Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 8, Episode 3 - The Viking vs. the Mechanic - full transcript

On this "Gold rush"...

Needless to say, I'm a little
Pissed at the.

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.

Todd has beat us in
The last two cleanups here,

And that's just not acceptable.

I mean, the guy couldn't find
Gold in a jewelry store.

We've got to be careful here,
Make sure nobody gets hurt.

Whoa!

Look out!

Think that will put us
Ahead of the hoffmans?

I might have promoted hunter
A little too early.



What the heck Is going on, man?

I can't work with my dad.

I can't have him here.

Micromanaging Everything I do.

You can't just Walk off.

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

I'm hopeful that
This ground keeps holding up.

Like it was last fall,

And I'm hopeful that big red
Keeps producing like that.

Three weeks into
The season, parker's crew.

Is running big red
At indian river.

Foreman rick has already
Produced 347 ounces.

Towards their 5,000ounce,
$6 million season goal.

Rick is here sluicing,
And things are going good.



They've got a lot
Of open ground,

So it's time to do the same
At the creek cut.

We've got a lot of mud
To move up there,

So we're taking two
Running cuts up there,

Get them going,

And keep them going 24/7
Here for a while.

All right.

Parker has bet
Rival todd hoffman.

He'll beat him this season.

The only way he can do that
Is to fire up his second plant,

Sluicifer, in the creek cut.

So today is a big day.

We're shifting our focus
From big red to sluicifer.

Todd has beat us in the
Last two cleanups here,

And that's just not acceptable.

I mean, the guy couldn't find
Gold in a jewelry store.

Now it's a matter of getting
These things up to sluicifer.

And getting a bunch
Of ground open.

Because once we starting
Sluicing with.

Old sluicifer there,
We don't stop.

You know, it goes 24/7,
And if it's down,

Well, that's 'cause
It's broke down.

It's not nighttime or a weekend.

While the dozers begin
Expanding the creek cut,

Mechanic mitch preps
The wash plant.

You guys have been busy.

This looks good.

Yeah, It turned out nice.

It looks really good.

But yeah, I think we're
About ready to have you.

Pull the conveyor over
And get that lined up.

Wow.

Last season,
Parker spent $300,000.

On this custombuilt
Super conveyor.

To move pay dirt directly
From the cut to the plant.

We've put A lot of money into.

Our system here for sluicifer.

This conveyor cost
A lot of money,

But the nice thing about it is
Now it runs pretty flawlessly.

With a very limited
Amount of people.

And a limited amount of,
You know, resources.

The conveyor sits
On an excavator,

And, at 150 feet
From end to end,

It's a nightmare to maneuver.

How am I looking?

Yeah, I think if you just
Come in like that,

Right at the end you might have
To slide it for a foot or so.

You know, when we're putting
The conveyor in place,

We have to be really careful
That we don't damage.

Either the wash plant
Or the conveyor,

But the conveyor has
All the drive motors,

The hydraulic lines,
The rollers,

Everything, right out
There on the end,

And it's, you know,
Real fragile stuff.

You're a little Short right now.

There you go.

Am I hitting Anything there?

Looking good.

Little bit more.

You know, every little move
That parker makes.

Down there in
The machine, you know,

Might just be
A half inch down there,

While it's feet Up at this end.

Because, you know,
The conveyor is so long.

You've got to be careful here
To make sure nobody gets hurt.

Watch yourself, chad.

Will you watch My assend then?

Yep.

Yeah, you're about there.
You're getting close.

Whoa!

Look out!

Sorry!

You okay?

Yep.

Sorry, chad!

Is that where you
Want him to be?

We'll come in a bit
And then have him come down?

Left, couple inches,
Little bit down.

Good.

Looks good, man.
Let's throw some dirt on it.

Fire it up.

That looks really nice.

Well, here goes the first scoop
Of the season.

For old sluicifer.

There she comes.

Now we've just got to make
Our way to 5,000 ounces?

It's really good to be
Running two wash plants.

You know, we've had a rough
Spring, a lot of breakdowns,

Fighting a lot of frost,

But we're in Good shape now.

You know, old hoffman is running
However many yards an hour,

But we've got two plants
Running 24 hours a day.

So good luck trying
To keep up with us.

We're on the gold.

Finally things are coming
Together for us as a crew.

This is about getting
5,000 ounces and, you know,

Probably the future
Of our company.

In colorado,
Todd is also chasing.

A bold $6 million goal.

He's running double trouble,
And at the start of the season,

Promoted his son, hunter,

And gave him control
Of monster red.

We've had a great
3 weeks so far.

We've managed to stay
Ahead of parker,

And he's gonna Pick up the pace.

I guarantee you that, and we're
Gonna have to follow suit.

We've got to pick up
Our pace, too.

Rather than increase
The yardage on double trouble,

Todd wants hunter to pick up
The pace with his plant,

Monster red.

We've got to pump
The yardage through here,

And we'll see what
Happens, you know?

We've got to hit that
400 yards an hour.

I can crank it up, but I don't
Know if it's gonna handle it.

I don't know, either.
Just do it.

Crank it up.

I'm all for running more yards,

But I'm more worried about
If the feeder can handle it.

So we'll see.

You know, right now, this feeder
Is turned all the way up.

We're running a ton of
Dirt right now, which is good.

You've got to be kidding me.

This maximus has emergency
Shutoff switches on it.

We actually have a lot
Of rocks bouncing off,

And they're hitting those,
And they're setting those off,

And it's shutting
Off the feeder.

Hunter, hunter,
Hunter, are you down?

What's going on?

Juan, turn off the water.

Running water without
Pay dirt through the sluices.

Can wash gold out
Of the riffles.

Why don't we got water?

You stopped running The plant.

What happened?

Did he shut The water off?

Yeah, because you
Aren't running pay,

And then you start running...
Big effing deal,

I got it back going
In about 5 minutes.

It doesn't matter.
It's your fault.

I got it going,
And I put more dirt in it.

Why don't you Have your radio?

I did the whole... It died.

I don't know why.
Why, you charge it?

I did all this myself,
And I got it going again.

Did you charge it? Not my fault.

Charge your radio!

Well, hunter's radio died,
So he's not communicating.

So, you know, he's not
Running his team properly.

So...

I might have promoted hunter
A little too early.

I don't know if he's ready for
This kind of responsibility,

If you want to know The truth.

It stopped.

Shut it off.

Here, stop.

Shut it off.

In colorado,

Hunter hoffman is under
Pressure from his dad.

To push monster red To the max.

Why?

You can't run A belt that full.

There's no way, no way.

Is that how it's been?

You can't run A belt that full.

That's what I've been
Telling you.

Todd insisted
Hunter run more dirt,

But the increased load
Has pushed the feeder belt.

Out of alignment,
Risking a costly tear.

The conveyor can't handle.

How much dirt's going
On it right now.

It's a lot of weight,
So I have to turn it down.

All right.
Well, we'll turn it down,

And then we'll go
From there, okay?

Fire it back up.

You know, sometimes my dad
Gets a little bit overambitious.

And wants to kind of push things
To the limit a little bit,

And we just couldn't run this
Plant as fast as he'd wanted.

Now we've slowed
The feeder down a lot,

And everything seems to be
Running smoothly now.

I'm gonna run it my way,

And I don't really
Need him here.

Three weeks into the season,

Tony beets has finally started.

Tearing apart his second dredge
At thistle creek.

With $2 million
Committed to the project,

He's hemorrhaging money.

And desperately needs
Dredge number one.

Catching gold at eureka.

Son kevin is in charge
Of dredge number one.

Tony wants me to
Fire up the dredge a.S.A.P.,

And last year, we ran it
To the ground and then some.

Before floating the dredge,

Kevin checks the pontoons
That form the dredge's hull.

All right.

Wasn't expecting that.

Have a look for yourself.

You tell me.

Because we never fixed
The hole in this one.

Yeah, exactly as you
Told us to do.

Pontoon is full of ice.

Boat no floaty, Boat sinky.

Two of the dredge's
Pontoons are filled.

With 1,400 cubic feet of ice,

Enough to fill 16 suvs.

To solve the problem,

Kevin brings in
Specialist contractor

Richard bouffard.

Okay, so we've got nothing,
Like no wires, nothing in there?

No, there's no wires.
I can cut the water?

Nope, there's no air lines
Down this one either.

Richard will use
A highpressure steam jet.

To cut the ice into
Small blocks light enough.

To lift out of the pontoons.

After 5 hours, richard has
Cut the ice into blocks.

Small enough
For kevin to remove.

Oi!

Richard.

I heard that.

I don't need to be told that.

Hey, because, hey...

I'm pissed.

At least richard finished the
Job before tony pissed him off.

Now he's just Everything up.

He does not know how to step
The back.

And let people Do their job.

"You can't trust employees,"
Tony beets school of management.

Needless to say, I'm a little
pissed at the.

Look at our turnover rate
And take out family.

When you go through
Almost 50 employees...

It's a sign.

Clearly, it's not the people
You're hiring.

At that point.

My dad is putting a lot
Of pressure on me.

To keep this wash plant running.

So I can see him
Over there watching.

In colorado,

The pressure is on hunter and
His monster red operation.

To keep the hoffmans ahead
In the race for gold.

My god,.

Greenhorn Loaderoperator tony.

Just knocked the feed conveyor
Out of alignment.

When he rams in like that,

It pushes the whole feeder.

And once again, Todd steps in.

Can't afford any screwups.

You're gonna have
To talk to him,

But you're gonna have
To be firm with him,

That he hit your
Thing and that...

I've only been nice...

I don't care about being nice.
You've got to be firm.

Go ahead and handle it.

Get him out of there.

Come on.

What the heck Is going on, man?

What's going on?

I can't work With my dad.

I can't have him here.

Micromanaging Everything I do,

And I'm trying to deal
With a situation over there.

I had control of it,
And he has to come in.

Like I don't know
What I'm doing,

And I can't work with him.

I cannot work With him anymore.

I know your dad better
Than anybody in this world.

Knows your dad,

And I know exactly
What you're going through,

But you can't Just walk off.

That's not the way
The hoffmans do it.

We don't run off,
And we don't quit.

Basically, what happened was,
Just, when we're coming in...

Yeah... And pushing that dirt,

It swiveled the conveyor,

And we were Shooting dirt out.

I'm not blaming it On you.

I, like, understand. Right.

I think juan will get in
Here for a second...

Sure.
Clean that up a little bit,

Finish out the last
Bit of the day.

I know how to run
This operation,

And I don't need my dad here.

Trying to tell me
How to run my crew.

Yeah, everything is looking
Real good up here, parker.

Everything is running nice
And smooth, nice and even.

Shouldn't take long for us
To catch up to the hoffmans now.

They don't stand a chance.

At scribner creek,

Parker has his second wash
Plant, sluicifer, running.

He's taken on the critical task
Of sending pay to the plant.

With the highly sensitive
150foot conveyor.

Hey, parker, we might want
To turn it down a bit.

The belt is loaded.

Feeding sluicifer
With parker's conveyor.

Is a lot different
Than our normal setup.

It's not a controlled feed.

You put too much material
In the hopper,

And you get too much
On the belt,

That material will build
Up in the prewash,

And there's not enough
Water to wash it away,

And then you're going
To have a big pileup.

I'm bored.

I'm the wrong man For this job.

You want me to send
Brennan down there?

Yeah.

He's calling For you, buddy.

Man.

It won't be.

Have fun.

Yay, I've done
Two whole buckets,

And now you're already
Bored of this.

Me.

Holy moly.

Look at him.

He just threw the whole
scoop in.

We need somebody
Else doing that.

Mechanic "Big mike"
Beaudry steps up.

The way this is set up
Makes an operator.

Want to blow his brains out.

- Whoa! Stop!
- Aw.

Seriously?

It's got a bit of a jamup
Up in the prewash.

We'll have to clean it out.

We've got to figure
Something out on this.

Like, we've tried a bunch
Of different people.

We've tried feeding it slower.

It's just...

I mean, we can turn
The rpm up some more.

And just get it
Right at the limit.

If the operator feeds
The super conveyor too fast,

The dry dirt
Will block the prewash.

Mitch's solution to increase
And improve flow...

Run the belt faster, which will
Distribute the pay further.

Into the jets of the prewash.

What we're gonna do now is
I'm gonna make an adjustment.

On the hydraulic pump,

Try and get some
More flow through it.

That will put more oil
In the lines.

And pick up Our belt speed.

So, you know, this is a pretty
Small, minor adjustment here,

But you can really tear things
Up and break.

If you're not careful.

So we've been running it
At 1,500,

And 1,600 is flat out
For this thing.

So...

just try it At that?

That will get us some.

Hopefully it's enough.

A little hole like that
Seems like a small thing,

But that can fill up a pontoon,
Sink the dredge.

At eureka creek,

Kevin has removed the ice
So welder mike.

Can fix the hole in the pontoon.

That sunk the dredge last year.

I'm all harnessed up
So I can go into the pontoon.

Hope I don't
Fall in on my way in.

Got a light?

Yeah.

Hey, give me that thing.

Hi.

Well, it's dark in here.
Don't see no daylight,

So hopefully all
The holes are fixed.

We should be ready to float.

Have you seen this thing?

The generator Is 40 years old.

And hasn't run for 6 months.

No.

Fire in the hole.

The single generator
Provides power.

For the dredge's seven wenches.

Driven by compressed air,
They maneuver the barge.

And control the bucket line,
Gangplank, and spud.

No.

I'm gonna show tony
How our wenches are.

You see anything
Happen down there?

Because our air lines are
All full of holes.

Those wenches are old And they,

And if I tighten
That clutch any more,

It's gonna wear right too.

What we should do instead
Of fixing this old.

Is get new wenches, just
new, off the shelf.

Then we know they work and
They're not this old,

And they should be
Hydraulically driven.

That way, we're not
With these old levers, this air,

Just a switch.

Well, you've got Two options.

One, you can fix This old.

And do this again next year.
Yeah,

Or we could just spend
A bit of money.

That's ballpark 600 grand.

No, yeah.

Not yet.

Rightyo.

The dredge can mine
$250,000 worth of gold a week,

So kevin could make back
The $600,000 investment.

In less than 3 weeks.

But with the restoration
Of dredge two to fund,

Money is tight.

Gold mining, it's kind
Of an endurance race.

You know, we have
To keep running.

In colorado, hunter
Hoffman is running monster red,

And his dad, todd,
Is having trouble letting go.

For me to learn and for me
To, you know, grow up,

I need to run this
Operation my own way.

I'm just over here for a minute.

I just wanted to watch
This sluice box run.

Hey, hunter, You got a copy?

Yeah.

The sluices Are backing up.

I'm trying to figure out
What the hell is going on.

Hey, hunter, your screens
Are too big,

And this screen is
Why it's plugging up.

Really?

Yeah, you've got roughly half.
Inch holes in here right now.

You're putting boulders
Down your sluice box.

Somebody get on the bypass.
We've got to shut down.

Monster red
Separates gold from rocks.

In its large,
Vibrating screen deck.

Two screens prevent
The larger rocks.

From dropping through
Into the sluice runs,

Where only the gold
And fine material should settle.

But the holes in the bottom
Deck are too big,

And small rocks are falling into
The sluice along with the gold,

Clogging the riffles
And causing gold.

To wash out of the end
Of the sluice.

There's the main reason
The sluice box is backing up,

Halfinch screens.

They're making little bitty gold
Compete with bigass rocks.

This is bad.
That's the bottom deck.

Is this big? Bottom deck,

Yeah, but you need
To make this decision.

Okay.
Okay, you're gonna sacrifice.

A nugget that big.

We're not getting
Too many that big.

That's my thoughts, though.

I stole it From "Star trek."

The needs of the many
Outweigh the needs of the few.

Or the one or the none.

I mean, we don't have a choice.
We have to change them.

We have to change
All the screens.

There's 36 of These in there.

Let me see how many
Of these we've got.

I don't know if we
Have that many.

I hope so.

Yeah, Think so,

9, 18.

There's 36 Of them there.

Hey, freddy just told me
That our bottom deck.

On our wash plant Is halfinch.

So we're running a bunch of dirt
That we don't need to be,

And I'm going to
Change it to 7 mil.

So, you know, we're gonna
Lose some runtime.

We're gonna be down,
But once we get that fixed,

Hopefully the sluice boxes
Run a lot better.

So I'm just calling
To let you know.

You're eating fish
And chips with juan?

Good.

With his dad Off the mine site,

Hunter is free to run
His operation as he likes.

You know, it's my plant,
So me and dave.

Are in here changing these.

Even though it sucks,
We've got to do it,

And overall it's gonna
Help us out.

Four hours later,
The job is complete.

That isn't easy, but now that
We've got them changed,

Hopefully the sluice boxes
Are running better,

And so, you know, in turn,
We're gonna catch more gold.

Fire it up!

Hey, hunter.

What do you think?

It seems way better to me.

Yeah?
I mean, it feels way better.

It's not packing up,
But we won't know for sure.

Until we shut down.

But I think it was a good
Move, so good job.

I can't get my fat butt
In there, so that's not easy.

Let's go kick some ass
And get some gold.

Minnie is giving me a call.
Says she needs to talk to me,

So let's go see what's up.

Kevin may Have convinced tony.

To invest $600,000
In improvements to dredge one...

Hey, mom.

I hear it's gonna cost over
Half a million dollars.

For your modifications
That you're doing.

But it's mom minnie.

Who has the final say on
The beets family finances.

So how long is this Gonna take?

It's only gonna be
A couple of weeks,

But we were down for 2
1/2 months last year.

We're having two dredges to pay
For and no money coming in.

It's not quite making me
Happy right now.

Because I'm not quite sure
How to pull this one off.

All right. Remember last year
When we did the cleanup?

We didn't clean up everything
At the end of the year.

There's still some gold
In the frozen runs.

So we can clean that up.

It's not gonna cover Everything,

But at least it's
Something coming in.

I can go make it happen.

Well, you better.

Take her all out, Kevin.

We're having the most hectic
Cleanup of my life right now,

Trying to get it all done
In a timely manner.

Kevin has called in
Monica to help with his mission.

To keep their mom happy.

What we did is called
Frozen assets.

Essentially, we kept it
In here, froze it.

So tony couldn't spend it
In the winter...

But now tony needs money,
Hence the mad dash.

Since no one is sluicing,

Last year's frozen nugget box.

Will be the family's
First paycheck this season.

Well, he takes after His father.

He says 5 minutes,
2 hours later.

You want it done right
Or halfassed?

Let's see what we got.

10, 20, 35,

40, 42.85.

Worth over $50,000.

It's a good thing we had
A piggy bank from last year.

Yep.

That's gonna pay for a little
Bit of the modifications,

Got to start somewhere.

Coming up...

Hey, meet me over
At my truck, would you?

What is the problem?

Your son.

Your grandson.

In the yukon,
Both of parker's plants.

Are running for
The first time this year.

The gold room should be
Working at full tilt...

I've got a, I'm pretty
Sure it's a sciatic thing.

Going down the leg,
Just killing me.

But chris doumitt Is struggling.

Parker may have the answer
To his prayers.

Should we go see doumitt? Yes.

Excuse me, have you been
Missing a little australian?

My gosh, A smiling face.

So good to see you.

Welcome back.

Thanks. Hi, parker.

When did you get in?

It's the ateam back again.

Somebody fun to talk to.

No, it's really nice
To have ashley back, yeah.

Doumitt is especially happy.

Because I think
He really likes her,

And she helps him clean gold.

So it's a double whammy there.

Hey, todd and hunter, meet me
Over at my truck, would you?

Yeah, I'm coming over.

In colorado, todd and hunter.

Have each shut
Down their plants,

Ready for the weekly cleanup.

All right.

Well, not really All right.

No?

So...

That's it?

This isn't very good.

How much?

87.25 between The two of you.

Worth just $104,000.

If that was just one,
I'd be happy,

But it's between The two of you.

That's it.

We're not accomplishing
What we came here to do.

Okay, so we're basically
100 ounces short.

Than where we were Last cleanup.

Yeah, at least.

To hit his 5,000ounce goal,

Todd needs to average
200 ounces,

More than double
What they've just mined.

What is the problem?

Your son.

Your grandson Is the problem.

Well, you know, listen,

You guys, if you can't
Work it out...

We don't have any time
To argue, okay?

I have to run my plant.
You have to run your plant,

And we just have to
Run yards through this.

Hunter, you did make
Some good moves.

I need to back out,
Back away from it,

And if I slowed you
Down by stuff I did,

Then I need to stop doing
That and let you run it.

So, I'll focus
On double trouble.

You focus here, and
Hopefully we can get.

A hell of a lot More gold.

Yeah. Let's go.

All right. Go back to work.

I've got to stop
Arguing with hunter.

I've got to let him
Run that plant.

The way he wants to run it.

I've got to run double trouble,
And hopefully,

You know,
Our fortunes can change

'cause 87 ounces
Ain't gonna cut it.

How's it looking, Doumitt?

Looking pretty good, bud,
Looking pretty good.

Check it out. Yeah.

It would not be ready right now
If it wouldn't be for ashley.

She did all the lifting.

She did all The heavy work.

For me. Guys.

Thank you so much
For coming back.

You're a lifesaver.

Let's see what We got, doumitt.

Okay, we've got
Big red coming in.

So far, parker
Has mined 347 ounces.

To get on track for his
Season goal of 5,000,

Parker needs at least
100 ounces from each wash plant.

60, 70,

100,

110,

115,

And the total is 119.3.

Ooh, not bad, man.

Ooh, not bad, man. Yeah,
that's Pretty good.

Yeah, that's Pretty good.

We're still Above our mark.

Let's see what old
Sluicifer did.

20,

30,

90, 100,

110, 120,

130, 132.4.

All right.
That's not a bad start.

Think that will put us
Ahead of the hoffmans?

Well, I think
That was updated here.

Todd sent me a text today.

87.25.

So, well, at least we got him
By a hundred and, what,

160 ounces this week.

Yeah. Sorry.

I'm sure todd will have some
Long list of excuses for it,

But whatever.

Now we've got to keep these two
things going.

Yeah, no doubt.

It's one thing to have
A couple hundred ounces here,

But we've got
A couple thousand to do.

Yeah, we've got a long...

4,400.

We'll deal with this.

All right.
We'll leave you guys to it.

- Thanks, guys.
- Later.

Mike, pull on the thing.

On the next "Gold rush"...

Put the thing Over the fence.

Get rid of it.

Guys, pulling on the Thing. Hey!

There's a giant chunk
Of frozen pay in here.

Why are You shut down?

This whole area is frozen?

I just see rick not really
Getting the job done.

I thought we'd be way
Farther ahead than this.

And there it goes.

Nothing ventured,
Nothing gained.

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.