17x02 - A Midas Mess

[bunniefuu]

A week into the season,
the king of the Klondike is

waging a w*r on water and has
yet to capture a flake of gold

towards his biggest target yet,
a colossal 13,000 ounces

worth $65 million.

Turn around and then get into the cut.

It's nice to be out here with your brother,

being on big dozers like this.

Tony asked me to get the cut
down to pay.

We had a couple setbacks.

First, we were struggling with the water.

A little bit flooded, the cut,
so we had to fix that.

Now we're hitting black mud.

For the size of this cut,
we have to get going before

everything is thawed out.

It's getting a little bit slippery in the cut,

but hopefully we're gonna start sluicing.

But I will see what Tony says.

Well, the plan to set up

and we can start sluicing, right?

Yeah.

Yep.

So you're gambling a little bit?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

At Indian River, the 60-acre Midas Cut is.

Tony's largest and most ambitious ever.

Despite battling water in
the cut, the Beets crew have

already stripped 20 acres down
to gold-rich pay.

But Tony wants to delay

hauling the pay to
wash plant Sluice-A-Lot,

so that his brother
can use all of his crew to

strip the worthless black muck

from another 20 acres by
the end of the week.

Hey, rock truck, Cody, do you copy?

Rock truck, Cody, do you copy?

Go ahead.

Slow it down a bit. Slow it down a bit.

With eldest son Kevin running
his own mine,

and youngest son Mike busy
opening up Paradise Hill,

Tony's brought in even more Beets.

His 18-year-old grandson, Eagan.

I'm young. I'm just the best, I don't know.

Gotta have the rock trucks
running as efficiently as

possible right now so we can
get down to pay.

Last year around this time
we were already sluicing.

We gotta make up for lost time.

We gotta get a lot of dirt moved.

It's mind-blowing seeing how like,

advanced Eagan is for only being 18.

It is nice having like a good hoe hand

that I can go to and someone
that I get along with.

Karissa and I work very well together.

She's got a great sense of fun.

Oh, look...

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

It's your first day or something?

Oh, shut up with that comment already.

I expected better from you.

Eagan, keep your mud off my cab.

I don't want your wet, sloppy loads.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa.

I'm going before you even
got the chance.

Lame.

I think I just lost the track.

Nick, do you copy, Nick?

What's going on?

I just blew a track.

I'll be over there in a bit.

Sam, do you copy, Sam, do you copy?

Bring in the 950,
bring in the 950, go go go!

Popped right off.

- Eagan.
- I don't wanna be in!

- What did you do, Eagan?
- Wasn't me.

It's the rock truck drivers.

- Rock truck drivers, breaking a track, sure.
- Yeah.

Now all them trucks are
waiting, I can't have that.

Now pull that track out
and bring it to the yard.

- Yeah.
- So just get going.

In that 950 right now.

So the production keeps on
going, keeps on going.

Sounds good.
Shouldn't have any troubles.

Make it happen.

Eagan, is now a time to say
it's not the machine,

it's the operator's fault?

No. Not me.

Eagan, do you copy?

Eagan, do you copy?

This is your fault, not ours.

The hoe is your fault.

Hey!

- Get that excavator, Eagan.
- OK.

Enough of this bull.

Get going.

I don't have time for bull now.

We do not stop.

Well...

gotta keep dirt moving.

Always, always, always.

Eagan is Tony's grandson, right?

So, yeah.

He's a nice enough kid,
but he also has to realize

it's not a play garden.

We're here to make some money.

It's always difficult to get
the start of the season

rolling, getting every pit
stripped and prepped.

We did get sluicing before
Tony has, but we'll see

if we can keep it up.

Gold mining titan Parker
Schnabel is four years into

a seven-year plan to mine out
all of Dominion Creek's gold.

But as the gold price has
risen, so has his ambition.

And he's sluicing pay dirt
he'd normally discard.

So far this season, it's paid off.

The mine site at Dominion...

it's a very busy place right now.

We had our first clean up
on Goose last week.

It's 145 ounces or something like that.

And hopefully we can just add
one wash plant a week

and have all four running.

That's a pretty solid start.

Parker's spending close to
a million a week stripping

four cuts down to pay dirt.

So he's betting he can score
quick gold from dirt leftover

from last season.

We'll get Big Red going next
on Dominion just to finish

the low-grade gravel from last year.

At the time it was waste
and now it's pay, maybe.

I don't know.

With gold price jumping all
over the place, we're still

trying to figure out what we're
supposed to be sluicing

on this property.

Parker wants a wash plant a week.

I don't want to be the one to tell him

that's not gonna happen.

Parker's tasked foreman
Tyson Lee to make his ambitious

four plants in four weeks plan a success.

Tyson's hauling a hopper feeder
to Parker's oldest wash plant,

Big Red, to sluice the piles of
leftover gravels from

the Golden Mile.

Parker's really putting the pressure on

the team to beat Tony.

He's got new equipment,

he's got a larger crew than ever,

and things are looking
really good this spring,

but first things first,
get this feeder up to Big Red,

get water flowing, go from there.

Looking good. Another foot and a half.

Keep coming, keep coming.
And stop there.

Should we see what kind of power
we got and what spins

- and what doesn't?
- Yeah.

If we're all happy with that,

add the dirt.

- Clear out!
- Yep.

Just bump it a bit.

That looks good.

I'm gonna head down
and get water going.

It's a dry pump,

it's trying to pull prime for
the first time this year.

It might take a few minutes. Here we go.

Yeah, buddy.

We got water.

- Let's fire up.
- Here we go.

Let's see if the shaker wants to fire.

After the coldest winter in 50 years,

so far, so good.

Throw some dirt at her.

Here we go...
first scoop of red this season!

Let's get things rolling.

Oh yeah, that's called sluicing.

14-year-old battle-weary
Big Red breathes again and is

chewing through 160 yards of
top gravel an hour.

It's a good feeling seeing
this old girl making some money

for us again... hopefully.

We don't have the greatest gravel to be

putting through her
right now, but hopefully

we can catch everything we're putting in.

Holy.

That's not good.

We don't really have enough
water coming down the sluices.

Usually it's a little frothier than this.

- Tyson, got a copy, Tyson?
- Yep, go ahead, Alec.

Hey, it looks like we're not
getting enough water

up at the plant here.

Mind coming up and taking
a look with me?

I'm on my way.

Top deck!

What's up with it?

Well, one of our
spray bars isn't spraying.

That's not good.

I mean, I know we just fired
up, but washing rock like this,

we're gonna be losing gold, man.

So I think we've got to shut
her down, get that sorted out.

- Good.
- We can't keep it running like this.

Shut her down.

Washing rock like this,
we're gonna be losing gold,

man, so I think we gotta shut her down.

A broken spray bar has just
derailed Parker's plan to have

a second wash plant, Big Red,
up and running.

It's not good.

Parker's really itching to see some gold.

I need to get this sorted out.

I'll investigate this valve first.

Want me to start cutting that other one?

Yeah.

You know, worst case,
we just put a new one on.

- That's this guy, I guess?
- I think so, yeah.

Here we go.

, I hate cam locks.

- Yeah.
- Sweet.

So that was definitely not flowing water.

The teeth are stripped,

so while we thought the valve was open,

it was actually closed.

Big Red's spray bar is blocked,

stopping it from properly
washing pay dirt.

When this happens,
the gold rich slurry becomes

too viscous with dirt,

then flows down the sluice runs,

clogging up the riffles,
allowing precious gold

to wash out of the end of the box.

Tyson and Alec have discovered
the ball valve feeding

the blocked spray bar is jammed shut,

stopping water getting through.

The simple fix?

Replace it so the wash plant
can get the right amount of

water and get back on the gold.

So we're just gonna...

replace this.

And fire it back up.

Hopefully that solves all
our problems up here.

Sweet.

Big Red's gonna be happily
chewing her oatmeal after this.

- OK, a little water test.
- Yeah.

- Ready?
- Yeah.

We got water!

I'll get things spinning, Alec.

Let's get this thing fired up,
and let's get going in here.

OK.

Oh yeah, there you are.

Nice job, Alec.

Yeah, that's a good job done there.

Yeah, that's cleaned out nicely now.

Sweet.

Got everything changed out,
the spray bars are functional,

everybody wins.

The wash plant that refuses to die.

Yeah.

I love this plant.

Every year it's supposed to get retired.

You think this year's the year?

I thought that it was the year
for like four years straight.

It's just looking dirt.

- Have we made a huge mistake?
- We'll find out.

- Two down, two to go?
- Yeah. Yeah.

- Good job, dude.
- Thanks, man.

Pretty stoked to have a second plant

up and running, you know?

Now let's hope there's some

tiny shiny in there.

Buzz, what do you think?

Well, that's what we have to find out.

55 miles north, there's a new
player in the Klondike.

Greg Gibson.

Having made big money in hard
rock mining, he's setting up

his first-ever placer operation

and is expecting foreman Buzz Legault

to deliver him gold.

We might as well take a chunk out of it.

We'll run it and see.

You know, we'll run it 300
or 400 or 500 yards.

It'll give us an indication of
what we want to strip and what

we want to get into pay.

But I heard you were good.

We are gonna find out.

I'm leaving for a week,
so the next time I'm out here,

I want a wash plant set up for testing.

Right?

Or we may lock arseholes a little bit.

OK.

Greg is buying up ground
across the Yukon to build

a new mining empire.

And his launch pad is
the 60-acre Trail Hill claim

on the historically rich Bonanza Creek.

Bonanza has been picked apart
forever, but we're high enough

up on the hill. There was no dredging.

We know we've got virgin ground.

There'll definitely be gold.

How much is there? This test will tell us.

Unfortunately, I don't have
the time to stay up here.

I have a few irons in the fire
that I have to get going.

So, you know, I'm just lucky to
have Neil and Tyler up here.

They're my two right-hand men.

And then, of course,
Buzz, he knows placer,

so hopefully it'll work out fine.

Mr. Buzz.

Buzz Legault.

You too, man.

Squeezed my hand pretty hard there.

So you've been up here for a while?

Yeah, I started out mechanical
pretty much.

From there, I went from being
a mechanic to a...

mechanical superintendent to
a manager.

Same as Tyler, so

we've been together a long time.

We were all supposed to retire there...

a year or so ago.

But Greg, he got the itch for
placer mining.

Hopefully we have a good season, man.

It's gonna be...

Well, Buzz seems like a decent guy.

He's... never really know a guy
by shaking his hand,

but I'm sure I'll get to know
him pretty well.

You know guys when you work
with them, for sure.

So far, Greg has invested
$3 million in Trail Hill,

including...

half a million on a brand-new wash plant.

It's an impressive looking unit.

I mean, I've never worked in
anything like that before.

Now what's the plan?

Is it gonna be balanced there, though?

One end's gonna be a little
heavier than the other,

don't matter?

See the name?

- Hot Box.
- Right on!

Whew.

You gonna lead it, Buzz?

Both up, slow.

All right, hold it.

OK, start to swing if you can.

Swing her, Buzz.

Oh, but you're coming this
way, Tyler, a little bit.

Oh no, no, hold on!

Wait!

Whoa, Buzz, up. Hold it.

Down.

Oh my God,

Make me nervous when you do that.

- All right, easy peasy.
- Yeah.

Good job.

It's because you guys
need to sync up a little better.

Or maybe it was the leader.

- Anyways.
- Anyways, we're on ground now.

We're hauling.

All right, let's do it, man.

We're on the last stretch, Buzz.

I think that's it, Buzz.

Whew.

Yabba dabba doo!

To get the plant ready for the test run,

Buzz and his new crew need to
install the hopper,

the tailings conveyor,
and the sluice runs.

Yeah.

Yeah, it'll be exciting once we fire it up.

Tony's crew is in the middle
of stripping 20 more acres of

the Midas cut down to pay,
running a battalion of trucks

to transport thousands of tons
of worthless black muck

half a mile east to his dump site.

The overburden is melting,
so it's very slippery for

the dumpers driving through it,
and that gives a lot of mess.

The conditions in the wet dump

are really, really sloppy. It's like soup.

So, you really got to watch it
when you're backing in there

because you just sink.

I think Tony would get really
pissed if you did that.

Lower your box, please, Tim.

D7 operator Meghan Roberts is
responsible for keeping

the site safe for rock trucks to dump.

Sorry. Thank you, Meghan.

Today has been chaotic.

It's just really, really wet.

I'm essentially trying to keep
it as clear as possible for

the rock trucks.

We're just barely
treading water in terms of

keeping it usable.

This dump is a, like, there's
no hope in recovering this.

I think I'm stuck.

Oh my. OK.

So now we've got a track off.

Wah!

Nick, do you copy Nick?

Go ahead.

There's no way I'm getting out
of this without being

- pulled out.
- We'll be there in a minute.

Well, we're gonna pull her out
as quick as possible, I guess,

and then we get going again,

but we can't have this too much.

Not good.

Hey rock trucks, just be really careful

on that dump, it's really, really soft.

This is just a bit of a show.

Michael, lower your box before
you try to get out, please.

Damn it!

Without the D7,

we're drowning fast.

Whoo!

OK.

To start the morning like this
is just horrible.

Oh my.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we hit

double digits with trucks stuck today.

With the bull that's going on,

we can't have any trucks here anymore.

We're done hauling black muck
out of the cut.

So, no production, no good.

I need Tony to clean this up.

Oh. Here comes Tony.

He's not gonna be happy now.

He's a... how you call that, with the...

A crazy person?

Yeah, well, they take rabbits
out of the hat.

- Oh, a magician.
- Yeah, he's like a magician.

I just about myself.

But Tony just didn't say nothing.

Two 30-ton rock trucks rescued.

Next, the D7 dozer.

We've got Tony in a big
dozer pulling Nick in the 7.

We're just trying to clear
the way a little bit here.

It's out. That's the main thing.

Stranded dozer removed,

Meghan can get the dump site
running again.

And Tony's mission to strip


is back on track.

The Quagmire cut at Ken and Stuart's.

The drilling shows like


Mitch is pretty close to being
ready to start sluicing,

but the problem is there's just
lots of water everywhere.

It's going to be a fight to get
rid of all this water, man.

We got the pump in now,
and we have ourselves

a pretty deep ditch.

Hopefully we can get this
thing thawed out and dried out.

So far, Parker's seasoned
strategy to set up a wash plant

every week is on point.

To stay on target,
he needs foreman Mitch Blaschke

to finish stripping
the 30-acre Quagmire cut.

But the boggy, undulating
benches are causing problems,

with the pay layer 20 feet deep
in some spots,

diving to 50 feet in others.

Man, we've got the most
technical cut we've ever done.

Normally, you know, you'll have little

ups and downs... nothing like this.

It's wild. With all the different benches.

So, let's just try and figure
out a way to start sluicing

and making some gold.

You won't have one dark hair left.

There's not many left, buddy.

Hey, Evan.

You hear what they're calling this place?

The Cork... Corkmire?

I don't even know how to say it.

Cork... Corkmire? Corkmire?

I'm not sure.

That's why I became a miner,
so we didn't have to deal

with hard words.

Yeah, is this what we dropped
out of school for or what?

What is going on with that ditch?

Brennan, you got a copy, Brennan?

Hello?

What's going on with that water table?

That pump should be keeping up.

It looks like it's overflowing
with water, man.

I don't know what the is going on.

If that pump died or what.

Yeah, I wonder if
our suction's all plugged up

from this stuff that we're digging here.

I'm gonna go rip down
and just check the pump.

So, this morning, the pump had
this ditch sucked down nice and dry,

and I would imagine that
the sump probably

got some mud in it here.

It'll happen as all this stuff's sloughing,

so the output on the pump more
than likely probably just has

a little trickle coming out of it.

Oh man, it's ripping!

The pump's doing a great job.

That's a massive amount of water.

But the level of the pond

and the level of our ditch is
now the same.

What is going on here?

What is going on here?

At the Quagmire cut, Mitch is
trying to figure out why

his ditch isn't draining.

That's what's going on here.

It's this ice lens, this is our problem.

If you look down here
and under the mud,

we've got a big layer of ice.

That's our problem right there.

And I think what's happened
here is when we came in

and stripped this,
you know, the first thing that

went over the edge was the snow.

You see that there.

Then the mud came over the top of that.

And what I think is going on
here is the water on that side

is flowing underneath the ice
back into our ditch here.

And that's why we're not able
to gain on it.

A D11 was riding over the top
of that and it never broke.

That's wild.

We've never had a problem like
this before.

We gotta figure out where
we can go with this water

because if we don't,

we're gonna have a flooded cut here.

All right buddy, we got to get
the water out of this side of

the pond over the other side of that road.

Yep.

We got that long pipeline up there that is

a plant supply line.

I'm hoping we can just drag it in here,

see how far it gets us.

If it gets us to the other side
of the road, great.

If not, we'll have to
figure something else out.

Mitch has been battling to
clear melt water in

the Quagmire cut and has dug
an eight-foot deep ditch at

the end of the cut to dry it
out, pumping the water from

the ditch to a nearby holding
pond, but a slab of ice under

the mud in the ditch wall has
melted, creating a cavity,

allowing water from the pond to
flow back to the ditch and then

overflow into the cut again.

To fix the problem, Mitch wants
to pump out the water from

the breached pond and ditch to
a new holding pond

450 feet away and hopes
the hose is long enough.

You know, this is
definitely one of those things

we didn't see coming.

We're spending time screwing
around with something

we already thought we had taken care of.

It's gonna certainly cost us
some time here

to get this fixed.

- You ready, homie?
- Absolutely, buddy.

You have your?

All right, let's go.

Come on, baby.

I'm gonna start swinging it
around, try and get in position

here in a second.

She's soft down here
by this water, buddy.

We're getting close.

Your plan's coming together, Mitchie boy.

Just easy there, you're getting it

pretty tight here.

Holy, look at that,
we're about a foot and it just

pumped right through the culvert there.

Look at Mitch, man, what a genius.

I think we can make that work.

All right, we got our pipeline in place.

We've got the pump connected to it.

Time to move some water here
and get this cut dried out.

Come on, baby.

- Yeah!
- Yeah!

I'm happy though, it feels
like we're winning!

That's working nicely.

You can already tell
the difference here of

the water level from the ditch
on this side over to our pond.

The Quagmire here,

hopefully it'll be a little drier pretty soon.

Awesome, man. Nice work, buddy.

That's wicked.

That pipeline couldn't have
worked out any better.

Buzz Legault and his new crew
are on a mission to complete

the assembly of the brand-new
wash plant, Hot Box,

before the return of boss Greg Gibson.

Pretty jazzed up.

- Jazzed up.
- That's right.

- Jazzy jazz.
- Let's get this thing together.

First to be fitted?
The 30-foot tailings conveyor.

- Oh. Oh, whoa.
- Holy.

Oh, oh, oh, OK!
We're good on my side there.

That went better than I thought.

One, two, three, up.

Golden.

After installing the hopper,

the last piece is the sluice runs,

held in place by two steel arms.

So your straight side goes where?

Top or bottom?

What are you thinking, Buzz?

They all look like the same.

There is one difference,

right?

That's where this eye comes out.

So does it go on the bottom or the top?

Right?

With Greg due back imminently...

Watch your fingers, Buzz.

Buzz is praying he's got it right.

That's not gonna work.

We're all up and backwards.

We have a long ways to go yet.

I'm excited to see what

the new wash plant, Hot Box, looks like.

Greg Gibson is en route to Trail Hill.

I want to see the plant set up
and that we can we can start

our first phase of testing.

They know those are
the marching orders

or I'll be pissed off.

Are you running a mine site
or a dog kennel?

And there's Hot Box as she lays.

Like an old girlfriend I had.

The one that got away.

This is pretty nice.

Did you have anything to do with it?

- Put the arms on.
- How long did that take you?

A little while.

Everyone happy?

There, we got her made with Buzz.

I think it's great.

So you're ready for 18-hour shifts?

Well, there you go. That's the attitude?

- Yeah.
- Perfect.

Perfect. Let's go.

Hot Box is ready to sluice,
and Greg is one step closer to

finding out if Trail Hill holds any gold.

I think it's a good start. You know what?

Could be our empire,
could be our demise.

Who knows?
But we're off to a good start.

Tony, Tony, do you copy?

Could you come down to
the cut, please?

I hit pay.

I hope it is rich.

And then if it's OK,
we'll haul it to the plant,

and then we start sluicing.

At Tony Beets' Midas cut,
Brother Nick has spent a week

stripping 20 acres of black muck

and now has two-thirds of the giant



Do some testing?

Oh, right, yeah.

Yeah, might as well.

Well, there's something in there though.

Hey.

Yeah. We put quite a bit of effort in there,

so I'm happy for that, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Should grow more hair on
your chest then.

While Tony is yet to mine an ounce,

Ten miles away...

What's up boys?

- How you doing?
- Good.

Parker's crew are ready to weigh up gold

from two wash plants.

OK, so your life should be
getting a little bit more

confusing now you have Red going?

Yeah, yeah definitely.

And had a bit of a surprise
there when we fired it up.

The ball valve was faulty.
There's always something.

- It's an old machine.
- Yeah.

You know, it's seen a lot of
dirt go across those decks.

It's gotta be over a million yards.

Oh. And times like, four.

That's crazy.

Well, at least you got your water situation

figured out on it and got it washing good.

And we had a little water situation.

Oh, yeah?

We had some ditches in, just trying to

get things dried up.

There's a lot of work down
there before we're ready to

turn on that wash plant.

So you guys need to get sluicing

and bump our numbers up.

- So two plants running.
- We wanna see how we're doing?

Yeah.

Tyson, you wanna see what
the Goose did?

Here we go.

The Golden Goose has been
sluicing top gravels from

the Airstrip cut.

Last week it delivered 145 ounces.







Relatively it's OK,
but it's worth running like...

- Pay for some fuel?
- Yeah.

Big Red.

Parker is betting Big Red can
also find gold in a pile of

leftover gravels from last
season's Golden Mile cut.





That's just under a half
an ounce an hour.

It's just enough to be
annoying because any worse

and it's easy to shut it down.

And anymore, it's easy to keep it going.

- Well put.
- Because in the long run,

I do think maxing the amount of
gold we find

out of the pieces of ground we're mining

is the best thing to do.

Yeah.

So where we're standing is,

last week we had 145 and a half ounces,

this week it's 211.4.

So, season total, 356.9.

Well, you know, 300 down, 12,700 to go.

Yeah.

As soon as you get that
wash plant running,

it's just gonna be gold everywhere.

- All right, thanks, guys.
- Thanks fellas.

- Thank you.
- So that's not the worst week.

You know, Big Red's obviously
pretty disappointing,

but we're getting Bob going next.

So we should start to crank out
some pretty decent weeks