Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 5, Episode 19 - Hundreds of Ounces - full transcript
The Hoffman crew makes a desperate bid to hit their season goal. Tony's attempt to run his million dollar gold dredge ends in a shipwreck. Parker fights the big freeze as he pushes to hit his 2.4 million dollar goal.
.
In the Klondike...
OK, give me some.
..Parker's 2,000-ounce season gold
is within reach.
The gold's in the ground, we just
need to get it through the plant
before we're froze outta here.
But as winter hits, his crew mounts
a rebellion.
Everyone's wore out. I don't know
what the (BLEEP) going on!
Our backs have been broken.
And when the big freeze wreaks
havoc...
Stop the plant!
..his season comes to an abrupt end.
I don't think it's worth fighting,
let's hope we got our 160 ounces
in the box.
For the Hoffman crew...
We gotta get 1,000 ounces. Period.
That's just the way it is.
..despite finding good gold...
Woo!
(CHEERING)
..they fail to impress their claim
owner.
Will you stick with us?
No.
And for Tony Beets, after six months
of back-breaking work...
It's all hooked up.
Good.
..when his big moment arrives...
It's time to let the water in.
..it turns into a shipwreck.
Get outta the way, this is serious.
How do you like that?
Scribner Creek, the Klondike.
As the mining season draws
to a close,
Parker Schnabel and his crew confront
an old enemy -
the Yukon winter.
Been a fun morning.
Shut down about 7 o'clock this
morning when we do a shift change,
so we were down for about an hour.
In that hour's time, the plant froze
solid.
There's so much ice on the valves,
we can't open or close 'em.
We've had to bust the ice off.
Come on, girl, shake it off.
I think the Yukon's saying it's time
to shut down.
Parker is just 160 ounces short
of his 2,000 ounce, $2.4 million
gold,
but time is running out.
We've got a good amount of gold
to find,
and we need to get it through the
plant before we're froze outta here.
Parker's crew is running main pay
from the Berm Island,
and it's the best dirt they've run
all season,
and puts them within striking
distance of their goal.
But after a gruelling six month
mining season,
Parker's men are burned out and ready
to head south.
We're tired. We're exhausted.
Pretty ready to go home.
And it's just like, really?
We're (BLEEP) still here doing this.
Open the gates of Guantanamo Bay,
Yukon territory,
Let us out.
What the (BLEEP)?!
At the plant, the freezing
temperatures have had
a devastating effect on Parker's
water system.
Great. This damn thing's frozen too,
it won't budge.
Hey! Chris!
I mean, the valve just cracked open
and it's spraying water all over the
place. Gonna have to shut her down.
Not the best day of the season,
that's for sure.
I don't think it's worth fighting.
We need to call it.
That's it, huh? Yeah.
All right.
Let's see what we've got.
I figured this day might come but
I really didn't expect it.
Hey, Rick. Yeah, go ahead.
Man, the wash plant is screwed, I'm
calling it.
Holy (BLEEP), really?
Yeah, let's hope we got 160 ounces
in the box and we're done.
You guys hear him? We're outta here,
Greg.
OK, give me some.
We really need this to hit
our 2,000 mark now.
For sure.
Think it's in here?
Certainly hope so.
Wow!
I mean, that's looking darned good
right there.
Whoa!
It looks good. Looks real good.
Yeah. No kidding. (BLEEP)
There's some nice gold
in this clean out.
I don't know if it's good enough,
but it looks pretty good.
A lot of good size pickers in here.
Look at that, there's probably
50 more in there just like that,
plus who knows what the fine gold
looks like.
Be nice to get over 2,000, you know,
to succeed our goal.
Let's finish good, finish right.
Finish, get ready to go home.
Have a lot of confidence, a lot of
hope in this clean up right here.
All right, so this is like the last
supper, huh?
We pack her up tomorrow?
(LAUGHTER)
There's gotta be a reason for a
party. Who needs a beer?
To hit his 2,000-ounce goal,
Parker needs another 160 ounces.
So this clean-out...
..that only brought us to 1,940.
A hundred ounces?
Plus...
Uh oh, here it comes.
Holy Moses! Ho!
Which brings us to... 2,060.
Bam! (LAUGHS)
Yeah, 2,000 ounces, buddy. All the
way across the table, buddy.
The 220-ounce clean-up brings their
gold total to 2,060 ounces,
worth $2.47 million.
Parker's crew has smashed their goal,
with more than twice the gold they
got last season.
Then why did you call?
(LAUGHTER)
Truth is, you guys have done a hell
of a job, you know,
and I'd like to thank you all for
that.
I do know that you guys have put in
a hell of a long season,
but we've got a little bit of work
to do,
a little reclamation and some
clean-up work.
Let's get back to our families.
Here's to you guys.
Good job, you know. Good job.
I know we got good ground; that main
pay was good, but you guys did it.
West...
..at McKinnon Creek, the Hoffmans are
poised to redeem themselves.
Got 936 ounces.
Come hell or high water, we're gonna
get 1,000.
They are just 64 ounces short of
their thousand ounce gold.
But the only thawed pay dirt Andy
has left is the access ramp
into the higher cut.
This is the last of our pay dirt in
our higher cut,
so hopefully this dirt's got in it
what we need to get to 1,000.
It's been a long season, but we're
getting close.
There's gold in that there sluice
box.
That's it, Kev, you're done. Take it
to the plant.
Roger that.
Todd, this is Andy, do you copy?
Yeah, I got a copy.
Hey, Todd, we just loaded the last
little bit of pay dirt
out of the higher cut. That's it,
we're done.
Are you sure you got every nook and
cranny out of there, huh?
We've scraped everything that's in
that cut to scrape.
There's no more pay dirt in that;
we've scraped every frozen piece we
could find everywhere. It's done.
Ah, 10-4. 10-4.
Dude, we're knocking at the door of
1,000 ounces, and we need it.
For us to come back next year,
we gotta get 1,000 ounces. Period.
That's just the way it is.
Jack loads the last of the pay into
the plant,
and the Hoffman crew shuts down
Monster Red for this season.
So this is our final mat pull. You
know what?
Hopefully we got enough in here;
it's gonna be touch and go.
They've mined over $1 million in
gold this season,
but their target is $1.2 million.
I'm feeling nervous.
We've never been in reach like this,
where this clean-up could do it.
Jack begins the final clean-up.
With another 64 ounces, the Hoffman
crew will hit their goal
for the first time ever.
I'll tell you what, after last
season
I didn't think anybody would wanna
take another risk with me on this.
You guys did it. We didn't give up
on the gold mining dream.
I'm proud. Proud to be part of this
team,
and you guys need to be proud
of what we did. Every one of you.
And guess what? If it's possible,
we're gonna come back
and we're gonna do it even better
next year.
That's gotta be Peter.
The claim owner, Peter Tallman,
arrives to collect his cut of the
gold.
Hey, Todd. How you doing, buddy?
You guys knew that we got 936.
There it is. Guys, we needed 64
ounces...
We got 99.
(CHEERING)
Good job, guys. Yes!
The Hoffmans season total is 1,035
ounces,
worth well over $1.2 million.
Yeah!
For the first time in five years,
Todd and his crew have finally hit
their goal.
They've pulled more gold out of the
ground
than all of their previous seasons
combined.
Awesome. Yeah!
Peter, after last year not many guys
would take a chance with us,
and you did, and here you go, here's
your cut;
and we're thankful, we really are.
Yeah! Great, man.
Todd, that's not good enough.
It's not good enough by quite a way.
We had projections of you guys doing
a substantial amount more
than what you've done. I'm really
sorry.
This is a disappointment. Good
night, gentlemen.
.
.
McKinnon Creek. The mining season is
over;
the Hoffman crew packs for the long
journey home.
You know what? You never know when
you start a season
how it's gonna end but I never
thought it would end like this.
Feels like we came up short.
But their leader refuses to call
it quits.
At this point in time I'm in limbo,
and I don't know really where I
stand now with Peter.
He has the ability, if he doesn't
believe in us, to kick us off,
and I don't want that.
Todd confronts Peter Tallman at his
office in Dawson City.
Peter.
Hey, Todd.
We need to talk. What happened the
other night?
I was just disappointed
and I had to walk away.
Pretty much anybody could come in
here with the production equipment
and crew you've built and get 1,000
ounces,
but you have to achieve much more
gold.
I just feel like we deserve another
chance;
another shot at this next year. Will
you stick with us?
No, probably not. It's poor
business.
Beyond your claim, we have
two separate known pay streaks
that have potentially multi-millions
of dollars of gold contained;
my job is to find somebody who can
produce gold from that,
and I just couldn't offer it to you
at 1,000 ounces.
It's just not enough.
Take into consideration how hard my
guys have worked at this,
and how much heart and soul we put
into this thing.
What's it gonna take to keep our
claim?
Prove that you can get the gold and
put it in a box.
Go get me 300 ounces.
Oh. You know, if you'd have said 25
or 50 I would have said,
"Maybe we could do that."
100 would be a stretch. We don't
have any pay dirt left.
That amount is not negotiable.
If we get that gold, I want this
whole thing
cos what I'm gonna have to do to get
that gold is damn near impossible.
But I want the whole thing.
If you can get 300 ounces more,
1,300 in total, you got a deal.
Another 300 ounces, worth $360,000,
would require the Hoffmans
to mine over a third more gold.
Everything's freezing up, we're out
of pay dirt, we're out of time,
so to be honest with you, you know,
what he wants it's close to
impossible,
but we gotta get 300 more ounces,
and there's just no ifs ands or buts
about it. That's it.
Back at McKinnon Creek, Todd's crew
is preparing to hit the road.
Guys. What's up?
Here's the deal.
Peter wants 300 more ounces.
If we don't make it, I don't think
we'll be back mining again.
Let's be real, there's nothing left.
It took us better than four months
to get 1,000 ounces,
and now you want us to pull a third
of that?
Hear me out. For 300 more ounces, we
could get the rest of these claims,
all their placer claims, which is
six more miles of ground.
That's the future, guys.
There's three or four hotspots
there, it's rich.
And I don't know if it's possible,
and I wouldn't blame you guys if you
packed your stuff now and left,
but if there's a chance to get six
more miles of ground,
and it's good ground with good gold,
I think we'll kick ourselves if we
don't step up to the plate.
Guys, we got a future here if we can
pull this off.
I think we ought to try it. If we
don't make it,
I'm still proud of everybody.
We know what our future will be
if we don't try.
We won't be back; so what have we
got to lose?
I mean, if we're gonna do this, we
need to get after it like right now.
If the Hoffman crew can't find thawed
pay dirt,
their days mining the Klondike could
be over.
I don't know if I'm gonna be able to
get the gold,
but if we don't make our goals it
won't be
because we didn't do everything
possible.
North, at Paradise Hill...
..Parker arrives to give Tony his
final cut of the season.
Yeah, it just feels good to hit our
goal, you know.
Hopefully Tony is as impressed
as I am.
Hey, Tony, how are you doing?
Yeah.
I'm about to show you.
210, 220.
Point four five.
2,060.
It's double what we did last year.
At the beginning of the season,
Tony locked Parker into a one-sided
deal -
the more gold Parker mines, the
higher the percentage that Tony gets.
That's...er...44.1.
I need a better royalty deal. I
can't afford to pay 25, 30% royalty.
Yeah, but I should get rewarded for
doing better.
The royalty that I've paid you, with
this included, is over $400,000.
The more gold I find, the more you
take? That's insane.
OK.
If we can't meet somewhere
in the middle
then I'll have to look somewhere
else.
I understand that,
I'm not trying to push the issue.
With him on that ground, my wings
are pretty well clipped.
Right? Not much you can do.
Can't argue with a closed door.
.
.
At McKinnon Creek...
..the Hoffman crew return to their
mined out cuts
in a desperate hunt for any leftover
pay that may have thawed.
We wanna be back here,
we have to do it.
This is good ground and I'm gonna
find some pay.
They've hit their 1,000 ounce goal,
but if they're to hold onto
their claim
for next season the crew must now
find another 300 ounces.
Desperate times, desperate measures.
It's our future we're dealing with
so maybe I can get a little bit more
out of some of these corners.
Kevin tests the ground in the old cut
next to the wash plant.
But it's solid bedrock.
Kevin, tell me you got something
good.
Todd, I wish I could say send me
a rock truck,
but I've got no pay and I'm getting
nothing.
All right, keep trying.
Hey, Todd, you have a copy?
Yeah, I got a copy.
I'm up here in the higher cut. I've
scratched all these corners;
everything is frozen as hard
as a rock. There's no gold in here.
Not good.
Hey, Dad, what are you finding?
Anything?
No, it doesn't look good, Todd.
It's all frozen. This doesn't look
good at all.
McKinnon Creek is frozen.
Getting anything?
Nothing.
There's something we haven't thought
about. We're standing on it.
The haul road? Right here. We hit
a pocket that was the best pocket
I've seen gold mining -
we had 132 ounces out of this, Todd.
I think the gold is right under
our feet.
I don't know, Dave. That was the
worst clean-up we ever had there.
We don't have anything to lose here.
Let's do this.
All right. Dig some test holes.
All right.
The whole road runs between two
of their old cuts.
They mined the south side, and it was
full of gold...
..but on the other side of the road,
the returns were poor.
Dave is hoping the south side pay
channel extends under the haul road.
If he's right, they'll have an
accessible strip of thawed pay dirt.
With no time to spare, Dave and Andy
roll out to test Dave's theory.
So here's what I'm thinking, if you
can...er...dig up the road,
cast it to one side, and then I will
push it out of your way.
I think that's our best chance of
getting this done.
10-4, Dave, I'll sling it to you;
you push it out of the way.
Let's get this done.
If the gold from the haul road cut
is underneath this road,
I think we got a good shot at it.
We can see snow off in the hills, so
we don't have a lot of time.
So we need to get this done as quick
as we can.
You know, hopefully it'll be good
under here,
but we won't know until we get the
overburden off.
Yeah, right here is everything
we've got.
Every gold miner is always looking
for the next season
or the next clean-up or the next
bucketful.
It can always be there; that's gold
mining.
It can always be a big payoff,
and that's what we're hoping for
underneath this road.
So I'm looking to see some big
black rocks at the bottom of this.
I'm looking to see this deep pocket
in the bedrock
and a lot of gold in a pan. That's
what I'm hoping for.
We don't have a Plan B at
this point. It's all or nothing.
With the overburden cleared away,
Andy digs a test hole
OK, that's it. Right at bedrock
I got the big rocks.
It looks good, let me go grab a pan.
OK.
What are you guys seeing?
This one pan could determine whether
the Hoffmans return next season.
This could be a good pan.
You're freakin' kidding me.
I think we're on it.
Dave's plan pays off.
Look at that! We might just pull
this off.
There's good gold under the haul
road.
This is awesome. I don't know if
we'll hit 300 ounces,
but we're definitely gonna put a
dent in it with this.
Let's start running pay. Let's get
rolling. Let's go.
Let's get a couple rock trucks
down here
and we're gonna take out
the haul road.
I think we're right on top of where
that channel was.
We got a bit of a break. We're gonna
have good pay dirt.
We're gonna do everything humanly
possible to make it.
We need to make it.
East...
..at Eureka Creek.
It's all hooked up.
Tony Beets has finally rebuilt his
million dollar dredge.
After six months of back-breaking
work,
he's ready to breathe life
into his 75-year-old gold factory.
Suction's in. We got it hooked up,
now we just gotta chain it down and
we're good to go.
There's one final step before Tony
can complete this epic resurrection.
The dredge sits on a dry dock beside
a small pond.
When Tony opens the flood gate
from a larger holding pond,
he'll release a torrent of water to
float the 350-tonne dredge.
TONY: Let's get it on.
The crew rushes to clear the dry dock
before it's too late.
We've gotta get all the equipment
outta there,
the water level's coming up pretty
fast here.
That'll be the moment of truth - if
this thing floats or if it sinks.
I'm excited. We worked hard enough
on this thing,
it'd be nice to see some gold in the
box this afternoon.
Pretty much done.
The next morning, Tony returns.
The first Klondike dredge to float,
in over a quarter of a century.
Sounds like a plan. Yeah, good.
Yep.
Kevin will use the winch on
the D6 dozer
to pull the dredge into position.
Tony heads up to the wheelhouse
to take the helm,
ready to dig the dredge's first
pay dirt.
Ready when you are.
(ALMIGHTY BANG)
What's wrong? What's wrong?
I don't know. It was going smoothly
and the whole thing (BLEEP) shook.
What are you looking for?
What just happened?
Better get some pumps up there
quick.
If Tony doesn't drain the flooded
pontoon, the dredge will sink.
(PUMP REVS INTO LIFE)
We're gonna have to get inside there
when it's dry.
That's gonna suck.
Yep.
Tony has no choice. He has to drain
the pond to fix the leak.
With winter closing in,
his hopes of dredging this season are
sinking fast.
East...
at Scribner Creek.
Big Red is shut down for the season.
Parker's crew is preparing
their equipment for the winter.
Been a good season, it's time
to pack up and go home. Be smart.
If we don't, we're gonna get stuck
in here and it's not gonna be cool.
Just trying to get the... things,
get ready to put them to bed here.
We need to put it away right and
go home.
Parker heads out to scout a new claim
that could mean freedom from Tony.
Tony doesn't have to negotiate
with me,
because he knows I haven't got any
other ground.
I need to try and find some other
ground,
to either buy or use it to bring
Tony back to the table.
Parker's already been offered new
ground
in the Klondike goldfields
just beyond Tony's dredge camp.
I mean, this ground is one of the
options for next year.
It's the upper forks of Eureka -
over 100 claims and all for sale.
Price tag's two million bucks.
You know, one thing I always look at
when I'm looking at ground
is the condition of the place.
And if you've got tons of money,
you're probably not gonna live
in a place like that.
Wait, it's like there's a line of
drill holes down there.
Be right back.
A long line of drill holes suggests
there's still a substantial amount
of gold in the ground.
Ah. I wonder why the (BLEEP) didn't
tell me about these.
The promising thing is there's a lot
of drill holes in here.
They spent money. He didn't wave
anything like this under my face
when he showed me the first time.
We need ground and this could be it.
Parker heads back to Scribner to
weigh up his options.
This season he's mined almost two and
a half million dollars in gold...
..but he's also had massive running
costs.
I can't afford two million bucks.
The overhead's insane, plus Tony's
stupid royalty.
But I'm not gonna end my season
crawling back to Tony.
At the end of the day you just have
to fight for what you want.
We've gotta make money to buy
ground.
If we do another 400 ounces or so,
I can make a good down payment on
this place.
The guys are not gonna like it, but
we have more gold to find.
.
.
At Eureka Creek, while he waits for
the pond to drain,
Tony gives the dredge
a Viking baptism to change its luck.
(LAUGHS)
At McKinnon Creek, the Hoffman Crew
is back mining.
They're making one last push
for 1,300 ounces,
the amount Peter Tallman set in order
for them to keep their ground
next year.
Their last hope is a small section of
the haul road between two old cuts.
We have got a limited amount
of time, so we're not gonna stop
'til we get this dirt out and get it
ran through the wash plant.
It's just, is it enough?
We won't know that until we get it
ran through the sluice.
Dude, Kevin. It's weird, man,
but we've been driving on this crap
all summer long.
This pay looks good, man, but you
gotta keep it coming.
I gotta keep this plant running.
The crew keeps up the pace through
the night and over the next two days.
Running dirt in an all-out effort
to hit their new goal.
Todd to Kevin. Todd to Kevin.
Go ahead.
Listen, run it real slow.
I wanna get every bit of gold out of
this stuff.
Roger that.
I'm nervous as hell because I don't
wanna go back,
I don't wanna go back to the life
I had.
I want a goldmine, I mean, this is
every man's dream.
Eventually Andy hits permafrost in
the new cut.
That's it. The haul road cut is
done. We have no more dirt.
With no pay dirt to run...
it's left to Thurber to clean up
the concentrate from the sluice box.
Phew! We got some gold there.
The Hoffmans have already mined 1,035
ounces.
Worth over $1.2 million
But they need a total of 1,300 ounces
to keep their claim next season.
This last clean-up has to be the best
of their lives.
How's it looking?
Well, I'm weighing it up now.
There's 16, 17 ounces.
What?
Holy!
There you go.
217. Our best clean-up ever.
217 ounces, over a quarter of a
million dollars in a single
clean-up.
1,252. We pulled up short, Dad.
Yeah.
But it's not enough to secure the
claim.
We're 48 short.
And you got
everything out of there, right?
We pulled everything. We pulled out
our road; there's nothing left.
I got nothing.
I don't know how or where we're
gonna do it
but we're gonna get that last piece
of gold out of the ground
and we are not gonna fail.
Not this time, guys.
At Scribner Creek...
..the crew is already packed up and
ready to head home,
but Parker calls a meeting.
I've got some bad news for you.
We're not done mining.
We need to keep working, we need to
stay and find some more gold.
Is there an issue with that?
I don't want to (BLEEP) around and
work
until it just doesn't make any sense
anymore.
We had a pretty (BLEEP) successful
season though, didn't we?
We did. I know we hit our goal,
we've got 2,000 ounces of gold.
And that's great, but the truth is
we need 400 more.
We've gotta make money to buy
ground.
I understand you wanna get as much
gold as you can get.
I understand that but everybody's
wore out.
We've wiped your ass for 2,000
ounces all season, now we're empty.
It's been (BLEEP), Parker,
you're gone.
Yeah, I'm not here, Gene, because
I'm running all over the place
trying to figure out how to have
a business when Tony Beets says,
"(BLEEP) you. Get the (BLEEP) off my
ground." I understand that.
It doesn't seem like it cos I don't
understand... (BLEEP).
You're not understanding. I think
our backs have been broken.
Like you said, Remsburg, you have
busted your guys' ass,
and I know that you guys all wanna
leave.
I didn't realise that it was this
deeply rooted and if that's the case
then I don't want you guys here if
you don't wanna be here.
So come to me, I'll share you out
and you can leave.
I didn't realise it was this bad.
How did that go? I probably didn't
hit him hard enough, honestly.
There's a lot of (BLEEP) should have
been said that shouldn't be
on camera.
The season ain't over,
the job ain't over.
I can't do it on my own, that's the
only problem.
I need those guys.
subtitles by Deluxe
Next time, on the season finale of
Gold Rush,
all three mining crews battle until
the bitter end.
Parker Schnabel fights for
his freedom.
I could show up in spring and be
mining my own ground.
My own empire of dirt.
Todd Hoffman does everything he can
to secure his future.
I want this land so bad. It feels
like home and I don't wanna lose it.
And Tony Beets...
Get out of the way!
..looks to make mining history.
Hey, look at that!
In the Klondike...
OK, give me some.
..Parker's 2,000-ounce season gold
is within reach.
The gold's in the ground, we just
need to get it through the plant
before we're froze outta here.
But as winter hits, his crew mounts
a rebellion.
Everyone's wore out. I don't know
what the (BLEEP) going on!
Our backs have been broken.
And when the big freeze wreaks
havoc...
Stop the plant!
..his season comes to an abrupt end.
I don't think it's worth fighting,
let's hope we got our 160 ounces
in the box.
For the Hoffman crew...
We gotta get 1,000 ounces. Period.
That's just the way it is.
..despite finding good gold...
Woo!
(CHEERING)
..they fail to impress their claim
owner.
Will you stick with us?
No.
And for Tony Beets, after six months
of back-breaking work...
It's all hooked up.
Good.
..when his big moment arrives...
It's time to let the water in.
..it turns into a shipwreck.
Get outta the way, this is serious.
How do you like that?
Scribner Creek, the Klondike.
As the mining season draws
to a close,
Parker Schnabel and his crew confront
an old enemy -
the Yukon winter.
Been a fun morning.
Shut down about 7 o'clock this
morning when we do a shift change,
so we were down for about an hour.
In that hour's time, the plant froze
solid.
There's so much ice on the valves,
we can't open or close 'em.
We've had to bust the ice off.
Come on, girl, shake it off.
I think the Yukon's saying it's time
to shut down.
Parker is just 160 ounces short
of his 2,000 ounce, $2.4 million
gold,
but time is running out.
We've got a good amount of gold
to find,
and we need to get it through the
plant before we're froze outta here.
Parker's crew is running main pay
from the Berm Island,
and it's the best dirt they've run
all season,
and puts them within striking
distance of their goal.
But after a gruelling six month
mining season,
Parker's men are burned out and ready
to head south.
We're tired. We're exhausted.
Pretty ready to go home.
And it's just like, really?
We're (BLEEP) still here doing this.
Open the gates of Guantanamo Bay,
Yukon territory,
Let us out.
What the (BLEEP)?!
At the plant, the freezing
temperatures have had
a devastating effect on Parker's
water system.
Great. This damn thing's frozen too,
it won't budge.
Hey! Chris!
I mean, the valve just cracked open
and it's spraying water all over the
place. Gonna have to shut her down.
Not the best day of the season,
that's for sure.
I don't think it's worth fighting.
We need to call it.
That's it, huh? Yeah.
All right.
Let's see what we've got.
I figured this day might come but
I really didn't expect it.
Hey, Rick. Yeah, go ahead.
Man, the wash plant is screwed, I'm
calling it.
Holy (BLEEP), really?
Yeah, let's hope we got 160 ounces
in the box and we're done.
You guys hear him? We're outta here,
Greg.
OK, give me some.
We really need this to hit
our 2,000 mark now.
For sure.
Think it's in here?
Certainly hope so.
Wow!
I mean, that's looking darned good
right there.
Whoa!
It looks good. Looks real good.
Yeah. No kidding. (BLEEP)
There's some nice gold
in this clean out.
I don't know if it's good enough,
but it looks pretty good.
A lot of good size pickers in here.
Look at that, there's probably
50 more in there just like that,
plus who knows what the fine gold
looks like.
Be nice to get over 2,000, you know,
to succeed our goal.
Let's finish good, finish right.
Finish, get ready to go home.
Have a lot of confidence, a lot of
hope in this clean up right here.
All right, so this is like the last
supper, huh?
We pack her up tomorrow?
(LAUGHTER)
There's gotta be a reason for a
party. Who needs a beer?
To hit his 2,000-ounce goal,
Parker needs another 160 ounces.
So this clean-out...
..that only brought us to 1,940.
A hundred ounces?
Plus...
Uh oh, here it comes.
Holy Moses! Ho!
Which brings us to... 2,060.
Bam! (LAUGHS)
Yeah, 2,000 ounces, buddy. All the
way across the table, buddy.
The 220-ounce clean-up brings their
gold total to 2,060 ounces,
worth $2.47 million.
Parker's crew has smashed their goal,
with more than twice the gold they
got last season.
Then why did you call?
(LAUGHTER)
Truth is, you guys have done a hell
of a job, you know,
and I'd like to thank you all for
that.
I do know that you guys have put in
a hell of a long season,
but we've got a little bit of work
to do,
a little reclamation and some
clean-up work.
Let's get back to our families.
Here's to you guys.
Good job, you know. Good job.
I know we got good ground; that main
pay was good, but you guys did it.
West...
..at McKinnon Creek, the Hoffmans are
poised to redeem themselves.
Got 936 ounces.
Come hell or high water, we're gonna
get 1,000.
They are just 64 ounces short of
their thousand ounce gold.
But the only thawed pay dirt Andy
has left is the access ramp
into the higher cut.
This is the last of our pay dirt in
our higher cut,
so hopefully this dirt's got in it
what we need to get to 1,000.
It's been a long season, but we're
getting close.
There's gold in that there sluice
box.
That's it, Kev, you're done. Take it
to the plant.
Roger that.
Todd, this is Andy, do you copy?
Yeah, I got a copy.
Hey, Todd, we just loaded the last
little bit of pay dirt
out of the higher cut. That's it,
we're done.
Are you sure you got every nook and
cranny out of there, huh?
We've scraped everything that's in
that cut to scrape.
There's no more pay dirt in that;
we've scraped every frozen piece we
could find everywhere. It's done.
Ah, 10-4. 10-4.
Dude, we're knocking at the door of
1,000 ounces, and we need it.
For us to come back next year,
we gotta get 1,000 ounces. Period.
That's just the way it is.
Jack loads the last of the pay into
the plant,
and the Hoffman crew shuts down
Monster Red for this season.
So this is our final mat pull. You
know what?
Hopefully we got enough in here;
it's gonna be touch and go.
They've mined over $1 million in
gold this season,
but their target is $1.2 million.
I'm feeling nervous.
We've never been in reach like this,
where this clean-up could do it.
Jack begins the final clean-up.
With another 64 ounces, the Hoffman
crew will hit their goal
for the first time ever.
I'll tell you what, after last
season
I didn't think anybody would wanna
take another risk with me on this.
You guys did it. We didn't give up
on the gold mining dream.
I'm proud. Proud to be part of this
team,
and you guys need to be proud
of what we did. Every one of you.
And guess what? If it's possible,
we're gonna come back
and we're gonna do it even better
next year.
That's gotta be Peter.
The claim owner, Peter Tallman,
arrives to collect his cut of the
gold.
Hey, Todd. How you doing, buddy?
You guys knew that we got 936.
There it is. Guys, we needed 64
ounces...
We got 99.
(CHEERING)
Good job, guys. Yes!
The Hoffmans season total is 1,035
ounces,
worth well over $1.2 million.
Yeah!
For the first time in five years,
Todd and his crew have finally hit
their goal.
They've pulled more gold out of the
ground
than all of their previous seasons
combined.
Awesome. Yeah!
Peter, after last year not many guys
would take a chance with us,
and you did, and here you go, here's
your cut;
and we're thankful, we really are.
Yeah! Great, man.
Todd, that's not good enough.
It's not good enough by quite a way.
We had projections of you guys doing
a substantial amount more
than what you've done. I'm really
sorry.
This is a disappointment. Good
night, gentlemen.
.
.
McKinnon Creek. The mining season is
over;
the Hoffman crew packs for the long
journey home.
You know what? You never know when
you start a season
how it's gonna end but I never
thought it would end like this.
Feels like we came up short.
But their leader refuses to call
it quits.
At this point in time I'm in limbo,
and I don't know really where I
stand now with Peter.
He has the ability, if he doesn't
believe in us, to kick us off,
and I don't want that.
Todd confronts Peter Tallman at his
office in Dawson City.
Peter.
Hey, Todd.
We need to talk. What happened the
other night?
I was just disappointed
and I had to walk away.
Pretty much anybody could come in
here with the production equipment
and crew you've built and get 1,000
ounces,
but you have to achieve much more
gold.
I just feel like we deserve another
chance;
another shot at this next year. Will
you stick with us?
No, probably not. It's poor
business.
Beyond your claim, we have
two separate known pay streaks
that have potentially multi-millions
of dollars of gold contained;
my job is to find somebody who can
produce gold from that,
and I just couldn't offer it to you
at 1,000 ounces.
It's just not enough.
Take into consideration how hard my
guys have worked at this,
and how much heart and soul we put
into this thing.
What's it gonna take to keep our
claim?
Prove that you can get the gold and
put it in a box.
Go get me 300 ounces.
Oh. You know, if you'd have said 25
or 50 I would have said,
"Maybe we could do that."
100 would be a stretch. We don't
have any pay dirt left.
That amount is not negotiable.
If we get that gold, I want this
whole thing
cos what I'm gonna have to do to get
that gold is damn near impossible.
But I want the whole thing.
If you can get 300 ounces more,
1,300 in total, you got a deal.
Another 300 ounces, worth $360,000,
would require the Hoffmans
to mine over a third more gold.
Everything's freezing up, we're out
of pay dirt, we're out of time,
so to be honest with you, you know,
what he wants it's close to
impossible,
but we gotta get 300 more ounces,
and there's just no ifs ands or buts
about it. That's it.
Back at McKinnon Creek, Todd's crew
is preparing to hit the road.
Guys. What's up?
Here's the deal.
Peter wants 300 more ounces.
If we don't make it, I don't think
we'll be back mining again.
Let's be real, there's nothing left.
It took us better than four months
to get 1,000 ounces,
and now you want us to pull a third
of that?
Hear me out. For 300 more ounces, we
could get the rest of these claims,
all their placer claims, which is
six more miles of ground.
That's the future, guys.
There's three or four hotspots
there, it's rich.
And I don't know if it's possible,
and I wouldn't blame you guys if you
packed your stuff now and left,
but if there's a chance to get six
more miles of ground,
and it's good ground with good gold,
I think we'll kick ourselves if we
don't step up to the plate.
Guys, we got a future here if we can
pull this off.
I think we ought to try it. If we
don't make it,
I'm still proud of everybody.
We know what our future will be
if we don't try.
We won't be back; so what have we
got to lose?
I mean, if we're gonna do this, we
need to get after it like right now.
If the Hoffman crew can't find thawed
pay dirt,
their days mining the Klondike could
be over.
I don't know if I'm gonna be able to
get the gold,
but if we don't make our goals it
won't be
because we didn't do everything
possible.
North, at Paradise Hill...
..Parker arrives to give Tony his
final cut of the season.
Yeah, it just feels good to hit our
goal, you know.
Hopefully Tony is as impressed
as I am.
Hey, Tony, how are you doing?
Yeah.
I'm about to show you.
210, 220.
Point four five.
2,060.
It's double what we did last year.
At the beginning of the season,
Tony locked Parker into a one-sided
deal -
the more gold Parker mines, the
higher the percentage that Tony gets.
That's...er...44.1.
I need a better royalty deal. I
can't afford to pay 25, 30% royalty.
Yeah, but I should get rewarded for
doing better.
The royalty that I've paid you, with
this included, is over $400,000.
The more gold I find, the more you
take? That's insane.
OK.
If we can't meet somewhere
in the middle
then I'll have to look somewhere
else.
I understand that,
I'm not trying to push the issue.
With him on that ground, my wings
are pretty well clipped.
Right? Not much you can do.
Can't argue with a closed door.
.
.
At McKinnon Creek...
..the Hoffman crew return to their
mined out cuts
in a desperate hunt for any leftover
pay that may have thawed.
We wanna be back here,
we have to do it.
This is good ground and I'm gonna
find some pay.
They've hit their 1,000 ounce goal,
but if they're to hold onto
their claim
for next season the crew must now
find another 300 ounces.
Desperate times, desperate measures.
It's our future we're dealing with
so maybe I can get a little bit more
out of some of these corners.
Kevin tests the ground in the old cut
next to the wash plant.
But it's solid bedrock.
Kevin, tell me you got something
good.
Todd, I wish I could say send me
a rock truck,
but I've got no pay and I'm getting
nothing.
All right, keep trying.
Hey, Todd, you have a copy?
Yeah, I got a copy.
I'm up here in the higher cut. I've
scratched all these corners;
everything is frozen as hard
as a rock. There's no gold in here.
Not good.
Hey, Dad, what are you finding?
Anything?
No, it doesn't look good, Todd.
It's all frozen. This doesn't look
good at all.
McKinnon Creek is frozen.
Getting anything?
Nothing.
There's something we haven't thought
about. We're standing on it.
The haul road? Right here. We hit
a pocket that was the best pocket
I've seen gold mining -
we had 132 ounces out of this, Todd.
I think the gold is right under
our feet.
I don't know, Dave. That was the
worst clean-up we ever had there.
We don't have anything to lose here.
Let's do this.
All right. Dig some test holes.
All right.
The whole road runs between two
of their old cuts.
They mined the south side, and it was
full of gold...
..but on the other side of the road,
the returns were poor.
Dave is hoping the south side pay
channel extends under the haul road.
If he's right, they'll have an
accessible strip of thawed pay dirt.
With no time to spare, Dave and Andy
roll out to test Dave's theory.
So here's what I'm thinking, if you
can...er...dig up the road,
cast it to one side, and then I will
push it out of your way.
I think that's our best chance of
getting this done.
10-4, Dave, I'll sling it to you;
you push it out of the way.
Let's get this done.
If the gold from the haul road cut
is underneath this road,
I think we got a good shot at it.
We can see snow off in the hills, so
we don't have a lot of time.
So we need to get this done as quick
as we can.
You know, hopefully it'll be good
under here,
but we won't know until we get the
overburden off.
Yeah, right here is everything
we've got.
Every gold miner is always looking
for the next season
or the next clean-up or the next
bucketful.
It can always be there; that's gold
mining.
It can always be a big payoff,
and that's what we're hoping for
underneath this road.
So I'm looking to see some big
black rocks at the bottom of this.
I'm looking to see this deep pocket
in the bedrock
and a lot of gold in a pan. That's
what I'm hoping for.
We don't have a Plan B at
this point. It's all or nothing.
With the overburden cleared away,
Andy digs a test hole
OK, that's it. Right at bedrock
I got the big rocks.
It looks good, let me go grab a pan.
OK.
What are you guys seeing?
This one pan could determine whether
the Hoffmans return next season.
This could be a good pan.
You're freakin' kidding me.
I think we're on it.
Dave's plan pays off.
Look at that! We might just pull
this off.
There's good gold under the haul
road.
This is awesome. I don't know if
we'll hit 300 ounces,
but we're definitely gonna put a
dent in it with this.
Let's start running pay. Let's get
rolling. Let's go.
Let's get a couple rock trucks
down here
and we're gonna take out
the haul road.
I think we're right on top of where
that channel was.
We got a bit of a break. We're gonna
have good pay dirt.
We're gonna do everything humanly
possible to make it.
We need to make it.
East...
..at Eureka Creek.
It's all hooked up.
Tony Beets has finally rebuilt his
million dollar dredge.
After six months of back-breaking
work,
he's ready to breathe life
into his 75-year-old gold factory.
Suction's in. We got it hooked up,
now we just gotta chain it down and
we're good to go.
There's one final step before Tony
can complete this epic resurrection.
The dredge sits on a dry dock beside
a small pond.
When Tony opens the flood gate
from a larger holding pond,
he'll release a torrent of water to
float the 350-tonne dredge.
TONY: Let's get it on.
The crew rushes to clear the dry dock
before it's too late.
We've gotta get all the equipment
outta there,
the water level's coming up pretty
fast here.
That'll be the moment of truth - if
this thing floats or if it sinks.
I'm excited. We worked hard enough
on this thing,
it'd be nice to see some gold in the
box this afternoon.
Pretty much done.
The next morning, Tony returns.
The first Klondike dredge to float,
in over a quarter of a century.
Sounds like a plan. Yeah, good.
Yep.
Kevin will use the winch on
the D6 dozer
to pull the dredge into position.
Tony heads up to the wheelhouse
to take the helm,
ready to dig the dredge's first
pay dirt.
Ready when you are.
(ALMIGHTY BANG)
What's wrong? What's wrong?
I don't know. It was going smoothly
and the whole thing (BLEEP) shook.
What are you looking for?
What just happened?
Better get some pumps up there
quick.
If Tony doesn't drain the flooded
pontoon, the dredge will sink.
(PUMP REVS INTO LIFE)
We're gonna have to get inside there
when it's dry.
That's gonna suck.
Yep.
Tony has no choice. He has to drain
the pond to fix the leak.
With winter closing in,
his hopes of dredging this season are
sinking fast.
East...
at Scribner Creek.
Big Red is shut down for the season.
Parker's crew is preparing
their equipment for the winter.
Been a good season, it's time
to pack up and go home. Be smart.
If we don't, we're gonna get stuck
in here and it's not gonna be cool.
Just trying to get the... things,
get ready to put them to bed here.
We need to put it away right and
go home.
Parker heads out to scout a new claim
that could mean freedom from Tony.
Tony doesn't have to negotiate
with me,
because he knows I haven't got any
other ground.
I need to try and find some other
ground,
to either buy or use it to bring
Tony back to the table.
Parker's already been offered new
ground
in the Klondike goldfields
just beyond Tony's dredge camp.
I mean, this ground is one of the
options for next year.
It's the upper forks of Eureka -
over 100 claims and all for sale.
Price tag's two million bucks.
You know, one thing I always look at
when I'm looking at ground
is the condition of the place.
And if you've got tons of money,
you're probably not gonna live
in a place like that.
Wait, it's like there's a line of
drill holes down there.
Be right back.
A long line of drill holes suggests
there's still a substantial amount
of gold in the ground.
Ah. I wonder why the (BLEEP) didn't
tell me about these.
The promising thing is there's a lot
of drill holes in here.
They spent money. He didn't wave
anything like this under my face
when he showed me the first time.
We need ground and this could be it.
Parker heads back to Scribner to
weigh up his options.
This season he's mined almost two and
a half million dollars in gold...
..but he's also had massive running
costs.
I can't afford two million bucks.
The overhead's insane, plus Tony's
stupid royalty.
But I'm not gonna end my season
crawling back to Tony.
At the end of the day you just have
to fight for what you want.
We've gotta make money to buy
ground.
If we do another 400 ounces or so,
I can make a good down payment on
this place.
The guys are not gonna like it, but
we have more gold to find.
.
.
At Eureka Creek, while he waits for
the pond to drain,
Tony gives the dredge
a Viking baptism to change its luck.
(LAUGHS)
At McKinnon Creek, the Hoffman Crew
is back mining.
They're making one last push
for 1,300 ounces,
the amount Peter Tallman set in order
for them to keep their ground
next year.
Their last hope is a small section of
the haul road between two old cuts.
We have got a limited amount
of time, so we're not gonna stop
'til we get this dirt out and get it
ran through the wash plant.
It's just, is it enough?
We won't know that until we get it
ran through the sluice.
Dude, Kevin. It's weird, man,
but we've been driving on this crap
all summer long.
This pay looks good, man, but you
gotta keep it coming.
I gotta keep this plant running.
The crew keeps up the pace through
the night and over the next two days.
Running dirt in an all-out effort
to hit their new goal.
Todd to Kevin. Todd to Kevin.
Go ahead.
Listen, run it real slow.
I wanna get every bit of gold out of
this stuff.
Roger that.
I'm nervous as hell because I don't
wanna go back,
I don't wanna go back to the life
I had.
I want a goldmine, I mean, this is
every man's dream.
Eventually Andy hits permafrost in
the new cut.
That's it. The haul road cut is
done. We have no more dirt.
With no pay dirt to run...
it's left to Thurber to clean up
the concentrate from the sluice box.
Phew! We got some gold there.
The Hoffmans have already mined 1,035
ounces.
Worth over $1.2 million
But they need a total of 1,300 ounces
to keep their claim next season.
This last clean-up has to be the best
of their lives.
How's it looking?
Well, I'm weighing it up now.
There's 16, 17 ounces.
What?
Holy!
There you go.
217. Our best clean-up ever.
217 ounces, over a quarter of a
million dollars in a single
clean-up.
1,252. We pulled up short, Dad.
Yeah.
But it's not enough to secure the
claim.
We're 48 short.
And you got
everything out of there, right?
We pulled everything. We pulled out
our road; there's nothing left.
I got nothing.
I don't know how or where we're
gonna do it
but we're gonna get that last piece
of gold out of the ground
and we are not gonna fail.
Not this time, guys.
At Scribner Creek...
..the crew is already packed up and
ready to head home,
but Parker calls a meeting.
I've got some bad news for you.
We're not done mining.
We need to keep working, we need to
stay and find some more gold.
Is there an issue with that?
I don't want to (BLEEP) around and
work
until it just doesn't make any sense
anymore.
We had a pretty (BLEEP) successful
season though, didn't we?
We did. I know we hit our goal,
we've got 2,000 ounces of gold.
And that's great, but the truth is
we need 400 more.
We've gotta make money to buy
ground.
I understand you wanna get as much
gold as you can get.
I understand that but everybody's
wore out.
We've wiped your ass for 2,000
ounces all season, now we're empty.
It's been (BLEEP), Parker,
you're gone.
Yeah, I'm not here, Gene, because
I'm running all over the place
trying to figure out how to have
a business when Tony Beets says,
"(BLEEP) you. Get the (BLEEP) off my
ground." I understand that.
It doesn't seem like it cos I don't
understand... (BLEEP).
You're not understanding. I think
our backs have been broken.
Like you said, Remsburg, you have
busted your guys' ass,
and I know that you guys all wanna
leave.
I didn't realise that it was this
deeply rooted and if that's the case
then I don't want you guys here if
you don't wanna be here.
So come to me, I'll share you out
and you can leave.
I didn't realise it was this bad.
How did that go? I probably didn't
hit him hard enough, honestly.
There's a lot of (BLEEP) should have
been said that shouldn't be
on camera.
The season ain't over,
the job ain't over.
I can't do it on my own, that's the
only problem.
I need those guys.
subtitles by Deluxe
Next time, on the season finale of
Gold Rush,
all three mining crews battle until
the bitter end.
Parker Schnabel fights for
his freedom.
I could show up in spring and be
mining my own ground.
My own empire of dirt.
Todd Hoffman does everything he can
to secure his future.
I want this land so bad. It feels
like home and I don't wanna lose it.
And Tony Beets...
Get out of the way!
..looks to make mining history.
Hey, look at that!