Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 3, Episode 4 - Battle of the Bridge - full transcript

Four mining crews are
determined to find gold

at the edge of the Arctic Circle.

We're going after a thousand ounces.
That's a fricking giant.

To double their chances of
hitting the mother load,

the Hoffmans have split into
two competing crews.

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

Dave Turin is running
their new claim at Indian River.

Nice job. This is our team. This is
Team Turin. Gonna get the most gold
this year. It's the best team around.

While Todd and Jack have a crew of
rookies at their Quartz Creek claim.

The heart's down here
at Quartz Creek.

These guys are hungry and these are
the guys that I wanna mine with.



Now, Dave's crew is
racing the Arctic summer

to get down to gold rich pay dirt
before the permafrost melts.

No, no, no, no!

Todd's team has
a stockpile of pay gravel,

but despite his promises
no wash plant.

What the crap is going on? Todd, I
need an answer. What are we gonna do?

And Dave's crew is putting
Todd's to shame.

We got gold, boys.
We're ready to rock and roll.

In Alaska, Parker Schnabel removes
the Porcupine Creek bridge,

leaving the Dakota boys
high and dry.

There ain't but one word for that.
(BLEEP)

Just a power drunk kid
trying to throw around his weight.

So if that's what you think it is,
maybe that's the way it should be.

Dakota Fred is ready for war.



You can push a guy just so far.

It's 25 days into the Klondike's
150 day mining season.

Six feet.
Got it.

At Indian River, Dave Turin's team
is making the final adjustments

to their massive new wash plant.

It's the Yukon way, man.
It's working. It's working.

Greg, we're ready,
fire up the generator.

After four weeks of hard work,

the Indian River crew is
finally ready to run dirt.

Say a prayer. Lord,
help us that all this stuff starts.

Lord help us. Fire in the hole, man.
All right, give her a try.

(ENGINE WHIRRS)

The meter's running. It looks good.

If Dave's crew is to hit its season
goal of 500 ounces,

worth $800,000, their new wash plant
will have to run at full capacity,

120 yards of pay gravel an hour.

To get to the pay gravel,

they still need to strip out
over two metres of permafrost.

But in the midsummer sun,

they'll fight melting mud
every step of the way.

Let me ask you this.
Once we strip the live foliage off,

then we've got melt, but if we leave
it on it's not gonna melt.

The sun is at its highest point
right now,

and it's gonna melt faster than
anything we've seen so far.

We can't take more than we can chew.

We cannot take and open up more
than what we could get to.

Last season, after a late start,
the Hoffman crew had to strip

frozen ground during the hottest
point of the Yukon summer.

They were
overwhelmed by a sea of mud.

Whoa!

That's not good.

This season, test drilling the wrong
land cost Dave Turin precious time.

It costs money to drill.
My mistake, my bad.

Dave's crew then assembled
their new wash plant,

taking them until the end of May.

Well done, you guys. Well done.
Indian River is coming to life!

Now, they have to
race the summer sun to open a cut

before the permafrost
turns into an impassable mud pit.

Dave and Todd bring in Klondike
legend, Tony Beats, for advice.

This is our boundary,
the edge of the lake,

and I wanna make a 500ft cut.

Yeah?
Pretty ambitious this time of year.

No kidding.
We do this (BLEEP) in the fall.

If you guys don't get with it, you
ain't gonna have nothing this year.

This stuff's gonna fall out
and melt immediately.

So don't strip any more than you can
get rid of in a day. OK. OK.

Dave's got the D9L over here.
You think you should just tackle
this thing and get her going?

Hit it with both to get down there.
Both bulldozers, the 9L and the 10L?

Get the nine and the ten in there,

because that way you can double up.
You can move twice the dirt.

If you lose that cut,
it's game over.

You got no money, you got
no sluicing. No sluicing, no gold.

Well, we got two healthy dozers now,
Dave.

Let's get them in there and let's
hit it, man. We'll get after it.

To reach pay gravel,
they have to clear the vegetation.

Then, they use the dozer's ripper

to break up the first layer
of permafrost.

As soon as the permafrost
is exposed,

it melts in the hot summer sun.

If they don't clear away
the melting permafrost quickly,

the dozers will get
stuck in a sea of mud.

To stay ahead of the melt,

Dave's crew will run
both dozers 12 hours a day.

Are you ready, Greg?
Ready to roll.

Let's do this.

It's a big challenge.
If we start ripping and tearing,

one of our dozers breaks down
for even a day,

I'm gonna have a hard time
keeping and maintaining that cut.

There's no room for mistakes now.

Big one coming!

The pay gravel tested here

yielded twice as much gold
as at Quartz Creek.

But to get down to it, Dave needs
to clear enough permafrost

to fill 240 Olympic-size
swimming pools.

One of the most violent things
you could do to a dozer

is ripping permafrost.

Come on, baby.

I'm just gonna bring Greg
a quick sandwich so he keeps going.

This stuff turning muddy already?

Oh, it's instantly melting.

The sun's right overhead and it's
gonna spin around in a circle for

the next seven days
while we're fighting this cut.

This is the test right now.

Just 150 miles from
the Arctic Circle,

the Klondike sun barely sets
during summer

and the melt is almost constant.

We're almost at the solstice.

The sun is out,
it's melting every minute of the day.

Is I get on a side hill like this,
this is when you have problems.

The dozer slides sideways like that,
that's what I'm worried about.

No, no, no, no, no, no!

(CLUNK!)

It just broke.

Not good.

That's what I was afraid of.
Look at the size of these chunks.

You get hung up on one of those,
you go sliding

and then it hits a chunk
and it just throws your track off.

Sliding sideways on the melting mud
has thrown off the dozer's track.

But that's not all.

Look over here.

See this right here?

This is a broken bushing,
this shaft has slid out.

When this wheel broke, it shifted

and caused this rail to jump off the
track. It's broke. You can't fix it.

The whole cut is now exposed
to the sun and melting fast.

If they can't clear it soon,

Dave will have a swamp to deal with
in a matter of days.

I'm starting to get worried. You can
see all the black mud ripped up.

Now it's melting from
getting water in the pit.

Dave wants 500 ounces of gold
this season,

five times what the whole
Hoffman crew got last year.

If he is to abandon this cut,
he'll have to start again,

a month behind schedule
and having already spent $60,000.

My pit's melting. This is bad.
It could be the end of our cut.

Two miles northeast at Quartz Creek,

Todd's crew got a head start
this season.

They already have an open cut
and are now stockpiling dirt.

That has gold in it
so we don't wanna be dumping it out
the back of the truck.

Yeah, sure.

A little to your left and then
hit it. Perfect. Right there.

This year, Todd Hoffman
supersized his operation,

deploying twice as much equipment
and manpower.

We got two claims this year.

I'm guessing we're spending

somewhere around $4,000 a day
just to break even.

I've got it figured out
at about 375 ounces.

And what I'm asking
these guys to do

is to get three times this

to actually put some real money
in everybody's pocket.

In the off season, Todd commissioned
a big custom made trommel

that came with
an even bigger promise.

There is nothing in the world that's
better than this for fine gold.

Two weeks ago, Todd ripped out
his old wash plant

because it was losing gold.

I'm not gonna run that good pay dirt
down that machine. I'm killing it.

He was banking on his secret weapon
arriving in Quartz Creek

for the start of the season
four weeks ago.

I obviously under-estimated

the time that it would take
to get that trommel here.

Todd now has to break the news
to his crew,

that not only is the new trommel
1,800 miles away,

it's still being built.

Guys, the trommel got delayed.

He's working as hard as he can but we
got parts that just aren't coming in.

You know, it was supposed to be here
a month ago.

What the crap is going on? I need
an answer. What are we gonna do?

I don't have one for you right now.

We don't have a plan.
Can't do that. We just can't do it.

You've got to take
the bull by the horns

and get this thing straightened out.

I'd better have an answer
and have it pretty quick,

or we're gonna have mutiny on
the Bounty here at Quartz Creek.

Todd decides to take a drastic step.

I'm gonna leave the mine.
I'm gonna go down there and find
a solution on this fricking trommel.

If I don't get this wash plant
I'll guarantee you one thing,

and that is this.
We will not get 1,000 ounces.

.

.

At the Big Nugget mine in Southeast
Alaska, 17-year-old mine boss

Parker Schnabel
is on his way to see his mother.

I don't know why my mum
wants to talk to me.

Hopefully it's not about me
not making the payroll this week.

That'd be a bad conversation.

Last week, Parker had
his biggest clean-up ever.

Last year we had a 35 ounce year,
we just got 25 in a week.

But rebuilding his grandfather's
30-year-old wash plant...

Put a lot of work into this
wash plant and it's ready to go.

..and excavating most of
Smith Creek over the winter...

That $100,000 investment is
on my shoulders, is it not?

..has left Parker with
a major cash flow problem.

Hi.
What's going on?

So, Parker, the bills that you have
here and payroll coming up on Friday,

you don't have enough money
to pay all of that.

Right.
How long do you think you can...

It's worse than I thought it was.
What if we pay half of him

and tell him the other half
will come in a month?

We got the stuff two months ago.

Ooh, you're a little behind that.

Yeah.

So are you worried about
your... financial situation?

Yeah, I'm a little worried.

We have some pretty big expenses up
at the mine this year and setting up

and everything, just our running
costs alone are $2,000 a day,

and we need 190 ounces
just to break even.

Parker has a plan
to come up with some quick cash.

The construction company
that my dad works with

got a job to replace the bridges
going across Porcupine Creek.

We've been asked to help with that.

I'd much rather be mining
than working on bridges.

I mean, we aren't here
to mess around

and the season's
already short as it is.

When you need money,
you need money, right?

It will take Parker at least a week

to replace
the Porcupine Creek bridge.

During that time the Dakota boys
will be stuck on their claim,

completely cut off from fuel,
supplies and spare parts.

Fred and his crew are
about to break ground.

It couldn't be a worse time for them

to be cut off from
the rest of the world.

I think this is the time
we've all been waiting on. It is.

So bedrock here, this stuff is really
sticking out there waiting on us.

We know where it's at,
we don't know where it goes,

but we're here to find out.

I'm ready to start digging. What
about you guys? I'm ready. I'm ready.

Let's go. Come on.
All right.

Four weeks into the season,

the Dakota boys and Melody
still haven't run any dirt.

When they first arrived, their claim
was under a metre of snow.

Oh, my God.

The threat of a flood kept them
from getting to pay dirt at
the bottom of the glory hole.

This stream itself, it'll just pick
up all your excavators, equipment,

wash them down into the river.

Then, a broken D-rocker
set them back again.

Man, I can't believe this.

Now, they're finally ready to start
moving dirt to hit Fred's goal.

I figure we'll hit about
160 ounces this year,

about twice what we got last year.

I would think it's gonna be,
we'll be able to run longer,

certainly more material.

What's going on, Parker?
Dustin.

Oh, what's up this morning?
Hey, Fred.

Oh. How are you doing?
Good, how are you?

All right.

I swung by to let you know we're
gonna start working on the bridge.

We'll pull it out Monday and then I
think we'll put the new one back in

either the following Monday or some
time in there, seven to ten days.

Well, that's not acceptable.
That's not gonna work.

I mean, we have to have some kind of
way to get across to get out of here.

Um... I don't know.

Unless we're guaranteed access,
the bridge isn't coming out.

OK, in the contract it reads we can
have it out for up to seven days.

And there's no way
to accommodate us?

I don't know. OK.
We didn't write the contract.

It's just not gonna come out
unless we get full access.

Parker's being a little punk.

I don't know what his issue is,
but...

he's trying to deny us access
because it's not in the contract.

Bugs the hell out of me

that he would be
such a little (BLEEP) about it.

Just because he's young
doesn't mean he has to be a (BLEEP).

Dustin doesn't seem too happy,
but the truth is

we have a contract with
the State of Alaska and...

it says we can pull the bridge out
for seven days.

It doesn't say anything about
temporary access.

Three weeks ago,
Fred and Parker had a falling out

when Fred decided not to loan Parker
his spare electrical panel.

I'm still in a bit of a pinch. Is
there any way I can just borrow it?

Er... No.

I don't know what Fred's problem is.

It doesn't make any sense to me
that he wouldn't loan it to us.

Business is business.

It was business for him not to give
us the switch gear that we needed,

and it's business for us not to
throw in a temporary bridge
without getting paid for it.

After an 1,800 mile journey,

Todd Hoffman is approaching
Revelstoke, British Columbia.

Something's gotta happen.
I got investors, I got loans.

I've got a lot of crap, you know,
weighing on me.

We're gonna get this fricking trommel

if I gotta weld
the whole thing up myself.

If I can get that thing to the mine
within the next week to ten days,

we can kick some ass
and get 1,000 ounces.

Todd had been expecting
his new trommel

to be catching Quartz Creek
gold almost a month ago.

To speed up the build, he has
brought along his own mechanic,

Mitch Blaschke.

Ray.
Hey, Todd.

I've brought my mechanic Mitch.
I'd like to introduce you to Mitch.
How's it going?

Good to see you. Nice to meet you.
It's a big, big job.

So, here's the deal. You're late on
delivery. Yeah. I'm gonna be honest
with you.

I'm disappointed and I need that
thing running, and I mean now.

I cannot wait any longer.

It's been tough. I've been weeks
on my own here. Right.

I didn't get things
when I thought I was gonna get them.

They came late and so everything
kind of pushed me back. That's...

I don't know. You can't
screw up something this big

with this amount of money. Hate to
say it but that's just the truth.

It's hard to talk to Ray but,
you know, this trommel's late

and I gotta get it in there.
I gotta get it up north.

After helping to get
the trommel ready,

Mitch will head north with Todd
to be his new crew mechanic.

You know, there's a lot to do here
in a short period of time.

But it's a pretty impressive machine

and it'll be really interesting
to see how it gets the gold out,

so hopefully we can get it finished
up and get it up to the mine.

There's a reason why I brought
my hired gun down here, Mitch.

He is taking control
and getting crap done.

We want this down
cos we're too high.

He's an ass-kicker.

Every day without a wash plant
could cost Todd

thousands of dollars in lost gold.
Even when the trommel is ready,

it will take another five days
to transport it to Quartz Creek.

This is part of the problem, Todd.

I'd be doing this inside with
the crane if my machine would fit,
but it doesn't anymore.

Hold that? Yeah.
Gotta do it out here the hard way.

This trommel's actually too big
to be built inside his shop.
That's how big it is.

This trommel is almost twice
the size of Todd's old wash plant

and capable of running
four times the dirt.

If they can get it to the claim

it will be one of the largest
trommels in the Klondike.

This trommel, when it's all done,
is gonna be 65,000lb.

That's a lot of weight. We're trying
to move it around with smaller tools.

Now here's the tricky part.

Now we're gonna
try to put the hopper on.

It's so heavy
it's too heavy for the crane.

We're gonna try to do
the forklift and the crane

which could be a bit of a screwed up
mess if it's not working together.

If the crane and the forklift
aren't perfectly coordinated,

the hopper could
crash to the ground,

destroying months of Ray's work

and costing Todd hundreds of
thousands of dollars in lost gold.

This is a very, very, very heavy,
very, very expensive machine.

So hopefully we don't drop
this thing. This could be bad.

OK, prop me up. Hold it,
pull that thing over a little bit.

Hold it!
Easy, slow.

I don't know if I'm high enough.
Drop me in. Watch yourself, boys.

Watch out, we've got it twisting.
Whoa!

.

.

Hold it!

Todd Hoffman is at Ray Brussock's
workshop in British Columbia.

I see a problem already.

The new trommel is four weeks late

and may have already cost Todd
over $100,000 in lost gold.

To get it up to the Klondike, he's
personally overseeing its assembly.

It's so close.

It's maxing everything out.

4,000lb forklift and 10,000lb crane
and it's squeaking everywhere.

I've hit the end,
we're off by a foot.

Can I push that thing in with this
or not? No, way too dangerous.

We can lower the actual trailer
down on its belly,

get two handles and crank 'em down.

The machine is
a bit too high off the floor

so I'm gonna lower the jacks,
bring the machine down.

Todd's gotta go down
another six inches.

If you look in the dictionary -
He's on low speed - under the word
sketchy, this is it.

OK, we're good.
Let's move her forward.

You guys watch out. I'll line mine
up, you watch your back gears there.

Easy, man. Ease yourself out now,
put your back in the other way.

(METALLIC CREAK)
Hang on, straight in. Good.

Whoa, right there.
Now hold it right there, Mitch.

Yeah, guys, that's the way.

I guess you can go after a bear
with a BB gun, huh? Yeah, you can.

You just shoot it enough times,
right? That's right, that's right.

Parker Schnabel is about to
take out the only bridge to

the Dakota boys claim, leaving them
high and dry for at least a week.

I'm gonna head over to Parker's. We
need to talk about this bridge thing.

We'll see what he's got in mind for
it and find out what he has to say.

(STARTS ENGINE)

When it comes down to it, this is
my access and my right to the site,

who's in and who's out.
But that has to do with me.

I'm sorry if you and Fred are having
problems with an electric panel

which I would give it to you.
I don't care about the damn thing.

But this affects me
and that's why I'm mad.

Right. All you're thinking about is
yourself a little bit? Little bit.

And so I don't really like
that kind of stuff, you know?

We're a community up here, and what
helps is when we work together.

All I'm asking for
is a little respect. No, I...

I'm not getting it, and for you
to think I'm just some (BLEEP)!

You're staring me down yesterday,
you're saying, "What's your
problem?" all of this (BLEEP).

Yeah, I did. Looks like you're
just a power drunk little kid

trying to throw around his weight.

So if that's what you think it is,
then maybe that's the way
it should be. OK.

You know, this isn't easy for me,

cos I have you
staring down my throat.

To be honest, I thought you and I
have always got along pretty well.

I thought so, too. I've always
thought we had a lot of fun but...

For this... For this to happen
so fast. I was pissed.

Yeah, I know that, and all you're
looking at... You would be, too.

Temporary access was
not in the plans.

And that's all I got from you.

You wouldn't give me - That's all
there is. Any directive. No.

Right, I'm sorry it's like this.

We have a set of plans
as to how the bridge

will be done and timing of things,

and I think it allows us to have
no access across the creek

for up to ten days.

That's allowed in the plans.

(STARTS ENGINE)

It hurts, but I don't owe them
a (BLEEP) thing.

At Indian River,
the Hoffmans' second claim,

the crew is trying to clear melting
permafrost from their new cut.

With the D9 dozer out of action
under relentless midsummer sun,

they have to work fast to win
the battle against the black mud.

So they've got the cut stripped
of all the vegetation,

Greg's moving as much as he can
as fast as he can,

but it's already starting to melt.

With the dozer down,
this could be catastrophic.

New claim boss Dave Turin
has a radical plan,

but he will have to push his guys
to the limit for it to work.

We cannot afford
to let this melt, OK?

We're down to one dozer so we're
gonna run two shifts 24 hours a day.

It's gonna be a lot of hours.

If you grab some coffee or something
if you start getting sleepy.

This can make or break our season
right here, you guys.

I think we can do it. Everybody in?
More than half the goal.

All right, let's roll.

Rookie miner Andy Spinks is
the first to work through the night.

I was raised on a farm and,
you know,

you didn't look at your clock
to see when you were done.

We started this cut, and the problem
is once we've started to cut

we have to keep going.
We can stop in October.

This Klondike does not give up
its gold easily, that's for sure.

Hard work. This permafrost,
it's hard on man and machine.

Can you feel how cold it is?
Yeah.

So it's not even melting tonight.

That's ten degrees colder
just down in here. Yeah.

I'm just kind of burned out.

I'm starting to cramp up a little bit
so I'm gonna head in.

I might rip a little bit more.

If you're gonna rip
then take the humps out. OK.

Just take the humps because I don't
want more rip than what we can,

than what you can push.
I'll make sure.

Whatever I rip, I'll push.
All right. Thanks. Yeah.

Thanks, you're a good man.
Thank you.

He's like the Duracell bunny.
He just keeps going.

He's just a good old farm boy. Those
farm boys don't know when to quit.

It's a big challenge, and you're
working guys to the limit now.

We're running from 7.30 at night till
6.30 in the morning. He'll be tired.

He's used to sleeping at that time
so we've gotta really be careful.

In Alaska, two gold mines are
on the verge of war

over the bridge that divides them.

The foundations of the old bridge
are being washed away

and Parker Schnabel has
the contract to re-build it.

So far he has refused to provide
the Dakota boys a temporary bridge

to access their claim.

Parker's dad Roger is
a road builder.

He's stepped in to broker peace.

Fred, how... how are you doing?

How are you doing?
Nice to see you.

The main reason why
I wanted you to come, Fred,

is that we haven't talked at all.

We have a contract that allows for
a seven-day shutdown,

and right now I feel we'll take
and need those seven days.

However, I would like to see access,
even temporary.

You know, just thinking, if you set
this bridge up, half of it,

take it over
and put it across over there,

then we've got a temporary access
to where you can get across.

Roger's plan will only work
if Parker agrees to compromise.

Access will be open through that
for the next ten days

and you guys are welcome to it.
Appreciate that.

All right, let's get back to work.
Yep. Thanks, men.

All right, appreciate it.

I've been thinking about that
the last few days,

and it honestly hurts me knowing
that people are that mad at me.

We're a small community up here.

There's only a few of us and I'm not
gonna mess up their season

over a few little things like this.

With the dispute settled,
Parker gets to work.

He needs the bridge money
to pay his crew,

but every hour
he spends on the bridge

is an hour not mining for gold.

We need to get this bridge job done
and out of our hair

so that we can
get back to why we're here.

We're gonna pull this bridge across.

That excavator doesn't have
enough power to pick it straight up,

so I think we're gonna have to do it
sections at a time.

Parker's plan is to separate
the two long sections of the bridge.

That means removing all the bolts.

Be careful, Parker.

Including the ones
beneath the bridge.

How the hell are we gonna do that?

I can't wait to go river rafting.

It's separating as I undo the bolts.
Hold me over a little more there.

Yeah. Let's go and get
everybody out of the way

so the excavators can go to work.

With the bolts removed, Parker's
crew can move one half of the bridge

upstream to be used as temporary
access for the Dakota boys.

Pick it up, there you go, Chauncey.
Thank you.

You all right, Parker?
Are you comfortable with that? Good.

The first half went pretty smooth
but it was the easy half.

This second section has to be
completely removed

instead of just repositioned.

To lift it out cleanly,

the excavators have to reach
all the way across the creek.

Now they're 80 footers
and this 110,000lb machine

can barely pick one end of it.

Parker is relying on Chauncey,

a veteran operator
with 50 years' experience.

I'll be on this end and there'll be
one machine on the other end,

and I'll reach out as far as I can

and probably get it
halfway across the river.

Then them two, hopefully,
will be able to pull it across.

So the concern is that if Chauncey
lets go and he can't hold it,

or he can't drag it.
It drops in the water.

That would be a bit of a problem.
Yeah.

All right, let's do it.

(CREAKS)

A little more.

That's all I got.

Chauncey's excavator arm
is fully extended,

with the full weight of the bridge
suspended over Porcupine Creek.

Right now the concern is
that this smaller excavator

doesn't have enough power
to pull that bridge across the creek

once that big excavator
has to let go.

It's all you.

If they drop the bridge section, it
could be lost to the rushing river.

Whoa! (BLEEP)

And lift straight up.
Just pick it up.

(CREAKS)

Bingo. It's what we wanted.

Successful bridge removal.

Bridge work isn't really
our thing but, you know,

whenever we get the opportunity to
make a few bucks, we gotta do it.

We're trying to get the bills paid

so that we can get back up there and
focus on the dig we want to be on.

With the bridge removed,

Fred heads over to inspect the
temporary access Parker promised.

I hope it's got some kind of access,
reasonable,

that you don't have to go through
heroics to climb up on the bridge.

OK.

It's not access.

I'm gonna say it like it is.

I don't know what that is.

Fred's only route to the road

involves crossing
an unsecured plank.

I mean, you know,

a five-year-old could have built
a better thing than this...

..piece of (BLEEP).

There ain't but one word for that.
(BLEEP)

.

.

After pulling out
the Porcupine Creek bridge,

Parker Schnabel has left the Dakota
boys with only a footbridge

to get on and off their claim.

You don't tell me he's gonna give me
access and don't do it,

and do some...
some stupid little stunt like that.

You don't think that's vindictive?

Damn sure is.

You can push a guy just so far.

Obviously somebody thinks
it's a real funny joke.

I'll show you joke.

Jason Otteson, a key investor
in Todd's mining operation

has arrived from Texas.

Todd convinced me
he had a proper mining plan.

We went over it,
and I put my reputation on the line

to secure financial backing for him.

So I'm very... I'm very anxious
to make sure that this is a success

and we're expecting gold.

Jason has seen hundreds of mines
in his 16 years in the business.

This isn't what you would call
an organised cut.

Doesn't even look safe.
It just looks ugly.

Not impressed at all.

Where's Todd?

I couldn't tell you.
You what? I don't know.

You don't know where he is? Uh-huh.
Has he been here today?

No. I think he left yesterday
somewhere.

I don't know where he went.
OK.

Can I help you with anything, or...?
Is Jack here?

Whoa.

Glad to see ya. How are you doing,
Jason? Long time no see.

Hey, Jason, how are you?
Everything's good.

Wish I could say the same here.
Yeah, it looks pretty bad.

I came thinking Todd would be here
and he didn't show up.

He's trying to get that trommel
up here.

Can we not use the old wash plant?

That thing was spitting out about
60 percent of it, you know, so...

I'd like 40 percent of
something now, though.

I don't know what happened there,
you know? I know...

I wouldn't have taken the other one
down had that one not been...

That seems like a horrible mistake.

I don't know if there's
a next year at this rate

with the progress I'm seeing.
Mm-hm.

We gotta show some improvement soon
or I won't have any alternative

other than to pull the plug.
Failure's not an option.

I'll make sure that doesn't happen.

All right.

I cannot keep this up... er...

and let them continue to utilise
these resources without a return.

Todd's gotta radically change
his organisation here.

If he can't get production in order
and meet deadlines,

we're gonna have to pull the plug.

(PHONE RINGS)

Hello, it's Todd. I cannot believe
you're not here. Where are you?

Down in Revelstoke.

Well, did you at least get
the trommel while you're gone?

I... What we did is we got
the project back on track and

we've ordered the truck
and it'll be on its way,

probably Monday or Tuesday.

(SIGHS) This looks like
a mess here, man.

This is just... It's not acceptable.

It's just things are happening that
are just... I can't control them.

I don't need any more excuses. I just
want everything back on plan. OK.

"Make it happen." I'll meet with you
tomorrow and we'll go at it.

We'll figure it out.

We'll talk about that when you get
here. I'll be waiting for you. Bye.

(SIGHS)

Let's go home.
Let's get out of here.

Thanks so much. See you, take care.
You bet. Later.

With the whole operation
resting on his investment,

Todd races the 1,800 miles back
to the claim to meet up with Jason.

At the Hoffmans' second Klondike
claim, Indian River,

Dave Turin's crew was in
a mad dash to get down to pay gravel

before the Yukon sun turns the
permafrost into a lake of black mud.

It's the end of a long night.

Rookie miner Andy Spinks is just
finishing his marathon shift

stripping the cut.

Andy worked all night last night.

He's been up for 24 hours,
probably about 30 hours now.

He's quite a worker. A good man.
I'm impressed.

I've got a wife, son and daughter.
That's why I'm here.

That's why I worked all night long,
because we get gold,

it puts more money in our pockets.

Andy's hard work has got them
one step closer to the gold.

He's exposed the first layer
of pay gravel.

Let's go look at the cut,
see how we're doing.

The good news is our night shift's
made really good progress.

Fred's over here. Gonna do some
testing for us, see where we're at.

Let's have a look at this box,
see what we find for colour.
Sounds good.

If Dave and his Indian River team

are going to get half of the Hoffman
crew's goal of 1,000 ounces,

they'll need to get gold from
this top layer of gravel.

If the gold is sitting further down,
it could take them weeks

and thousands of dollars
to get to it.

Dave's season is riding on
this first test pan.

From the top layer,
this sample is from

the top layer of gravel
in their pit.

Just gonna do a few quick pans here
and see what we can see for colour

in it, if any. Let's just hope
we find some good colour.

We got colour, Dave.
A lot of fine colour.

A lot of fine colour?
Wow, I do see it.

So, can we pick that fine stuff up?

Yeah, we'll get most of it.
Nice. That's a good pan, Fred.

It's not bad for right off the
surface. Right on the top gravel.

Good news, really good news.
Those are great pans.

We have never had pans on top gravel
that many colours.

We got gold, boys. We're ready to go.

We got a claim.
It's showtime, fellers.

Hey, Chris, it feels good to be here
finally.

Been waiting for this for
a long time, Greg.

I'm so happy, just unbelievable.

It's been a little bit of a journey
but here we are, guys, Indian River,

and now it's up to us.

I wanna see us get at least
500 ounces out of Indian River.

Actually, make that 501.

We've been doing a 24/7 push on this
cos we did not wanna lose the cut.

We've been successful
but it's been a lot of hard work.

We could be up and running before
Todd, and I didn't expect that.

The way things were going down
at Indian River,

I thought my dream was dead,
but now it's coming true.

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