Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 7, Episode 7 - Watery Grave - full transcript
Tony arrives to find his million-dollar dredge in disaster. While Rick is at his grandpa's funeral, Parker shuts him down by taking his equipment, and the Hoffmans discover that their wash-plant doesn't work in their new mine.
-Whoa, whoa, whoa!
-What's going on?
Narrator: On this "gold
rush"...
-This is bad.
-I think we should shut it
down.
All I know is I'm not
getting paid, todd.
Crap!
It's a disaster.
Right now it's
a losing battle.
[ bleep ]
-it's all frozen mud.
-Time's ticking.
I think this means
shutting right down.
It's just [bleep] bull[bleep].
I just got word
that my grandpa died.
I gotta go.
captions paid for by
discovery communications
first pay of the buckland,
right here.
Narrator: The hoffman crew is
finally running pay dirt
on their new buckland claim,
still hoping to reach
todd's 5,000-ounce,
$6 million goal.
Todd:
The season started rough.
I hope it turned around.
Whatever happens,
we gotta keep running.
One little thing
and we're done done.
Come on, baby.
Narrator: To be on target,
they should already
have 2,000 ounces.
They have just 138.
I don't care how deep it is.
I want gold.
I wanna get to the gold.
And I want it quick.
Narrator: Their entire season
now rests on the pay dirt
they're running
through the plant.
Bottom line is, nobody gets
paid unless we get gold.
So until that happens,
everybody's working for free.
I hope it's got gold in it!
I don't like the way that
looks.
-Todd!
-What's going on?
It's not going through
the grizzly bars.
Narrator:
The clay ridge pay dirt
is clogging up
the wash plant feeder.
-Let's shut it down!
-Damn it!
Hey, shut it down.
Shut it down.
He wants me to shut it down.
Shut it down!
Shut the feeder off!
Shut the feeder off!
Todd, it's just piling!
[ frustrated groan ]
this is bad.
Todd!
There's too much clay in it.
Crap!
Ah.
What are you doing?
I gotta look at this crap,
dave.
It -- it -- it's clay
with pay gravel stuck in it.
Look at that.
Tell me what you think.
-Clay with gold in it.
-Gosh.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Now what?
It needs water and scrubbing
to beat it up.
The solution is a wet feeder
if you can find one.
[ groans ]
narrator: A wet feed system
turns the pay dirt into
slurry,
so even clay rich material
will pass through
the wash plant.
I'll find whatever we need.
All I know is I'm not
getting paid, todd.
Dude, if we need the money
I can try to find the money.
I don't know
what I wanna do.
The solution's probably
not gonna be real cheap.
And it's probably
not gonna be real fast.
Todd: We're just taking
one hit after another,
and I'm wondering just how
many
hits my guys can take.
I don't wanna have a season
where we don't get any gold.
It's happened to me
twice before.
And I don't want it
to happen again.
Narrator: Todd's total haul
so far is just $165,000.
And it's all they've got
to cover basic running costs.
Hey, man.
What's going on?
[ groans ] hey, dad.
The wash plant's down.
Oh, great. Ah.
The belt feeder that
we have is not gonna work.
We need a wet feed system.
The problem is, I've priced
a couple of them out,
but it's 80,000 bucks.
Oh, man.
Last year was such a high.
Yeah, I know.
And this year
is such a downer.
Now I'm thinking about just --
maybe we should just
frickin' shut it down
and go the frick home.
[ door closes ]
ugh!
That's the way you think.
That's not the way I think.
You know, todd, you can
just pack it in and --
and you leave the guys and go.
They'll survive.
But you don't come off
a winner with 130 ounces.
You don't quit.
You gotta --
you gotta be an example
for your boys.
It's half of our season's
take right now.
You sure you wanna do this?
Yeah.
I know you got a lot of
expenses
to bring the plant down.
This, that, the other, fuel.
Yeah. You know, if we don't,
we won't know.
You gotta do it.
I hate to,
but we gotta do it.
This is adding up to be
a hell of a lot of money.
It's gonna be okay.
I hope you're right, dad.
I hope you're right.
Yeah, she's doing
pretty good.
Narrator: At eureka creek,
tony's dredge has produced
913 ounces of gold,
worth $1.1 million,
almost halfway
to his 2,000-ounce
$2.4 million season goal.
But the pay streak they've
been mining has run out.
And they need
to change direction.
I figure we go right,
we can get that
swipe next to the river.
All right, but that means we
have to go through
those tailings there.
Narrator: Tony wants to mine
an area of good ground
they missed last year.
But there's a line
of tailings in the way.
His plan?
Attach the dredge to two
dozers,
haul it forward
and dredge right through
the tailings pile
to get to the good ground.
Yep, let's go.
Narrator:
With tony and kevin away,
jason is left
in charge of the move.
We're just waiting for the
guys
to finish up on the dead man
so we can make sure
they're ready.
Uh, the winds are
starting to pick up,
which is, uh,
not an ideal situation.
We're basically a big sail
sitting here in the water.
And we're gonna end up
getting pushed to
the wrong side shortly.
So they need to get ready
quick.
[ engine revs ]
typical tony.
Make a crazy plan and walk
away
right when the going gets
tough.
This is really tough to do
with a green crew.
Kahle can start just
straight down that road.
Kahle, you can start just
going straight down that road.
Okay.
Narrator: Kahle and mike
take up the slack.
[ splash ]
radio we're good to go.
We're good to go.
There we go.
There we go, come on.
[ grinding, cranking ]
holy [bleep]. Feel that?
[ thud ]
[ bleep ] we're stuck.
Okay, stand -- stand down.
Tell them to stop.
Kahle, stop for a second.
-Mike, stop.
-Mike, stop.
-We're bottomed out.
-Oh, [bleep].
We're on the bottom somewhere.
Gonna be a whole ridge
under there the dredge
is sitting on.
Narrator: The dredge is stuck
on a bedrock ridge.
If jason continues
to haul it forward,
he risks tearing
a hole in the hull
and ending their season.
-I need to get over it.
-We're going forward slowly.
Should be able
to drag it through.
Mike can keep going.
Hang on there.
[ grinding ]
pull like you've never
pulled before.
[ grinding ]
[bleep] that does not
sound good.
[ grinding continues ]
-come on.
Million dollar machine
right now in my hands.
We're slowly inching.
[ grinding continues ]
[ revving ]
[ grinding continues ]
[ thud ]
[bleep] yeah,
we're floating.
The winches are off
and I'm still drifting.
Oh [bleep], that's a relief.
We just came over the hump.
Dredge settled into the pond.
And I can tell that
we're floating.
Good job, guys, I think
we're where we need to be.
Uh, was a little more
stressful
than I was expecting.
I'm gonna start dredging.
Aye, aye, captain.
And here we go!
Narrator: Jason can now cut
a path through the tailings.
Jason: We don't have a choice.
We have to dig through
that to get up to where
kevin wants us to go.
All that material
right there is washed,
it's just gonna beat the
[bleep]
out of the trommel again.
It's already been
through there once.
The next 24 hours
are gonna be rough.
Parker: Right now, we're just
pushing some dirt back.
We've got a little bit of
extra
overburden stacked up here,
but that's all right,
get her dealt with.
We've got a much smaller
crew this season,
which means there's not a lot
of margin for error, you know?
Everybody's gotta
pull their weight.
Narrator: At scribner creek,
parker's crew
is pushing harder than ever.
The wash plant's
running pretty good here.
I think we've worked out
the majority of the kinks.
There's definitely a lot
more pressure on now.
We have to get some gold
out of the ground
and make some money.
Narrator: So far this season,
they have mined
638 ounces of gold,
worth 3/4 of a million
dollars.
But that's only 15 percent
of parker's 4,000 ounce,
$4.8 million dollar goal.
In a radical move
to hit his target,
he's tasked his foreman, rick,
to open a second operation
at indian river.
Yeah, I'm pretty proud
of rick, you know?
He's done a really good job.
He's come a long way.
Five years ago, when we
started out at big nugget,
he didn't know anything
about moving dirt.
This is the first time
rick will really be on his
own.
I'm looking forward to seeing
how he deals with it.
All right,
supertrucker is rolling!
Narrator: Five miles west,
parker's relying on rick
to get 1,000 ounces out
of his indian river cut.
Rick: Got three trucks now,
thankfully.
Still just moving mud, man.
That's the name --
name of the game right now.
I'm hoping within maybe 2
weeks
we can start sluicing.
If we've got the people
down here, I think we can do
it.
Narrator: Rick has a fleet
of six vehicles digging down
in search of gold rich pay
dirt.
Rick: There is a huge sense of
pride in indian river, you
know.
This is my first shot at --
at running my --
my own operation, you know.
And I worked hard
to get here.
This is really
where my heart's at.
Brennan: I really want to help
rick prove to parker
that he can do his own thing.
And I hope it works out for
him
and for all of us.
But we'll have to
see how that goes.
What's that?
Uhh, really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um...
Well no, I'm not
gonna miss that, so...
Yeah.
The -- well, thanks.
Yeah, thanks.
So I gotta go home
for a funeral.
-My grandpa died.
-[bleep], man.
That's too bad.
I think I'll only be gone
for about 5 days.
It's, uh, bad timing.
[bleep], I'm sorry, man.
-It's not a problem.
-Okay.
Is there anything
I can do to help?
No, I just gotta
look up flights today.
I saw him right
before I left.
Well, I guess this is our year
for [bleep] funerals,
holy hell.
-I gotta run.
-All right.
Parker was pretty
understanding.
I don't really wanna
leave this place.
But I, you know, I can't not
go.
I can't not be there for my
mom
and the rest
of my family, so...
This indian river
cut is my season.
And I hate leaving it.
But it's just gonna
have to happen.
Bring that down!
Okay, now,
nice and easy, hunter!
Narrator: In oregon...
And now boom out.
...All mining has stopped
at the buckland claim.
I'm about to swing
this block around.
You're clear.
While todd's son, hunter,
and dave turin build a
platform
for a wet feeder
that will allow them
to finally run their
clay-rich pay dirt.
A conventional feeder uses
a conveyor
to send material up
to the screen deck.
A wet feed system
washes the material,
then uses gravity
to send the slurry down
to the wash plant,
which means they've got
to build a monster platform
to raise the feeder pad
by 25 feet.
Dave: There's not many guys
I've seen that has the finesse
and the controls
that hunter has.
At a young age, he's one
of the best operators I've
seen.
He's just a natural.
You know, it's nice to step up
and have this job
of building the wall
to get the new feeder
put in place.
Everybody, you know,
is counting on the wash plant
getting up and running,
getting this wall done.
So, uh, yeah.
It's a lot more
responsibility.
But, uh, I'm glad to have it.
Narrator: Each of these blocks
weighs 2 tons.
-Easy!
-There's no room for error.
I don't wanna lose
my fingers or my toes.
Straight down.
Nice! Nice, hunter!
To build up the platform,
hunter backfills with rock,
then tamps it down.
When you're stacking blocks
like this, you're gonna
build the wall really high.
If your base isn't solid,
then your whole wall
is gonna get outta whack.
Good job.
There better be
some gold down there
at the bottom of that cut.
Narrator: Safety officer
trey poulson needs
to inspect the 150-ton
structure
before the wet feeder
can be installed.
We need to make sure
everything's square
before we get going.
Oh, jeez.
That's not good.
Yeah, this is probably
about three or four times
worse than it --
than it should be.
This section of blocks
is bowed out.
And then if you look
at the far end,
it's actually leaning out.
When it comes down
to something like this,
you just have to make the
call.
You don't want
somebody to end up
getting hurt
or even worse, killed.
And with a wall like this,
it's, you know, it's --
it's not good.
Hey, dave. Um, I was just
looking at the blocks.
Did you see that top
section of the wall?
Whole thing could fall
and come down.
This is gonna be
a high impact area.
And I think we did
a piss-poor job
building for it,
personally, um --
I don't think
this is gonna work.
[ bleep ].
[ knocking ]
hey, mike.
Narrator: At the beets camp,
there's an emergency.
The dredge, it like,
tipped over last night.
Minnie wants you to go...
She wants you to go
down there to help.
Ah, [bleep].
Narrator:
Tony and kevin are away.
The crew scrambles to
rescue the stricken dredge.
You know,
it's a pretty easy job
up there in the wheelhouse
most of the time, but [bleep].
When [bleep] goes wrong?
It goes wrong.
And it -- it's a disaster.
Holy [bleep].
I haven't seen
that thing like that.
Even the first sinking
wasn't that [bleep] bad.
Narrator: For the second time
in 6 weeks,
tony's million-dollar
dredge has sunk.
Just [bleep] woke me up
on my day off.
Gotta go down and see what
the scoop is with the dredge.
Tony's got a lot of money
tied up in this machine.
And here it is, sitting there
looking like that.
That's not a [bleep]
proud moment.
Ah, [bleep].
Don't even know
where to start with this.
It's gotta be something
broken in the pontoons
to take on water that quick.
Tony and kevin are not gonna
be pleased about this one.
Narrator: Boss tony
and son kevin
are in alaska at an auction,
sourcing parts for
their second dredge.
It's always the goal
to have this thing running
when tony shows up.
That's what
makes him happy, right?
Right now we're just
pumping out the pontoons
that we can get at.
We still have too much water
to get at the pontoons
that are keeping us down.
So we're just trying
to help lighten the load.
Get rid of some weight
so we can get
that dredge floating again.
This [bleep] thing.
When it's not running,
it's missing out
on a thousand bucks an hour.
That's a lot of [bleep] money
at the end of the day.
If that's even possible.
Okay, we're fighting
a losing battle here.
-Yep.
-Should we pump out the pond?
Yep.
What do you think about that?
We've got bigger
pump up at camp.
Yeah.
That would do it, I guess.
Narrator: Mike brings in
a monster pump,
capable of shifting
6,000 gallons per minute.
[ motor starts, revs ]
it's pumping water.
Now we just gotta let it do
its thing, give it some time,
and get this water
level down.
Narrator: At the buckland
mine,
todd's $80,000
wet feed system has arrived.
We been waiting for this for
--
for quite some time.
It's the last piece we --
we need to be able
to get the plant up and
running.
Narrator:
But no one is running dirt,
and no one is making money
until dave has fixed the wall.
Here's the deal.
You wanted a wet feeder,
I brought the feeder.
You said you'd have a wall.
I -- you didn't tell me
you'd have a wall in 2 weeks.
So this is what
we're waiting on?
Yep. Those guys are ready
to bring pay dirt.
This is the bottleneck.
We ain't running dirt
without this fricking wall.
But hurry the frick up!
Everybody's worried.
Right now, we're not
producing any gold.
Right now, the wash plant
is not moving.
And it's because I don't
have this stupid wall built.
So, um, yeah, I get it.
I feel the pressure.
Narrator: The wall is
dangerously unstable.
Dave needs to reinforce it
before they can
install the wet feed system.
We're gonna cable
back to the joint.
And then juan's building
a plate that's --
and then in the center of it
--
so it's gonna grab the corner?
No, in the center of it,
he's --
we're gonna pull with another
cable and tension it to these.
-And we're gonna bury these.
-Okay.
Narrator: Dave's plan?
Fix steel plates
to the outside of the wall,
attach them to concrete
deadweights using cables.
And apply tension
using an excavator.
There we go.
Perfect.
You want -- do we wanna
do them just like that?
I like it.
I mean, we're already
pulling against that block.
Once you bury this??
There's absolutely no way
that wall's falling.
All right.
Pull this back, hunter.
Be careful, now.
We'll just have to go easy.
Pull it.
Easy.
[ clank ]
look out!
-Whoa!
-Whoa!
Hunter.
-That's a little too much.
-[ exhales ]
holy frack!
Actually snapped the...
Hunter doesn't quite know
exactly how much tension
he has on it.
He pulled
a little too hard.
And we broke a turnbuckle.
What we're doing here
is real, real fine work, so...
I -- I -- I can't say that,
you know, it's --
it's his fault, really.
[ clatter ]
nice and easy.
We'll just pull on it
a little bit.
Little bit more.
Good.
Narrator:
Dave's retro fit has worked.
The wall's done.
We're ready to go.
Narrator: The 25-foot pad
is finally stable.
Get it, man.
Let's go put it together.
-Oh! [ laughs ]
-oh, freebie!
Yeah.
Keep going, dan.
[ creaking ]
todd: This season started
rough.
I hope it turns around.
I really wanna get gold
down here in the lower 48.
If we don't kick some ass,
I don't see us
goin' beyond this year.
We gotta get some gold.
Narrator: Parker's wash plant,
sluicifer,
is racing through
boundary cut pay dirt.
Parker: For just two of us
in here, you know, we're --
we're moving quite
a bit of dirt.
We've been able to pretty
consistently be doing
about 250 yards
an hour for 10,
11 hours a day, so...
That's, um,
that's not too bad
for just two people.
Narrator:
Parker digs pay in the 360.
Here we go. Time to get some
more dirt into this beast.
Narrator: Tyson loads
the wash plant.
Tyson: It's exhausting.
And especially with
the smaller crew this year,
some days I don't leave
till 9 o'clock,
[bleep] needs to get done.
10 o'clock just because
parker: Rick's got his stuff
going on down on indian river.
So we don't have a whole lot
of reinforcements
to call on if --
if we do need help.
[bleep] it's all frozen.
See that?
It's all frozen mud.
[ groans ]
tyson and I don't have
time to deal with this.
Narrator: Frozen ground means
running scribner
with a two man crew
is impossible.
-Hey, tyson, you got a copy?
-I can hear you, parker.
Uh, yeah, this whole
cut back here
is still [bleep] frozen.
Does that mean we're gonna
have
to rip the whole thing?
Yes.
We need to put trucks in here.
And that means
pulling brandon
and the trucks off of indian
river down there.
The two of us
ain't gonna do anything.
Yeah, true, I guess.
Narrator: Parker needs to
strip
back the entire cut
and haul out the dirt
with rock trucks
to allow the permafrost
beneath to thaw.
And, of course,
rick's not here.
[ bleep ].
I mean, right now,
this plant's the only thing
paying the bills.
And paying the bills is what
has
to happen here, so...
I think this means
shutting right down.
We all [bleep] up here.
Something happened.
And it cost the boss
a lot of [bleep] money.
Narrator: Mike and jason
have been pumping out
the dredge pond
for the last 12 hours.
[ sighs ] I think we're done.
Narrator: And they finally
drained the pontoons.
I thought today I'd be --
I'd have a chance to stay dry.
But as it turns out,
pumping those pontoons
and getting the sand
out needs to be done
before we can fire up.
Tony's not gonna be
very happy when he shows up.
This wasn't
a mechanical failure.
This wasn't natural causes.
This was 100 percent
human error.
Narrator: Kevin and tony
arrive
back from the auction.
...A day.
-Hey, guys.
-Howdy.
We are dredging tailings.
-Yeah.
-It's been washed.
You can see the sand line
on that sluice run.
It was that full of sand.
And once it's full of sand,
the water had to go somewhere.
-Mm-hmm.
And the hatches were open.
And guess where it went?
Narrator: As the dredge ran
through its own tailings,
the fine sand they contained
plugged up the sluices.
The hatches on the deck
beneath were open.
So when the sand and water
spilled over into the
pontoons,
it sank the dredge.
Someone wasn't paying
attention.
Well, this was
a night shift problem.
-That's what it comes down to.
-Yeah.
Yep.
We got rid of him.
We got rid of him.
Perfect.
We just turned
the drain pumps off
so the pond is starting
to fill up as we speak.
It's just groundwater
level right now,
so once the water
level comes up
that's gonna be the next step.
Narrator:
The combination of groundwater
and the supply
from the holding pond
soon has the dredge floating.
Welcome aboard, tony.
We're ready.
'bout time we get it rolling.
Ready as I'm gonna be.
Before jason starts
mining the new ground,
he needs to turn
the dredge 90 degrees,
and the tailings conveyor
must rotate right over the
road.
We are moving.
What's the back end look like?
Is it close to the shore?
Ah, it's looking
pretty [bleep] close.
Holy [bleep].
There's gonna have to be
some tricky maneuvers
to get this through here.
Holy [bleep].
This close.
Narrator: The dredge has
successfully turned.
Okay, mike, you're free.
Go ahead.
Here we go.
She's a little stiff,
but she'll go.
We need to see
some gold in that box.
It's been too long.
Narrator: In oregon,
the hoffman crew is still
waiting to get any gold
from the buckland.
Juan: You know, every hour
that we're not running,
we're losing money.
Narrator: So juan's having
to improvise.
Just trying to finish up
this, uh, this stand.
Making an adapter to be able
to reuse this stand
so we can put the blade mill
right on top of this.
We gotta make do
with what we have.
Everyone's starting
to lose a little faith
so, uh, hopefully
this will be able
to get us back on the gold
and bring the faith
back up on the crew.
Okay, hunter.
That's good!
Narrator:
The hoffman crew has taken
delivery of their $80,000
wet feed system.
Before they can get
back to mining gold,
todd needs to carefully
position
the 22,000-pound unit
on the new pad.
Hunter, we only
have one of these.
It took us forever
to get it.
It's pretty --
pretty crucial that
we don't drop this damn thing.
Okay, it's up to you.
Go ahead.
Go up, hunter.
Nice and easy.
Lifting this is the last piece
to getting
to wash plant running,
getting this wet feeder in.
This is not something
you can... Up.
-Whoa!
-Whoa, whoa!
Hey! Slow!
One bad move, it's down there.
It's done.
It's over with.
There goes our season.
Normally we wouldn't let
a junior operator do this.
But he's been working
with dave all week.
So dave felt like
he would do a good job.
Good to work together.
Okay, now come on ahead.
Real slow. Whoa!
Whoa, stop!
Whoa!
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Don't anybody fart.
Hunter, come down a little
bit!
Little more!
Little more!
Stop it, that's perfect!
-That's it.
-Whoo!
-[ laughs ] holy frick.
-Right there, buddy!
Yeah! Hunter! Good job.
Like a fricking pro, man.
Mm-hmm.
-I'm glad we got it all in.
-You and pops.
Hey, we didn't drop it!
The season continues.
Narrator: It's time to fire up
the wet feed system and find
out
if it can run
their clay rich pay dirt.
All right. Dave,
you're getting power right
now.
Okay, here we go.
It's going!
Come on, baby.
Wet feed system coming on!
Yeah, we got water!
Let's run some pay dirt!
Here we go, boys!
First load of pay!
Monster red's alive.
Everything seems
to be running good.
That is the muddiest,
stickiest clay stuff
that we've ever ran.
It's going through the plant.
We're actually getting
some gold right now.
We're finally running again.
Things might be turning
around for us big time.
-So far, so good, man!
-Thanks, man!
That's 200 yards
an hour right there.
It's a hell of a start.
I'll tell you what, though,
without that wet feeder,
we ain't running
this gooey stuff.
We need to find
some good gold down here
or we're in real trouble.
But we got the plant
that we need to do it.
That's the most
important thing for now.
Thank god for second chances.
This is our second chance.
Let's see if we can
make good on it.
Yeah, I mean, this stuff
looks pretty good.
Let's go see
how it weighs up.
Narrator: At scribner creek,
rick has returned
from his grandpa's funeral
in time for parker's
weekly weigh in.
-Howdy, boys.
-Yo.
Hey.
-How was your trip home?
-Oh, it was all right.
I -- you know, see my family.
Say bye to my grandpa.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's been --
there's been a bit of that
this season, huh?
Yeah. Brutal.
Yeah. All right.
-Should we weigh this up?
-Let's weigh it up.
Narrator: To hit his
4,000 ounce,
$4.8 million season goal,
parker needs this cleanup
to deliver around 150 ounces.
Sixty...
Oh, yeah,
this is gonna be a good one.
-Ninety...
-Keep pouring.
-There's 100.
-Keep pouring.
-One thirty.
-Keep pouring.
One forty.
All right, 148.2.
Narrator: Worth $175,000.
That's our best one
so far, ain't it?
-Yeah.
-That's a good week.
-Yeah.
-With this 148,
it'll put us at, uh, about
786.
Narrator: Their total haul
so far this season
is worth $940,000.
-Well, we're getting there.
-I'm gonna need a second jar.
Oh, I'm sure
I have one somewhere.
So, um, I don't want you
to get down about this,
but for the time being
we're just having to park
everything at indian river.
Because we've just got a lot
of dirt to move up there.
It's just, uh,
without having trucks.
Then we'll have two operations
that aren't sluicing.
Right? And we just have to
keep
at least one up and going.
And -- and you don't even have
a plant down there yet, so...
In my mind,
it's a fairly easy choice.
Not that we all like it,
but we've gotta
keep gold on the scale.
How long do you think
that'll have to continue for?
Wow, I don't know.
You know,
it's just frustrating.
And I'm promised
this second operation.
And, you know, and then
it's just taken away.
It's just [bleep]
bull[bleep].
Parker: The idea of two
operations is real nice,
but we're here
to run a business.
And if that means
having one plant going 24/7
rather than two operations
that are both
floundering around,
then that's what
we have to do.
Doesn't really matter who
likes
it or who doesn't like it.
You know, [bleep].
I don't like it.
Hey, man, you gotta pull
all these guys outta here.
Um, we gotta go back
to the boundary cut.
Just when we start
getting somewhere,
uh, parker's pulling
my whole crew.
That's it.
[ honking ]
on the next "gold rush"...
Enough is enough. It's scary.
Mike, stop.
Mike, stop.
[ grinding ]
that doesn't sound right.
-Something break?
-It fracked right off.
Ow!
We're [bleep].
We ain't got gold
in that cut.
You're nowhere
near deep enough.
You're gonna be well
over 100 feet.
You're telling me
that I'm only halfway down?
I'm scared.
I'm really scared now.
-What's going on?
Narrator: On this "gold
rush"...
-This is bad.
-I think we should shut it
down.
All I know is I'm not
getting paid, todd.
Crap!
It's a disaster.
Right now it's
a losing battle.
[ bleep ]
-it's all frozen mud.
-Time's ticking.
I think this means
shutting right down.
It's just [bleep] bull[bleep].
I just got word
that my grandpa died.
I gotta go.
captions paid for by
discovery communications
first pay of the buckland,
right here.
Narrator: The hoffman crew is
finally running pay dirt
on their new buckland claim,
still hoping to reach
todd's 5,000-ounce,
$6 million goal.
Todd:
The season started rough.
I hope it turned around.
Whatever happens,
we gotta keep running.
One little thing
and we're done done.
Come on, baby.
Narrator: To be on target,
they should already
have 2,000 ounces.
They have just 138.
I don't care how deep it is.
I want gold.
I wanna get to the gold.
And I want it quick.
Narrator: Their entire season
now rests on the pay dirt
they're running
through the plant.
Bottom line is, nobody gets
paid unless we get gold.
So until that happens,
everybody's working for free.
I hope it's got gold in it!
I don't like the way that
looks.
-Todd!
-What's going on?
It's not going through
the grizzly bars.
Narrator:
The clay ridge pay dirt
is clogging up
the wash plant feeder.
-Let's shut it down!
-Damn it!
Hey, shut it down.
Shut it down.
He wants me to shut it down.
Shut it down!
Shut the feeder off!
Shut the feeder off!
Todd, it's just piling!
[ frustrated groan ]
this is bad.
Todd!
There's too much clay in it.
Crap!
Ah.
What are you doing?
I gotta look at this crap,
dave.
It -- it -- it's clay
with pay gravel stuck in it.
Look at that.
Tell me what you think.
-Clay with gold in it.
-Gosh.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Now what?
It needs water and scrubbing
to beat it up.
The solution is a wet feeder
if you can find one.
[ groans ]
narrator: A wet feed system
turns the pay dirt into
slurry,
so even clay rich material
will pass through
the wash plant.
I'll find whatever we need.
All I know is I'm not
getting paid, todd.
Dude, if we need the money
I can try to find the money.
I don't know
what I wanna do.
The solution's probably
not gonna be real cheap.
And it's probably
not gonna be real fast.
Todd: We're just taking
one hit after another,
and I'm wondering just how
many
hits my guys can take.
I don't wanna have a season
where we don't get any gold.
It's happened to me
twice before.
And I don't want it
to happen again.
Narrator: Todd's total haul
so far is just $165,000.
And it's all they've got
to cover basic running costs.
Hey, man.
What's going on?
[ groans ] hey, dad.
The wash plant's down.
Oh, great. Ah.
The belt feeder that
we have is not gonna work.
We need a wet feed system.
The problem is, I've priced
a couple of them out,
but it's 80,000 bucks.
Oh, man.
Last year was such a high.
Yeah, I know.
And this year
is such a downer.
Now I'm thinking about just --
maybe we should just
frickin' shut it down
and go the frick home.
[ door closes ]
ugh!
That's the way you think.
That's not the way I think.
You know, todd, you can
just pack it in and --
and you leave the guys and go.
They'll survive.
But you don't come off
a winner with 130 ounces.
You don't quit.
You gotta --
you gotta be an example
for your boys.
It's half of our season's
take right now.
You sure you wanna do this?
Yeah.
I know you got a lot of
expenses
to bring the plant down.
This, that, the other, fuel.
Yeah. You know, if we don't,
we won't know.
You gotta do it.
I hate to,
but we gotta do it.
This is adding up to be
a hell of a lot of money.
It's gonna be okay.
I hope you're right, dad.
I hope you're right.
Yeah, she's doing
pretty good.
Narrator: At eureka creek,
tony's dredge has produced
913 ounces of gold,
worth $1.1 million,
almost halfway
to his 2,000-ounce
$2.4 million season goal.
But the pay streak they've
been mining has run out.
And they need
to change direction.
I figure we go right,
we can get that
swipe next to the river.
All right, but that means we
have to go through
those tailings there.
Narrator: Tony wants to mine
an area of good ground
they missed last year.
But there's a line
of tailings in the way.
His plan?
Attach the dredge to two
dozers,
haul it forward
and dredge right through
the tailings pile
to get to the good ground.
Yep, let's go.
Narrator:
With tony and kevin away,
jason is left
in charge of the move.
We're just waiting for the
guys
to finish up on the dead man
so we can make sure
they're ready.
Uh, the winds are
starting to pick up,
which is, uh,
not an ideal situation.
We're basically a big sail
sitting here in the water.
And we're gonna end up
getting pushed to
the wrong side shortly.
So they need to get ready
quick.
[ engine revs ]
typical tony.
Make a crazy plan and walk
away
right when the going gets
tough.
This is really tough to do
with a green crew.
Kahle can start just
straight down that road.
Kahle, you can start just
going straight down that road.
Okay.
Narrator: Kahle and mike
take up the slack.
[ splash ]
radio we're good to go.
We're good to go.
There we go.
There we go, come on.
[ grinding, cranking ]
holy [bleep]. Feel that?
[ thud ]
[ bleep ] we're stuck.
Okay, stand -- stand down.
Tell them to stop.
Kahle, stop for a second.
-Mike, stop.
-Mike, stop.
-We're bottomed out.
-Oh, [bleep].
We're on the bottom somewhere.
Gonna be a whole ridge
under there the dredge
is sitting on.
Narrator: The dredge is stuck
on a bedrock ridge.
If jason continues
to haul it forward,
he risks tearing
a hole in the hull
and ending their season.
-I need to get over it.
-We're going forward slowly.
Should be able
to drag it through.
Mike can keep going.
Hang on there.
[ grinding ]
pull like you've never
pulled before.
[ grinding ]
[bleep] that does not
sound good.
[ grinding continues ]
-come on.
Million dollar machine
right now in my hands.
We're slowly inching.
[ grinding continues ]
[ revving ]
[ grinding continues ]
[ thud ]
[bleep] yeah,
we're floating.
The winches are off
and I'm still drifting.
Oh [bleep], that's a relief.
We just came over the hump.
Dredge settled into the pond.
And I can tell that
we're floating.
Good job, guys, I think
we're where we need to be.
Uh, was a little more
stressful
than I was expecting.
I'm gonna start dredging.
Aye, aye, captain.
And here we go!
Narrator: Jason can now cut
a path through the tailings.
Jason: We don't have a choice.
We have to dig through
that to get up to where
kevin wants us to go.
All that material
right there is washed,
it's just gonna beat the
[bleep]
out of the trommel again.
It's already been
through there once.
The next 24 hours
are gonna be rough.
Parker: Right now, we're just
pushing some dirt back.
We've got a little bit of
extra
overburden stacked up here,
but that's all right,
get her dealt with.
We've got a much smaller
crew this season,
which means there's not a lot
of margin for error, you know?
Everybody's gotta
pull their weight.
Narrator: At scribner creek,
parker's crew
is pushing harder than ever.
The wash plant's
running pretty good here.
I think we've worked out
the majority of the kinks.
There's definitely a lot
more pressure on now.
We have to get some gold
out of the ground
and make some money.
Narrator: So far this season,
they have mined
638 ounces of gold,
worth 3/4 of a million
dollars.
But that's only 15 percent
of parker's 4,000 ounce,
$4.8 million dollar goal.
In a radical move
to hit his target,
he's tasked his foreman, rick,
to open a second operation
at indian river.
Yeah, I'm pretty proud
of rick, you know?
He's done a really good job.
He's come a long way.
Five years ago, when we
started out at big nugget,
he didn't know anything
about moving dirt.
This is the first time
rick will really be on his
own.
I'm looking forward to seeing
how he deals with it.
All right,
supertrucker is rolling!
Narrator: Five miles west,
parker's relying on rick
to get 1,000 ounces out
of his indian river cut.
Rick: Got three trucks now,
thankfully.
Still just moving mud, man.
That's the name --
name of the game right now.
I'm hoping within maybe 2
weeks
we can start sluicing.
If we've got the people
down here, I think we can do
it.
Narrator: Rick has a fleet
of six vehicles digging down
in search of gold rich pay
dirt.
Rick: There is a huge sense of
pride in indian river, you
know.
This is my first shot at --
at running my --
my own operation, you know.
And I worked hard
to get here.
This is really
where my heart's at.
Brennan: I really want to help
rick prove to parker
that he can do his own thing.
And I hope it works out for
him
and for all of us.
But we'll have to
see how that goes.
What's that?
Uhh, really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um...
Well no, I'm not
gonna miss that, so...
Yeah.
The -- well, thanks.
Yeah, thanks.
So I gotta go home
for a funeral.
-My grandpa died.
-[bleep], man.
That's too bad.
I think I'll only be gone
for about 5 days.
It's, uh, bad timing.
[bleep], I'm sorry, man.
-It's not a problem.
-Okay.
Is there anything
I can do to help?
No, I just gotta
look up flights today.
I saw him right
before I left.
Well, I guess this is our year
for [bleep] funerals,
holy hell.
-I gotta run.
-All right.
Parker was pretty
understanding.
I don't really wanna
leave this place.
But I, you know, I can't not
go.
I can't not be there for my
mom
and the rest
of my family, so...
This indian river
cut is my season.
And I hate leaving it.
But it's just gonna
have to happen.
Bring that down!
Okay, now,
nice and easy, hunter!
Narrator: In oregon...
And now boom out.
...All mining has stopped
at the buckland claim.
I'm about to swing
this block around.
You're clear.
While todd's son, hunter,
and dave turin build a
platform
for a wet feeder
that will allow them
to finally run their
clay-rich pay dirt.
A conventional feeder uses
a conveyor
to send material up
to the screen deck.
A wet feed system
washes the material,
then uses gravity
to send the slurry down
to the wash plant,
which means they've got
to build a monster platform
to raise the feeder pad
by 25 feet.
Dave: There's not many guys
I've seen that has the finesse
and the controls
that hunter has.
At a young age, he's one
of the best operators I've
seen.
He's just a natural.
You know, it's nice to step up
and have this job
of building the wall
to get the new feeder
put in place.
Everybody, you know,
is counting on the wash plant
getting up and running,
getting this wall done.
So, uh, yeah.
It's a lot more
responsibility.
But, uh, I'm glad to have it.
Narrator: Each of these blocks
weighs 2 tons.
-Easy!
-There's no room for error.
I don't wanna lose
my fingers or my toes.
Straight down.
Nice! Nice, hunter!
To build up the platform,
hunter backfills with rock,
then tamps it down.
When you're stacking blocks
like this, you're gonna
build the wall really high.
If your base isn't solid,
then your whole wall
is gonna get outta whack.
Good job.
There better be
some gold down there
at the bottom of that cut.
Narrator: Safety officer
trey poulson needs
to inspect the 150-ton
structure
before the wet feeder
can be installed.
We need to make sure
everything's square
before we get going.
Oh, jeez.
That's not good.
Yeah, this is probably
about three or four times
worse than it --
than it should be.
This section of blocks
is bowed out.
And then if you look
at the far end,
it's actually leaning out.
When it comes down
to something like this,
you just have to make the
call.
You don't want
somebody to end up
getting hurt
or even worse, killed.
And with a wall like this,
it's, you know, it's --
it's not good.
Hey, dave. Um, I was just
looking at the blocks.
Did you see that top
section of the wall?
Whole thing could fall
and come down.
This is gonna be
a high impact area.
And I think we did
a piss-poor job
building for it,
personally, um --
I don't think
this is gonna work.
[ bleep ].
[ knocking ]
hey, mike.
Narrator: At the beets camp,
there's an emergency.
The dredge, it like,
tipped over last night.
Minnie wants you to go...
She wants you to go
down there to help.
Ah, [bleep].
Narrator:
Tony and kevin are away.
The crew scrambles to
rescue the stricken dredge.
You know,
it's a pretty easy job
up there in the wheelhouse
most of the time, but [bleep].
When [bleep] goes wrong?
It goes wrong.
And it -- it's a disaster.
Holy [bleep].
I haven't seen
that thing like that.
Even the first sinking
wasn't that [bleep] bad.
Narrator: For the second time
in 6 weeks,
tony's million-dollar
dredge has sunk.
Just [bleep] woke me up
on my day off.
Gotta go down and see what
the scoop is with the dredge.
Tony's got a lot of money
tied up in this machine.
And here it is, sitting there
looking like that.
That's not a [bleep]
proud moment.
Ah, [bleep].
Don't even know
where to start with this.
It's gotta be something
broken in the pontoons
to take on water that quick.
Tony and kevin are not gonna
be pleased about this one.
Narrator: Boss tony
and son kevin
are in alaska at an auction,
sourcing parts for
their second dredge.
It's always the goal
to have this thing running
when tony shows up.
That's what
makes him happy, right?
Right now we're just
pumping out the pontoons
that we can get at.
We still have too much water
to get at the pontoons
that are keeping us down.
So we're just trying
to help lighten the load.
Get rid of some weight
so we can get
that dredge floating again.
This [bleep] thing.
When it's not running,
it's missing out
on a thousand bucks an hour.
That's a lot of [bleep] money
at the end of the day.
If that's even possible.
Okay, we're fighting
a losing battle here.
-Yep.
-Should we pump out the pond?
Yep.
What do you think about that?
We've got bigger
pump up at camp.
Yeah.
That would do it, I guess.
Narrator: Mike brings in
a monster pump,
capable of shifting
6,000 gallons per minute.
[ motor starts, revs ]
it's pumping water.
Now we just gotta let it do
its thing, give it some time,
and get this water
level down.
Narrator: At the buckland
mine,
todd's $80,000
wet feed system has arrived.
We been waiting for this for
--
for quite some time.
It's the last piece we --
we need to be able
to get the plant up and
running.
Narrator:
But no one is running dirt,
and no one is making money
until dave has fixed the wall.
Here's the deal.
You wanted a wet feeder,
I brought the feeder.
You said you'd have a wall.
I -- you didn't tell me
you'd have a wall in 2 weeks.
So this is what
we're waiting on?
Yep. Those guys are ready
to bring pay dirt.
This is the bottleneck.
We ain't running dirt
without this fricking wall.
But hurry the frick up!
Everybody's worried.
Right now, we're not
producing any gold.
Right now, the wash plant
is not moving.
And it's because I don't
have this stupid wall built.
So, um, yeah, I get it.
I feel the pressure.
Narrator: The wall is
dangerously unstable.
Dave needs to reinforce it
before they can
install the wet feed system.
We're gonna cable
back to the joint.
And then juan's building
a plate that's --
and then in the center of it
--
so it's gonna grab the corner?
No, in the center of it,
he's --
we're gonna pull with another
cable and tension it to these.
-And we're gonna bury these.
-Okay.
Narrator: Dave's plan?
Fix steel plates
to the outside of the wall,
attach them to concrete
deadweights using cables.
And apply tension
using an excavator.
There we go.
Perfect.
You want -- do we wanna
do them just like that?
I like it.
I mean, we're already
pulling against that block.
Once you bury this??
There's absolutely no way
that wall's falling.
All right.
Pull this back, hunter.
Be careful, now.
We'll just have to go easy.
Pull it.
Easy.
[ clank ]
look out!
-Whoa!
-Whoa!
Hunter.
-That's a little too much.
-[ exhales ]
holy frack!
Actually snapped the...
Hunter doesn't quite know
exactly how much tension
he has on it.
He pulled
a little too hard.
And we broke a turnbuckle.
What we're doing here
is real, real fine work, so...
I -- I -- I can't say that,
you know, it's --
it's his fault, really.
[ clatter ]
nice and easy.
We'll just pull on it
a little bit.
Little bit more.
Good.
Narrator:
Dave's retro fit has worked.
The wall's done.
We're ready to go.
Narrator: The 25-foot pad
is finally stable.
Get it, man.
Let's go put it together.
-Oh! [ laughs ]
-oh, freebie!
Yeah.
Keep going, dan.
[ creaking ]
todd: This season started
rough.
I hope it turns around.
I really wanna get gold
down here in the lower 48.
If we don't kick some ass,
I don't see us
goin' beyond this year.
We gotta get some gold.
Narrator: Parker's wash plant,
sluicifer,
is racing through
boundary cut pay dirt.
Parker: For just two of us
in here, you know, we're --
we're moving quite
a bit of dirt.
We've been able to pretty
consistently be doing
about 250 yards
an hour for 10,
11 hours a day, so...
That's, um,
that's not too bad
for just two people.
Narrator:
Parker digs pay in the 360.
Here we go. Time to get some
more dirt into this beast.
Narrator: Tyson loads
the wash plant.
Tyson: It's exhausting.
And especially with
the smaller crew this year,
some days I don't leave
till 9 o'clock,
[bleep] needs to get done.
10 o'clock just because
parker: Rick's got his stuff
going on down on indian river.
So we don't have a whole lot
of reinforcements
to call on if --
if we do need help.
[bleep] it's all frozen.
See that?
It's all frozen mud.
[ groans ]
tyson and I don't have
time to deal with this.
Narrator: Frozen ground means
running scribner
with a two man crew
is impossible.
-Hey, tyson, you got a copy?
-I can hear you, parker.
Uh, yeah, this whole
cut back here
is still [bleep] frozen.
Does that mean we're gonna
have
to rip the whole thing?
Yes.
We need to put trucks in here.
And that means
pulling brandon
and the trucks off of indian
river down there.
The two of us
ain't gonna do anything.
Yeah, true, I guess.
Narrator: Parker needs to
strip
back the entire cut
and haul out the dirt
with rock trucks
to allow the permafrost
beneath to thaw.
And, of course,
rick's not here.
[ bleep ].
I mean, right now,
this plant's the only thing
paying the bills.
And paying the bills is what
has
to happen here, so...
I think this means
shutting right down.
We all [bleep] up here.
Something happened.
And it cost the boss
a lot of [bleep] money.
Narrator: Mike and jason
have been pumping out
the dredge pond
for the last 12 hours.
[ sighs ] I think we're done.
Narrator: And they finally
drained the pontoons.
I thought today I'd be --
I'd have a chance to stay dry.
But as it turns out,
pumping those pontoons
and getting the sand
out needs to be done
before we can fire up.
Tony's not gonna be
very happy when he shows up.
This wasn't
a mechanical failure.
This wasn't natural causes.
This was 100 percent
human error.
Narrator: Kevin and tony
arrive
back from the auction.
...A day.
-Hey, guys.
-Howdy.
We are dredging tailings.
-Yeah.
-It's been washed.
You can see the sand line
on that sluice run.
It was that full of sand.
And once it's full of sand,
the water had to go somewhere.
-Mm-hmm.
And the hatches were open.
And guess where it went?
Narrator: As the dredge ran
through its own tailings,
the fine sand they contained
plugged up the sluices.
The hatches on the deck
beneath were open.
So when the sand and water
spilled over into the
pontoons,
it sank the dredge.
Someone wasn't paying
attention.
Well, this was
a night shift problem.
-That's what it comes down to.
-Yeah.
Yep.
We got rid of him.
We got rid of him.
Perfect.
We just turned
the drain pumps off
so the pond is starting
to fill up as we speak.
It's just groundwater
level right now,
so once the water
level comes up
that's gonna be the next step.
Narrator:
The combination of groundwater
and the supply
from the holding pond
soon has the dredge floating.
Welcome aboard, tony.
We're ready.
'bout time we get it rolling.
Ready as I'm gonna be.
Before jason starts
mining the new ground,
he needs to turn
the dredge 90 degrees,
and the tailings conveyor
must rotate right over the
road.
We are moving.
What's the back end look like?
Is it close to the shore?
Ah, it's looking
pretty [bleep] close.
Holy [bleep].
There's gonna have to be
some tricky maneuvers
to get this through here.
Holy [bleep].
This close.
Narrator: The dredge has
successfully turned.
Okay, mike, you're free.
Go ahead.
Here we go.
She's a little stiff,
but she'll go.
We need to see
some gold in that box.
It's been too long.
Narrator: In oregon,
the hoffman crew is still
waiting to get any gold
from the buckland.
Juan: You know, every hour
that we're not running,
we're losing money.
Narrator: So juan's having
to improvise.
Just trying to finish up
this, uh, this stand.
Making an adapter to be able
to reuse this stand
so we can put the blade mill
right on top of this.
We gotta make do
with what we have.
Everyone's starting
to lose a little faith
so, uh, hopefully
this will be able
to get us back on the gold
and bring the faith
back up on the crew.
Okay, hunter.
That's good!
Narrator:
The hoffman crew has taken
delivery of their $80,000
wet feed system.
Before they can get
back to mining gold,
todd needs to carefully
position
the 22,000-pound unit
on the new pad.
Hunter, we only
have one of these.
It took us forever
to get it.
It's pretty --
pretty crucial that
we don't drop this damn thing.
Okay, it's up to you.
Go ahead.
Go up, hunter.
Nice and easy.
Lifting this is the last piece
to getting
to wash plant running,
getting this wet feeder in.
This is not something
you can... Up.
-Whoa!
-Whoa, whoa!
Hey! Slow!
One bad move, it's down there.
It's done.
It's over with.
There goes our season.
Normally we wouldn't let
a junior operator do this.
But he's been working
with dave all week.
So dave felt like
he would do a good job.
Good to work together.
Okay, now come on ahead.
Real slow. Whoa!
Whoa, stop!
Whoa!
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Don't anybody fart.
Hunter, come down a little
bit!
Little more!
Little more!
Stop it, that's perfect!
-That's it.
-Whoo!
-[ laughs ] holy frick.
-Right there, buddy!
Yeah! Hunter! Good job.
Like a fricking pro, man.
Mm-hmm.
-I'm glad we got it all in.
-You and pops.
Hey, we didn't drop it!
The season continues.
Narrator: It's time to fire up
the wet feed system and find
out
if it can run
their clay rich pay dirt.
All right. Dave,
you're getting power right
now.
Okay, here we go.
It's going!
Come on, baby.
Wet feed system coming on!
Yeah, we got water!
Let's run some pay dirt!
Here we go, boys!
First load of pay!
Monster red's alive.
Everything seems
to be running good.
That is the muddiest,
stickiest clay stuff
that we've ever ran.
It's going through the plant.
We're actually getting
some gold right now.
We're finally running again.
Things might be turning
around for us big time.
-So far, so good, man!
-Thanks, man!
That's 200 yards
an hour right there.
It's a hell of a start.
I'll tell you what, though,
without that wet feeder,
we ain't running
this gooey stuff.
We need to find
some good gold down here
or we're in real trouble.
But we got the plant
that we need to do it.
That's the most
important thing for now.
Thank god for second chances.
This is our second chance.
Let's see if we can
make good on it.
Yeah, I mean, this stuff
looks pretty good.
Let's go see
how it weighs up.
Narrator: At scribner creek,
rick has returned
from his grandpa's funeral
in time for parker's
weekly weigh in.
-Howdy, boys.
-Yo.
Hey.
-How was your trip home?
-Oh, it was all right.
I -- you know, see my family.
Say bye to my grandpa.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's been --
there's been a bit of that
this season, huh?
Yeah. Brutal.
Yeah. All right.
-Should we weigh this up?
-Let's weigh it up.
Narrator: To hit his
4,000 ounce,
$4.8 million season goal,
parker needs this cleanup
to deliver around 150 ounces.
Sixty...
Oh, yeah,
this is gonna be a good one.
-Ninety...
-Keep pouring.
-There's 100.
-Keep pouring.
-One thirty.
-Keep pouring.
One forty.
All right, 148.2.
Narrator: Worth $175,000.
That's our best one
so far, ain't it?
-Yeah.
-That's a good week.
-Yeah.
-With this 148,
it'll put us at, uh, about
786.
Narrator: Their total haul
so far this season
is worth $940,000.
-Well, we're getting there.
-I'm gonna need a second jar.
Oh, I'm sure
I have one somewhere.
So, um, I don't want you
to get down about this,
but for the time being
we're just having to park
everything at indian river.
Because we've just got a lot
of dirt to move up there.
It's just, uh,
without having trucks.
Then we'll have two operations
that aren't sluicing.
Right? And we just have to
keep
at least one up and going.
And -- and you don't even have
a plant down there yet, so...
In my mind,
it's a fairly easy choice.
Not that we all like it,
but we've gotta
keep gold on the scale.
How long do you think
that'll have to continue for?
Wow, I don't know.
You know,
it's just frustrating.
And I'm promised
this second operation.
And, you know, and then
it's just taken away.
It's just [bleep]
bull[bleep].
Parker: The idea of two
operations is real nice,
but we're here
to run a business.
And if that means
having one plant going 24/7
rather than two operations
that are both
floundering around,
then that's what
we have to do.
Doesn't really matter who
likes
it or who doesn't like it.
You know, [bleep].
I don't like it.
Hey, man, you gotta pull
all these guys outta here.
Um, we gotta go back
to the boundary cut.
Just when we start
getting somewhere,
uh, parker's pulling
my whole crew.
That's it.
[ honking ]
on the next "gold rush"...
Enough is enough. It's scary.
Mike, stop.
Mike, stop.
[ grinding ]
that doesn't sound right.
-Something break?
-It fracked right off.
Ow!
We're [bleep].
We ain't got gold
in that cut.
You're nowhere
near deep enough.
You're gonna be well
over 100 feet.
You're telling me
that I'm only halfway down?
I'm scared.
I'm really scared now.