14x04 - Free Agent

[bunniefuu]

Right now we're
working at the money pit.

This is some deep
ground here, about double

from what we were working
last year on the Indian river.

Parker is gonna be
spending a lot of money

before we ever get an
ounce of gold out of here.

Yeah, man. Well, I can't imagine

the pressure he's
under, you know,

going from having all
that money in the bank

to next day having
a big 'ol debt

and long time till we
start seeing any gold

to help pay it off.

You know, going broke has to
be in the back of all of our minds.

Parker schnabel
is risking everything

to build an empire
in the klondike.

At just 28-years-old,

he's leveraged
everything he has to buy

the $15 million
dominion creek claim.

It has been an outrageously
expensive spring

but that is an understatement.

We've already spent more
this year than we've ever spent

in this season,

and we haven't
even started really.

If Parker's spending
spree puts him

on the gold, dominion
could pay out big,

up to 80,000 ounces,
worth $160 million.

Looks like a really good
block of ground, but,

you know, it's a bit of a beast.

A month into the season,

Parker's facing the most
critical time for a miner.

He's spending hundreds
of thousands each week

to strip down to the pay layer,

but no money is coming in.

At this pace,

he could go broke
in just six weeks.

And probably still like


it looks like.

And that means there's 10 feet to
thaw, and a foot a week is 10 weeks.

Two and a half months and
we'll be able to sluice here.

It's just super frustrating
having this much ground

and so much gold in it,

and for the problems we're
facing right now financially,

it may as well
just not even exist.

But it's like...

Yeah, I think the only
way we can kinda...

Get over this hump
is to get a plant going,

we're gonna make it
sluice a bunch of tailings

and see if there's
any gold in it.

Parker's dominion creek
claim includes a slew

of old cuts worked
by old timers,

going all the way back
to the gold rush of 1896.

Their mining equipment
was less efficient

at cleaning
pay-dirt, leaving lots

of gold behind in
the waste tailings.

Right there is fine.

Parker has found old
tailings near gold run creek

that he thinks could bring
in some quick money.

That is gold run, which
was a super-rich creek.

And where it
dumped into dominion,

I'm guessing was, you
know, in this area right here.

I think there's gonna be a
bunch of gold in the tailings.

If there is, it's great
because there's no stripping,

they're thawed and we
need to get some money

coming in because we're
gonna be broke very soon.

Parker is going
to run a test yard

of tailings through
a mini trommel

to see if there's enough gold.

So if we run a
yard, we need to get



Forty buckets?

Forty buckets.

Is that bucket seven?

There's seven.

Holy cow.

We're flying.

So, all these tailings
were mined in the '80s

- with an old push box.
- Really?

You weren't even born
in the '80s, were you?

And you were only like 65.

Yeah.

Is that 39?

Thirty-nine.

- One more?
- One more after this.

- Last one?
- Last one.

Last one.

See anything in there?

It'll probably be
tiny, whatever it is.

Well, we'll get it back
and go through it?

Yeah.

Do it properly.

We're gonna go pan
her down, weigh it up,

see what we've got.

I bet its 240 milligrams.

I'll go 190.



Shot of whiskey, 226, 240, 190.



I'm always a positive guy.

So 300 would be ideal

but, you know, beggars
can't be choosers.

To make it worth sluicing,

Parker needs the one yard test

to deliver at least




That means it sucks.

All right.

Old baggie?

Are they in here?

Yeah, just a few in there.

Its so annoying.

Overall, it's very lean.

Um, I've gotta talk
to the guys about it

and figure out what
we're gonna do.


king of the klondike,

Tony beets has the
same problem as Parker,

no gold coming in.

After three weeks
stripping at paradise hill,

Tony put that operation on hold

and is returning to
his Indian river claims

for a quick score.

The ground is some of
the best Tony's ever mined,

bringing in more
than $13 million

with more sitting
right on the surface.

Without needing
to strip the ground,

Tony is also saving hundreds
of thousands of dollars.

Before he can take advantage

of these near
perfect conditions,

Tony first needs to
get his gear to the cuts.

We seem to be missing something.

Yeah.

No one was here to keep
an eye on anything either.

Yeah.

Well, it would've been nice.

Tony's pre-stripped
cuts lie on the other side

of a small creek that
runs through his claim,

but the bridge across
it has collapsed.

Tony's plan, remove
the old broken bridge,

then bring in a


and cover it with
tailings to build up a road

across the creek and
allow his equipment

to access the cuts.

A good road is worth
its weight in gold.

They'll save time, money, and
just generally a big headache.

No road, no gold.

I know, but once it start
walking back, it's gonna jerk.

You're doing a jig over there?

The flow of the
creek is increasing

due to melting snow.

The clock is ticking
to get the culvert in.

Yeah.

To optimize water
flow under the road,

the 20 foot by 6 foot culvert

must lie in the
center of the creek.

I need to fill this
in 'cause otherwise,

that water is gonna
wash away the culvert.

To stop the water
washing away the culvert,

Mike races to build up the
road and secure it in place.

So you wanna get there and
quick 'cause the longer you wait,

the more work you
have to do to fix it.

And if you wait too long,

you have to start literally

from the beginning again.

Well, work you piece of.

Yeah.

Now I'm drenched.

To access his
cuts at Indian river,

Tony beets is racing

to build a road across a creek

before melt water
washes the culvert away.

Using waste material
from the rock trucks,

Mike builds up the
road around the culvert.

This will give me enough dirt

so that we have a two-Lane
road here once again.

- Hey, Morgan, you got a copy?
- Yeah, go ahead, Rick.

How low is that
pay pile getting us?

It's getting pretty bad, right?

Yeah, I'm getting pretty low.

That second pile to you
right way over by the other...

By the other trailers?

Yeah, I see it way over there.

Yeah, if you take two quick
scoops from the pile we're on,

dump them in the feeder,

and then haul a*s
over to that other...

That far pile and
grab one scoop.

You should be able to
get back in time to like,

you know, dump it in
the hopper before it,

you know, clears out.

All right. Sounds good.



Rick ness is on a
comeback mission.

After failing to
mine at all last year

and nearly losing everything,

he's rebuilding from scratch.

I've got a lot on
the line this year.

There's just Morgan and I
right now, but I feel great.

Yeah, I mean I feel like
I've got that old energy back.

So we're gonna win as
much as we can this year, so...

To fund his season,
Rick's been running pay dirt

from the first of
two old pay piles.

So far, he's
brought in 42 ounces

worth just over $84,000.

To keep going, he
needs to bring in at least

another 20 ounces this week.

The good news is
we've got gold coming in,

but really, at this
point the pay pile

is not gonna last much
more than a week.

We got another stockpile
but it's quite a ways away.

You know, we've been
having to shut down the plant

just so we can move the pay
dirt out of the pile over here.

Its close enough for a
haul truck to make it easy,

but we don't have
a haul truck running.

We only have a loader
and an excavator.

During his down year,

the rental company took
back most of Rick's gear,

leaving him with only a
few pieces of machinery.

Right now, we really need
a rock truck but the only...

The only one we got is ancient.

And I sure as hell
don't have time to fix it.

I got a guy coming.

I don't really know
anything about him,

but I'm hoping he
can help us out.

- How's it going?
- Not bad. Yourself?

Good. I'm Rick.

Nice. I'm buzz.

Buzz, nice to meet you.

I'm glad you stopped by today.

Ran into a spot here
where, you know,

- we're running out of options.
- Yeah.

As you can see, there's
just two of us running around

like idiots with our
heads chopped off, so...

Yeah. Yeah.

The way we're doing
things right now,

- it's slow.
- Yeah.

You know what I mean?
And we're just go, go, go, go,

um, but you know, we sure
as hell could use a rock truck.

If you could get that thing
running for us, that'd be a big help.

I got my coveralls in the truck.

I can go through it.

Check it out and see
if we can get it going.

I'd say if you'll
get it running,

you probably got a job here.

- Sounds good, man.
- All right.

- Well, good luck, buzz. All right.
- I'll make it happen.

If buzz can get that
truck running, you know,

that's gonna get the plant
back running full time for us,

then we won't have
to shut the plant down

just to go get pay
out of the pay pile.

So I'm hoping he comes through.

That'd be great.

Usually, because it's...

Because it's been
sitting so long

it'd be like dead batteries,

flat tires, no antifreeze.

Hopefully, this all works out.

Buzz legault worked
with mine boss Fred Lewis

for the last two seasons.

Working with Fred
was good experience

and everything, but.

I just told Fred I
had to move on.

It kinda sucks.

I like working with the
guy and I like the guy.

He's a good guy, but just
can't keep on chasing my tail.

I got my own
future to think about.

I got a family to take care of.

Make a brighter future
for ourselves, so...

Rick's rock truck is
nearly 40-years-old

and the 33-ton relic
hasn't hauled dirt for years.

It gets pretty cold
here in the Yukon

in winters sometime.

Batteries tend to freeze.

There we go, it
goes right back up.

Well, that's good.

Good power.

Turn on this freaking
night switch here

and see if we can make contact.

Nothing.

What the hell?

No freaking power.

I didn't check the wires
of this freaking started.

So the wires are going.

It's still freaking all
hooked up to the alternator.

Everything looks
pretty freaking good.

Everything is connected.

Gonna go check the
wires on the other side.

There's a ground cable.

Look at that.

Ground cable is off.

Looks like we might have
found the problem here,

'cause the night
switch is tied in

to your ground cable so that
you can disconnect your batteries,

so that you're not
draining your batteries

when the vehicle isn't running.

Just as long as this thing
is the right thread, perfect fit.

Yeah, providing this
is the only problem,

this is a frickin'
easy fix here.

Give her a shot.

Fingers crossed this works.

Definitely got contact.

We need to fill up
the air pressure.

It'll warm up a little bit,
make it... run it over there.

It's a pretty easy
way to get a job

for the summer.

Something wrong.

The damn thing stopped moving.

No power to the wheels.

I just hope it's not
the transmission.

Universe.

The joint let go.

The joint that
holds the drive shaft

has shorn off.

If buzz can't fix it,
he'll be out of a job.

I just finished
fixing this thing,

now I gotta fix it again.

That drive shaft is not
connected to the transmission,

which doesn't... means it's
not connected to the rear end.

It won't move. So
we'll have to fix that.

We need to put it back
together if we get the parts.

Hopefully we do.

To secure himself a job,

buzz legault needs to get Rick's
only rock truck up and running,

but the drive
shaft has shorn of.

To tackle the two man job...

Have a look and
see what we can find.

Buzz has called in help
from the camp's cook.

These are busted u-bolts.

They hold the drive shaft in

which takes the power
from the motor to the tires

and so we got no power
to the tires right now.

Yeah, she's.

Yeah, they sheared
the bolts straight off.

Freaking pull the rest
of that drive shaft out

- if we can.
- All right.

- Well...
- Let's see.

I'm here to help you
out so let's get it done.

- Yeah.
- All right.

There you go.

Sheared the bolts
right off inside there.

The rock truck's drive shaft

transfers power from the engine

to its two rear wheels,

but two of the four
u-bolts that keep it in place

have sheared off

and the drive shaft has
fallen out of alignment,

stopping it from working.

To fix the problem, buzz
must put the shaft back

then replace the broken bolts,

allowing the drive shaft
to power the rear wheels.

It looks like now
we've got one that's

wrong bolt in the
wrong hole so it's.

This is the factory bolt

and this is the one whoever
installed the part put in,

which is a different
thread pattern

and a little bit
bigger of a bolt.

So it just squished the
threads on the inside.

So what buzz is doing right now

is just rethreading
the inside hole,

so we'll be able to put
the factory bolts back in.

Really sucks when
you got to wait

a couple hours to do a freaking

couple minutes' worth of work.

This would've been
avoided if the guy

put the right freaking
bolt in the hole.

Feels like it's working.

All right, buzz.
You ready for this?

- Yes, sir!
- All right. Let's go.

Yeah, we're just
tightening up the bolts

and then we're gonna
torque them down

and we should be done.

Hopefully.

Let 'er rip.

- Take it for - a tour.
- Yeah.

Hey, Rick.

Glad to see you there.

Shut.

Look at this guy.

She's a runner.

Yeah.

What was wrong with it?

Lots?

I don't wanna know.

- Good job, though.
- Holy man.

That's gonna help out big time.

- Yeah.
- How do you feel about running it now?

No problem, man.

Get back in that
thing. I'll load you up.

Awesome.

You know, that's the first
thing I asked him to do.

He nailed it.

We just finished the
last of the stockpile.

Rock truck up and running,

buzz can start hauling pay dirt,

keeping Rick on the gold.

He can obviously run all
the equipment out here,

you know, he is
thinking on his feet.

He's looking ahead. He's
able to solve problems.

It sounds like the kind of guy
I'd like to have on my team.

So I'm gonna give him a shot.

Too much money
has gone out the door

and didly-squat's come in,

and it's not good when
checks start bouncing.

After failing to find gold

in the old timer
tailings worth running,

Parker's come up with a new plan

to bring in his first
gold this season.

We're gonna have to come
down here to Ken and Stuart's.

Here to get a plant going and
get some money coming in.



Parker has 2,000 acres of ground

leased from
landlord's Ken tatlow

and Stuart schmidt,

which he hopes will be
a smash and grab job.

In this piece right here,

like we stripped it and
we've never even sluiced it,

and so there's a big
chunk in here that...

That's ready to go.

To get the gold he
needs to stay afloat,

Parker will have to
spend even more.

He's on a razor's edge.

It's...

Not ideal.

We're spending a lot of money

and we may be in a little
bit of trouble at some point.

Right now we're just getting
the 480 loaded up here

heading down to Ken's.

To kick start his
second operation,

he's brought in
foreman Mitch blaschke

and plant boss Tyson Lee.

Get equipment down there,
get a water pump down there.

Got a game plan now,
so then we just have

to execute and
start moving dirt.

Damn.

Now I've got a pond.

Yeah.

So this area used to
retain a little bit of water

but that's, that's
a lot of water.

The only road to Ken
and Stuart's is flooded.

Tyson is gonna bounce
the 480 off the semi.

If you're trying to beat rigs

through two feet
of water every day,

we're gonna be mechanics
instead of gold miners.

Tyson, you got a copy?

Yo, Tyson, you got a copy?

Go ahead.

Hey man, I'll just get
the semi across this,

and then we'll just load
you on the other side

'cause it might
be a little soft.

I don't wanna get hung
up in the middle of it.

Sounds good, man.

Get this out of the way.

Baby.

She is deep.

Bring your life jacket with you?

Yeah, there's
some mud right here

at this side that's
sloughed in there.

That's why she's
not draining, so, yeah,

do you wanna dig that out?

Copy, copy.

I might actually have
to get down in there,

Mitch, and try and dig it out.

The road drainage
ditch is blocked,

causing water to
back up and spill over.

Now, Tyson needs to clear it.

Gotta be kidding me.

This thing is.

Damn it.

This track is.

Yeah, I should've
knocked that out

and flattened her out
a bit before rodeoing

over it like that.

Get her up here where
she's high and dry

and we'll have to
back that idler off.

On a mission to
start sluicing ground

at Ken and Stuart's,
Tyson's attempt to unblock

the flooded drainage
ditch has come to a halt.

You can see, when
Tyson when through here,

it's real steep on
the side, so the tracks

were able to kinda walk up,

and it just allowed
it to walk right off

the end of the idler there.

So this is our track
chain right here

and it's supposed
to be right on the top

of this front idler.

And as you can see,
it's popped to the inside.

So what we need to do here

is relieve the pressure on it,

back this off, and then
walk the track back on,

and tighten things back up.

What we may need to do
here is grab the loader...

And push on that side?

Well, we just need to
hook a chain on it here.

We'll get the slack
up around the top

and we'll kinda
pull back a little bit.

Let's see if we can
get it to slip over.

All righty. All set.

All right, buddy.

Give me a little bit
of pressure over here.

And then, I'm gonna
try and spin this track

and see if we can
walk it back into place.

A little bit!

Come on, come on.
That's looking good.

Little more.

Hold that!

Walk it get back here a little.

That's what we want.

Okay.

Yeah, we're gaining on it.

We'll do a little walking here.

Got her.

All we gotta do now,
tight the fitting up,

put some grease back in it,

and actually do some mining.

I'm almost thinking now
that we got the loader here,

you just go to the far
side, put your bucket down,

and dude, just start
trucking through there.

It'll make a big wave

and it should just
flush that right out.

To stop the track
falling off again,

Mitch's quick fix
is to use the loader

to make a wave

and flush out the
clogged drainage ditch.

Now, the rest of the crew

can follow on to
Ken and Stuart's.

Okay.

So this is the pit
that we stripped,

but didn't get to it last year

because we had so much
to do on Tony's ground.

So, like, there's a bit
of waste still in here.

I think all it needs
is, like, a little bit

of final trim, if that even.

Okay.

So if you focus on this and
could get a plant running,

I don't think that...

Like, I'm not trying to
press you for time, but...

We need some gold?

We could use some
revenue coming in, yeah.

We could use some gold.

Getting sluicing fastest
is the main priority.

Ten four.

Now mining on two fronts,

Parker has ramped
up his weekly spend

and still has no gold coming in.

It's very weird to
spend that much money.

Anytime anybody says,

"so and so has so much money,

they couldn't
even spend it all."

I'm, like

does he wanna buy a gold mine?

We've managed to
do a bunch of trucking,

moved almost...

Moved basically
everybody over here.

That went pretty well.

The next few days,

we're gonna just
be trying to open this

cut up as much as we can.

Hopefully, we'll be able to
get a plant up and running,

working towards that


Just half a mile from Parker,

king of the
klondike, Tony beets,

is close to tapping in to
his biggest piggy bank.

Hey!

Lovely.

Tony's wife, minnie,

who looks after
the family finances,

is checking in to
see where the gold is.

No. No.

What a mess.

Yeah. Well, it's your...
This is your circus.

Where it's dark.

My chair is still here.

Its good to see some
action here again though,

and south.

When do you think
you're gonna sluice?

- Wow.
- Well, you know...

'Cause, you know, you're
spending, spending, spending.

It'd be nice to get something
in the piggy bank again.

It always takes
time. I know that,

but we need to
get sluicing, too.

You know, this is...

It's almost a month
later than usual.

So that's actually quite big.

Right now, there is
money going out only.

There's nothing coming in,

so you better make sure
things are starting to go.

It is really late.

Yeah, I guess it's payday.

Well, you should
oversee things so things

keep moving along.

No, you should
be out in the field.

That works better.

Coming up, Parker
finds out if his gamble

for gold has saved his season.

Hopefully, we're sitting
on a mountain of gold here

'cause lord knows we
need it to pay off dominion.

All right. I'll do some panning.

Dig me a hole.

And will Rick's gold
weigh be enough...

There we go.

To keep his
comeback dream alive?



I've known Travis
for years, actually.

He was cooking for Parker back
when I was Parker's foreman.

Not a whole lot of
people here to cook for,

so he's spending most of his
time out in the field helping us out.

You know, I'm really
thankful for that.

I'm a chef by trade, but,
you know, over the years,

I've jumped in wherever
I... Wherever I needed.

I can run, you know, rock truck,

loaders, the excavators.

Yeah. Rick, he's put a lot
on the line to come back

up here this season
and... He's a great guy,

so I'm just here to bust a*s

and make a successful
team out of it.

Well, Tyson, I hope
we'll be the first...

The first ones bringing
that first check in

to start paying our bills.

Yeah, hopefully, we're sitting

on a mountain of gold
here 'cause lord knows

we need it to pay off dominion.

Move gravel, find the
leprechaun, get gold.

To get on the gold fast,

Parker has kick-started
a second operation

at Ken and Stuart's.

How you doing?

Good. How are you?

- All right. I'll do some panning.
- Yeah.

Dig me a hole.

Against the bank.

Parker inspects
the ground to see

if Tyson is down to pay.

I thought he was
gonna cut bedrock here.

You've got a lot
more waste in here

than we bargained for?

I bet there's probably
five feet in here at least

of waste.

'Cause some areas down
here, I've run into, like,

eight feet of that big,
coarse rock, right?

Yeah.

I don't know how long
it's gonna take you.

You got a lot of gravel.

Parker has massively
underestimated

how long it will
take to get sluicing.

I'll try to get you
some reinforcement

so you can speed it up, but...

- Okay.
- -Yeah, timeline is blowing up.

This isn't nearly what
we thought it was?

It could be weeks
before they run pay,

shattering Parker's
plan for fast gold

and upping the
odds for going broke.

I don't know. We can't really
afford to free anybody else up.

All right.

Stripping crew needs to strip...

Even if it's not gonna make
us any money this year,

can't the program totally.

Boy.

Really thought we're
gonna have a plant

running sooner
than this, but, yeah.

Not ideal.

Where's the boss?

Yeah, where's old Richard?

After buzz fixed the
ancient rock truck,

Rick has hit the
second stockpile

and kept the plant
running all week.

What's up, nerds?

Hey, boss guy.

You guys didn't
get in the beer yet.

There you go, buddy.

Morgan?

Is she old enough?

And I gotta be honest with you,

coming from Fred, I
didn't have much hope.

I'm just gonna say it.

But, um, you got
that truck running

for us and that...
You know, that's huge.

That helps us out a lot.

Hope to see some good gold.

- Yeah?
- Nice.

That'd be a change?

- Yeah, big change, Rick.
- Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I don't... I don't know
a whole lot about, you know,

what went on over with
Fred and all that stuff.

I know that there was not
a whole lot of luck out there,

but, you know, what do
you think, coming over here?

I'm coming from
hell into heaven.

That is.

The last couple of
seasons with Fred,

it hasn't even covered
my own personal costs.

All right. Let's
weigh some gold.

To cover his costs, Rick
needs 20 ounces a week.







Beautiful.

Worth $46,000.

That's like an ounce
better than the best

gold weigh the misfits ever had.

- Really?
- Yeah.

Well, me. I'm just
getting started.

Now, this week, I think
we're at 65.2 ounces



I'm very happy with that.

And that's what
I need right now.

I need to be able to
put that in the bank

'cause I have to get, you know,

more guys like you here,

girls like you, you
know, more machines,

so that we can move
forward and, you know,

start pushing more yards
yardage through, getting more gold.

With you guys' help, I think we can
have another successful year here.

I'd love to make it
official here for buzz.

Ooh.

We got a hoodie, a
couple t-shirts for you.

- Nice.
- Rally! Incorporated. Welcome.

Sweet, man. Thank you.

All right. Well,

I say we cheers, I
get this gold inside,

and we get the hell out of here.

Cheers.