Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 6, Episode 15 - Dead Even - full transcript
Parker runs bedrock in an all out bid to overtake his rival in the gold count. Todd opens a risky new cut, and things go south when Monica and Kevin are left in charge of the dredge.
Narrator:
On this "gold rush"...
We're losing gold.
[ groans ]
Bunch of [bleep] [bleep]
[bleep] joke.
Todd: Here we go. We're gonna
make a million-dollar mountain.
Hiatt: Whoa! Holy [bleep]
it's on fire.
Todd: That's it. Cut it.
Take the shaft and weld it right
into the engine. I don't care.
Ibarra: This was just
a stupid call. Stupid.
And now we hit...
We're broke down.
We're gonna fail
if we keep doing this.
Parker: That plant needs to be
running. Uptime, uptime, uptime.
I know todd's going pretty hard,
But I don't think
he stands a chance.
Hoo! We been busting our ass
for that stuff.
Ness: Keep going. Keep going.
Keep going.
You gonna take my deal
or not?
I would love
to kick your butt.
I'm not here to lose.
♪
Captions paid for by
discovery communications
We're in a [bleep]
disaster zone.
Narrator:
21-year-old parker schnabel
Is visiting his rival,
todd hoffman.
Parker: That loader's smaller
than our loader.
They aren't running 300 yards
an hour, I'll tell you that.
Oh, man.
Narrator:
After a bad start to the season,
Parker has made a comeback.
He now has 1,450 ounces of gold,
Trailing the hoffman crew
by just 250 ounces.
-How's it going?
-Hey, how are ya?
I'm all right.
So what can I do ya for,
buddy?
I actually heard that you
might be interested in selling
That gold rig you got.
Well, I would be open to it.
-That's it there?
-Yep. Want to go look at it?
Yeah, if we could.
Your table'll fit
right on there.
Your jigs'll go
right down there.
Think we used
to set it about right here,
And then
you'd just shovel in.
What do you want
for this?
I got $30,000
in this thing.
But last year, I did
about $1.7 million, you know?
But you're talking about it like
it had something to do with it.
Why don't you make me
an offer, parker?
I don't know
what the thing's worth.
Take 12,000 bucks?
This is the deal.
If I beat you this year,
I'ma give you
this container, okay?
You do not have to
pay for it.
If you beat me,
pay me $15,000 worth of gold
At the end of season.
This is a great bet.
It's a bet.
It's a good bet.
-I've got nothing to lose.
-You really don't.
I'm just trying to figure out
what your angle is.
If I beat you,
I'd probably pull off
a miracle down here,
And you probably had some things
go wrong down there.
And at least one guy did
something good for ya this year.
And that would be me.
I'm not here for favors,
todd.
Well, you could do it
either way.
Are you gonna take
my deal or not?
You got a chance
of not paying me.
-By losing.
-I'd take that one.
I'm not here to lose.
I'm taking the deal,
and I'm gonna pay you
'cause I'm gonna beat you.
Challenge accepted.
If I kick your ass,
it's yours.
Consider it
a birthday gift.
Don't get me wrong.
I would love to kick your butt.
But I think
I got more heart.
-Really?
-I do.
We'll find out.
I think we've
got more discipline.
We'll find out.
I doubt it.
-Really?
-Yeah.
We'll find out, parker.
Oh, man.
Todd: I was his age once.
I was 21.
No matter what he says
or what he does
Or how he treats people,
I don't believe
in parker's ability
To keep his team together.
Parker: He's playing a game,
Trying to get us relaxed,
I think.
Todd: We got a better team,
and we got bigger hearts.
And that -- that's why
we're gonna beat him this year.
He said they've got
more heart than us.
They don't have
more [bleep] heart than us.
Why the --
what does that even mean?
♪
Narrator: Klondike legend
tony beets takes gene cheeseman,
"big mike" beaudry,
and his son, kevin,
On a 60-mile trip
To see the latest addition
to his operation.
Despite an epic struggle
To get his first dredge
to pay for itself,
Tony has doubled down and bought
a second antique mining machine,
The thistle creek dredge.
This machine was built
in the 1940s,
But it ran dirt
for less than 5 years
And has survived
70 yukon winters.
Just for the [bleep] hell of it,
why not make it run?
Everything's
pretty much complete.
Narrator:
The thistle creek dredge
is missing its bucket line.
Without the 77 cast-iron buckets
To chew through the pay dirt,
the dredge is useless.
Cheeseman: Could've found
an easier trail maybe.
[ laughs ]
They look to be horrible.
Cheeseman: I got 37 also.
With no spare buckets available,
tony's only option
Is to take one bucket
to use as a model
To have replacements cast.
They need to find a bucket
lying upside down
So they can remove
its connecting pin.
Uh, this is gonna be
the easiest one to try.
Kevin:
Oh, yeah. There we go.
[ groans ]
Get it!
Get that chain.
Not only does the chopper
Have to lift
the 700-pound cast-iron bucket,
It also has to free it
from the mud
It's been sitting in
for over half a century.
♪
Todd: Here we go.
Narrator: After 3 months
opening up their biggest cut,
The hoffman crew
has reached a watershed moment.
Right now, we're stripping
the very, very last
Of the overburden in
the extension of the supercut.
I want to get this out of here
as fast as we can.
So what I want to do
is move every piece
Of equipment we have.
A 700 excavator,
an 800 excavator,
And five 40-ton rock trucks
and a d11 dozer.
And that's a lot
of horsepower, lot of manpower.
And quite frankly,
it's a lot of money.
We're just gonna have
to be on our game.
Let's get this stuff
out of here.
Just 2 months ago,
I said to myself,
"that will never happen."
We will never get
to the end of it.
And now here we are.
This is it. This is the last
of the overburden.
Narrator: To hit
their $3 million season goal,
The hoffmans still need
Over a million dollars' worth
of gold.
Todd:
We're gonna start running pay.
We're gonna keep sending
in enough pay
Till we got a million dollars'
worth of pay
Sitting up on the ramp.
We're gonna make
a million-dollar-mountain.
Narrator:
All season, the hoffman crew
Has used two rock trucks
To haul pay dirt
to the wash plant,
And three rock trucks
to remove overburden.
Now that they've removed
the last of the overburden
From the supercut,
They can use
all five rock trucks
To haul pay to the plant.
That will double the amount
of pay dirt they can move,
Allowing todd to build
a 40-foot-tall stockpile
That he hopes will hold
$1 million in gold.
Hey, kevin.
The overburden's done.
I'm gonna give you
a million-dollar pay pile.
Bring it on, logan.
Todd's threatening
to bury me in -- in pay.
Being drowning in pay right
now isn't such a bad thing.
If todd brings
$1 million worth of pay up here,
Our pay problems are over.
Million-dollar pay pile,
bring it on.
♪
Whoa! Holy [bleep]
it's on fire.
Cut the power!
♪
Hiatt: Fire.
Get up here quick.
Narrator: Smoke is pouring out
of the hoffman's radial stacker.
Hiatt: Look, I'm telling you,
it caught on fire.
But I don't know...
Turin: What's going on?
Hiatt: We got to wait
for it to cool down.
Ibarra: Oh, no.
Oh, no, no.
We can't afford to be down.
That front seal
is completely gone.
I mean, it's sizzling still.
Todd, I think it got
caught on fire
And burnt up.
How bad is it?
There's something
massively wrong.
-Hang on a second.
-[bleep]
-You all right?
-Yeah.
This is supposed
to have little sprockets
Right here
for the gear to grab.
It tore 'em all out.
It's plastic.
As you could see, I mean,
it melted 'em out,
And it's toast.
All those little ribs are gone.
Narrator:
The tailings conveyor is powered
by a motor at its base.
The motor turns a plastic wheel
That powers
the conveyor mechanism,
But teeth on the metal cog
Have destroyed the teeth
on the plastic wheel,
And the friction eventually
started a fire.
It would take 2 weeks
To get a replacement part
all the way up to the yukon.
To get back up and running,
Mechanic and fabricator
juan ibarra
Has to come up
with a solution.
I'm gonna make
a different style coupler
Out of mild steel.
It's still not 100% perfect
Because we don't have
the tooling here
To be able to make certain
that it's 100% centered.
We'll do the best we can.
Hopefully, it'll get us by
for a couple more weeks.
Narrator: Machining a steel
wheel and getting it perfectly
Aligned could take 2 days.
And every hour
the hoffmans are not running,
They're losing $3,000 in gold.
Dude. Walk with me.
Walk with me.
Normally,
I would never do this.
But I really don't have
any other option on this one.
So...
-Yeah.
You got to get
that fricking radial stacker --
You got to get it running.
And I know
we don't have that part.
Todd, that thing's
a piece of crap.
There's no way it can work.
Take the shaft in there
And just fricking weld it
right into the engine.
I don't care.
Juan's bush-fixed
a lot of stuff.
Two days is too long.
You got to
fricking figure it out.
If we do a two-part epoxy
And we stick it in there
with the drive gear
And let it sit,
What it does is that
it fills in all the holes
And then turns hard
as a freaking rock.
It basically renews
all those plastic teeth.
-Then we got her?
-We're good to go.
Get on it, randy.
Get that part.
Let's epoxy it on there.
And let's give it hell.
Todd goes with a quick glue fix
Over juan's
steel replacement wheel.
We got to come up
with some other plan.
That won't work.
That's not gonna happen?
That's not gonna work, huh?
Nope.
-I thought it would, man.
-No, it won't, juan.
♪
This is just
fricking stupid, man.
This was just a stupid call.
This is just taking time away
from us from being able to run.
We wanted to get this done,
but how in the hell are
We gonna do it if we're just
shooting ourselves in the foot?
We're screwing ourselves.
It's stupid.
♪
Hubler: How did juan get in
here? He's bigger than me.
Narrator: Mechanic randy hubler
begins his bush fix.
Good grief.
I'm gonna mix it here.
-Okay.
-Apply it, 5 minutes.
-Five minutes ticking.
-Ready?
Yeah.
Dave and randy have just
one chance to make it work.
There's a lot
riding on plastic.
If they fail to get
the cog and wheel in place
Before the glue sets,
both parts will be useless.
This part up.
-Go in tip.
-There.
-There, it went in.
-Nice!
Now we got to get
this bolted up, let it sit,
And then the real test will be
the first time we fire it up.
♪
Narrator:
Back at eureka creek, tony beets
Is still struggling
to mine the gold
He needs to pay off
his million-dollar dredge.
♪
Bunch of [bleep] [bleep]
[bleep] joke.
Hey, matt.
Let's go ahead and shut down.
We've got some problems
with the sluicer on us here.
Oh, seriously?
-Yeah.
-Okay.
Narrator: Throughout the season,
they've had a problem
With fine tailings
blocking the riffles
Where the gold should collect.
Now it's gotten out of control.
I mean, I know we want to
make it run, make it work,
But this isn't really
[bleep] working.
Cheeseman: The way our plumbing
is right now,
We can't really speed
the water supply up.
So it's gonna back up.
You know, you're --
It's not washing it out
as fast enough.
Well, it's not just today.
For the past, like,
four cleanups,
The riffles have been clogged.
We're losing gold, so
it defeats the purpose, right?
Until I completely revamp
the runs and the distribution
And everything else,
it's just gonna be an issue.
Narrator:
It's on foreman gene cheeseman
To come up
with a permanent solution.
Cheeseman: I just don't see
how it worked before.
Where the stuff
comes underneath the trommel,
Right now, it's going out
in all them runs this way.
Tony: Yeah.
I was thinking
about just closing this off
So it all --
eliminates these side runs.
Narrator: Five sluice runs
on either side of the trommel
Collect all the gold
and fine material.
Gene's plan: Eliminate four
out of the five sluices
On each side.
Then install a pair
of 15-foot-long sluice runs.
Because they are narrower,
the water should flow faster
And flush fine material out,
Allowing gold to collect
in the riffles.
-Okay, sounds good.
-Perfect. All right, man.
-I'll get on it.
-Perfect.
The dredge crew gets to work,
Blocking off eight of the sluice
runs with steel.
It should keep our water even
and consistent so that
We shouldn't have as much of a
sand barring issue as we've had.
Narrator:
Eight runs are blocked off.
Water will now be diverted into
two new custom-built sluices.
Tony's crew now installs
the massive 1-ton sluice runs.
Yeah, just keep coming.
Tony: Little more.
We're an inch and a half,
Inch and three eighths
right there, so...
We extended the runs
going out the back,
A little bit more to go.
And she will run again, just
got to put these --
Bend it in as soon
as I finish cutting them.
Finishing up the last details,
fire things up here.
Narrator: The new sluices,
mats, and riffles are in.
It's time for a test.
[ laughs ]
[ dredge motor starts ]
♪
With the water flow increased,
Tony and crew have to run
for at least a day
To find out if their new sluices
are catching gold.
Off we go.
If we want to reach
our 3,000-ounce goal,
We got to keep this plant
running all the time, you know.
Narrator: Parker's crew
is running 200 yards an hour,
Almost twice
what they put through
Their old wash plant, big red.
They're determined
to hit their season goal
And beat the hoffmans.
Blaschke: We don't want to have
to shut it down.
When it's not running,
we're not making any money.
Narrator: But keeping
their new plant, goldzilla, fed
Is taking its toll.
I guess the biggest problem
right now I can see,
With how much dirt
we're running through goldzilla,
Is just how fast that
you're wearing out.
You know, that's just
the cost of running that fast,
I guess.
♪
[bleep] rock.
♪
I know nobody likes it
being turned off,
But they haven't made
a plant yet
That, uh, you don't have
to do any maintenance on.
Narrator:
Rick ness has to shut down
their wash plant, goldzilla.
Ness: [bleep]
Parker:
What can I do to help?
Uh, these screens
are about ready to go here.
Just this first foot's getting
pretty shot.
Well, and I was wondering
if we should take
That little 2-foot section
at the bottom
And put it up at the top.
Get a few more hours
on 'em.
Narrator: Two layers of screen
prevent rocks
From entering this shaker,
But sharp bedrock has cut holes
in the upper screen,
Allowing large rocks
to fall through
And damage the lower screen.
Worse, they are causing cracks
in goldzilla's steel structure.
Parker: I don't know.
Let's just pull
all the bolts out
And replace the ones
that need to get replaced
And move this up there
and drag it down, slide it down.
Ness: [bleep] [bleep]
piece of [bleep]
It's tough because,
you know, we run it hard,
And stuff like the screens
wear out fast,
But then we need the uptime too.
Narrator:
Hitting parker's 3,000-ounce,
$3.3 million goal
Gets tougher every hour
the wash plant is down.
5% uptime in the next 2 months
would be --
Make the difference between
making and losing it, really.
Every minute that plant's down,
it needs to be panic mode.
It needs to be running.
Uptime.
Uptime, uptime, uptime.
Oh, whoever built this thing
is a [bleep] idiot.
Some people rotate
their tires.
We rotate our screens.
Get every mile out of 'em.
Should be thrown away,
but...
Scrap pile comes to mind
when I think about
Where this should go.
Parker: Screen changes
should take a half-hour, really.
We need to start focusing
on uptime.
We should've been running
20 minutes ago.
Now that we're running,
We need to try
to keep it running, right?
Yeah.
From here on out,
that kind of [bleep] is done.
The downtime's gonna stop.
Another expensive meeting.
I'll, uh --
I'll hit the belts.
♪
Should we really do this?
Narrator:
The hoffman's radial stacker
has been down for over 6 hours.
Todd went with
a quick fix using glue.
Get ready with
the fire extinguisher.
If it fails,
they'll have lost 6 hours
And $18,000 dollars
Just waiting for it to cure.
Hubler: All righty,
here she comes.
That's it.
Cut it.
Done.
It's toast.
Randy's epoxy fix has failed.
It doesn't look pretty.
I don't think we're gonna
be able to run this again.
There's nothing
I can do about it.
It's a piece of plastic.
The hoffmans are back
at square one.
Kevin to juan.
We lost
the radial stacker again.
Ibarra: So what happened was,
uh, they put a bunch of epoxy.
Well, it didn't hold, and we
knew it wasn't gonna hold.
So why they even did it
is stupid.
And now we're here.
We're broke down.
So, you know, we should've
fixed it right the first time,
Or at least done
a better job repairing it.
You know, it shouldn't have
been done that way.
This fix is gonna
be a bush fix as well,
But it's gonna be a little
different in the sense
That we're not gonna
be using glue.
Narrator: Juan will fabricate
a steel replacement wheel.
And instead of gluing it,
he'll weld it firmly in place.
Ibarra:
I have no idea why it didn't
happen in the first place.
We're gonna do it now.
And, uh, we'll get it up
and running.
Narrator:
Todd's million-dollar pay pile
is growing by the minute.
But he hasn't run
a yard of dirt in 9 hours.
It's 2 ounces an hour
that parker's catching me.
And you know what?
That's --
far as I'm fricking concerned,
That's 2 ounces too much.
Narrator: To get monster red
back up and running,
Juan and kevin
work into the night.
♪
-Want to give it a shot?
-Yeah, I'll give it a shot.
Hiatt: See if it fits.
That's it, man.
-That's it?
-That's it.
Ibarra: Yeah!
By 4:00 a.M.,
they're finally ready to test
Juan's custom-built part.
If the weld
on the replacement wheel
Isn't strong enough,
It'll shear off
as soon as they hit start.
-You ready, juan?
-Yep.
Okay.
[ radial stacker starts ]
She's spinning, you can see.
Engage the -- the conveyor.
Ibarra: There she goes.
No, she didn't this time.
-That's it, buddy.
Right on, man.
Narrator: It's taken 14 hours,
But juan has fixed the stacker.
He's saved the hoffman crew
2 weeks of running time
And hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
Everything's looking good.
We just need to keep an eye
on it for the rest of the night.
♪
All right, fellas.
Let's make it happen.
There's pay dirt to haul.
We got to keep it going.
Narrator:
Foreman rick ness is enforcing
parker's new no-downtime rule.
But wash plant operator
david kroeker has a problem.
I helped run this plant before.
Well, the guy who owns it
was running it,
And I told him
I'd take care of it
And I'd let him know
if [bleep] gets bad on it.
Narrator: In a desperate attempt
to catch up with the hoffmans,
Parker has put maintenance
on hold.
Oh, yeah. All you need is
some rocks to plug the hole.
Let me get the rubber.
All right.
It's right in there.
Goldzilla's sluice
has sprung a leak.
With a plant like goldzilla,
maintenance is key.
If you do keep up
your maintenance,
Then you keep up
your run time.
Narrator: Rick and mitch
attempt to plug the hole
Without turning off
the oscillating sluice box.
We don't even need
to shut down to fix leaks,
We just drill holes
in the sluice box
And plug it with rubber.
How's that feel?
Uh, like my hand's
getting sandblasted.
I'll just stand here
all night.
Bring me some dinner
and some beers.
Mitch opens up the hole
to allow the plug to fit.
That's got to be
good for a drill.
I can't get the rubber down
because the rocks get under it.
You run it too long, and then
you get a major failure on it,
Something really breaks on it,
and then you're screwed.
Like right now.
Something's smoking up there.
♪
♪
Saw the smoke, I thought
we might've smoked a bearing,
But it's just a rock
caught in the belt.
Narrator: After promising
goldzilla's owner
That he'd keep an eye
on his plant,
David kroeker checks for damage.
Ness: What's the matter?
What's up?
We short on steel
around here?
-What's that?
-Are we short on steel?
I don't think so.
Why?
Why didn't
they fix that stuff
When they had
the screens out?
We were gonna do it
on the next round,
We just want to try
to get going.
All right. We just need to
get the right [bleep]
It's wearing
on original steel.
I don't know
what to say about it.
We'll get new steel
put in it.
It's just...
Try to get it running now.
That's about it.
Everything else is good
to run, though?
Uh, it should be.
I asked if he could shovel
that mouth out of,
Uh, right underneath
the belt there.
Oh, I can go shovel it
while it's running.
Well, you got to get
in the mouth to get it --
Is what I'm saying.
-I don't care.
-That's all I --
Get the [bleep] thing
running, man.
I -- I know.
I get it.
I -- I get [bleep] [bleep]
but let's just run.
All right?
[bleep]
Sick of arguing with this guy.
♪
Any little reason he can find
to not run this thing,
It seems like he wants to do it.
I get it.
[bleep] ain't right.
[bleep] [bleep]
But we got to run, you know?
That's all there is to it.
I -- ugh -- I'd love
to shut down for a [bleep] week
And get everything perfect,
but it's just not in the cards.
So...
Narrator: Despite the risk
of serious damage,
Rick follows parker's orders...
Get it running.
...Firing up goldzilla
once again.
♪
The plant may be back up
and running,
But kroeker's convinced
That ignoring routine
maintenance will backfire.
Parker gave the plant owner
his word
That he would take care of it.
He was told that if
he doesn't take care of it,
It'll just get taken away,
And he won't
have any production then.
Narrator: Just 2 hours later,
goldzilla's owner
Sends one of his men to perform
a surprise inspection.
If the inspection
doesn't go well,
The plant will be repossessed
And parker will be
unable to mine.
♪
In 2 days.
Yeah.
I know the owner
of the plant very well,
Know the agreement that he has.
And part of that is
that they repair it
And maintain it properly,
which I don't think anybody,
Honestly, around here
could say that they are.
I told the guys
that the next shutdown is --
We're gonna be shut down
for a while.
That's all there is to it.
Okay.
And then, and mitch and derrick
are gonna have to get in there
And weld up all those cracks,
and then we just got to, uh --
People in charge around here,
like parker and rick,
You would think that they would
listen to some of it, but no.
I was trying to tell kroeker
that I know
He was upset about it,
and I was like,
"I don't -- I don't like it
any more than you,
But if we're prepared for it,
you know,
We can make a lot of repairs
pretty quickly."
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
We'll get her dialed in.
Sneaky.
I just think
that's pretty shady.
I find it pretty hard to believe
that this guy just
Wandered in here today
on a coincidence.
I'm fairly certain that,
You know, kroeker probably
called him and ratted on us.
I guess his allegiance
is more towards his buddy
That owns the plant
than it is to this team,
So pretty shady way
to go about things.
Narrator: Rick has no choice
But to shut down
to make repairs.
Every once in a while,
you have to stop and maintain.
The sideboard screens,
and let's just weld up
All those cracks of the [bleep]
that's worn out
So that when on the next --
on the next cleanout,
Every -- we got
everything [bleep] ready.
Mechanics mitch and derrick
weld the structural cracks
And replace the screens.
We got everything we need out
here, so we'll just do it.
Blaschke:
It's burning way too hot.
I'm gonna drop. Watch yourself.
-Yeah.
Narrator: In less than 4 hours,
they're ready to run dirt again.
♪
-Oh, yeah. We're just working.
-Boom.
We got a lot going on,
But at least we know
it won't fall apart.
Narrator: Parker's crew
lost a total of 12 hours
To repairs this week.
They won't know
how much it's cost them
Until their weekly cleanup.
Well, it's up and running.
Let's hope it lasts.
If it's not running,
we're not making gold.
♪
Narrator:
The beets crew has struggled
all season to get good gold.
All of their hopes now rest
On gene cheeseman's
new sluice boxes.
The increased water flow
has cleared the sluices of silt.
But to prove it's worked,
they need to check
That it's not blowing
all their gold along with it.
Yeah.
After 2 days of running,
A pan should produce
at least some visible colors.
♪
Gene's new sluices
have the ancient dredge
Catching good gold once again.
♪
We're wearing out
our dozer pushing tailings.
Narrator: At mckinnon creek,
the hoffman's wash plant pad
Has once again grown too big
for their tailings conveyor.
Todd has a 180-foot solution.
We got all these conveyors here.
Radial stackers.
Dave, swing her over,
And we'll build it out
another 70 to 100 feet.
Ho, dave.
Let's set her there.
Turin: Andy. We're like
a half-mile from the wash plant.
Todd:
Think we're ready to try it.
Drop that first bucket in, doug.
Narrator: With conveyors
longer than a football field,
The crew should spend less time
dozing tailings
And more time running
their million-dollar pay pile.
Todd: Will that be enough?
I don't know.
We're gonna find out.
♪
Dodge: There's some gold in it.
Doesn't look as good
as it did the other day,
But, you know,
you're gonna have those days,
Your ups and your downs.
Narrator:
Juan's fix on the radial stacker
Has kept monster red running
the rest of the week.
Dodge: That's what gold is.
Once you think you've got
it all figured out,
That's when it bites you
in the butt.
Narrator: This is the first test
Of todd's million-dollar
mountain of pay.
Okay. Just work on draining
underneath there.
Well, we'll find out, huh?
Thurber: Yeah.
After running
the gold concentrate,
It's time for jack to reveal
If they've hit
their weekly goal of 200 ounces.
-What do you think?
-Well, it looks like a lot.
What is it?
How much, dad?
We got 200?
Do we need --
We need 200 this week.
160.
Narrator: 160 ounces,
worth around $175,000,
Takes their total
for this season
To 1,862 ounces,
worth $2 million.
Aw, shoot.
If we reach 2,700,
We need 200 a week.
We're --
we're over 40 short.
Todd: But you're 40 short, and
you're 40 short next week --
Yeah, that's right.
And then, next thing you know,
we're way short.
We're not gonna reach it, so...
I think it's gonna
get better, though.
We're starting
to get our groove.
I don't know, man.
We've moved
all the overburden.
That million-dollar
mountain's starting
To look like about a
half-a-million-dollar mountain.
I mean, if we keep --
keep on this pace,
We ain't gonna hit it.
Well, that -- you're right.
You're right.
We're gonna have to keep
the plant running.
But we're --
we are behind now, so...
Yeah.
We are.
All right, dad.
Thanks.
We got a huge goal of 2,700.
And, uh, it's aggressive.
And can we hit it?
I don't know.
Narrator:
With only 5 weeks left,
Todd's ambitious
$3 million season
Is slipping from his grasp.
We're gonna fail.
We're gonna fail
if we keep doing this.
♪
Things with goldzilla
are going well.
Narrator: 10 miles east, parker
has shut down to find out
If his ban on downtime
has paid off.
What I'm doing is doing
some hand panning,
Getting an idea of what kind
of gold's in there.
That's one handful.
How many handfuls
are in this tank already?
Todd hoffman might have
a million-dollar pay pile,
But we have our feeder
sitting in the middle
Of a million-dollar cut.
Which one would you choose?
I am kind of eager to get this
down to the jig, though
And start running it,
see what we got.
♪
-Ho-ho. That's a lot of gold.
-Yeah, looks like.
Doumitt: Looks like we're doing
real good.
Parker: We've been busting
our ass for that stuff.
Ness: Keep going.
Keep going. Keep going.
So that's 351.87 ounces.
Narrator: 352 ounces is worth
a colossal $387,000.
-Oh.
-Oh-ho.
-Nice week.
-Man, that's outstanding.
Thanks
for keeping the plant going.
-Well done, rick.
-Yeah.
-Chris.
-That's awesome.
You guys have done
a hell of a job.
Guess we got to take back
all the bad things
We said about goldzilla.
-Yeah.
-Yeah, no kidding.
We called it a lot
of things last week.
Doumitt: Well,
that ought to pay the bills.
-Pays the bills.
-You know, a month --
That's a month's wages.
That's not bad.
Well, that brings us to like
Right over 1,800 ounces,
just a hair over.
I think 1,801 or something.
I know todd's up and going
pretty hard, but, uh,
If we keep doing weeks
like this,
Then I don't think
he stands a chance.
Keep at it and just keep that --
keep that thing chugging along.
Narrator:
With over 1,800 ounces,
Parker schnabel is only
60 ounces shy
Of catching todd hoffman.
I'm gonna start hyperventilating
if I don't do this.
I've got to.
Oh.
Oh, my.
Man: Right as the wind picks up.
The wind.
-There is a wind.
-There is a wind.
Narrator:
$387,000 dollars in a week.
Parker is on track to mine
Over $3 million
in gold this season.
Yeah, that's one hell
of a result.
You know, that's a lot of gold.
The guys seem stoked.
We're all pretty worn out.
You know, I think that's
gonna kind of raise the spirits
On everybody right there.
Hopefully we can keep
this pace up 'cause
It'll all pay off in the end.
Go on.
Narrator:
On the next "gold rush"...
Parker:
We brought you some gold.
Can't believe parker
just did that, man.
I really think that 3,000 ounces
is well within reach.
Blaschke: What the [bleep]
There's no way
we're gonna hit that target.
Kevin:
Let's rip this [bleep] up.
It's sitting too low.
Oh, we're very much stuck.
Tony:Whoa. [bleep]
[bleep] want it done right,
you got to do it yourself.
Give me just one day
in that cut with the d11.
-Whoa, whoa.
-It's just a black muddy mess.
If we don't have
gold in this cut,
We're pretty much screwed.
On this "gold rush"...
We're losing gold.
[ groans ]
Bunch of [bleep] [bleep]
[bleep] joke.
Todd: Here we go. We're gonna
make a million-dollar mountain.
Hiatt: Whoa! Holy [bleep]
it's on fire.
Todd: That's it. Cut it.
Take the shaft and weld it right
into the engine. I don't care.
Ibarra: This was just
a stupid call. Stupid.
And now we hit...
We're broke down.
We're gonna fail
if we keep doing this.
Parker: That plant needs to be
running. Uptime, uptime, uptime.
I know todd's going pretty hard,
But I don't think
he stands a chance.
Hoo! We been busting our ass
for that stuff.
Ness: Keep going. Keep going.
Keep going.
You gonna take my deal
or not?
I would love
to kick your butt.
I'm not here to lose.
♪
Captions paid for by
discovery communications
We're in a [bleep]
disaster zone.
Narrator:
21-year-old parker schnabel
Is visiting his rival,
todd hoffman.
Parker: That loader's smaller
than our loader.
They aren't running 300 yards
an hour, I'll tell you that.
Oh, man.
Narrator:
After a bad start to the season,
Parker has made a comeback.
He now has 1,450 ounces of gold,
Trailing the hoffman crew
by just 250 ounces.
-How's it going?
-Hey, how are ya?
I'm all right.
So what can I do ya for,
buddy?
I actually heard that you
might be interested in selling
That gold rig you got.
Well, I would be open to it.
-That's it there?
-Yep. Want to go look at it?
Yeah, if we could.
Your table'll fit
right on there.
Your jigs'll go
right down there.
Think we used
to set it about right here,
And then
you'd just shovel in.
What do you want
for this?
I got $30,000
in this thing.
But last year, I did
about $1.7 million, you know?
But you're talking about it like
it had something to do with it.
Why don't you make me
an offer, parker?
I don't know
what the thing's worth.
Take 12,000 bucks?
This is the deal.
If I beat you this year,
I'ma give you
this container, okay?
You do not have to
pay for it.
If you beat me,
pay me $15,000 worth of gold
At the end of season.
This is a great bet.
It's a bet.
It's a good bet.
-I've got nothing to lose.
-You really don't.
I'm just trying to figure out
what your angle is.
If I beat you,
I'd probably pull off
a miracle down here,
And you probably had some things
go wrong down there.
And at least one guy did
something good for ya this year.
And that would be me.
I'm not here for favors,
todd.
Well, you could do it
either way.
Are you gonna take
my deal or not?
You got a chance
of not paying me.
-By losing.
-I'd take that one.
I'm not here to lose.
I'm taking the deal,
and I'm gonna pay you
'cause I'm gonna beat you.
Challenge accepted.
If I kick your ass,
it's yours.
Consider it
a birthday gift.
Don't get me wrong.
I would love to kick your butt.
But I think
I got more heart.
-Really?
-I do.
We'll find out.
I think we've
got more discipline.
We'll find out.
I doubt it.
-Really?
-Yeah.
We'll find out, parker.
Oh, man.
Todd: I was his age once.
I was 21.
No matter what he says
or what he does
Or how he treats people,
I don't believe
in parker's ability
To keep his team together.
Parker: He's playing a game,
Trying to get us relaxed,
I think.
Todd: We got a better team,
and we got bigger hearts.
And that -- that's why
we're gonna beat him this year.
He said they've got
more heart than us.
They don't have
more [bleep] heart than us.
Why the --
what does that even mean?
♪
Narrator: Klondike legend
tony beets takes gene cheeseman,
"big mike" beaudry,
and his son, kevin,
On a 60-mile trip
To see the latest addition
to his operation.
Despite an epic struggle
To get his first dredge
to pay for itself,
Tony has doubled down and bought
a second antique mining machine,
The thistle creek dredge.
This machine was built
in the 1940s,
But it ran dirt
for less than 5 years
And has survived
70 yukon winters.
Just for the [bleep] hell of it,
why not make it run?
Everything's
pretty much complete.
Narrator:
The thistle creek dredge
is missing its bucket line.
Without the 77 cast-iron buckets
To chew through the pay dirt,
the dredge is useless.
Cheeseman: Could've found
an easier trail maybe.
[ laughs ]
They look to be horrible.
Cheeseman: I got 37 also.
With no spare buckets available,
tony's only option
Is to take one bucket
to use as a model
To have replacements cast.
They need to find a bucket
lying upside down
So they can remove
its connecting pin.
Uh, this is gonna be
the easiest one to try.
Kevin:
Oh, yeah. There we go.
[ groans ]
Get it!
Get that chain.
Not only does the chopper
Have to lift
the 700-pound cast-iron bucket,
It also has to free it
from the mud
It's been sitting in
for over half a century.
♪
Todd: Here we go.
Narrator: After 3 months
opening up their biggest cut,
The hoffman crew
has reached a watershed moment.
Right now, we're stripping
the very, very last
Of the overburden in
the extension of the supercut.
I want to get this out of here
as fast as we can.
So what I want to do
is move every piece
Of equipment we have.
A 700 excavator,
an 800 excavator,
And five 40-ton rock trucks
and a d11 dozer.
And that's a lot
of horsepower, lot of manpower.
And quite frankly,
it's a lot of money.
We're just gonna have
to be on our game.
Let's get this stuff
out of here.
Just 2 months ago,
I said to myself,
"that will never happen."
We will never get
to the end of it.
And now here we are.
This is it. This is the last
of the overburden.
Narrator: To hit
their $3 million season goal,
The hoffmans still need
Over a million dollars' worth
of gold.
Todd:
We're gonna start running pay.
We're gonna keep sending
in enough pay
Till we got a million dollars'
worth of pay
Sitting up on the ramp.
We're gonna make
a million-dollar-mountain.
Narrator:
All season, the hoffman crew
Has used two rock trucks
To haul pay dirt
to the wash plant,
And three rock trucks
to remove overburden.
Now that they've removed
the last of the overburden
From the supercut,
They can use
all five rock trucks
To haul pay to the plant.
That will double the amount
of pay dirt they can move,
Allowing todd to build
a 40-foot-tall stockpile
That he hopes will hold
$1 million in gold.
Hey, kevin.
The overburden's done.
I'm gonna give you
a million-dollar pay pile.
Bring it on, logan.
Todd's threatening
to bury me in -- in pay.
Being drowning in pay right
now isn't such a bad thing.
If todd brings
$1 million worth of pay up here,
Our pay problems are over.
Million-dollar pay pile,
bring it on.
♪
Whoa! Holy [bleep]
it's on fire.
Cut the power!
♪
Hiatt: Fire.
Get up here quick.
Narrator: Smoke is pouring out
of the hoffman's radial stacker.
Hiatt: Look, I'm telling you,
it caught on fire.
But I don't know...
Turin: What's going on?
Hiatt: We got to wait
for it to cool down.
Ibarra: Oh, no.
Oh, no, no.
We can't afford to be down.
That front seal
is completely gone.
I mean, it's sizzling still.
Todd, I think it got
caught on fire
And burnt up.
How bad is it?
There's something
massively wrong.
-Hang on a second.
-[bleep]
-You all right?
-Yeah.
This is supposed
to have little sprockets
Right here
for the gear to grab.
It tore 'em all out.
It's plastic.
As you could see, I mean,
it melted 'em out,
And it's toast.
All those little ribs are gone.
Narrator:
The tailings conveyor is powered
by a motor at its base.
The motor turns a plastic wheel
That powers
the conveyor mechanism,
But teeth on the metal cog
Have destroyed the teeth
on the plastic wheel,
And the friction eventually
started a fire.
It would take 2 weeks
To get a replacement part
all the way up to the yukon.
To get back up and running,
Mechanic and fabricator
juan ibarra
Has to come up
with a solution.
I'm gonna make
a different style coupler
Out of mild steel.
It's still not 100% perfect
Because we don't have
the tooling here
To be able to make certain
that it's 100% centered.
We'll do the best we can.
Hopefully, it'll get us by
for a couple more weeks.
Narrator: Machining a steel
wheel and getting it perfectly
Aligned could take 2 days.
And every hour
the hoffmans are not running,
They're losing $3,000 in gold.
Dude. Walk with me.
Walk with me.
Normally,
I would never do this.
But I really don't have
any other option on this one.
So...
-Yeah.
You got to get
that fricking radial stacker --
You got to get it running.
And I know
we don't have that part.
Todd, that thing's
a piece of crap.
There's no way it can work.
Take the shaft in there
And just fricking weld it
right into the engine.
I don't care.
Juan's bush-fixed
a lot of stuff.
Two days is too long.
You got to
fricking figure it out.
If we do a two-part epoxy
And we stick it in there
with the drive gear
And let it sit,
What it does is that
it fills in all the holes
And then turns hard
as a freaking rock.
It basically renews
all those plastic teeth.
-Then we got her?
-We're good to go.
Get on it, randy.
Get that part.
Let's epoxy it on there.
And let's give it hell.
Todd goes with a quick glue fix
Over juan's
steel replacement wheel.
We got to come up
with some other plan.
That won't work.
That's not gonna happen?
That's not gonna work, huh?
Nope.
-I thought it would, man.
-No, it won't, juan.
♪
This is just
fricking stupid, man.
This was just a stupid call.
This is just taking time away
from us from being able to run.
We wanted to get this done,
but how in the hell are
We gonna do it if we're just
shooting ourselves in the foot?
We're screwing ourselves.
It's stupid.
♪
Hubler: How did juan get in
here? He's bigger than me.
Narrator: Mechanic randy hubler
begins his bush fix.
Good grief.
I'm gonna mix it here.
-Okay.
-Apply it, 5 minutes.
-Five minutes ticking.
-Ready?
Yeah.
Dave and randy have just
one chance to make it work.
There's a lot
riding on plastic.
If they fail to get
the cog and wheel in place
Before the glue sets,
both parts will be useless.
This part up.
-Go in tip.
-There.
-There, it went in.
-Nice!
Now we got to get
this bolted up, let it sit,
And then the real test will be
the first time we fire it up.
♪
Narrator:
Back at eureka creek, tony beets
Is still struggling
to mine the gold
He needs to pay off
his million-dollar dredge.
♪
Bunch of [bleep] [bleep]
[bleep] joke.
Hey, matt.
Let's go ahead and shut down.
We've got some problems
with the sluicer on us here.
Oh, seriously?
-Yeah.
-Okay.
Narrator: Throughout the season,
they've had a problem
With fine tailings
blocking the riffles
Where the gold should collect.
Now it's gotten out of control.
I mean, I know we want to
make it run, make it work,
But this isn't really
[bleep] working.
Cheeseman: The way our plumbing
is right now,
We can't really speed
the water supply up.
So it's gonna back up.
You know, you're --
It's not washing it out
as fast enough.
Well, it's not just today.
For the past, like,
four cleanups,
The riffles have been clogged.
We're losing gold, so
it defeats the purpose, right?
Until I completely revamp
the runs and the distribution
And everything else,
it's just gonna be an issue.
Narrator:
It's on foreman gene cheeseman
To come up
with a permanent solution.
Cheeseman: I just don't see
how it worked before.
Where the stuff
comes underneath the trommel,
Right now, it's going out
in all them runs this way.
Tony: Yeah.
I was thinking
about just closing this off
So it all --
eliminates these side runs.
Narrator: Five sluice runs
on either side of the trommel
Collect all the gold
and fine material.
Gene's plan: Eliminate four
out of the five sluices
On each side.
Then install a pair
of 15-foot-long sluice runs.
Because they are narrower,
the water should flow faster
And flush fine material out,
Allowing gold to collect
in the riffles.
-Okay, sounds good.
-Perfect. All right, man.
-I'll get on it.
-Perfect.
The dredge crew gets to work,
Blocking off eight of the sluice
runs with steel.
It should keep our water even
and consistent so that
We shouldn't have as much of a
sand barring issue as we've had.
Narrator:
Eight runs are blocked off.
Water will now be diverted into
two new custom-built sluices.
Tony's crew now installs
the massive 1-ton sluice runs.
Yeah, just keep coming.
Tony: Little more.
We're an inch and a half,
Inch and three eighths
right there, so...
We extended the runs
going out the back,
A little bit more to go.
And she will run again, just
got to put these --
Bend it in as soon
as I finish cutting them.
Finishing up the last details,
fire things up here.
Narrator: The new sluices,
mats, and riffles are in.
It's time for a test.
[ laughs ]
[ dredge motor starts ]
♪
With the water flow increased,
Tony and crew have to run
for at least a day
To find out if their new sluices
are catching gold.
Off we go.
If we want to reach
our 3,000-ounce goal,
We got to keep this plant
running all the time, you know.
Narrator: Parker's crew
is running 200 yards an hour,
Almost twice
what they put through
Their old wash plant, big red.
They're determined
to hit their season goal
And beat the hoffmans.
Blaschke: We don't want to have
to shut it down.
When it's not running,
we're not making any money.
Narrator: But keeping
their new plant, goldzilla, fed
Is taking its toll.
I guess the biggest problem
right now I can see,
With how much dirt
we're running through goldzilla,
Is just how fast that
you're wearing out.
You know, that's just
the cost of running that fast,
I guess.
♪
[bleep] rock.
♪
I know nobody likes it
being turned off,
But they haven't made
a plant yet
That, uh, you don't have
to do any maintenance on.
Narrator:
Rick ness has to shut down
their wash plant, goldzilla.
Ness: [bleep]
Parker:
What can I do to help?
Uh, these screens
are about ready to go here.
Just this first foot's getting
pretty shot.
Well, and I was wondering
if we should take
That little 2-foot section
at the bottom
And put it up at the top.
Get a few more hours
on 'em.
Narrator: Two layers of screen
prevent rocks
From entering this shaker,
But sharp bedrock has cut holes
in the upper screen,
Allowing large rocks
to fall through
And damage the lower screen.
Worse, they are causing cracks
in goldzilla's steel structure.
Parker: I don't know.
Let's just pull
all the bolts out
And replace the ones
that need to get replaced
And move this up there
and drag it down, slide it down.
Ness: [bleep] [bleep]
piece of [bleep]
It's tough because,
you know, we run it hard,
And stuff like the screens
wear out fast,
But then we need the uptime too.
Narrator:
Hitting parker's 3,000-ounce,
$3.3 million goal
Gets tougher every hour
the wash plant is down.
5% uptime in the next 2 months
would be --
Make the difference between
making and losing it, really.
Every minute that plant's down,
it needs to be panic mode.
It needs to be running.
Uptime.
Uptime, uptime, uptime.
Oh, whoever built this thing
is a [bleep] idiot.
Some people rotate
their tires.
We rotate our screens.
Get every mile out of 'em.
Should be thrown away,
but...
Scrap pile comes to mind
when I think about
Where this should go.
Parker: Screen changes
should take a half-hour, really.
We need to start focusing
on uptime.
We should've been running
20 minutes ago.
Now that we're running,
We need to try
to keep it running, right?
Yeah.
From here on out,
that kind of [bleep] is done.
The downtime's gonna stop.
Another expensive meeting.
I'll, uh --
I'll hit the belts.
♪
Should we really do this?
Narrator:
The hoffman's radial stacker
has been down for over 6 hours.
Todd went with
a quick fix using glue.
Get ready with
the fire extinguisher.
If it fails,
they'll have lost 6 hours
And $18,000 dollars
Just waiting for it to cure.
Hubler: All righty,
here she comes.
That's it.
Cut it.
Done.
It's toast.
Randy's epoxy fix has failed.
It doesn't look pretty.
I don't think we're gonna
be able to run this again.
There's nothing
I can do about it.
It's a piece of plastic.
The hoffmans are back
at square one.
Kevin to juan.
We lost
the radial stacker again.
Ibarra: So what happened was,
uh, they put a bunch of epoxy.
Well, it didn't hold, and we
knew it wasn't gonna hold.
So why they even did it
is stupid.
And now we're here.
We're broke down.
So, you know, we should've
fixed it right the first time,
Or at least done
a better job repairing it.
You know, it shouldn't have
been done that way.
This fix is gonna
be a bush fix as well,
But it's gonna be a little
different in the sense
That we're not gonna
be using glue.
Narrator: Juan will fabricate
a steel replacement wheel.
And instead of gluing it,
he'll weld it firmly in place.
Ibarra:
I have no idea why it didn't
happen in the first place.
We're gonna do it now.
And, uh, we'll get it up
and running.
Narrator:
Todd's million-dollar pay pile
is growing by the minute.
But he hasn't run
a yard of dirt in 9 hours.
It's 2 ounces an hour
that parker's catching me.
And you know what?
That's --
far as I'm fricking concerned,
That's 2 ounces too much.
Narrator: To get monster red
back up and running,
Juan and kevin
work into the night.
♪
-Want to give it a shot?
-Yeah, I'll give it a shot.
Hiatt: See if it fits.
That's it, man.
-That's it?
-That's it.
Ibarra: Yeah!
By 4:00 a.M.,
they're finally ready to test
Juan's custom-built part.
If the weld
on the replacement wheel
Isn't strong enough,
It'll shear off
as soon as they hit start.
-You ready, juan?
-Yep.
Okay.
[ radial stacker starts ]
She's spinning, you can see.
Engage the -- the conveyor.
Ibarra: There she goes.
No, she didn't this time.
-That's it, buddy.
Right on, man.
Narrator: It's taken 14 hours,
But juan has fixed the stacker.
He's saved the hoffman crew
2 weeks of running time
And hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
Everything's looking good.
We just need to keep an eye
on it for the rest of the night.
♪
All right, fellas.
Let's make it happen.
There's pay dirt to haul.
We got to keep it going.
Narrator:
Foreman rick ness is enforcing
parker's new no-downtime rule.
But wash plant operator
david kroeker has a problem.
I helped run this plant before.
Well, the guy who owns it
was running it,
And I told him
I'd take care of it
And I'd let him know
if [bleep] gets bad on it.
Narrator: In a desperate attempt
to catch up with the hoffmans,
Parker has put maintenance
on hold.
Oh, yeah. All you need is
some rocks to plug the hole.
Let me get the rubber.
All right.
It's right in there.
Goldzilla's sluice
has sprung a leak.
With a plant like goldzilla,
maintenance is key.
If you do keep up
your maintenance,
Then you keep up
your run time.
Narrator: Rick and mitch
attempt to plug the hole
Without turning off
the oscillating sluice box.
We don't even need
to shut down to fix leaks,
We just drill holes
in the sluice box
And plug it with rubber.
How's that feel?
Uh, like my hand's
getting sandblasted.
I'll just stand here
all night.
Bring me some dinner
and some beers.
Mitch opens up the hole
to allow the plug to fit.
That's got to be
good for a drill.
I can't get the rubber down
because the rocks get under it.
You run it too long, and then
you get a major failure on it,
Something really breaks on it,
and then you're screwed.
Like right now.
Something's smoking up there.
♪
♪
Saw the smoke, I thought
we might've smoked a bearing,
But it's just a rock
caught in the belt.
Narrator: After promising
goldzilla's owner
That he'd keep an eye
on his plant,
David kroeker checks for damage.
Ness: What's the matter?
What's up?
We short on steel
around here?
-What's that?
-Are we short on steel?
I don't think so.
Why?
Why didn't
they fix that stuff
When they had
the screens out?
We were gonna do it
on the next round,
We just want to try
to get going.
All right. We just need to
get the right [bleep]
It's wearing
on original steel.
I don't know
what to say about it.
We'll get new steel
put in it.
It's just...
Try to get it running now.
That's about it.
Everything else is good
to run, though?
Uh, it should be.
I asked if he could shovel
that mouth out of,
Uh, right underneath
the belt there.
Oh, I can go shovel it
while it's running.
Well, you got to get
in the mouth to get it --
Is what I'm saying.
-I don't care.
-That's all I --
Get the [bleep] thing
running, man.
I -- I know.
I get it.
I -- I get [bleep] [bleep]
but let's just run.
All right?
[bleep]
Sick of arguing with this guy.
♪
Any little reason he can find
to not run this thing,
It seems like he wants to do it.
I get it.
[bleep] ain't right.
[bleep] [bleep]
But we got to run, you know?
That's all there is to it.
I -- ugh -- I'd love
to shut down for a [bleep] week
And get everything perfect,
but it's just not in the cards.
So...
Narrator: Despite the risk
of serious damage,
Rick follows parker's orders...
Get it running.
...Firing up goldzilla
once again.
♪
The plant may be back up
and running,
But kroeker's convinced
That ignoring routine
maintenance will backfire.
Parker gave the plant owner
his word
That he would take care of it.
He was told that if
he doesn't take care of it,
It'll just get taken away,
And he won't
have any production then.
Narrator: Just 2 hours later,
goldzilla's owner
Sends one of his men to perform
a surprise inspection.
If the inspection
doesn't go well,
The plant will be repossessed
And parker will be
unable to mine.
♪
In 2 days.
Yeah.
I know the owner
of the plant very well,
Know the agreement that he has.
And part of that is
that they repair it
And maintain it properly,
which I don't think anybody,
Honestly, around here
could say that they are.
I told the guys
that the next shutdown is --
We're gonna be shut down
for a while.
That's all there is to it.
Okay.
And then, and mitch and derrick
are gonna have to get in there
And weld up all those cracks,
and then we just got to, uh --
People in charge around here,
like parker and rick,
You would think that they would
listen to some of it, but no.
I was trying to tell kroeker
that I know
He was upset about it,
and I was like,
"I don't -- I don't like it
any more than you,
But if we're prepared for it,
you know,
We can make a lot of repairs
pretty quickly."
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
We'll get her dialed in.
Sneaky.
I just think
that's pretty shady.
I find it pretty hard to believe
that this guy just
Wandered in here today
on a coincidence.
I'm fairly certain that,
You know, kroeker probably
called him and ratted on us.
I guess his allegiance
is more towards his buddy
That owns the plant
than it is to this team,
So pretty shady way
to go about things.
Narrator: Rick has no choice
But to shut down
to make repairs.
Every once in a while,
you have to stop and maintain.
The sideboard screens,
and let's just weld up
All those cracks of the [bleep]
that's worn out
So that when on the next --
on the next cleanout,
Every -- we got
everything [bleep] ready.
Mechanics mitch and derrick
weld the structural cracks
And replace the screens.
We got everything we need out
here, so we'll just do it.
Blaschke:
It's burning way too hot.
I'm gonna drop. Watch yourself.
-Yeah.
Narrator: In less than 4 hours,
they're ready to run dirt again.
♪
-Oh, yeah. We're just working.
-Boom.
We got a lot going on,
But at least we know
it won't fall apart.
Narrator: Parker's crew
lost a total of 12 hours
To repairs this week.
They won't know
how much it's cost them
Until their weekly cleanup.
Well, it's up and running.
Let's hope it lasts.
If it's not running,
we're not making gold.
♪
Narrator:
The beets crew has struggled
all season to get good gold.
All of their hopes now rest
On gene cheeseman's
new sluice boxes.
The increased water flow
has cleared the sluices of silt.
But to prove it's worked,
they need to check
That it's not blowing
all their gold along with it.
Yeah.
After 2 days of running,
A pan should produce
at least some visible colors.
♪
Gene's new sluices
have the ancient dredge
Catching good gold once again.
♪
We're wearing out
our dozer pushing tailings.
Narrator: At mckinnon creek,
the hoffman's wash plant pad
Has once again grown too big
for their tailings conveyor.
Todd has a 180-foot solution.
We got all these conveyors here.
Radial stackers.
Dave, swing her over,
And we'll build it out
another 70 to 100 feet.
Ho, dave.
Let's set her there.
Turin: Andy. We're like
a half-mile from the wash plant.
Todd:
Think we're ready to try it.
Drop that first bucket in, doug.
Narrator: With conveyors
longer than a football field,
The crew should spend less time
dozing tailings
And more time running
their million-dollar pay pile.
Todd: Will that be enough?
I don't know.
We're gonna find out.
♪
Dodge: There's some gold in it.
Doesn't look as good
as it did the other day,
But, you know,
you're gonna have those days,
Your ups and your downs.
Narrator:
Juan's fix on the radial stacker
Has kept monster red running
the rest of the week.
Dodge: That's what gold is.
Once you think you've got
it all figured out,
That's when it bites you
in the butt.
Narrator: This is the first test
Of todd's million-dollar
mountain of pay.
Okay. Just work on draining
underneath there.
Well, we'll find out, huh?
Thurber: Yeah.
After running
the gold concentrate,
It's time for jack to reveal
If they've hit
their weekly goal of 200 ounces.
-What do you think?
-Well, it looks like a lot.
What is it?
How much, dad?
We got 200?
Do we need --
We need 200 this week.
160.
Narrator: 160 ounces,
worth around $175,000,
Takes their total
for this season
To 1,862 ounces,
worth $2 million.
Aw, shoot.
If we reach 2,700,
We need 200 a week.
We're --
we're over 40 short.
Todd: But you're 40 short, and
you're 40 short next week --
Yeah, that's right.
And then, next thing you know,
we're way short.
We're not gonna reach it, so...
I think it's gonna
get better, though.
We're starting
to get our groove.
I don't know, man.
We've moved
all the overburden.
That million-dollar
mountain's starting
To look like about a
half-a-million-dollar mountain.
I mean, if we keep --
keep on this pace,
We ain't gonna hit it.
Well, that -- you're right.
You're right.
We're gonna have to keep
the plant running.
But we're --
we are behind now, so...
Yeah.
We are.
All right, dad.
Thanks.
We got a huge goal of 2,700.
And, uh, it's aggressive.
And can we hit it?
I don't know.
Narrator:
With only 5 weeks left,
Todd's ambitious
$3 million season
Is slipping from his grasp.
We're gonna fail.
We're gonna fail
if we keep doing this.
♪
Things with goldzilla
are going well.
Narrator: 10 miles east, parker
has shut down to find out
If his ban on downtime
has paid off.
What I'm doing is doing
some hand panning,
Getting an idea of what kind
of gold's in there.
That's one handful.
How many handfuls
are in this tank already?
Todd hoffman might have
a million-dollar pay pile,
But we have our feeder
sitting in the middle
Of a million-dollar cut.
Which one would you choose?
I am kind of eager to get this
down to the jig, though
And start running it,
see what we got.
♪
-Ho-ho. That's a lot of gold.
-Yeah, looks like.
Doumitt: Looks like we're doing
real good.
Parker: We've been busting
our ass for that stuff.
Ness: Keep going.
Keep going. Keep going.
So that's 351.87 ounces.
Narrator: 352 ounces is worth
a colossal $387,000.
-Oh.
-Oh-ho.
-Nice week.
-Man, that's outstanding.
Thanks
for keeping the plant going.
-Well done, rick.
-Yeah.
-Chris.
-That's awesome.
You guys have done
a hell of a job.
Guess we got to take back
all the bad things
We said about goldzilla.
-Yeah.
-Yeah, no kidding.
We called it a lot
of things last week.
Doumitt: Well,
that ought to pay the bills.
-Pays the bills.
-You know, a month --
That's a month's wages.
That's not bad.
Well, that brings us to like
Right over 1,800 ounces,
just a hair over.
I think 1,801 or something.
I know todd's up and going
pretty hard, but, uh,
If we keep doing weeks
like this,
Then I don't think
he stands a chance.
Keep at it and just keep that --
keep that thing chugging along.
Narrator:
With over 1,800 ounces,
Parker schnabel is only
60 ounces shy
Of catching todd hoffman.
I'm gonna start hyperventilating
if I don't do this.
I've got to.
Oh.
Oh, my.
Man: Right as the wind picks up.
The wind.
-There is a wind.
-There is a wind.
Narrator:
$387,000 dollars in a week.
Parker is on track to mine
Over $3 million
in gold this season.
Yeah, that's one hell
of a result.
You know, that's a lot of gold.
The guys seem stoked.
We're all pretty worn out.
You know, I think that's
gonna kind of raise the spirits
On everybody right there.
Hopefully we can keep
this pace up 'cause
It'll all pay off in the end.
Go on.
Narrator:
On the next "gold rush"...
Parker:
We brought you some gold.
Can't believe parker
just did that, man.
I really think that 3,000 ounces
is well within reach.
Blaschke: What the [bleep]
There's no way
we're gonna hit that target.
Kevin:
Let's rip this [bleep] up.
It's sitting too low.
Oh, we're very much stuck.
Tony:Whoa. [bleep]
[bleep] want it done right,
you got to do it yourself.
Give me just one day
in that cut with the d11.
-Whoa, whoa.
-It's just a black muddy mess.
If we don't have
gold in this cut,
We're pretty much screwed.