15x20 - Big Man Tiny Excavator

[bunniefuu]

Oh, Danny, get in here.

Hey, morning, guys.

I just do
my morning stretches.

Yoga and stuff, you know,
the usual.

[narrator] On this
Gold Rush...

Ready to go.

...Rick Ness digs deep.

I just want to get down there
as fast as I can.

Everything's a big gamble,
hopefully it turns out good.

[narrator] On a mission
to secure new ground...

[Jeff] Just over $8 million.

My interest is definitely
piqued, yeah.

...that could make or break...

[Rick] Hey, watch out
for those trees.

...his mining future.

[bleep] the Yukon,
[bleep] this place.

[Rick] Danny, come on.

Good girl. Come on.
Be a good girl.

[narrator] Mine boss Rick Ness
is up early.

Come on.

Come on, baby.

Who's a good girl? Yes.

Oh, that's a good girl.

Welcome to my home.

Six months out of the year,
I live in this place.

Watch out, Danny. Get out.

It's a small bed
that I almost fit in.

I fit in there pretty good.

My feet mostly don't
hang off the edge.

Just watch this. Hold on.

Yeah, I usually get up.

And then Danny
kind of just doesn't...

There she comes.
She might get up a little bit
after me.

She usually lays there
like a bum for a while.

This is my office.

My favorite quote up here
is Mike Tyson.

"Everyone has a plan till they
get punched in the mouth."

You know, I have
a lot of mining plans,

but they never work out,
it's like getting punched
in the mouth.

And when they do, if you can't
pivot, then you're screwed.

[narrator] Rick's own
big swing,

buying the Duncan Creek
claim earlier this season

means he now needs
it to pay out big.

[Rick] This is my office.

One of the first things I do

is whip out
the old phone here.

Get on the gold app,
right here.

And look at that right there.

If I'm not mistaken, we're
hitting record highs today.

Again, it's just going up
and up and up.

That'll wake a guy up in the
morning. That gets the guy
going, that's for damn sure.

This is like some of the most
impressive gold that
I've gotten out here.

There's some really
nice pieces of gold.

There's probably
in the neighborhood of 15,


right there.

That's pretty, pretty cool.

Pretty impressive.

But it does not hold
a candle to this guy.

I found this one this year.

That's my favorite by far.

I don't know if you can tell
what the shape of it is.

[cameraman chuckles]

[Rick] I actually
have some nice stuff
to look at today.

I've got a 2024 Geophysical
Assessment Report.

I've been studying really hard
for the last five years
at geology.

But geology is tough.

I'm not nerding out
over rocks kind of guy,

but I kind of have to be
in this case if I want to
survive out here, so...

[phone pinging]

It just went up again!

$2511. Just went up another
buck while we were talking.

Like I said, good time
to be a gold miner.

[narrator]
The gold price may be
at an all-time high,

but right now, Rick's
cash flow is negative.

I'm just going to check
on our cut right now.

Normally, I'm down here
several times a day.

We're not pulling pay out
of the hole, which means we're
not rolling the plant.

[narrator] After mining out
the gold rich Rally Valley
earlier this season,

Rick's crew is solely focused
on getting down to the pay
layer in Vegas Valley.

[Rick] The guys
are doing great.

I mean, they are moving a ton
of dirt for basically,
four people.

[narrator] With a total
of 160 feet of worthless

overburden to remove
before they hit pay,

Rick and his small crew
are gambling everything,

including their gold bonuses
that they'll hit the jackpot.

This is pretty much my same
crew that I put together
from last year.

Last year was huge for me
as far as the crew goes,

because I very quickly learned
that they were all in it

for the right reasons
and I could trust them all.

It took a lot of
pressure off me.

They all knew what
they were doing, too.

[narrator]
In the 750 excavator,

Bailey Carten is removing


to reach the pay layer.

There you go, overload the
[bleep] out of it.

[horn honks]

[Carten] What's going on,
big guy?

[Rick] Is that new?

-Yep, those two spots.
-[bleep] hole up there.

[narrator] Battling water
and falling rocks, Bailey must
build benches as he goes

or risk the sides of the pit
caving in.

Ah, the windshield.

-Yeah, I know.
-Buddy...

[Bailey] I know.

[Rick] Breaks my heart.

I know, it breaks my...

Man, I thought it was...
I swear to [bleep] it scared
the [bleep] out of me.

-I thought it was gonna come--
-Oh, I bet.

That's a hard hit...
to do that.

I really thought it was
going to come through

the windshield. I just
went like that into [bleep]
Heather's box

and it just [bleep], the last
rock that fell out just
[bleep] smashed on one rock

and just came [bleep]
flying up in the air.

[Rick] I'd love
to razz you for it.

Say I'm gonna take
the windshield
out of your bonus but

I've been there.

But, yeah,
I know [bleep] happens.

That slaps, but...

[Bailey] All right,
I better get back
to loading trucks.

[Rick] Keep moving it.

[Carten] Working for Rick
is really good.

He's a really
good boss, you know.

He's a good listener
and he's a good teacher.

You know, it is a gamble here,
and he is gambling the gold

and hopefully there's going
to be good pay under this.

He knows this is all
of our lives, too.

He's definitely...
he's not all about himself.

He's all about the team.

[Rick] He's doing a good job.

He's really working out.
I like him.

He's a good kid.
Things are looking really
good down here

and this is... I like how
this is looking.

We stepped it down
to keep it safe.

[narrator] Racing to keep up
with Bailey,

husband and wife duo Heather
and Jason Folster.

truck overburden
out of the cut.

We're going as fast as we can.

[narrator] To a dump where
Foreman "Buzz" Legault
and Kyle Lawson

manage the ever-growing
gigantic mountain of waste.

[Buzz speaking]

[Kyle] Everyone's on edge
because we don't know if we
put all this time and effort

into this cut, and we don't
know if it's going to produce
or anything, so I mean,

it's, everything is a big
gamble over here.
Hopefully, it turns out good.

[Rick] We'll move a lot
of dirt, but, you know,
right now my big,

big panic is just getting
down to it as fast as we can.

We've got a limited amount
of time this season,

and if this water license
doesn't get renewed,

this will be our
last chance here.

[narrator] With just months
left on his Duncan Creek
water license

and no guarantee
that it will get renewed,

Rick must find new ground
or his mining career
could be over.

I mean, I just got
done paying off ground,
I want to buy more ground.

I've got more ground
than I know what to do with.
I have to have other options.

This guy I know, Jeff Bond,
I've known Jeff
for probably five years.

You know, he's been in the
geology business for decades
and he's got some ground.

It's only eight
kilometers away.

I like that.

But, you know, it's gotta
have everything I need,

so it's got to have
gold first of all.

I gotta see this
with my own eyes.

-[bleep]
-[truck rattling]

Dodge the potholes.

Sorry, I spent my offseason
racing, and like,
even when I'm driving

on this road, I'm always
looking for the line,
the shortest line.

It's probably not smart
to come around a corner,

and there's someone
coming the opposite way.

[horn honks]

[bell tolls]

[Rick] Who're you
trying to catch?

That's my temporary
bear fence.

How are you doing?

-Good, man.
-Good.

[Jeff] Come on in.

[narrator] Placer geologist
Jeff Bond has been
prospecting and staking

claims around Keno
for the last year.

[Jeff] Do you want
a coffee or something?

I can make you an espresso.

I'm okay. I appreciate it.

[narrator] Now he's looking
to partner up with
an experienced miner

to make
the most of his ground.

Thanks for coming, I wanted
to show you this property.

This is the
claim block in white.

I call it the
Goldfinger property.

I staked the two 2-mile leases
here initially. It's got
a lot of attributes

that make it,
I think, very prospective.

I think what's most unique
about this deposit
is obviously the fact

-there's no overburden.
-[Rick] Yeah.

And, so you take
the trees off,

and you literally
back your plant up
and you start feeding it.

My interest
is definitely piqued.

-Yeah, definitely.
-I don't know if I'll ever
find another gold deposit

-this easy.
-Yeah, yeah.

[Jeff] This is an example
of the gold we're seeing.

And that's from a fifth
of a yard. That would be
about $20 gold per yard.

-[Rick] Okay.
-[Jeff] That's from
a trench I dug up there.

I got this
little guy in a pan.

-Um...
-[Rick] Oh, no kidding.

Just last week as well.

That was five inches
below the surface.

-No kidding?
-[Jeff] Yeah.

-So...
-I have yet to pan
anything this size.

There is gold in everything
that I've sampled here.

Have you done enough
to see kind of a trend

like a kind of
an average? Yeah?

Yeah, I see $10 a yard.
I see $20.

I'm kind of using 15 as sort
of the bulk average,

and in there, I estimate,
there's just over $8 million.

I'm definitely interested,
and I'd love to look at it
some more.

If you'd maybe show me
where you've been sampling

and we can talk about
me doing a little sampling
of my own.

Yeah, no problem.

Should we go look
at these trenches?

Okay.

[narrator] If there's
roughly $15 of gold
in every yard of dirt,

the claim is not as rich
as Duncan Creek,
but without the costs

of removing overburden,
it could still be profitable.

[Jeff] So this
is my trench here.

I've taken a bunch of samples,
and I've got good gold
in this gravel.

-[Rick] Okay.
-But you can see the boulder.

[Rick] Oh, yeah,
big one right there.

-[Jeff] Yeah.
-That's usually
a good sign out here.

We're looking for a boulder
cobble layer and, I mean,
in this case, the boulders

are right on the surface,
so they're easy to spot.

It's a good indication
there's going to be

a cobble layer underneath it
and that's what
we're looking for.

[narrator]
Large boulders and cobbles,
also known as gravels,

are signs that fast flowing
water once passed through
this area,

which could have
deposited big gold.

-[Rick] I like it.
I can dig right here.
-Yeah.

I'll get the machine down here
and see what we can pull out.

[Jeff] I'll just flag this.

Okay.

I formerly worked

with the Yukon Geological
Survey as a placer geologist
for 27 years

and I've visited almost every
placer deposit in the Yukon.

This is a very rare deposit
that has no overburden.

So I'm really happy

that Rick is gonna take
a few more samples.

We'll see if he likes it,
and then we'll go from there.

[Rick] That was a good
meeting with Jeff.

He mentioned a lot
of big numbers
and what he thinks is here.

And, you know, he's been
doing his due diligence.

He might be right,
but I'm gonna do my own.

I'm gonna come sample it
and see if what he says has
any merit to it.

Economically, a lot
of it makes sense.

Could be a good option.

Switching over to the old
side by side here because
I need something to tow

this excavator
we're taking up there.

[narrator]
Rick's water license
is due to expire next year.

So he's on the hunt
for new ground.

Yeah, I just met up with Jeff,
checked out his ground.

So I'll grab some stuff
and I'm gonna go back and do
a little more investigating.

[narrator] After scouting
a claim that could
pay out $8 million,

now, Rick needs to test
the ground for himself.

But despite owning some of
the biggest digging equipment

in the Yukon, for this test,
he needs something
a little smaller.

[Rick] Now, this is the beast
here, tiny excavator.

Tiny tow-behind excavator
that I've had for like
five years.

I haven't really used it.

[engine starts]

Smallest machine
I've run in a while.

Today, it's actually gonna be
handy for these sampling.

So I need to kind of get into
the woods with limited amount
of space.

So I'm looking forward to
looking like an [bleep] trying
to run this thing today.

This is the crew's
side by side.

There's [bleep] everywhere.

Cold beer, wrench, golf club,
empty gas... empty gas can.

So I'm gonna bring
the mini hoe tub side by side.

My plan is to get about a half
a yard of dirt in here,
bring it back.

Sample it, see how much
gold's in it.

And from there, I can
calculate if this ground would
be worth mining or not.

There we go.

Oh, just like that.

Ready to go.

All right, let's do this.

[narrator] Rick travels
five miles north
to the spot he earmarked

for testing on Jeff's
Goldfinger claim.

[Rick] He's the seller,
I'm the buyer,
so gonna be on guard.

-[Jeff] Captain!
-What's goin' on?

We've got to open up
the trail.

There's a whole bunch
of alders, so we'll need
to cut those.

-We'll get the chainsaw going.
-Okay.

I'll maneuver this thing
into place.

That should be fun, too.

[motor revs loudly]

I was hoping he was gonna have
this trail cut already.

It's gonna be interesting.

See if I can jam that thing
in there. It ain't gonna
like it.

But I'll make it happen.

[Jeff] Keep coming.

-Nice. Nice!
-[Rick chuckles]

We're going to be going
back up in here.

[bleep]

[Rick] I'm hung up on a tree.

[Jeff] It's just
not enough room
to get the vehicle turned.

[Rick] No, not quite.

So what if I took out
these sets of trees here?

That way, your angle
would be a lot straighter.

-[Rick] Yeah.
-Let's do that.

[Rick] Hey, watch out
for those trees.

[bleep]

[Jeff] It wasn't supposed
to fall that way.

[Rick chuckles]

I'll give it a shot.

Come on...

[Jeff] Now straight back.

Ooh, buddy.

[Jeff] Excellent.
You're there.

I'm gonna look like a [bleep]
trying to operate it.

Four little [bleep]
joysticks here.

[engine starts]

[engine dies]

[Jeff] What happened?

I don't know. I checked
everything before I came here.

Full of fuel.

Come on.

[engine starts]

[bleep]

This thing is harder
than I thought.

I can run a $1.4 million
excavator.

I can't run this.

[chuckles]

[Jeff] Come on, Rick.
You got it.

That's it.

That's it.

Nice one.

Oh, baby.

Oh, yeah, that's the stuff.

-[Jeff] Ooh, yeah.
-There we go, first boulder.

Yeah, I mean, we didn't
get far below the surface.

We're already seeing some
boulders, so that's exciting.

Heavy rock like Jeff said.

We see a lot of that
over at Duncan Creek, too.

All I know is
the heavy rocks mean

there'll be gold there.
If you move rocks,
you move gold.

[narrator] The boulders
and gravels were moved
by fast-flowing water

from a melting glacier.
As it traveled, the heavy gold

would have been
trapped in the dirt

around the rocks.

[Jeff] This is number ten.

Nice. I think we've got
another 15 to go.

[narrator] To assess how much
gold is in Jeff's claim,
Rick needs to fill 25 pails,

equivalent to half
a yard of dirt.

-[Rick] It's going through it.
-Yeah, yeah.

Good looking stuff.
Bring it back home
and sample it.

See if it's got
a bunch of gold in it.

[Jeff] There it is.

Oh, yeah!

I'm vibrating.
My ears are ringing.

I didn't realize how loud
this thing was.

This thing's awesome.

-First things first. We'll see
what we got in the sample.
-Sure.

And then I'll let you know,
and then we'll kind of discuss
things from there.

-Thanks a lot, Jeff.
-Thanks for coming.

[narrator] With the half ton
of pay loaded onto the side
by side, Rick now needs

to bring it back
to Duncan Creek,
where he'll test the sample.

I don't know how I'm gonna
get out of here.

Straight down.

[Jeff] Right on.

Yee-haw!

Oh, [bleep].

[Jeff] Your front tire is off.

[Rick] Oh, yeah.

Yeah, no. She ain't
going anywhere.

Oh, yeah.
Definitely [bleep] up an axle.

[groans in frustration]

[bleep] the Yukon.
[bleep] this place

Definitely [bleep] up an axel.

Yeah, no. She ain't
going anywhere.

[groans in frustration]

[narrator] Five miles north
of Duncan Creek,
Rick Ness' mining future

rests on the success
of the Goldfinger prospect.

But a broken side by side
has stopped him in his tracks.

[Rick] This is no longer
my responsibility.

It's broken.
That's Ryan's job now.

So I did my part. I broke it.

Now Ryan can fix it.

All right, I'm outta here.

I'll catch a ride back
with you guys.

-All right?
-[Rick] Thanks
for the ride, bro.

That's all right, bro.

Anytime.

Bye.

[Rick] Ryan!

[Ryan] Huh?

[Rick] I broke it.

[Rick] No, the side by side.

It's got half a yard of dirt
piled in the back towing
that mini hoe.

[narrator] To keep
the prospect on track,

mechanic Ryan is sent
to retrieve the broken
side by side

and, more importantly,
the pay.

Every one of these things
got like 20,000 miles on them.

We run them hard, and I don't
think anybody else puts that
kind of mileage on them.

They're bound to break.
I mean, I test the limits
every day.

[Ryan] It's been adventurous
knowing him

for the last year
and a half now.

It never seems to get boring.

It's always fun
when he disappears

for a few hours
and comes back.

He's either walking

or he's calling us
to come pick him up
because he's broke something.

So I think it's parked
somewhere down this road.

I'm gonna go retrieve his
broken [bleep] like normal.

Which way was it?

-[cameraman] Go left.
-Left? All right.

[Ryan] How is Rick
as a person.

Oh, man.

If I could sum
that up pretty easily,

Rick is definitely somebody
you want in your corner.

Definitely a lot smarter
than he plays himself to be.

Always willing to give a hand.

Got a heart the size
of a gold nugget.

Anybody on this claim
he's done [bleep]
for that nobody knows about.

He's not that guy that's going
to go out and brag about
the good that he does.

[Rick] Right now I'm making
a Zoom call to Zee.

I just want to catch up
and see where his head's at

for the end of the season.
He makes everybody laugh,

and it's kind of infectious
and It gives everybody a bit
of a bump to

finish the end of the season,
which is nice.

Plus, he's, you know,
one of my best friends.

You know, I just...
I like it when he's up here.

I just want to see him.

Hopefully, we do
the same thing this year.

[narrator] Rick's best buddy,
Zee Zaremba,

lives in Milwaukee
with his wife, Chelsea.

[Rick] Zees!

What are you reading?

Some fun clay map stuff.

Good to see your face, man.

Good to see yours.
How's the season going?

It's going good.
Yeah, it's...
Well, it's going.

It's going like every season.

Stressed to the [bleep] max.

But the guys here
are just incredible.

And we're pulling it off.

-Nice. Awesome.
-How's things, man?

How's things back home?

Did Chelsea get a hold of you
at all or anything or no?

No.

All right, well, see...

I don't know.

She ended up getting
diagnosed with two forms
of cancer actually.

Shut the [bleep] up.

-Chelsea?
-Yeah, 33.

-What the [bleep]?
-Yeah, she found it...

She found a lump
probably like six weeks ago

and then it's just been
a whirlwind since.

[bleep], man. I'm sorry.

So it ended up being as stage
three breast and globular.

So it went and moved into
the lymph nodes, but it didn't
spread from there, luckily.

Oh, my [bleep], man.

What the [bleep]?
So what's that look like,
treatment wise?

It's going to be eight
treatments every three weeks.

So, I mean, it's just...
Yep, and then the rest
echoes with it.

It's just... it's gonna be...

It'll be a haul till
like March, probably.

Dude, that's a lot.

Holy [bleep].

Yeah, sorry to bring you down.

How is she holding up?
No, man, no.

How is she holding up?
How's Chelsea doing?

It's whatever, I mean,

like I said, it's good days,
bad days.

Obviously, there's gonna
be, you know,
more just milestones

that we know are going to,
like, I kinda had
a conversation with her.

The next big hiccup
is gonna be when you
start losing your hair

and the next one's gonna be
when you have the surgery.

She's tough as nails,
I'll tell you that.

I mean, she's definitely
got it in her to beat it.

Hey, maybe that's why for
the first time in my life,
I've grown my hair out.

Maybe I could donate
my hair to her.

-Oh, [bleep], you could.
-How long does it have to be?

-[Zee] I think 12 inches.
So she's...
-So like that...

Twelve inches?

-It's huge. [chuckles]
-That's huge.

I'd wash it first. It looks
like you haven't done that

-maybe in a minute.
-[Rick] It's been a while.

[bleep] Oh, man.

Well, [bleep] dude,
that's still...
that's a [bleep] lot, man.

And I guess that answers
the question.

Obviously, it's getting
to be that time of year.

I was calling to see
if you'd want to come up
and hang out for a bit.

The conversation came up
and she's all on board.

-So... Yeah.
She's putting you first.
-Come on!

-Really?
-So she said go ahead.

She's like, if Rick needs
help, just go.

For [bleep] sake, man.

So if you want me,
I'll come up.

It'll probably be a little
good break for both of us.

I'm sure she's sick of me
asking her 20 times a day
how she's doing.

If she's okay,
if she needs anything, so...

That's one generous,
selfless broad that you
married there, buddy.

I can't even believe that.

When do you think
you'll need it?

Like, once you start
running the plant?

Like, are you still stripping
right now or what?

Yeah. I mean, I was thinking,
you know, we get done,

get most of the stripping down
and get the plant moved down,

and then we'll have
to start running the plant.

I always need an extra hand
when that happens at the end,
for sure.

All right, just... Once
it gets a little closer,

just give me a little bit
of a heads up
and I'll come up.

I will do that, man.
And please tell her thank you.

And I'll give her a call, too.

But, yeah, if there's
anything else

I can do in the meantime,
man, you just let me know.

Yeah, no problem.

All right. Thanks for
taking the call.

Yep. Love you, bud.

-Love you too, pal.
-All right.

Bye.

[Rick stammers]
I just need a minute.

This is a lot right now.

[Ryan] Look at
the front end of this.

This is Rick's face
every morning

that he wakes up,
just confused and doesn't know
which direction to go.

Luckily, the steering box
is fine.

He just snapped the tire out.

Broke her good. My guess,

judging by the bend,
that should be straight.

And that is not straight.

So that's going to cause
your weak spot.

So I'm hoping when I back up,
the wheel will automatically
turn itself that way.

Then when I come forward,
I don't want to straighten it,

but we'll only
let it go so far.

We'll see if it'll drive.

Hopefully, they don't fall.

[narrator] Ryan must inch
the side by side,

loaded with half a ton
of pay dirt onto the trailer.

[Ryan] That
doesn't sound good.

It does not sound happy.

Oh...

[bleep]

Oh! Oh!

She's tight.

I'm gonna dump
this pile of dirt

in front of Rick's door,
tell him to get to panning.

Next season's gonna be
coming pretty quick.

And you gotta have everything
ready to rock and roll.

If we don't have
a water license,
then there better be a Plan B.

[Rick] The team's making
great progress on the cut.

It's going really well.

But, you know, with a small
amount of time left till
the end of the season,

I just want to get down there
as fast as I can.

[narrator]
In Vegas Valley, the Ness crew
are pulling out all the stops

to reach pay,
fire Monster Red back up,

and start bringing
in gold again

before the end of the season.

But a huge cloud hangs
over Rick's mining future.

[Rick] I sunk
everything I have
from the last 13 years

of doing this into it,
and I don't even know
if I can come back next year.

I mean, I don't think we'll
have an answer this winter,
you know,

whether or not this water
license is going to come in.
I mean, I'm putting

plans in place to be up here
and just have alternate spots
to go.

[narrator] Earlier, Rick
collected a sample
from a potential claim

that could pay out
$8 million.

But until the side by side
is fixed, he can't process
the dirt

and find out if the ground
is a viable option
for next season.

[Ryan] Yeah, that's it.
She's back where she belongs.

Now, we'll get her fixed up.

If you have the right parts
for this thing, we'll get it
back up and running.

Get that sample down
to the [bleep] gold room
and we'll run it.

Whoa...

I don't know
if this is gonna work.

Luckily, it's not
the steering box.

It's just the link.

I know it's not
the right side.

[Rick] I'm really hoping
this is going to work.

[Ryan] It ain't gonna work
if I don't start on it.

[narrator] Tight on time,

Ryan must bush fix
the broken steering link

with a part scavenged
from an old machine.

[Ryan] Well, that one looks
way longer than this one.

We'll measure that other
one over there

and I'll see what I can do
over here with cutting it.
I can chop some off.

I could probably re-tap it.

[Rick] All right.
I've seen enough.

Come on, Danny. This is
how I get Danny to exercise.

So the thing walks with her.
Go, go!

[barking]

[growling]

If you're wondering what
I do every day, this is it.

Play with toys.

Oh, boy. Yeah, she's
looking a little...

Looking a little
jagged up here.

Better get Ryan on it.

[laughing]

[Ryan] One screwed.

Oh...

Bam! That was too easy.

I didn't think
it was gonna work, but...

[Ryan chuckles]

All right. How do they look?

Dude, I'm not
changing a thing.

[Rick] Yeah. Way to go.

Ooh, perfect.

We're back in business.
Once and for all.

I'll let you back it
off the trailer.

[bleep]

[bleep]

Right on my [bleep] toe.

[Ryan] Oh...

[bleep]

I don't think he wanted
to back this thing up, and
I don't want to either.

But, here we are. Okay.

Just like that.

[Rick] I think the nail's
turned purple.

Got me good. Got me good.

I was just wearing
my tennis shoes.

That nail is definitely gonna
fall off, it just smashed it.

As soon as this [bleep] toe
of mine goes numb,
I'll get that pay down there.

We'll run it and see
if I got a good option
to go to next year.

Ready to go?

She's good.

Going down to the gold room.
Yeah, ready to go.

Right now I'm bringing this
down to Heather.

She does all the work
in the gold room for me,

and so she's the one that's
going to start processing this
and clean it up.

See what I got.

I made it.

[Heather] Dirt! From where?

[narrator] Rick relies
on Heather Folster
to clean all of his pay dirt.

This is the dirt from
Jeff's new ground,
eight kilometers from here.

But we've got
about a half a yard.

Twenty pails in there,
and then there's five more.

I mean, I'll put it through
a couple of big screens

and then I'll cube it
and table it.

So I'm gonna try and keep it
as pure as possible.

Okay. For a little bit,
I will help.

-[Heather] I'll go get
another screen, then.
-Okay.

-Let's wash some rocks.
-[Heather] Let's wash
some rocks.

[Rick] All right.

It'll just take a while
for the bigger rocks to go
through the screens,

but we'll just kind of
give 'em a little bath.

Prospecting is a learning
process for all of us.

Yes, yes.

Because everyone just
falls into gold mining.

-Nobody goes to school
for gold mining.
-Show me where to dig.

You just end up
with a summer job

and you're like,
"All right, I guess
I'm in gold mining now."

[Rick] Heather,
how long have you
been coming up here?

-You and Jason?
-This is Jason's tenth year.

[Rick] Jason's
tenth year, yeah.

But this is, I don't know,
my fourth or fifth whole year.

When Jason used to work
at Parker's and I was there
for a season,

I liked the gold cleaning.

So I pestered Chris Doumitt
into teaching me how
to clean gold.

And I really enjoyed that.

So then when Jason came
over here to help Rick out,

I badgered Rick
into letting me clean gold.

You have been the most
efficient at it, like, by far.

Doumitt was a great teacher.

And all of the guys here

would rather sit and spin
in a circle in an excavator
all day long.

Which I think
would be tedious.

[grunting]

But they're like, "No,
I'll do that all day."

And I'm like, "Okay."

I feel like a river otter.

-All right. Cool.
-Thanks, buddy.

[Rick] Yeah.

It's not a glorious job.
There's not a whole lot of
glorious jobs out here.

I mean, it just wet.
It's dirty, but it's a very

important part
of the system, right?

So, you know, she's gonna
find out how much gold
is in that sample,

and she can potentially save
us from making a big mistake,

or we're making a very
good decision, right?

It's all going to be dependent
on what she finds there,

which direction we go,
and so, yeah, that makes it
very important.

This right here.
This thing's badass.


It was just sitting in the
woods on the property here,

so I popped the hood on it
and we threw some jumper
cables to it

and the [bleep] thing
fired right up.

Let me get the garbage
out of here maybe.

Don't sh**t the garbage,

Because I barely fit
in the damn thing.

Major, major stereo system
in here.

Bluetooth, of course.

Filthy seat.

I don't want to imagine how
many farts have been absorbed
in this seat...

but lots.
It's already really dirty, so
I don't have to worry about...

getting it dirtier.

It's got a healthy
set of nuts on it right here.

And I clipped
this little flag to it
because it makes me

feel like the President
when I'm driving.

Shall we look under the hood?

It's got a prop rod,


Don't need that anyway.

[Ryan speaking]

[narrator] In Vegas Valley,
the Ness crew are racing

to strip overburden
and get down to pay.

[Ryan speaking]

Hopefully, you know, we get
to the bottom of this
eventually here.

Until all this muck is gone,
we're going to have more
and more fun.

It just never ends
in this cut.

[Kyle] Rick's prospecting,
just in case we don't get our
water license for next year.

Hopefully, it's good enough.

[narrator] In the gold room...

So far, this clean up's
looking okay.

Feels like it's probably
bad luck to make guesses.

...Heather Folster
cleans the pay
from the Goldfinger prospect.

This is the shaker table.

Then we'll just put a little
scoop in and let it go.

So after we screen it
down to certain sizes,

then the fines go on
the table here, it oscillates
and bounces. Heavy fall down.

The gold stays up
in the grooves, and then
that's... we just dry it.

[narrator]
With no water license yet
for next season,

the future of Rick and his
crew rests on the results
of this test.

Right now,
it's a bit worrisome.

It would have been really nice
if we could have just stuck
with a nice,

well known producing cut
instead of now having to go
chase something else.

It puts pressure
on the next spot.

[narrator]
At the end of the day,
Rick brings

his whole crew together
for the prospecting results.

This is how we stay warm
when we watch our outdoor
movie theater.

You're gonna want to step
back a couple of feet.

-[flames whooshing]
-[Ryan laughs]

Fire!

Give it a couple of minutes.
It'll be real hot.

Heather cleaned up that sample
from Jeff Bond's ground today,

so I'm gonna kind of show 'em
what I got out of that.

What's up, dudes?

Another fun day of cleaning up
my broken [bleep]
that I leave behind me.

That was... that was fun.

We needed to [bleep]
make a radius rod.

-And we did.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You saved us a lot of time.

I pushed that thing.

[Heather] It was a lot
of dirt. It was very heavy.

Well, out of the woods
with that.

-You were a little
over your pay capacity.
-[Rick] Yeah.

I think that is about half
of what one of your rock
trucks can hold.

That was in the back of that.

[Rick] Well, you know...

Well, you've seen
that little mini hoe.

Why is it my next new baby?

Dude, I'm telling you, man,
I had a good time on it today.

-Did ya?
-[Rick] Moved some dirt.

Big man on a little toy.

[Rick] Yeah, yeah.
How was the cut looking today?

[Bailey] Good man.
Loading trucks, moving hard.

Everything's going wonderful.

[Rick] That's what
I like to hear.

Anyways, how's that gold?

I mean, I've got it here
in this jar.

[narrator] For Rick
to mine the Goldfinger claim
next season,

he is looking for
$30 of gold a yard.

You know, Jeff was saying that
there's just not a lot
of overburden.

It'd be worth it. But it
came out to over


and that... I'll be
honest with you.

I'm not too interested in it.

If you want to pass
that around.

-[Rick] Nine bucks out of...
-I didn't bring my glasses.

[Ryan] That's part
of testing, man.

That's, yeah, and that's
why we tested it, right?

I want you guys to know that,

I mean, I am looking and that
there are options out here

'cause I want you
to come back.

At the end of the day,
I'm gonna make sure that
we've got a spot

for all you guys.
I want you guys all back

and I want to make sure
that we're always going

to be on the best gold
that we can find.

There's gonna be
options out there.

-[Bailey] Thanks, man.
-[Jason] Yeah.

Yeah.

We got your back.

[all laughing]

[Rick] I know
you guys got my back.

I got you guys' back, too.

[Ryan] Cheers!

[all] Cheers!