Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 3, Episode 10 - Leprechaun Gold - full transcript
Parker finds out about the fate of his grandpa. Todd has to rebuild his turbo trammel, Indian River faces a shutdown and the Dakota boys investigate whether the Glory Hole is truly an ancient waterfall.
.
At the edge of the Arctic Circle,
four teams of miners
struggle to strike it rich.
Easy, whoa!
(BANG!) Oh! Are you guys all right?
The Hoffman crew is split across
two competing claims.
I don't care how fast they run.
There's no way
they're ever gonna catch us.
But they share the dream of
a million-dollar season.
A thousand ounces, Pa!
They have just nine weeks left
to make it a reality.
We've got gold in the ground.
Let's do this.
At Indian River,
Dave Turin's crew has produced
150 ounces of gold so far,
worth over $180,000.
Great Indian River clean up.
But their operation is in danger of
grinding to a halt.
When we get to that level,
the pit is done.
With Quartz Creek yet to deliver
a single ounce of gold,
it's judgment day for
Todd's turbo trommel.
We will not get 1,000 ounces
unless this frickin' blue machine
starts spinning.
In Alaska, the Dakota boys make a
potentially life-changing discovery.
You're talking about
leprechaun stuff.
That's exactly what
I'm talking about.
End of the rainbow, that's right.
And at the Big Nugget Mine,
with Smith Creek finished,
18-year-old Parker Schnabel
is running out of options.
We have nowhere left to dig
and this is....
..our one last hope.
At the Indian River claim
in the Klondike,
Team Turin's crew is 81 days into
their 150-day mining season.
Greg Remsburg is digging pay dirt
deep in the cut.
But something's changed
in the earth.
We're getting down to
some real sticky dirt
and closer and closer to bedrock.
This cut's gonna be done in just
a matter of a short period of time.
And we got, we got high hopes and
high goals of a thousand ounces.
There's no way we can do it
in this cut alone.
We've got to have another cut open.
Over the last eight weeks,
the Indian River crew has moved
24,000 yards of pay dirt,
pushing their wash plant Big Red
to its breaking point.
A lot of pressure's put on us
because we're the only ones
solidly and consistently
producing gold right now.
Dave's team has single-handedly
produced 150 ounces of gold.
You got it.
Worth over $180,000.
There's no doubt about it.
We put the best team together.
We got the best plant.
We've worked our butts off.
But now, they're
running out of ground.
How's it going?
We're blowing through this cut fast.
Like how fast?
I don't know if we're gonna make it
a week. A week?!
And then this cut's done.
I got to be honest with you.
I didn't expect you to go through
this ground this quick.
OK, do you wanna
take that next cut on down?
If I go down there,
I'm gonna have 20 feet of mud, Todd.
20 feet of mud.
I can't deal with it.
You gotta find some shallower ground.
I want that. I want above us.
The Indian River claim
is split into two levels.
Claim owner Greg McNeal gave
the Hoffman's the lower ground
and held onto the upper terrace
for himself.
Greg wanted that ground.
You remember that. I made that deal
with him. I mean, I can ask but...
Tell them that we're gonna do
this cut in about a month.
It's gonna take him till next year.
You know what? Nothing ventured,
nothing gained. I'll ask him.
All right.
Maybe we'll get lucky.
Claim owner Greg McNeal is entitled
to ten percent of the take.
Giving Todd and Dave
the upper terrace
could be quick,
easy profit for Greg.
But only if he thinks the Indian
River crew can make fast work of it.
Hey. Hey, Todd, what's up?
How you doing, buddy?
Good, how about you?
How's everything going?
I gotta talk to you about something.
It's kind of important and I'm
just gonna cut to the chase.
Basically, I want that top,
that top bench.
That was the plan for the year,
you know, for the summer.
The thing is,
it may take you several seasons
what I think these guys
can do in one.
You know, I've used up all
my favours with you, I get it.
But you've seen Dave. You've seen
him getting the gold. Mm-hm.
You've seen this kind of numbers.
It'll make you guys
some quick money. Right.
You're gonna get, you know, a nice
commission. What do you think?
The only reason I'm even thinking
about it here
and we're having this conversation
is because I can see you're going
through yards fast.
A lot faster than
I thought you would.
And you're covering more ground,
but...
Hang on just a second.
OK.
Holy moly. If you're gonna do that
upper bench, here's the drill sheets.
You're kidding me?
That's, like, 16 holes.
That's right.
So I can have it.
You can have it. Let's just,
let's just, let's just keep going.
That's awesome. Let's just keep
going. That's good news.
This is insane.
Bang, gold, gold, gold, gold, pretty
damn good. This makes me feel good.
Hey, Dave.
Hey, what's up?
What's that?
It looks like a drill log, for what?
What do you think? No way.
Yep, I got the bench. You got it.
No way.
Yep.
We got the bench and the drill
results? We got the bench.
We're on our way. All right. Thanks,
man. Start stripping. I'll do it.
See you. See you.
Good job.
The drill results indicate
the terrace may hold
up to half a million dollars
in gold.
This is huge. I like it! Good!
Indian River may be
back in business,
but Quartz Creek is
going nowhere fast.
Todd's trommel was
supposed to be running
200 yards of dirt an hour by now.
But, it hasn't run anything
for a week,
and before the trommel's replacement
motor arrives,
Todd has to leave the claim.
Here's the deal, Dad. I got to go
home and take care of a few things.
Indian River's running good.
Ray is coming any minute
to get this trommel going.
Do not let them leave
without getting it rolling.
I'll stick with it
and I'll make him do what we can
but, you know,
it's really hanging on him.
Yep, I know. We will not get
a thousand ounces unless this
frickin' blue machine starts
spinning and we're running dirt
through it.
I'll do everything I can
to get this thing going.
OK. All right, Dad,
you can handle it.
All right, have a good trip.
Todd waited seven painful weeks
for his state-of-the-art trommel
to arrive.
You got to get it on that truck
and get it down here.
But when it finally showed up.
Whoo! About frickin' time.
The motor didn't have enough power
to drive the enormous drums.
Whoa! (BLEEP!)
Hold up, hold up,
this doesn't look good.
Now, Ray Brosseuk who designed
and built the trommel
arrives with
a bigger electric motor.
Sight for sore eyes.
All the new parts are here.
I'll get it all wired up
and go on as fast as possible.
I wanna see you guys producing gold.
This is number one priority.
We got a lot of catching up
to do now. Yeah.
We'll burn out some long hours.
That would be fantastic.
All right, well, let's hammer on it.
Let's do it.
I've been feeling bad about it.
I've been just running endless hours
to make sure I can get back here
as quick as I can and get them up
and running and get the morale back
in camp.
There's nothing fixes morale
out here like gold.
Ray's plan is to remove
the weak hydraulic motor
and replace it with a generator
and more powerful electric motor.
Hey, all yours, Jack.
There you go.
That's the painful part
is taking off
everything I so meticulously
worked on to get exactly right.
And, you know, now to modify this
machine, to fit electric motors
is... It's a challenge and it's not
easy out here in the bush.
Todd's new mechanic, Mitch Blaschke,
arrives to give Ray a hand.
So we're
ready to take this motor out.
She's all unbuttoned
and ready to go.
I'm just wondering if your crane
on your truck will lift, will reach
in here and lift that out.
We can try and pick it up.
OK.
You know, and just go real slow
and see what it does.
First, they must work out how get
the old motor out of
its cramped housing.
We'll hook up the crane truck here
and lift this up
until it probably touches there,
then we'll bring it out here
and then up a little higher and take
it right out this hole right here.
So, Ray, how heavy is this engine
you're lifting out?
I think around 1,500 pounds.
Wow, OK.
So stand clear when we start lifting?
You bet.
(MACHINERY WHIRS)
Yeah, keep coming.
That's looks good. Keep coming.
OK, there, that's ready to go.
OK, a little more lift.
OK, we're pulling some weight,
yeah, yeah, a little more lift.
The crane can barely handle
the weight of the motor.
That's maxed out?
Yeah, that's all she rose, man.
If they drop the 680kg motor,
it will cause irreparable damage
to the custom-built trommel.
There you go.
Yeah, she's going.
Easy.
Man, that's all she's got
right there.
That's all we need. Watch it.
Yeah, whoa!
(CLUNK!)
.
.
At Quartz Creek in the Klondike.
Mitch Blaschke and Ray Brosseuk
are removing
the 680kg motor from the trommel.
There you go.
Yeah, yeah, she's going.
Easy. Yeah.
Watch it!
Whoa!
That was a little too close.
Oh, my, it's heavy.
With the crane straining
under the weight of the motor,
they need to work fast.
A little bit more.
Tip her down, yeah.
Hold it there.
Just twist it around to you.
There you go.
Hey, looking good.
Yeah, we're in the safe zone now.
There we go.
Block there. Perfect.
Good? Yeah.
We got her. Very good.
That's all it had for sure.
Yeah, it was on the edge.
That motor's caused us
nothing but grief.
And so that motor, to see that thing
finally come out,
it's like an abscessed tooth.
You finally pulled that sucker out,
you know? Now the pain can go away.
South, in Alaska.
At the Big Nugget Mine, Parker
Schnabel desperately needs to find
gold-rich dirt
to make a profit this year.
But, right now,
he has a bigger problem.
His grandfather, John,
is in the hospital.
My grandpa's 92.
And surgery on a 92-year-old
is pretty risky.
Following his grandfather's advice,
Parker poured all his resources
into Smith Creek.
If you don't hit bedrock in the next
20 feet, I'd be truly amazed.
OK.
After spending over $200,000
and all winter digging,
he discovered Smith Creek bedrock
was 26 metres down,
far too deep to mine.
There's nothing down there. No gold!
When Parker went to give
his grandfather the bad news,
he was shocked to hear that John was
to undergo life-threatening surgery.
Parker, I'm not gonna
leave you right now, I hope.
I will make it through this.
Now, a week after John left
for the operation,
Nancy, Parker's mother,
is expecting news.
(PHONE RINGS)
Hello.
Hello?
"Hello."
Hey, John.
Nancy, I am in good shape.
Great.
I'm thinking I'm gonna
make it back home on Tuesday.
That's great. That's great news.
I think I will continue to improve,
I guess is the way to look at it.
That's great, John, I'm so thankful.
Pass it on to Parker.
Tell everybody.
All right, we'll look forward
to you getting home.
Bye-bye, and I love you, Nancy,
you're a wonderful person.
Love you, bye-bye.
All's well. He sounds great.
Sounds like he never missed a beat.
(SOUNDS HORN)
Do you have just a minute?
Yeah, just sec.
I talked to your grandpa. How's he
doing? He's good. He sounds great.
He thinks he's gonna
fly home on Tuesday.
All right, look at that.
Nice, huh?
(THUNDERCLAP)
I am hopeful that he'll come up.
And I don't know - Yeah, me, too.
I don't know if it's
realistic to think he can,
you know, come up right away,
or what his heal time is.
But it's not really good for him
to bounce up and down that road.
No, but it's also good for him to be
by you and see what's going on and
see the road.
He wants to see all that.
He wants to be up at Smith Creek.
Anyway, are things OK? I just
feel a little concerned about you.
You seem a little troubled.
I seem troubled? A little bit.
I just... I don't know.
I'm just a little, you know,
it's kind of getting toward
mid-season
and I know there's always that,
you know...
The dirt we're in is crap.
Did you get anything
when you ran this week?
Today we ran 300 yards
and it doesn't look like there's
more than an ounce in it. Oh.
It's junk. That's about it.
Trying to keep the plant running good
dirt but there's not much left.
But we'll manage.
Do you feel OK about where you are?
Not really.
Be careful. Will do.
OK, bye, honey.
Parker has to find new good ground,
or the mine his grandfather bought
a quarter of a century ago
may be forced to close.
Across the river at Porcupine Creek,
with more than half the season gone,
the Dakota boys have just 40 ounces
of gold, worth $64,000.
But, they need more than twice that
just to break even.
All right, let's see what we got
down here.
Fred is digging dirt from a hole
that he thinks
could finally make them all rich.
This has the structure of perhaps
an old ancient waterfall right here.
If it's got gold in the creek, a
waterfall is the best place to look
if it's possible to get to
the bottom of it, oh, yeah.
But Dustin disagrees
with his father's plan.
He thinks Fred should be digging
the gold-rich grey material
that produced tens of thousands of
dollars at the end of last year.
Fred's being dumb
and not listening to me again.
He knows better than to do
what he's doing right now.
But he doesn't care
because he's excited.
All season,
father and son have clashed
over the best way to get the gold.
This is crappy dirt. It's not crappy
dirt. It's completely useless.
Three weeks ago, Fred hit something
that stopped him in his tracks.
Pretty unusual, isn't it?
Yeah.
Damned unusual. Makes you wonder
how in the hell that got there.
And since then, he has not been able
to think about anything else.
You never know what treasure might be
at the bottom of that hole.
Now, Dustin wants Fred to once again
focus on the grey material
they know holds good gold.
I'm gonna tell you, I don't believe
this waterfall is gonna pay off
down here.
Let's do the yardage
and uncover it as we go,
because I'm not going for this.
I'm not putting all my eggs
in one basket.
All I know is it's fascinating.
The deeper we go, the more we get to
see what the structure looks like.
The yardage is a guaranteed thing.
We have to stay with it.
It's the treasure hunt, Dustin.
It's not happening.
Well, let's put it this way,
whether it's a boom or it's a bust,
we just keep on digging.
(BLEEP) pisses me off.
I'll try. I'm looking for treasure.
(LAUGHS)
Fred believes the bedrock formation
he is following
was once a fast-flowing waterfall.
If he can get to the plunge pool
that he thinks is at the bottom,
there could be
a massive cash of gold waiting.
Fred is dead set on digging down
to uncover this ancient glory hole.
It will be difficult
and means running less dirt.
But Dustin is not convinced.
He thinks the best option is
to run as much of the gold-rich grey
material as possible.
Fred has some local knowledge
that he thinks could change
Dustin's opinion.
Clear this table. I got something
to show you. It's important.
Let me tell you about McKinley Creek.
McKinley Creek has got
McKinley Falls.
Back in 1916, a bunch of little
miners diverted the creek,
mined for two weeks
and got 4,500 ounces.
Today, 4,500 ounces
is worth over seven million dollars.
We have a waterfall
that nobody has ever seen before.
I can't believe we have something
like that. I got to see it.
I think if you all went up there
and took a look at that
you would realise
that we may find a bonanza
at the bottom of that waterfall.
4,500 ounces would be
pretty amazing.
We have our own waterfall
right out there!
.
.
In the Klondike, Dave Turin's Indian
River crew has run 4,500 yards
of dirt through their wash plant.
They're ready for a cleanout.
Shut her down!
It's been a long week and
everybody's anticipating another
good clean up.
I think morale's good,
spirits are high.
We're gonna go get
a record clean up.
All right, number one of many.
All right.
What do you think? They look
all right? Are you seeing anything?
I saw gold on the back already
so looking good.
Well, it's 4,500 yards.
How many?
4,500. Of good material?
It's all good.
That's really good.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm afraid there
might be grease on this carpet.
Oh, my gosh.
The gold is literally stuck in
the grease, which is not good.
Our gold is not releasing
out of here.
So these guys have gotten oil
or grease or something.
There's gold stuck right here.
What a frickin' mess in here.
We won't get to a thousand ounces
making errors like that.
Grease traps gold.
If Jack and Thurber can't extract
the finer gold particles
from the grease,
their cleanout could be ruined.
You've got grease on your boot,
you walk through the sluice
and it gets everywhere.
It's just a disaster.
OK, what we need to do -
We need to clean this.
We need to do a little detergent.
Their only hope is to use detergent
to cut through the grease.
Clean it out the best I can. OK.
(MACHINERY WHIRS)
Here she comes.
I want to do the best we can
at recovery here.
First little piece of gold, Jack,
running down the trough.
All right.
That's nice. That's nice.
Dave arrives to check on progress.
Hey, guys. Hey, man.
Hey, how are you doing? Good.
Wow, this looks good.
What are you guys thinking?
Basically what happened, Dave,
is we had an issue with grease,
so it's not been a good deal.
I mean, it's still looking good.
That's a good stream of gold
going out there.
They're seeing gold,
but only the weigh-in will reveal
how much they've recovered.
Three hours later, it's time to find
out if Jack has saved the cleanout.
The Indian River crew
set a season goal of 500 ounces.
Just pour it in there.
They have less than nine weeks left
and need at least 40 ounces,
worth $64,000, from this cleanout
to stay on track.
OK, here we go, man.
One, two, three, four, five.
20.
That looks... That looks good.
30!
35, 38,
40!
41, 43, 44, 45, 47,
49 -
50.
51, 52, 53,
55. Whoo!
Absolutely fantastic.
Get every last little bit.
This is a great Indian River
clean-up, Jack.
Look at that.
Well, 55.17, so, you know,
that's pretty cool.
Yee-ha!
55 ounces,
worth almost $88,000.
The crew's gold total for the season
is now 170 ounces,
worth over
a quarter-of-a-million dollars.
Great clean-up. I loved it.
Bottom line is
we've got to get this trommel going.
These guys got to start producing
gold down here
if we've got any chance of
getting a thousand ounces.
At Quartz Creek, Ray Brosseuk
is still battling to get
Todd's turbo trommel running.
Yeah, now the challenge is to get
this motor into that spot.
See if I can get it in there.
Oh, it's gonna be -
Tough.
Ray has removed
the small hydraulic motor.
Now, he needs to install the
electric replacement and generator.
The new motor is twice as powerful
and four times the size.
Ray needs to fit it through
a 40-inch opening
without damaging
the trommel's frame.
There's no space for mistakes here.
A chain or a strap breaks
and motor drops
and we're put back
at least ten days.
I know you may want to do this lift,
but I would like to do it.
Just guide it in there slowly
and we'll take it easy, all right?
I'll be honest with you.
I'd like to do it as well.
I know, but if something goes wrong,
you'll feel bad forever.
If something goes wrong it's my -
Either way I'm gonna feel bad.
Yeah, I know, but it's -
And...
Money out of my pocket not yours.
This machine not running
is money out of my pocket.
I'd like to do the lift.
I've been on an excavator for
30 years so I'm comfortable with it.
I've been on one for ten.
OK.
With Todd's season on the line,
this replacement has to work.
(BLEEP)!
Ray's pretty persistent about
lifting this in there.
He says he's been
operating machines a long time.
He might be the best operator
around, but you know what? All it
takes is one screw up. It's done.
Easy, Jack. Don't bust it.
I'd hate to have to kill you.
It's taken Ray two weeks just to get
this replacement motor
up to the Klondike.
There's no room for error.
Got to really concentrate
to get it right.
Hang on a second.
Straight forward?
Yep. We only got about
two inches to spare.
Easy. Just guide him, Jack.
Yeah.
You can go down a little bit more.
Very fine movements.
How much more can we come down?
Half inch.
Watch the radiator.
(CLUNK!)
Whoa.
That's an awful lot of stress
on that.
We're gonna break something.
The new motor is too big.
But Ray can't cut away any more
of the trommel's frame.
Why don't we just drain the coolant
out and I'll pull the radiator off?
You think so?
Because this is definitely
the most delicate piece. OK.
And off really carefully.
There you go, yeah.
Take two. We'll see how this goes.
With the radiator removed,
they make another attempt.
That's looking good. Straight in.
Down!
Hold it.
Give it a push, Kyle.
We got to give it everything we got.
Almost. Yeah, I just don't want
to lose a finger here.
Post tolerances
but we're wiggling it in.
Right there.
OK.
(GRUNTS)
OK, down a little bit, OK?
Now you can go down.
Got your turbo up against
the hopper. Stop, stop, stop.
(CLUNK!)
(BLEEP) Whoa! Stop! Stop.
Push on it.
Ready? Watch your fingers.
Can't have nerves
when you're doing this,
you just gotta have concentration.
It's going. Just start, like,
keep letting her down. Forward.
Now we're getting somewhere.
OK, we're looking good. Let her down
nice and easy. There you go.
The new motor is in, with just
a few centimetres to spare.
That's it, guys. We did it.
I can breathe now.
At the Big Nugget Mine, Alaska,
Parker is on his way
to see his grandfather
for the first time since
his operation.
I've heard that he's doing well so
I'm looking forward to seeing him.
We finished drilling
up on Smith Creek and,
you know, not very good results
so I'm gonna tell my grandpa
about that all.
A week ago, when Parker's
grandfather told him
that he had to have
life-threatening surgery,
Parker withheld the disastrous news
that Smith Creek was finished.
You can't crush his, you know,
only dream at Big Nugget.
I don't know what
he'll suggest we do
about Smith Creek,
you know, and even about
the rest of the season.
Hey, Grandpa.
Well, hello.
It's nice to see you. Hi, I feel
I haven't even seen you for a week.
I know. How was the trip?
I was out of bed the same day
I was operated on
and dismissed the following morning,
which it speaks for itself.
Sounds about right.
Yeah, well, I don't know.
How are things going with you,
Parker?
We drilled three holes
on Smith Creek.
What's down there?
Doesn't look too good.
It's 88 feet down to bedrock.
I never dreamed,
in my wildest dreams, that
that channel through there could
have that much overburn on it.
Parker, I am sorry I have
such a big problem handed to you.
I find... it hard to believe what
has proven to be reality.
Yeah, it's pretty depressing,
really.
It's a disappointment
to say the least.
What are we gonna do now to survive?
We'll manage.
I hope so.
I mean, there is a chance that
there's good gold on bedrock
on Emerson Trench.
Wonderful.
Why didn't you tell me that
in the first place instead of
telling me all these horrible death
stories about the end of the world?
Well, the hole isn't drilled yet.
I know, but it's
a step in the right direction.
Anytime you come by it lifts me up
because you're coping with
a lot of real severe problems.
All right, take care of yourself,
Parker.
OK, I will. You, too.
I'm trying.
Take it easy. There's no rush.
I'm doing my best.
With John's encouragement,
Parker decides to give
Emerson Trench another shot.
Two miles upriver, Fred has
persuaded Dustin and Melody
to visit McKinley Falls,
where the equivalent of
seven million dollars in gold
was found almost a century ago.
Fred wants to dig what he thinks is
a similar waterfall on their claim.
Oh, boy.
Just walk in from here.
Sounds good.
It's so quiet.
So I guess what we're looking for is
if this waterfall's the same shape,
or size, or any kind of similarities
to our waterfall.
I really wanna see
what holds that much gold.
They've pulled out 4,500 ounces.
I can't imagine that.
There it is. It's beautiful.
Wow, that's fabulous.
Fred wasn't kidding about this
waterfall. Look at the drop on that.
It's at least a 50-foot drop.
Can you see in the back
where the water's hitting the wall
and then turning a bit?
Uh-huh.
That's what we have at
the very top of our waterfall.
That gives me a lot of hope.
Maybe if you could get them
to turn the water off,
we could see what's under there
and what it looks like.
Let's go down to the water line.
We've got a waterfall
that looks similar to this
less than a mile away,
a mile downstream.
And to think that they got
4,500 ounces out of this thing,
there's no telling
what we can get out of ours.
It would be life-changing.
Absolutely life-changing
for all of us, you know that.
It's the same creek,
it's the same area,
almost the same waterfall.
This is amazing.
Back at Big Nugget,
the future of the 25-year-old mine
now depends on Emerson Trench.
Parker brings in a drill rig.
He's investing thousands of dollars
to find out if the bedrock
is close enough to the surface to
make Emerson Trench worth mining.
The lowest spot we have
is where we're gonna drill a hole.
And we're gonna hopefully find
the place to dig
for the rest of the season.
It's kind of getting down to the wire
at this point.
Parker needs bedrock to be less than
30 feet deep, around nine metres,
or he can't afford to dig
Emerson Trench.
Up.
OK, keep coming.
20 feet down,
they add another drill section.
Every foot costs Parker another $50.
Stand back.
Right on. Holy cow.
Looks like bedrock. Bedrock?
But we were, like, 26 when we
hit it. 26? Yeah. Awesome.
26 is better than I expected it to be
and that makes me happy.
Because, at this point, we can't be
picky with what ground we're digging.
It's great news for Parker.
The Big Nugget Mine
lives to see another day.
(BLEEP) yeah!
I think things are going good.
.
.
At Porcupine Creek, Dustin is back
from McKinlay Falls,
and he's had a change of heart.
We're gonna follow this waterfall
down and see what's at the bottom,
so I can actually get
some real gold.
It's like winning the lottery.
It's just a really big deal.
Finally, father and son
agree on a common goal.
To reach the bottom of the ancient
waterfall, and what they hope is
the legendary glory hole gold.
Going down.
After 20 hours of running material
from the waterfall,
the Dakota boys are ready
for a weigh-in.
Right now, they have
40 ounces of gold,
worth $64,000,
but with running costs so far
of $87,000,
they've spent a lot more
than they've made.
All right,
all right,
we'll call this the waterfall.
Excellent.
But we have - The start.
(ALL) Of the waterfall.
Two,
four, five.
We have so much more to go.
Eight,
12,
14,
15 -
I knew it was more than 15.
16.
He's got a lot more left.
17.
Yes, keep it coming.
19, come on, 20.
Oh, there's 20.
No way.
20.8 ounces.
I'll be damned.
Whoa.
20.8 ounces,
worth over $30,000,
brings their total to 61 ounces.
Almost $100,000 in gold
so far this season.
Wow.
I do not believe this.
That looks really good.
It does.
We need to keep this going.
This is great.
We gotta get back to the waterfall.
Imagine what might be
in the bottom of that waterfall?
With this much gold sitting around
over there, there has to be more.
That, you're talking about
leprechaun stuff. That's exactly
what I'm talking about,
end of the rainbow. That's right.
I'm looking for
end of the rainbow stuff.
Let's go for it as big as we can.
Let's take all the gold out of it.
Everything we can get.
Sounds like a plan to me.
Quartz Creek, the Klondike.
Ray and Mitch have installed the new
electric motor in Todd's trommel.
It's time to find out if
the revamped trommel
is powerful enough to finally run
pay dirt - and produce gold.
Let's start this baby up.
All right, that'll be a go.
With half the season already over,
there's no plan B
for Todd's operation at
Quartz Creek. It's now or never.
(MECHANICAL WHIR)
Here it goes!
Looks like everything's turning
in the right direction, Ray.
Andy, go ahead and feed it.
Andy Spinks adds the first bucket
of pay dirt.
That looks really good.
This is all nice, yeah, really good.
Whoo!
There's no words for it.
I don't know
what you'd wanna call it.
Redemption, relief, satisfaction.
Yeah, I can't describe it.
Todd's crew is happy for
the first time this season.
But running dirt is
only the first step.
Ray pans the concentrate from
the sluice box to see if the trommel
is actually catching gold.
The Quartz Creek crew has
less than an ounce to show for
three months of backbreaking work.
They're desperate to find something.
OK, guys,
here's the moment of truth.
Well, let's see - If there was
some gold in that ground.
Oh, look at that.
Wow!
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That is awesome.
Look at that.
That is amazing.
Guys, and that's not our good dirt.
That is beautiful.
Nice big one there, look at that.
Yeah.
I'm encouraged.
I'm relieved.
Yes, it is.
Yeah.
Quartz Creek, we're on the map.
We're producing gold and we're not
gonna shut it down until we got it.
You know, we're going for it.
We're gonna make it.
subtitles by Deluxe
.
At the edge of the Arctic Circle,
four teams of miners
struggle to strike it rich.
Easy, whoa!
(BANG!) Oh! Are you guys all right?
The Hoffman crew is split across
two competing claims.
I don't care how fast they run.
There's no way
they're ever gonna catch us.
But they share the dream of
a million-dollar season.
A thousand ounces, Pa!
They have just nine weeks left
to make it a reality.
We've got gold in the ground.
Let's do this.
At Indian River,
Dave Turin's crew has produced
150 ounces of gold so far,
worth over $180,000.
Great Indian River clean up.
But their operation is in danger of
grinding to a halt.
When we get to that level,
the pit is done.
With Quartz Creek yet to deliver
a single ounce of gold,
it's judgment day for
Todd's turbo trommel.
We will not get 1,000 ounces
unless this frickin' blue machine
starts spinning.
In Alaska, the Dakota boys make a
potentially life-changing discovery.
You're talking about
leprechaun stuff.
That's exactly what
I'm talking about.
End of the rainbow, that's right.
And at the Big Nugget Mine,
with Smith Creek finished,
18-year-old Parker Schnabel
is running out of options.
We have nowhere left to dig
and this is....
..our one last hope.
At the Indian River claim
in the Klondike,
Team Turin's crew is 81 days into
their 150-day mining season.
Greg Remsburg is digging pay dirt
deep in the cut.
But something's changed
in the earth.
We're getting down to
some real sticky dirt
and closer and closer to bedrock.
This cut's gonna be done in just
a matter of a short period of time.
And we got, we got high hopes and
high goals of a thousand ounces.
There's no way we can do it
in this cut alone.
We've got to have another cut open.
Over the last eight weeks,
the Indian River crew has moved
24,000 yards of pay dirt,
pushing their wash plant Big Red
to its breaking point.
A lot of pressure's put on us
because we're the only ones
solidly and consistently
producing gold right now.
Dave's team has single-handedly
produced 150 ounces of gold.
You got it.
Worth over $180,000.
There's no doubt about it.
We put the best team together.
We got the best plant.
We've worked our butts off.
But now, they're
running out of ground.
How's it going?
We're blowing through this cut fast.
Like how fast?
I don't know if we're gonna make it
a week. A week?!
And then this cut's done.
I got to be honest with you.
I didn't expect you to go through
this ground this quick.
OK, do you wanna
take that next cut on down?
If I go down there,
I'm gonna have 20 feet of mud, Todd.
20 feet of mud.
I can't deal with it.
You gotta find some shallower ground.
I want that. I want above us.
The Indian River claim
is split into two levels.
Claim owner Greg McNeal gave
the Hoffman's the lower ground
and held onto the upper terrace
for himself.
Greg wanted that ground.
You remember that. I made that deal
with him. I mean, I can ask but...
Tell them that we're gonna do
this cut in about a month.
It's gonna take him till next year.
You know what? Nothing ventured,
nothing gained. I'll ask him.
All right.
Maybe we'll get lucky.
Claim owner Greg McNeal is entitled
to ten percent of the take.
Giving Todd and Dave
the upper terrace
could be quick,
easy profit for Greg.
But only if he thinks the Indian
River crew can make fast work of it.
Hey. Hey, Todd, what's up?
How you doing, buddy?
Good, how about you?
How's everything going?
I gotta talk to you about something.
It's kind of important and I'm
just gonna cut to the chase.
Basically, I want that top,
that top bench.
That was the plan for the year,
you know, for the summer.
The thing is,
it may take you several seasons
what I think these guys
can do in one.
You know, I've used up all
my favours with you, I get it.
But you've seen Dave. You've seen
him getting the gold. Mm-hm.
You've seen this kind of numbers.
It'll make you guys
some quick money. Right.
You're gonna get, you know, a nice
commission. What do you think?
The only reason I'm even thinking
about it here
and we're having this conversation
is because I can see you're going
through yards fast.
A lot faster than
I thought you would.
And you're covering more ground,
but...
Hang on just a second.
OK.
Holy moly. If you're gonna do that
upper bench, here's the drill sheets.
You're kidding me?
That's, like, 16 holes.
That's right.
So I can have it.
You can have it. Let's just,
let's just, let's just keep going.
That's awesome. Let's just keep
going. That's good news.
This is insane.
Bang, gold, gold, gold, gold, pretty
damn good. This makes me feel good.
Hey, Dave.
Hey, what's up?
What's that?
It looks like a drill log, for what?
What do you think? No way.
Yep, I got the bench. You got it.
No way.
Yep.
We got the bench and the drill
results? We got the bench.
We're on our way. All right. Thanks,
man. Start stripping. I'll do it.
See you. See you.
Good job.
The drill results indicate
the terrace may hold
up to half a million dollars
in gold.
This is huge. I like it! Good!
Indian River may be
back in business,
but Quartz Creek is
going nowhere fast.
Todd's trommel was
supposed to be running
200 yards of dirt an hour by now.
But, it hasn't run anything
for a week,
and before the trommel's replacement
motor arrives,
Todd has to leave the claim.
Here's the deal, Dad. I got to go
home and take care of a few things.
Indian River's running good.
Ray is coming any minute
to get this trommel going.
Do not let them leave
without getting it rolling.
I'll stick with it
and I'll make him do what we can
but, you know,
it's really hanging on him.
Yep, I know. We will not get
a thousand ounces unless this
frickin' blue machine starts
spinning and we're running dirt
through it.
I'll do everything I can
to get this thing going.
OK. All right, Dad,
you can handle it.
All right, have a good trip.
Todd waited seven painful weeks
for his state-of-the-art trommel
to arrive.
You got to get it on that truck
and get it down here.
But when it finally showed up.
Whoo! About frickin' time.
The motor didn't have enough power
to drive the enormous drums.
Whoa! (BLEEP!)
Hold up, hold up,
this doesn't look good.
Now, Ray Brosseuk who designed
and built the trommel
arrives with
a bigger electric motor.
Sight for sore eyes.
All the new parts are here.
I'll get it all wired up
and go on as fast as possible.
I wanna see you guys producing gold.
This is number one priority.
We got a lot of catching up
to do now. Yeah.
We'll burn out some long hours.
That would be fantastic.
All right, well, let's hammer on it.
Let's do it.
I've been feeling bad about it.
I've been just running endless hours
to make sure I can get back here
as quick as I can and get them up
and running and get the morale back
in camp.
There's nothing fixes morale
out here like gold.
Ray's plan is to remove
the weak hydraulic motor
and replace it with a generator
and more powerful electric motor.
Hey, all yours, Jack.
There you go.
That's the painful part
is taking off
everything I so meticulously
worked on to get exactly right.
And, you know, now to modify this
machine, to fit electric motors
is... It's a challenge and it's not
easy out here in the bush.
Todd's new mechanic, Mitch Blaschke,
arrives to give Ray a hand.
So we're
ready to take this motor out.
She's all unbuttoned
and ready to go.
I'm just wondering if your crane
on your truck will lift, will reach
in here and lift that out.
We can try and pick it up.
OK.
You know, and just go real slow
and see what it does.
First, they must work out how get
the old motor out of
its cramped housing.
We'll hook up the crane truck here
and lift this up
until it probably touches there,
then we'll bring it out here
and then up a little higher and take
it right out this hole right here.
So, Ray, how heavy is this engine
you're lifting out?
I think around 1,500 pounds.
Wow, OK.
So stand clear when we start lifting?
You bet.
(MACHINERY WHIRS)
Yeah, keep coming.
That's looks good. Keep coming.
OK, there, that's ready to go.
OK, a little more lift.
OK, we're pulling some weight,
yeah, yeah, a little more lift.
The crane can barely handle
the weight of the motor.
That's maxed out?
Yeah, that's all she rose, man.
If they drop the 680kg motor,
it will cause irreparable damage
to the custom-built trommel.
There you go.
Yeah, she's going.
Easy.
Man, that's all she's got
right there.
That's all we need. Watch it.
Yeah, whoa!
(CLUNK!)
.
.
At Quartz Creek in the Klondike.
Mitch Blaschke and Ray Brosseuk
are removing
the 680kg motor from the trommel.
There you go.
Yeah, yeah, she's going.
Easy. Yeah.
Watch it!
Whoa!
That was a little too close.
Oh, my, it's heavy.
With the crane straining
under the weight of the motor,
they need to work fast.
A little bit more.
Tip her down, yeah.
Hold it there.
Just twist it around to you.
There you go.
Hey, looking good.
Yeah, we're in the safe zone now.
There we go.
Block there. Perfect.
Good? Yeah.
We got her. Very good.
That's all it had for sure.
Yeah, it was on the edge.
That motor's caused us
nothing but grief.
And so that motor, to see that thing
finally come out,
it's like an abscessed tooth.
You finally pulled that sucker out,
you know? Now the pain can go away.
South, in Alaska.
At the Big Nugget Mine, Parker
Schnabel desperately needs to find
gold-rich dirt
to make a profit this year.
But, right now,
he has a bigger problem.
His grandfather, John,
is in the hospital.
My grandpa's 92.
And surgery on a 92-year-old
is pretty risky.
Following his grandfather's advice,
Parker poured all his resources
into Smith Creek.
If you don't hit bedrock in the next
20 feet, I'd be truly amazed.
OK.
After spending over $200,000
and all winter digging,
he discovered Smith Creek bedrock
was 26 metres down,
far too deep to mine.
There's nothing down there. No gold!
When Parker went to give
his grandfather the bad news,
he was shocked to hear that John was
to undergo life-threatening surgery.
Parker, I'm not gonna
leave you right now, I hope.
I will make it through this.
Now, a week after John left
for the operation,
Nancy, Parker's mother,
is expecting news.
(PHONE RINGS)
Hello.
Hello?
"Hello."
Hey, John.
Nancy, I am in good shape.
Great.
I'm thinking I'm gonna
make it back home on Tuesday.
That's great. That's great news.
I think I will continue to improve,
I guess is the way to look at it.
That's great, John, I'm so thankful.
Pass it on to Parker.
Tell everybody.
All right, we'll look forward
to you getting home.
Bye-bye, and I love you, Nancy,
you're a wonderful person.
Love you, bye-bye.
All's well. He sounds great.
Sounds like he never missed a beat.
(SOUNDS HORN)
Do you have just a minute?
Yeah, just sec.
I talked to your grandpa. How's he
doing? He's good. He sounds great.
He thinks he's gonna
fly home on Tuesday.
All right, look at that.
Nice, huh?
(THUNDERCLAP)
I am hopeful that he'll come up.
And I don't know - Yeah, me, too.
I don't know if it's
realistic to think he can,
you know, come up right away,
or what his heal time is.
But it's not really good for him
to bounce up and down that road.
No, but it's also good for him to be
by you and see what's going on and
see the road.
He wants to see all that.
He wants to be up at Smith Creek.
Anyway, are things OK? I just
feel a little concerned about you.
You seem a little troubled.
I seem troubled? A little bit.
I just... I don't know.
I'm just a little, you know,
it's kind of getting toward
mid-season
and I know there's always that,
you know...
The dirt we're in is crap.
Did you get anything
when you ran this week?
Today we ran 300 yards
and it doesn't look like there's
more than an ounce in it. Oh.
It's junk. That's about it.
Trying to keep the plant running good
dirt but there's not much left.
But we'll manage.
Do you feel OK about where you are?
Not really.
Be careful. Will do.
OK, bye, honey.
Parker has to find new good ground,
or the mine his grandfather bought
a quarter of a century ago
may be forced to close.
Across the river at Porcupine Creek,
with more than half the season gone,
the Dakota boys have just 40 ounces
of gold, worth $64,000.
But, they need more than twice that
just to break even.
All right, let's see what we got
down here.
Fred is digging dirt from a hole
that he thinks
could finally make them all rich.
This has the structure of perhaps
an old ancient waterfall right here.
If it's got gold in the creek, a
waterfall is the best place to look
if it's possible to get to
the bottom of it, oh, yeah.
But Dustin disagrees
with his father's plan.
He thinks Fred should be digging
the gold-rich grey material
that produced tens of thousands of
dollars at the end of last year.
Fred's being dumb
and not listening to me again.
He knows better than to do
what he's doing right now.
But he doesn't care
because he's excited.
All season,
father and son have clashed
over the best way to get the gold.
This is crappy dirt. It's not crappy
dirt. It's completely useless.
Three weeks ago, Fred hit something
that stopped him in his tracks.
Pretty unusual, isn't it?
Yeah.
Damned unusual. Makes you wonder
how in the hell that got there.
And since then, he has not been able
to think about anything else.
You never know what treasure might be
at the bottom of that hole.
Now, Dustin wants Fred to once again
focus on the grey material
they know holds good gold.
I'm gonna tell you, I don't believe
this waterfall is gonna pay off
down here.
Let's do the yardage
and uncover it as we go,
because I'm not going for this.
I'm not putting all my eggs
in one basket.
All I know is it's fascinating.
The deeper we go, the more we get to
see what the structure looks like.
The yardage is a guaranteed thing.
We have to stay with it.
It's the treasure hunt, Dustin.
It's not happening.
Well, let's put it this way,
whether it's a boom or it's a bust,
we just keep on digging.
(BLEEP) pisses me off.
I'll try. I'm looking for treasure.
(LAUGHS)
Fred believes the bedrock formation
he is following
was once a fast-flowing waterfall.
If he can get to the plunge pool
that he thinks is at the bottom,
there could be
a massive cash of gold waiting.
Fred is dead set on digging down
to uncover this ancient glory hole.
It will be difficult
and means running less dirt.
But Dustin is not convinced.
He thinks the best option is
to run as much of the gold-rich grey
material as possible.
Fred has some local knowledge
that he thinks could change
Dustin's opinion.
Clear this table. I got something
to show you. It's important.
Let me tell you about McKinley Creek.
McKinley Creek has got
McKinley Falls.
Back in 1916, a bunch of little
miners diverted the creek,
mined for two weeks
and got 4,500 ounces.
Today, 4,500 ounces
is worth over seven million dollars.
We have a waterfall
that nobody has ever seen before.
I can't believe we have something
like that. I got to see it.
I think if you all went up there
and took a look at that
you would realise
that we may find a bonanza
at the bottom of that waterfall.
4,500 ounces would be
pretty amazing.
We have our own waterfall
right out there!
.
.
In the Klondike, Dave Turin's Indian
River crew has run 4,500 yards
of dirt through their wash plant.
They're ready for a cleanout.
Shut her down!
It's been a long week and
everybody's anticipating another
good clean up.
I think morale's good,
spirits are high.
We're gonna go get
a record clean up.
All right, number one of many.
All right.
What do you think? They look
all right? Are you seeing anything?
I saw gold on the back already
so looking good.
Well, it's 4,500 yards.
How many?
4,500. Of good material?
It's all good.
That's really good.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm afraid there
might be grease on this carpet.
Oh, my gosh.
The gold is literally stuck in
the grease, which is not good.
Our gold is not releasing
out of here.
So these guys have gotten oil
or grease or something.
There's gold stuck right here.
What a frickin' mess in here.
We won't get to a thousand ounces
making errors like that.
Grease traps gold.
If Jack and Thurber can't extract
the finer gold particles
from the grease,
their cleanout could be ruined.
You've got grease on your boot,
you walk through the sluice
and it gets everywhere.
It's just a disaster.
OK, what we need to do -
We need to clean this.
We need to do a little detergent.
Their only hope is to use detergent
to cut through the grease.
Clean it out the best I can. OK.
(MACHINERY WHIRS)
Here she comes.
I want to do the best we can
at recovery here.
First little piece of gold, Jack,
running down the trough.
All right.
That's nice. That's nice.
Dave arrives to check on progress.
Hey, guys. Hey, man.
Hey, how are you doing? Good.
Wow, this looks good.
What are you guys thinking?
Basically what happened, Dave,
is we had an issue with grease,
so it's not been a good deal.
I mean, it's still looking good.
That's a good stream of gold
going out there.
They're seeing gold,
but only the weigh-in will reveal
how much they've recovered.
Three hours later, it's time to find
out if Jack has saved the cleanout.
The Indian River crew
set a season goal of 500 ounces.
Just pour it in there.
They have less than nine weeks left
and need at least 40 ounces,
worth $64,000, from this cleanout
to stay on track.
OK, here we go, man.
One, two, three, four, five.
20.
That looks... That looks good.
30!
35, 38,
40!
41, 43, 44, 45, 47,
49 -
50.
51, 52, 53,
55. Whoo!
Absolutely fantastic.
Get every last little bit.
This is a great Indian River
clean-up, Jack.
Look at that.
Well, 55.17, so, you know,
that's pretty cool.
Yee-ha!
55 ounces,
worth almost $88,000.
The crew's gold total for the season
is now 170 ounces,
worth over
a quarter-of-a-million dollars.
Great clean-up. I loved it.
Bottom line is
we've got to get this trommel going.
These guys got to start producing
gold down here
if we've got any chance of
getting a thousand ounces.
At Quartz Creek, Ray Brosseuk
is still battling to get
Todd's turbo trommel running.
Yeah, now the challenge is to get
this motor into that spot.
See if I can get it in there.
Oh, it's gonna be -
Tough.
Ray has removed
the small hydraulic motor.
Now, he needs to install the
electric replacement and generator.
The new motor is twice as powerful
and four times the size.
Ray needs to fit it through
a 40-inch opening
without damaging
the trommel's frame.
There's no space for mistakes here.
A chain or a strap breaks
and motor drops
and we're put back
at least ten days.
I know you may want to do this lift,
but I would like to do it.
Just guide it in there slowly
and we'll take it easy, all right?
I'll be honest with you.
I'd like to do it as well.
I know, but if something goes wrong,
you'll feel bad forever.
If something goes wrong it's my -
Either way I'm gonna feel bad.
Yeah, I know, but it's -
And...
Money out of my pocket not yours.
This machine not running
is money out of my pocket.
I'd like to do the lift.
I've been on an excavator for
30 years so I'm comfortable with it.
I've been on one for ten.
OK.
With Todd's season on the line,
this replacement has to work.
(BLEEP)!
Ray's pretty persistent about
lifting this in there.
He says he's been
operating machines a long time.
He might be the best operator
around, but you know what? All it
takes is one screw up. It's done.
Easy, Jack. Don't bust it.
I'd hate to have to kill you.
It's taken Ray two weeks just to get
this replacement motor
up to the Klondike.
There's no room for error.
Got to really concentrate
to get it right.
Hang on a second.
Straight forward?
Yep. We only got about
two inches to spare.
Easy. Just guide him, Jack.
Yeah.
You can go down a little bit more.
Very fine movements.
How much more can we come down?
Half inch.
Watch the radiator.
(CLUNK!)
Whoa.
That's an awful lot of stress
on that.
We're gonna break something.
The new motor is too big.
But Ray can't cut away any more
of the trommel's frame.
Why don't we just drain the coolant
out and I'll pull the radiator off?
You think so?
Because this is definitely
the most delicate piece. OK.
And off really carefully.
There you go, yeah.
Take two. We'll see how this goes.
With the radiator removed,
they make another attempt.
That's looking good. Straight in.
Down!
Hold it.
Give it a push, Kyle.
We got to give it everything we got.
Almost. Yeah, I just don't want
to lose a finger here.
Post tolerances
but we're wiggling it in.
Right there.
OK.
(GRUNTS)
OK, down a little bit, OK?
Now you can go down.
Got your turbo up against
the hopper. Stop, stop, stop.
(CLUNK!)
(BLEEP) Whoa! Stop! Stop.
Push on it.
Ready? Watch your fingers.
Can't have nerves
when you're doing this,
you just gotta have concentration.
It's going. Just start, like,
keep letting her down. Forward.
Now we're getting somewhere.
OK, we're looking good. Let her down
nice and easy. There you go.
The new motor is in, with just
a few centimetres to spare.
That's it, guys. We did it.
I can breathe now.
At the Big Nugget Mine, Alaska,
Parker is on his way
to see his grandfather
for the first time since
his operation.
I've heard that he's doing well so
I'm looking forward to seeing him.
We finished drilling
up on Smith Creek and,
you know, not very good results
so I'm gonna tell my grandpa
about that all.
A week ago, when Parker's
grandfather told him
that he had to have
life-threatening surgery,
Parker withheld the disastrous news
that Smith Creek was finished.
You can't crush his, you know,
only dream at Big Nugget.
I don't know what
he'll suggest we do
about Smith Creek,
you know, and even about
the rest of the season.
Hey, Grandpa.
Well, hello.
It's nice to see you. Hi, I feel
I haven't even seen you for a week.
I know. How was the trip?
I was out of bed the same day
I was operated on
and dismissed the following morning,
which it speaks for itself.
Sounds about right.
Yeah, well, I don't know.
How are things going with you,
Parker?
We drilled three holes
on Smith Creek.
What's down there?
Doesn't look too good.
It's 88 feet down to bedrock.
I never dreamed,
in my wildest dreams, that
that channel through there could
have that much overburn on it.
Parker, I am sorry I have
such a big problem handed to you.
I find... it hard to believe what
has proven to be reality.
Yeah, it's pretty depressing,
really.
It's a disappointment
to say the least.
What are we gonna do now to survive?
We'll manage.
I hope so.
I mean, there is a chance that
there's good gold on bedrock
on Emerson Trench.
Wonderful.
Why didn't you tell me that
in the first place instead of
telling me all these horrible death
stories about the end of the world?
Well, the hole isn't drilled yet.
I know, but it's
a step in the right direction.
Anytime you come by it lifts me up
because you're coping with
a lot of real severe problems.
All right, take care of yourself,
Parker.
OK, I will. You, too.
I'm trying.
Take it easy. There's no rush.
I'm doing my best.
With John's encouragement,
Parker decides to give
Emerson Trench another shot.
Two miles upriver, Fred has
persuaded Dustin and Melody
to visit McKinley Falls,
where the equivalent of
seven million dollars in gold
was found almost a century ago.
Fred wants to dig what he thinks is
a similar waterfall on their claim.
Oh, boy.
Just walk in from here.
Sounds good.
It's so quiet.
So I guess what we're looking for is
if this waterfall's the same shape,
or size, or any kind of similarities
to our waterfall.
I really wanna see
what holds that much gold.
They've pulled out 4,500 ounces.
I can't imagine that.
There it is. It's beautiful.
Wow, that's fabulous.
Fred wasn't kidding about this
waterfall. Look at the drop on that.
It's at least a 50-foot drop.
Can you see in the back
where the water's hitting the wall
and then turning a bit?
Uh-huh.
That's what we have at
the very top of our waterfall.
That gives me a lot of hope.
Maybe if you could get them
to turn the water off,
we could see what's under there
and what it looks like.
Let's go down to the water line.
We've got a waterfall
that looks similar to this
less than a mile away,
a mile downstream.
And to think that they got
4,500 ounces out of this thing,
there's no telling
what we can get out of ours.
It would be life-changing.
Absolutely life-changing
for all of us, you know that.
It's the same creek,
it's the same area,
almost the same waterfall.
This is amazing.
Back at Big Nugget,
the future of the 25-year-old mine
now depends on Emerson Trench.
Parker brings in a drill rig.
He's investing thousands of dollars
to find out if the bedrock
is close enough to the surface to
make Emerson Trench worth mining.
The lowest spot we have
is where we're gonna drill a hole.
And we're gonna hopefully find
the place to dig
for the rest of the season.
It's kind of getting down to the wire
at this point.
Parker needs bedrock to be less than
30 feet deep, around nine metres,
or he can't afford to dig
Emerson Trench.
Up.
OK, keep coming.
20 feet down,
they add another drill section.
Every foot costs Parker another $50.
Stand back.
Right on. Holy cow.
Looks like bedrock. Bedrock?
But we were, like, 26 when we
hit it. 26? Yeah. Awesome.
26 is better than I expected it to be
and that makes me happy.
Because, at this point, we can't be
picky with what ground we're digging.
It's great news for Parker.
The Big Nugget Mine
lives to see another day.
(BLEEP) yeah!
I think things are going good.
.
.
At Porcupine Creek, Dustin is back
from McKinlay Falls,
and he's had a change of heart.
We're gonna follow this waterfall
down and see what's at the bottom,
so I can actually get
some real gold.
It's like winning the lottery.
It's just a really big deal.
Finally, father and son
agree on a common goal.
To reach the bottom of the ancient
waterfall, and what they hope is
the legendary glory hole gold.
Going down.
After 20 hours of running material
from the waterfall,
the Dakota boys are ready
for a weigh-in.
Right now, they have
40 ounces of gold,
worth $64,000,
but with running costs so far
of $87,000,
they've spent a lot more
than they've made.
All right,
all right,
we'll call this the waterfall.
Excellent.
But we have - The start.
(ALL) Of the waterfall.
Two,
four, five.
We have so much more to go.
Eight,
12,
14,
15 -
I knew it was more than 15.
16.
He's got a lot more left.
17.
Yes, keep it coming.
19, come on, 20.
Oh, there's 20.
No way.
20.8 ounces.
I'll be damned.
Whoa.
20.8 ounces,
worth over $30,000,
brings their total to 61 ounces.
Almost $100,000 in gold
so far this season.
Wow.
I do not believe this.
That looks really good.
It does.
We need to keep this going.
This is great.
We gotta get back to the waterfall.
Imagine what might be
in the bottom of that waterfall?
With this much gold sitting around
over there, there has to be more.
That, you're talking about
leprechaun stuff. That's exactly
what I'm talking about,
end of the rainbow. That's right.
I'm looking for
end of the rainbow stuff.
Let's go for it as big as we can.
Let's take all the gold out of it.
Everything we can get.
Sounds like a plan to me.
Quartz Creek, the Klondike.
Ray and Mitch have installed the new
electric motor in Todd's trommel.
It's time to find out if
the revamped trommel
is powerful enough to finally run
pay dirt - and produce gold.
Let's start this baby up.
All right, that'll be a go.
With half the season already over,
there's no plan B
for Todd's operation at
Quartz Creek. It's now or never.
(MECHANICAL WHIR)
Here it goes!
Looks like everything's turning
in the right direction, Ray.
Andy, go ahead and feed it.
Andy Spinks adds the first bucket
of pay dirt.
That looks really good.
This is all nice, yeah, really good.
Whoo!
There's no words for it.
I don't know
what you'd wanna call it.
Redemption, relief, satisfaction.
Yeah, I can't describe it.
Todd's crew is happy for
the first time this season.
But running dirt is
only the first step.
Ray pans the concentrate from
the sluice box to see if the trommel
is actually catching gold.
The Quartz Creek crew has
less than an ounce to show for
three months of backbreaking work.
They're desperate to find something.
OK, guys,
here's the moment of truth.
Well, let's see - If there was
some gold in that ground.
Oh, look at that.
Wow!
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That is awesome.
Look at that.
That is amazing.
Guys, and that's not our good dirt.
That is beautiful.
Nice big one there, look at that.
Yeah.
I'm encouraged.
I'm relieved.
Yes, it is.
Yeah.
Quartz Creek, we're on the map.
We're producing gold and we're not
gonna shut it down until we got it.
You know, we're going for it.
We're gonna make it.
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