13x10 - Hunt for Alaskan Gold

[bunniefuu]

[Woman] {\an8}Oh,[Bleep] {\an8}me.

Parker has pulled me off
a loader.

He really needs help
organizing this Alaskan trip.

In true Parker style, he's left
all of this to the very last minute.

He's super busy here. Like, this
operation alone is so much going on,

there's so much dirt to move
out there.

We were understaffed
and yeah, it's just chaotic.

So, I can understand. It's clearly
fallen to the back of his mind.

But yeah, it can't keep falling by the
wayside, because there is a lot to do,

and zero time.

I hate being in this
situation but...

...seems like I constantly find
myself in this kind of situation.

[Narrator] {\an8}Ten weeks into
the season,

{\an8}it's crunch time for


{\an8}He's stripped over half the
massive 90-acre airstrip...

{\an8}...and is now mobilizing
his new Alaskan operation.

Well, everything for Alaska's
starting to come together,

except kind of the main
component, the wash plant.

{\an8}We ordered one
when we were in New Zealand.

But then, a little after that,

I changed wet screens before
putting it in,

because I wanted them
the same as our other plants.

And caused it to be
fairly late.

Later than we anticipated
or wanted.

This Alaskan project is,
you know, important for us

down the road for
our future and...

we gotta find a wash plant.

So, we'll go out and see
what we can find.

And if we can find something that works for
us, and works for the owner, then, um...

...could be in business.

Or... not.

[Narrator] {\an8}Parker needs to be
mining in Alaska this season,

{\an8}or risk losing a 100 ounce,
$180,000 down payment.

- Hey, Tyson.
- How's it going, guys?

So, Mitch and I are heading
over to Alaska.

- [Tyson] Okay.
- [Parker] Just for a couple of days.

You know, Parker gone, myself
gone, that's gonna leave you

- to wrangle the reins there.
- [Tyson chuckles]

- Or crack the whip or whatever you wanna do, but...
- [chuckling] Yeah.

...we gotta keep the dirt
flying, right?

Well, I hope you guys find
what you're looking for in Alaska,

and get some boots
on the ground.

- And get a game plan together for...
- We'll be fine.

- You're the one I'm worried about.
- [all chuckle]

Well, hopefully, you can keep
the rubber side down, Tyson.

Yeah, I'll do my best.

- All right, I'll meet you down the airstrip? All right.
- [Mitch] Sounds good, man.

All right. Let's get the hell
out of here.

I'm hoping I can prove to
Mitch and Parker that

I can have this under control,
and they can go off to Alaska

{\an8}and get things squared
away there.

{\an8}Potentially, secure a future
for the mine.

'Cause we're running out
of ground in the Yukon.

My visa's come through...

...for The States.

So I'm excited to go
to Alaska.

But I just, yeah, I don't know
about leaving here.

They just need as many people
as possible.

It goes forward
and backwards, amazing!

Bad spot.

Like, hang on. I got myself
into a pickle.

[Narrator] {\an8}Stand-in foreman,
Tyson Lee

{\an8}needs to keep Sluicifer and
Big Red running side-by-side...

{\an8}...and hit a target of


{\an8}$800,000 of gold,

{\an8}by the end of the week.

It's all hands on deck,
you know, I mean...

Poor Tyson. He's got his hands full
running this whole operation by himself.

And we're falling behind
on everything.

So I told him I'll help him out
whenever and wherever I can.

{\an8}I don't know if I'm doing any good,
but I know I'm not doing any damage.

Oh, sh**t. [Laughs]

I think I just piled all that
dirt where I gotta dig a ditch.

[laughs]

Yeah, I got here
at the start of May.

{\an8}Uh, it's been fun.
Never run equipment before.

[Narrator] {\an8}New hire
Jacob McClure

{\an8}is clearing discarded tailings
for both plants.

{\an8}And keeping an eye out
for any problems.

[Jacob] {\an8}Yeah, it's definitely
not the easiest thing

{\an8}to keep up with
the tailings right now.

[Humming]

[Tyson] Oh, [Bleep].

Shut it off!

[Plant whirs to a stop]

[Tyson] Wanna grab
the pry bar and a shovel?

Oh, the pre-wash
jammed up on us.

So, just gotta get 'er
cleared out.

[Narrator] {\an8}Big Red's pay dirt conveyor
has overloaded the shaker deck.

{\an8}Unwashed rocks are overflowing
into the distribution box below,

{\an8}blocking the sluices.

{\an8}The only way to clear it is
to shut down the shaker deck,

{\an8}and remove
the blockage manually.

Good thing I was close.

But just gotta get her
freed up...

...and back
to washing her off.

Wanna pass me that shovel?

[Narrator] {\an8}Tyson is off
to a bad start.

{\an8}Every hour that Big Red
is not washing pay dirt

{\an8}costs almost $4,000 in lost
gold production.

- [Tyson] Wanna close the main?
- Close the main.

You know, this just goes to show how
much [Bleep] is going on around here.

The day-to-day basis is...

It's a lot for one guy
to keep his eyes on.

How do our screen decks look,
Alex?

Yeah, no, it's still
all there.

We should be back up
and running here momentarily.

Just gotta clear out all this
debris so this thing sits flush.

- [Jason] Yeah, how much do you want the main open?
- All the way.

And this should be pretty
good to go.

I'm gonna get back to
what I was doing and...

- ...you can get back to feeding the beast.
- [Jason] Sweet.

[Tyson] Everyone clear?

[Motor starts]

[Tyson] There's just a lot
of [Bleep] going on.

I came over to take a look at
Big Red, and good thing we did,

'cause it piled up pretty much
as we got here, so...

{\an8}...we got her cleared out,
got her back running.

It's time to get back to work.

[Man] Well, right now we're
loading and washing the excess clay

We got a long way to go yet.

But we're making good progress
and couldn't be happier.

[Narrator] {\an8}Deep in
the Yukon wilderness,

{\an8}the Clayton brothers are
desperately trying

{\an8}to turn their family
fortunes around

{\an8}by hitting it big gold mining.

We gotta have good cleanups
to keep going

because we're using the gold
we find

to buy more fuel.

So, if we have [Bleep] clean up,
then, we're basically in a tough spot.

[Narrator] {\an8}Short on cash, the Claytons
plan to mine hotspots along the creek,

{\an8}creating a pay-as-you-go
road to Golden Acres,

{\an8}ground they hope will deliver
their 500-ounce season gold.

This is a booster seat.

It is... I think it's just
memory foam in a pillow case.

But it does work for
short people like me.

See? Makes me
nice and boosted.

I can see now.

[Narrator] {\an8}The brothers'


{\an8}trucks pay from Brandon
at the S-bend cut,

{\an8}a third of a mile down
the creek road,

{\an8}to where Brady is feeding pay
into their wash plant, Dirt Devil.

[Janae] It's definitely
stressful being up here,

just having to make money

to keep things running and
keep things running at home.

My whole family works
really hard.

[Narrator] {\an8}The Clayton family
are living on a knife edge.

{\an8}Ten weeks into the season,

{\an8}they've mined just under


{\an8}They now need ten ounces
every week

{\an8}to keep their gold mining
dream alive.

If we don't get ten ounces,
we're done.

Which, that's not good.

{\an8}We need to keep things running
to keep things running at home.

[Narrator] {\an8}To speed
up production,

{\an8}they've just taken delivery
for an old 336 excavator

{\an8}from their family
construction business.

[Brady] We wanna wipe that 500 ounce season
gold right off the face of this planet.

We'll have that trommel down to
Golden Acres before we know it.

It's kind of full speed
ahead now.

We're up and running now.

{\an8}So far so good.

[Crane powering down]

Why the [Bleep]
am I losing power?

What the [Bleep]?

[Bleep]

Uh, Bran, you got a copy?

[Brandon] Yeah, Brady.
Go ahead.

[Brady on radio] {\an8}Yeah, the 336 is down.
There's something wrong with the engine.

[Janae] What are you doing?

Well, I noticed it
started bogging.

No power, and then I spun,

and noticed all the black
smoke coming out of the exhaust.

[Narrator] {\an8}At California creek,
the Claytons are at a standstill.

- [Janae] Need help?
- Um, you wanna grab me a hammer?

[Narrator] {\an8}After being on site
for only two days,

{\an8}their second excavator
is down.

Willing to bet my life
it's a turbo.

Which is...

...[Bleep] news because
they're not cheap.

They're not fun to put in
and it just means down time. So...

[narrator] {\an8}The turbo uses
high pressure exhaust gases

{\an8}to send compressed air
into the engine cylinders.

{\an8}Without it, the excavator
is dead.

It just sucks that this had
to happen up here,

where we're not a hop, skip and
a jump away from a parts store,

we're more of a week away.

Well, pipe's off.

- I don't know anything about turbo repairs.
- [Brady chuckles]

Well, the turbo ain't working.
It doesn't spool.

We'll just wait till
Brandon comes back.

- [Janae] Okay.
- [Brady] 'Cause he's [Bleep].

What a happy camper he'll be.

I think the turbo's [Bleep].

Let's have a look.

[Brady] It does wiggle up
and down a tad, like, the bolt.

[Brandon] Well, a tad is okay.

[Brady] It doesn't slide.

[Brandon] Can you put your
hand in that way,

and see if it spins one way,

and I'll see if it spins
on this side?

This should just spin freely.

Is it turning there or no?

[Brady] No, it's not moving.

[Brandon sighs] [Bleep]

I don't [Bleep] know what
it means.

It means that we're waiting and our
extra hull was supposed to help us out.

But now, we're just back
to square one.

[Narrator] {\an8}The Claytons are now
down to just one working excavator.

{\an8}But it's up the creek,
digging pay.

[Brandon] Hey, Brady,
I got a plan.

[Brady] Yeah? About what?

[Brandon] We're gonna put
the 349 on double duty.

Loading a rock truck
and feeding the plant.

So, you want this thing walking
a kilometer back and forth?

- When it only does three miles an hour?
- Yeah, well...

I don't know what else to do.
You got another plan?

No, but I'm just saying like,
that's gonna be hard on the rails...

[Brandon] Yeah, it's not
gonna be easy.

But we'll all go load some
trucks and let's, uh...

- ...start hauling.
- Yeah, okay.

[Narrator] {\an8}Brandon's plan?

{\an8}Use the excavator at the
S-bend to stockpile pay dirt.

{\an8}Then, walk it a third of
a mile upstream

{\an8}and use it to feed Dirt Devil.

Plan's to do double duty.

Um, it's our only option.

It's just gonna put a lot
of wear and tear on the 349.

But it is what it is,

and it's hopefully
gonna pay off.

So, Megan, are you
cooking up there yet?

Hey, Ruby. Oh, yes.

Freaking hot today.
How you doing over there?

Yeah, I had a little cloud
cover there for a minute.

And I like, jumped for joy
in my seat.

[laughs] [on radio] {\an8}Did you
actually jump, though?

[Ruby on radio] {\an8}I did a very
excellent seat dance.

[Megan laughs] That's awesome.

[Narrator] {\an8}The Beets crew is running
pay dirt from two of the deepest cuts

{\an8}ever mined at Paradise Hill:

{\an8}The Blue Cut and the Cold Cut.

[Narrator] {\an8}Nearly halfway
through the season,

{\an8}Tony Beets has mined


{\an8}less than a fifth of
his season goal.

[Narrator] {\an8}To make up
for lost time,

{\an8}the crew are stockpiling
a recently thawed pay layer

{\an8}and running the trommel
at max speed.

[Ruby] {\an8}We try to get out as
much pay as quickly as possible.

{\an8}It's just, you know,
a constant race against time.

{\an8}And, you know, this trommel
chews through at least,

{\an8}I would say,


Oh, [Bleep].

No, no, no!

[Powering down]

Kevin, do you copy? Kevin?

I need you over here
at the plant.

I looked over at the valves
and there's a huge tear.

So, we have a piece of the belt
here that got caught and ripped

from all the way over there,
about 15 feet.

Pretty much all we can do
with a fix like this.

You can't really patch it.

I mean, a waste
of [Bleep] time, so...

And we don't have a belt
to switch out with this one.

So, like, we got one option.

[Motor whirring]

The belt has tracked
over a lot.

Like, it's really running on
that side.

And that's probably why
something got caught.

[Kevin] I think I pretty much got
everything trimmed that I need to.

[Grunts]

Okay. Away with you.

Ah, all right.
Now, I'll run the belt,

get the adjustment
back to normal,

go from there.

Ruby's gonna fire it up,
get the ball turning.

We're just gonna see how
it tracks this way, that way.

Make some adjustments
in the back.

I need to adjust my belt
a [Bleep] hair and a half.

Chunky [Bleep].

So, we fixed the rip in the
belt but she's still tracking over.

That's probably 'cause we got
some [Bleep] roller.

This is not good.

So, not only our roller
is [Bleep],

but our impact bed is as well.

[Narrator] {\an8}Where the hopper
feeder meets the conveyor,

{\an8}a steel and rubber impact bed
absorbs the impact force

{\an8}of large rocks
as they hit the belt.

{\an8}But hard running has worn away
the shock absorbing rubber,

{\an8}allowing the full force
of rocks to hit the belt,

{\an8}damaging the rollers,

{\an8}causing the belt to track over
and rip.

Yeah, as you can see...

...she's worn down to
the heart of plastic.

Can't [Bleep] of the belts.

So, the impact bed's
got some wear and tear in it.

It's time to replace it.

It's gonna mean a shutdown,

but if we don't
replace it now,

it's gonna [Bleep]
something up.

And then we're gonna have to
do a lot more [Bleep] work.

[Whistling]

I got two out already,
you can see.

Well, no. No.

[Kevin] Mm-hm. I know. I know.

Yeah.

[Grunting] All right.

- Here it is.
- Hello.

We're gonna need some
replacement parts.

[Faith Teng] Could you ship it
to me ASAP?

Yeah, if that's the fastest,
then that's the fastest.

Okay. All right. Thanks.

Bye.

- All right.
- What's the word?

Um, so he says the fastest he
can get here is three to four days.

[Kevin] Holy [Bleep].

Yeah.

[Narrator] {\an8}With their only
working wash plant now down,

{\an8}a four-day delay due to
the supply chain crisis

{\an8}could cost the Beets a quarter
of a million dollars.

[Sighs] Because we didn't
have parts on site.

This is why I keep trying
to get Tony to have stuff

ready on site.

It does put a lot of
extra pressure on me

when we're just waiting
on parts.

'Cause, you know, half
the time, it ain't [Bleep] fix it,

it's having the [Bleep]
to fix it.

When I come down Gold Stream,
what turn... What left turn do I make?

[Narrator] {\an8}After a 300 mile
flight to Fairbanks,

{\an8}Parker and Mitch are on a
hunt for a turnkey wash plant

{\an8}and are chasing their
only lead.

I don't like renting wash
plants, or borrowing wash plants.

They just, they take a beating
and they take a lot of maintenance,

and it's never worked out well when
I've seen them get leased to other people.

Yeah.

There's a wash plant.

Mmm-hmm.

At least it's not a trommel.

- Hi, Wayne.
- Hey, Parker.

[Narrator] {\an8}Local miner Wayne
Peppler has just finished reconditioning

{\an8}this 150-yard-an-hour
shaker deck.

So, I hear you're interested in
a wash plant, or looking for one.

Yeah, so we ordered one
that's being built now,

but it's gonna be, like,
super late.

- [Wayne] Mm-hm.
- Like, hopefully ends up before the season's over.

But because of that,
we're looking for something

that's gonna be
a stop-gap for us.

Yeah, well, here she is.

We can go through it and look
at it and see what you think. And...

Sweet, yeah.
Let's check it out.

We're running inch and a half,
half inch on Big Red,

it works really good.

This looks like one inch
top panels, here.

[Parker grunting]

[Narrator] {\an8}Parker must decide if it's
worth gambling his Alaskan season

{\an8}on this untested wash plant.

[Parker] Uh...

I'm gonna check it out in
the mouth, here. [Grunting]

Framework up top looks good.

Plant's in really good shape.

- [Parker] Yeah, it hasn't seen much dirt.
- No.

[Wayne] Parker,
you found the trap door?

- [Parker] Yeah.
- [Wayne laughs]

So, I re-drilled all
the hydraulic refills.

I cleaned them out,
I blew them out.

We've tried to make it work
with hydraulic refills before

but it's just always been...

- [Wayne] Problematic?
- Just a million things could go wrong, you know?

Could probably use some
fine tuning.

And we definitely have to
probably change a few things.

Are you planning on
using this plant this year?

- [Wayne] No. No.
- Gotcha.

I have family.
A five-year old.

Remodeling a house.

So, I guess the big
question then is,

what your interests are
in terms of,

do you wanna like,
lease it out to us...

Like, are you interested in
leasing it out to us,

or are you looking at
selling it, or what's your...

I think I'd be interested in
leasing it.

What's uh...
What's this thing going for?

Is it a monthly plan,
a weekly? How do you rent it?

Uh, by the yard? What's the...

[all laugh] - By the
yard? I like by the yard.

Well, it just has to be real, real
cheap if it's by the yard, right?

Like, what's your thoughts?

You're not gonna use the
plant enough to really wear it out.

You're just gonna use it to,
you know, buy you some time.

And it's gonna work out
the bugs for me,

it's not gonna wear out
the plant.

Ultimately, it's a win-win.

Yeah, and we would
probably need the plant for...

...six weeks, I would guess?

You can use it as long
as you want.

You know, maybe even
the next year.

Okay. The last time
we rented a plant,

you know, I think we paid like,


And I'm sure that we can find
somewhere, you know, in that range,

or hoping.

[Wayne] Well, whatever
you need.

You know, I think we're probably
gonna come to a good solution. So...

- Something that works for everybody.
- [Wayne] Mm-hm.

[Parker] All right, well,
I'll get back with Mitch,

and we'll have a chat
with each other about like,

what we're thinking
and what's going on.

[Mitch] Mm-hm.

Well, I mean, I really wish that the
plant you'd ordered was here and ready.

- Yeah.
- 'Cause renting something kind of just feels like

- wasting money. I don't know, like...
- I know.

- I think it's a pretty good looking plant.
- Yeah.

I would think that Wayne would be
pretty reasonable when it comes to price,

it sounds like.

Like, I don't think he's expecting
us to be like, some, like...

...walk off into the sunset
with a duffel bag full of cash,

- 'cause he got you and I to agree to some stupid...
- [laughing]

All in all, I mean, I think it's, you
know, probably work out for everybody,

'cause we can make some
improvements on that thing

- and make it a lot better than what it is.
- Yeah.

He'll have a proven wash plant
that's been out washing rocks.

Yeah, and hopefully we'll have
a bunch of gold in our pocket.

[Mitch] Yeah, and I mean, you know
that any time you fire something up,

you're gonna have to work
some bugs out of it. Right?

- All right, well this is a good option for us.
- All right. Sounds good.

[Narrator] {\an8}Wash plant secured,

{\an8}Parker is now one stop closer
to mining in Alaska.

[Parker] All right. Sweet.

Has it got a name?

Not yet. I figured I'll let
you guys do that.

You're gonna be
the first ones running it.

- So, um...
- Oh, yeah.

Dude, what do you think?
I mean, it's long and red. Like...

- It's like Red Rocket here.
- [laughs]

I mean, I don't know. We'll come
up with something good, but...

First thing comes to mind.

[Brandon] You know, the plant's
been down for two days now.

The 349 down there
loading trucks.

We're unable to wash.

We're losing valuable
sluice time but...

There's no other option. If we
wanna get to 500 ounces this season,

we gotta try and keep washing.

[Narrator] {\an8}The Clayton brothers are
battling to keep their mining season alive.

{\an8}Down to just one excavator,

{\an8}20-year old Brady has been
digging pay dirt for two days.

[Brady] {\an8}We were thinking, We
finally got the other excavator up here,

{\an8}we're actually gonna be
getting ahead,

{\an8}and not falling behind like
we have been.

{\an8}But no. It just kicked us
right in the[Bleep] {\an8}teeth again.

Here we go.

[Narrator] {\an8}Sister Janae trucks
the pay dirt from Brady to the plant

{\an8}to build up a pay pile.

It is what it is.

Making money.

Hey, Brady, you could
probably bring that 349 up.

We have a good chunk
of pay here.

We might as well start
running now.

Okay, sounds good.
I'll be right there.

[On radio] {\an8}Good. I'll start
walking up now.

Okay.

[Narrator] {\an8}Brady must walk the
excavator a painful three miles per hour

{\an8}back to the wash plant

{\an8}and start loading pay as they
chase a ten ounce weekly goal.

Finally running dirt. I mean,
we've been piling up for a while.

And Brandon just gave me
the go-ahead to

drive back up there and start
feeding Dirt Devil.

[Brandon] I will get
the plant warmed up.

[Engine switches on]

There she goes!

- Oh...
- Oh, what the [Bleep] is going on with the hull?

What?

[Bleeping]

Hey...

- Oh...
- Oh, what the [Bleep] is going on with the hull?

- What?
- [bleeping] Hey!

Hey! Are you overheating?
Hey, are you overheating?

Oh, you're blowing something
out there.

Just swing to me
so I can get up there.

You're blowing antifreeze
or something.

No, no, no, like,
the other way.

Must've blew a line.

Warren, shut the drum off.

- Is that coolant?
- Yeah.

k*ll it.

Oh, yeah. It's the hose.

[Machine stops]

[Narrator] {\an8}The Clayton brothers are
up the creek without an excavator.

{\an8}If they can't fix it,
their season could be over.

[Brandon] We just noticed some
mist in the air.

And the main coolant line
on the hull here broke.

This is a vital, vital component
of the cooling system. So...

Yeah, when this blows, doesn't
take long for the motor to overheat,

and possibly blow,

So, I'm so glad we caught it
when we did.

We're gonna have to take
that line off the 336.

- [Warren] Is it the same size?
- Yeah. [Coughs]

Oh.

[Narrator] {\an8}Their only option
to save their season

{\an8}is to cannibalize
the coolant hose

{\an8}from their other broken
down excavator.

Brandon and Warren up there, they're gonna
take the main coolant line off of this thing

and then we're gonna go to
the 349, put all the parts in there.

Luckily,
they're interchangeable.

- [Warren] One side off.
- [Brady] Yeah, okay. You should be good then.

You know, I was
a little scared. I mean,

if this thing goes down,
then we truly are [Bleep].

And we got lucky it was just
a blown hose.

- And we even got luckier that it was...
- Matched with 336?

Yeah, that it matched
with 336. So...

Okay, let's go fire it up
and see if she leaks.

- [Brady] Ready?
- Yeah.

Clear.

Guys, good to go.

Rod cap can go on.
Pass me that.

- Doesn't look like it's leaking.
- No, sir!

- Looks good.
- Okay, well let's go haul some pay.

Hell, yeah.

You know, that was a
[Bleep] close one.

We caught it just before
it overheated.

{\an8}And luckily, the 336 has
the same hose.

It couldn't have gone
any smoother actually.

{\an8}Great day.

We're gonna use the crane
to lift the belt up.

Gives us a bit more play when
we're trying to slide in these frames.

[Narrator] {\an8}After four
days' downtime,

{\an8}the new impact bed and rollers
for the Beets' conveyor belt

{\an8}have finally arrived.

Ah! Up we go. Pull!

Now to change these rollers,
throw in the new ones.

Hopefully, we should be
ready to roll shortly.

[Kevin on radio] {\an8}Go for Kevin.

[Kevin] {\an8}Tony has always been
somewhat of a control freak.

{\an8}He likes to be in charge.
He likes to micromanage.

{\an8}That has not changed.

It'd be a little bit of more... hands
off approach would be appreciated.

But, old dogs, new tricks.

Sometimes it takes a while.

[Drilling]

[Grunts]

[Kevin] So, now...

...gonna yank up
the frames...

...bolt those in place,

stick the rollers back in,
let the belt down.

Now we just have to put
the rollers in.

Yep.

Well, it's looking good.

It's looking good.

Okay, and that's the last
one in.

We just have to tighten
the bolts and bear down.

Get the [Bleep] rolling.

[Narrator] {\an8}Rollers in.

{\an8}Now for the shock absorbing
impact bed.

Got most of them in already.
Just a few more to go.

And then, we get the [Bleep]
sluicing again.

[Grunts]

Beautiful.

Well, we're down...

We're down quite a few days waiting
on the, uh, new ones to come in.

Which is a shame. That is a
lot of ounces we did not catch,

just 'cause we
weren't running.

Yo!

I just got the last one in.
Went pretty slick.

They're really, relatively, pretty
easy to take in and out. So...

Very nice.

Sounds good.

[Engine starts]

Perfect. Okay!

Miss Ruby, Miss Ruby?

- [Ruby on radio] {\an8}Go ahead.
- Ready to rock and roll?

[Ruby] {\an8}I'm ready whenever
you are.

Okay, let's do this thing.

See a conveyor.

Damn, let's go.

[Narrator] {\an8}Back up and
running, the pressure is on.

{\an8}To make up for lost time, Tony
needs his cuts to deliver big gold.

It is necessary for us to keep up with
maintenance and keep everything going.

But being down, we are just
hemorrhaging money.

We got a short season
to sluice.

But hopefully, that maintenance
lets us go even longer.

Hello.

Hey, baby. Can you pound it?

Where's Uncle's nose?
Where's his nose?

- Ooh, there you go. Say bye!
- Pow! Bye bye!

- Yeah, there you go.
- [Kevin laughs]

Perfect.

Here's the old girl
that's for sale.

D9.

Let's check it out.

They want $150,000
for this thing.

Looks like its spent
some time by the ocean.

- Or a fire.
- [Mitch laughs]

- [motor starts]
- [Parker] Come on, baby.

So, right now, Parker's pushing
some dirt here with this old CAT.

There's lots of things on a
machine like this that can go wrong.

You don't wanna buy yourself
a problem.

Dude, this thing
[Bleep] wails!

Okay, well, we have
a bulldozer.

Not the one we want. [Laughing]
But the one that chose us.

Dude, you got so many
different bulldozers.

Do you need this to
complete the collection?

We're playing Bingo.

In the game of Bulldozer Bingo
we're missing the D9.

And then, when you get
them all, you just go, "Dozer!"

- Like, "We got 'em!"
- [laughing]

- [Minnie] Hi, guys.
- Hello!

Hello!

Uh...

Must be nice.

- Whenever I bring it, I have to get it myself.
- I know.

I actually noticed that
as well.

But I was like,
I wasn't gonna say anything.

[All laughing]

[Narrator] {\an8}The Beets family
have been down nearly four days

{\an8}waiting for spare parts
for their trommel.

[Faith] Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Baby babbles]

- [Monica] Yeah.
- [laughing]

[All laugh]

[Monica] And commenting.

What do you think, honey?
Should we weigh up some gold?

- [Baby] Mm.
- "Mm." Yeah.

[All laugh]

[Narrator] {\an8}To hit his


{\an8}Tony needs over 300 ounces
a week.

[Monica] 10, 20, 30,









[Narrator] {\an8}Worth:
Over $290,000.

That takes us over
the 1,000 ounces.

But that's still 4,000 ounces
away from the goal.

It's a long ways away
so, we've got to step it up.

You know, I just finished
cleaning the gold.

We need ten ounces
to keep going.

And I've seen a lot
of cleanups in my day

and this one's gonna be
pretty [Bleep] close.

So, we'll see what the scale
has to say.

- Hey, guys.
- Hey.

[Brandon] Here's the gold
weigh for the week.

- [Brady] Kind of a tough week, eh?
- Yeah, I know.

It was a really tough week. I
mean, we fought with breakdowns.



I never suspected the 336
would be an organ donor.

[Scoffs] I mean, we had it
for what, five days?

Uh, two.

- Two days it was?
- Yeah.

Holy [Bleep]. I thought it was
longer than that.

[Bleep] me.

All in all, I think we had
a pretty tough week.

So, I think we should...

We need to see ten ounces
if we wanna keep going.

And, uh, we don't get ten
ounces, I don't know what to say.

Might just have to
pack up and go home.

But we only ran for two days, so it's gonna
be a pretty nip and tuck clean out, for sure.

So, guys, well, I think
we should weigh 'er out.

Yeah, I agree.

[Brandon] See what we got.

- [Sigh] it's the moment of truth, guys.
- Here we go.

One, two, three, four...

five, six, seven...

eight, nine...



[Narrator] {\an8}Worth:
Over $18,000.

Holy [Bleep], man. [Bleep]
That's close, man.

- [Janae] Oh, yeah.
- Yeah. [Bleep] man.

You know what, guys?
It's a low number.

It's right on the borderline.

But we gotta remember,
we only ran two days.

So, that was pretty
[Bleep] good for two days.

- Yeah.
- Look at what we've fought, fought with all week.

- And we still got ten ounces.
- Yeah.

Can you imagine if we could
stay running all week?

It'd be at least double.

Only running two days
of the Aspen,

and doing double duty
with that,

I mean, the Aspen could
pay off.


absolutely tangible.

Well, guys, good job.
We survived another week.

- Yeah. Yeah, let's get her done.
- Sounds good.

I'm happy with that gold weigh.
We got the numbers that we needed

to get to next week.

And the gold mining
season continues.

So, T, you had a little
excitement this week, huh?

Yeah, it was pretty busy, trying to keep
two wash plants going in the Bear Cut.

And Big Red, uh, had
a little mishap.

- Forgetting the tailings?
- Forgetting to do the course tailings,

and it piled up into the...

- Hey, hey.
- Hey. Hey, hey.

- [Tyson] What up?
- How you doing, man?

[Narrator] {\an8}Parker and Mitch
are back from Alaska.

How you doing, Mitch?

[Narrator] {\an8}Just in time to see
if Tyson has proven himself

{\an8}as a stand-in foreman.

- How was Alaska?
- It was good.

- Yeah.
- [Tyson] Guys get some stuff figured out on the wash plant?

- Yeah.
- We found us a wash plant.

- I think so.
- Really?

- Yeah.
- What kind?

Oh, it's just a nice,
little screen.

- [Tyson] Yeah, screen deck?
- Yeah.

- Well, that's a major hurdle right there, huh?
- [Mitch] Oh, for sure.

[Chris] Well, it wasn't too disastrous
here while you guys were gone.

I know, I was going to say,
how'd things go?

[Chris] We had a fairly
good week. You wanna see?

[Parker] Yeah,
let's check it out.

Let's do it.

- [Parker] Which one is Red?
- Uh, the silver.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry, Tyson, I'm taking
your job.

[Tyson] You can have 'er.

[Narrator] {\an8}Tyson is chasing
a 450-ounce gold.

So, we got 10, 20, 30, 60...





- 200, baby.
- [Chris] 160, 180, two hundy.

- Go ahead, Mitch.
- 251.9!

- Oh, yeah.
- Yeah, huh?

- Your baby's runnin', huh?
- All right. I like it.

- Oh, come on.
- Your baby's running.

Big Red did it.



- This is Sluicifer.
- Come on, come on.

- We have a 500 ounce bet.
- [Mitch] All right.

- All right. 20, 50, 100.
- [Parker] Come on.









[Parker] So, where are we at
for the week?

This week,
we have 575.45 ounces.

[Narrator] {\an8}Worth: Over
$1 million.

- Yeah, well done.
- Is that the best cleanup of the season so far?

We'll do it again.

- Whoa!
- T, that's your baby, buddy.

- That was nice.
- Well done, man. Well done.

- Good job, Chris.
- Yeah.

Well, thank you.

- Very nice, dude. Very nice.
- Let's leave.

- [laughs]
- All right.

Let's go look at wash... We
can buy that wash plant now.

We don't need to be
here, obviously.

For the season,
it's 2,928 ounces.

Well, man, to think that
between last week and this week,

- 1,000 ounces.
- Yeah.

That's pretty sweet. If we can keep that
rate going, we'll be looking good. But...

...now, the biggest thing is just
keeping dirt ahead of these things.

When you look at the area we're getting
through in a week with those two plants,

at the yardage they're at,
we're just like...

I mean, roughly, like, 10,000
yards in 24 hours, right?

[Scoffs] We're sluicing it
pretty quick.

Just so you guys know, I'm gonna
start spending a lot more time in Alaska,

um, 'cause I gotta get
that ball rolling.

I don't know what
my time split's gonna be.

It's impossible to say.

But, um, you guys have this
under control.

What do you want me to do?

'Cause I know at the start
of the year, you talked about

me going over there and
helping you with that, man.

As much as we still got
ahead of us here,

I think we got a lot
to deal with.

I don't want to spread
you guys too thin.

And I think that you spending
any more time away from here

would do that,
don't you think?

Definitely.

Well, we'll just focus
on this.

I mean, our goal for the season's
to get through all the ground.

And we're making headway on
it, the gold is starting to come in,

so, hopefully, we can keep
that up.

See where we land.

All right. Let's go eat
some dinner.

- Let's do it, man.
- You guys got it under control.

- Thanks guys.
- Later!

- You got this?
- Yep. I got her.

I love a parade.

- You need a hand?
- No, I got it.

No, I'm all good. Yeah.
Good to see gold coming in.

[Chris] It's gonna be hard
to maintain that.

But we pretty much have to.

You know, just keep
those two plants running.

And so,
this is the breadwinner.

We need to get
this ground done.

We know it's producing gold.

Alaska might be hit and miss.

You know, let him throw
the dice. We'll work.