Bering Sea Gold (2012–…): Season 9, Episode 3 - Tunnel Vision - full transcript
Narrator: Now on
"Bering Sea Gold"...
Zeke: When people tell me that
my idea isn't going to work
and that I'm stupid for having
an idea or trying to do things,
it gives me more freedom
to just do the idea anyway.
If I don't find the kind of gold
that I'm hoping I'd find,
my season's probably over.
I've never had to go down
an ice tunnel before.
Oh, [Bleep].
Kris: We have a chance to get
more gold than Shawn this year,
and I mean a real chance.
My dad and brother see this now.
They see this big picture
of mansions.
That's what I'm trying
to push to everybody.
We'll all get a mansion
out of this.
Holy cow, Jay,
you should see all the gold
that I'm getting down here.
That is the best gold cleanup
we've ever had in our lives,
in our lives!
Shawn: Gold mining
is a stressful job.
All these miners are out here.
There's less and less gold.
And you get a bunch of guys
that don't have
any gold or any money,
and things just
go downhill from there.
I've risked everything
to get to this point.
Shawn: If your air goes out
right now, you're in trouble.
Who has the air?
Hold on!
So overwhelmed by how truly
horrifying it really is.
♫
[ wind blowing ]
♫
Narrator: Nome, Alaska.
Just days into
the winter mining season,
the pressure of
the biggest gold rush
Western Alaska
has seen in decades
is driving the fleet
to extreme measures.
In these conditions,
the miner that thrives
will rely on the strength
of his crew to seize the day.
♫
10 miles east of Nome
at Hastings Creek...
This is straight up,
this is right, isn't it?
This is right
where we need to be.
Zeke Tenhoff and his brother Sam
are working to secure
a mineral-rights claim
with the state of Alaska.
I believe that there could be
multiple careers'
worth of gold out at Hastings.
Narrator: Zeke is targeting
an unexplored,
ancient beachline far offshore
and 45 feet beneath the surface,
grounds he believes will yield
a fortune in gold
that he can work for decades.
If there is awesome gold here
and it's unclaimed,
that's enormous.
It'd be enormous for us.
Narrator: Last summer...
You see anything in there?
No, I definitely see a little
gold building up in here.
Zeke struck promising signs
of gold at Hastings Creek.
Hastings Creek's spitting out
gold right directly that way.
This is where we need to be.
Narrator: He's dedicated
this winter
to staking claim
to the ground...
Zeke: Place they left off on
was a cobble field.
That's where we need to be.
Narrator:
An intricate process...
It's a tiny little speck
of fine gold.
That involves thoroughly
surveying the area.
I have to find a way
to get a little
further north with our hole.
Now...
This is the spot that I know
I need to be at
to get the samples I need.
The swath of ocean floor
Zeke has his sights set on
is covered in pressure ridges,
formations produced
when sheets of sea ice collide,
creating a massive jumble
of ice blocks
that can be 20 feet thick
or more,
and the ground
Zeke needs to survey
is right under
the thickest part.
It may be that like
we have to go through
20 feet of ice to get through
this pressure Ridge,
which sounds insane.
I don't think
it's going to work,
unless you prove me wrong.
Inspired by doubt...
Zeke: Just going to get started
on cutting these pieces
of copper pipe up...
Narrator: The fleet's
mad scientist already has a plan
to bore through
the 20 feet of ice.
The principal behind a copper
hole-melting device
is that you just
have to have a line
in which to evenly distribute
pressurized hot water.
Fairly easy to make with
basic plumbing skills.
Narrator:
Zeke's hole-melting device?
A 2-by-4-foot
copper shower head
that he hopes
will evenly spray hot water
and melt a 20-foot long tunnel
through the pressure Ridge
large enough for him
to squeeze through
and collect the samples
he needs to stake his claim.
♫
Zeke: The gold probe.
Sam: Look here.
We cut you a little 2-by-2 hole
that goes 15 feet down
through ice first
before you get to the water.
Absolutely no light
down there at all.
Zeke: When people tell me
that my idea isn't going to work
and that I'm stupid for having
an idea or trying to do things,
it gives me more freedom
to just do the idea anyway.
♫
♫
Narrator: 70 miles east...
♫
At the Bluff...
That's a huge puddle
of gold right there.
Do you see that?
Yeah, that's all gold, too.
That's sweet.
Narrator: The fighting Irish
are cleaning their
first gold of the season.
Honestly, I'd like to see
10 ounces today.
10 ounces would keep
the ball rolling.
And after spending every last
dime just getting to the Bluff,
captain Kris is in desperate
need of a good cleanup.
Kris: I've lost
quite a bit in life
just because of my background
and my family's situation
and I never really had
the right foundation.
That's why I'm going to make
this mining thing
pay off for me in spades.
I haven't wasted five years
of my life for nothing.
I've actually carved a future
out with my own two bare hands,
and I think I've done
really well doing it.
Narrator: At the start
of the season...
Dude, we're going to
follow Shawn to the Bluffs.
News of the Pomrenke find
at the Bluff
inspired Kris with an idea.
We [Bleep] made it!
Hell yeah!
Follow Mr. Gold
to the gold...
You guys are a couple
[Bleep] coward [Bleep]
Pieces of [Bleep] mother [Bleep]
That got to leech off of
other [Bleep] people.
And claim a piece
of the Bluff gold rush
for house Kelly.
Oh, I found a thousand flakes
all in here,
all underneath this one rock.
Narrator: Now the young captain
is about to see
if his gamble is paying off.
Kris: Okay, here we go.
That's one.
Two, four, five.
Six, seven.
All: Eight. Nine.
Kris: Look at that.
That's it, 9.3.
9.3!
9.3 ounces.
Yay!
[Bleep] "A"!
Narrator: 9.3 ounces
is worth over $11,000.
That is the best gold cleanup
we've ever had in our lives.
In our lives.
The record haul
puts the Kellys
within striking distance
of Kris' goal
to become a millionaire.
Only 824 more ounces to go.
Brad: Captain Kris
has got gold fever.
I mean, he was passing it
around to all of us.
I got the feeling this is
going to be the best year
for us of all, you know?
Andy: I believe in my brother.
I always have.
If I didn't, I wouldn't
be here working with him.
It's a gimme right there,
but at least
he pulled it out of his ass,
so hopefully he just keeps
going the way he's going now
and we'll be fine.
Kris: Right now,
we have a chance
to get more gold
than Shawn this year,
and I mean a real chance.
Who the [Bleep] competes
against millionaires?
Hey, let's just be men
and do this.
My dad and brother see this now.
They see this big picture
of mansions.
That's what I'm trying
to push to everybody.
We'll all get a mansion
out of this.
Narrator: After five years
of battling with his family
just to scrape by,
Kris Kelly may be
on the cusp of greatness.
All he needs to do
is keep the family on the gold.
♫
♫
My ears just popped.
♫
Okay.
♫
How is it?
I'm trying to find
these 10-ounce pockets
that everybody keeps
talking about.
Hey, Jay, I can't even
hear you on this thing.
It hums nonstop.
This is soft [Bleep],
so we could rip
right through this.
I just wonder if it's
a waste of time,
and there's nice quartz rock.
[ Noise ]
I can't even hear you, Jay.
[ Noise ]
♫
Kris, I can barely even [Bleep]
Make out what you're saying
half the time.
Something's wrong!
[ Noise ]
What?
[ Noise ]
Did you hear him?
Because I can't.
I think I'm losing air!
♫
[ bleep ]
♫
Narrator: Coming up...
Everybody could use a paycheck.
There's nuggets on top.
[ Laughs ]
This is most definitely
the most terrifying
diving experience
of my life so far.
Narrator: 80 miles east of Nome
at the Bluff...
I think I'm losing air!
♫
[ bleep ]
♫
Narrator:
Captain Kris Kelly's quest
to keep his family
on the gold...
Something's wrong.
Has been cut short
by faulty equipment.
I'm not going back underneath
the water with that regulator.
What's the problem?
I'm looking at it.
It's [Bleep] you.
I'm not the [Bleep] problem.
I couldn't [Bleep] breathe.
You think I'm scrambling up
the hose for my health?
Kris' dream of
becoming a millionaire
and buying new mansions
for his family...
Is disappearing before his eyes.
Kris: The whole mining operation
is dangerous.
101 ways to kill yourself there.
But on top of that,
there's the real danger
of suffocating yourself
underneath the water.
It's never a good idea.
I don't know one [Bleep] thing
that's safe about ice mining.
I really don't.
Maybe if you stand there
and don't move, it's safe.
The regulator is [Bleep] up.
Yeah, we've got to
drive to town now.
Standing on a fortune
you can't reach
and knowing that
all of your problems
can be solved right here
and I can't [Bleep]
Get the money
out of the ground myself.
I didn't come here for
a half an ounce an hour.
I came here for
my 500-ounce season.
We are just too damn close
to be stopped now.
♫
Narrator: 300 feet
across the ice...
Shawn: Tweedly Dee
and Tweedly Dum.
Kris' little annoying,
squeaky little voice.
Their mining style is go jump
on somebody that found gold
and try to steal it from them.
Narrator: Shawn Pomrenke is
looking for his next dive spot
with the help of
an underwater camera.
His goal?
Shawn: That's a big rock
right there.
Narrator:
Locate a boulder he found
at the end of last summer
that he hopes marks big gold...
Shawn: Not happy
with chump change,
little, tiny bits of gold.
Narrator: Gold he'll use to fund
a $6 million megadredge.
Shawn: We want
the big pile of gold.
Narrator: Last summer...
Shawn: 45 ounces.
We're doing $100 a minute.
Narrator: Shawn found signs
of a massive new deposit
at the Bluff.
Shawn: This could be
a game changer.
[ Laughs ]
Narrator: But so far
this winter...
He hasn't been able
to relocate the pay streak.
♫
You [Bleep] idiot!
Narrator:
And news of the find...
What's up,
stupid mother [Bleep]?
Has brought
an unwelcome distraction...
They want to play dirty,
we'll [Bleep] play dirty.
That pulled him
off the hunt for gold...
Just punching holes,
but, I mean,
it's all
the right-looking material.
I just am not seeing
a lot of gold I want to see.
Wasting time and effort.
Aw, [Bleep].
Now...
Shawn is refocused on the race
to track down his gold...
Kellys are a bunch
of rookies, thieves.
Before someone else does.
Gold mining is a stressful job.
You can be one wrong move
and get off the track.
You never know what's
going to be under each rock.
Pretty good dip right there.
Look at that hole.
Yep, that's a pretty good hole
right back there.
Looks good.
We're ready to move.
Start making some money.
I mean, I've gone diving
and I've dove for three weeks
and made $500.
I was ready to
throw in the towel.
And then the next day,
I hit a $30,000 patch of gold.
Still haven't found
the mother lode
we've been looking for,
but we're still on the hunt.
♫
♫
Nice.
Matt's got it throttled up.
Okay.
[Laughing]
Oh, yeah.
♫
Beautiful.
♫
I work with Shawn because
I don't have to worry
about any of the little things,
nor the big things,
so, you know,
Shawn puts the gold in the box
and that's why we're here.
♫
♫
♫
Narrator: 70 miles west...
♫
At Hastings Creek...
This is most definitely
the most terrifying diving
experience of my life so far.
Hasn't really even started yet.
Narrator: After successfully
boring a 20-foot ice tunnel,
Zeke Tenhoff is taking on
the most dangerous dive
of his life.
I'm going to start
gathering up samples.
His goal?
Collect gold-rich samples
and stake a claim
to the location,
giving himself ground
he can mine for decades.
♫
Good god!
Oh, [Bleep]!
What have I gotten myself into?
♫
I never had to go down
an ice tunnel before.
♫
♫
It keeps going down.
How deep is this bastard?
♫
♫
What's it look like
down there, Zeke?
Just big dark shapes
all around me.
They're big, free-floating,
loose chunks of ice,
and they could break free
at any moment and plug my hole.
Yeah, oh,
there's a big boy over there.
Damn, I don't want to have to
[Bleep] around with him.
I'm going to pretend
he's not there.
I don't like him at all.
♫
So overwhelmed by how
truly horrifying it really is.
♫
[ breathing ]
I like what I'm seeing
about this stuff.
I mean, dude, I know there's
gold around here somewhere.
Look at this bottom.
This is just, like...
I mean, it's a cobble field.
There's big rocks
kind of scattered about.
This is a reconcentration zone
like I've never seen.
Narrator: The cobble field
marks the location
of the ancient beachline
where gold should gather.
This is exactly what Zeke
has been looking for.
He believes
the ancient beachline
and the pressure ridges
work together to create
a massive gold deposit.
If he's right,
this could be the richest ground
in the history
of the Nome gold game.
All right,
I'm going to stop dillydallying
and I'm going to start
gathering up samples.
♫
Just got to clear all these
ice chunks out of his hole.
They keep floating up
from the bottom.
If it keeps coming up like this
and I can't move it out
fast enough,
it's going to plug his hole up.
All right, I just got a sample,
but I want to keep looking.
It just takes time
to go through these rocks.
♫
Narrator: Coming up...
Everything's barely
hanging on by a thread.
Kris!
Kris, the air!
You just want to take
your gloves off
and just start grabbing 'em.
[ Laughs ]
Narrator:
10 miles east of Nome
at Hastings Creek...
If it keeps coming up like this
and I can't move it out
fast enough,
it's going to plug his hole up.
Zeke: All right,
I just got a sample,
but I want to keep looking.
Narrator: Zeke Tenhoff
is undertaking
the most dangerous dive
of his life --
Down a 2-foot-wide hole
through 20 feet of ice...
It just takes time
to go through these rocks.
Narrator: Ice that is
slowly freezing above him.
All right,
I'm going to run up to you.
♫
[ bleep ]
♫
♫
[ laughs ]
♫
Zeke: Probably the most
hazardous thing I've ever done
under the ice, without question.
Sam: I was like
shoveling chunks
for like half that dive.
I was like
throwing the chunks up,
and I think when I was
wandering around down there,
my tether would like
catch a chunk,
and then that chunk would go,
"oh, I'm just going to go up
into Zeke's hole now."
Yeah.
Because there's all these chunks
that are like
all poised to just go booh!
Yeah, I know.
It's scary.
Yeah.
You know what I need to do
is if I'm going to spend
any more time down there,
I'm going to make two holes.
Narrator: After a decade
as a miner,
this isn't Zeke's first brush
with danger under the ice.
I think the scariest instances
in my diving career
weren't scary
when they happened,
but it's scary to think back
on just how reckless I was.
How could I have been
that freaking stupid?
I've found myself in situations
where I had no lights,
where my dive tether was like
freezing into the ceiling
and I had no communication
systems with topside.
It's inky blackness,
no way to know
what direction to go.
You do do that kind of thing
when you're a young man,
I think.
Do really stupid things.
I don't know if there's
gold down there yet,
but there is gold ground.
It's loose material,
it's mineralized.
It's where it needs to be
for there to be gold.
I mean, like, really,
pretty much with all of the data
that I have and everything
that's pointing to this place,
I mean, there really
isn't any reason
why there wouldn't
be any gold here.
I mean, this is where
it should be,
and, like, we're set up,
we're here, we're good to go.
We just need to
pan out our samples
and we need to figure out
where to proceed from there.
I'm definitely following
the treasure-hunting feeling.
The samples that I collected
under the pressure Ridge
could be everything
that I've been looking for.
It could mean like
millions of dollars.
Some of my instincts
I think are right on.
If I didn't think that
that was a good possibility,
I wouldn't be taking
those hazardous risks.
♫
[ wind blowing ]
Narrator: 70 miles east...
♫
At the Bluff...
There's a lot more
to this operation
than just diving
underneath the water.
We're making it work.
After an equipment malfunction
stopped the Kellys' first dive,
Captain Kris is getting
the Irish back under the ice.
Please, for me,
don't go way,
way far away from the hole.
Please? I know.
Kris: If I wait for the time
that I have the proper equipment
and the money backing me,
I'm never going to make it,
so I have to take what I have
and I have to make this work.
We're taking the neoprene
right now.
We're going to wrap it
around our regulator,
and there are
no more freeze-ups.
Narrator: Kris' fix
for the busted regulator?
Wrap it in strips
cut from an old dive boot
so it won't freeze up...
You know,
this thing's a life saver.
Send down little brother Andy
and hope it works.
You look good to go.
♫
♫
Jay: Andy,
I hate to depend on you,
but I'm telling you, brother,
I really need your help right
now to try to make this work.
♫
Nobody gives a [Bleep].
♫
How's it going down there, Andy?
Andy: It's going okay.
Give me a little time, dude.
Don't worry.
How's the regulator going?
Well, that's good.
Andy: I got a little
amount of gold
sitting here in front of me,
and it's getting better
as I go that way through.
♫
Jay: I hate to say it,
but are you trying
to excite me or make me mad?
Andy: I'm not trying
to make you mad, Jay.
I hit something decent and it's
going to lead into more.
Jay: Okay, that's the attitude
I want to hear.
Andy: I've just got to extend
my hose out
and then I'm going to
plow through
this whole [Bleep] area
and find good gold.
Give me more umbilical.
Narrator: Extending
the umbilical cord
lets Andy cover more ground,
but the more ground Andy covers,
the farther he gets
from the safe exit
of the dive hole.
Holy cow, Jay, you should see
all the gold that
I'm getting down here, man.
This ball's looking
a lot better.
Grab the box.
As I rip through the ball,
it looks better.
Oh, yeah, it's looking a lot
better as I rip through it.
♫
[bleep], I'm sitting here
with the nozzle,
and the gold's opening up
right there, too.
Jay: Awesome!
♫
[ Beeping ]
[ Beep ]
Everything's barely
hanging on by a thread.
[ Beeping ]
And now our com box
is [Bleep] up.
[ Beeping ]
[ Noise ]
Um, Jay?
♫
[ bleep ]
[ Gasping ]
♫
Kris! Kris, the air!
[ Coughing ]
[ Beeping ]
Nothing's [Bleep]
working for me.
Kris!
Kris, the air!
Hold on!
♫
Kris!
♫
[ wind blowing ]
Narrator: 80 miles
east of Nome
at the Bluff...
[ Squelch ]
Andy: Kris, the air!
Hold on!
♫
Narrator: Out of air
and without coms,
Andy Kelly is fighting
to escape the ice.
Andy: Kris!
♫
♫
Kris: This is dangerous.
We're going to kill ourselves.
I love my brother.
He's my only brother
and this isn't --
This really isn't
[Bleep] worth it.
There's a hundred ways
to hurt yourself.
Brad: Kris is so pumped up
for gold that, you know,
he doesn't give any thought
to what he's doing.
We're using equipment now
that's not tested,
probably the worst mistake
you can make as a captain.
You're a hundred miles away
from anywhere.
Anything could happen.
And Kris is making
these decisions
like it's just down the road.
His leadership qualities
are not that good.
I mean, he could barely
lead us to Bluffs
without killing somebody,
you know?
Here, Andy, licorice.
♫
I'm glad you're okay.
I don't know why I put you down.
I told you to [Bleep], uh...
♫
We're shutting
this [Bleep] down.
Narrator:
With a busted regulator
nearly killing two Kellys
in one day...
We can turn off the engine.
Kris has no choice
but to shut down the operation.
Tomorrow morning,
we'll go to town,
and then we're going to come
back and hit it twice as hard.
Together, we're going to
make this work.
The Kellys are going to make
at least a thousand ounces
this year.
I really feel in my heart
that's what we can make.
♫
Narrator: Less than
a hundred yards away...
♫
Shawn Pomrenke is eight hours
into his dive.
What you seeing down there?
Hell yeah.
Narrator:
He's sucking up gold...
But still on the hunt
for the pay streak
he needs to fund
his $6 million megadredge.
A lot of the time,
guys who know
what they're talking about
know that when
you find the nuggets,
you're towards
the end of the pay,
because you'll follow it in
from the finer gold
until you get to the coarser
gold to the coarsest gold.
Then it's gone.
Shawn: I think
I've had enough, boy.
I'm going to come on up.
Narrator: As Shawn's
eight-hour shift ends,
the operation rolls on
as number two diver
big Joe Fullwood suits up.
Shawn: You have to surround
yourself with a good crew.
If you don't have a good crew,
you're going to end up
just losing all your money
and not finding any gold
or making any money.
So head down there
and flip every rock
until hopefully it turns into
[Bleep] something amazing.
♫
♫
Ah, nice big chunk
of weathered bedrock
right under the hole.
That's a good sign.
Run out here and see if I can
put some gold in the box.
Nice tan clay.
That's what the majority
of the gold has been sitting on.
A lot of big rocks.
That's what a lot of
the big gold has been under.
I'm going to go hunt around
a little bit,
see if I can find a rock
to flip down here.
We're still looking for that
six-ounce-an-hour material
we left off on,
so there's bound to be more.
♫
I got this pretty big
piece of bedrock,
weathered bedrock
sitting down in the Clay.
I'm going to have to try to use
the nozzle as a fulcrum,
get this thing
popped out of here if I can.
All right,
let's see if I can pop this.
♫
♫
It's a stubborn one.
The rocks are about
the heaviest rocks
I've ever hammered for us.
Yeah, it's pretty crazy
how heavy they are.
All right,
I'm getting a little movement.
Shawn: Joe Fullwood.
He's got as much passion
if not more
for gold mining than I do.
He's a great diver.
He's definitely a big asset
to the business.
Shawn: Got her?
She's loosening.
He's breathing pretty hard.
This is when if your air
goes out right now,
you're in trouble.
[Bleep]
Stubborn.
♫
[ Grunts ]
♫
All right.
Oh, he got it.
♫
All righty.
What hath we here?
You know, when I see
something like this,
I just want to say,
"will you look at that?"
♫
Are you back in nuggetville?
Oh, yeah.
I got a good --
Good two or three,
four or five, six,
seven of them sitting
right in front of me.
You just want to instinctively
take your gloves off
and just start grabbing 'em.
[ Laughs ]
I'm checking your gloves
when you get up here.
[ Laughs ]
Yeah.
Narrator: The concentrated vein
of chunky gold
could mean
that Shawn and his crew
are zeroing in on the boulder
he believes marks a
multimillion-dollar pay streak.
Shawn: Aw,
you're making me jealous.
I was like, "man,
I didn't find that little spot."
[ Laughs ]
Seems like whenever you pop
one of these rocks up,
you'll find at a minimum
a couple ounces.
Sounds good, buddy.
Keep popping those rocks
and sucking up that gold.
All right, man, sounds good.
Oh, yeah.
♫
Narrator: Coming up...
Here we go.
First cleanup of the season.
[ Laughs ]
My season's probably over.
Wait a second.
What?
That's no joke, dude.
Like, we might be
into it out here.
♫
Zeke: I think quitting is like
when you run out of ideas.
I have a Jean Claude van Damme
quote on that
on my phone that I could read.
♫
This one's unrelated,
but he said in an interview,
"In the year 3000,
people are going to speak
with sound waves.
Don't think I'm crazy.
Whales do it.
Dolphins, too."
[ Laughs ]
Who knew I'd be getting, like,
a lot of my inspirational quotes
from Jean Claude van Damme?
[ Laughs ]
♫
[ wind blowing ]
Narrator: 10 miles
east of Nome
at Hastings Creek...
♫
Zeke: We've spent so much
freaking time and energy
getting these samples
that I better see something.
Narrator: Zeke Tenhoff's
dream of staking
the first mining claim
of his career
rests in a bucket of dirt.
I've got all my eggs
in that basket right now.
If I don't find the kind of gold
that I'm hoping I'm finding,
my season's probably over.
Just don't have enough time
to start from scratch
this ice season.
Just don't.
♫
I don't even see anything.
It's, like...
Let's try this one.
♫
No.
♫
I mean, there should be
freaking gold in there.
This is the last sample.
♫
Oh.
♫
Wait a second.
Look at that.
What?
Dude, that's --
That's gold.
That's no joke, dude.
Like, we might be
into it out here.
Damn.
Beautiful, dude!
High five.
Yeah.
Bam!
Narrator: After three weeks
of collecting
sample bucket
after sample bucket,
Zeke may have found the key
to a golden future.
All this work we did
melting through pressure ridges,
dealing with all
this Hastings Creek stuff,
it looks like it's
going to pay off for us.
The state wants to see
that I really established
that there's gold
at Hastings Creek,
enough gold to justify
a long-period business plan,
so my brother and i
have accomplished step one.
There could be, like,
the rest of our working careers'
worth of money
just sitting out there,
and, I mean,
the future that's ahead of us,
I don't even want to
have to speculate on it,
because that's
just been my dream.
Due, high five.
Yeah.
Bam!
♫
Narrator: 67 miles east...
At the Bluff...
Shawn:
There's nuggets on top.
[ Laughs ]
Nice.
Man, the first cleanup.
Everybody could use
a paycheck, I'm sure.
I work my ass off for it
and then hundreds of people
come and take it.
Great.
[ Bleep ].
I don't want to see
any more people out here.
Narrator: After the distraction
of new neighbors,
Shawn and crew are looking
for a solid cleanup
to get back on track.
Shawn: Gold mining
is a stressful job.
All these miners are out here,
there's less and less gold,
so here you got a bunch of guys
that don't have
any gold or any money
and have been working
their ass off
and things just
go downhill from there,
so we need some good gold.
Here we go.
First cleanup of the season.
♫
10.
11.
♫
12 ounces?
12 ounces, yep.
Nice.
Narrator: 12 ounces of gold
nets Mr. Gold over $14,000,
barely a dent in the millions
he needs to fund the megadredge.
Shawn: I mean,
we're just blessed right now.
I bring in the gold.
Narrator: But nevertheless,
it's a start.
Shawn: I'm going to build
the megadredge.
A project of this size
is multimillions,
and, yeah, we've made millions,
but we still need to make
a lot more.
It's going to happen.
Guarantee you.
I'm going to keep
piling the gold up.
Ain't going to --
Nothing's going to slow me down.
You can be like the Kellys
and be wannabes.
You can want to be me,
but you'll never be me.
I'm always one step
ahead of them.
Like I said,
Karma will get those [Bleep].
Karma will get 'em.
Narrator: Mr. Gold
and the fighting Irish
join the count,
and the race is on.
♫
You know what?
I'm barely hanging on here.
Emily: My ice season is about
to fall apart.
Shawn: It's not worth
doing all this [Bleep].
Emily: I will do
whatever it takes.
Shawn: Give her a little nudge.
Gold just got a lot better.
We've gone years without
seeing nuggets that big.
Woo! Give me some love,
everybody, love!
Shawn: I think we're close to --
Andy: It's about a half
a cup full.
Oh! Oh!
Aah!
Yeah!
Emily: Oh, my god.
I can't believe
I'm freaking at the Bluff.
♫
"Bering Sea Gold"...
Zeke: When people tell me that
my idea isn't going to work
and that I'm stupid for having
an idea or trying to do things,
it gives me more freedom
to just do the idea anyway.
If I don't find the kind of gold
that I'm hoping I'd find,
my season's probably over.
I've never had to go down
an ice tunnel before.
Oh, [Bleep].
Kris: We have a chance to get
more gold than Shawn this year,
and I mean a real chance.
My dad and brother see this now.
They see this big picture
of mansions.
That's what I'm trying
to push to everybody.
We'll all get a mansion
out of this.
Holy cow, Jay,
you should see all the gold
that I'm getting down here.
That is the best gold cleanup
we've ever had in our lives,
in our lives!
Shawn: Gold mining
is a stressful job.
All these miners are out here.
There's less and less gold.
And you get a bunch of guys
that don't have
any gold or any money,
and things just
go downhill from there.
I've risked everything
to get to this point.
Shawn: If your air goes out
right now, you're in trouble.
Who has the air?
Hold on!
So overwhelmed by how truly
horrifying it really is.
♫
[ wind blowing ]
♫
Narrator: Nome, Alaska.
Just days into
the winter mining season,
the pressure of
the biggest gold rush
Western Alaska
has seen in decades
is driving the fleet
to extreme measures.
In these conditions,
the miner that thrives
will rely on the strength
of his crew to seize the day.
♫
10 miles east of Nome
at Hastings Creek...
This is straight up,
this is right, isn't it?
This is right
where we need to be.
Zeke Tenhoff and his brother Sam
are working to secure
a mineral-rights claim
with the state of Alaska.
I believe that there could be
multiple careers'
worth of gold out at Hastings.
Narrator: Zeke is targeting
an unexplored,
ancient beachline far offshore
and 45 feet beneath the surface,
grounds he believes will yield
a fortune in gold
that he can work for decades.
If there is awesome gold here
and it's unclaimed,
that's enormous.
It'd be enormous for us.
Narrator: Last summer...
You see anything in there?
No, I definitely see a little
gold building up in here.
Zeke struck promising signs
of gold at Hastings Creek.
Hastings Creek's spitting out
gold right directly that way.
This is where we need to be.
Narrator: He's dedicated
this winter
to staking claim
to the ground...
Zeke: Place they left off on
was a cobble field.
That's where we need to be.
Narrator:
An intricate process...
It's a tiny little speck
of fine gold.
That involves thoroughly
surveying the area.
I have to find a way
to get a little
further north with our hole.
Now...
This is the spot that I know
I need to be at
to get the samples I need.
The swath of ocean floor
Zeke has his sights set on
is covered in pressure ridges,
formations produced
when sheets of sea ice collide,
creating a massive jumble
of ice blocks
that can be 20 feet thick
or more,
and the ground
Zeke needs to survey
is right under
the thickest part.
It may be that like
we have to go through
20 feet of ice to get through
this pressure Ridge,
which sounds insane.
I don't think
it's going to work,
unless you prove me wrong.
Inspired by doubt...
Zeke: Just going to get started
on cutting these pieces
of copper pipe up...
Narrator: The fleet's
mad scientist already has a plan
to bore through
the 20 feet of ice.
The principal behind a copper
hole-melting device
is that you just
have to have a line
in which to evenly distribute
pressurized hot water.
Fairly easy to make with
basic plumbing skills.
Narrator:
Zeke's hole-melting device?
A 2-by-4-foot
copper shower head
that he hopes
will evenly spray hot water
and melt a 20-foot long tunnel
through the pressure Ridge
large enough for him
to squeeze through
and collect the samples
he needs to stake his claim.
♫
Zeke: The gold probe.
Sam: Look here.
We cut you a little 2-by-2 hole
that goes 15 feet down
through ice first
before you get to the water.
Absolutely no light
down there at all.
Zeke: When people tell me
that my idea isn't going to work
and that I'm stupid for having
an idea or trying to do things,
it gives me more freedom
to just do the idea anyway.
♫
♫
Narrator: 70 miles east...
♫
At the Bluff...
That's a huge puddle
of gold right there.
Do you see that?
Yeah, that's all gold, too.
That's sweet.
Narrator: The fighting Irish
are cleaning their
first gold of the season.
Honestly, I'd like to see
10 ounces today.
10 ounces would keep
the ball rolling.
And after spending every last
dime just getting to the Bluff,
captain Kris is in desperate
need of a good cleanup.
Kris: I've lost
quite a bit in life
just because of my background
and my family's situation
and I never really had
the right foundation.
That's why I'm going to make
this mining thing
pay off for me in spades.
I haven't wasted five years
of my life for nothing.
I've actually carved a future
out with my own two bare hands,
and I think I've done
really well doing it.
Narrator: At the start
of the season...
Dude, we're going to
follow Shawn to the Bluffs.
News of the Pomrenke find
at the Bluff
inspired Kris with an idea.
We [Bleep] made it!
Hell yeah!
Follow Mr. Gold
to the gold...
You guys are a couple
[Bleep] coward [Bleep]
Pieces of [Bleep] mother [Bleep]
That got to leech off of
other [Bleep] people.
And claim a piece
of the Bluff gold rush
for house Kelly.
Oh, I found a thousand flakes
all in here,
all underneath this one rock.
Narrator: Now the young captain
is about to see
if his gamble is paying off.
Kris: Okay, here we go.
That's one.
Two, four, five.
Six, seven.
All: Eight. Nine.
Kris: Look at that.
That's it, 9.3.
9.3!
9.3 ounces.
Yay!
[Bleep] "A"!
Narrator: 9.3 ounces
is worth over $11,000.
That is the best gold cleanup
we've ever had in our lives.
In our lives.
The record haul
puts the Kellys
within striking distance
of Kris' goal
to become a millionaire.
Only 824 more ounces to go.
Brad: Captain Kris
has got gold fever.
I mean, he was passing it
around to all of us.
I got the feeling this is
going to be the best year
for us of all, you know?
Andy: I believe in my brother.
I always have.
If I didn't, I wouldn't
be here working with him.
It's a gimme right there,
but at least
he pulled it out of his ass,
so hopefully he just keeps
going the way he's going now
and we'll be fine.
Kris: Right now,
we have a chance
to get more gold
than Shawn this year,
and I mean a real chance.
Who the [Bleep] competes
against millionaires?
Hey, let's just be men
and do this.
My dad and brother see this now.
They see this big picture
of mansions.
That's what I'm trying
to push to everybody.
We'll all get a mansion
out of this.
Narrator: After five years
of battling with his family
just to scrape by,
Kris Kelly may be
on the cusp of greatness.
All he needs to do
is keep the family on the gold.
♫
♫
My ears just popped.
♫
Okay.
♫
How is it?
I'm trying to find
these 10-ounce pockets
that everybody keeps
talking about.
Hey, Jay, I can't even
hear you on this thing.
It hums nonstop.
This is soft [Bleep],
so we could rip
right through this.
I just wonder if it's
a waste of time,
and there's nice quartz rock.
[ Noise ]
I can't even hear you, Jay.
[ Noise ]
♫
Kris, I can barely even [Bleep]
Make out what you're saying
half the time.
Something's wrong!
[ Noise ]
What?
[ Noise ]
Did you hear him?
Because I can't.
I think I'm losing air!
♫
[ bleep ]
♫
Narrator: Coming up...
Everybody could use a paycheck.
There's nuggets on top.
[ Laughs ]
This is most definitely
the most terrifying
diving experience
of my life so far.
Narrator: 80 miles east of Nome
at the Bluff...
I think I'm losing air!
♫
[ bleep ]
♫
Narrator:
Captain Kris Kelly's quest
to keep his family
on the gold...
Something's wrong.
Has been cut short
by faulty equipment.
I'm not going back underneath
the water with that regulator.
What's the problem?
I'm looking at it.
It's [Bleep] you.
I'm not the [Bleep] problem.
I couldn't [Bleep] breathe.
You think I'm scrambling up
the hose for my health?
Kris' dream of
becoming a millionaire
and buying new mansions
for his family...
Is disappearing before his eyes.
Kris: The whole mining operation
is dangerous.
101 ways to kill yourself there.
But on top of that,
there's the real danger
of suffocating yourself
underneath the water.
It's never a good idea.
I don't know one [Bleep] thing
that's safe about ice mining.
I really don't.
Maybe if you stand there
and don't move, it's safe.
The regulator is [Bleep] up.
Yeah, we've got to
drive to town now.
Standing on a fortune
you can't reach
and knowing that
all of your problems
can be solved right here
and I can't [Bleep]
Get the money
out of the ground myself.
I didn't come here for
a half an ounce an hour.
I came here for
my 500-ounce season.
We are just too damn close
to be stopped now.
♫
Narrator: 300 feet
across the ice...
Shawn: Tweedly Dee
and Tweedly Dum.
Kris' little annoying,
squeaky little voice.
Their mining style is go jump
on somebody that found gold
and try to steal it from them.
Narrator: Shawn Pomrenke is
looking for his next dive spot
with the help of
an underwater camera.
His goal?
Shawn: That's a big rock
right there.
Narrator:
Locate a boulder he found
at the end of last summer
that he hopes marks big gold...
Shawn: Not happy
with chump change,
little, tiny bits of gold.
Narrator: Gold he'll use to fund
a $6 million megadredge.
Shawn: We want
the big pile of gold.
Narrator: Last summer...
Shawn: 45 ounces.
We're doing $100 a minute.
Narrator: Shawn found signs
of a massive new deposit
at the Bluff.
Shawn: This could be
a game changer.
[ Laughs ]
Narrator: But so far
this winter...
He hasn't been able
to relocate the pay streak.
♫
You [Bleep] idiot!
Narrator:
And news of the find...
What's up,
stupid mother [Bleep]?
Has brought
an unwelcome distraction...
They want to play dirty,
we'll [Bleep] play dirty.
That pulled him
off the hunt for gold...
Just punching holes,
but, I mean,
it's all
the right-looking material.
I just am not seeing
a lot of gold I want to see.
Wasting time and effort.
Aw, [Bleep].
Now...
Shawn is refocused on the race
to track down his gold...
Kellys are a bunch
of rookies, thieves.
Before someone else does.
Gold mining is a stressful job.
You can be one wrong move
and get off the track.
You never know what's
going to be under each rock.
Pretty good dip right there.
Look at that hole.
Yep, that's a pretty good hole
right back there.
Looks good.
We're ready to move.
Start making some money.
I mean, I've gone diving
and I've dove for three weeks
and made $500.
I was ready to
throw in the towel.
And then the next day,
I hit a $30,000 patch of gold.
Still haven't found
the mother lode
we've been looking for,
but we're still on the hunt.
♫
♫
Nice.
Matt's got it throttled up.
Okay.
[Laughing]
Oh, yeah.
♫
Beautiful.
♫
I work with Shawn because
I don't have to worry
about any of the little things,
nor the big things,
so, you know,
Shawn puts the gold in the box
and that's why we're here.
♫
♫
♫
Narrator: 70 miles west...
♫
At Hastings Creek...
This is most definitely
the most terrifying diving
experience of my life so far.
Hasn't really even started yet.
Narrator: After successfully
boring a 20-foot ice tunnel,
Zeke Tenhoff is taking on
the most dangerous dive
of his life.
I'm going to start
gathering up samples.
His goal?
Collect gold-rich samples
and stake a claim
to the location,
giving himself ground
he can mine for decades.
♫
Good god!
Oh, [Bleep]!
What have I gotten myself into?
♫
I never had to go down
an ice tunnel before.
♫
♫
It keeps going down.
How deep is this bastard?
♫
♫
What's it look like
down there, Zeke?
Just big dark shapes
all around me.
They're big, free-floating,
loose chunks of ice,
and they could break free
at any moment and plug my hole.
Yeah, oh,
there's a big boy over there.
Damn, I don't want to have to
[Bleep] around with him.
I'm going to pretend
he's not there.
I don't like him at all.
♫
So overwhelmed by how
truly horrifying it really is.
♫
[ breathing ]
I like what I'm seeing
about this stuff.
I mean, dude, I know there's
gold around here somewhere.
Look at this bottom.
This is just, like...
I mean, it's a cobble field.
There's big rocks
kind of scattered about.
This is a reconcentration zone
like I've never seen.
Narrator: The cobble field
marks the location
of the ancient beachline
where gold should gather.
This is exactly what Zeke
has been looking for.
He believes
the ancient beachline
and the pressure ridges
work together to create
a massive gold deposit.
If he's right,
this could be the richest ground
in the history
of the Nome gold game.
All right,
I'm going to stop dillydallying
and I'm going to start
gathering up samples.
♫
Just got to clear all these
ice chunks out of his hole.
They keep floating up
from the bottom.
If it keeps coming up like this
and I can't move it out
fast enough,
it's going to plug his hole up.
All right, I just got a sample,
but I want to keep looking.
It just takes time
to go through these rocks.
♫
Narrator: Coming up...
Everything's barely
hanging on by a thread.
Kris!
Kris, the air!
You just want to take
your gloves off
and just start grabbing 'em.
[ Laughs ]
Narrator:
10 miles east of Nome
at Hastings Creek...
If it keeps coming up like this
and I can't move it out
fast enough,
it's going to plug his hole up.
Zeke: All right,
I just got a sample,
but I want to keep looking.
Narrator: Zeke Tenhoff
is undertaking
the most dangerous dive
of his life --
Down a 2-foot-wide hole
through 20 feet of ice...
It just takes time
to go through these rocks.
Narrator: Ice that is
slowly freezing above him.
All right,
I'm going to run up to you.
♫
[ bleep ]
♫
♫
[ laughs ]
♫
Zeke: Probably the most
hazardous thing I've ever done
under the ice, without question.
Sam: I was like
shoveling chunks
for like half that dive.
I was like
throwing the chunks up,
and I think when I was
wandering around down there,
my tether would like
catch a chunk,
and then that chunk would go,
"oh, I'm just going to go up
into Zeke's hole now."
Yeah.
Because there's all these chunks
that are like
all poised to just go booh!
Yeah, I know.
It's scary.
Yeah.
You know what I need to do
is if I'm going to spend
any more time down there,
I'm going to make two holes.
Narrator: After a decade
as a miner,
this isn't Zeke's first brush
with danger under the ice.
I think the scariest instances
in my diving career
weren't scary
when they happened,
but it's scary to think back
on just how reckless I was.
How could I have been
that freaking stupid?
I've found myself in situations
where I had no lights,
where my dive tether was like
freezing into the ceiling
and I had no communication
systems with topside.
It's inky blackness,
no way to know
what direction to go.
You do do that kind of thing
when you're a young man,
I think.
Do really stupid things.
I don't know if there's
gold down there yet,
but there is gold ground.
It's loose material,
it's mineralized.
It's where it needs to be
for there to be gold.
I mean, like, really,
pretty much with all of the data
that I have and everything
that's pointing to this place,
I mean, there really
isn't any reason
why there wouldn't
be any gold here.
I mean, this is where
it should be,
and, like, we're set up,
we're here, we're good to go.
We just need to
pan out our samples
and we need to figure out
where to proceed from there.
I'm definitely following
the treasure-hunting feeling.
The samples that I collected
under the pressure Ridge
could be everything
that I've been looking for.
It could mean like
millions of dollars.
Some of my instincts
I think are right on.
If I didn't think that
that was a good possibility,
I wouldn't be taking
those hazardous risks.
♫
[ wind blowing ]
Narrator: 70 miles east...
♫
At the Bluff...
There's a lot more
to this operation
than just diving
underneath the water.
We're making it work.
After an equipment malfunction
stopped the Kellys' first dive,
Captain Kris is getting
the Irish back under the ice.
Please, for me,
don't go way,
way far away from the hole.
Please? I know.
Kris: If I wait for the time
that I have the proper equipment
and the money backing me,
I'm never going to make it,
so I have to take what I have
and I have to make this work.
We're taking the neoprene
right now.
We're going to wrap it
around our regulator,
and there are
no more freeze-ups.
Narrator: Kris' fix
for the busted regulator?
Wrap it in strips
cut from an old dive boot
so it won't freeze up...
You know,
this thing's a life saver.
Send down little brother Andy
and hope it works.
You look good to go.
♫
♫
Jay: Andy,
I hate to depend on you,
but I'm telling you, brother,
I really need your help right
now to try to make this work.
♫
Nobody gives a [Bleep].
♫
How's it going down there, Andy?
Andy: It's going okay.
Give me a little time, dude.
Don't worry.
How's the regulator going?
Well, that's good.
Andy: I got a little
amount of gold
sitting here in front of me,
and it's getting better
as I go that way through.
♫
Jay: I hate to say it,
but are you trying
to excite me or make me mad?
Andy: I'm not trying
to make you mad, Jay.
I hit something decent and it's
going to lead into more.
Jay: Okay, that's the attitude
I want to hear.
Andy: I've just got to extend
my hose out
and then I'm going to
plow through
this whole [Bleep] area
and find good gold.
Give me more umbilical.
Narrator: Extending
the umbilical cord
lets Andy cover more ground,
but the more ground Andy covers,
the farther he gets
from the safe exit
of the dive hole.
Holy cow, Jay, you should see
all the gold that
I'm getting down here, man.
This ball's looking
a lot better.
Grab the box.
As I rip through the ball,
it looks better.
Oh, yeah, it's looking a lot
better as I rip through it.
♫
[bleep], I'm sitting here
with the nozzle,
and the gold's opening up
right there, too.
Jay: Awesome!
♫
[ Beeping ]
[ Beep ]
Everything's barely
hanging on by a thread.
[ Beeping ]
And now our com box
is [Bleep] up.
[ Beeping ]
[ Noise ]
Um, Jay?
♫
[ bleep ]
[ Gasping ]
♫
Kris! Kris, the air!
[ Coughing ]
[ Beeping ]
Nothing's [Bleep]
working for me.
Kris!
Kris, the air!
Hold on!
♫
Kris!
♫
[ wind blowing ]
Narrator: 80 miles
east of Nome
at the Bluff...
[ Squelch ]
Andy: Kris, the air!
Hold on!
♫
Narrator: Out of air
and without coms,
Andy Kelly is fighting
to escape the ice.
Andy: Kris!
♫
♫
Kris: This is dangerous.
We're going to kill ourselves.
I love my brother.
He's my only brother
and this isn't --
This really isn't
[Bleep] worth it.
There's a hundred ways
to hurt yourself.
Brad: Kris is so pumped up
for gold that, you know,
he doesn't give any thought
to what he's doing.
We're using equipment now
that's not tested,
probably the worst mistake
you can make as a captain.
You're a hundred miles away
from anywhere.
Anything could happen.
And Kris is making
these decisions
like it's just down the road.
His leadership qualities
are not that good.
I mean, he could barely
lead us to Bluffs
without killing somebody,
you know?
Here, Andy, licorice.
♫
I'm glad you're okay.
I don't know why I put you down.
I told you to [Bleep], uh...
♫
We're shutting
this [Bleep] down.
Narrator:
With a busted regulator
nearly killing two Kellys
in one day...
We can turn off the engine.
Kris has no choice
but to shut down the operation.
Tomorrow morning,
we'll go to town,
and then we're going to come
back and hit it twice as hard.
Together, we're going to
make this work.
The Kellys are going to make
at least a thousand ounces
this year.
I really feel in my heart
that's what we can make.
♫
Narrator: Less than
a hundred yards away...
♫
Shawn Pomrenke is eight hours
into his dive.
What you seeing down there?
Hell yeah.
Narrator:
He's sucking up gold...
But still on the hunt
for the pay streak
he needs to fund
his $6 million megadredge.
A lot of the time,
guys who know
what they're talking about
know that when
you find the nuggets,
you're towards
the end of the pay,
because you'll follow it in
from the finer gold
until you get to the coarser
gold to the coarsest gold.
Then it's gone.
Shawn: I think
I've had enough, boy.
I'm going to come on up.
Narrator: As Shawn's
eight-hour shift ends,
the operation rolls on
as number two diver
big Joe Fullwood suits up.
Shawn: You have to surround
yourself with a good crew.
If you don't have a good crew,
you're going to end up
just losing all your money
and not finding any gold
or making any money.
So head down there
and flip every rock
until hopefully it turns into
[Bleep] something amazing.
♫
♫
Ah, nice big chunk
of weathered bedrock
right under the hole.
That's a good sign.
Run out here and see if I can
put some gold in the box.
Nice tan clay.
That's what the majority
of the gold has been sitting on.
A lot of big rocks.
That's what a lot of
the big gold has been under.
I'm going to go hunt around
a little bit,
see if I can find a rock
to flip down here.
We're still looking for that
six-ounce-an-hour material
we left off on,
so there's bound to be more.
♫
I got this pretty big
piece of bedrock,
weathered bedrock
sitting down in the Clay.
I'm going to have to try to use
the nozzle as a fulcrum,
get this thing
popped out of here if I can.
All right,
let's see if I can pop this.
♫
♫
It's a stubborn one.
The rocks are about
the heaviest rocks
I've ever hammered for us.
Yeah, it's pretty crazy
how heavy they are.
All right,
I'm getting a little movement.
Shawn: Joe Fullwood.
He's got as much passion
if not more
for gold mining than I do.
He's a great diver.
He's definitely a big asset
to the business.
Shawn: Got her?
She's loosening.
He's breathing pretty hard.
This is when if your air
goes out right now,
you're in trouble.
[Bleep]
Stubborn.
♫
[ Grunts ]
♫
All right.
Oh, he got it.
♫
All righty.
What hath we here?
You know, when I see
something like this,
I just want to say,
"will you look at that?"
♫
Are you back in nuggetville?
Oh, yeah.
I got a good --
Good two or three,
four or five, six,
seven of them sitting
right in front of me.
You just want to instinctively
take your gloves off
and just start grabbing 'em.
[ Laughs ]
I'm checking your gloves
when you get up here.
[ Laughs ]
Yeah.
Narrator: The concentrated vein
of chunky gold
could mean
that Shawn and his crew
are zeroing in on the boulder
he believes marks a
multimillion-dollar pay streak.
Shawn: Aw,
you're making me jealous.
I was like, "man,
I didn't find that little spot."
[ Laughs ]
Seems like whenever you pop
one of these rocks up,
you'll find at a minimum
a couple ounces.
Sounds good, buddy.
Keep popping those rocks
and sucking up that gold.
All right, man, sounds good.
Oh, yeah.
♫
Narrator: Coming up...
Here we go.
First cleanup of the season.
[ Laughs ]
My season's probably over.
Wait a second.
What?
That's no joke, dude.
Like, we might be
into it out here.
♫
Zeke: I think quitting is like
when you run out of ideas.
I have a Jean Claude van Damme
quote on that
on my phone that I could read.
♫
This one's unrelated,
but he said in an interview,
"In the year 3000,
people are going to speak
with sound waves.
Don't think I'm crazy.
Whales do it.
Dolphins, too."
[ Laughs ]
Who knew I'd be getting, like,
a lot of my inspirational quotes
from Jean Claude van Damme?
[ Laughs ]
♫
[ wind blowing ]
Narrator: 10 miles
east of Nome
at Hastings Creek...
♫
Zeke: We've spent so much
freaking time and energy
getting these samples
that I better see something.
Narrator: Zeke Tenhoff's
dream of staking
the first mining claim
of his career
rests in a bucket of dirt.
I've got all my eggs
in that basket right now.
If I don't find the kind of gold
that I'm hoping I'm finding,
my season's probably over.
Just don't have enough time
to start from scratch
this ice season.
Just don't.
♫
I don't even see anything.
It's, like...
Let's try this one.
♫
No.
♫
I mean, there should be
freaking gold in there.
This is the last sample.
♫
Oh.
♫
Wait a second.
Look at that.
What?
Dude, that's --
That's gold.
That's no joke, dude.
Like, we might be
into it out here.
Damn.
Beautiful, dude!
High five.
Yeah.
Bam!
Narrator: After three weeks
of collecting
sample bucket
after sample bucket,
Zeke may have found the key
to a golden future.
All this work we did
melting through pressure ridges,
dealing with all
this Hastings Creek stuff,
it looks like it's
going to pay off for us.
The state wants to see
that I really established
that there's gold
at Hastings Creek,
enough gold to justify
a long-period business plan,
so my brother and i
have accomplished step one.
There could be, like,
the rest of our working careers'
worth of money
just sitting out there,
and, I mean,
the future that's ahead of us,
I don't even want to
have to speculate on it,
because that's
just been my dream.
Due, high five.
Yeah.
Bam!
♫
Narrator: 67 miles east...
At the Bluff...
Shawn:
There's nuggets on top.
[ Laughs ]
Nice.
Man, the first cleanup.
Everybody could use
a paycheck, I'm sure.
I work my ass off for it
and then hundreds of people
come and take it.
Great.
[ Bleep ].
I don't want to see
any more people out here.
Narrator: After the distraction
of new neighbors,
Shawn and crew are looking
for a solid cleanup
to get back on track.
Shawn: Gold mining
is a stressful job.
All these miners are out here,
there's less and less gold,
so here you got a bunch of guys
that don't have
any gold or any money
and have been working
their ass off
and things just
go downhill from there,
so we need some good gold.
Here we go.
First cleanup of the season.
♫
10.
11.
♫
12 ounces?
12 ounces, yep.
Nice.
Narrator: 12 ounces of gold
nets Mr. Gold over $14,000,
barely a dent in the millions
he needs to fund the megadredge.
Shawn: I mean,
we're just blessed right now.
I bring in the gold.
Narrator: But nevertheless,
it's a start.
Shawn: I'm going to build
the megadredge.
A project of this size
is multimillions,
and, yeah, we've made millions,
but we still need to make
a lot more.
It's going to happen.
Guarantee you.
I'm going to keep
piling the gold up.
Ain't going to --
Nothing's going to slow me down.
You can be like the Kellys
and be wannabes.
You can want to be me,
but you'll never be me.
I'm always one step
ahead of them.
Like I said,
Karma will get those [Bleep].
Karma will get 'em.
Narrator: Mr. Gold
and the fighting Irish
join the count,
and the race is on.
♫
You know what?
I'm barely hanging on here.
Emily: My ice season is about
to fall apart.
Shawn: It's not worth
doing all this [Bleep].
Emily: I will do
whatever it takes.
Shawn: Give her a little nudge.
Gold just got a lot better.
We've gone years without
seeing nuggets that big.
Woo! Give me some love,
everybody, love!
Shawn: I think we're close to --
Andy: It's about a half
a cup full.
Oh! Oh!
Aah!
Yeah!
Emily: Oh, my god.
I can't believe
I'm freaking at the Bluff.
♫