
conveyor off.

In charge of getting
Sluice-A-Lot back on the gold,

Indian River foreman
Cousin Mike.

We're just going to move
the whole washplant to a new

spot where it's leveled.

Sluice-A-Lot's
tailings conveyor

removes coarse waste rocks

from the shaker decks.

But four months of wear
and tear has sheared its drum

pulley from its shaft,
and the belt no longer turns.

To replace it, Cousin Mike
needs to raise the plant with

its built-in hydraulic rams,
then drag it out with a dozer

until it's free from the dirt.

Next, he must remove
the conveyor and belt

to access
the broken drum pulley,

then install a replacement,

reattach the belt,

and finally fire the plant
back up.

I can lift up
the plant hydraulically.

Every little bit helps as
we cannot get it out

of the dirt.
There it goes.

This is just so that when
I start dragging,

we don't wreck anything.

We'll start hooking up
some cables.

Dalten, do you copy, Dalten?

Go ahead, go ahead.

Everybody clear?

You guys get the [bleep] away
from that cable.

If that cable snaps,
it'll cut you right in half.

Stay away from it.

Stay away from that cable.

Everyone's clear.

Tony Beets wants to smash
his 6,500-ounce season target

this week and needs to get
his washplant

Sluice-A-Lot back
in action.

All right, off we go.

Cable's tight.

I already notice now
it's heavy pulling.

I'll have a look at it.

The plant free from the dirt,

Tony can now inspect
the broken tailings conveyor.

Poor you.

If you can't do that anymore,
you shouldn't be here.

I found a new one.

Let's see if it fits.

On each side, we got a plate,

so we have to disconnect
that plate, take it off.

OK, I'll loosen
this one up, Len.

Yeah.

Let's do some lifting,
and then we can swing it out.

Len, can you walk ahead
a little bit, walk forward.

You're free.

Maybe walk another four feet.

I'll lift it up
till it's free, and then try

and keep it on the top
that I don't hit anything.

OK, good, there.

- All right?
- Yeah, we're good here.

Well, that was
pretty successful.

Yeah, that's it.

Watch your toes.
Watch your toes.

She's out.

Yeah, so we finally got
this b*stard out.

As you can see,
it's ripped here

all the way around.

So we'll first try to put
the new pulley in, getting back

to sluicing as soon
as possible.

The other one is 56,
and this one is 68.

Uh-oh.

The one I brought is a little
bit smaller.

Uh-oh.

The gold in the ground is
the gold in the ground,

but it's a lot of dirt
to get through.

It's just extremely frustrating.

Heading into the homestretch
of the season,

Parker Schnabel's 10,000-ounce
gold target is in danger

of slipping from his grasp.

We just need to keep
the sluicing hours up.

We're going to be hard-pressed
to get through that pit

this year if we don't have
washplants running.

So to hit 10,000 ounces,
we've got to sluice all of it.

Last week...

We shut down both
Sluicifer and Big Red.

Parker shut down
two washplants

to dig out
the last of the paydirt

from the Golden Mile.

We have a major problem.

The dirt can't be
in the hole anymore.

We could just start making
pay piles.

While the crew continues
to dig out pay, Parker wants

to get one of the plants
back up and sluicing.

So we've built
two big pay piles.

Big Red's ready to move next
to one of the big piles

that we've got of pay.

But now, Tyson's taking
some time off.

Timing's not great.

Well, that's a wrap
for me right now.

Drive to the airport and fly
out to my sister's wedding.

While I'm gone, one of
the major things that really

have to happen
is moving Big Red.

With Tyson being gone,
Brennan's filling in for him,

and Brennan's going to get
that plant moved.

This is the first kind
of major washplant thing

that Brennan's
been in charge of, so

we'll see how badly
he can screw it up.

It's on Brennan now.

Shouldn't take
more than a shift.

Hopefully, I remember how
all the pieces go together here.

Despite being
a seasoned dirt mover,

Brennan Ruault hasn't moved
Big Red in five years.

Moving a plant is always a big
responsibility, and it does

always give me a bit of anxiety
if I was to be honest with you.

We have two pay piles that are
the size of Mount Everest

here to get through.

So it's all a massive
[bleep] race

against the clock right now.

Every minute that the plant
shut down, it's that many

ounces of gold not
getting washed.

Parker wanted this thing
sluicing tonight,

and I want to make that happen.

But I do want to prove
myself here.

You guys are good
with all this?

Yep.

I was hoping to have it moved
and set up today and washing

rocks for night shifts.
- Is your pad ready?

Yeah.

Better be.

Don't break my washplant.

He looked at you, not me.

I should be looking
at you first.

Don't break my washplant.

I can't promise you that.

Hopefully these guys can get
a washplant moved.

Hey, pal, we're ready to move
this plant here.

Mechanic Alec Kelly helps
Brennan move Big Red one mile

to the far end
of the Golden Mile.

Oh, this thing doesn't corner
like a passenger car.

The main body of Big Red
weighs 50 tons

and clocks in at 21-feet high.

Come on.

[bleep] yeah!
Whoo!

Ha-ha-ha!

Plant off the lowboy,

Brennan must drag it into
place on its new pad.

Make sure the plant comes up
sort of square enough,

so we're not twisting
on your pad here.

Favor that side of the bank
and then sort of like walk

sideways and out.

To leave enough room for
Big Red's massive feeder belts,

Brennan must maneuver
the plant to the edge of

the pad by dangling
his 58-ton excavator over

the 50-foot drop.

Feeling better about that?

Yeah, now just walk your far
track down into it.

- How close am I?
- Uh, like two feet?

Am I gonna drop hard?

Should be OK, just lower
your boom down as you go.

You can just push yourself back
too if you want, it'll dig in.

There you go.

It sure sucks having Tyson
gone here right in the middle

of a plan move like this.

Yeah, it's definitely feeling
a little steeper

than I thought it was.

Keep her coming
and stop there.

That does look a little
gnarly, eh?

Yeah, not bad.

You guys better make sure
you remind Parker because

he looked at me and said,

"Are you sure you finished
your pad?"

Doing a lot of prep
saves a lot of time.

We've still got a little ways
to go here, but I think you got

her lined up pretty good.

Next step, bring in the feed
conveyor that delivers

the gold-rich paydirt
to the plant.

We can start folding up
our radial stacker.

Fingers crossed,
things are looking good.

Hmm.

That definitely won't last
the rest of the year,

that's for sure.

This clip here, that clip
there, and that one down there

are toast.

And all it takes is one bad
clip to rip and then the whole

belt could be garbage.

The metal clips that hold
the 200 foot long belt together

are nearly destroyed.

Oh, we've got four seams
in pretty [bleep] condition.

So what's that?

What are you trying
to tell me here?

I'm really wanting to hang
a belt on this guy.

- Are you serious?
- So we have one seam.

We'll have more uptime
for later

throughout the cold season.

How long is this gonna take?

If I can get it to the yard,
probably six, eight hours,

have it buttoned up.
- It [bleep] sucks, man.

I told Parker I'd have this
[bleep] thing moved and sluicing

by night shift.

It's really [bleep].

We can do night shift
the next day.

Already near the end of
the shift, replacing the belt

crushes Brennan's timeline.

[bleep],
that pissed me off.

You know, that's a lot
of sluice time lost.

That'll be a 24 hour period
of no rocks getting run.

Those piles are
just too big

to [bleep] have
a minute of downtime,

let alone 24 hours of it.

On the brink of breaking
through his season goal,

one of Tony's top moneymakers,
Sluice-A-Lot,

has been shut down
by a broken tail pulley.

This one here.

Here, this one.

Nice and thick.

It might be.



Yeah.

That would never break
again, eh?

I don't think so.

[bleep] yeah.

I think it's a nice pipe.

Weld it against it.

- Perfect.
- Perfect.

We should have this plant going
before the end of the day.

After finding a pipe
approximately the same diameter

as the busted drum, Cousin Mike
and Len need to cut it to size.

We got to do a bush fix today.

All right, over there.

First, what we're going to do
is remove the side plate

from the drum.

So I just got to clean that up,
so that we got a clean surface

to weld on.

That will make a more solid
weld too for the new drum.

All right.

Now we have to line it up
a little bit.

Everything looks
nice and straight.

It's going to be a heavy pull.

Double the weight
of the old drum,

Cousin Mike must now install
the new pulley on the conveyor

to find out if it will work.

If we can slide it in,
we can drop one side in, right?

Let's try it, yeah.

Beautiful.

Whoop, OK.

OK.
I'll lift the other end up, eh?

Can we put a chain on that?

Yeah, I'll put a chain
on this one, too.

Yeah, I'll slide it your way.

OK.

The drum looks good.

I'm very happy
with how that looks.

Oh, yeah!

We are pretty much ready.
Conveyor belt's done.

Hanging back in the plant,
and we're getting pretty close

to it looking like
a washplant again.

There it is.
No one move,

no one move, no one move.

We're in.

All right, we're in there now.

Right on, boys.

So all we got to do now is
just get it bolted up,

and we're in business.

Looks pretty good.

Will be there
for years and years.

Back to full capacity,
Tony's in the hunt

for his 6,500 ounce
gold target.

Well, plant's set up
water line's in,

and we're just waiting on Alec
to get the radial stacker
down here.

Massive pay pile that
the trucks keep adding to

daily, so we need to get
through that.

After moving the bulk
of Big Red in one shift,

stand-in foreman
Brennan Ruault is itching

to get back sluicing
Golden Mile pay.

Just keep putting a few things
up here, keep busy until

he shows up with that, so
I want to be washing rocks here

as fast as possible.

Stopping Brennan
from firing up,

a busted 200-foot
conveyor belt.

I know Brennan was really
hoping to get Big Red moved

in one day, but I've already
slowed that timeline down.

Gotta get it figured out.

Looks like it's still me,
myself, and I

here for this project.

There's no spare hands
to help.

Come on, Sash.

So Alec will need to think
outside the box.

This is...

to help feed the new conveyor
belt into the frame

of the unit.

Just like that.

String this guy out.

Cut the old one off.

Rip the old belt out this way.

The rope gets caught
in the frame.

Tie the new belt
onto the rope,

going through
that snatch block.

Pull on the rope.
New conveyor belt goes in.

So we get it,
get it assembled.

We'll cut this in half
and rip it off.

That's in half,
start pulling.

It's a long belt.

Oh, got the old belt pulled out
of the conveyor frame.

Worked really nicely.

Get my rope back here,
and then pretty well reverse

the procedure, tie the new belt
onto this rope end,

drag it through again
with the truck.

Get this roll freed up,
lay it out

next to the mighty zoom boom.

Next, Alec unspools
the 5,500-pound

roll of fresh belt.

This is perfect.

Brand new belt.

So I have to make sure that I

don't cut the belt too short,
I don't cut it too long.

I hope this is the right place.

If you can't tie knots,
tie two.

Done.

Hook the other end of that rope
up to Mr. Truck and sort of

drive out that way and this guy
should feed in nicely.

To pull the new belt onto
the conveyor and avoid snagging

or ripping the new rubber,
Alec has devised

a unique solution.

Got a snatch block here just
to direct the rope travel

somewhere away from the path
that our new belt will be

taking to get
into the conveyor.

So we're not driving over top
of ourselves.

Got everything rigged up.
There we go.

Well, we got our belt together.
I'm really satisfied.

The guys are itching for it.

And he's going to take

the white Kenworth there
and hook it up to

this guy here.
Take it to Brennan.

A day behind schedule,
Brennan finally has the radial

stacker back and is ready
to test Alec's belt fix.

This is the moment of truth.

Here we go!

This is the moment of truth.

Testing.

Whoo!

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Well, should we hit the shaker
and get some dirt thrown at it?

I think so.

Well, I'm super happy to see
the dirt going through Big Red

again, and I just hope Parker's
just as happy.


Big Red is back sluicing

Golden Mile paydirt.

- You're washing rocks.
- [bleep] yeah!

Day late and a dollar
short, Brennan.

That's normal.

I'm more than a dollar short.

What do you mean?

You've got 80,000 yards of top
gravel sitting there.

Thank you guys for getting
this thing rolling.

- Yeah, you bet.
- Yeah, no problem.

It's a nice setup.
Super clean.

I'm very happy right now.

We're going to have
a hope in hell

and get through this pile,

and all the rest is going
to come this way.

It's just clay.
Nothing but clay.

It's got me by surprise
right now.

I just wasn't ready for that.
Come up with a new plan.

Rick Ness is reeling
from a gut punch.

After spending a month
and a million dollars,

he's hit a dead end
at Valhalla.

Now he's expecting a visit
from an old friend.

Look at this.

Good, buddy.
How you doing?

Oh, yeah.
Good to see that.

- How you doing, Minnie?
- I'm good.

- How are you?
- I'm great.

Yeah, rock trucks.
I could use some of those.

Yeah.

The price of gold is good.

I see what you and Parker
are doing,

and I'm just like,
"Man, am I missing something?"

Depths that we're going,
though, I don't know.

That's getting a little out
of hand for such a small crew.

But every now and then,
we hit some clay band

and that [bleep] a mess.

Yeah, we need a lot of trucks.

- That's right.
- We should just go look at it.

It's got no brakes right now.

Oh, [bleep].

Yeah.

Wow, wow, wow.

See, this is bedrock we're
staying on right here.

And it goes down like that.

I'll have to come up with a new
plan for that, but...





Yep.

Yeah, for the plus side
for us.

Yes, yes.

No.

Vegas Valley,
we opened up last year,

and this is where
the channel went down,

and we got all that
out of there.

Yeah, that has a chunk
in there.

Yeah.

To really, yeah,
to really [bleep] open it up.

That'd be something.

I can't afford that, so.

Yeah.

It won't [bleep] be until you
get to the bottom, right?

Yeah.

How did it go?
You learn anything new?

That's not bad.

In order to do this,
you know, you should go in big.

A lot of equipment.

But that takes lots of money.

It's worked so far.

We've definitely stayed alive,
but this one's got me worried.

Yeah.

Kind of tough.

That's what's got me
worried the most.

I was hoping to be, at this
point, pay this off and start

really putting the money away,
and now it's turned into,

"can I survive until I can start
putting the money away?"

Yeah.

You don't want
to become a seller.

Do I or do--?
I don't know.

Sometimes I'm wondering.

Me, put a--?
Put a price on the table?

At Duncan Creek, Rick's just
had a bombshell buyout offer

dropped by
the King of the Klondike.

If you want to discuss that,
I don't want these guys around.

At current prices, Rick's four
miles of Duncan Creek claims

could contain
over $50 million of gold.

I appreciate you stopping by.

- Nice to see you.
- Good to see you, too.

Drive safe.
Yep.

It's a weird situation
to be in right now,

just with what Tony said.
I just, uh...

kind of, I mean, kind of hit me
in a way.

I mean, obviously,
I know what I got here.

I know the value of it.

It just seems like

at this point, taking the money
and running is just,

is it really [bleep] smart
or is it...

contrary to what I set up here
to do, you know?

It's...

A number with seven zeros
on it gets thrown

in your face, like,
it's hard to [bleep].

It's hard to [bleep]
say no to that too.

I've never really been one
to get pushed out of something

when I wasn't ready for it,
but maybe I shouldn't be

looking at it that way,
I don't know.

[bleep]!

Every time I think that,
you know, I'm getting ahead,

I just get pushed
backwards again.

And like, you know,
that's whatever...

I'm not crying about it.

I'm here to [bleep] take it,
I'm here to do it.

But like, when is
enough enough?

When there's a guarantee
put in front of you,

when do you just say,
"[bleep] it.

I'll take that,
and I'll quit fighting?"

Um...

I've been saying,
like, you know, I was 30 years

old when I came up here


but I don't know if that's
a joke anymore.

Yeah, I'm not going to have
an answer today

either, so I've got a lot
to think about.

- How's it going, buddy?
- Good.

At the end of the week,
Tyson has returned

from his sister's wedding.

Was there any good drama
at your wedding?

- No, no.
- Boring.

It all went pretty good, man.

It's not a real wedding
without at least

one fist fight.

How did Big Red's move
go, Brennan?

I wish you were there with us,
but we got it all set up.

Had a delay, though, with that
belt, the radial stacker there.

And he's like
"I need to change the belt,"

and I tried arguing with him.

You don't want to be the guy
that goes to them at midnight

and be like,
"Hey, remember that belt?"

And it's like minus 10 out.

"The one you wanted to change
like two weeks ago when it was

still kind of warm?"
- "And we told you not to."

But yeah, other than that,
it went really smooth.

Thanks for filling in
while Tyson was gone.

- Nice work, man.
- Yeah, thanks.

Hoping to make
you proud there.

Tyson, you want to see
what Bob did?

Sure.

I think that says Bob
on there, doesn't it?

Oh yeah, let's see what
the Bridge Cut did.

First up,
Parker's washplant, Bob.

Over the last two months,
it's been consistently

averaging 150 ounces.









Meh...

Bob's been pretty boring.

Next up, Roxanne,

running paydirt
from Ken and Stuart's,

where last week it pulled in


All right, Roxanne.











That's not bad.

Finally, Big Red,
sluicing the first paydirt

from the Golden Mile
in two weeks.

Here we go, Big Red.







Well, you know,
Brennan, you didn't get

a full week, right?

You're just getting started,
so it's a start.

Yeah, no, for sure.

Last week we had


This week it's 317.25.

Worth $1.1 million.

So we picked up 11 ounces.

And season total,


This crawling towards


At this pace, Parker will fall
short of his 10,000 ounce goal.

We were racing
earlier this season.

Well, I don't know how much
I've told you guys,

but there is a new plant
showing up.

So we should be able to slam
through some yardage.

And so hopefully
that makes a difference.

Hopefully you're ready
for a good push.

We'll see.

So we went and visited Rick.

Yeah.

We're almost at 6,000 ounces.
Our goal is 6,500.

To break through
his season target

six weeks ahead of schedule,

Tony needs his three washplants
to deliver 507 ounces.

First up, Sluice-A-Lot,
running paydirt from

the Indian River's Corner Cut.

You made it sound
like an auction.

I'll take it.

Should we do Find-A-Lot now?

Find-A-Lot ran all week long,
also sluicing Corner Cut pay.

I'll count the lot.









Oh, you got more.









Coming really close
to that season goal.

Now I really wanna know
what the trommel brought in.

To hit Tony's season goal,
Mike's trommel needs

to bring in 144 ounces.

Y'all ready for this?














Tony has hauled in
a weekly total of 625 ounces.

And that gets us over
our seasons total.

Boom!
Over our goal.

Tony has now a total
of 6,618 ounces,

worth a stunning


Yeah!
Ha-ha-ha!

We still have
a month or so left.

So are we going
to up our goal?

We'll do the best we can
and we'll see how far we get.

You and I have
to go back to the hill.

You're [bleep] bossy,
aren't you?

- This is my place.
- You love me.

- You love me.
- I'm not so sure.