Gold Rush: Parker's Trail (2017–2019): Season 5, Episode 4 - New Prospects - full transcript
So many creeks down here.
It's so blue.
Is there gold in these creeks
around here?
Yeah, we're in the goldfields.
- Parkers Creek.
- Parkers Creek.
No.
Stop, stop, stop.
We've got to get down there.
What are the odds of that?
We should find some gold
in Parkers Creek.
- My creek.
- Yes.
Yes.
Check it out.
It's not even Parker Creek.
It is Parkers Creek.
- Oh, yeah.
- Right?
If you find some gold here,
that would be amazing.
Do you think
we're on private property?
Oh, did we check?
I don't know, Tyler.
That's part of your job.
Yeah.
No, no.
Searching for gold
in Parkers Creek.
Nothing.
Did he find any?
No joy?
I don't think so.
Nah.
We tried.
The journey continues.
We're also probably
on private property
and I don't feel like
getting shot.
Yeah, good idea.
At least we can tell,
we didn't find anything.
Parker is a bust.
Get out of here.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
Hey, how are you?
Yeah, I'm good, good.
Um, thank you
for getting back to me.
Parker Schnabel
is on the hunt for a washplant
for his Alaska operation,
and is leaning on 26-year-old
prospector Tyler Mahoney
to find one.
But two weeks into the trip,
she still hasn't delivered.
We're looking
for washplants for sale,
so I was just hoping that,
um, maybe you wouldn't mind
if we headed up to your site
and checked it out.
Mmm-hmm.
All right.
Yeah, sure.
Yeah.
Cool.
All right.
It looks like
we're a go-ahead.
That one looks fresh.
Two weeks ago
at Iain Whyte's mine
near Hokitika...
I'm liking
what I'm seeing here.
...Parker fell in
love with a brand-new
washplant
with a cutting-edge design.
I really like this plant.
But left empty-handed.
We started talking money
a little bit,
but it's his baby.
This sets a very high standard
for what we're looking for.
Since then, Parker
has seen three more plants...
How old is this unit?
She's, uh, 38 years old.
...but is yet
to find the right one.
It's just not
what we're looking for.
The biggest problem
we've got right now
is we're up against it
for time.
If we don't find
a trommel
to buy that we can move
to Fairbanks in time
that's probably gonna be
as specialized
as I want it,
that's gonna be tough.
Now, with only
five weeks left in country,
it's on Tyler to keep
delivering hard new leads.
Right.
Where are we off to, Ty?
We are going to see
a man called Matt.
Matt Dove.
He's a gold miner up
in this region.
He's running a trommel.
He's got two up there.
One of them is for sale.
So that's why we're heading
off to have a look at it.
After striking out
in Greymouth,
the team drive
175 miles north
to the heart
of the Tasman region
in the foothills
of the Southern Alps.
I can see a trommel.
Another trommel?
No way.
We're here.
All right.
Hello.
Good to see you.
Good to meet you
in person finally.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
- Here's the rest of the crew.
- How are you?
Parker.
Nice to meet you.
Hello, mate.
I'm Danny.
So you guys are obviously
doing a bit of a tiki tour
around the country.
Yeah.
Checking stuff out.
With permits
to over 7,000 acres of ground,
Matt Dove is considered
one of the region's
most successful miners,
in part because he can run
his massive operation
with just three crew members.
Did you grow up
mining?
No, no.
I, um, bought a piece
of property on the West Coast,
five acres on the beach,
and someone told me at the pub
one night that there was gold
under the front fence
at five meters,
so I started digging
around there one summer
and I put the pan in there
and there's hundreds of colors
in the dust, you know?
*bleep*, I'm on it.
Went inside and met,
you know?
That's a great...
That's a great origin story.
You got gold fever?
And, um, then
it just led on from there.
Is this the trommel
that you had, um, to show us?
Yeah.
This one's been around
for a while.
Cool.
- It's been a good, reliable screen.
- All right.
Like, conveyer off,
this thing's probably
road legal.
Yeah, it is.
All you have to do is
just take the conveyor off.
You know, with this,
she's skidded straight
on the truck,
and you're off
to the next job, you know?
Big yellow is mobile
and cost efficient.
Its signature features,
a six-foot-wide space
saving sluice run...
and a pivoting
tailings conveyor
which spreads out
waste material
reducing time spent
clearing tailings.
Valued at $100,000,
this one-of-a-kind plant
is well within Parker's
$1,000,000 budget.
This screen
is cheap to run too.
This thing's about 20 bucks
a day, you know, in diesel.
- Really?
- Yeah.
If we're gonna make
Fairbanks a success,
we've got to take
a New Zealand approach of,
you know,
coming into it smart,
being efficient.
And so guys like Matt
are gonna be really valuable
sources of information.
At, at an initial glance,
I looked at the washplant
and I was just like,"
Oh, this is gonna be
a *bleep* disaster."
Did you?
Yeah, I mean don't judge
a washplant by its appearance.
It's a good little plant.
The pivoting tailings conveyor
is a nice design.
You know, this washplant might
not look like much,
but one really cool thing
about this is
it's one of the only plants
I've seen that is operational
and road legal
at the same time.
Right?
Because in Fairbanks
we're close to highways.
And if you're moving
on a highway,
you have to be road legal.
Right?
In the Yukon, we put
sluice on a trailer
sideways at 40 feet wide.
You can't do that
in Fairbanks.
So let's, uh,
let's see it in action.
Well, I was wondering
whether Parker would come
and help me dig
a bit of dirt first.
See if there's any
yellow stuff in it.
Could we go
prospecting?
Yeah, that's the plan.
It's a little bit
nervy at the moment,
and, um, it's a bit hard
to know what's going on
in his head.
So in my head, we'd rock up,
we'd see the trommel working
and we'd chat about him
maybe selling it.
But yeah, things, um,
definitely haven't gone
to plan.
So I kind of feel a little bit
awkward/embarrassed
and it's definitely not going
how I thought it would.
We need to find
a washplant
first and foremost.
Yeah.
But I'm always
looking for ground, so...
That'd be awesome.
In any business and the ones
that are looking
at the most opportunities
survive.
Yeah, I'm excited to be here.
Do you have quite
a bit of ground around here?
Yeah, there's about
2,000 or 3,000 hectares
or something we've got
under permit here.
Matt's got
a lot of land here.
In New Zealand the legalities
are quite intense,
so the fact I think
he's got four permits
is really impressive.
He must be finding good gold
if he can afford to run
that many permits at a time.
We're here under
the Southern Alps
and going into a bit of an
exploration project
where the old timers have been
sniffing around 100 years ago,
and some of the ground
that they looked at back
then thought was no good
is actually probably
good ground for mining now.
Gold was discovered
on New Zealand's
South Island in the 1860s.
On their way
to the West Coast,
prospectors passed through
the Tasman region,
but few took the time
to explore.
Located to the northwest
of the Southern Alps,
glacial movements have
littered this landscape
with rich pockets of gold,
and the potential for
gold rich ground looms large.
You've got
a lot of expectation
for this bit of land
we're looking at?
Oh, I wouldn't know
what we're gonna come up with.
That's the whole thrill
of the chase.
That's why we get out of bed
in the morning,
see what sort of treasure
we can find.
- Don't we, Parker?
- Yeah, exactly.
- Spoken like a true miner.
- Yeah.
What do we need to do?
Uh, we need to walk
that digger into the pit,
and you may have to do
a bit of stripping.
- Sweet.
- Yeah?
- All right.
- Perfect.
- Put me to work.
- Okay. Let's get on with it.
The team head
to a five-acre plot
of virgin ground
on the northwest side
of the mine site.
Parker is good.
He's keen. He's young.
He's got a lot of knowledge.
And I think he's somebody
that could add value
to any mining operation.
It's just good to have
another miner to hang out with
and give me a hand on
the digger
and see what it's gonna
come up with today.
And, um, maybe we'll have
a bit of a discussion
about the business side
of things later on.
This is so different
to what I'm used to.
I'm just used to red dirt
and flat.
It's actually quite refreshing
to see some green grass.
It's kind of cool,
you know.
I haven't done too much like
actual exploration
here in New Zealand.
You know, it's like you never
have proper equipment,
so it's just cool.
Looking forward to seeing
what's here.
Did any of us actually
consider any of this?
I think if there's
enough gold,
it's always on the table.
Parker excavates
six feet of overburden.
The goal, run 20 yards of dirt
to see if they've hit
a pastry.
There it is.
All right, Ty,
you can take that
over to the washplant.
Thanks, Parker.
Talk to me about this
as a, as a place to mine.
I mean, the reason
why I jumped
at the chance to spend a day
doing exploration with Matt is
I'm always looking for ground.
I always say I'd go mining anywhere.
It wouldn't take
much of a push to convince me
that this was
a good place to be.
Awesome country.
Cool people.
Super pretty.
Why not?
There's lots to
learn about feeding plants
and moving dirt and stripping.
In New Zealand,
27-year-old Parker Schnabel
has seized on an
unexpected opportunity
and is prospecting
a piece of ground.
We've just been talking about
mining in general
and it's a hard industry
to get into and, um,
to get the permits
is not easy.
You've got to be able
to show that you've got
the financial capability
and you've got the expertise.
Parker excavates pay...
Now that's a cool
little plant.
...while Jeff and Matt
get his two-foot test plant,
little red, up and running.
We're using
the same sort of set up
with the riffles
as what we are on
the big yellow screen.
So we're using expanded metal
and then onto a set
of standards
and then
the hydraulic riffles.
I think it's nice
and simple, small, easy
to move around.
I like how it's got
the grizzly bars up
so it minimizes
the chances of getting
a, a clog.
This is, uh, perfect for
what we're doing here,
that's for sure.
Belt tension is good.
We got oil. We got fuel.
And yeah, just got to get
some water to the plant
and fire it up.
And the next biggest step
is when Tyler comes down
with some pay.
Oh, *bleep*.
Okay, you definitely
don't get this in Kalgoorlie.
There's literally
a herd of cows on the road.
I don't know what to do.
Oh, my *bleep*
That's gotta be like
three hundred head
of cattle that I've just
got in the way of.
You get a C-minus
on a dump truck so far, Tyler.
Good gals.
They can have it.
Come on.
We don't see that every day.
There she is now.
Yeah, that'd be good.
All right,
we got water.
You better get up
top there, straight away,
'cause it won't take me long
to chew through that.
Yeah, roger.
I'll get a move on, then.
Everything's going
really good right now.
We're running
quite a bit of pay.
We've got a really nice wash.
The, the sluice
runs are running perfect.
And, yeah, the, the,
the riffles aren't clogging up
at all.
How was it down there?
Good.
They've got it up and running.
Um, the trommel's
working perfectly.
Sorry.
We bring down another load and, and that'll do us.
Hey, Parker, just a heads up.
Matt said this is
the last load.
All right.
You're good to go.
All right, we're done.
Hello.
- How's it going, Parker?
- A'ight.
- This is cute.
- It's working good.
Oh, it's a good-looking
little thing, innit?
Yeah.
Watch yourself.
Well made.
- How's it going?
- Hey. Good.
I like your trommel.
Hell, no lies, little red.
It's a bit more Granity
than I thought, this wash.
It's got
a lot of fines in it.
- Yeah, a lot of fines.
- Yeah.
I have to get
my terminology right.
Pay dirt equals wash.
For testing
you don't use a pan, huh?
You always usually do this?
I'd rather run
20 buckets through here.
- And...
- Right.
...I've always found panning is a bit hit and miss, you know?
And...
Yeah, I mean,
the bigger the sample,
the more accurate
it's gonna be, right?
Yeah, when,
when you got the toys
for the same pay, you might
as well play with them.
I think this is
the last of it,
then he's gonna shut it down
and then we'll hand it off.
After running 20 yards
of pay...
We'd put that carpet
into that big pan
to start with.
Gotcha.
And then we'll have
a look at that.
Parker needs to decide
if Matt's ground is
rich enough to invest in.
This is the stuff.
Oh, this is
the good stuff.
How many colors
would you want to see?
Oh,
if the full dish.
Silly question.
There's some
gold in here.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, you see that?
Oh, oh, yeah,
getting a bit of color here.
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, yeah, that is good.
And that's just
off the top in that.
And that's probably,
what, a 20th of an ounce?
Yeah.
Something like that?
So that'd be an ounce
per 120 yards.
At one ounce per
120 yards, it's a lower
recovery rate
than the one ounce per
100 yards
that Parker averages
in the Yukon.
Is it always
like superfine like that?
Yes.
I mean, uh, it needs
more exploration,
but probably not a ton
of ground that's gonna be
mineable on.
Yeah.
That's too much
pressure on having a plant
that's operational
this summer for Fairbanks.
- Yeah.
- No worries.
One of the side missions
on this trip was
to like meet people
and build contacts.
I really get the feeling
from him that if there's
gold in an area,
he knows how to find it.
And contacts like
that are invaluable.
It'll be good
to get back tomorrow,
set the washplant up
and running.
There's some things
that are a bit different
to what Parker's,
um, got running back
in the Yukon, which is,
I think is great 'cause
that's why we're here.
Do you know anywhere
around here we could camp?
Yeah, anywhere really.
- And we won't get shot?
- No, no.
- You'll be all right.
- Thanks, Matt.
Oh, man.
This is a spot.
There's a guy up here
on a bike, Jeff,
go speak to him.
- How's it going?
- Hi, there.
- Hello.
- Yeah, Matt said you would come out.
- Are you the farmer from around here?
- Yeah.
Oh, awesome.
I'm Tyler, by the way.
- This is awesome.
- Wow.
Look at the view.
- Thanks so much.
- Oh, yeah...
- Are those your cows?
- Yeah.
- Hard work farming, innit?
- Yeah.
So is there
anything we need to know?
Yeah, milking
is at 5:00 o'clock.
Was that in exchange for this?
Yeah, a little bit.
I've milked cows before.
I could help.
- Do you know how to do it?
- Yeah-ish.
- I've milked cows.
- Have fun, guys.
- All right, I'll let you know.
- Nice one.
- What was your name?
- Michael.
- Michael. Thanks, Michael.
- Yeah, it's cool.
- All right, man.
- Yeah, thanks, man. See you in the morning.
No.
Then it's not worth
being shown a camping spot.
Like that is
a bad negotiation.
We could have gone
and camped somewhere else.
Good day, guys.
- Really good day.
- Yeah.
Were you
happy with it?
Yeah, it was a really
good day. Matt's awesome.
What's the plan for tomorrow?
I just want to see
this plant run.
And once this plant runs
and, you know,
at least have something
to talk about.
Yeah, we should probe
him about that a bit tomorrow.
Time is kind of
the essence right now.
We're, we're only here
for so long.
Mmm-hmm.
Great.
Tomorrow
we're going to see
Matt's plant.
It's definitely got some
things that are different
and stuff that I haven't seen
around before.
I'm pretty keen
to get my teeth sunk in.
We're up against it
from a time standpoint.
That's the life of a miner.
Right.
- How are we looking there, Jeff?
- Just about packed up.
Parker and his crew
are spending a second day
at Matt Dove's claim...
- You guys ready to rock?
- Yep.
...on a mission
to secure a washplant
for next season.
- All done, Jeff?
- Yeah. All locked up.
- Let's get out of here.
- Let's do it.
But first, they've got
a debt to pay.
Oh.
- There they are.
- Oh, man.
We got to do all these?
- I don't know...
- I hope not.
How's it going?
Good. Good.
You ready to do some work?
I don't know.
I'm nervous about this one.
I've just seen a cow *bleep*
everywhere.
We'll give it a go
and see what happens.
Oh, my *bleep*.
Holy cow.
That's, that's, uh,
that's, that's quite the view.
Mate, that one's bottom's
twitching a little.
I don't trust that one.
Do you feel like
you're in the danger zone?
I feel like
I'm in the danger zone.
How often do you get
*bleep* on?
Uh, once a week, maybe.
- All right.
- Yeah.
So that's your
milker device.
You use suction
or something?
Yeah.
Suction and pulsation.
So how do you
turn this on?
Turn it on there.
- Like that?
- Aye.
I thought we were
going to be sitting here,
like pulling udders.
Go on, Ty.
Like this?
Press at that
lever down there.
And it gets the suction down.
How much milk do you
get out from,
from one of these
from one hit?
About seven liters.
- Seven liters each?
- Yeah.
The cows are positioned
on a rotating platform.
*bleep* Calm down.
So the team have
to work fast to keep up.
- Get in there, Jeff.
- Oh, man.
Try to use your
fingers to fill it.
So you don't put your head
down there.
Oh, this is great.
- Is that right?
- Yeah, this is awesome.
All right, Dan,
you're up.
Uh, yeah,
I guess I'd better.
Tony Beets
grew up on a dairy farm.
I don't, I don't think
they had these things, though.
There you go, Dan.
- There's *bleep* coming out of that thing.
- Wow.
Oh, wow.
A waterfall.
It's like the firing range, seriously.
This one's fighting me.
Dairy is
one of New Zealand's
biggest industries,
with yearly exports
worth over $11 billion.
Michael's team milked
the 400 strong herd
twice a day
to reach their daily target
of 500 gallons.
Most of it going to make
the best dairy product,
ice cream.
Come on, Jeffy boy.
Come on, Jeff.
Well done, mate.
- Oh, that one don't like it.
- Oh.
- Oh, there you go.
- *bleep* everywhere.
- Awesome.
- Oh.
I got *bleep* on.
That was close.
So is that about it?
You paid for your camping now,
so we're covered.
We're good.
We definitely got
the short end of the stick.
Oh, no, that was great.
Thank you for that night.
Never thanked
somebody for getting
*bleep* on the before but...
- There's a first too.
- There's a first for everything.
40 cows expertly milked
by the team...
...Parker turns his
attention to his main goal,
finding a wash plant.
And his sights are set
on testing Matt Dove's
compact trommel.
So mind if we go take a look?
It's got a few
hydraulic issues going on
this morning,
so we're working out a bit
of a bush fix.
Oh, *bleep*.
Just so *bleep*
typical.
Like, of course, this happens.
The whole machine's down.
It's always something
with this business, isn't it?
Oh, yeah.
I mean,
it's been a good,
reliable screen up until
today, really.
How are you guys doing?
You guys figuring out
the problem?
Um, we're gonna
need a little bit longer.
What's happening?
Oh, we replaced
the coupling on the motor...
Oh, yeah.
...and put a new pump
to drive the trommel.
But now we've put it back
together the other pump
that drives the stack
has broken down.
Trommel's
not working.
It needs to work.
We need to be seeing machinery
running or why the hell have
I dragged all the boys
out here to a machine
that doesn't work?
Are you any good at this
sort of stuff, Parker?
No, he is.
- I can understand most of it, but...
- Yeah.
...um, when it comes
to fixing things,
- I'm pretty useless.
- Yeah.
Put Jeff to work.
That's why we brought him.
You know,
a bit of pressure on me.
I, I think he's hoping that
I can get this thing up
and running,
which, yeah, feel little bit
of the pressure.
Having Jeff along gives us
a bit more credibility
and ability to actually
do some stuff.
Normally we come stumbling
and tripping in.
Yeah, exactly.
Leave the place in a mess.
- Oh, is that the problem?
- Yeah.
Right now, when I spin this,
- I'm feeling no resistance in there, so...
- Oh.
...it's definitely
the hydraulic pump
for the conveyor.
Yeah.
Not looking good.
No.
Without this, the conveyor
is not going to turn on.
No.
So what is the hydraulic pump?
What, what, what purp...
What's the purpose of it?
So without
the hydraulic pump running,
it's not supplying hydraulic
fluid up these lines to
the motor
- that you can see there...
- Yeah.
...which turns
the head pulley,
which moves the conveyor belt
and moves the discharge rock
out of the trommel.
Without that happening,
there's gonna be
a massive jam up here.
If the conveyor belt
can't remove rocks
from the trommel,
a machine won't run,
and Parker's trip
to Matt's mine will be over.
It's on Jeff to work out
a bush fix for the pump.
Jeff really needs to deliver
on this,
because if we don't get this
fired up today,
this is a wasted journey.
Do you reckon
we'll get it done
before we get out of here?
I'm gonna try
my hardest to get this done
so we can see this run
'cause we are pressed for time
and we need to see this
before we can go.
Not even sure this is
gonna work,
but we got to go see
if we can get some parts
off this old plant
to get it up and running.
Hopefully we can come up
with something.
Let's have a look.
Oh, I'm liking what I'm seeing here.
It's gonna be the same.
Let's get this thing off
and get this going here.
Pull her off, get her out,
and get her on.
Got the pump.
We're just gonna
see if this fits.
And if it fits, then we should
be up and running
pretty quick.
Moment of truth.
All right.
Just want to hold that
the other way there.
- She fit?
- Fits perfect.
Now we're just gonna
tighten up these two bolts,
put the lines back up
and fire up
and see if we can
run this conveyor.
Sweet.
- We're all tight.
- Perfect.
- She's on.
- Done.
All right,
bolts are tight.
Let's, uh, fire this thing up,
see if she runs.
Let's do it.
Got her sorted?
- Yeah, hoping so.
- Maybe?
Maybe.
Ninety percent chance.
- Guys, ready?
- Is this it?
- Moment of truth?
- We'res gonna fire it up.
Here we go.
- Guys, ready?
- Is this it? Moment of truth?
- We're gonna fire it up.
- Here we go.
It's gonna work perfect, though.
I can feel it in my bones.
There you go.
Good job.
Oh, yeah.
She works.
- Happy, Jeff?
- Oh, yeah, a happy Jeff.
Sweet.
Just need to feed
the beast now, then.
So what kind of
controls do you guys
run on these?
- CAT.
- Are they CAT controls?
- You want to get in here?
- Yeah.
All right,
I'll hand her over.
She's a weapon,
the old date.
You want a minute?
Just 40 beats.
Just take it easy.
Normally,
with the trommels you can tell
if the rings are dirty
halfway down,
you're feeding it too fast.
You're only really want that
top section running dirty.
- Gotcha.
- Yeah.
Great little plan
to start with
because you haven't got
the side tables.
That's what I was
just telling Dan.
I was like,
"Man, for a lot of the ground
that we're looking at,
it being road legal
and just taking
the stacker off is huge."
Yeah, yeah.
You know, Fairbanks,
there'll have to be
a lot of thought
put into our portability
because if you have to tear
a washplant down
and take days to tear
something down,
to move it from site to site,
it's gonna have
a pretty big effect
on the operation.
One thing I like
about this plant is that
you can, uh, move
and set up in half a day
probably, and that brings
your costs down
because you can move the plant
with just like two people
and, you know,
a plant this size, Matt,
has it kind of turned down at,
you know, 40 yards an hour,
which is probably smaller than
where I'd like to be.
But there's something
to be said for keeping it
small and agile.
Big yellow ticks
the box for maneuverability.
But the biggest question
remains.
Can it catch gold?
He's speeding it nicely.
He is bloody good as a digger.
Oh, yes.
- He knows what he's doing.
- He's a natural.
What are your
thoughts?
Oh, I think
it's a pretty cool,
compact design.
Running at the yardage
they're running at,
I think it's fine for here.
Oh, yeah, definitely.
But I see a few issues Parker
might run into trying to run
a little more material
than they're running here.
I think if Parker is trying
to run, you know,
he's telling me somewhere
in the neighborhood
- of 160 to 180 cubic yards per hour...
- Okay.
...I think in theory,
he's gonna overload
the system.
That is, uh, definitely
one thing to think about.
I don't think any
washplants run like that.
I haven't seen
one with the sluice
running underneath it.
It seems to make sense to me, though.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
To be honest, it's, uh,
not something we typically
see in the Klondike.
Uh, most, most of the time
you see external sluice runs.
But it looks like well-made
and compact
and do you know what I mean?
Now I've seen some but...
some plants and this looks
like a bag of *bleep*.
- Do you know what I mean?
- This is a very nice plant.
It's built very nice.
Another, uh, big factor is
when you're running
hydraulic riffles,
it comes down to how much
pressure you're running
in here
so you don't get your
riffles packing up too fast,
otherwise you start
losing gold.
- It goes straight over the top.
- Yeah.
You always want your fingers
to kind of sink in
a little bit.
If you apply a little bit
of pressure,
you want them to kind of
go down a little bit.
Yeah, okay.
So far so good.
I would have liked
to have run for our normal
four hours this morning
is what I was trying to do
and I would have showed you
how we rake the table
and wash that
and start off again.
Uh, it makes me feel better
because I think we know
that we're not alone in
all the breakdowns we have.
Oh, yeah.
But anyway, it's 5:00 o'clock
and we're running
and it's time to knock off.
Well, we're
shutting down for the day,
so I'm gonna throw one more
old scoop in here
and hope the boss
doesn't fire me on day one.
Done.
- How was that?
- Good.
Feel like
you're back at work?
Yeah.
But I don't do that
at the mine site.
No, I didn't think so.
I'm a desk jockey.
Got boys for that.
Matt, do you ever
find nuggets or
is it all just fines?
Just...
bulk of the gold is under three millimeter.
Yeah, okay.
There's a fair bit
on that for the time
we've been running.
Oh, it's good
Parker's here now.
You see, the gold's picked up.
I think that
we've brought you
nothing but bad luck.
After running
for three hours,
it's time for the
moment of truth.
How are we looking there,
Parker?
A little bit of color.
Oh, yeah.
- Oh, wow.
- Oh, my.
Oh, yeah,
it looks all right.
This is all
black sand now.
Like, I'm shaking the *bleep*
of this and I still
can't get it.
Oh, I tell you
what I have got is
a rare earth magnet.
In gold mining,
rare earth magnets are
used to separate
heavy non precious metals
from wash material,
including black sand.
Now that is
a strong magnet.
The black sand in
New Zealand is created by
ancient volcanic activity
and contains
a naturally occurring
iron oxide mineral
called magnetite,
giving the sand its
magnetic quality.
Now you're getting
a better idea with the pan.
Just trying to pull
as much of this *bleep*
out of it as possible.
Feel it's heaps better now.
It's going to the corner
of the pan.
Nice bit of color.
Purity here
is pretty good too.
Yeah, 96.5.
- 96.
- Wow.
That purity
makes a big difference.
After seeing
Matt's trommel
in action and evidence
that it catches fine gold,
Parker compares
notes with Jeff.
I like these
underhung sluice runs.
It's nice and compact.
Um, it kind of keeps
the sluice run underneath
the system
rather than on the outside,
making it a little bit wider.
I also like the way
this conveyor is.
It's controlled by hydraulics
so that it can turn
a little left to the...
and to the right just to move
your discharge pile
if you don't have time
to move it.
It's a pretty cool feature.
Sluice run width
is gonna be a limiting factor
in something like this, right?
Yeah.
Do you have a tape
on you?
Yeah.
Three feet.
Our big plants have
20 feet of width.
This thing has six.
So it's gonna knock you
down on the yardage for sure.
Yeah, big time.
I was thinking like, can you,
could you widen this out
and still make it easy
to get road legal?
We could do it.
But in doing it,
there's gonna be some things
we'll have to drop
and some things
we'll have to change
to, to make that work.
With running the amount
of yardage you're looking for,
we're gonna
have to do just a bit of
a distribution system.
Gotcha.
The amount of yardage
that Matt's running, uh,
it's perfect for the way
he has it.
Uh, but Parker
is talking about
running quite a bit of, uh,
cubic yards through his plant.
And in order to do that,
we're gonna have to do some
distribution system underneath,
so it's gonna take place of
where the sluice run
is on this one.
To increase the yardage
of big yellow,
Jeff proposes incorporating
a distribution system
and adding a much larger set
of sluice runs.
But this would compromise
its compact design.
And that's something that
for Fairbanks we really
need to consider.
Matt also said this thing
costs $20 a, a day to run.
We burn that in 20 minutes
on our big plants.
All right,
so what do you guys
think of the washplant?
Would that ever be
an option, Parker?
Um... it's older,
but it's also
like classic New Zealand,
super portable, super easy
to move around,
extremely cheap to run.
Jeff, you're the evil genius
when it comes to washplants.
Yeah, I think it's neat just
to see the compactness
of the underhung sluice.
I think my problem
with Matt's plant is
I don't know how you keep
the good parts of it
and scale it up.
How do you double that
and keep all the good bits
in it?
So we're not exactly
where we want to be?
Not necessarily.
So that plant...
we're not buying that?
I don't think so.
Let's go see him.
Thanks a ton for the time.
Really good
learning experience for us.
But for our set ups,
it's just too small.
Yeah, okay.
That's all fine.
I really enjoyed it.
It's been good to have
some likeminded miners.
With what
our mission is
in terms of like looking
at plants that are for sale
and seeing new technology
and different kinds of plants,
is there somebody
or some place
that you'd recommend we go?
Yeah, you just got to
keep heading south
and it'll come your way.
Gotcha.
And we'd be able to see
a bunch of different stuff
happening there, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cool.
Thanks, man.
It's been a real pleasure.
Well, thanks, Matt.
It was awesome running
little red there. It's good.
Would love to come up
to your workshop sometime.
Yeah, absolutely.
Any time.
And you better
make it up to the Yukon.
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
- All right. Good.
- Make it a trip.
- I really appreciate that.
- Nice one.
- Thanks, man.
We'll take
a few days off
and I'll give you
the grand tour.
There you go.
The washplant
I showed Parker
wasn't the perfect match.
The goal after this is
to keep the contacts up,
but also show washplants
that make them both stop
and go,
"This could be the one."
This is a really
good place to come
before starting
a new operation.
Matt Dove was a really
cool guy with a lot of
good ideas.
He's talking about
portable plants
and how to make an operation
work with only three people.
And that's the kind of stuff
that we need to focus on.
And hopefully we can go find
some more washplants
and, uh, hopefully find one
for sale.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
It's so blue.
Is there gold in these creeks
around here?
Yeah, we're in the goldfields.
- Parkers Creek.
- Parkers Creek.
No.
Stop, stop, stop.
We've got to get down there.
What are the odds of that?
We should find some gold
in Parkers Creek.
- My creek.
- Yes.
Yes.
Check it out.
It's not even Parker Creek.
It is Parkers Creek.
- Oh, yeah.
- Right?
If you find some gold here,
that would be amazing.
Do you think
we're on private property?
Oh, did we check?
I don't know, Tyler.
That's part of your job.
Yeah.
No, no.
Searching for gold
in Parkers Creek.
Nothing.
Did he find any?
No joy?
I don't think so.
Nah.
We tried.
The journey continues.
We're also probably
on private property
and I don't feel like
getting shot.
Yeah, good idea.
At least we can tell,
we didn't find anything.
Parker is a bust.
Get out of here.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
Hey, how are you?
Yeah, I'm good, good.
Um, thank you
for getting back to me.
Parker Schnabel
is on the hunt for a washplant
for his Alaska operation,
and is leaning on 26-year-old
prospector Tyler Mahoney
to find one.
But two weeks into the trip,
she still hasn't delivered.
We're looking
for washplants for sale,
so I was just hoping that,
um, maybe you wouldn't mind
if we headed up to your site
and checked it out.
Mmm-hmm.
All right.
Yeah, sure.
Yeah.
Cool.
All right.
It looks like
we're a go-ahead.
That one looks fresh.
Two weeks ago
at Iain Whyte's mine
near Hokitika...
I'm liking
what I'm seeing here.
...Parker fell in
love with a brand-new
washplant
with a cutting-edge design.
I really like this plant.
But left empty-handed.
We started talking money
a little bit,
but it's his baby.
This sets a very high standard
for what we're looking for.
Since then, Parker
has seen three more plants...
How old is this unit?
She's, uh, 38 years old.
...but is yet
to find the right one.
It's just not
what we're looking for.
The biggest problem
we've got right now
is we're up against it
for time.
If we don't find
a trommel
to buy that we can move
to Fairbanks in time
that's probably gonna be
as specialized
as I want it,
that's gonna be tough.
Now, with only
five weeks left in country,
it's on Tyler to keep
delivering hard new leads.
Right.
Where are we off to, Ty?
We are going to see
a man called Matt.
Matt Dove.
He's a gold miner up
in this region.
He's running a trommel.
He's got two up there.
One of them is for sale.
So that's why we're heading
off to have a look at it.
After striking out
in Greymouth,
the team drive
175 miles north
to the heart
of the Tasman region
in the foothills
of the Southern Alps.
I can see a trommel.
Another trommel?
No way.
We're here.
All right.
Hello.
Good to see you.
Good to meet you
in person finally.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
- Here's the rest of the crew.
- How are you?
Parker.
Nice to meet you.
Hello, mate.
I'm Danny.
So you guys are obviously
doing a bit of a tiki tour
around the country.
Yeah.
Checking stuff out.
With permits
to over 7,000 acres of ground,
Matt Dove is considered
one of the region's
most successful miners,
in part because he can run
his massive operation
with just three crew members.
Did you grow up
mining?
No, no.
I, um, bought a piece
of property on the West Coast,
five acres on the beach,
and someone told me at the pub
one night that there was gold
under the front fence
at five meters,
so I started digging
around there one summer
and I put the pan in there
and there's hundreds of colors
in the dust, you know?
*bleep*, I'm on it.
Went inside and met,
you know?
That's a great...
That's a great origin story.
You got gold fever?
And, um, then
it just led on from there.
Is this the trommel
that you had, um, to show us?
Yeah.
This one's been around
for a while.
Cool.
- It's been a good, reliable screen.
- All right.
Like, conveyer off,
this thing's probably
road legal.
Yeah, it is.
All you have to do is
just take the conveyor off.
You know, with this,
she's skidded straight
on the truck,
and you're off
to the next job, you know?
Big yellow is mobile
and cost efficient.
Its signature features,
a six-foot-wide space
saving sluice run...
and a pivoting
tailings conveyor
which spreads out
waste material
reducing time spent
clearing tailings.
Valued at $100,000,
this one-of-a-kind plant
is well within Parker's
$1,000,000 budget.
This screen
is cheap to run too.
This thing's about 20 bucks
a day, you know, in diesel.
- Really?
- Yeah.
If we're gonna make
Fairbanks a success,
we've got to take
a New Zealand approach of,
you know,
coming into it smart,
being efficient.
And so guys like Matt
are gonna be really valuable
sources of information.
At, at an initial glance,
I looked at the washplant
and I was just like,"
Oh, this is gonna be
a *bleep* disaster."
Did you?
Yeah, I mean don't judge
a washplant by its appearance.
It's a good little plant.
The pivoting tailings conveyor
is a nice design.
You know, this washplant might
not look like much,
but one really cool thing
about this is
it's one of the only plants
I've seen that is operational
and road legal
at the same time.
Right?
Because in Fairbanks
we're close to highways.
And if you're moving
on a highway,
you have to be road legal.
Right?
In the Yukon, we put
sluice on a trailer
sideways at 40 feet wide.
You can't do that
in Fairbanks.
So let's, uh,
let's see it in action.
Well, I was wondering
whether Parker would come
and help me dig
a bit of dirt first.
See if there's any
yellow stuff in it.
Could we go
prospecting?
Yeah, that's the plan.
It's a little bit
nervy at the moment,
and, um, it's a bit hard
to know what's going on
in his head.
So in my head, we'd rock up,
we'd see the trommel working
and we'd chat about him
maybe selling it.
But yeah, things, um,
definitely haven't gone
to plan.
So I kind of feel a little bit
awkward/embarrassed
and it's definitely not going
how I thought it would.
We need to find
a washplant
first and foremost.
Yeah.
But I'm always
looking for ground, so...
That'd be awesome.
In any business and the ones
that are looking
at the most opportunities
survive.
Yeah, I'm excited to be here.
Do you have quite
a bit of ground around here?
Yeah, there's about
2,000 or 3,000 hectares
or something we've got
under permit here.
Matt's got
a lot of land here.
In New Zealand the legalities
are quite intense,
so the fact I think
he's got four permits
is really impressive.
He must be finding good gold
if he can afford to run
that many permits at a time.
We're here under
the Southern Alps
and going into a bit of an
exploration project
where the old timers have been
sniffing around 100 years ago,
and some of the ground
that they looked at back
then thought was no good
is actually probably
good ground for mining now.
Gold was discovered
on New Zealand's
South Island in the 1860s.
On their way
to the West Coast,
prospectors passed through
the Tasman region,
but few took the time
to explore.
Located to the northwest
of the Southern Alps,
glacial movements have
littered this landscape
with rich pockets of gold,
and the potential for
gold rich ground looms large.
You've got
a lot of expectation
for this bit of land
we're looking at?
Oh, I wouldn't know
what we're gonna come up with.
That's the whole thrill
of the chase.
That's why we get out of bed
in the morning,
see what sort of treasure
we can find.
- Don't we, Parker?
- Yeah, exactly.
- Spoken like a true miner.
- Yeah.
What do we need to do?
Uh, we need to walk
that digger into the pit,
and you may have to do
a bit of stripping.
- Sweet.
- Yeah?
- All right.
- Perfect.
- Put me to work.
- Okay. Let's get on with it.
The team head
to a five-acre plot
of virgin ground
on the northwest side
of the mine site.
Parker is good.
He's keen. He's young.
He's got a lot of knowledge.
And I think he's somebody
that could add value
to any mining operation.
It's just good to have
another miner to hang out with
and give me a hand on
the digger
and see what it's gonna
come up with today.
And, um, maybe we'll have
a bit of a discussion
about the business side
of things later on.
This is so different
to what I'm used to.
I'm just used to red dirt
and flat.
It's actually quite refreshing
to see some green grass.
It's kind of cool,
you know.
I haven't done too much like
actual exploration
here in New Zealand.
You know, it's like you never
have proper equipment,
so it's just cool.
Looking forward to seeing
what's here.
Did any of us actually
consider any of this?
I think if there's
enough gold,
it's always on the table.
Parker excavates
six feet of overburden.
The goal, run 20 yards of dirt
to see if they've hit
a pastry.
There it is.
All right, Ty,
you can take that
over to the washplant.
Thanks, Parker.
Talk to me about this
as a, as a place to mine.
I mean, the reason
why I jumped
at the chance to spend a day
doing exploration with Matt is
I'm always looking for ground.
I always say I'd go mining anywhere.
It wouldn't take
much of a push to convince me
that this was
a good place to be.
Awesome country.
Cool people.
Super pretty.
Why not?
There's lots to
learn about feeding plants
and moving dirt and stripping.
In New Zealand,
27-year-old Parker Schnabel
has seized on an
unexpected opportunity
and is prospecting
a piece of ground.
We've just been talking about
mining in general
and it's a hard industry
to get into and, um,
to get the permits
is not easy.
You've got to be able
to show that you've got
the financial capability
and you've got the expertise.
Parker excavates pay...
Now that's a cool
little plant.
...while Jeff and Matt
get his two-foot test plant,
little red, up and running.
We're using
the same sort of set up
with the riffles
as what we are on
the big yellow screen.
So we're using expanded metal
and then onto a set
of standards
and then
the hydraulic riffles.
I think it's nice
and simple, small, easy
to move around.
I like how it's got
the grizzly bars up
so it minimizes
the chances of getting
a, a clog.
This is, uh, perfect for
what we're doing here,
that's for sure.
Belt tension is good.
We got oil. We got fuel.
And yeah, just got to get
some water to the plant
and fire it up.
And the next biggest step
is when Tyler comes down
with some pay.
Oh, *bleep*.
Okay, you definitely
don't get this in Kalgoorlie.
There's literally
a herd of cows on the road.
I don't know what to do.
Oh, my *bleep*
That's gotta be like
three hundred head
of cattle that I've just
got in the way of.
You get a C-minus
on a dump truck so far, Tyler.
Good gals.
They can have it.
Come on.
We don't see that every day.
There she is now.
Yeah, that'd be good.
All right,
we got water.
You better get up
top there, straight away,
'cause it won't take me long
to chew through that.
Yeah, roger.
I'll get a move on, then.
Everything's going
really good right now.
We're running
quite a bit of pay.
We've got a really nice wash.
The, the sluice
runs are running perfect.
And, yeah, the, the,
the riffles aren't clogging up
at all.
How was it down there?
Good.
They've got it up and running.
Um, the trommel's
working perfectly.
Sorry.
We bring down another load and, and that'll do us.
Hey, Parker, just a heads up.
Matt said this is
the last load.
All right.
You're good to go.
All right, we're done.
Hello.
- How's it going, Parker?
- A'ight.
- This is cute.
- It's working good.
Oh, it's a good-looking
little thing, innit?
Yeah.
Watch yourself.
Well made.
- How's it going?
- Hey. Good.
I like your trommel.
Hell, no lies, little red.
It's a bit more Granity
than I thought, this wash.
It's got
a lot of fines in it.
- Yeah, a lot of fines.
- Yeah.
I have to get
my terminology right.
Pay dirt equals wash.
For testing
you don't use a pan, huh?
You always usually do this?
I'd rather run
20 buckets through here.
- And...
- Right.
...I've always found panning is a bit hit and miss, you know?
And...
Yeah, I mean,
the bigger the sample,
the more accurate
it's gonna be, right?
Yeah, when,
when you got the toys
for the same pay, you might
as well play with them.
I think this is
the last of it,
then he's gonna shut it down
and then we'll hand it off.
After running 20 yards
of pay...
We'd put that carpet
into that big pan
to start with.
Gotcha.
And then we'll have
a look at that.
Parker needs to decide
if Matt's ground is
rich enough to invest in.
This is the stuff.
Oh, this is
the good stuff.
How many colors
would you want to see?
Oh,
if the full dish.
Silly question.
There's some
gold in here.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, you see that?
Oh, oh, yeah,
getting a bit of color here.
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, yeah, that is good.
And that's just
off the top in that.
And that's probably,
what, a 20th of an ounce?
Yeah.
Something like that?
So that'd be an ounce
per 120 yards.
At one ounce per
120 yards, it's a lower
recovery rate
than the one ounce per
100 yards
that Parker averages
in the Yukon.
Is it always
like superfine like that?
Yes.
I mean, uh, it needs
more exploration,
but probably not a ton
of ground that's gonna be
mineable on.
Yeah.
That's too much
pressure on having a plant
that's operational
this summer for Fairbanks.
- Yeah.
- No worries.
One of the side missions
on this trip was
to like meet people
and build contacts.
I really get the feeling
from him that if there's
gold in an area,
he knows how to find it.
And contacts like
that are invaluable.
It'll be good
to get back tomorrow,
set the washplant up
and running.
There's some things
that are a bit different
to what Parker's,
um, got running back
in the Yukon, which is,
I think is great 'cause
that's why we're here.
Do you know anywhere
around here we could camp?
Yeah, anywhere really.
- And we won't get shot?
- No, no.
- You'll be all right.
- Thanks, Matt.
Oh, man.
This is a spot.
There's a guy up here
on a bike, Jeff,
go speak to him.
- How's it going?
- Hi, there.
- Hello.
- Yeah, Matt said you would come out.
- Are you the farmer from around here?
- Yeah.
Oh, awesome.
I'm Tyler, by the way.
- This is awesome.
- Wow.
Look at the view.
- Thanks so much.
- Oh, yeah...
- Are those your cows?
- Yeah.
- Hard work farming, innit?
- Yeah.
So is there
anything we need to know?
Yeah, milking
is at 5:00 o'clock.
Was that in exchange for this?
Yeah, a little bit.
I've milked cows before.
I could help.
- Do you know how to do it?
- Yeah-ish.
- I've milked cows.
- Have fun, guys.
- All right, I'll let you know.
- Nice one.
- What was your name?
- Michael.
- Michael. Thanks, Michael.
- Yeah, it's cool.
- All right, man.
- Yeah, thanks, man. See you in the morning.
No.
Then it's not worth
being shown a camping spot.
Like that is
a bad negotiation.
We could have gone
and camped somewhere else.
Good day, guys.
- Really good day.
- Yeah.
Were you
happy with it?
Yeah, it was a really
good day. Matt's awesome.
What's the plan for tomorrow?
I just want to see
this plant run.
And once this plant runs
and, you know,
at least have something
to talk about.
Yeah, we should probe
him about that a bit tomorrow.
Time is kind of
the essence right now.
We're, we're only here
for so long.
Mmm-hmm.
Great.
Tomorrow
we're going to see
Matt's plant.
It's definitely got some
things that are different
and stuff that I haven't seen
around before.
I'm pretty keen
to get my teeth sunk in.
We're up against it
from a time standpoint.
That's the life of a miner.
Right.
- How are we looking there, Jeff?
- Just about packed up.
Parker and his crew
are spending a second day
at Matt Dove's claim...
- You guys ready to rock?
- Yep.
...on a mission
to secure a washplant
for next season.
- All done, Jeff?
- Yeah. All locked up.
- Let's get out of here.
- Let's do it.
But first, they've got
a debt to pay.
Oh.
- There they are.
- Oh, man.
We got to do all these?
- I don't know...
- I hope not.
How's it going?
Good. Good.
You ready to do some work?
I don't know.
I'm nervous about this one.
I've just seen a cow *bleep*
everywhere.
We'll give it a go
and see what happens.
Oh, my *bleep*.
Holy cow.
That's, that's, uh,
that's, that's quite the view.
Mate, that one's bottom's
twitching a little.
I don't trust that one.
Do you feel like
you're in the danger zone?
I feel like
I'm in the danger zone.
How often do you get
*bleep* on?
Uh, once a week, maybe.
- All right.
- Yeah.
So that's your
milker device.
You use suction
or something?
Yeah.
Suction and pulsation.
So how do you
turn this on?
Turn it on there.
- Like that?
- Aye.
I thought we were
going to be sitting here,
like pulling udders.
Go on, Ty.
Like this?
Press at that
lever down there.
And it gets the suction down.
How much milk do you
get out from,
from one of these
from one hit?
About seven liters.
- Seven liters each?
- Yeah.
The cows are positioned
on a rotating platform.
*bleep* Calm down.
So the team have
to work fast to keep up.
- Get in there, Jeff.
- Oh, man.
Try to use your
fingers to fill it.
So you don't put your head
down there.
Oh, this is great.
- Is that right?
- Yeah, this is awesome.
All right, Dan,
you're up.
Uh, yeah,
I guess I'd better.
Tony Beets
grew up on a dairy farm.
I don't, I don't think
they had these things, though.
There you go, Dan.
- There's *bleep* coming out of that thing.
- Wow.
Oh, wow.
A waterfall.
It's like the firing range, seriously.
This one's fighting me.
Dairy is
one of New Zealand's
biggest industries,
with yearly exports
worth over $11 billion.
Michael's team milked
the 400 strong herd
twice a day
to reach their daily target
of 500 gallons.
Most of it going to make
the best dairy product,
ice cream.
Come on, Jeffy boy.
Come on, Jeff.
Well done, mate.
- Oh, that one don't like it.
- Oh.
- Oh, there you go.
- *bleep* everywhere.
- Awesome.
- Oh.
I got *bleep* on.
That was close.
So is that about it?
You paid for your camping now,
so we're covered.
We're good.
We definitely got
the short end of the stick.
Oh, no, that was great.
Thank you for that night.
Never thanked
somebody for getting
*bleep* on the before but...
- There's a first too.
- There's a first for everything.
40 cows expertly milked
by the team...
...Parker turns his
attention to his main goal,
finding a wash plant.
And his sights are set
on testing Matt Dove's
compact trommel.
So mind if we go take a look?
It's got a few
hydraulic issues going on
this morning,
so we're working out a bit
of a bush fix.
Oh, *bleep*.
Just so *bleep*
typical.
Like, of course, this happens.
The whole machine's down.
It's always something
with this business, isn't it?
Oh, yeah.
I mean,
it's been a good,
reliable screen up until
today, really.
How are you guys doing?
You guys figuring out
the problem?
Um, we're gonna
need a little bit longer.
What's happening?
Oh, we replaced
the coupling on the motor...
Oh, yeah.
...and put a new pump
to drive the trommel.
But now we've put it back
together the other pump
that drives the stack
has broken down.
Trommel's
not working.
It needs to work.
We need to be seeing machinery
running or why the hell have
I dragged all the boys
out here to a machine
that doesn't work?
Are you any good at this
sort of stuff, Parker?
No, he is.
- I can understand most of it, but...
- Yeah.
...um, when it comes
to fixing things,
- I'm pretty useless.
- Yeah.
Put Jeff to work.
That's why we brought him.
You know,
a bit of pressure on me.
I, I think he's hoping that
I can get this thing up
and running,
which, yeah, feel little bit
of the pressure.
Having Jeff along gives us
a bit more credibility
and ability to actually
do some stuff.
Normally we come stumbling
and tripping in.
Yeah, exactly.
Leave the place in a mess.
- Oh, is that the problem?
- Yeah.
Right now, when I spin this,
- I'm feeling no resistance in there, so...
- Oh.
...it's definitely
the hydraulic pump
for the conveyor.
Yeah.
Not looking good.
No.
Without this, the conveyor
is not going to turn on.
No.
So what is the hydraulic pump?
What, what, what purp...
What's the purpose of it?
So without
the hydraulic pump running,
it's not supplying hydraulic
fluid up these lines to
the motor
- that you can see there...
- Yeah.
...which turns
the head pulley,
which moves the conveyor belt
and moves the discharge rock
out of the trommel.
Without that happening,
there's gonna be
a massive jam up here.
If the conveyor belt
can't remove rocks
from the trommel,
a machine won't run,
and Parker's trip
to Matt's mine will be over.
It's on Jeff to work out
a bush fix for the pump.
Jeff really needs to deliver
on this,
because if we don't get this
fired up today,
this is a wasted journey.
Do you reckon
we'll get it done
before we get out of here?
I'm gonna try
my hardest to get this done
so we can see this run
'cause we are pressed for time
and we need to see this
before we can go.
Not even sure this is
gonna work,
but we got to go see
if we can get some parts
off this old plant
to get it up and running.
Hopefully we can come up
with something.
Let's have a look.
Oh, I'm liking what I'm seeing here.
It's gonna be the same.
Let's get this thing off
and get this going here.
Pull her off, get her out,
and get her on.
Got the pump.
We're just gonna
see if this fits.
And if it fits, then we should
be up and running
pretty quick.
Moment of truth.
All right.
Just want to hold that
the other way there.
- She fit?
- Fits perfect.
Now we're just gonna
tighten up these two bolts,
put the lines back up
and fire up
and see if we can
run this conveyor.
Sweet.
- We're all tight.
- Perfect.
- She's on.
- Done.
All right,
bolts are tight.
Let's, uh, fire this thing up,
see if she runs.
Let's do it.
Got her sorted?
- Yeah, hoping so.
- Maybe?
Maybe.
Ninety percent chance.
- Guys, ready?
- Is this it?
- Moment of truth?
- We'res gonna fire it up.
Here we go.
- Guys, ready?
- Is this it? Moment of truth?
- We're gonna fire it up.
- Here we go.
It's gonna work perfect, though.
I can feel it in my bones.
There you go.
Good job.
Oh, yeah.
She works.
- Happy, Jeff?
- Oh, yeah, a happy Jeff.
Sweet.
Just need to feed
the beast now, then.
So what kind of
controls do you guys
run on these?
- CAT.
- Are they CAT controls?
- You want to get in here?
- Yeah.
All right,
I'll hand her over.
She's a weapon,
the old date.
You want a minute?
Just 40 beats.
Just take it easy.
Normally,
with the trommels you can tell
if the rings are dirty
halfway down,
you're feeding it too fast.
You're only really want that
top section running dirty.
- Gotcha.
- Yeah.
Great little plan
to start with
because you haven't got
the side tables.
That's what I was
just telling Dan.
I was like,
"Man, for a lot of the ground
that we're looking at,
it being road legal
and just taking
the stacker off is huge."
Yeah, yeah.
You know, Fairbanks,
there'll have to be
a lot of thought
put into our portability
because if you have to tear
a washplant down
and take days to tear
something down,
to move it from site to site,
it's gonna have
a pretty big effect
on the operation.
One thing I like
about this plant is that
you can, uh, move
and set up in half a day
probably, and that brings
your costs down
because you can move the plant
with just like two people
and, you know,
a plant this size, Matt,
has it kind of turned down at,
you know, 40 yards an hour,
which is probably smaller than
where I'd like to be.
But there's something
to be said for keeping it
small and agile.
Big yellow ticks
the box for maneuverability.
But the biggest question
remains.
Can it catch gold?
He's speeding it nicely.
He is bloody good as a digger.
Oh, yes.
- He knows what he's doing.
- He's a natural.
What are your
thoughts?
Oh, I think
it's a pretty cool,
compact design.
Running at the yardage
they're running at,
I think it's fine for here.
Oh, yeah, definitely.
But I see a few issues Parker
might run into trying to run
a little more material
than they're running here.
I think if Parker is trying
to run, you know,
he's telling me somewhere
in the neighborhood
- of 160 to 180 cubic yards per hour...
- Okay.
...I think in theory,
he's gonna overload
the system.
That is, uh, definitely
one thing to think about.
I don't think any
washplants run like that.
I haven't seen
one with the sluice
running underneath it.
It seems to make sense to me, though.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
To be honest, it's, uh,
not something we typically
see in the Klondike.
Uh, most, most of the time
you see external sluice runs.
But it looks like well-made
and compact
and do you know what I mean?
Now I've seen some but...
some plants and this looks
like a bag of *bleep*.
- Do you know what I mean?
- This is a very nice plant.
It's built very nice.
Another, uh, big factor is
when you're running
hydraulic riffles,
it comes down to how much
pressure you're running
in here
so you don't get your
riffles packing up too fast,
otherwise you start
losing gold.
- It goes straight over the top.
- Yeah.
You always want your fingers
to kind of sink in
a little bit.
If you apply a little bit
of pressure,
you want them to kind of
go down a little bit.
Yeah, okay.
So far so good.
I would have liked
to have run for our normal
four hours this morning
is what I was trying to do
and I would have showed you
how we rake the table
and wash that
and start off again.
Uh, it makes me feel better
because I think we know
that we're not alone in
all the breakdowns we have.
Oh, yeah.
But anyway, it's 5:00 o'clock
and we're running
and it's time to knock off.
Well, we're
shutting down for the day,
so I'm gonna throw one more
old scoop in here
and hope the boss
doesn't fire me on day one.
Done.
- How was that?
- Good.
Feel like
you're back at work?
Yeah.
But I don't do that
at the mine site.
No, I didn't think so.
I'm a desk jockey.
Got boys for that.
Matt, do you ever
find nuggets or
is it all just fines?
Just...
bulk of the gold is under three millimeter.
Yeah, okay.
There's a fair bit
on that for the time
we've been running.
Oh, it's good
Parker's here now.
You see, the gold's picked up.
I think that
we've brought you
nothing but bad luck.
After running
for three hours,
it's time for the
moment of truth.
How are we looking there,
Parker?
A little bit of color.
Oh, yeah.
- Oh, wow.
- Oh, my.
Oh, yeah,
it looks all right.
This is all
black sand now.
Like, I'm shaking the *bleep*
of this and I still
can't get it.
Oh, I tell you
what I have got is
a rare earth magnet.
In gold mining,
rare earth magnets are
used to separate
heavy non precious metals
from wash material,
including black sand.
Now that is
a strong magnet.
The black sand in
New Zealand is created by
ancient volcanic activity
and contains
a naturally occurring
iron oxide mineral
called magnetite,
giving the sand its
magnetic quality.
Now you're getting
a better idea with the pan.
Just trying to pull
as much of this *bleep*
out of it as possible.
Feel it's heaps better now.
It's going to the corner
of the pan.
Nice bit of color.
Purity here
is pretty good too.
Yeah, 96.5.
- 96.
- Wow.
That purity
makes a big difference.
After seeing
Matt's trommel
in action and evidence
that it catches fine gold,
Parker compares
notes with Jeff.
I like these
underhung sluice runs.
It's nice and compact.
Um, it kind of keeps
the sluice run underneath
the system
rather than on the outside,
making it a little bit wider.
I also like the way
this conveyor is.
It's controlled by hydraulics
so that it can turn
a little left to the...
and to the right just to move
your discharge pile
if you don't have time
to move it.
It's a pretty cool feature.
Sluice run width
is gonna be a limiting factor
in something like this, right?
Yeah.
Do you have a tape
on you?
Yeah.
Three feet.
Our big plants have
20 feet of width.
This thing has six.
So it's gonna knock you
down on the yardage for sure.
Yeah, big time.
I was thinking like, can you,
could you widen this out
and still make it easy
to get road legal?
We could do it.
But in doing it,
there's gonna be some things
we'll have to drop
and some things
we'll have to change
to, to make that work.
With running the amount
of yardage you're looking for,
we're gonna
have to do just a bit of
a distribution system.
Gotcha.
The amount of yardage
that Matt's running, uh,
it's perfect for the way
he has it.
Uh, but Parker
is talking about
running quite a bit of, uh,
cubic yards through his plant.
And in order to do that,
we're gonna have to do some
distribution system underneath,
so it's gonna take place of
where the sluice run
is on this one.
To increase the yardage
of big yellow,
Jeff proposes incorporating
a distribution system
and adding a much larger set
of sluice runs.
But this would compromise
its compact design.
And that's something that
for Fairbanks we really
need to consider.
Matt also said this thing
costs $20 a, a day to run.
We burn that in 20 minutes
on our big plants.
All right,
so what do you guys
think of the washplant?
Would that ever be
an option, Parker?
Um... it's older,
but it's also
like classic New Zealand,
super portable, super easy
to move around,
extremely cheap to run.
Jeff, you're the evil genius
when it comes to washplants.
Yeah, I think it's neat just
to see the compactness
of the underhung sluice.
I think my problem
with Matt's plant is
I don't know how you keep
the good parts of it
and scale it up.
How do you double that
and keep all the good bits
in it?
So we're not exactly
where we want to be?
Not necessarily.
So that plant...
we're not buying that?
I don't think so.
Let's go see him.
Thanks a ton for the time.
Really good
learning experience for us.
But for our set ups,
it's just too small.
Yeah, okay.
That's all fine.
I really enjoyed it.
It's been good to have
some likeminded miners.
With what
our mission is
in terms of like looking
at plants that are for sale
and seeing new technology
and different kinds of plants,
is there somebody
or some place
that you'd recommend we go?
Yeah, you just got to
keep heading south
and it'll come your way.
Gotcha.
And we'd be able to see
a bunch of different stuff
happening there, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cool.
Thanks, man.
It's been a real pleasure.
Well, thanks, Matt.
It was awesome running
little red there. It's good.
Would love to come up
to your workshop sometime.
Yeah, absolutely.
Any time.
And you better
make it up to the Yukon.
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
- All right. Good.
- Make it a trip.
- I really appreciate that.
- Nice one.
- Thanks, man.
We'll take
a few days off
and I'll give you
the grand tour.
There you go.
The washplant
I showed Parker
wasn't the perfect match.
The goal after this is
to keep the contacts up,
but also show washplants
that make them both stop
and go,
"This could be the one."
This is a really
good place to come
before starting
a new operation.
Matt Dove was a really
cool guy with a lot of
good ideas.
He's talking about
portable plants
and how to make an operation
work with only three people.
And that's the kind of stuff
that we need to focus on.
And hopefully we can go find
some more washplants
and, uh, hopefully find one
for sale.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.