11x05 - It's Alive

[bunniefuu]

The more [bleep] up
the world gets,

The higher price gold should go.

Narrator: on this "gold rush"...

Come on, big guy.
You at least ought to be able

To do the work of two people.

[ Laughs ]

...on a mission
to build a massive w*r chest

Of gold, parker schnabel
expands his crew...

We don't have enough people.
We need some more bodies.

It's a bit nerve-racking.

[ Loud thud ]oh [bleep]

Narrator:
...to make up for lost time,

Tony beets resurrect
an old beast...

[ Engine stops ]

I don't have that hundred
ounces, my season's [bleep]

Narrator: ...and rick ness
hedges his bets...

If we can get this thing up
to a hundred yards an hour,

That's a quarter million dollars
a month

Narrator: ...in a bid
to max out his wash plant.

[ Metal screeches, thud ]

Holy [bleep] what was that?

...captions by vitac...
Www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪♪

Narrator:
the king of the klondike,

Tony beets, is battling
to make a comeback

After failing to hit his
target two years in a row.

Narrator: to cash in
on high gold prices,

This season, tony's pushing
for at least 3,000 ounces.

Narrator: to hit their gold,
daughter monica is feeding

Gold-rich pay from the mega cut

Into the family's
only working plant.

This pandemic has been affecting
a lot of things.

It's hard getting parts,
and everything takes longer,

And that's saying something

Because things already
take forever here in the yukon.

Narrator:
at the end of the tunnel,

Ruby mahoney clears worthless
tailings in the loader.

Ruby: my season's been
going quite well.

With gold prices being so high,

Tony has been going after
every piece of land

That has gold in it.

♪♪

Oh, no. Oh, no. No. No. No.

[Bleep] [bleep]

Kevin, you copy, kevin?

Copy, kevin. Go for kevin.

Yeah, man.
The last loader's down.

Narrator:
to stop tailings backing up

And hitting the plant,
ruby shuts it down.

She's talking.

David will start it,
I'll press that button again.

[ Engine starts ]

Kevin: the engine blew up. Boom.

Now, we only had
one loader going

Because we just had
a string of bad luck.

Pretty much every 988 we try it
has gone kaboom, kablooey,

Or ka-[bleep]

It's not a day project.

It can take weeks
because we need parts.

Narrator: it's the fourth loader
that's died in the last week.

Now, the entire fleet is down.

Just had another 88 breakdown.

- [Bleep]
- yeah.

Where are we with the parts
for the other ones?

Narrator: back in the office,
kevin's girlfriend, faith,

Is scrambling to source parts

Because of covid-19, it's going
to take at least a month

Before you get them.

Yeah.

Narrator: the pandemic has
already shortened tony's season.

Now it's shut down
his operation,

Losing precious time to bank
gold at record high prices.

♪♪

Parker:
the bigger our operation gets,
the more behind the game I feel.

Doesn't really sustainable
long-term.

Narrator: this season, 25-year-
old gold miner parker schnabel

Is racing to earn enough money

To buy new ground
and expand his mining business.

Parker: this year for us,

It's really about trying
to build a good w*r chest

In order to buy new ground
and fund exploration.

Narrator: to make up for
the late start to the season

And take advantage
of the high gold price,

Parker's split his operation
to run two wash plants.

But with the pandemic
closing the border,

It's a battle
to bring experienced miners

Into the klondike.

Parker: this year, the group
struggled with crew a lot.

That's definitely an issue, and
I don't have a solution to it.

All I've got to offer is a job.

I don't really like training
new people that much,

But in some ways a bad economy
is good for us

In that fuel prices are low,

And the more [bleep] up
the world gets,

The higher price of gold
should go.

Narrator:
parker has most of his crew

Working at the promised land,
helping tyson lee

Prepare sluicifer for a move.

Tyson: moving the wash plant.

No one really enjoys
because it's a stressful time.

Narrator: over at the last cut,
parker's top miners,

Co-foreman mitch blaschke

And brennan ruault fight

To keep big red running
with a skeleton crew.

Come on, big guy.
You're falling behind out there.

Yeah, I know, man.
It's [bleep] brutal here.

Trying my best.

You're always telling me
how good you are.

You at least ought to be able to
do the work of two people.

[ Laughs ]

Brennan rips ground in the dozer

While mitch digs
and stockpiles gold-rich pay

To keep the wash plant fed.

We got to do
something here, man,

Because I'm getting this dirt
dug up faster

Than what you're opening it.

Well, I hear you buddy.

Trey removes dirt
from mitch's pile to big red,

Which needs a 180 yards an hour
to keep running.

Mitch: parker said,
you know, most important thing

Is to keep wash plants running,

And that's what he wants
brennan and I to focus on,

But right now, we've got,
you know,

Nobody over
opening up new ground.

When I got here this morning,

We had about 40 minutes
worth of dirt left.

Well, buddy, I just don't know
if we can keep going

At this pace.
I don't know what the answer is.

Well, I can tell you
what the answer is.

We need to get a stripping
crew going here

'Cause, yeah, you and i, man,
that's not enough.

But if we keep
going at this rate,

We're gonna end up having to
shut the plant down,

'Cause we're just going to
run out of dirt.

Yeah, I don't know why
they always make sluicifer

Such a priority.
We go through just about as much

[Bleep] dirt in the day,
you know?

Trying everything I can do here.

I just can't do
the work of three

Or four people by myself.

This definitely isn't working.

Well, buddy,
I think that's probably

All we're going to get for now.

Narrator: without a full crew...

Probably our last scoop
for the day, man.

...they can't dig enough dirt
to keep the wash plant fed...

And they have no choice
but to shut it down.

You know,
it's frustrating right now.

You know, this is
the prime of the season.

This is when you should be
sluicing, having these plants

Run 24 hours a day.

We got to shut this thing down.

It's frustrating,
but it is what it is.

We got to get some more help.

Everybody's just spread
too thin right now.

♪♪

Let's go have a chat
with the boss

And see
if we can figure this out.

Hey, man,
we just had to shut down big red

Because we ran out of pay,
and we don't have enough people.

We need some more bodies.

And I mean right now, you know,
with everybody having to go

Through quarantine and all that,
it's going to make it tough,

But the sooner we can get
somebody up here, the better.

Yeah the big problem here
is somebody with no experience

Is almost worse than nobody.

Man, I don't care
if they have lots of experience,

No experience,
we can train them.

Whatever you can find us.okay. I'll do it.

I'll do what I can
as quick as I can.

We're trying to do more and more
every year with, you know,

Less time, less people,
and, well, there comes a point

Where that just
doesn't work anymore.

I know it's hard
to get people up here

Because of the whole
covid situation,

But, you know,
we need to start looking

Because we want
to have any chance

Of having
a decent season this year,

We need some help.

Narrator: up ahead...

I heard some metal breaking.

[ Metal screeching ]

...rick ness takes
a massive gamble

That will make or break...

[ Loud thud ]...his season.

Holy [bleep] what was that?

♪♪

We're still suffering a bit
from the late start,

But we are on good ground.

Narrator: this year,

Rick ness is future
as a gold miner

Hangs in the balance.

I just want to make sure
that we're doing

Absolutely everything
to maximize, you know?

I want to make sure we're not
leaving anything on the table

As far as what we're doing.

Narrator: after two years
barely breaking even,

He needs a 1,000-down season,
or he'll have to pack it in.

To hit his goal, he needs
almost 70 ounces a week,

But so far,
he's averaged less than 40.

♪♪

Rick: we're around
a bucket every minute

Narrator: rick set up
a time trial for the crew

To try and up his average.

We're losing too much time.

Narrator:
new operator mark doverspike

Feeds the plant
with the excavator.

I've been running his numbers,

And we're really only doing
about 80 yards an hour

Through this thing, and I think
it could do more than that.

Mark: there's a fine line
between too much and not enough.

Now, you don't just dump it,
you know?

You just kind of feather it in.

Not enough dirt,
and the sluice runs too fast,

And the gold goes out the end.

Too much dirt,
the riffles will plug,

And the gold will go
out the end.

It demands
your full attention all day.

Narrator: rick's hometown buddy
chris kruse

Has also spotted the bottleneck.

Yeah, I think you can have
probably the best hoe operator

In the world
feeding dirt into this plant.

There's really no way
to keep it consistent.

Narrator: but rick has a plan
to speed things up.

Rick:
it's a well-built, simple plant

It's made for this ground.
It does a great job.

But I know that
a hopper feeder right now

Would just maximize
the potential. I know it would.

Narrator:
a hopper feeder can process
larger loads of pay dirt.

Bars known as grizzlies
filter out big rocks.

Conveyors then take the pay dirt

And feed
it evenly into the wash plant.

♪♪

With a constant feed,
the wash plant rick leased

From claim owner troy
could catch 25% more gold.

If we can get this thing up
to 100 yards an hour,

And with current prices,

That's a quarter million
dollars a month,

Narrator: but hopper feeders
don't come cheap.

I definitely wasn't planning
on making any big purchases.

I don't have it
in the budget at all.

You know, I owe troy 100 ounces

By the end of this week.

Hey, rick.

Narrator: when rick arrived
in the yukon,

Claim owner troy taylor
needed a guarantee

The late start would not affect
his royalty payments.

Hoping you can pull out


And then
I'll feel more comfortable

That we're we're
going to be okay.

I think we can manage it.

Rick's banked 107 ounces
this season.

Now the royalty's due
in six days.

If he can't pay it,
he'll lose the lease.

That's the only thing
I'm struggling with.

It's a lot of money to pay off
by the end of the week,

But I don't see how
I can't do it.

Narrator: instead of saving
his gold to pay troy,

Rick is putting it all
on the line

To upgrade his wash plant.

Rick: so, I heard there's
a nice hopper feeder for sale.

It's just a couple hours away.

It's at this guy,
porter's, yard.

I'm gonna go see him.

It's a bit of a gamble,
but I got to do something.

We're definitely not maximizing
what we can do right now.

Got to go look at it.
Hopefully it's the one.

♪♪

Hey, dog.

Is he friendly?
How you doing? I'm rick.

He's good. Nice to meet you.
I'm porter.

Right on, man.
This is the feeder?

You betcha.

Rick: she's a beauty.

Yeah, it's pretty nice unit.

Yeah. Well, you mind if I poke
around, take a look at it?

Yeah, give her. Alright.

Oh, yeah.
Hydraulic grizzly bars.

Perfect.

What kind of yardage
is it rated for?

Probably like 220.220 yards an hour?

Well, that will
get the job done.

This thing's in actually
really nice shape.

Ow.

I'm good.

I don't think that this thing
seen much yardage through it.

I mean, the paint still on
the rollers, for [bleep] sake.

I think this thing would be
pretty much perfect

For what I need.

Well, you what are you looking
to get for it?

Like to get $90,000 for it.

$90,000 Is 51 ounces,
almost half of rick's gold.

$90,000? At least, yeah.

I mean, I'd like to see it
somewhere around $70,000.

Oof.

I don't know, man.
It's in really good shape.

I'm thinking like...
Maybe $80,000, $85,000.

[ Sighs deeply ]

$75,000 Is going
to be the most I can go.

You get it out of here today,

You can have it for $75,000
and be gone, yeah.

Narrator: $75,000 is
almost 43 ounces of gold.

I think we got a deal.

Alright, man. Right on.

You got some paperwork for me?
I'll write you a check.

Sure. Sounds good.

But rick is now 36 ounces short

Of his royalty payment to troy.

Well, that's good news.
We got a hopper feeder.

That's really gonna help out
my operation.

The bad news is
I can't give troy his 100 ounces

And pay for this, so
we're going to have to bust a*s,

Get more gold out of the ground.

♪♪

Narrator: tony beets' entire
fleet of loaders

Is down waiting for parts.

His operation is at
a standstill, and he's losing

Almost $60,000 a day in gold.

Narrator: but the king of
the klondike has a back-up plan.

On the other side
of paradise hill,

He's left a loader
with a seized engine

That he wants to
bring back to life.

Narrator: but there's a problem.

The loader is
on a narrow access road.

On one side, a sheer drop,
and on the other, a dirt wall.

There's no easy way
to get it onto a truck.

Narrator:
tony has a radical plan...

Narrator: ...instead of hauling
the loader back to the mine,

He harvests an engine
from the boneyard...

Narrator:
...and plans on dropping it

Into the dead loader...

Then driving it back.

Narrator:
a side boom is designed

To lay heavy pipes
in rocky or uneven terrain,

The perfect machine
to swap out an engine

Where there's no room to move.

Yeah, I'm free over here.

This is a really
handy machine to have.

This is going
relatively [bleep] smooth.

Narrator:
the old engine removed monica
lifts the new one into position.

Monica:
the most important thing is

You always want to watch
people directing you

Because you can't see.

You don't know where
those people's fingers are.

I'm clear on this side.

I believe are you good?

I'm good on my side right now
as of right now.

As long as we keep her straight.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

Oh, we're [bleep]
singing, buddy.

[Bleep] golden.

Narrator: it's been five years
since this engine

Was last turned over.

[ Engine starts ]

[ Engine revving ]

♪♪

Narrator: the king of the
klondike is back in business.

♪♪

[ Metal thuds, engine stops ]

Narrator: tony is failure
to resurrect the dead dozer

Has left his mining
operation shut down.

♪♪

This year, you know, I left
mitch and brennan in charge

At big red, and everybody here
is working their asses off.

Narrator:
parker schnabel's gunning
for a record-breaking season.

To get back to running
a full operation,

He's brought onto new miners.

Parker: trying to find people
this time of year

Is really difficult because good
people are working, you know?

We have two new people.

But no promises
on where we end up.

Narrator: in the last cut,
big red is up and running again.

Seasoned operator monique stone
stock piles gold-rich dirt.

I'm totally up
for any challenge.

I love this work.

Narrator: portuguese
rookie miner tatiana costa

Has been hired
to drive a loader,

But this is the first time
she's ever fed a wash plant.

Tatiana:
this is my first season mining.

This is all very new for me,

So learning the machines,
learning how to operate them.

Every day is a learning day.

Alright, so,
the most important thing here

When you're feeding the plant
is you want to be

Nice and straight
when you're going up

To the hopper feeder.okay.

Don't come in at a sharp angle.

Make sure your back in nice
and straight with it.

Drive up.
The biggest thing is height.

You want to have enough lift
that you don't crash into it.

Okay, awesome. Alright.

We'll see how she does.

It's a bit nerve-racking.

Steer to your left
just a little bit.

Okay, alright.

Start to tip forward.

Nice and easy. Nice and easy.

Okay, keep going forward.

Lift as you're going forward.

Just one smooth motion.

You did good.
You got the first one in

Without crashing anything out.
That's awesome work.

[ Chuckles ]

Hardest things for a mechanic
and a foreman is to,

Well, turn over your wash plant

To somebody that's new,
and we definitely,

You know, don't want to see
anything bad happen here,

But nobody's ever going to learn
unless you give them a try.

There you go. Now stop.

Keep tipping. Now back up
and grab another scoop.

But thank you for not hitting
the hopper. You're doing great.

[ Chuckles ]

Well, as you can see, tatiana's
definitely a little shaky,

But that's to be expected
for your first few scoops

Going into this thing.

It's very stressful,
but most importantly, right now,

We got to get some
pay dirt here.

So, we're gonna get on that.

You can see our tailings
are right here,

But the pile that's left
she's pulling from,

There's no material left.

So, hopefully,
she catches on quick here.

I feel a little bit .1%
more confident.

I'm not quite as, like, "aah!"

You hold up right there.
I'm gonna give you this remote.

Okay, so, this is the control
for dumping the grizzlies.

I'm gonna start
digging some pay.

If you got any questions,
holler at me on the radio,

And we'll see how it goes.

I'll give it my best.

Alright, you're doing good.

Thanks for your help.no problem.

Awesome.

I'm gonna go jump in the 480,
start digging some more

So we can keep
this thing running day and night

Narrator: mitch gets back
in the 480 to help monique

Build up the pay pile.

You know this year,
with being behind schedule,

And trying to make up
for lost time,

We're certainly want to run
everything just as fast

As we can, and, well,

That definitely makes it tougher
on new operators,

But we'll just give them
a chance here

And see what they got.

[ Loud thud ]

Tatiana: oh [bleep]

Oh [bleep]

♪♪

You we're doing great with
keeping up with the wash plant.

But you just got to watch
your surroundings there

And be real careful.

Yeah, sorry about that, mitch.

Yeah. Oh, it'll be alright.

Like I said,
that thing's pretty tough.

But if that had been
one of the pickups.

It'd be pretty well smashed.

Yeah.just be careful, alright?

♪♪

Mitch: parker has got us some
help here for running big red.

But, you know,
nobody's come with a résumé,

So it's going to
make things real tough.

You know, I really hope that,

You know,
parker's decisions here,

How we're doing things,
you know,

Don't just bring this
whole operation to a shutdown.

♪♪

Narrator: at lower duncan creek,

Rick ness is taking delivery of
his new $75,000 hopper feeder...

That he hopes will increase
his gold haul by 25%.

Looks good, buddy. Excellent.

In the laydown yard,
mechanic carl rosk

Prepares it to run...

And at the wash plant, kruse
builds a pad for the new hopper.

♪♪

Chris: yeah, I know we've got
a deadline with troy.

Spending this extra money
right now,

It's a little bit scary.

This hopper feeder
is going to make it

So we can feed
a consistent amount of dirt

And figure out how rich
this ground really is.

How's this thing looking,
besides the obvious that is?

Yeah, it's in good shape, but
it's it needs some love, right?

Yeah. Well, I really wanted to
have this thing perfect

Before we put it in service.

Yeah, me, too. [ Chuckles ]

But it's just not
going to happen that way.

Yeah, I got troy coming
at the end the week

For his money, and guess what...

I gave his money...
To the guy for this.

Okay, buddy.

Alright, that being said,

What's your plan getting
this thing down here?

We got a ways to go with it yet.

I'll build a jig
for the inside the bucket there.

Okay. It'll have to be
pretty strong

'Cause we got to
go through a creek.

♪♪

Narrator: rick needs to get the
hopper feeder to the wash plant

On the other side
of duncan creek,

But it's too wide
to use the bridge.

Rick and carl have no choice

But to drag it
through the fast-flowing water.

Well, hopefully,
we don't have an issue

Getting this thing
to the plant, right?

We got to go through
that creek crossing,

Which is going
to be pretty gnarly, right?

Got an idea
what we're going to do here?

Narrator:
the only vehicle on the claim

That can haul the 13-ton hopper
is the 220 loader,

But, first, carl must fix
a towing hitch to the bucket.

Carl: got the hitch on here.

We're going to
drag this thing down there,

And hopefully have this thing in
and running by lunch, right?

Feel pretty good about it?

Oh, yeah. You'll be fine.

I'm going real slow.should be good, buddy.

I need to get this feeder
in as quick as possible.

I would troy 100 ounces
by the end of the week,

And I just spent it
on this feeder.

So, the only way to make it back
is to get it working.

♪♪

Narrator: all 13 tons
of the hopper feeder

Now rests on carl's down
and dirty tow hitch.

Carl: like I said,
the creek crossing's

Going to be
the big thing for it.

Hasn't broke off yet.

This is, basically,
a nasty little spot.

It's real steep, right?

I'm going blind.
I can't see [bleep]

He's doing a good job right now.

Just don't want
to pop it off, right?

Narrator:
if carl's hitch fails now,

Rick $75,000 machine
could end up in the creek.

Carl: just a little
nerve-racking. That's alright.

Nice and easy.

It's a little scary here,
but this is nice and easy.

[ Metal creaking ]

I'm hearing some metal breaking.

Hope it's not that thing
coming off here.

[ Metal screeches, thuds ]

Holy [bleep]

♪♪

Carl: thing's [bleep]
heavy, man.

Way heavier than
I thought it was.

[ Laughs ]

We're finding out how tough
our welds are right now.

Still holding!

Narrator: at lower duncan creek,

Rick's moving a $75,000
hopper feeder

Through a fast flowing creek.

Carl:
just keep straightening it out.

Let's turn it a bit
just like that.

Just keep going. Straighten out.

That's working, buddy.
Its working.

Rick: this is great.

Think to myself
that I probably should have done

One more pass on that now,
but it's hasn't broken,

So maybe going to
redeem myself here

For all my [bleep] jobs,
right? [ Chuckles ]

Narrator: once rick gets
the new hopper into position...

♪♪

Good stuff, boys.

Fire it up!

...it's finally ready to run,
but he only has two days

To haul in
at least 36 ounces of gold.

♪♪

Yeah, this [bleep] is perfect.

Exactly what I was
looking for...

Running about 100 yards
an hour right now.

This is definitely
worth the money.

Now we just got to get
enough dirt through it

To get troy's 100 ounces.

[ Dog barks ]

♪♪

Narrator:
tony's whole operation is down

Until he can get
a working loader.

He's in the boneyard
with welder cody hunter.

Narrator:
after swapping out the engine
on a 988 loader, it seized up.

Now tony wants to get it back
to camp to try one last fix.

Yeah, I got some stuff
over there, tony.

Narrator: tony's plan is for
cody to fabricate

A steel toe ball.

He'll hitch it
to the only piece of machinery

Big enough to haul the loader
off flat creek...

The 63-ton


Well, we're going
to pull the blade off

Because we don't get
much benefit having it on

For what we want to do

We're not actually
pushing any dirt.

We're just using tracks
to pull it along

Just makes it a lot simpler
for everybody down the line.

Alright.

[ Truck horn blares ]

Narrator: tony brings in his son

Heavy-load specialist
mike beets.

Narrator: while mike hauls
the dozer around paradise hill,

Tony fits the tow bar
to the loader's bucket.

Narrator: it needs to hold
all 48 tons of loader.

You get a d-10
in front of that thing,

Not many things are going
to argue the point with it.

Narrator:
it takes four hours for mike

To get the loader
six miles back to the yard.

Oh, yeah. It pushed slightly
going downhill,

And it grunts
slightly going uphill,

But other than that,
barely anything.

[Bleep] skeeters!

♪♪

This loader has been
kind of a [bleep] [bleep]

Narrator: next morning,
kevin's found the problem.

I think... It should go now.

What was happening is that
a couple of the valves

Were a little stuck.
Had to pull some of them,

And they were a real pain
to get out.

This should mean
that the transmission

Is now free to move,
which should allow

The engine to move,
which would allow

The whole thing,
you know, to run.

Yeah, she should be good
to go at this point.

[ Engine starts ]

♪♪

Narrator:
after four days of downtime, the
beets crew has a working loader.

They can finally
get back to mining.

Ruby: thank god
that we got the loader.

We could finally have a steady
run time,

Get back to sluicing,
and maybe succeed

In tony's 3,000 ounce goal.

♪♪

The season is so short...
Every minute, every second,

Every hour counts.

So, there's not much room here
for mistakes.

Narrator: at the last cut,
rookie tatiana

Is finally up to speed feeding
the wash plant.

Mitch and brandon
are working on the next spot

Where the plant will be moved,
so we got to keep up.

Well, it's so nice to finally
be able to kind of start

Catching up on things.

My first student, I think,
is doing pretty well.

I think in the offseason.

I might have to
open up a school,

You know, ol' mitch's mining
or mayhem management.

I don't know.
That's definitely up for grabs.

♪♪

Narrator: after a difficult week
at paradise hill,

The beets family gathers
for the gold weigh.

Yeah. Loader, loader,
loader problems.

Truck drivers are doing less,

Planes aren't hauling [bleep]

I don't think they do less,

I just think they have
a hard time keeping up.

Faith:
that other loader was nice.

From what I hear,
it was a [bleep] [bleep] show.

You can read?

Narrator:
to hit his 3,000 ounce goal,

Tony needs a weekly average
of 177 ounces.

Narrator: 128 ounces

Is worth almost a quarter
of a million dollars,

But it's not enough to hit
tony's goal

With the shortened season.

Could have been a lot worse.

We'd still be [bleep] down
waiting for parts.

We gotta go back
to work, don't we?

♪♪

Get off my lawn!

- What's up, man?
- What's up, guys?

Narrator: at lower duncan creek,
it's time for rick ness

To find out
if he's mined enough gold

To pay his claim owner


How are you?

[ Sighs ] well,
I'm a bit nervous.

I told you guys that troy wants
their minimum royalty up front,

And, yeah,
he's coming for it today.

We'll see where we're at.

Narrator: so, far this season,

Rick has averaged
less than 10 ounces a day.

Now, just two days after fitting
his new hopper feeder,

He needs 36 ounces
to pay his royalties

And stay on the claim.

Alright, here we go.

It's going to be close, I think.





Man: oh, man!

Yeah, dude, 55.32.

Narrator: worth $96,000

And giving rick enough
to pay his royalty.

That's a good-looking number
there, buddy.

Rick: just made it.

That's a good clean up, man.

Narrator: the hopper feeder has
paid for itself

And helped get rick
to a season total of 163 ounces.

♪♪

While we live to fight
another day,

We got the minimum royalties.

And a good part of that, too,

Is they're paid off
royalty wise.

Now the rest
of this gold is ours.

That's awesome.that's fantastic, man.

Feels so good.

For once, it's like
we're rolling.

I want to thank you guys
for busting a*s

And getting that thing in
as quick as we did

Because that was
going to be key, right?

Like, it was a lot of money
up front.

He's good, buddy.

Carl: man,
the hopper feeder is [bleep]

It works awesome.
He spent the money.

Things are completely
different than last year.

I can't say nothing bad
about it.

I'm just excited
we're on the gold.

Let's do some more sluicing,
get some more gold.

Well, there it is, troy.

Wow. Look at that.

Your 100 ounces. Nice.

Well, I got to say that I'm
happy that I'm able to do it,

But it's never easy
handing somebody



It's nice looking stuff.that settles us up

For the minimum royalty.

So, it's out of the way,
and as long as you're happy,

We're going to keep on rolling
like we are

And hopefully going to have
a lot more jars of that.

Right on. Good for you.

Alright, troy.
I'll see you again.

Okay?

Gamble paid off...
Troy's paid off,

The royalties are paid off,
now every ounce we get

Is going right into our pockets.

♪♪

Narrator: at scribner creek,

Parker's crew gathers
to see how much gold

The new crew members
helped bring in.

- Sup?!
- Hey, mitch.

So, how'd your week go, junior?

Yeah, it's been
a challenge finding people

I can get
into the klondike, right?

'Cause it's just, like,
quite a few borders

To get through, and the yukon
has its own set of restrictions.

Are they at least letting
crane operators in?

They're pretty green.
They're both alright.

Give him some time, see if they
can work their way in,

Get accustomed to it.

Well, how do we end up doing
with the little bit of downtime?

Well tell you what, junior,

Even though you guys
lost a shift,

Big red did really well
this week.

It did, did it? Yeah.

Holy [bleep]. Yeah.

Got the big jar.

I got the big jar. Ready?

You betcha.

Narrator: so far this season,
big red has averaged









Keep going. 300. 340.

You're joking right?

Nope. That's it. Right there.



Wow! Well done.

- That's unreal.
- Good job, parker.

Half-a-million-dollar week.

Yeah, that's pretty good.

Big red's just crunching it.

That last cut you guys
are in just...

We must be hit
a hot spot or something.

That's a lot.yeah.

Well, actually, sluicifer
did really well, too.







Finally, we beat them.

Yeah, that's awesome.

So, for the week,
it's 629 and a half ounces

And our season total is


Not bad. Holy smokes.

That's one of the bigger
cleanups big red had.

You know, that's
a heck of a good week, parker.

Really good.

Narrator: 629 ounces
is worth $1.1 million.

Parker is well on his way
to a record-breaking season

And building the w*r chest
he needs to buy new ground.

Sweet. That's not a bad place
to be right now.

Narrator: on the next
"gold rush"...

It's load a free dirt.
All we got to do is pick it up.

You see that wooden thing there?

That is the sluice box.

They did that 80 years ago, so I
think it'd be one adventure.

Oh [bleep]

Whoo! That just about scared
the [bleep] out of me.

Shut it down!

♪♪

- Watch your fingers.
- Trying to do all this

With two people,
it's pretty ridiculous.

- Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
- Holy [bleep]

It should be the usual [bleep]

Man:
whoa! Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!