Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 3, Episode 3 - Secret Weapons - full transcript

In the Klondike's frozen gold fields,
the Hoffman crew is hard at work.

You can smell gold in that dirt,
Dave. 'Here we go.'

With twice the manpower...

1,000 ounces of gold is a giant.

..and twice as many machines...

I'm not asking you guys to go after
a bear with a BB gun this year.

..they are better equipped than ever
to reach their goal,

1,000 ounces of gold.

The best is yet to come.

But with two mines...

We're gonna tear this apart.



..and two separate crews
comes twice the challenge.

It makes you nervous, you start
seeing your dream shaking apart.

Dave Turin and the Hoffmans...

I thought we had a plan.

..go head to head. We're moving the
wash plant down on Indian River.

I'm going to ruffle some feathers
this year.

Whoa! It's going to be my way
or the highway.

In Alaska... (BLEEP)

Dakota Fred's new crew...

I'm not going to work like that all
summer. I'll end up killing a man.

..brings new problems
to Porcupine Creek.

Basically it's just a huge deception
on your part.

When do you want me to leave?

And just as Parker starts to see his
first real gold of the season...



Look at that, there's a dollar,
there's another dollar.

..the gold goes missing.

Now there's this big question
is, where it is.

At Quartz Creek in the Klondike,

the Hoffman crew is firing
on all cylinders.

First year it took half the season
to get the freaking gold going.

Last year was about six weeks,
this year, one week.

Todd and crew are already mining.

Just 15 days into
the 150-day mining season,

they are finally ahead of the game.

We're getting an early start,
we've got a good cut,

this is the number one materials.

If we're going to get
to 1,000 ounces,

we're going to have run every day,
almost, from here on out.

In the winter, Todd ordered
a new, more efficient, wash plant.

Can you get me one in six
to eight weeks? No doubt.

When it wasn't ready
for the start of the season,

they had no choice but to go back
to their old plant, Little Blue.

Little Blue has done a lot of work
and it's really tired.

But Little Blue was plagued
with problems all last year.

They suspect it cost them thousands
of dollars in untrapped gold.

We were losing gold
right off the top.

Now the crew is on its best paydirt
in three seasons.

To hit 1,000 ounces,
worth about $1.6 million,

they have to run Little Blue
and catch every grain of gold.

What I'm worried about is last year
I was losing some gold,

a lot of people
said I was losing gold.

We did get 94 ounces last year,
but who knows how much we lost?

I'm going to have them do a real
thorough pan and see what happens.

Todd has now run enough pay dirt
to find out

if Little Blue is losing gold
out the end of the sluice box.

You know, this is at the end
of our sluice,

if it's not in the sluice,
it's gone for ever.

This is the one time you're panning
and don't want to find anything.

My running costs are $4,000 a day.

And if I'm going
to get 1,000 ounces,

then I gotta get every piece of gold
out of this ground I can get.

It's not good, Todd.

Oh, that's not good.

That's like five pieces of gold.

It's decent sized gold too. Ohh!

If we're losing that much in a pan,
it's just pouring off of it. I know.

Cut the water,
and we'll just shut everything off.

Shut it down.

You know, our worst fears came true,

finally panned some of the tailings
and there's good gold in there.

The problem could be anything from
the angle of the sluice boxes

to the water pressure.

Figuring it out might take weeks.

We're pouring gold
off the end of the sluice.

I've got a trommel,
any day, it's gonna show up.

I'm not gonna run that good paydirt
down that machine.

I'm killing it.

In southeast Alaska,

at the Big Nugget mine,
17-year-old Parker Schnabel

is working a new piece of ground
on Emmerson Trench.

After five days,
he has finally hit paydirt.

Things are going pretty good. See,
this is the real fit part right
here.

18, 20 feet of overburn, but, you
know, here's the nice paydirt.

Money.

In the last six months, Parker
borrowed more than $150,000

from his grandfather John...

Like all young men,
they're in a hurry.

..to rebuild his wash plant, hire
a bigger crew and to lease new land.

I think we'd probably go with
ten per cent. Oh, wow, thanks.

With this season's running costs
at $2,000 a day,

and with his grandfather's loan
to pay back,

Parker needs to find 300 ounces,
worth nearly half a million dollars.

You know, in this first week
of operation,

I'd like to, you know,
set the stage for the season,

and let's have a 20-ounce week.

Now you can say,
"He's just saying that (BLEEP),"

or you can say, "Maybe we wanna
do something this year."

Bring it on. Bring the dirt!
(LAUGHS)

Well, let's see
what the plant can handle. (LAUGHS)

We're ready. Let's run some dirt.

Our first bucket of dirt.

I'm trying to set a high pace,

that's why I volunteered
to get in the loader,

because I'll just blaze
through all the dirt.

Parker is pushing to get more than
half last season's gold total in just
one week.

His success depends on an ancient
wash plant he recently stripped down
and rebuilt.

The whole theme of the work
we've done on the plant

was to eliminate
the bottlenecks.

There was a few spots
in our plant

that made us run pretty long
yardage last year.

The plant's been modified to run more
dirt than ever and catch more
fine gold.

Without question, this is
the hardest gold to capture.

New crew member and fine gold expert
Glen Billeter

is in charge of the final stage
of gold recovery.

See all this super fine gold here?
Look at the ribbons of it.

They've never been able
to extract this fine gold.

Glen's got a pretty big task there,

trying to handle
the sheer volume of material

coming out of the bottom of the jig.

There's a dollar,
there's another dollar.

Oh, there's another dollar.

Yeah, the first gold of our season
just flowed right off of this table.

Quite nicely, I mean there's
at least an ounce in there.

You know, there's a lot of it.
It's working pretty well, Glen.

Yeah it is, it's working
really well.

The old wash plant has run well
in its first ten hours.

Just how well depends on
what's in the sluice boxes.

It's all the way down.
Oh, look at that.

Holy cow, look.
There it is. Now you can see it.

Look at that.
That is fantastic. Wow.

It's good that everybody's spirits
will be raised by that shiny stuff.

That's our first day running.

It was a rough one,
but it's full of gold.

The next morning, when Parker checks
the gold room, something is missing.

(BLEEP)

Parker?

Hey, Gary. Yo.

Uh, I had...I had two pans
in the shop,

one of them had about
close to an ounce

of just pretty nice clean gold.
Uh-huh?

Have you seen them? No.
Glen...

There was no pan in there that had
a whole bunch of fine gold.

There's no way there was
an ounce of gold in there.

There was only the two pounds...
the two pans.

(BLEEP)

(BLEEP)

Parker can't afford
to lose $1,500 in gold,

but his bigger concern is trust.

He has to be able to leave
the crew alone with his gold.

All I'm saying is those were the
only two pans there.

One of them had the gold
I found right off the ground

and then the other one was yours.

This is it, right here.

This is the stuff you had,
the coarse gold,

and this is
the really fine gold.

Then we're missing an ounce of gold
that was in that shed.

No, there was nothing like that,
Parker,

there was only the two pans that
were sitting right here, two pans.

Well, I guess my only question is,

why would you mess with them
in the first place?

You went a bit over the line because
I don't know what you're doing,

and for you to take the liberty of
taking it from where I had stored it

and putting it in
your personal vehicle...

I picked it up last night,
it was on the ground.

It shouldn't have been, it should
have been where I had left it. Yeah.

And now there's this big question,
is where it is.

Oh, there was just confusion about
a couple of pans of gold

that are just sitting
on the back of my truck.

I was going to clean them
and hand him the nice clean gold,

but apparently he doesn't like
surprises.

There is probably about $1,500 worth
of gold, close to an ounce.

That's one bad thing about gold
mining, really,

is, you know, a little handful
of the stuff

makes it really tempting
for someone to...

uh, steal.

Up in the Klondike,
the Hoffman crew is on its way

to see claim owner Greg McNeal.

To finally hit it big, they need
to secure a second gold-rich claim.

Here's the deal.
If this doesn't work,

we're going to pull out, we're going
to pull out of Indian River,

so this is our season right here.

In the off season, Dave and Todd
leased a second claim

in the nearby Indian River Valley.

I want Indian River,
I wanna do it my way.

They test drilled
and got great results.

1,000 ounces, Todd, it's good!
Yee-ha!

But it turned out the claim they
drilled didn't belong to them.

It isn't right. We're on the wrong
claim. You are freaking kidding me.

But after testing the right claim,
it just wasn't viable.

I can't mine this.

It's suicide trying to strip
over 20 feet of mud in the summer.

All right, you do the talking, Todd.

The only way Todd can hit his goal
this season

is to convince claim owner
Greg McNeal

to lease them the gold-rich ground
he and Dave first drilled.

Guys, can you keep your crew
back please?

Because this is a big deal,
OK?

So it's literally where we're gonna
pull out of Indian River if we don't
get these claims.

Todd, what's going on?
How you doing?

We're afraid, we've never done
that deep of mud.

It's just not going to work for us.
It's too deep.

The problem is I've got a huge loan,

I got ten leased machines,
investors, and I got to get gold.

I gotta get 1,000 ounces
this season,

and if we can't get ground
that we can mine this year,

we gotta pull all that stuff out
and leave to another claim.

It's a do or die situation.

Up in the Klondike, the Hoffman crew
is meeting with claim owner Greg
McNeal.

They desperately need the gold-rich
land on his Indian River claim

to reach their 1,000 ounce goal.

I had an idea. There's a low bench
and there's a high bench.

Mm-hm? High bench
is out of the question.

I've got to have that high bench.

You guys can take the bottom.

The good claim Todd and Dave
first drilled,

with gold that they can get to,

is split into two levels.

Greg wants to hold on
to the upper terrace,

but he is willing to let them mine
the lower terrace,

where they got their best
test results.

Looks like it's right about here.
Yeah, that would be real close.

We'll be down here,
we'll pull our water here

and our tailings water out here.

I think we could make this work.

Dave? Greg, you don't know
what this means to us.

This is gonna save our season.
Greg, I think we got a deal.

Let's do it, fellas. Let's. Let's
go. This'll work out good for us
all.

Let's go, let's do it.

That went a lot better
than I thought it was gonna go.

1,000 ounces is still on the table,
and we're gonna go for it.

With Dave's Indian River claim
secured,

the miners can finally split
into two crews and get to work.

At Quartz Creek,
Todd has the biggest crew.

On their original Klondike mine,

Jack Hoffman and Jim Thurber
are in charge of gold recovery.

And Todd now has four rookie miners.

Logan, Stirling, Kevin and Andy.

You need the hearts down here
in Quartz Creek.

The heart is in these new guys,
these guys are hungry,

these are guys
that I wanna mine with.

Todd's secret weapon is Walt Dillard,

an operator with 20 years'
experience.

That's how we do it back home, baby!

Two miles southwest of Quartz Creek
is Indian River, their second mine.

Dave Turin will run
his own operation here,

with Todd's oldest friend
Greg Remsburg

and loader operator Chris Doumitt.

Hey, Fred, we're moving the wash
plant down on Indian River. Yeah.

I didn't think I'd ever see
this day. Piece by piece.

Dave Turin has a weapon of his own
this season.

Freddie Dodge,
the gold recovery expert,

who's been mining
since he was eight years old.

Do our absolute best to not let gold
get away from us.

You can't get it all,
but we wanna get most of it.

He's the brains behind Indian River's
impressive wash plant, Big Red.

There's a lot of things in here
that I've learned

through the school of hard knocks
over the years.

Dave now has a tight-knit team
and a brand new wash plant.

A friendly rivalry
is already brewing.

He's confident they'll deliver
their half

of the Hoffman crew's collective goal
of 1,000 ounces.

If we do 501, we've done our part
here at Indian River.

And I think Todd's gonna get at
least 499 and then we'll have it.

600 miles south,

Dakota Fred is bringing in new muscle
to Porcupine Creek.

Man, I can't wait to see the look on
Dustin's face when he sees this guy.

Two weeks ago, the Dakota boys were
ready to mine the gold-rich paydirt

they are sure lies
at the bottom of the glory hole.

This thing better
unlock some secrets.

But after record winter snowfall,

the threat of flooding
derailed their plans.

This stream itself will just
fill up your whole hole. Wow.

Pick up all your excavators,
equipment

and wash them down into the river.

Fred's plan is to start a new dig
next to the glory hole

and work his way over
as the flood risk subsides.

I'm gonna need more help,
I'm gonna need bigger equipment.

I'll get you some more equipment.

I'll get you some more people.

Fred arrives on the claim
in a new 220 loader,

delivering on his promise.

Now, that's a loader.

You said get some equipment,
I got lucky at the auction.

Not only equipment,
I got a couple more people.

I'm Dustin. Melody.
Melody. Pleasure.

Wayne. Wayne. Heard you need
a little help up here.

We do. Yeah, we do.

Hopefully you all are ready
for some hard work. Let's do it.
Let's do it.

Melody Tallis,
a rodeo rider from Arizona,

has been gold mining
for the last four years.

I have gold fever,
that's a definite.

How do you get rid of it?

It's in my blood.

I wasn't expecting a woman.

I really wanted a big strong guy
to do all the lifting for me,

or help me with the lifting.

But now what I get
is a little woman.

The proof is in the pudding,
we'll find out.

Dustin worries some about
having a woman on the job,

and not a bad-looking one at that.

Go back. But in the end, it comes
down to people that can run
equipment out here.

That is an absolute full bucket,
good job.

Wayne Peterson headed up
the Colorado chapter

of the Gold Prospectors
of America.

My name is "Nugget Brain" Wayne.

I've been mining for gold
since 1983.

Let Dustin get out of the way

and you can do whatever
you need to do there. OK.

All right, good. Good luck.

Wayne's first task is to clear the
last of the snow blocking the cabin.

Yo! Set it here.

Scoop it and set it here.

Try not to push sideways
and get stuck.

Just curl it up and get.

But unlike Melody, he struggles.

(BLEEP) My grandma could run
that thing faster.

Why the hell is he turning
all the damn time?

I'll be damned.

Hey, Fred, I'm not comfortable
working that close to him.

It's kind of scary.
It takes a while.

I know, I understand, but not at my
expense, it's just not gonna happen.

It's up to you.

I didn't even know you could be
a miner and not be an operator.

This isn't training camp,
this is a gold mine.

Up in the Klondike at Indian River,
the Hoffmans' second mine.

A little bit more.

Mine boss Dave Turin
is calling the shots.

This is our team, team Turin,
it's the best team around,

it'll get
the most gold this year.

Its got the best plant
in the Klondike, the best ground.

Dave's crew is building
a massive new wash plant.

It's like a big erector set
that we used to play with as kids.

Their biggest challenge is lifting
the 4,500 kilogram shaker deck into
place.

Now is the moment.

This is the most critical
piece that we own right here.

Probably about $50,000 screen.

You don't wanna drop them.

So I'm gonna pick the screen, swing
it over and then I gotta walk it in

cos we don't have a crane, so I'm
real limited in my mobility here.

There's a lot of things that can
go wrong with this situation.

It makes me nervous when we're
picking big chunks of steel.

I worry about my guys
working under big loads.

See, Fred, easy.

Try to come in just a smidge,
please.

It's not real easy
with an excavator, is it?

Then we gotta come up.
Close, Fred?

We're gonna have to come up
some more, a little more.

Think that's about it, Fred.
Right now.

No! No! No! I don't know, Fred,
if it is gonna make it,

I'm now all the way out.

No! (BLEEP)

See...

I'm not clear.
Hang on. Just got... Hang on.

Hey, come out.
It's drifting on it.

Up a little... No... Hey! Whoa!

At the Hoffman crew's new claim,
Indian River...

No! Come out just to here.

..Team Turin struggles to lift the
shaker deck onto their new wash
plant.

Whoa! Just pulling it in there.

Come up. Whoa, that's close.
There you go.

Whoa, whoa!

Whoa, whoa.
Hey, let's get our springs on.

Hit 'em, they'll go in.

Good, we got it, all right.

Dave. Looks good, Fred.

We did it. A little touch and go
there for a minute,

but looks a wash plant, doesn't it?

We're getting closer every day.

While Dave Turin's new wash plant
is almost ready to run,

Todd Hoffman's old plant
is standing idle.

We're losing gold and
I just wanna get it out of here.

The trommel's
rolling in any day.

Todd has ordered a new trommel
designed to run 240 yards an hour

and recover 97 per cent of the gold.

Sometimes you gotta make hard
decisions in this game

and this is one of them,

but if we're gonna get 1,000 ounces,

it's definitely not gonna be
with this machine.

It's out with the old
and in with the new.

OK, here we go.

Real easy.

I'm gonna drag it down here,
put it up alongside the road

and throw a for sale sign on her.

Somebody will buy her.

She's a clean one owner. Hee-hee!

I'm able to get rid of it because
I understand the trommel,

What's coming in,
it's like a convertible Ferrari

and this is like
your high school beat-up car.

Until the new trommel arrives, Todd's
crew has no way of recovering any
gold.

What in the crap is going on?

What is he doing?

I mean we don't even have the other
plant, shouldn't we at least wait?

You'd think he would use what
we got. We have nothing now.

I don't get it. What's going on?

I though we were gonna
take it apart later.

What's going on?
No, we gotta move up, man.

And I thought we had a plan and
we're not sticking to it, so...

Well, the plan changed,
and I ripped it out.

We can't sluice at all, we're
down to gold panning right now.

That's the way it is, we're gonna
have to deal with it.

With this goal up here
of 1,000 ounces,

and now he pulled out any chance...

you know, now we're waiting
for his new machine.

Doesn't make any sense to me.

Easy.

Where'd he go?
We don't have anything right now.

Right now we might as well
not even call ourselves miners,

because this is... we're not mining.

I opened up my big mouth
and said 1,000 ounces.

Maybe I'm gonna ruffle some feathers
this year

because it'll be my way
or the high way,

but in the end I think everybody
is gonna thank me for it,

because I see a path
on how to get there.

South at Porcupine Creek,

Fred, Dustin and their new crew plan
to be running dirt within the week.

Everybody is enthusiastic, eager,

everybody wants to get things
going around here.

I'm ready to get out there
and dig a little dirt, wash it,

check our sluice box
and see what's in it.

But before they can start mining,

they have to inspect
their wash plant's de-rocker.

It hasn't run all winter.

I wish we could
go ahead and run it,

but right here this first wave
right here is real low.

This should be a lot higher.

(SIGHS) Yeah, looks like our two
tyres are down a little bit,
definitely.

Inside the de-rocker,
three pairs of truck wheels

roll backwards and forwards
to move rocks along the deck.

Fred suspects the upper part
of the deck has dropped

due to a pair of flat tyres.

Hopefully it's a quick fix
and we can pump it up and get going.

To get to the tyres,
they have to lift off the heavy deck.

Slow, slow, Fred.

It's 10,000 pounds of steel or more.

We don't want it to cut loose, it's
just so heavy that if it cuts loose,

it will just come down
and just destroy everything.

Yep. Hey! Check the chain on it.
Stand by!

Wait! There's something hooked up
there. Pick it up... What is it?

It looks like it might be close
to hooking up or hooked up.

We're hanging it up on the chains,
Fred.

I've got that thing
in a bind there somewhere.

Let's go ahead a little bit,
get as low as you can.

We clear? It looks like we're
hooking up on my side. Wanna give
it a tug?

Stand by! Hey! Busted the chain.
Yeah, but you cut it loose.

Keep going! You got this, Fred,
come on.

(METAL GROANING AND SQUEALING)

Yeah!

With the deck safely removed, Dustin
gets his first look at the damage.

Holy (BLEEP).
We got some big problems.

You gotta see this, Fred.

Holy (BLEEP).

Two tyres are ripped off.

We've got a broken spring on that
side over there, it's shattered.

We got two tyres
completely off the unit.

Uh-oh, we sheared a shaft off. Yeah,
the whole shaft has gone and
everything.

This is the heart of the operation.

Yeah, without this thing
you can't do anything.

Man, I can't believe this thing
is like this, though.

Rocked by the state
of their wash plant,

the Dakota boys now must fix it

using whatever materials
they have around the mine.

These aren't regular standard parts
like you get off of an automobile,

these are parts that you have to get
a part and then make another part.

So I'm gonna take
this old part here,

I'm gonna weld it on to this area
right here,

convert it to carry a wheel.

Now I've just gotta lift it
at the same time.

There's one fellow, Wayne,
that thinks he's the boss.

You wanna drop the air pressure.

He second guessed me
at every single turn.

We'll see if he lasts. I'm not gonna
work like that all summer.

I'll end up killing the man.

I got it.

Completed.

After replacing the wheels, they have
to lower the deck back into place,

but at 4,500 kilos,

one slip could destroy the parts
they have just fixed.

Still has a lot of power
coming downhill,

and if it just smashes it'll just
break everything in its way.

That's not the right way, Fred.
Yeah, it is.

If that chain breaks,
that's a lot of steel

and it will just come smashing
to the ground.

Here it comes.

It's gonna break over.

It's gonna be
probably a little violent.

Whoo! Nothing to it.

Whoo. I'm glad that's over.

We're gonna turn it on
and see if all holds together.

(ENGINE SPLUTTERING)

Looks good, Fred, we got it working.

It's working, I love it, love it.
Whoo!

One little step closer to mining.

Beautiful.

Across the creek at Big Nugget,

mine owner Parker Schnabel
has a personnel problem.

Well, we've had some pretty big
issues with Glen the last couple of
days

and you know, trust is a very
serious thing at a gold mine,

and I just gotta go talk to him
about this.

And every time we've talked,
there's a camera in our face,

so just hang back, all right?

Glen's in charge of gold recovery

and Parker thinks that some
of the week's yield

has disappeared on his watch.

This is the material that he said
that had disappeared.

When you look at gold in a pan
and all of that,

there's no way you can make that
assumption that there was that much
gold.

I think it looks like a whole lot
more than it actually is.

Parker must decide if he can trust
Glen to handle all his gold this
season.

You know we started off
with a real bad note,

pulling the gold out of that room...

I have really apologised. ..without
talking to me. I won't do it again.

I just need to make sure
that we work as team

and that I can trust the people,
especially on the plant.

All of that goes
right through your fingers.

It's so easy for you,
you know?

I've done some things that haven't
been very smart. Right.

I'm on your side,
you really gotta get that.

There's the gold, or you know,
he says that's the gold,

I'll never know if it's all of it.

I guess I just gotta trust the guy.

You know, in order to let him
do his job, I've gotta trust him.

Trust isn't Parker's only problem.

He has just three days left

to hit the 20-ounce goal
he set for the week.

Where's all the gold?

If the dirt Parker has been running
is any good,

he should be seeing gold
in the sluice box.

That's disappointing, because
we needed to have a good week

and it's not happening.

We're not getting our 20 ounces,
that's for damn sure.

Back at Porcupine Creek, the
mine is finally ready to run dirt.

But Fred also has a problem
with his workforce.

Wayne, I think we need to talk for
just a little while, in private.

(BLEEP) OK.

You all are not welcome round here.

Is there anything you wanna tell me
about your health

or any other things that may keep
you from operating machinery?

I have no health issues at all.
OK.

Not at all?

I have a back problem,
but that's not an issue,

I've had it since I was 23,
24 years old.

At night, if it really bothers me
before I go to bed,

I take one of my prescribed pills.

What is a prescribed pill?
Oxycontin. Oxycodone.

What does it say on the bottle?

You are not to operate equipment
when you're on oxycotton

or any of that type of stuff.

It absolutely says that.

It wears off by morning,
it just kills the pain.

Well, you know as well as I do this
is a hazardous situation out here,

it's serious, and basically it's
just a huge deception on your part.

This just absolutely
cannot continue.

When do you want me to leave by?

Well, right now is probably
as good as any.

Just walk out here a little bit.

It's best for
all the individuals involved

that we resolve this situation
right now,

and, uh, I've terminated Wayne.

After I leave I want you to check
everything real close in the cabin.

I'm worried right now.

Well, Dustin doesn't think I'm good
enough, so that's fine with me.

Um, I have a wife and kids
to go back to,

so I can still hold my head proud

knowing that I did what I did
and how I do things

and they know that
I'm a better person

than I've been probably
made out to be.

I don't know what else to say, guys.

Up in the Klondike
on the Indian River claim,

Dave crew is ready to run its wash
plant for the first time.

I've got the screen wired,

I got the other two conveyors wired,

this is the last piece
of the puzzle.

Now it's do or die.

Time to fire it up.

OK, here we go.

(ENGINE STARTS)

OK, we're ready.

Between the two Hoffman crews,

they want to get 1,000 ounces,
worth about $1.6 million.

OK, Greg, we're ready
for the feed conveyor.

Feed conveyor on.

Dave wants his team
to be the first to hit 500 ounces.

Chris, turn the feeder on.

They're depending
on their wash plant.

It's built from over 50 sections
and is untested in the field.

'Everything is going good here.'
So far so good.

I think we're ready
to fire off the shaker now

and that's probably the
biggest thing right now.

Are you ready, Chris?

OK, Greg go ahead, turn it on.

(LOUD RATTLING)

It's gonna tear this apart.

I'm just worried to see...
I've gotta see where it's hitting.

The screen deck is the only part
that is designed to shake,

but the whole wash plant is shaking
so violently it could break apart.

Why are we getting so much vibration
transferring into this stand?
I don't know.

I really don't know yet
what's going on. We're...

Makes you nervous, you start seeing
your... your dreams shaking apart.

At the Hoffman crew's
Indian River claim...

Coming on!

..Dave Turin has a plan to stop his
new wash plant from breaking apart.

Shut her down.

We're strengthening it right now.

We're taking away
all of the areas that can move

and we're just welding them solid.

So we've got X-braces now that
should transfer that load

back down into the stand,

and hopefully it will eliminate
this vibration

on the end of the screen here.

We're just locking it down tight.

The only way to test the fix
is to fire up the machine again.

'Ready?' Ready. Start it.

Fire in the hole!

Yeah, that's a lot better.

Now that's what I'm talking about,
look at this,

we can stand here and talk now.

Look at this, this is perfect.

It's the way it should be.

We've controlled the beast.

(LAUGHS) Nice job, all right.

I say we turn the water on
and see what happens.

The final step is to pump 1,500
gallons a minute, around 7,000
litres,

through one of the biggest
sluice boxes in the Klondike.

They're about to find out
if it's ready to run paydirt.

Good.

Really good.

Looking good, boys.

It all works.

Looks good.

We're ready to go, you know, to get
to 1,000 you've gotta start with
one.

Well done, you guys, well done.

Indian River is coming to life.
Yeah! Team Turin is shaking.

The crew is on the verge of seeing
its first gold of the season.

But just up the valley
at Quartz Creek,

Todd's mine is at a standstill.

They have paydirt,
but nothing to process it.

Todd's ripped out their old wash
plant, Little Blue,

before their
new trommel has even arrived.

Where the hell's the plant?
Where are we at now?

A few days ago, you said we were
gonna have it in a couple of days.

That's passed. How much more time
is gonna go by?

Todd raises the bar to 1,000 ounces,
that's great,

but give me something to run it in.

Todd and the crew are in the Klondike
weeks earlier than last season.

But once again they are wasting time.

Todd calls the trommel manufacturer.

How's it going, man?
Give me the update.

Problems as in... I'll tell you
what, just give me a date.

So, that's not gonna cut it so...

Well, just bust your ass on it, man,

we're not taking no for an answer
on this one, OK?

Pretty bad news on the wash plant.

Their trommel isn't going to arrive
for another three weeks.

I obviously underestimated
the time that it would take

to get that trommel here, so...

We...we ain't gonna get
1,000 ounces like this.

We've entered the pro league
in this,

and we are not pros,
so that's what scary.

I hope we can make it through.
We'll find out.

At the Big Nugget mine,

it's the end of a long tough week
for Parker Schnabel.

The dirt we're running
hasn't been real great.

We dug in a wrong spot
and we ended up digging too deep

and hauling a bunch of garbage dirt
to the plant.

This is the first real test
of the dirt from his new dig site,

and of his rebuilt wash plant.

Big moment.

Parker's crew is about to find out
if they have hit their 20-ounce goal.

Hopefully the box is yellow.

Look at that (BLEEP),
that's (BLEEP) crazy.

That looks pretty damn good, now it
looks like we had a really good day.

Look at that other side.

This is probably the best sluice box
I've ever seen.

Nugget, see that.

Oh, that's a big one, huh? Yeah.

Gold everywhere.
That's a good problem to have.

Now, this just proves
what a wash plant can do.

If we feed it, take care of it,
this is what it'll give us.

The final day's cleanup
looks promising,

but 20 ounces in a week is ambitious.

Hey, guys, come in here real quick.

Last season, his best week produced
just seven ounces, worth $11,000.

Finished up cleaning the gold from
the last day and we got it right
here.

Pretty nice bottleful.

We worked hard to get it.

Wow. That's 25 ounces.

Wow. Look at that, that's nice.
That's nice stuff. I like that.

Last season, Parker
found just 35 ounces of gold.

In his first week this season, he
already has 25 ounces, worth $40,000.

That's one heck of a week.
That's a nice week.

Best week we've had up here
in two years. Yeah.

So thank you, guys,
and have a good weekend.

Yeah. Right? You bet.

(ALL TALKING) Right? All weekend!

(ALL LAUGHING)

And I would have bought you guys
some beer,

but they wouldn't sell it to me.
No!

I don't know why not.

Subtitles by Deluxe