Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 6, Episode 21 - Gold Hard Truth - full transcript

Todd: This season,

We opened up the biggest cut
of our lives.

And then we fricking doubled it.

My goal was 2,700 ounces.

And you know what?
We hit it.

And now, here we are
with two wash plants,

600 yards an hour.

And we're only 300 ounces
behind the kid.

If we're gonna beat parker,
it'll be now.

It's our turn to win.

Parker: This season,
we have been to hell and back.



But despite all the fighting,

We somehow managed
to hit our goal.

I mean, we've got 3,000 ounces.

And we're still not done.

I don't know if that's gonna
be enough to beat todd.

But we're gambling
everything we've got

On whatever is
underneath that creek bed.

Narrator: On this season finale
of "gold rush"...

Todd:
Two plants, 600 yards an hour!

Hey! Juan!

That turbo's red hot!

If we stop,
everything will freeze up.

Jack:
Our best season ever.

[ cheers ]



[ metal grinding ]

Are we caught on the bank?

Parker: It's our final push
of the season.

Oh, ho!

You make my life
worthwhile.

The weather is just
going to hell.

Parker: There was a little
rivalry going this season.

Do you know
what hoffman ended up at?

I do.

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

Narrator:
Dawn at mckinnon creek.

The hoffman crew is ready
to start the day shift.

But the yukon winter
is about to hit.

Turin: Looks bad.

Everything's froze.

Anyday, water in the wash plant
will freeze

And mining will be
over for the season.

Just go ahead and turn it on.
See what it does.

Turin: The antifreeze will get
into the water.

The ice will start to melt.

And it'll help get traction.

Narrator: Their gold haul
stands at 2,710 ounces,

Worth nearly $3 million,

Their best season yet.

Hey, kev!
Bump the sandster for me.

But 5 months
of relentless running

Have taken their toll
on man and machine.

Holy [bleep]

Belt's on its way out
all the way down.

Probably about six holes
and counting.

To have any chance
of beating parker,

They can't afford
to stop for repairs.

Turin: I might just run it
till it's frozen

And hope we get
through that pile.

Narrator: They've stockpiled
a mountain of pay dirt

They believe contains
$500,000 worth of gold.

But monster red
can't sluice it all

Before the yukon winter
freezes them out.

We got big jar of gold

In that big-ass pile
of dirt right there, right?

I wanna see it in a jar
on the scale.

Narrator: To avoid leaving
any precious gold in the dirt,

Todd's rented
a massive wash plant, fort knox,

From his neighbor,
seamus christie.

-Right there?
-Perfect!

This is the biggest thing
we've ever pulled off,

I'll guarantee you that.

Narrator: To save time,

Todd plans to unload
the 75-ton beast in one piece.

What we're gonna do
is try to hook that bar

That's out here,
hook it around with each bucket.

And hopefully we pull the plant
off this way,

Not pull the plant off this way.

Okay. Let's go.
Let's pick it up.

Andy, a little -- pull
a little more on andy's side!

Have andy push -- pull!

-Yeah, keep coming straight.
-Now, andy!

Andy! Only andy!

Todd: Easy.

Way trickier than it looks.

Going straight back.

Go!

Got it off the trailer.
Step one.

Yeah, seamus!

Turin: Gonna move the conveyor
into place.

And it's just hooking up
water and electricity.

And everything's
getting real close.

Ho! It's about that
far from the other one.

Hold on!
Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Narrator:
While the crew struggles to get
fort knox up and running...

Man: Dave, dave!
The sand conveyor stopped.

Turin: Shut the feeder off, kev!
Shut the feeder off!

Narrator: ...Kevin has been
feeding monster red alone.

Sand conveyer quit!

Hey, look how much
sand's in there.

Kevin: Hey! You guys are
all over there at the plant!

You cannot let these conveyors
stack up.

-What do you want me to do?
-Somebody's gotta

Be shoveling this stuff!
-Calm down!

-Hey! Who?
-Hey.

You want me to stop in
between dumping the feeder...

I don't care who shovels it.
It's [bleep]

This is [bleep]

-Calm down. Hey.
-I don't care who shovels it!

-But I can't!
-I'm putting a plant together!

What's the point
of having another plant

If we can't keep
this one running?

Hey, guys, listen.

Let's shut this off
until we get that one done...

-What?
-'cause he's right.

Todd: We gotta have somebody
watch this one.

Let's say this one's down
for a shift

While we're all putting
that one together.

Every shift you run after that,
you're doubling it.

Put her there.
Sorry I yelled at ya.

Come on.

The sand built up under this
tail wheel and stopped it.

You know,
where kevin's feeding it from,

You can't see this part
of this conveyor.

Narrator:
As soon as they clear monster
red's tailings conveyor...

...The entire hoffman crew

Moves over to finish
building fort knox.

Try to get this conveyor set

And, hopefully before long,
start running that pay pile.

This looks good.
-This is

How we're gonna get rid
of the million-dollar mountain.

Pretty cool.

Todd,
everything's ready to go.

Todd: 600 yards an hour.
That's our gold,

And we're not gonna
leave here without it.

We got
double the trouble now.

Let's help each other out

And get
through that fricking pile.

Let's kick parker's ass,
okay?

Bring it in
and fire it up.

-Yeah!
-Yeah!

Narrator: Fort knox is 19 years
older than monster red.

But it can run at least
as much dirt --

300 yards an hour.

With two of the biggest
wash plants in the klondike,

They will instantly double
their gold recovery.

Firing up monster red.

The hoffman crew
now has a fighting chance

Of running all
of their $500,000 pay pile

Before winter forces
them to quit...

Tree's going!

And just maybe get more gold
than parker schnabel.

Ah, it feels good
to be scooping into this side.

Todd: Rock 'n' roll!

Yeah!

We got two plants making gold
right now.

Todd: You know what? We're gonna
get that gold for the guys.

Might even beat the kid.

¶

Narrator: All season, tony beets
has been fighting to get

The 900 ounces of gold he needs
to pay for his dredge.

He's produced 609 ounces,
worth over $650,000.

But he's still 300 ounces short
of his season goal.

One last monster cleanup
would prove

That dredging for gold
has a future in the klondike.

But frozen water
has burst a pipe

On tony's 75-year-old dredge.

[bleep]

Something's wrong with the
water filter we built there.

Filter's crucial.

Hey, gene!
Might wanna shut it down here.

Soon as I came down there,

There's water pissing
everywhere.

Frost pushed the gasket out
is what it looked like to me.

Yeah.
Looks like a gasket's ripped.

-Yep.
-Good warning here.

The winter is definitely
on its way.

All righty.

Quick fix here.

We'll get this installed
and be back up and running.

It always surprises me
in the fall

How quick the cold creeps up,
though.

Gene:
Dodged a bullet there.

Just a simple gasket
that got froze and pushed out.

One thing for sure --
it's gonna get cold.

Winter's coming.
So gotta try and dry dock it.

Narrator: If they don't get
the dredge out of the water

Before the big freeze,
it will be crushed by ice.

Dark in the morning
and dark at night.

Well, winter's coming.
It's time to park the dredge

And get the crew
on winterizing stuff.

Put things away right and be
ready to go in the spring.

Now, if you want me
to do this right, we
need to have the crew.

Whatever.

Narrator:
To keep the dredge running,

21-year-old monica
takes charge...

Monica:
It's not my favorite place.

You have to watch those buckets
come up,

Make sure there's no rocks.

Make sure you're actually
pulling dirt up.

I don't like it.

...While gene preps the dry dock
on his own.

I'm getting pretty irritated
with the whole situation.

Parker: So here we go.
This is the first scoop

Out of the old creek bed
we just diverted,

Some good-looking stuff.

Narrator: At scribner creek,
parker schnabel

Fights to get
every last grain of gold

And beat his rival,
todd hoffman.

Parker: You know,
there's this competition

That has been brewing
between todd and I.

And doing that diversion
has basically opened

Up 1,800 feet of thawed pay.

Hopefully it's gonna pay off.

Narrator: Parker and crew
have diverted a creek

To chase the promise of big gold
in the newly exposed pay dirt.

Ness: I think there's a really
good chance that this creek bed

Could be the best dirt
we've run all season, you know?

It runs right through
two of our best cuts.

I certainly know
that gold doesn't jump.

So it just seems
like a no-brainer to me.

That's some really
good-looking dirt, rick.

Yeah, buddy.

Narrator: Parker has a 300-ounce
lead over his rival.

But todd knows there's gold
in his massive stockpile.

And parker is running
untested dirt.

Parker:
It's kind of brutal.

But we've got
a pretty short time line here.

Narrator:
At night, the temperature
plunges to a bitter 16 degrees.

Turin:
If there's any time of year
you wanna keep the wash plant

Running 24 hours a day,
it's right now,

To keep everything
from freezing up.

Narrator: By dawn, parker's crew
and his wash plant, goldzilla,

Are worn out.

Ness: It's running.
It ain't running good.

[bleep]
it's slowing down already.

[bleep]

Is the feed rate way down?

Turn it down any more,
and we won't be doing anything.

We'll be losing money.

There's no use trying
to run it like that.

It's just gonna end up
a [bleep] mess.

Narrator: With winter knocking
on the door,

A broken-down plant
would end parker's season

And allow todd to beat him
in the gold count.

Ness: Something's wrong
with the wash plant.

And the weather's just
going to hell.

It just sucks, man.

I don't want it to end
like this.

¶

Ness: It shut down again, man.
We tried, but it ain't working.

It's 16 degrees,

Cold enough
to ice up idle machinery.

She gave up the ghost,
huh?

Not even two buckets, man.

But foreman rick ness

Has been forced
to shut down goldzilla.

Well,
if that motor smoked,

I mean, we don't have
any spares for this plant.

The wash plant's motor
is failing.

If they can't fix it, parker's
crew is done for the year.

We can't go down
like this.

We gotta figure it out.

The only thing we've got's
big red sitting over there.

And it's the same size
shaker deck.

Think you can do that?
I mean, that's --

That'd be huge
if those motors were the same.

It's hard to say.
But it's worth a try.

[bleep] man.
That's all we got.

I'm go measure it up,
see what we can do.

All right.

Time for big red
to make a little sacrifice.

Barely enough room
for one person here.

You know, this is pretty much
the heart of big red.

This is what makes it shake.

And we're gonna do
a little heart transplant

And put this on goldzilla,

And hopefully
get us back making gold.

Parker:
Is it the same shaft size?

Hopefully, it's close.

All right, rick. It's all yours.
Fly it outta here.

Hoping this is finally
a break.

Looking like this motor
might match up to goldzilla.

That would be huge.

That would get us running.

5 and 7/8s.

Well, these motors
are a little different.

Both motors have
the same size pulley.

But the belt types
are different.

Hope I can swap 'em over.

Narrator:
Big red's 25-horsepower motor

Is powerful enough to drive
goldzilla's shaker deck.

But its pulley is too small.

Mitch needs to transplant
the pulley

From the dead motor
onto the one that works.

There it is.

Parker: Nothing can [bleep] work
around here.

Just a matter
of putting it back together now.

Keep it low till
we get over there.

Then you can raise it up.

Hey, hold there!
-Okay.

So go ahead and bring it up,
nice and easy.

Little bit more.

Let her down!

Coming down.

Hold!

-How's it look?
-Better than the last one.

[ laughs ]

We got it!

She's shaking.
That's what we're looking for.

Wow.

Bingo!

Narrator: Goldzilla
is back up and running.

Parker still has a chance

To get enough gold
to stay ahead of the hoffmans.

How's everything
look up there, mitch?

Everything's looking really
good. Plant's shaking real good.

Perfect!

Tony beets and his crew

Are desperate for
one final, massive cleanup

To prove
that dredging has a future

In the gold fields of the north.

Meanwhile,
gene prepares a dry dock

To get the dredge
up and out of the water

Before their pond freezes over.

Gene: We wanna put dredge
on dry ground for the winter

So it's not in the ice

And won't have to worry
about any issues with freezing.

Should be good to go
in the spring.

Narrator: Gene's plan to get
the million-dollar dredge

Safely onto dry land --

First, excavate a flat area
100'x200'

That will act as the dry dock.

Next, block
the drainage channel...

...And open the sluice gates
to raise the water level.

Once there's enough water
in the pond

To lift the dredge high enough,

They'll float it
into the dry dock,

Then break the berm downstream,

Allowing the water level
to drop,

Leaving the dredge high and dry

On a smooth base
for the long winter.

Gene: I'm using the water level
we're at as a gauge.

You know, it's not very deep,
just a few inches.

And that lets me know that I
don't have any real high spots

Or low spots here.
Sweep it out with the bucket.

And then, uh,
the dredge sits level.

Gene: I still need to get
this plugged off good

Here to hold
the water back.

Can you make a pass down

On that side
of the course tails?

Narrator: To raise the water
level in the pond,

Tony blocks the drainage channel
with tailings.

He can't risk leaving
his million-dollar dredge

In the water any longer.

Hey, tony.

All righty.

Gene:
Well, let's open these up.

Gene and matt
open the sluice gates

To raise the water level
in the dredge pond,

Ready for the float-out
in 24 hours.

Matt: Once we park the dredge up
for the last time,

Then it's a good [bleep] day

'cause there ain't
no turning back then.

Narrator:
By morning, the water level

Has risen high enough
for gene to winch the dredge

Into his dry dock.

Gene: I'm just giving the dredge
a little push off the bank here

And gonna lead it
around the corner

Into the dry dock.

Narrator: To park the dredge
for the season,

The crew connects a cable
to the side boom

And slowly winches it
towards the dry dock.

Once the dredge
is in shallow water,

They can drain the pond

And leave it safe and dry
for winter.

Matt:
Yeah. Winch is engaged.

Tony: Pull it a bit.

What?

We've got it pulling.

The winch going at all,
or...

Montana!
-Yeah?

Monica: Are we caught
on the bank or something?

Yeah, looks like
we're all hung up here.

Narrator:
The water level is too low.

The dredge has run aground
on the dry dock.

¶

What's happened?

Narrator: Tony beets has to get
his million-dollar dredge

Safely onto dry land

Before the winter freeze
destroys it.

But the water level
in the pond has dropped.

The dredge has run aground

On the edge
of their shallow dry dock.

Gene breaks through a berm
upstream.

And thousands of gallons
of water

Rush into the dredge pond.

Before the water
can drain away again...

Gene: Pull the thing up
onto the pad.

Narrator: ...Gene takes matters
into his own hands.

He uses his excavator bucket

To drag the dredge
into the dock.

Easy there, gene.

Gene: Put a little weight
on the front of the dredge,

And it'll pick up
the ass end up.

And I'm just gonna pull it in.

Whoo!

Spud's down.
Bucket ladder's down.

And the dredge is docked.

Narrator:
Gene breaks the berm downstream

To drain the water
out of the dredge pond.

In a few hours, the dredge
will be high and dry

For the first time in 5 months.

Finally, the crew can begin
their all-important cleanup.

I think it's been a pretty good
year. I've had a lotta fun.

Gene: It's encouraging.

Narrator: Tony's last gold
of the season is in this box.

Just how much will determine

Whether his dream of dredging
in the klondike has a future.

Todd: Look at this!

Look at this view!

Thank you, god!

Narrator: The hoffman crew is
running two monster wash plants

In a race to sluice
a mountain of pay dirt

Before the yukon winter
freezes them out.

Makes you happy you're
a gold miner on days like this.

Narrator: If they can keep up
the breakneck pace,

They should be done
running their stockpile

Within 24 hours.

[bleep]

Turin:
That looks bad!

Hey! Juan! Juan!
[bleep]

Hey, seamus,
that turbo is red hot!

This is the last thing we need.

-Oh, my gosh! Look at that.
-It's red hot.

Narrator:
Their new wash plant, fort knox,

Demands 4,000 gallons
of water a minute.

But the turbocharger on
their water pump has overheated.

Is there any way
you can rebuild that?

Not in the state
it's in right now.

So we gotta try to order
one or find one or...

Order one or find one
somewhere, yep.

You know this is the 3406.

In my peterbilt,
I got a 3406 in it.

Probably the same exact turbo.

We can rip it off my truck and
put it on this thing for now.

-Seriously?
-Yeah.

You really think
it'll fit?

I'm sure it'll fit.

You cool with that?

-I'm cool with that.
-No kidding.

Let's go. Juan, do it.
Go for it.

Todd:
That shows his dedication, that
he'd take a part off his truck

To keep us going
and get that gold.

Ibarra: There it is.
Let me get some tools.

And we'll get it pulled off
real quick.

If I can get the fricking socket
on there, buddy.

We just gotta get
this thing off.

And we can't even touch it,
it's so darn hot.

-Got it?
-Got it, man.

That was quick, juan!

Narrator: Fort knox
isn't catching any gold.

Monster red
has been working solo.

But its worn-out belts
are slipping.

And the stacking conveyor
is clogged with rocks.

Turin:
It's gonna be a piece of [bleep]
all the way to the end.

-It makes a lot of shoveling.
-Wanna try that out?

Yeah.

Pierce:
It's tough staying to the end,

Especially when everything
goes all cattywampus like this.

Turin:
Monster red -- it's like a boxer
that's been in a fight.

And it's the ninth round.

And it's trying its hardest.

But it's got all kinds
of problems.

Keep going.
It's all we can do.

Narrator:
Over at fort knox, juan
struggles in the bitter cold

To install the turbocharger
from his truck onto the pump.

We need one more here.

Can't be icing up
already, is it?

All right.
It's got six more bolts

To check here, dave.

-We good?
-I think so.

[ motor starts ]

Turin: Good job, juan.

That's a real team player
right there.

Narrator:
For the first time all night,

The hoffman crew
is running at full capacity,

Processing 600 yards
of klondike pay dirt an hour.

¶

Narrator: The brutal
yukon winter has arrived.

It's just 15 degrees.

Snow has blanketed the claims.

Most gold miners
are either packing up

Or have already left
for the season.

It's the beets family's
last day in the klondike

Before they head south
for the winter.

Good.

It's like christmas.
I brought you a present.

Hi, son. How are ya?
Nice to see ya.

[bleep] liar.

See [bleep]

I'd like to see
what the dredge came up with.

Where did you want
this stuff?

This is all the gold
we've dredged so far?

It is 609 ounces...

Narrator:
609 ounces is worth $670,000.

Plus one more gold weigh
that we need to weigh.

Tony's goal this season
is to mine 900 ounces,

Enough to pay back the cost
of buying the dredge.

50.

Tony needs his final weigh-in

To produce 291 ounces.

70...

But the dredge's average cleanup
this season is just 68 ounces.

80.

90.

-110.
-110.

120.

127.75.

737.

Narrator: Tony has come up
163 ounces short.

It's not gonna cut it.

It's not
what you promised me.

You could've sluiced
for another week,

And then we would've
paid for it.

Tony has not paid for his dredge
in his first season.

But he and gene have figured out

How to produce
a respectable 36 ounces a day,

Or 250 ounces for a full week,
worth $250,000 million.

Gene: The dredge
is really efficient to run.

That's right.

At that rate, tony's dredge

Could soon be making
a very healthy profit.

And I have to admit,
the cost per yard

And all this stuff,
it is very feasible, this.

It really is feasible.

Okay.
Well, I'll take the gold.

You guys just
take your learning experience.

[ laughter ]

¶

Antonkiuk: The weather's
crashing down on us.

Narrator:
Parker's diehard crew

Works tirelessly to get
at what they hope

Is gold-rich pay dirt
from the creek bed.

Right now, we're just trying
to run this plant

As long as we can
before it gets too cold.

Narrator:
Despite the bitter cold,

95-year-old john schnabel

Flies in for the end
of parker's season.

Grandpa rides in style
now.

-Hey, hey!
-Oh-ho!

You got to get unbuckled
first!

Oh!

[ chuckles ]

I can't get over
this warped-up...

Ooh. [ chuckles ]

There ain't much
to hold onto.

Well, we'll try our best here.
Here we go.

[ laughter ]

Oh, you're looking
wonderful.

So are you!

I need something
to keep me from falling down.

Thank you.

There we go.

Parker: Do you want a cup
of coffee?

-Sure!
-I was just gonna have
my cup of coffee.

I just had one
hell of a good sandwich,

So I'm not hungry
at all.

So, when are you planning
to shut down?

Is the weather gonna be
your determining factor?

Everybody's in
very good spirits.

And I don't want it to be

Everybody starting
to tear each other's heads off

That shuts us down,
you know?

I've got a good group of guys
here right now.

And I don't wanna lose 'em.
You can shut down it today.

You don't have to fight
the plant in ice

If you don't want to.

I don't say that's
what you have to do.

I just say
that's what I'd do.

I think we should probably just
go ahead and call it a season.

I think you're doing
the right thing, you know.

Narrator: With just 10 hours
left, parker and his crew

Go all-out to get
the last of the gold.

Everybody wants to know
what this creek holds.

That's why we're here.

Now, rumor has it that
todd had a pretty good season.

And so we just wanna make ours
a little bit better.

Parker:
This is the final push.

Hopefully, it's gonna be one
for the record books.

Narrator: At midnight, the
temperature hits 12 degrees.

Parker runs the last
of his pay dirt.

Hey, rick?
Yeah, that's the last group.

They just went in, if you guys
wanna shut her down.

Sounds good, man.
We'll hit the water.

Roger that.

It's just time
to call it, man.

It's -- it's too cold.
There's ice everywhere.

It ain't worth
fighting it anymore.

That's the last dirt
of our season

Going through the hopper
right now.

It's actually a good feeling.

[ chuckles ]

Good job, guys.

Oh, yeah! There we go!
There's a souvenir.

[ laughter ]

Yeah. That's a piece of spring
off our shaker deck

Sitting in our sluice box.

So I'd say it's --

We probably picked a good time
to shut down.

Parker:
Thank you, guys.

-Sounds good, man.
-Did a hell of a job.

It's been
a great season.

Man: Fingers crossed
that it's a success.

Parker: Oh!
If I had a beer,

We'd be having
a cheers right now.

Yeah.

¶

I looked.
It was 18 degrees fahrenheit.

And the cold makes it more
of a battle, that's for sure.

Narrator: At mckinnon creek,
the hoffman crew

Struggles to pull the mats
on monster red

Before they freeze
in the sluice box.

Thurber: We just, uh, made it
by the skin of our teeth.

Plant was icing up.

I don't think
we could've ran another day.

Every year, it's --
it's about the same.

You just push so hard
at the end.

But when you see the gold,
it, uh, makes it all worthwhile.

Dodge: What brings people
back year after year?

It's all that yellow gold,
right?

You look at the graveyards
in the gold mining towns,

Full of people 20 years old.

That shows you the difference
and the hardships they had.

But the drive's the same.
It's that yellow metal.

It's always a gamble.

Whoo!

¶

Narrator: In the gold room,

Jack cleans up the last
of the hoffmans' gold.

Jack: This could push us
over our goal.

You know,
wouldn't that be fantastic?

Todd:
Hey, let's go in.

Narrator: After the longest,
hardest season

Since they started
mining six years ago...

Holy...

...There's one question
on everyone's mind.

Look at that!

Did they beat their rival,
parker schnabel?

That looks like
a lot of gold, jack.

Jack: Yeah.
You know, hey.

What did we set
for our first goal?

2,700.

And we made it, right?

-Twice the amount
as last season.
-Yeah.

And we decided
we'd go for broke.

And we set a goal at what?

-3,000.
-3,000.

Okay. Well, we had 321 ounces,
which brings us

To 3,032.

Our best season ever.
[ cheers ]

Narrator: 3,032 ounces,
worth $3.3 million --

By far the best season
the hoffman crew has ever had.

Todd: We've gotten more gold
this season

Than all of our other seasons
combined.

What an accomplishment, huh?
-Geez!

-You guys did it.
-Beat our own goal.

I'm not so sure if we're gonna
beat parker. I have no idea.

But no matter what, appreciate
you guys being on the team.

Dad, come on.
Bring it in, man.

Let's give thanks.

Jack: Heavenly father,

We just truly thank you
for the opportunities,

And help us to be
bold enough to take 'em.

It's in your name we pray.
Amen.

All: Amen.

Come in, guys.

[ indistinct conversations ]

Hey, hey.
Well, hello!

Hello.
-How ya doing?

-Pardon?
-How's it going?

Good to see you.

Narrator: Parker's crew gathers
to find out

If they got enough gold
in their final cleanup

To beat the hoffmans.

Here's the gold we have left.
These are 100-ouncers.

And we've had
some of it melted down.

Man: That's pretty cool.
The cute little bars.

Ooh!
Boy, is that heavy!

Parker: It's been a long one.
And you guys

Have all stuck it out.
And I appreciate that.

It's ended up really good.

And a lot of that,
I have you to thank for, rick.

And you've been
one hell of a leader.

-Yep. Yeah, rick.
-Appreciate it, buddy.

Parker:
So that brings us to some gold.

Do you know
what hoffman ended up at?

I do.

They finished up
at 3,031 ounces.

That's good to know.

So -- and this is
from the creek diversion.

If there's 20 ounces
in there, we got 'em whupped.

So I reckon that's probably
about 25 ounces,

Which takes us
past the hoffmans.

I think he should've
learned by now.

[ laughter, cheers ]

Oh, yeah!

-Hello!
-Woo-hoo!

Parker:
So, that's 353 ounces.

[ cheers ]

Narrator:
353 ounces, worth $388,000.

[ cheers ]

Parker:
So that takes us to 3,362.

[ laughter ]

Narrator: This season, parker
mined a staggering $3,698,000 --

The biggest take
of his gold-mining career.

Parker, you don't know how
pleased and proud I am of you.

Just 4 years ago,
you started to mine.

And you got
100-and-some ounces.

And you were quite pleased.

But you were willing
to do better.

And with the help
of a wonderful crew,

You now look
at 3,000 ounces.

What a fantastic change
in your life.

And I am really proud
because what more --

What more could I ask for?

Nothing.

I am lucky...

A very fortunate man.

[ applause ]

Give him a hug,
you big goon.

Give him a big hug.
C'mon, parker.

[ laughter ]

Love you.

[ voice breaking ] I love --
I love you, parker.

I not only love ya.
I'm proud of ya.

You make my...Life
worthwhile.

-Cheers.
-Cheers.

[ cheers ]

Parker: The whole season was
a fight, but we stuck together.

At the end of the year,
the people who win are the ones

That have the heart and ones
that have the dedication

To want to put the hours in,
right?

And that's those guys.
That's us.

[ indistinct conversations ]

This year, we found over 25%
more gold than last year.

It's a big increase.

And we'll keep going
down that route.

It doesn't stop here.
This does not stop here.

[ cheers ]