Hoffman Family Gold (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Cleaning Up a Hot Mess - full transcript
[Rob Naughton]
Todd Hoffman is back.
[Todd Hoffman] It's been
years, since we've even put
one bucket of dirt
through a trommel.
[man] This is a mess.
[Rob] And he's
banked his future
on getting Jason
Otteson's troubled mine
to the $1 million mark.
You get me to a million
dollars worth of gold this season,
you have a lease.
[man 2] Whoa! Stop!
[Rob] But Jason and his
crew are only half way there.
That's what they had done
in the last four, five months.
We got seven weeks to
do the same amount of gold.
[chuckles] I don't
know what to do.
[Rob] Now, they must
average 43 ounces each week
to meet their seasonal
goal of 600 ounces.
With Alaska's unforgiving
winter approaching...
Old Man Winter is gonna
slam the door shut pretty quick.
[Rob] ...and
shoddy equipment...
Plant's not running,
not making money.
[Rob] ...will Todd's
return be short lived?
[Todd] I wanna
run this property.
I think I can do a better jo
[Todd] Mark, you've
gotta get that thing done.
[Todd] So we've been
workin for several days here
to get this plant running.
You can't get any gold, if
none of your plants are running.
If we can't get the
Z-plant running,
we might as well, just pack
up and go home right now.
[Andy Spinks] Fixed the
riffles, put new springs,
put new spray bars.
That looks good.
Things are looking
good in these ...
-Andy, get ready to fire it up!
-[Andy] Okay.
[Rob] Z-plant is
finally ready to go...
when Todd's plan
hits another snag...
a broken down fuel truck.
Without a way to
transport fuel to the Z-plant,
there's no way of
getting it running.
They informed me
that the fuel truck
blew the engine, so... we
do not have a fuel truck.
[Hunter Hoffman] Remember the
real issue, a lot of these machines,
you can't drive them
up to the fuel tank,
you have to take
the fuel to them,
so this is an actual big issue.
The engine is blowing on it,
so we're gonna hook
it up to this loader
and tow it up and out of the way
so that Randy can fix it.
Maybe come my
way just a little bit.
[Hunter] Yeah.
Probably another
two, three feet.
[Hunter] You know, if don't
get this fuel truck running,
we can't fuel
any of the pumps,
we can't fuel the
generator for the plant,
we can't fuel the
equipment, and...
then we'll be screwed.
[Andy] This fuel truck
is really important.
It's a six-wheel
drive fuel truck.
You can drive
anywhere on the mine
and not get stuck, so it...
fuels all the plants,
all the excavators out
in the cuts and stuff.
It's just another
obstacle on this mine.
It's hard to win here.
It's just hard to win.
[Rob] A blown
engine on an old truck
is a challenging prospect
in the Alaskan wild.
Luckily, this
truck has a twin.
[Randy] This is our
other military fuel truck.
It hasn't been
started in four years.
Uh, we've been
scavenging parts off of it.
I don't even know if it runs,
but, uh, we gotta
get this running
now because we do
not have a fuel truck.
-So what happened? Black and blue?
-Well...
[Randy] She's no
good. She's done, Todd.
Do you think you can
get that one running?
I think so.
Okay, how long?
We gotta fuel all these
things up. What do you got?
Well, I'm hoping by
the end of the night.
-[Todd] Wow, all right, Todd. Good luck.
-All right.
Appreciate it, thanks.
[Rob] But getting it
running is easier said,
given that over the years
many vital parts
have been scavenged
for the now broken down truc
We got a lot of work
to do ahead of us here.
It is missing a couple
of items, like the pump,
PTO shaft.
We gotta get the
fire extinguisher
over on this side.
We gotta put it
all back together.
[Rob] In order to get the
abandoned fuel truck fully functional,
Randy must transfer parts
from the broken
down fuel truck.
To have a Vietnam
military fuel truck...
almost impossible.
You're not gonna find
any one of those in Nome.
To have two of them
with identical parts,
literally, unheard of.
Just like butter.
Whoo!
We don't throw anything
away up here in Alaska
'cause you never know
when you're gonna need it.
Parts are parts.
We'll take 'em, we don't
care where they come from.
Because it's the
exact same setup,
I can go ahead and just swap
over the fuel line
to this truck.
One more step
closer to being done,
'cause we gotta
have a fuel truck.
Bada-bing!
Now I need to get some
drag shaft for the fuel pump
This shaft is snapped in half,
so we took that
shaft off of that truck
and put it on this truck.
Well, now, we gotta
undo all that. [sighs]
All of these could've
been avoided
if they had just
checked the oil.
[Rob] Back at the Z-plant,
Todd knows he
needs this victory.
[Todd] If we're not
getting this thing running,
we're dead in the water,
we're not making any gold.
Nope. [grunts]
Come on, baby. Come on.
Let's see if she turns
or... if she breaks.
Hate to all this
work for nothing.
[grunts]
There.
[grunts] There.
Come on, baby.
[engine starts]
Holy crap!
And we have another
fuel truck again.
That's awesome.
Yahtzee!
[Rob] With the fuel
truck finally running,
the Hoffman crew
has a glimmer of hope.
[Randy] Whoo! Beautiful.
[engine whirring]
Finally, the fuel truck's here.
We got the Calvary here.
-Try to get us some fuel.
-Roll it up!
Fuel up the generator.
[Rob] After days of
working in the Z-plant,
the Hoffmans are ready
for the moment of truth.
[Todd] Get ready to run. Okay?
Fire up the generator!
[engine sputtering]
[man] Fire it up!
Clear!
[Todd] Watch it close. Andy,
you'll wanna see what's going on!
[motor whirring]
Hit the water!
Let's give it a
little trickle neck...
-Looking good! This plant's running!
-Yeah.
I mean, look at the tails, they're
coming out perfectly clean.
[Todd] Yeah.
[Rob] The Hoffman's hard
work has finally paid off.
And the Z-plant is
fully operational again.
How're you doing,
guys? I'm happy.
[Rob] Finally, they can
run dirt and get some gold.
[laughter]
Good job.
[Todd] We know we're way
behind where we need to be.
We gotta start
running richer pay dirt.
Before we get too far,
and run too much dirt, we're
gonna go ahead and keep testing.
Keep using this clean-up room
as our secret weapon.
[Rob] With only one
working wash plant,
running the richest paydirt
is critical to their success
Well, the best we've ever
done is an ounce a hundred.
I think we've gotta
have at least...
-two ounces a hundred.
-Double.
Yeah.
I think it's the only way that
we have any hope whatsoever.
[Rob] Jack and Jim have
run a 150 yard test wash
from the current
dig site, North Fork.
And the results are in.
What's up?
Thought I better call you. I
don't know what's going on.
We have a problem.
You weighing a 150 yards.
-Yeah.
-It only got 2.5,
so that's only 1.6
ounces per 100.
That's not good.
We can't keep running that dirt.
Maybe we should move.
[chuckles] I don't know what to do.
You know, typically,
in this situation
we just start a new cut
and find a better paydirt.
[Rob] A new cut is the process
of removing the
organic top layer,
exposing the soil underneat
to the heat of the sun
allowing it to thaw,
making it possible to
then cut into the earth
until bedrock has reached.
From there, they can
identify and harvest paydirt
where gold is settled.
Opening a new cut is
a labor intensive task.
It generally happens
in early spring
when there's time for
the paydirt layer to tha
[Hunter] It's just too
late in the season
and the weather's not
gonna have the ground thaw,
so we really don't have a
choice, but to just stick with it.
Maybe we should
give up, move on.
Move around.
That number won't do it.
If we make one false step,
we're not gonna meet our goal.
And you know what?
It's already getting cold
and we're running out of time.
Sorry, Andy, throwing
away your hard work.
[Andy] We need paydirt,
we need thawed paydirt
and we need it right away.
Nick, how's the box looking?
-The box looks perfect.
-[machine beeping]
All is good...
...for now.
[Hunter] My dad and Andy
are out looking
for new ground,
so right now, I'm
just trying to run
as much through
Z-plant as I possibly can.
We're in a race
against time and...
And some gold is
better than no gold.
You know, I can already
feel the weather changing.
It's getting colder
every single day.
It's getting darker
earlier every night.
And we need every
single yard we can get.
Oh, the boss is here.
All right, everybody, shake 'em
up. The mine boss is driving through.
Copy.
[Rob] Todd has made
mine owner, Jason Otteson,
aware of this
problematic gold yields.
Now, Jason is here to
work with the Hoffmans
and protect his investment.
This project is the
result of million of dollars.
My money, investors' money
coming together to gamble.
I trust the Hoffmans becaus
we have a long friendship,
but I'm motivated to
make su that they don't fail.
They might perceive it as
micro-managing at times
or that I wanna be too involved,
but we need the gold
and the time is ticking.
[Todd] I'm a
friend of Jason's.
I am,
but he doesn't run gold mine
He's had to go
hands-on on this thing,
but at this point,
if you're smart,
you'll let us
handle it right now.
[Jason Otteson] We're
further behind than expected
and the current dig site
is producing less
gold than expected.
To me, that means we
have to open a new cut
where we know
there's better gold.
[Rob] Early in the
season, Jason performed
geological drill testing
that showed extremely
promising results,
especially, in an area
known as Quartz Creek.
These tests are done
by auguring deep holes.
and pulling up
paydirt samples.
Gold extracted
from the paydirt
allows geologists to provid
an ounces per
100 yard estimate.
With estimates at over
300 ounces per 100 yard
in Quartz Creek.
Starting a new cut here
is hard for Jason to resist
[Jason] Guys, we need
to open up a new cut.
So this is how we're
gonna do this thing.
I want all the organics
rolled to the top of this cut,
so that we can start
moving the frozen muck.
You don't think that's risky?
No. We have to do the whole cut
and get it to the plant.
[Andy] If you take all
of the organics
off the top of that
that material is
60% frozen water.
This late in the season,
there's no way that ground is
gonna thaw good enough to mine it.
The only time that you
can take the whole cut off
is if we were here
in April or May.
-That's when you take...
-[Jason] We don't have the time
to wait on this gold
to get it to the plant.
Our cash flow
needs that gold now.
That's the only place that
we ever drilled resource
right now that's ready to go.
[Todd] This ground
will not thaw in time
with the weather that's
happening right now.
I promise you,
this late in the year,
that cut will turn into crap.
We shouldn't even be
doing a cut right now.
This is not the
right time to do this.
Dude, we cannot fight.
It's too late in the season.
I know we're paying the
bills, but I'm telling you
I trust this guy.
He's done good cuts.
We've got a lot of gold.
[Andy] I respect you. I get
where you're coming from,
but I can't do something
wrong when I know it's wrong.
[Jason] Here's the deal...
I asked you to come help.
I'm not a professional miner.
I've made this thing work
year after year barely.
But I gotta pay the bills.
So if we don't have
the gold to the plant
washing as soon as possible,
we're in a bad situation.
What I can guarantee you
is that I will get that cut done.
What mother nature allows us
and thawing...
that I can't control.
We'll do it your way.
Let's get started.
[Todd] All right, we're ready?
-[Andy] Ready.
-Do it right Andy.
Let's go.
[Andy] You know, I don't
really believe in this ground.
It's too late this season.
This ground's not gonna thaw
But Todd right now, you know he is not
supposed to tell that to Jason right now.
So, I'm just gonna put my game
face on, and I'm just gonna go to work.
[dramatic music playing]
[Todd] These are our
very first cut in four years.
I love it.
You know what?
It feels like mining.
It's starting to spare for
the and starts to get real.
[Todd] Hey, got to copy.
[Andy] Yeah, go ahead.
How do you feel
man? You still got it?
[Andy over walkie-talkie]
Like riding a bike.
[laughs]
Not a lot of people have felt
ice that's thousands of years old.
What are you thinking, Andy?
You think this will thaw out?
I don't know, we're late. I
don't know, if it will thaw or not.
Kind of doubtful, but
we'll give it a try for Jason.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Todd] My concern and Andy's
concern is, will this ground thaw?
Did we miss the window?
We dealt with permafrost
in the Klondike,
and we've learned the hard way
that you can't underestimate ice.
We're the only idiots in
the Klondike right now,
trying to thaw-repeat
it out with the bonfire.
So, Jason knows what's under
the ground, with all of his testing.
But it doesn't make
any difference,
if the ground is frozen
and he can't get it out.
You know, I hope the ground
thaws. But if not, we just wasted
a whole bunch of
time and money.
It takes a special kind
of guy who wanna do this.
It takes patience,
ability, skill, balls...
...can you say that?
We got a long way to go.
[Rob] At Z-plant,
Andy's son, Dakota,
loads gold-bearing
dirt into the wash plant.
[Andy over walkie-talkie]
Z-plant can run up to
80 yards of dirt per hour.
When running lower quality pay
dirt, quantity becomes more important.
[Decoder] Dirt's
pretty wet and heavy.
[whirring]
[machine shuts down]
[Hunter over walkie-talkie] Nick,
go ahead and shut the shaker down,
it just shut-off again.
[Decoder] What's going on?
[Hunter] It just shut-off. I
think that material is too heavy.
Holler, Randy, we'll get him down
here and then, we'll see what's going on.
Hey! Randy, Randy.
We're just though this
belt on the plant here.
We need you down here.
There's no-go beyond
through this sludge right now.
So, every second that we're
down is just time wasted.
[Decoder] You're not gonna be happy
to hear this. [Randy] What's going on?
[Decoder] You've
through on that belt, just--
I think the weight of the
material's a little bit overloading it.
All right. Well,
will check it out.
[Randy] Plant's not
running, Not making money.
All right, boys. Let me
do... Let me get in here.
[exclaims] It's out of the line. We
need to pull it back on this, on...
-Lock this side, pull this side back.
-Yeah.
The alignment's out. The
belt scratches over time.
We're just gonna try to get as
much time as we can out of this belt
before we have to replace
it, because they're not cheap.
If this doesn't work, and if
belt does get thrown off again,
that means that the belt is stretched,
and we're gonna have to replace it.
And we only have six
weeks left in the season.
Currently, we're just gonna try to get
the plant back up and running again.
Hopefully.
[Randy] Oh! It didn't move.
-[Randy] Wait, that's still way off.
-[Nick] Yeah.
[Randy] Oh! I don't like those
noises. [Nick] No, I don't either.
[Randy] She's way off.
Damn it!
Plant's down. I'm trying
to find out what's going on.
Ah, That sucks!
This is not the time we want
to be sitting here... fixing things.
[Randy] Oh! You
have any water issues?
'Cause normally when you get a
clump like that, it's a little less water.
It's just like,
solid clay today.
-Oh, you're gonna have to run it slower.
-[Hunter] Yeah.
Hey, Randy. What's going on?
They've run in a lot of clay.
So, its loading up the motor.
The motor is
slightly out of the line.
-And I think, the belt's stretched a little bit.
-Hmm.
But I think they're gonna have to run
slower today, because of this clay material.
[Randy] It's just sitting in one spot,
up there. It's not even clearing up.
[Jason] All right.
And I don't like it.
[Jason] Randy is thinking
like a mechanic right now.
I'm thinking like someone who
has a personal stake in the mine.
We can't afford to slow down.
My goal right now is to make
sure this plant is never down.
And here it is, it's down.
[dramatic music playing]
-Wait, that's still way off.
-Yeah.
-Oh! I don't like those noises.
-No, I don't either.
[Randy] Ah, that sucks!
Damn it!
[Jason] My goal right now is to
make sure this plant is never down.
And here it is, it's down.
Tighten that corner off,
Mike. Or, away. I'm sorry!
-Did that move, Mike?
-Yes, sir.
[Randy] We're trying to take this
motor. We're gonna anchor this side...
and swing the motor around to
other bolts, parallel on the same line.
If they're not parallel,
it'll keep throwing the belt.
When plants are down, it's bad. And
this time of the year it's even worse.
So, we're not making money, it affects
everybody here, including me and my family.
[Randy] You know,
Jason. You know how he is.
You haven't done yet?
This didn't come forward.
We need this to come forward.
I'm gonna get out of here
and get a check on other stuff.
It's hard for me
to see this down.
She's loose.
[Nick] Come on! Come on!
Tighten it up.
It should bring the motor
around and take in the belt.
All right, Rando!
[Randy] Okay. It looks
like we're good to go.
So, we'll let these
guys get back to work.
We want to run close to eighty
to a hundred yards per hour.
And they, probably have to be
around 70 to 60 yards an hour,
just to keep the plant together.
Not where we want to be, but at
least we're gonna continue to run.
We can fire up the plant,
get things working again.
[machine whirring]
[Randy] You know, you should never
run your equipment into the ground.
-[Randy] Jason, he wants more?
-[Hunter] He wants even more.
[drilling]
[dramatic music playing]
[Andy] I think it's a wrong
time to be doing the cut.
It's too late.
[Todd] I don't think
it's gonna thaw right.
[Rob] Three chilly days afte removing
the organic layer from Jason's new cut,
Todd and Andy assessed
the state of the pay.
[Andy] I mean, it wants to thaw.
You can see the crack and the
water is running out of it, but...
That's just rainwater
running off the surface.
We just don't have any heat.
We need heat.
[Todd] If I understand
why he wants this ground,
it's three and a half
ounces a hundred yards.
That's rich!
It's just a wrong time.
We've done this the wrong way.
I knew it was the wrong
way, when we started this.
-Yeah.
-And how we just wasted precious time.
Yeah.
[Andy] He brought us
here for our expertise.
He's gotta start listening
to us at some point.
We can't just keep doing
things that we know are wrong.
We better think up a plan-B.
[Andy] We have to
find some more dirt.
Something that's thawed
this late in the year.
That's got gold in it.
There's got to be some other
thawed ground around here.
Now, we gotta do it our way, I
guess. We have no other choice.
We gonna have to go
search for some pay.
Let's go.
[Rob] The cut that Jason wan
to pursue won't thaw in time
Todd and Andy spend the
following day, seeking thawed ground.
[Andy] That's what we need.
I've come up to
the end of the creek,
in that south-facing
slope to the sun's hitting...
peel back the vegetation,
and look what I found.
All thawed gravel.
[Rob] The cut that failed to thaw,
is on a section of Quartz Creek
that runs north to south.
Andy has spotted an area neighboring
Dahl Creek, with a broad slope
that faces much more sun over
the course of a long Alaska day,
allowing a ground of thaw and
make for easier access to pay dirt.
[Andy] Everywhere that I
poked on this hill, is thawed.
There's a mile of it.
We just gotta make
sure it's got gold in it.
-[Todd] Look right there. Got a small tailing.
-[Andy] Yeah.
[Todd] Tailings are
there. Tailings there.
Tailings down there.
[Rob] Tailings are the refus material of
rock and gravel that is been washed for gold
It indicates, the past miner
believe there was gold in this spot.
The old-timers ran here.
They knew it was here.
-[Todd] They didn't have any equipment.
-[Andy] No.
[Todd] They had to
stick with the thawed stuff.
-Yep.
-Where's all the tailings?
It's outside.
[Andy] If they moved all this by hand
but no equipment, it had to be rich.
-I'd say, we run it.
-Run it!
I'll get trucks up here, get
the excavator and we'll load it,
and get that cleaned
up to Jack and Thurber.
[Todd] one day.
-[Andy] One day...
-Just one day.
-Okay.
-You're a genius.
You might have just
saved the day, Andy.
-I hope so. Saved all our bacon.
-No kidding!
[Todd] We have to get the gold, the
best way we ca fastest way we can.
So, I'm not gonna tell Jason just yet, that
we're pursuing a cut on the southern slope.
If that looks like it's gonna pay off,
then we'll go ahead and let Jason know.
But, you know, it's... It's for
the betterment of the mind.
[Rob] Andy quickly gets the
team working on the southern slope.
They have to act fast before mine
owner, Jason Otteson realizes that
Todd has changed the plan.
Todd has given them one day to excavate
and run at leas 200 cubic yards of dirt
and get it to Jack
and Jim for testing.
[Sparky] This pay dirt we
got, supposed to pour it there,
we could take to
the plant right now.
Southern slope.
[machine whirring]
You going to go.
The thing about this is though,
there's no drill holes in here.
So we have no idea if it goes, three
ounces of hundred or it goes to nothing.
Only way we know is if
we get it through the plant.
[Hunter] Andy's sent in us
some pay from the southern slope.
I'm hoping, we shut
down at the end of the day
with a box full of gold.
[Andy] We know,
there's gold in it.
Not the best way to gold-mine.
But our options, we don't
have very many of them.
[dramatic music playing]
[birds screeching]
[Rob] The Hoffmans have embarked
on a new strategy to mine-pay
from the southern
slope of Doll Creek.
And are gathering
dirt to test for its value.
Meanwhile, bush mechanic, Randy Hubler
is dealing with a backlog of repairs,
but is soon interrupted.
[clattering]
[man over walkie-talkie]
Shaker deck
is... is 'Off' again.
[man over walkie-talkie]
We have a shredded belt.
Okay, I'll bring a belt down.
Broken belt.
Well, let's see if these fit.
This is it, the whole day.
Chasing your tail,
breaking [beep], all day.
Yeah, we lost a belt
on the plant, the Z-plant.
Uh, we've had that... belt
issues today with that plant.
Uh, here we go again.
[stutters] It's
an all-day event.
It can't finish one thing today,
because there is always something
else breaking, while it's happening.
The equipment here, the reason why it's
in such bad shape is, you know, Jason...
the repairs that were done,
were done very cheaply.
And when you compromise
your equipment for money...
in your pocket, or gold in your
pocket, you're really cutting your throat.
And you have nothing. And that's
literally what he has, he has nothing
that runs like it's supposed to.
He's tearing [beep] for you.
[Randy laughs]
Belt pieces, everywhere.
Ah, let's see if I
can get this on.
He overloaded the hopper...
And it just shredded the belt.
That'll get 'em going for now.
-[Randy] Hey, you guys, you got any shovels?
-Uh, down here, I think so.
[Randy] 'Cause that big, old
clump of materials sitting up there...
-[Randy] That's never going to go away.
-Uh-huh. Yeah.
So, we might
need to shovel it...
spread it out a little bit.
All right.
Go ahead and turn the water on.
I'll turn the shaker deck on.
[machine whirring]
Everything looking all
right there, uh, Nick?
All look good.
-[machine whirring]
-Okay.
[Rob] The plant is back up, now, Randy
has to report back to mine owner Jason.
[Jason] That was fast, Randy
They had, the screens were
completely plugged with dirt.
And all the way
up to the hopper.
[Randy] Gonna have
to run slower today.
Unfortunately, that's
just the way it is.
[Jason] I like Randy,
he's good at what he does,
but our priorities
are not the same.
[Jason] We have a season we
have to finish, we've a lot against us.
When we have time, we can do the
maintenance that needs to be done.
Next year, we'll have
different equipment,
we'll have a
time to do it right.
[Jason] And, maybe it'll be fixed
and won't have any problems.
-[Nick on walkie-talkie] We got it.
-[Randy] Right.
-I'm gonna pray about that.
-[Randy] All right.
[Randy] If you keep
band aiding things
and skipping your
proper maintenance,
uh, eventually the Band-aid's
are gonna start falling off.
You can't just pray over
it and make it work again.
Jason's deferred maintenance has caught
up with him, and now he's paying the price.
I wanna see what
that weighs [chuckling].
Jason wants to run
Quartz Creek dirt,
we've made a
pivot, where actually
we're running a test
on the southern slope,
before we actually
change direction,
we wanna make sure
we got the right gold per
hundred yards of dirt, so
the golden guys are
actually our secret weapon.
[Jack Hoffman] Looks pretty
good, you wanna see what it is?
Hopefully, it's at least
two ounces per hundred.
and, uh, we can make the switch.
Southern slope, Dahl
Creek, two hundred yards.
[Todd] What have we got?
-Three, four...
-4.9.
-[whistling] -4.9, that's
over two ounces a hundred!
-2.4 ounces a hundred, boys.
-That's good.
-[Todd] That's really good!
-That's phenomenal!
It's the best ground
we've ever been on.
I am totally
hyped on this stuff.
This is the kind of gold
that we saw when we
first assessed the mine.
-[Todd] Look at the ripples!
-[Randy] Hot!
[Todd] Full of gold.
[Todd] We knew this ground w rich
and getting these results right now,
it makes this whole
gamble worth it.
[Todd] You know
what? The resources
drilled at Quartz Creek,
I know Jason wants to be there,
it's the wrong time of the year.
[Todd] This is thawed paydirt,
and it's 2.45,
that's pretty sweet.
Best ground we've ever mined.
Yeah, it is.
-We're on the right track.
-Yeah, okay.
-[Jack] Okay.
-Thanks, guys.
[Todd] A gamble paid off,
we found thawed paydirt,
and it just so happens,
to be the best paydirt
that we've ever seen at
2.4 ounces per hundred.
Now, I just gotta go tell
Jason that I went rogue.
How you doing?
I'm good, you?
-Good.
-So, how's the cut at Quartz Creek doing?
It's what I wanted
to talk to you about.
We're not going to get Quartz.
This ground will
not thaw in time,
with the weather that's
happening right now,
I need you on board,
we have to pivot quick.
Todd.
I don't think that's
a smart move,
I mean, everything
else is speculative.
That's the only place that we
have a drilled resource right now
that's ready to go.
Let me just cut to the chase,
I've already bailed on it.
-God.
-[Todd] I'm working on Dahl Creek right now.
-[Jason] What part?
-Southern slope.
Are they tests on that? I
mean are we just going to go...
chase unicorns and rainbows now?
2.4 ounces a hundred,
we just did a test.
-[Todd] It's thawed.
-How deep?
It's not very deep.
I'm already stacking it up.
I don't like you going
rogue on this stuff.
Jason brought
me in for a reason,
he couldn't do it on his own.
We've tried Jason's
cut and it didn't work.
So, basically, if he doesn'
start doing things our way,
we're not gonna make it.
We're not gonna get the gold.
You brought me in, I'm
going to help you do this.
But, I need you to
get on board on this.
You get gold in a box,
probably in the next 72 hours.
[Jason] We'll know soon
enough if you're right.
But I'm not happy about this.
[Todd] I know you're
not happy about it.
[faint knocking on the table]
[Todd] You're
gonna thank me for it.
Could you run up to that Z-plant
and grab that core part
and few chains for me?
[Todd] Hey, there, buddy.
Where's your shirt?
[Todd] I know, but
let's get you dressed.
Let's get you
MSHA-approved, man.
[Todd] I love seeing
guys like Sparky,
you know couple of years ago,
he was putting up bouncy houses.
Why does Mike
not have a shirt on?
I have no idea.
He says it's really warm today.
[Todd] I love seeing guys
that have the world beat 'em up.
And, they come mine with us,
and it's the best
time of their life.
-Doesn't feel warm to
me.1 [chuckling] -No.
All right.
[Todd] At the end of the
day these guys encourage me.
I think I'm encouraging the
but they encourage me.
He thinks it's 90
degrees outside.
So, Matt and I are headed
up to the Z-plant to change
the carpets really quick.
[Luke] I'm hoping
to see lots of gold.
I think it's gonna give
us all a spark, you know?
[Matthew Sciba] All right, getting
all the material off out of the corners.
Make sure we're not
dropping anything, 'cause we
want this all to go to the wash.
So, we ran this plant,
for a little over a
thousand yards.
Thousand cubic
yards of material.
This is what we have left and we're
gonna run through the wash plant,
to separate what's
left here from the gold.
[Rob] A sluice box works
by using rushing water,
and several layers
to collect gold.
Starting with the riffles,
a series of metal barriers that
separate rock and dirt from gold.
But also direct the
heavier material downward,
into the Miner's Moss.
Mesh carpets, made
of woven vinyl fibers.
These mats trap gold nuggets
gold flakes and fine gold particles,
and prevent those materials
from flowing out of the box
[Matthew] Let's get
these pulled out of here.
This is the good stuff.
Right through here,
see, that's a band of gold.
It-- It still has some dirt on it
so it's hard to see sometimes.
This gold always wants
to sit at the bottom.
All right, here, let's get this
wrapped up so we don't drop it.
So...
Actually, I've never
washed carpets before,
but I've seen Matt
do it many times.
[Rob] Once mats are pulled,
they must be thoroughly washed
to remove all the gold.
And every bit of mud
and dirt remaining
is scooped into buckets
and into a trough.
[Matthew] It operates
on a real level of trust.
'Cause just a little bit, something
that could easily fit in your pocket,
could be worth five,
10, even $20,000.
You know, in the
state of Alaska,
it's actually legal, if
you catch somebody
poking around in your sluice
box, it's legal to shoot 'em.
[Luke] That's why I gotta
keep an eye out on Matt.
[all laughing]
[Matthew] All right, so just in
that one, tiny little scoop I took,
you see the gold in here,
and there's probably
more in here,
'cause I didn't get it
washed out completely,
but a tiny little scoop
that I put in here had
that much gold in it.
We'll send it to
Jack and Thurber.
Let them sort it out.
It better have some gold in it.
Let's go.
[Rob] This is Jack
and Jim's first wash
since the Hoffmans took
ove mining operations,
and a critical test of productivity
to see if they're on track
for their 300 ounce gold.
[Jim] Money.
[Jack] Okay.
-What do you think, man? Start it up?
-[Jim] Let's go.
[Jim] One and a
half turns on the jig,
it takes time going up here.
[Jack] First shovel.
Great.
[Jack] Spent four years
for some people, it doesn't
seem like a long time,
but to me [chuckling]
it's been an eternity.
[Jack] I did not think
I was going to get to
mine again in my lifetime.
And, I don't think
they min in Heaven,
so I'm going to do my best.
-[Jack] Okay.
-[Jim] Look at that.
[Jack] There we go.
It's not easy at
all, gold mining.
-Those are huge.
-Ooh, all right.
But it's more fun when you're
seeing the amount of gold.
-Hmm. Those might break the gems.
-Look at this one.
[clattering] Yeah.
That's why we're here.
[wolf howling]
[Rob] Several hours later the
gold wash is nearly complete.
Soon, they'll have a full picture of
the gold they've pulled from the grou
in their first full
week of mining.
Todd and the others
await Ja and Jim's results.
Dude, Z-plant, Nick, Decoder...
It's running a little rough, but it's running.
We're having some troubles with the belt.
Um, little troubles with
the shaker deck, but,
everything is
getting worked out.
It's just that
plant's worn so thin,
that it's collapsing on
itself, so every time,
these guys have to put the screens
in, it's harder. It's getting more narrow.
-It's not square is it, anymore?
-[man] No.
I mean, it's pretty much just
welding on top of welding at this point.
It's a ticking time-bomb.
Hopefully, Sparky can
keep that thing running,
as long as we can,
gotta get the yardage.
You know, what do
we need, 43 a week?
If we can hold that,
we're good. All right?
So, the math is pretty
simple, we need 43 ounces
per week to hit
that 300 ounce goal.
This is a big test for
us, you know we moved
our whole operation to the
southern slope of Dahl Creek,
and then we're going
to run the first pay,
do a test on it.
Ihope it's good.
Here it is. First cleanup.
[Jack] This is the first
of the southern slope dirt.
It's been a long time.
Yeah, it has, a real long time.
Pour it out, Thurber,
let's see what we got.
There's five, 10, 12, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19...
24, 25, 26, 27, 28,
29, 30.3.
[Todd] Little short.
But not a bad start.
[Rob] Falling 13 ounces
short of the weekly goal,
puts Todd and his team
furth under the gun.
To make their benchmark
of one million dollars,
they'll now have to average 45 ounces
per week over the six remaining weeks.
If Alaska's deep
freeze waits that long.
We need 43, but 30 ain't bad.
The good news is that the
southern slope looks really promising.
What are we at, Thurber,
per hundred yards?
-2.4.
-Dude, 2.4 ounces per hundred yard,
we've never even seen that.
[Todd] The bad news
is that we're behind,
and the equipment is a disaster,
and we just cannot
get the yardage through.
We're not running enough dirt.
[Spinks] That's probably the
biggest frustration that we have.
Best ground we've ever been on,
and we're struggling to
get dirt from the plants.
That's what I'm
worried about right now.
Even hearing how good
the gold is a hundred,
kinda hurts.
-Big trommel.
-Yeah, we got to get the big trommel going.
Basically, if we don't get
that big trommel running,
we're not going to hit the
gold. We got to run more paydirt.
It's a yardage game, boys.
You know, I know that these
guys have been working hard.
We're kinda like
a savior to 'em.
You know, we're
gonna help 'em out.
And be successful.
Todd Hoffman is back.
[Todd Hoffman] It's been
years, since we've even put
one bucket of dirt
through a trommel.
[man] This is a mess.
[Rob] And he's
banked his future
on getting Jason
Otteson's troubled mine
to the $1 million mark.
You get me to a million
dollars worth of gold this season,
you have a lease.
[man 2] Whoa! Stop!
[Rob] But Jason and his
crew are only half way there.
That's what they had done
in the last four, five months.
We got seven weeks to
do the same amount of gold.
[chuckles] I don't
know what to do.
[Rob] Now, they must
average 43 ounces each week
to meet their seasonal
goal of 600 ounces.
With Alaska's unforgiving
winter approaching...
Old Man Winter is gonna
slam the door shut pretty quick.
[Rob] ...and
shoddy equipment...
Plant's not running,
not making money.
[Rob] ...will Todd's
return be short lived?
[Todd] I wanna
run this property.
I think I can do a better jo
[Todd] Mark, you've
gotta get that thing done.
[Todd] So we've been
workin for several days here
to get this plant running.
You can't get any gold, if
none of your plants are running.
If we can't get the
Z-plant running,
we might as well, just pack
up and go home right now.
[Andy Spinks] Fixed the
riffles, put new springs,
put new spray bars.
That looks good.
Things are looking
good in these ...
-Andy, get ready to fire it up!
-[Andy] Okay.
[Rob] Z-plant is
finally ready to go...
when Todd's plan
hits another snag...
a broken down fuel truck.
Without a way to
transport fuel to the Z-plant,
there's no way of
getting it running.
They informed me
that the fuel truck
blew the engine, so... we
do not have a fuel truck.
[Hunter Hoffman] Remember the
real issue, a lot of these machines,
you can't drive them
up to the fuel tank,
you have to take
the fuel to them,
so this is an actual big issue.
The engine is blowing on it,
so we're gonna hook
it up to this loader
and tow it up and out of the way
so that Randy can fix it.
Maybe come my
way just a little bit.
[Hunter] Yeah.
Probably another
two, three feet.
[Hunter] You know, if don't
get this fuel truck running,
we can't fuel
any of the pumps,
we can't fuel the
generator for the plant,
we can't fuel the
equipment, and...
then we'll be screwed.
[Andy] This fuel truck
is really important.
It's a six-wheel
drive fuel truck.
You can drive
anywhere on the mine
and not get stuck, so it...
fuels all the plants,
all the excavators out
in the cuts and stuff.
It's just another
obstacle on this mine.
It's hard to win here.
It's just hard to win.
[Rob] A blown
engine on an old truck
is a challenging prospect
in the Alaskan wild.
Luckily, this
truck has a twin.
[Randy] This is our
other military fuel truck.
It hasn't been
started in four years.
Uh, we've been
scavenging parts off of it.
I don't even know if it runs,
but, uh, we gotta
get this running
now because we do
not have a fuel truck.
-So what happened? Black and blue?
-Well...
[Randy] She's no
good. She's done, Todd.
Do you think you can
get that one running?
I think so.
Okay, how long?
We gotta fuel all these
things up. What do you got?
Well, I'm hoping by
the end of the night.
-[Todd] Wow, all right, Todd. Good luck.
-All right.
Appreciate it, thanks.
[Rob] But getting it
running is easier said,
given that over the years
many vital parts
have been scavenged
for the now broken down truc
We got a lot of work
to do ahead of us here.
It is missing a couple
of items, like the pump,
PTO shaft.
We gotta get the
fire extinguisher
over on this side.
We gotta put it
all back together.
[Rob] In order to get the
abandoned fuel truck fully functional,
Randy must transfer parts
from the broken
down fuel truck.
To have a Vietnam
military fuel truck...
almost impossible.
You're not gonna find
any one of those in Nome.
To have two of them
with identical parts,
literally, unheard of.
Just like butter.
Whoo!
We don't throw anything
away up here in Alaska
'cause you never know
when you're gonna need it.
Parts are parts.
We'll take 'em, we don't
care where they come from.
Because it's the
exact same setup,
I can go ahead and just swap
over the fuel line
to this truck.
One more step
closer to being done,
'cause we gotta
have a fuel truck.
Bada-bing!
Now I need to get some
drag shaft for the fuel pump
This shaft is snapped in half,
so we took that
shaft off of that truck
and put it on this truck.
Well, now, we gotta
undo all that. [sighs]
All of these could've
been avoided
if they had just
checked the oil.
[Rob] Back at the Z-plant,
Todd knows he
needs this victory.
[Todd] If we're not
getting this thing running,
we're dead in the water,
we're not making any gold.
Nope. [grunts]
Come on, baby. Come on.
Let's see if she turns
or... if she breaks.
Hate to all this
work for nothing.
[grunts]
There.
[grunts] There.
Come on, baby.
[engine starts]
Holy crap!
And we have another
fuel truck again.
That's awesome.
Yahtzee!
[Rob] With the fuel
truck finally running,
the Hoffman crew
has a glimmer of hope.
[Randy] Whoo! Beautiful.
[engine whirring]
Finally, the fuel truck's here.
We got the Calvary here.
-Try to get us some fuel.
-Roll it up!
Fuel up the generator.
[Rob] After days of
working in the Z-plant,
the Hoffmans are ready
for the moment of truth.
[Todd] Get ready to run. Okay?
Fire up the generator!
[engine sputtering]
[man] Fire it up!
Clear!
[Todd] Watch it close. Andy,
you'll wanna see what's going on!
[motor whirring]
Hit the water!
Let's give it a
little trickle neck...
-Looking good! This plant's running!
-Yeah.
I mean, look at the tails, they're
coming out perfectly clean.
[Todd] Yeah.
[Rob] The Hoffman's hard
work has finally paid off.
And the Z-plant is
fully operational again.
How're you doing,
guys? I'm happy.
[Rob] Finally, they can
run dirt and get some gold.
[laughter]
Good job.
[Todd] We know we're way
behind where we need to be.
We gotta start
running richer pay dirt.
Before we get too far,
and run too much dirt, we're
gonna go ahead and keep testing.
Keep using this clean-up room
as our secret weapon.
[Rob] With only one
working wash plant,
running the richest paydirt
is critical to their success
Well, the best we've ever
done is an ounce a hundred.
I think we've gotta
have at least...
-two ounces a hundred.
-Double.
Yeah.
I think it's the only way that
we have any hope whatsoever.
[Rob] Jack and Jim have
run a 150 yard test wash
from the current
dig site, North Fork.
And the results are in.
What's up?
Thought I better call you. I
don't know what's going on.
We have a problem.
You weighing a 150 yards.
-Yeah.
-It only got 2.5,
so that's only 1.6
ounces per 100.
That's not good.
We can't keep running that dirt.
Maybe we should move.
[chuckles] I don't know what to do.
You know, typically,
in this situation
we just start a new cut
and find a better paydirt.
[Rob] A new cut is the process
of removing the
organic top layer,
exposing the soil underneat
to the heat of the sun
allowing it to thaw,
making it possible to
then cut into the earth
until bedrock has reached.
From there, they can
identify and harvest paydirt
where gold is settled.
Opening a new cut is
a labor intensive task.
It generally happens
in early spring
when there's time for
the paydirt layer to tha
[Hunter] It's just too
late in the season
and the weather's not
gonna have the ground thaw,
so we really don't have a
choice, but to just stick with it.
Maybe we should
give up, move on.
Move around.
That number won't do it.
If we make one false step,
we're not gonna meet our goal.
And you know what?
It's already getting cold
and we're running out of time.
Sorry, Andy, throwing
away your hard work.
[Andy] We need paydirt,
we need thawed paydirt
and we need it right away.
Nick, how's the box looking?
-The box looks perfect.
-[machine beeping]
All is good...
...for now.
[Hunter] My dad and Andy
are out looking
for new ground,
so right now, I'm
just trying to run
as much through
Z-plant as I possibly can.
We're in a race
against time and...
And some gold is
better than no gold.
You know, I can already
feel the weather changing.
It's getting colder
every single day.
It's getting darker
earlier every night.
And we need every
single yard we can get.
Oh, the boss is here.
All right, everybody, shake 'em
up. The mine boss is driving through.
Copy.
[Rob] Todd has made
mine owner, Jason Otteson,
aware of this
problematic gold yields.
Now, Jason is here to
work with the Hoffmans
and protect his investment.
This project is the
result of million of dollars.
My money, investors' money
coming together to gamble.
I trust the Hoffmans becaus
we have a long friendship,
but I'm motivated to
make su that they don't fail.
They might perceive it as
micro-managing at times
or that I wanna be too involved,
but we need the gold
and the time is ticking.
[Todd] I'm a
friend of Jason's.
I am,
but he doesn't run gold mine
He's had to go
hands-on on this thing,
but at this point,
if you're smart,
you'll let us
handle it right now.
[Jason Otteson] We're
further behind than expected
and the current dig site
is producing less
gold than expected.
To me, that means we
have to open a new cut
where we know
there's better gold.
[Rob] Early in the
season, Jason performed
geological drill testing
that showed extremely
promising results,
especially, in an area
known as Quartz Creek.
These tests are done
by auguring deep holes.
and pulling up
paydirt samples.
Gold extracted
from the paydirt
allows geologists to provid
an ounces per
100 yard estimate.
With estimates at over
300 ounces per 100 yard
in Quartz Creek.
Starting a new cut here
is hard for Jason to resist
[Jason] Guys, we need
to open up a new cut.
So this is how we're
gonna do this thing.
I want all the organics
rolled to the top of this cut,
so that we can start
moving the frozen muck.
You don't think that's risky?
No. We have to do the whole cut
and get it to the plant.
[Andy] If you take all
of the organics
off the top of that
that material is
60% frozen water.
This late in the season,
there's no way that ground is
gonna thaw good enough to mine it.
The only time that you
can take the whole cut off
is if we were here
in April or May.
-That's when you take...
-[Jason] We don't have the time
to wait on this gold
to get it to the plant.
Our cash flow
needs that gold now.
That's the only place that
we ever drilled resource
right now that's ready to go.
[Todd] This ground
will not thaw in time
with the weather that's
happening right now.
I promise you,
this late in the year,
that cut will turn into crap.
We shouldn't even be
doing a cut right now.
This is not the
right time to do this.
Dude, we cannot fight.
It's too late in the season.
I know we're paying the
bills, but I'm telling you
I trust this guy.
He's done good cuts.
We've got a lot of gold.
[Andy] I respect you. I get
where you're coming from,
but I can't do something
wrong when I know it's wrong.
[Jason] Here's the deal...
I asked you to come help.
I'm not a professional miner.
I've made this thing work
year after year barely.
But I gotta pay the bills.
So if we don't have
the gold to the plant
washing as soon as possible,
we're in a bad situation.
What I can guarantee you
is that I will get that cut done.
What mother nature allows us
and thawing...
that I can't control.
We'll do it your way.
Let's get started.
[Todd] All right, we're ready?
-[Andy] Ready.
-Do it right Andy.
Let's go.
[Andy] You know, I don't
really believe in this ground.
It's too late this season.
This ground's not gonna thaw
But Todd right now, you know he is not
supposed to tell that to Jason right now.
So, I'm just gonna put my game
face on, and I'm just gonna go to work.
[dramatic music playing]
[Todd] These are our
very first cut in four years.
I love it.
You know what?
It feels like mining.
It's starting to spare for
the and starts to get real.
[Todd] Hey, got to copy.
[Andy] Yeah, go ahead.
How do you feel
man? You still got it?
[Andy over walkie-talkie]
Like riding a bike.
[laughs]
Not a lot of people have felt
ice that's thousands of years old.
What are you thinking, Andy?
You think this will thaw out?
I don't know, we're late. I
don't know, if it will thaw or not.
Kind of doubtful, but
we'll give it a try for Jason.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Todd] My concern and Andy's
concern is, will this ground thaw?
Did we miss the window?
We dealt with permafrost
in the Klondike,
and we've learned the hard way
that you can't underestimate ice.
We're the only idiots in
the Klondike right now,
trying to thaw-repeat
it out with the bonfire.
So, Jason knows what's under
the ground, with all of his testing.
But it doesn't make
any difference,
if the ground is frozen
and he can't get it out.
You know, I hope the ground
thaws. But if not, we just wasted
a whole bunch of
time and money.
It takes a special kind
of guy who wanna do this.
It takes patience,
ability, skill, balls...
...can you say that?
We got a long way to go.
[Rob] At Z-plant,
Andy's son, Dakota,
loads gold-bearing
dirt into the wash plant.
[Andy over walkie-talkie]
Z-plant can run up to
80 yards of dirt per hour.
When running lower quality pay
dirt, quantity becomes more important.
[Decoder] Dirt's
pretty wet and heavy.
[whirring]
[machine shuts down]
[Hunter over walkie-talkie] Nick,
go ahead and shut the shaker down,
it just shut-off again.
[Decoder] What's going on?
[Hunter] It just shut-off. I
think that material is too heavy.
Holler, Randy, we'll get him down
here and then, we'll see what's going on.
Hey! Randy, Randy.
We're just though this
belt on the plant here.
We need you down here.
There's no-go beyond
through this sludge right now.
So, every second that we're
down is just time wasted.
[Decoder] You're not gonna be happy
to hear this. [Randy] What's going on?
[Decoder] You've
through on that belt, just--
I think the weight of the
material's a little bit overloading it.
All right. Well,
will check it out.
[Randy] Plant's not
running, Not making money.
All right, boys. Let me
do... Let me get in here.
[exclaims] It's out of the line. We
need to pull it back on this, on...
-Lock this side, pull this side back.
-Yeah.
The alignment's out. The
belt scratches over time.
We're just gonna try to get as
much time as we can out of this belt
before we have to replace
it, because they're not cheap.
If this doesn't work, and if
belt does get thrown off again,
that means that the belt is stretched,
and we're gonna have to replace it.
And we only have six
weeks left in the season.
Currently, we're just gonna try to get
the plant back up and running again.
Hopefully.
[Randy] Oh! It didn't move.
-[Randy] Wait, that's still way off.
-[Nick] Yeah.
[Randy] Oh! I don't like those
noises. [Nick] No, I don't either.
[Randy] She's way off.
Damn it!
Plant's down. I'm trying
to find out what's going on.
Ah, That sucks!
This is not the time we want
to be sitting here... fixing things.
[Randy] Oh! You
have any water issues?
'Cause normally when you get a
clump like that, it's a little less water.
It's just like,
solid clay today.
-Oh, you're gonna have to run it slower.
-[Hunter] Yeah.
Hey, Randy. What's going on?
They've run in a lot of clay.
So, its loading up the motor.
The motor is
slightly out of the line.
-And I think, the belt's stretched a little bit.
-Hmm.
But I think they're gonna have to run
slower today, because of this clay material.
[Randy] It's just sitting in one spot,
up there. It's not even clearing up.
[Jason] All right.
And I don't like it.
[Jason] Randy is thinking
like a mechanic right now.
I'm thinking like someone who
has a personal stake in the mine.
We can't afford to slow down.
My goal right now is to make
sure this plant is never down.
And here it is, it's down.
[dramatic music playing]
-Wait, that's still way off.
-Yeah.
-Oh! I don't like those noises.
-No, I don't either.
[Randy] Ah, that sucks!
Damn it!
[Jason] My goal right now is to
make sure this plant is never down.
And here it is, it's down.
Tighten that corner off,
Mike. Or, away. I'm sorry!
-Did that move, Mike?
-Yes, sir.
[Randy] We're trying to take this
motor. We're gonna anchor this side...
and swing the motor around to
other bolts, parallel on the same line.
If they're not parallel,
it'll keep throwing the belt.
When plants are down, it's bad. And
this time of the year it's even worse.
So, we're not making money, it affects
everybody here, including me and my family.
[Randy] You know,
Jason. You know how he is.
You haven't done yet?
This didn't come forward.
We need this to come forward.
I'm gonna get out of here
and get a check on other stuff.
It's hard for me
to see this down.
She's loose.
[Nick] Come on! Come on!
Tighten it up.
It should bring the motor
around and take in the belt.
All right, Rando!
[Randy] Okay. It looks
like we're good to go.
So, we'll let these
guys get back to work.
We want to run close to eighty
to a hundred yards per hour.
And they, probably have to be
around 70 to 60 yards an hour,
just to keep the plant together.
Not where we want to be, but at
least we're gonna continue to run.
We can fire up the plant,
get things working again.
[machine whirring]
[Randy] You know, you should never
run your equipment into the ground.
-[Randy] Jason, he wants more?
-[Hunter] He wants even more.
[drilling]
[dramatic music playing]
[Andy] I think it's a wrong
time to be doing the cut.
It's too late.
[Todd] I don't think
it's gonna thaw right.
[Rob] Three chilly days afte removing
the organic layer from Jason's new cut,
Todd and Andy assessed
the state of the pay.
[Andy] I mean, it wants to thaw.
You can see the crack and the
water is running out of it, but...
That's just rainwater
running off the surface.
We just don't have any heat.
We need heat.
[Todd] If I understand
why he wants this ground,
it's three and a half
ounces a hundred yards.
That's rich!
It's just a wrong time.
We've done this the wrong way.
I knew it was the wrong
way, when we started this.
-Yeah.
-And how we just wasted precious time.
Yeah.
[Andy] He brought us
here for our expertise.
He's gotta start listening
to us at some point.
We can't just keep doing
things that we know are wrong.
We better think up a plan-B.
[Andy] We have to
find some more dirt.
Something that's thawed
this late in the year.
That's got gold in it.
There's got to be some other
thawed ground around here.
Now, we gotta do it our way, I
guess. We have no other choice.
We gonna have to go
search for some pay.
Let's go.
[Rob] The cut that Jason wan
to pursue won't thaw in time
Todd and Andy spend the
following day, seeking thawed ground.
[Andy] That's what we need.
I've come up to
the end of the creek,
in that south-facing
slope to the sun's hitting...
peel back the vegetation,
and look what I found.
All thawed gravel.
[Rob] The cut that failed to thaw,
is on a section of Quartz Creek
that runs north to south.
Andy has spotted an area neighboring
Dahl Creek, with a broad slope
that faces much more sun over
the course of a long Alaska day,
allowing a ground of thaw and
make for easier access to pay dirt.
[Andy] Everywhere that I
poked on this hill, is thawed.
There's a mile of it.
We just gotta make
sure it's got gold in it.
-[Todd] Look right there. Got a small tailing.
-[Andy] Yeah.
[Todd] Tailings are
there. Tailings there.
Tailings down there.
[Rob] Tailings are the refus material of
rock and gravel that is been washed for gold
It indicates, the past miner
believe there was gold in this spot.
The old-timers ran here.
They knew it was here.
-[Todd] They didn't have any equipment.
-[Andy] No.
[Todd] They had to
stick with the thawed stuff.
-Yep.
-Where's all the tailings?
It's outside.
[Andy] If they moved all this by hand
but no equipment, it had to be rich.
-I'd say, we run it.
-Run it!
I'll get trucks up here, get
the excavator and we'll load it,
and get that cleaned
up to Jack and Thurber.
[Todd] one day.
-[Andy] One day...
-Just one day.
-Okay.
-You're a genius.
You might have just
saved the day, Andy.
-I hope so. Saved all our bacon.
-No kidding!
[Todd] We have to get the gold, the
best way we ca fastest way we can.
So, I'm not gonna tell Jason just yet, that
we're pursuing a cut on the southern slope.
If that looks like it's gonna pay off,
then we'll go ahead and let Jason know.
But, you know, it's... It's for
the betterment of the mind.
[Rob] Andy quickly gets the
team working on the southern slope.
They have to act fast before mine
owner, Jason Otteson realizes that
Todd has changed the plan.
Todd has given them one day to excavate
and run at leas 200 cubic yards of dirt
and get it to Jack
and Jim for testing.
[Sparky] This pay dirt we
got, supposed to pour it there,
we could take to
the plant right now.
Southern slope.
[machine whirring]
You going to go.
The thing about this is though,
there's no drill holes in here.
So we have no idea if it goes, three
ounces of hundred or it goes to nothing.
Only way we know is if
we get it through the plant.
[Hunter] Andy's sent in us
some pay from the southern slope.
I'm hoping, we shut
down at the end of the day
with a box full of gold.
[Andy] We know,
there's gold in it.
Not the best way to gold-mine.
But our options, we don't
have very many of them.
[dramatic music playing]
[birds screeching]
[Rob] The Hoffmans have embarked
on a new strategy to mine-pay
from the southern
slope of Doll Creek.
And are gathering
dirt to test for its value.
Meanwhile, bush mechanic, Randy Hubler
is dealing with a backlog of repairs,
but is soon interrupted.
[clattering]
[man over walkie-talkie]
Shaker deck
is... is 'Off' again.
[man over walkie-talkie]
We have a shredded belt.
Okay, I'll bring a belt down.
Broken belt.
Well, let's see if these fit.
This is it, the whole day.
Chasing your tail,
breaking [beep], all day.
Yeah, we lost a belt
on the plant, the Z-plant.
Uh, we've had that... belt
issues today with that plant.
Uh, here we go again.
[stutters] It's
an all-day event.
It can't finish one thing today,
because there is always something
else breaking, while it's happening.
The equipment here, the reason why it's
in such bad shape is, you know, Jason...
the repairs that were done,
were done very cheaply.
And when you compromise
your equipment for money...
in your pocket, or gold in your
pocket, you're really cutting your throat.
And you have nothing. And that's
literally what he has, he has nothing
that runs like it's supposed to.
He's tearing [beep] for you.
[Randy laughs]
Belt pieces, everywhere.
Ah, let's see if I
can get this on.
He overloaded the hopper...
And it just shredded the belt.
That'll get 'em going for now.
-[Randy] Hey, you guys, you got any shovels?
-Uh, down here, I think so.
[Randy] 'Cause that big, old
clump of materials sitting up there...
-[Randy] That's never going to go away.
-Uh-huh. Yeah.
So, we might
need to shovel it...
spread it out a little bit.
All right.
Go ahead and turn the water on.
I'll turn the shaker deck on.
[machine whirring]
Everything looking all
right there, uh, Nick?
All look good.
-[machine whirring]
-Okay.
[Rob] The plant is back up, now, Randy
has to report back to mine owner Jason.
[Jason] That was fast, Randy
They had, the screens were
completely plugged with dirt.
And all the way
up to the hopper.
[Randy] Gonna have
to run slower today.
Unfortunately, that's
just the way it is.
[Jason] I like Randy,
he's good at what he does,
but our priorities
are not the same.
[Jason] We have a season we
have to finish, we've a lot against us.
When we have time, we can do the
maintenance that needs to be done.
Next year, we'll have
different equipment,
we'll have a
time to do it right.
[Jason] And, maybe it'll be fixed
and won't have any problems.
-[Nick on walkie-talkie] We got it.
-[Randy] Right.
-I'm gonna pray about that.
-[Randy] All right.
[Randy] If you keep
band aiding things
and skipping your
proper maintenance,
uh, eventually the Band-aid's
are gonna start falling off.
You can't just pray over
it and make it work again.
Jason's deferred maintenance has caught
up with him, and now he's paying the price.
I wanna see what
that weighs [chuckling].
Jason wants to run
Quartz Creek dirt,
we've made a
pivot, where actually
we're running a test
on the southern slope,
before we actually
change direction,
we wanna make sure
we got the right gold per
hundred yards of dirt, so
the golden guys are
actually our secret weapon.
[Jack Hoffman] Looks pretty
good, you wanna see what it is?
Hopefully, it's at least
two ounces per hundred.
and, uh, we can make the switch.
Southern slope, Dahl
Creek, two hundred yards.
[Todd] What have we got?
-Three, four...
-4.9.
-[whistling] -4.9, that's
over two ounces a hundred!
-2.4 ounces a hundred, boys.
-That's good.
-[Todd] That's really good!
-That's phenomenal!
It's the best ground
we've ever been on.
I am totally
hyped on this stuff.
This is the kind of gold
that we saw when we
first assessed the mine.
-[Todd] Look at the ripples!
-[Randy] Hot!
[Todd] Full of gold.
[Todd] We knew this ground w rich
and getting these results right now,
it makes this whole
gamble worth it.
[Todd] You know
what? The resources
drilled at Quartz Creek,
I know Jason wants to be there,
it's the wrong time of the year.
[Todd] This is thawed paydirt,
and it's 2.45,
that's pretty sweet.
Best ground we've ever mined.
Yeah, it is.
-We're on the right track.
-Yeah, okay.
-[Jack] Okay.
-Thanks, guys.
[Todd] A gamble paid off,
we found thawed paydirt,
and it just so happens,
to be the best paydirt
that we've ever seen at
2.4 ounces per hundred.
Now, I just gotta go tell
Jason that I went rogue.
How you doing?
I'm good, you?
-Good.
-So, how's the cut at Quartz Creek doing?
It's what I wanted
to talk to you about.
We're not going to get Quartz.
This ground will
not thaw in time,
with the weather that's
happening right now,
I need you on board,
we have to pivot quick.
Todd.
I don't think that's
a smart move,
I mean, everything
else is speculative.
That's the only place that we
have a drilled resource right now
that's ready to go.
Let me just cut to the chase,
I've already bailed on it.
-God.
-[Todd] I'm working on Dahl Creek right now.
-[Jason] What part?
-Southern slope.
Are they tests on that? I
mean are we just going to go...
chase unicorns and rainbows now?
2.4 ounces a hundred,
we just did a test.
-[Todd] It's thawed.
-How deep?
It's not very deep.
I'm already stacking it up.
I don't like you going
rogue on this stuff.
Jason brought
me in for a reason,
he couldn't do it on his own.
We've tried Jason's
cut and it didn't work.
So, basically, if he doesn'
start doing things our way,
we're not gonna make it.
We're not gonna get the gold.
You brought me in, I'm
going to help you do this.
But, I need you to
get on board on this.
You get gold in a box,
probably in the next 72 hours.
[Jason] We'll know soon
enough if you're right.
But I'm not happy about this.
[Todd] I know you're
not happy about it.
[faint knocking on the table]
[Todd] You're
gonna thank me for it.
Could you run up to that Z-plant
and grab that core part
and few chains for me?
[Todd] Hey, there, buddy.
Where's your shirt?
[Todd] I know, but
let's get you dressed.
Let's get you
MSHA-approved, man.
[Todd] I love seeing
guys like Sparky,
you know couple of years ago,
he was putting up bouncy houses.
Why does Mike
not have a shirt on?
I have no idea.
He says it's really warm today.
[Todd] I love seeing guys
that have the world beat 'em up.
And, they come mine with us,
and it's the best
time of their life.
-Doesn't feel warm to
me.1 [chuckling] -No.
All right.
[Todd] At the end of the
day these guys encourage me.
I think I'm encouraging the
but they encourage me.
He thinks it's 90
degrees outside.
So, Matt and I are headed
up to the Z-plant to change
the carpets really quick.
[Luke] I'm hoping
to see lots of gold.
I think it's gonna give
us all a spark, you know?
[Matthew Sciba] All right, getting
all the material off out of the corners.
Make sure we're not
dropping anything, 'cause we
want this all to go to the wash.
So, we ran this plant,
for a little over a
thousand yards.
Thousand cubic
yards of material.
This is what we have left and we're
gonna run through the wash plant,
to separate what's
left here from the gold.
[Rob] A sluice box works
by using rushing water,
and several layers
to collect gold.
Starting with the riffles,
a series of metal barriers that
separate rock and dirt from gold.
But also direct the
heavier material downward,
into the Miner's Moss.
Mesh carpets, made
of woven vinyl fibers.
These mats trap gold nuggets
gold flakes and fine gold particles,
and prevent those materials
from flowing out of the box
[Matthew] Let's get
these pulled out of here.
This is the good stuff.
Right through here,
see, that's a band of gold.
It-- It still has some dirt on it
so it's hard to see sometimes.
This gold always wants
to sit at the bottom.
All right, here, let's get this
wrapped up so we don't drop it.
So...
Actually, I've never
washed carpets before,
but I've seen Matt
do it many times.
[Rob] Once mats are pulled,
they must be thoroughly washed
to remove all the gold.
And every bit of mud
and dirt remaining
is scooped into buckets
and into a trough.
[Matthew] It operates
on a real level of trust.
'Cause just a little bit, something
that could easily fit in your pocket,
could be worth five,
10, even $20,000.
You know, in the
state of Alaska,
it's actually legal, if
you catch somebody
poking around in your sluice
box, it's legal to shoot 'em.
[Luke] That's why I gotta
keep an eye out on Matt.
[all laughing]
[Matthew] All right, so just in
that one, tiny little scoop I took,
you see the gold in here,
and there's probably
more in here,
'cause I didn't get it
washed out completely,
but a tiny little scoop
that I put in here had
that much gold in it.
We'll send it to
Jack and Thurber.
Let them sort it out.
It better have some gold in it.
Let's go.
[Rob] This is Jack
and Jim's first wash
since the Hoffmans took
ove mining operations,
and a critical test of productivity
to see if they're on track
for their 300 ounce gold.
[Jim] Money.
[Jack] Okay.
-What do you think, man? Start it up?
-[Jim] Let's go.
[Jim] One and a
half turns on the jig,
it takes time going up here.
[Jack] First shovel.
Great.
[Jack] Spent four years
for some people, it doesn't
seem like a long time,
but to me [chuckling]
it's been an eternity.
[Jack] I did not think
I was going to get to
mine again in my lifetime.
And, I don't think
they min in Heaven,
so I'm going to do my best.
-[Jack] Okay.
-[Jim] Look at that.
[Jack] There we go.
It's not easy at
all, gold mining.
-Those are huge.
-Ooh, all right.
But it's more fun when you're
seeing the amount of gold.
-Hmm. Those might break the gems.
-Look at this one.
[clattering] Yeah.
That's why we're here.
[wolf howling]
[Rob] Several hours later the
gold wash is nearly complete.
Soon, they'll have a full picture of
the gold they've pulled from the grou
in their first full
week of mining.
Todd and the others
await Ja and Jim's results.
Dude, Z-plant, Nick, Decoder...
It's running a little rough, but it's running.
We're having some troubles with the belt.
Um, little troubles with
the shaker deck, but,
everything is
getting worked out.
It's just that
plant's worn so thin,
that it's collapsing on
itself, so every time,
these guys have to put the screens
in, it's harder. It's getting more narrow.
-It's not square is it, anymore?
-[man] No.
I mean, it's pretty much just
welding on top of welding at this point.
It's a ticking time-bomb.
Hopefully, Sparky can
keep that thing running,
as long as we can,
gotta get the yardage.
You know, what do
we need, 43 a week?
If we can hold that,
we're good. All right?
So, the math is pretty
simple, we need 43 ounces
per week to hit
that 300 ounce goal.
This is a big test for
us, you know we moved
our whole operation to the
southern slope of Dahl Creek,
and then we're going
to run the first pay,
do a test on it.
Ihope it's good.
Here it is. First cleanup.
[Jack] This is the first
of the southern slope dirt.
It's been a long time.
Yeah, it has, a real long time.
Pour it out, Thurber,
let's see what we got.
There's five, 10, 12, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19...
24, 25, 26, 27, 28,
29, 30.3.
[Todd] Little short.
But not a bad start.
[Rob] Falling 13 ounces
short of the weekly goal,
puts Todd and his team
furth under the gun.
To make their benchmark
of one million dollars,
they'll now have to average 45 ounces
per week over the six remaining weeks.
If Alaska's deep
freeze waits that long.
We need 43, but 30 ain't bad.
The good news is that the
southern slope looks really promising.
What are we at, Thurber,
per hundred yards?
-2.4.
-Dude, 2.4 ounces per hundred yard,
we've never even seen that.
[Todd] The bad news
is that we're behind,
and the equipment is a disaster,
and we just cannot
get the yardage through.
We're not running enough dirt.
[Spinks] That's probably the
biggest frustration that we have.
Best ground we've ever been on,
and we're struggling to
get dirt from the plants.
That's what I'm
worried about right now.
Even hearing how good
the gold is a hundred,
kinda hurts.
-Big trommel.
-Yeah, we got to get the big trommel going.
Basically, if we don't get
that big trommel running,
we're not going to hit the
gold. We got to run more paydirt.
It's a yardage game, boys.
You know, I know that these
guys have been working hard.
We're kinda like
a savior to 'em.
You know, we're
gonna help 'em out.
And be successful.