Hoffman Family Gold (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Trommageddon - full transcript
All ready to fire it up.
The first family
of gold-mining is back.
Break the trommel up.
I love it.
And they’ve brought
a dilapidated claim to life.
Looking good.
This plant’s running.
Good job.
But Alaska’s harsh
winter is fast approaching.
And the Hoffmans
have just five weeks,
to get to the goal of a
million dollars for this season.
They’ll have to average 45-ounces
each week, a number they have yet to hit.
-How bad is it?
-First half is done already.
Now, their only
hope is to run more pay dirt,
by reviving the claim’s
biggest wash plants.
I’m naming this
plant, the hot mess.
Will they
get this relic to run?
This plant has to
run or we will not hit our goal.
Oh...
Or is the
bottom about to fall out?
It’s shaking.
I don’t like this.
- Holy.
- Whoa.
I got a bad
feeling about this.
Working on the mine
is really tough work.
Non-stop equipments breaking.
I’m the most needed
person on the mine.
And now,
I get to cut this pipe and
weld it onto slurry pump.
And I have the heart
of the whole mine,
The Big Trommel,
process the gold,
get paid and go home.
It’s been two weeks
since the Hoffmans have arrived
at the Mammoth Valley Mine.
And the Z Plant with
its shaker deck system
is running a bulk
of the pay dirt.
But the Z Plant can only process
up to 70 yards of pay dirt per hour.
With winter right around the corner, the
Hoffmans need to increase production.
So, they’re aiming their guns at reviving
the mine’s worn down Big Trommel plant.
Now I’ve got to
make it four inches.
Fit in here perfectly just so that we
can fit the cover back on the slurry pump.
And then we can finally
run the Big Trommel.
The Big Trommel actually
runs the most amount of dirt.
But it also takes
quite a few guys to run.
But, you should be able to run
90-plus-yards an
hour if all’s going well.
The Big Trommel, put the
paydirt in the top, in the hopper.
It goes through the trommel and has spray
bars in there and the trommel’s spinning
and actually trying to break
up the gold from the dirt.
Goes through a set of
screens in the trommel.
Drops into the sluice boxes.
And that’s where
we catch the gold.
At the end, the tailings
go into the slurry pump.
And the slurry pump pumps the
tailings through a big black pipe,
all the way 1,000
feet and into a pit.
So, we’re actually
reacclimating as we’re running.
The problem with
the Big Trommel,
is that if one thing isn’t working
properly, you can have a big mess.
If one thing goes wrong,
it’s a domino effect and all these
other issues are going to pile on.
A broken down slurry pump is
the reason the Big Trommel isn’t running.
And Sparky has been tasked
with coming up with a fix.
-How we looking?
-Hey, there.
We’re looking good but
I’ve never done this before.
Listen to me.
Most of this stuff up here,
most of us haven’t done before.
You understand? Just
do the best you can.
- We got to run this plant, okay?
- Yeah.
All right. Keep it
safe but go quick.
I believe in the kid.
He’s working his ass off.
We’re asking him to do things he’s
never done before. But, you know what?
That’s what this is all about. I
got to get this third plant running.
I got to get gold coming
out of this thing quick.
It’s already getting cold
and we’re running out of time.
It’s important to get this thing
running as fast as we can.
This is the time to be making gold because
it’s almost towards the end of the season.
Wow, I am going to go
get a fire-extinguisher.
He says it’ll warm
this up in five minutes.
I was thinking we can
move that wherever we want the heat.
If we’re back here,
bring the tank in, use this.
- You’re right.
- And we just move it where you and I are working.
- That’s where we need the heat.
- Okay.
This morning 5-o-clock,
everything was frozen, frosted up.
And it’s time that we need heat.
Jack and I sometimes, for hours,
will be standing in one
spot running that table.
And with no heat,
that would be brutal.
So, we’re getting
the heater hooked up.
We’re gonna have heat,
Jack and I can
work all night long.
The Hoffmans need to
clean another 270-ounces of gold,
to meet their season goal.
So, it’s critical that Jack and
Jim protect their wash equipments
from the freezing temperatures.
-Where do you want this?
-Right here.
Okay.
In our gold room, I keep
heat in there all the time,
because I don’t want any of
my equipment to freeze up.
I’ve had problems
with that in the past.
Ah, wrong way.
- That’s lefty.
- Righty, tightly.
No, not gas.
- It’s opposite.
- Yeah, that’s what I... doing now.
The key to this
whole thing is gold.
So, I am making sure that I
have everything to clean it up,
and get it taken care of.
- Ready.
- Let there be heat.
Let there be heat.
Tank is on.
Sounds like it’s going.
I sure hope so.
Oh, I see a nice
blue flame in there.
Okay.
Let there be heat,
holy moly, that’s gonna heat up.
You know, at the end
of the season, it gets cold.
Have warm clothes,
take care of yourself.
Make sure that you
have oil in your heater.
- It’s cool.
- No excuse.
We gotta keep
working even if it’s cold.
Oh, different
sizes. That’s great.
You can pop that,
try it out over there.
Another quarter-of-an-inch.
Back at Big
Trommel Al Gaylord,
has come in in to fix the
plant’s crucial slurry pump.
Hold it up back here to
the side, get one bolt in.
Al has spent eight
years on this mine.
And knows this troublesome
wash plant better than anyone.
So, we worked all night.
We gotta get this done by today.
Todd’s been
hounding me about it.
And this fitting is
gotta be perfect.
Because it’s make-shift.
This doesn’t get done right,
we will lose another
day and possibly my job.
We’re almost out of time. We
gotta get that Big Trommel running.
Winter’s setting in.
If we don’t get this thing
running right now, we’re screwed.
- This sucker’s heavy.
- Yeah, it is.
Let’s have this done already.
Big Trommel,
it’s a big piece of crap.
Ooh, there’s so many
things wrong with it.
Unfortunately, it’s what we got.
We can have a fighting
chance at getting gold.
It’s definitely going to make
Jason happy and his pockets spill.
After 36-hours of work, Sparky
finally finishes the slurry pump fix.
-We’re good, Al.
-Great.
We’re ready to fire it up.
You just yell at me
and I’ll pop the water.
To supply the
Big Trommel with fresh water,
Todd has brought in a
brand-new water pump.
This is a monster diesel pump.
I leased this and brought
it up on a barge, up here.
We got double suction here.
I’m actually bringing a huge
amount of water volume.
I want to run everything
with this one pump so...
I got high hopes for it.
We gotta press all these bolts
- Everything tight?
- Should be, they run a... rattle gun.
This is a big day
for the Big Trommel.
We have a new
pressure water pump on it.
We have a new slurry pump on it.
It’s always a kind of hit
or miss with this thing.
It’s so many moving pieces.
I’m naming this
plant, The Hot Mess.
Because that’s what exactly
about ready to happen.
I’ve ran some big
bad plants before,
this one’s right
at top of the list.
Hey, Al, we’re about ready.
This is our major
production machine.
Everyday we’re down this Big
Trommel, we’re down 25-30-ounces.
This plant has to run.
Or we will not hit our goal.
If the Hoffmans
successfully fire up the Big Trommel,
they’ll be able to process an extra
100-yards of pay dirt every hour.
More than doubling
their current production.
Do you know how to
operate the slurry pump?
Okay.
You ready?
Go, turn it on.
- Okay, I’m going to fire it up.
- Yep.
We’ve never ran this plant. I
don’t know how it’s gonna go
1200,
1300...
Here comes the water.
The first
step in starting the plant,
is filling the spree pump’s hopper with
fresh water before activating the pump.
Water’s on.
All right, turn it on.
-The slurry?
-Yep.
-Got it?
-Yeah.
See the smoke out
of the generator?
They must be just
turning on that slurry pump.
Hey, look at this, dude.
- It’s got a... missing.
- Yes.
Jason and Al discovered the
loose nuts on the slurry pump system,
are already causing problems.
-It’s up there now.
-Yeah.
So, that plunger
tells you how full it is.
If it starts to drop down,
-we’re gonna pump it up.
-We gotta up our BM.
This is not even tight.
There’s another one, in there.
I’m going to go look at the
sluice, see if there’s a knob.
All right, I’ll
take care of this.
I’m gonna go and see if we got
enough water, to even sluice with.
-That’s right size?
-I don’t know yet.
Take care Jason.
-You got one shot.
-What?
Just one shot.
Good.
Here’s your water.
The question is, do we
have enough for the sluice?
What do you think?
That’s it.
- That’ll do it!
- We got white water!
That’s enough.
That’s it...
That pump is amazing man.
It’s amazing.
That’s enough for
sluice, right there.
That’s best that I
have ever seen it.
Al... turn the trommel on, now
- Turn it on.
- Yeah.
Slowly drop some in.
Let’s just give this a shot.
So far, so good.
Oh, this is running
some dirt, here we go!
I don’t know how this is
going to go but I’ll take it, man.
Al, how we doing?
- It’s got to stabilize.
- Okay.
This slurry pump is amazing.
Because everything you had at the other
plant, we got to move away from the plant,
with excavators. This, we use
a pump to do all that work for us.
So, if this isn’t working right, it’d
have taken us a lot of man-hours.
I have had some
great wash plants.
Little Blue.
Monster Red, she was impressive.
Holy Roller, that’s
one of my favorites.
But this one right here?
This takes a lot to run right.
Right now, we’re making gold.
How long? I don’t know.
But today, and right now, at this
very second, we’re getting gold.
After months
of being shut down,
the mine’s largest wash
plant is finally ready for pay dirt.
But this force is
another issue for Todd.
The claim will need
another excavator.
We’re kind of dead in the
water. We need another excavator.
We can’t run everything and
do all the things we need to do.
We got issues, we
need this excavator.
Todd has
leased an excavator,
which is meeting
13-miles south of the mine.
Here he comes. There
comes the excavator.
At a place where another
decision must be made.
How’s it going, Todd?
Andy, what do you think man?
We got a three-three
excavator. It’s pretty heavy.
We just rented
it for two months.
But we need it bad.
If we have to take
it through the river,
we got a lot of problems
that can happen.
It is heavy, it is a low boy.
And this river is actually
going up, it’s not going down.
It’s been raining and it’s deep.
But, we’ve done it before.
Might have to do it
again, hopefully, we won’t.
We’ll see what happens.
I think this excavator’s a
little too heavy for this bridge.
It’s been hit before.
Somebody already hit it
with the boom of an excavator.
- It’d be a little bit of a gamble.
- What do you mean by a little?
Their only other option
is to cross the river in the excavator.
How deep do you think it is?
Right now, it’s
probably 20-30-feet.
-Ooh.
-I mean, easily.
That’s a little too deep.
-We can always try it in a couple of days.
-We don’t have couple of days.
I don’t know. What
do you think, dad?
I don’t think you’re
going to make it.
I think we’re going to
be up over to the seat.
And that’s only six feet.
What’s the worst thing
that can happen out there?
-Well, you could lose the excavator.
-What do you mean, lose it?
Sink it.
I tell you what, I got an idea.
Why don’t we walk
that excavator out there.
We’ll stick the arm in there,
we’ll see how deep it is.
That sounds like a plan.
Time is of the essence.
We need that excavator.
We’ve done rivers before.
Hang on.
Keep going, keep going.
They’ve all been
sketchy and dangerous.
You know what? We always
seemed to make it across.
Hopefully, we’ll make it again.
Hunter, get in there.
Poke your way across,
reach out and feel the depth.
I mean I don’t know what
else the option we have.
-Okay?
-Okay.
All right, let’s go.
Whatever we got
to do, we gotta get it done.
Hopefully, we don’t
have any major issues.
Meanwhile,
back at the mine,
the Hot Mess, is already
making quick work with its pay dirt.
We’re starting a line
on the Big Trommel.
When it works good, it’s great.
The Big Trommel
is finally running dirt.
And the crew is optimistic
this season will be a success.
Oh...
Oh-oh.
There are three.
The big one is obvious.
There’s another smaller one.
And the only other one
is the one up the hill...
Okay, I’ll shut
it off. I’ll fix them.
-All right, sounds good.
-Okay, great.
We got some holes.
The Big Trommel is down
until I can fix these leaks.
Nearby, the
Hoffmans have decided,
it’s best to send their rented
excavator through the river,
rather than across the
bridge and risking collapse.
This bridge can’t take a
lot of weight and tall equipment.
It looks like it’s way
too deep from here.
We can’t get the house
of that excavator wet.
It’s got all the
electronics in it.
We sure as heck can’t sink it because
Todd can’t afford to buy it right now.
That excavator was
probably at least a 100-grand.
These
guys are from here.
And they seem nervous about it, so, it
doesn’t really give me any confidence.
What’s our chances of
getting through this river?
I say it’s a 50-50 shot.
For us, I’d say,
that’s pretty good.
One thing that we know,
is that we gotta have this excavator
to dig that gold out of the ground.
So, that’s what we’re gonna do.
Do your best.
I mean, it is what
it is, let’s try it.
All right.
What do think?
We’re good there?
Let’s see how
deep it is out there.
Put your stick in.
I can’t say...
it’s been raining.
And this river’s up.
I’m gonna keep going.
Go ahead,
get a little farther.
Three or four feet at a time.
- It dropped off.
- It dropped off.
Whoa, stop.
It is a rental.
I think it’s good. I’m
gonna keep tracking.
Be careful.
Keep that
bucket out there, dude.
That’s a little bit
to the right, Hunter.
Little bit to the right.
I don’t like it.
I think I’m good. I think I’m
gonna go a little bit farther at least.
That’s too deep Todd.
Have it turn around.
Yeah, see that current, it’s washing
away the opposite side track there.
It’s gonna flip over and...
Let me just go a
little bit farther, dude.
I don’t care about
losing any equipment.
I don’t want a
grandson in that water...
I want to get out.
You know I found out, the older I
get, the less stupid risks I like to take.
It’s a case of being cautious.
It’s not worth losing my
grandson over a darn excavator.
Yeah, I’m going to
go a little bit deeper,
to see it levels out.
I don’t want to
override the others, man.
I think we should turn around and get the
hell out off here before something happens.
I know you want to keep going
but let’s get the hell out of here.
All right. 10-4.
Bring it up, Hunter.
It’s a little
over-weight for this bridge.
It’s going to start shaking
around on your bed.
You’ll see stuff moving.
You think it’s safe?
Yeah, I probably
wouldn’t wear a seat-belt.
Because if you need to get
out, you need to get out quick.
-Okay.
-Excavator can be replaced.
What do you think?
All right, let’s do it.
I got a bad
feeling about this.
We’re out of time.
We’re going for it.
Only watch
my boom, okay?
I need you to keep eyes on
the sides for me and up top.
We got it. Bring it on.
Shane...
-Watch that boom for me, will you?
-Okay.
Yeah, looking good.
Watch that boom.
Easy, easy.
This thing’s moving Shane.
It’s shaking.
Keep that speed... consistent.
Keep the
speed consistent, okay?
Just like that, Hunter.
Do not give up. Just keep going.
The bridge is
shaking, don’t panic.
Holy
This whole bridge
is shaking, right now.
Shane, is this normal?
It actually is worse than normal.
Because normally, it don’t shake this bad.
But this piece of
equipment is pretty heavy.
I don’t like the
feeling of this at all.
- Whoa!
- This is the worst we’ve ever seen it shake.
Dude, I can feel this
whole thing dancing.
Al, a little
to your left, just a little bit.
I don’t like the
feeling of this at all.
- Whoa!
- This is the worst we’ve ever seen it shake.
It’s kinda scary.
Oh...
Don’t worry about the
shake, just keep it going.
Just keep coming.
You’re good, you’re
good, you’re good.
Whoo!
Whoo! We did it.
I’ve never been on a
bridge that moved that much.
That’s riveting.
Whoo!
Good job, dude.
I’m glad we made it, man.
Tell me what’d that
feel like in there?
I could feel the whole
bridge bouncing.
-I don’t know if you guys...
-We were bouncing too.
We were bouncing with you.
We made it.
Shane, grab the truck.
let’s load this thing up
and get out to the mine.
-Okay?
-Let’s do it.
Let’s go.
So, right now, until we get these
leaks fixed, we are down to the Z Plant.
It’s important
to get this going.
The year is coming to an end.
I just seen a few snowflakes.
So, it’s getting close.
So, it’s been cold. It’s gonna
start freezing every night, now.
So, gotta get busy and
got to get the stuff going.
Let’s see if we can
get this to work or not.
It’s an idea, I’m
hoping it’ll work.
The lines wore out.
We don’t have a lot of
pieces to repair it with.
But we’re hoping that
this would get us through.
You know, it’s kind
of a Jason decision.
This is kind of a
low-cost banding tool.
But it’s simple and it works.
Do things with what you got.
Been with two or three
different companies.
Ended up here in 2014.
How many more
years will I do it?
As long as my
health don’t give up on me.
A year-and-a-half
ago, had a stroke.
That kinda shook things up.
Scared the whole family.
Had to use a walker for...
I don’t know, couple months.
Went on a diet and dropped
100-pounds, this winter.
And I’m hoping to go home
this winter and drop another 100.
Put this around, it’ll
help seal the little leaks.
It may leak a little
bit. But, uh...
The sand’ll plug it up.
It should.
Well that’s, that.
I think we’ll fire it
up. See if it leaks.
Hopefully, they can
get it back running again.
We’ve been using the same slurry line
for quite a while. It’s getting worn out.
It’s a struggle to fix
it and keep it going.
You gotta watch it all the time.
You just can’t turn
it on and walk away.
Somebody’s gotta
keep an eye on it.
Okay, turning on the slurry.
Well, she’s up and running.
Damn.
Well, that failed.
It’s
not looking good.
The big plant
hasn’t ran all day.
The slurry pipe
is so badly worn,
the whole thing
needs to be replaced.
I wouldn’t use duct tape
to repair my slurry line.
I’d replace it
with a slurry line.
But, uh, the new joke on the mine is
duct tape is the slurry line repair kit.
And uh, we just
don’t want to do that.
Because that’s the
piss-poor way of fixing stuff.
Let’s do it right.
Let’s spend the money.
And then it’ll last
three times as long,
instead of duct tape
and a piece of rubber.
When Todd
returns to the claim...
Oh...
He sees the
thing he’s been dreading.
The good thing
about the slurry line
is that we don’t have to have
somebody working up to tail it.
The bad part is, when
you spring a leak,
the whole plant is shut down.
Without this, that
trommel’s not gonna run.
Every day that that’s
down, it’s about $20,000.
So, either we replace this.
Or we’re dead in the water.
We got goals to hit,
the weather’s setting in,
we gotta go.
There’s only one person to
talk to about what needs to happen next.
You got a minute?
Yeah, what’s up?
We need some pipe.
If I work Al any harder on
that, he’s going to die out there.
I mean the guy is
working his butt off.
It is blowing holes.
We tried to patch
it and it’s just...
It ain’t gonna work.
It’s only got four more weeks.
If they can get
us through that...
We can bubblegum it, we
can weld it, we can fix it...
Whatever, it has to fix.
I wish a
quick-fix would work.
But I don’t think we are gonna have
any more quick-fixes from here on out.
In the past, we
have patched it up.
And it’s lasted.
I need a
1000-feet of pipe
or we can’t run the Big Trommel.
We’re gonna have to throw
some money at this thing.
I don’t think that $20,000 for
pipe is on the table, this year.
Everyday, we’re down,
it’s probably 15-20000-dollars.
Todd, I’m a business guy. Every year,
we have to make decisions for projected,
you know, return.
This year has not been good.
The Z Plant goes down,
we’re literally not making
one-ounce of gold in a day.
Think, if we fix that pipe,
it’ll at least be ready to go,
in case the Z Plant
takes a crap on us.
That’s our only life-line.
In the end, it’ll be
up that Big Trommel.
If we can’t run the Big Trommel,
we’re not gonna meet the goal.
You’re gonna lose money.
I think we ought to get pipe.
Spend a little bit more money.
So that I can get you the gold.
The end’s coming fast.
I agree.
Rally your guys.
Let’s get that gold.
I’m gonna do my best.
Get the pipe.
Let’s go.
The Big Trommel plant has
been idled by leaks in the slurry pipeline.
Todd has convinced Jason to buy new
pipe to resolve the issue once and for all.
Okay, let’s get it going.
We are down to
90-100-yards an hour,
on the big hot mess.
And that thing is the plant that
runs the most amount of yards, so...
This is gonna put
us really behind.
...good right there...
We gotta get the stuff
up and going again.
Get these fusions done.
Todd knows this
slurry line needs to be fixed fast.
It also needs to last
the rest of the season.
So, they have pieced
together a 1000-feet of line.
And will seal them with
a thermal plastic welder.
Basically
like a big iron,
it melts both ends
and then we stick them together
and it welds them together.
And hopefully, it works.
And hopefully,
it holds together.
Grab this end.
Ready?
Ready, Al?
There you go.
Here you go...
Let’s see what that’ll do.
We got a hydraulic leak, Al.
- Yeah, I see that.
- Think it’ll hold?
- Get it done?
- Hopefully, it will.
We’re gonna
plain these two ends.
Put them in basically a
big iron, melt the inside,
glue it together.
Listen, you guys deserve a couple
cheeseburgers if het through this, today.
-Don’t you think?
-Absolutely.
495...
...96...
Is it hot enough Al?
Yeah.
What you want to see is,
you see that pipe starting to melt?
You want to see about
a quarter-of-an-inch.
-Ready?
-Yeah.
Go.
Out.
In the sleeve.
Come on, baby.
Yeah, it’s working.
Looks like it got a good bind.
- How’s the bottom...
- All the way around, yeah, looks good.
The hot mess is needed now
more than ever after several down days.
Will the slurry line hold?
Hopefully, we got our
measurements right.
And all of our welds hold.
Doing this out here, is twice
as hard for some reason.
I can’t figure it out.
That’s good.
All right, let’s
fire up the plant.
Get her going.
Dakota.
-We’re about ready to fire her up, okay?
-All right.
You got some dirt in
here, watch the tailings.
-And then you’re gonna have to feed him pay.
-All right.
The plant
is ready for action.
As is the new excavator.
And mine-owner,
Jason Otteson is here,
to make sure his
money was well-spent.
I should. But I don’t
think there should be.
We’ll see if it works.
We don’t know it’s
going to work or not.
It’s just, uh, turning
it back on right now.
It may be backwards. Who
knows what they’ve done.
So, we’re about to see
what’s gonna happen.
Ready?
Yep.
Okay.
Get the water.
Let’s turn the trommel on.
How’s the slurry?
Looking good.
- You think it’s gonna hold?
- Yeah.
It should be okay.
I’m confident that we’ll at least be able
to finish this year with the new tools.
Looking good.
I’m actually feeling
pretty hopeful, today.
I know this plant isn’t ideal.
But, sometimes perfection
is never really in your grasp.
But today we’re hopeful.
Because I know, by
the end of the day, today,
I’m gonna get more
gold in this box.
And closer to that goal.
The slurry
pipe is holding up.
Yeah!
Come on, baby...
a million dollars.
Yeah, we got a
hole in the slurry line.
We have a leak in the road.
The leak in the line.
Filled up
a whole bunch of sand in the road.
My wife’s stuck in it right now. We
gotta get something to pull her out.
We got the husband
saving the wife in this situation.
It’s really sweet.
Kind of a romance.
He dropped everything
he was doing,
bolted down here.
Now, we’re gonna get her out.
Perfect.
One problem down.
Probably another 20-30-minutes,
we’ll have another one.
You gotta always prep your bin
before you put a lot of gold in it.
Make her feel good.
Make sure she’s warmed up.
Give her a little kiss.
Boom.
As the Hoffman’s
third week comes to an end,
Nick and Dakota, pull the
Z Plant’s mats for testing.
It looks loaded up, too.
I mean, look, I mean
the whole top’s packed.
The rifles look pretty packed.
So, we’ll see how it goes.
With both Z Plant
and Big Trommel running,
the Hoffman team are ending
the week, feeling positive.
This is all
gonna be great.
All that matters, now.
It’s all gold, baby.
Nick and Dakota are
optimistic about their mat pull.
But will it be enough
for the Hoffmans,
to reach their weekly
goal of 45-ouncess?
There we go, that’s nice.
Jack and Jim washed their last load
of concentrate collected from the Z Plant.
And make sure they aren’t
missing any gold from that pay.
Any gold,
anything big like nuggets,
they go down the sluice box.
So, we have to
pay attention to that.
Just checking the uh,
very last spot, we didn’t touch anything.
A little safety net, like
a back-up parachute.
I found this
little guy, in here.
The reason it made
it so far in the system,
is it’s got quartz hooked to it,
which will make it move.
It was at the very
bottom of our sluice box,
about six-inches,
if I’m going over.
All that quartz attached to it
explains why it traveled so much.
The objective is to get as
much gold as we possibly can.
Several hours later Jack
and Jim’s clean-up is almost complete.
The Hoffmans are
about to find out,
if they produced
45-ounces of gold.
Just enough to keep
their heads above water.
So, you think you could
have made it across the creek?
I think I could have made it.
- I doubt it.
- Yeah, they were all getting worried.
I figured we’d better chance
the bridge than the river.
You guys ended up
taking it across the bridge?
-Yeah.
-How was that?
- It was sketchy.
- It was crazy.
It was bouncing and shaking
but, I don’t know why I was...
I don’t know.
It was kind of fun.
Hey...
-What’s up, boys?
-Yo, buddy.
All right.
You guys did really good.
Finally, ready to shower.
Good.
It’s about time.
-Hey...
-Man of the hour.
Nice, huh?
I don’t know.
You tell me. I can hear it.
- Is it good or is it bad?
- Better be nice.
You can always tell with
the hair of his moustache,
if it’s gonna be a
good one or a bad one.
It used to be black.
Yeah. You’re not
using the dye anymore.
Okay, hey, we got 30 last week.
That actually looks half decent.
So, let’s start the pour,
huh? Dad, call it out.
-Yeah.
-What do you think?
Here we go.
Five, ten, 12, 13...
17, 18, 19, 20...
27, 28...
30...
33...
34...
-35-point-zero-five.
-Wow.
-Yeah.
-It’s better.
That’s a lot better.
Do it in dollars, what is that?
Do some quick math.
-It’s somewhere around 60-grand.
-Wow.
Still behind. But we’re
going in the right direction.
Yes, you know, feels good.
You know, I wish
this was better.
And I think it could be if we pulled
the mats from the Big Trommel.
We had a lot of break-downs
but I did get a lot of dirt today.
I think we might be over 40,
if we pull the Big Trommel.
-God, if we had a good plant.
-Yeah.
From here on out, we don’t
have very many more chances.
If we’re not gonna
make this happen,
with both plants, you
know, up and down.
-Yeah.
-Agreed.
How much do we need
next week to make this work?
We need to start
getting 47, a week.
That’s the few
weeks we have left.
So, starting to get intense.
Yeah.
That’s why it hurts.
That should be easy.
But with all that we
have, it feels impossible.
Despite
being up from last week,
Hoffmans still fall short
of their weekly goal.
In order to hit their benchmark
of one million dollars,
they need to average 47-ounces a
week for the remainder of this season.
I think it’s just phenomenal,
what the young guys are doing.
As older guys,
we can just help
them out, you know?
They did great.
You know, I am proud of them.
They have far exceeded what I
could do when I was their age.
Everybody’s doing
a really good job.
Yeah, I feel we’re working
well with Jason’s crew.
His younger guys
are just animals.
They work really hard,
they’ve got great attitude.
Nick and Dakota are
doing a great job, so...
I am just thankful that God
gave us one more chance up here.
You know, we’re getting
some good experience.
-With some pretty rough stuff.
-Yeah.
Oh, this is a really good
learning experience.
Right, we’re all
out of practice.
I mean we’re all learning
working together, so...
Thank you, guys.
The first family
of gold-mining is back.
Break the trommel up.
I love it.
And they’ve brought
a dilapidated claim to life.
Looking good.
This plant’s running.
Good job.
But Alaska’s harsh
winter is fast approaching.
And the Hoffmans
have just five weeks,
to get to the goal of a
million dollars for this season.
They’ll have to average 45-ounces
each week, a number they have yet to hit.
-How bad is it?
-First half is done already.
Now, their only
hope is to run more pay dirt,
by reviving the claim’s
biggest wash plants.
I’m naming this
plant, the hot mess.
Will they
get this relic to run?
This plant has to
run or we will not hit our goal.
Oh...
Or is the
bottom about to fall out?
It’s shaking.
I don’t like this.
- Holy.
- Whoa.
I got a bad
feeling about this.
Working on the mine
is really tough work.
Non-stop equipments breaking.
I’m the most needed
person on the mine.
And now,
I get to cut this pipe and
weld it onto slurry pump.
And I have the heart
of the whole mine,
The Big Trommel,
process the gold,
get paid and go home.
It’s been two weeks
since the Hoffmans have arrived
at the Mammoth Valley Mine.
And the Z Plant with
its shaker deck system
is running a bulk
of the pay dirt.
But the Z Plant can only process
up to 70 yards of pay dirt per hour.
With winter right around the corner, the
Hoffmans need to increase production.
So, they’re aiming their guns at reviving
the mine’s worn down Big Trommel plant.
Now I’ve got to
make it four inches.
Fit in here perfectly just so that we
can fit the cover back on the slurry pump.
And then we can finally
run the Big Trommel.
The Big Trommel actually
runs the most amount of dirt.
But it also takes
quite a few guys to run.
But, you should be able to run
90-plus-yards an
hour if all’s going well.
The Big Trommel, put the
paydirt in the top, in the hopper.
It goes through the trommel and has spray
bars in there and the trommel’s spinning
and actually trying to break
up the gold from the dirt.
Goes through a set of
screens in the trommel.
Drops into the sluice boxes.
And that’s where
we catch the gold.
At the end, the tailings
go into the slurry pump.
And the slurry pump pumps the
tailings through a big black pipe,
all the way 1,000
feet and into a pit.
So, we’re actually
reacclimating as we’re running.
The problem with
the Big Trommel,
is that if one thing isn’t working
properly, you can have a big mess.
If one thing goes wrong,
it’s a domino effect and all these
other issues are going to pile on.
A broken down slurry pump is
the reason the Big Trommel isn’t running.
And Sparky has been tasked
with coming up with a fix.
-How we looking?
-Hey, there.
We’re looking good but
I’ve never done this before.
Listen to me.
Most of this stuff up here,
most of us haven’t done before.
You understand? Just
do the best you can.
- We got to run this plant, okay?
- Yeah.
All right. Keep it
safe but go quick.
I believe in the kid.
He’s working his ass off.
We’re asking him to do things he’s
never done before. But, you know what?
That’s what this is all about. I
got to get this third plant running.
I got to get gold coming
out of this thing quick.
It’s already getting cold
and we’re running out of time.
It’s important to get this thing
running as fast as we can.
This is the time to be making gold because
it’s almost towards the end of the season.
Wow, I am going to go
get a fire-extinguisher.
He says it’ll warm
this up in five minutes.
I was thinking we can
move that wherever we want the heat.
If we’re back here,
bring the tank in, use this.
- You’re right.
- And we just move it where you and I are working.
- That’s where we need the heat.
- Okay.
This morning 5-o-clock,
everything was frozen, frosted up.
And it’s time that we need heat.
Jack and I sometimes, for hours,
will be standing in one
spot running that table.
And with no heat,
that would be brutal.
So, we’re getting
the heater hooked up.
We’re gonna have heat,
Jack and I can
work all night long.
The Hoffmans need to
clean another 270-ounces of gold,
to meet their season goal.
So, it’s critical that Jack and
Jim protect their wash equipments
from the freezing temperatures.
-Where do you want this?
-Right here.
Okay.
In our gold room, I keep
heat in there all the time,
because I don’t want any of
my equipment to freeze up.
I’ve had problems
with that in the past.
Ah, wrong way.
- That’s lefty.
- Righty, tightly.
No, not gas.
- It’s opposite.
- Yeah, that’s what I... doing now.
The key to this
whole thing is gold.
So, I am making sure that I
have everything to clean it up,
and get it taken care of.
- Ready.
- Let there be heat.
Let there be heat.
Tank is on.
Sounds like it’s going.
I sure hope so.
Oh, I see a nice
blue flame in there.
Okay.
Let there be heat,
holy moly, that’s gonna heat up.
You know, at the end
of the season, it gets cold.
Have warm clothes,
take care of yourself.
Make sure that you
have oil in your heater.
- It’s cool.
- No excuse.
We gotta keep
working even if it’s cold.
Oh, different
sizes. That’s great.
You can pop that,
try it out over there.
Another quarter-of-an-inch.
Back at Big
Trommel Al Gaylord,
has come in in to fix the
plant’s crucial slurry pump.
Hold it up back here to
the side, get one bolt in.
Al has spent eight
years on this mine.
And knows this troublesome
wash plant better than anyone.
So, we worked all night.
We gotta get this done by today.
Todd’s been
hounding me about it.
And this fitting is
gotta be perfect.
Because it’s make-shift.
This doesn’t get done right,
we will lose another
day and possibly my job.
We’re almost out of time. We
gotta get that Big Trommel running.
Winter’s setting in.
If we don’t get this thing
running right now, we’re screwed.
- This sucker’s heavy.
- Yeah, it is.
Let’s have this done already.
Big Trommel,
it’s a big piece of crap.
Ooh, there’s so many
things wrong with it.
Unfortunately, it’s what we got.
We can have a fighting
chance at getting gold.
It’s definitely going to make
Jason happy and his pockets spill.
After 36-hours of work, Sparky
finally finishes the slurry pump fix.
-We’re good, Al.
-Great.
We’re ready to fire it up.
You just yell at me
and I’ll pop the water.
To supply the
Big Trommel with fresh water,
Todd has brought in a
brand-new water pump.
This is a monster diesel pump.
I leased this and brought
it up on a barge, up here.
We got double suction here.
I’m actually bringing a huge
amount of water volume.
I want to run everything
with this one pump so...
I got high hopes for it.
We gotta press all these bolts
- Everything tight?
- Should be, they run a... rattle gun.
This is a big day
for the Big Trommel.
We have a new
pressure water pump on it.
We have a new slurry pump on it.
It’s always a kind of hit
or miss with this thing.
It’s so many moving pieces.
I’m naming this
plant, The Hot Mess.
Because that’s what exactly
about ready to happen.
I’ve ran some big
bad plants before,
this one’s right
at top of the list.
Hey, Al, we’re about ready.
This is our major
production machine.
Everyday we’re down this Big
Trommel, we’re down 25-30-ounces.
This plant has to run.
Or we will not hit our goal.
If the Hoffmans
successfully fire up the Big Trommel,
they’ll be able to process an extra
100-yards of pay dirt every hour.
More than doubling
their current production.
Do you know how to
operate the slurry pump?
Okay.
You ready?
Go, turn it on.
- Okay, I’m going to fire it up.
- Yep.
We’ve never ran this plant. I
don’t know how it’s gonna go
1200,
1300...
Here comes the water.
The first
step in starting the plant,
is filling the spree pump’s hopper with
fresh water before activating the pump.
Water’s on.
All right, turn it on.
-The slurry?
-Yep.
-Got it?
-Yeah.
See the smoke out
of the generator?
They must be just
turning on that slurry pump.
Hey, look at this, dude.
- It’s got a... missing.
- Yes.
Jason and Al discovered the
loose nuts on the slurry pump system,
are already causing problems.
-It’s up there now.
-Yeah.
So, that plunger
tells you how full it is.
If it starts to drop down,
-we’re gonna pump it up.
-We gotta up our BM.
This is not even tight.
There’s another one, in there.
I’m going to go look at the
sluice, see if there’s a knob.
All right, I’ll
take care of this.
I’m gonna go and see if we got
enough water, to even sluice with.
-That’s right size?
-I don’t know yet.
Take care Jason.
-You got one shot.
-What?
Just one shot.
Good.
Here’s your water.
The question is, do we
have enough for the sluice?
What do you think?
That’s it.
- That’ll do it!
- We got white water!
That’s enough.
That’s it...
That pump is amazing man.
It’s amazing.
That’s enough for
sluice, right there.
That’s best that I
have ever seen it.
Al... turn the trommel on, now
- Turn it on.
- Yeah.
Slowly drop some in.
Let’s just give this a shot.
So far, so good.
Oh, this is running
some dirt, here we go!
I don’t know how this is
going to go but I’ll take it, man.
Al, how we doing?
- It’s got to stabilize.
- Okay.
This slurry pump is amazing.
Because everything you had at the other
plant, we got to move away from the plant,
with excavators. This, we use
a pump to do all that work for us.
So, if this isn’t working right, it’d
have taken us a lot of man-hours.
I have had some
great wash plants.
Little Blue.
Monster Red, she was impressive.
Holy Roller, that’s
one of my favorites.
But this one right here?
This takes a lot to run right.
Right now, we’re making gold.
How long? I don’t know.
But today, and right now, at this
very second, we’re getting gold.
After months
of being shut down,
the mine’s largest wash
plant is finally ready for pay dirt.
But this force is
another issue for Todd.
The claim will need
another excavator.
We’re kind of dead in the
water. We need another excavator.
We can’t run everything and
do all the things we need to do.
We got issues, we
need this excavator.
Todd has
leased an excavator,
which is meeting
13-miles south of the mine.
Here he comes. There
comes the excavator.
At a place where another
decision must be made.
How’s it going, Todd?
Andy, what do you think man?
We got a three-three
excavator. It’s pretty heavy.
We just rented
it for two months.
But we need it bad.
If we have to take
it through the river,
we got a lot of problems
that can happen.
It is heavy, it is a low boy.
And this river is actually
going up, it’s not going down.
It’s been raining and it’s deep.
But, we’ve done it before.
Might have to do it
again, hopefully, we won’t.
We’ll see what happens.
I think this excavator’s a
little too heavy for this bridge.
It’s been hit before.
Somebody already hit it
with the boom of an excavator.
- It’d be a little bit of a gamble.
- What do you mean by a little?
Their only other option
is to cross the river in the excavator.
How deep do you think it is?
Right now, it’s
probably 20-30-feet.
-Ooh.
-I mean, easily.
That’s a little too deep.
-We can always try it in a couple of days.
-We don’t have couple of days.
I don’t know. What
do you think, dad?
I don’t think you’re
going to make it.
I think we’re going to
be up over to the seat.
And that’s only six feet.
What’s the worst thing
that can happen out there?
-Well, you could lose the excavator.
-What do you mean, lose it?
Sink it.
I tell you what, I got an idea.
Why don’t we walk
that excavator out there.
We’ll stick the arm in there,
we’ll see how deep it is.
That sounds like a plan.
Time is of the essence.
We need that excavator.
We’ve done rivers before.
Hang on.
Keep going, keep going.
They’ve all been
sketchy and dangerous.
You know what? We always
seemed to make it across.
Hopefully, we’ll make it again.
Hunter, get in there.
Poke your way across,
reach out and feel the depth.
I mean I don’t know what
else the option we have.
-Okay?
-Okay.
All right, let’s go.
Whatever we got
to do, we gotta get it done.
Hopefully, we don’t
have any major issues.
Meanwhile,
back at the mine,
the Hot Mess, is already
making quick work with its pay dirt.
We’re starting a line
on the Big Trommel.
When it works good, it’s great.
The Big Trommel
is finally running dirt.
And the crew is optimistic
this season will be a success.
Oh...
Oh-oh.
There are three.
The big one is obvious.
There’s another smaller one.
And the only other one
is the one up the hill...
Okay, I’ll shut
it off. I’ll fix them.
-All right, sounds good.
-Okay, great.
We got some holes.
The Big Trommel is down
until I can fix these leaks.
Nearby, the
Hoffmans have decided,
it’s best to send their rented
excavator through the river,
rather than across the
bridge and risking collapse.
This bridge can’t take a
lot of weight and tall equipment.
It looks like it’s way
too deep from here.
We can’t get the house
of that excavator wet.
It’s got all the
electronics in it.
We sure as heck can’t sink it because
Todd can’t afford to buy it right now.
That excavator was
probably at least a 100-grand.
These
guys are from here.
And they seem nervous about it, so, it
doesn’t really give me any confidence.
What’s our chances of
getting through this river?
I say it’s a 50-50 shot.
For us, I’d say,
that’s pretty good.
One thing that we know,
is that we gotta have this excavator
to dig that gold out of the ground.
So, that’s what we’re gonna do.
Do your best.
I mean, it is what
it is, let’s try it.
All right.
What do think?
We’re good there?
Let’s see how
deep it is out there.
Put your stick in.
I can’t say...
it’s been raining.
And this river’s up.
I’m gonna keep going.
Go ahead,
get a little farther.
Three or four feet at a time.
- It dropped off.
- It dropped off.
Whoa, stop.
It is a rental.
I think it’s good. I’m
gonna keep tracking.
Be careful.
Keep that
bucket out there, dude.
That’s a little bit
to the right, Hunter.
Little bit to the right.
I don’t like it.
I think I’m good. I think I’m
gonna go a little bit farther at least.
That’s too deep Todd.
Have it turn around.
Yeah, see that current, it’s washing
away the opposite side track there.
It’s gonna flip over and...
Let me just go a
little bit farther, dude.
I don’t care about
losing any equipment.
I don’t want a
grandson in that water...
I want to get out.
You know I found out, the older I
get, the less stupid risks I like to take.
It’s a case of being cautious.
It’s not worth losing my
grandson over a darn excavator.
Yeah, I’m going to
go a little bit deeper,
to see it levels out.
I don’t want to
override the others, man.
I think we should turn around and get the
hell out off here before something happens.
I know you want to keep going
but let’s get the hell out of here.
All right. 10-4.
Bring it up, Hunter.
It’s a little
over-weight for this bridge.
It’s going to start shaking
around on your bed.
You’ll see stuff moving.
You think it’s safe?
Yeah, I probably
wouldn’t wear a seat-belt.
Because if you need to get
out, you need to get out quick.
-Okay.
-Excavator can be replaced.
What do you think?
All right, let’s do it.
I got a bad
feeling about this.
We’re out of time.
We’re going for it.
Only watch
my boom, okay?
I need you to keep eyes on
the sides for me and up top.
We got it. Bring it on.
Shane...
-Watch that boom for me, will you?
-Okay.
Yeah, looking good.
Watch that boom.
Easy, easy.
This thing’s moving Shane.
It’s shaking.
Keep that speed... consistent.
Keep the
speed consistent, okay?
Just like that, Hunter.
Do not give up. Just keep going.
The bridge is
shaking, don’t panic.
Holy
This whole bridge
is shaking, right now.
Shane, is this normal?
It actually is worse than normal.
Because normally, it don’t shake this bad.
But this piece of
equipment is pretty heavy.
I don’t like the
feeling of this at all.
- Whoa!
- This is the worst we’ve ever seen it shake.
Dude, I can feel this
whole thing dancing.
Al, a little
to your left, just a little bit.
I don’t like the
feeling of this at all.
- Whoa!
- This is the worst we’ve ever seen it shake.
It’s kinda scary.
Oh...
Don’t worry about the
shake, just keep it going.
Just keep coming.
You’re good, you’re
good, you’re good.
Whoo!
Whoo! We did it.
I’ve never been on a
bridge that moved that much.
That’s riveting.
Whoo!
Good job, dude.
I’m glad we made it, man.
Tell me what’d that
feel like in there?
I could feel the whole
bridge bouncing.
-I don’t know if you guys...
-We were bouncing too.
We were bouncing with you.
We made it.
Shane, grab the truck.
let’s load this thing up
and get out to the mine.
-Okay?
-Let’s do it.
Let’s go.
So, right now, until we get these
leaks fixed, we are down to the Z Plant.
It’s important
to get this going.
The year is coming to an end.
I just seen a few snowflakes.
So, it’s getting close.
So, it’s been cold. It’s gonna
start freezing every night, now.
So, gotta get busy and
got to get the stuff going.
Let’s see if we can
get this to work or not.
It’s an idea, I’m
hoping it’ll work.
The lines wore out.
We don’t have a lot of
pieces to repair it with.
But we’re hoping that
this would get us through.
You know, it’s kind
of a Jason decision.
This is kind of a
low-cost banding tool.
But it’s simple and it works.
Do things with what you got.
Been with two or three
different companies.
Ended up here in 2014.
How many more
years will I do it?
As long as my
health don’t give up on me.
A year-and-a-half
ago, had a stroke.
That kinda shook things up.
Scared the whole family.
Had to use a walker for...
I don’t know, couple months.
Went on a diet and dropped
100-pounds, this winter.
And I’m hoping to go home
this winter and drop another 100.
Put this around, it’ll
help seal the little leaks.
It may leak a little
bit. But, uh...
The sand’ll plug it up.
It should.
Well that’s, that.
I think we’ll fire it
up. See if it leaks.
Hopefully, they can
get it back running again.
We’ve been using the same slurry line
for quite a while. It’s getting worn out.
It’s a struggle to fix
it and keep it going.
You gotta watch it all the time.
You just can’t turn
it on and walk away.
Somebody’s gotta
keep an eye on it.
Okay, turning on the slurry.
Well, she’s up and running.
Damn.
Well, that failed.
It’s
not looking good.
The big plant
hasn’t ran all day.
The slurry pipe
is so badly worn,
the whole thing
needs to be replaced.
I wouldn’t use duct tape
to repair my slurry line.
I’d replace it
with a slurry line.
But, uh, the new joke on the mine is
duct tape is the slurry line repair kit.
And uh, we just
don’t want to do that.
Because that’s the
piss-poor way of fixing stuff.
Let’s do it right.
Let’s spend the money.
And then it’ll last
three times as long,
instead of duct tape
and a piece of rubber.
When Todd
returns to the claim...
Oh...
He sees the
thing he’s been dreading.
The good thing
about the slurry line
is that we don’t have to have
somebody working up to tail it.
The bad part is, when
you spring a leak,
the whole plant is shut down.
Without this, that
trommel’s not gonna run.
Every day that that’s
down, it’s about $20,000.
So, either we replace this.
Or we’re dead in the water.
We got goals to hit,
the weather’s setting in,
we gotta go.
There’s only one person to
talk to about what needs to happen next.
You got a minute?
Yeah, what’s up?
We need some pipe.
If I work Al any harder on
that, he’s going to die out there.
I mean the guy is
working his butt off.
It is blowing holes.
We tried to patch
it and it’s just...
It ain’t gonna work.
It’s only got four more weeks.
If they can get
us through that...
We can bubblegum it, we
can weld it, we can fix it...
Whatever, it has to fix.
I wish a
quick-fix would work.
But I don’t think we are gonna have
any more quick-fixes from here on out.
In the past, we
have patched it up.
And it’s lasted.
I need a
1000-feet of pipe
or we can’t run the Big Trommel.
We’re gonna have to throw
some money at this thing.
I don’t think that $20,000 for
pipe is on the table, this year.
Everyday, we’re down,
it’s probably 15-20000-dollars.
Todd, I’m a business guy. Every year,
we have to make decisions for projected,
you know, return.
This year has not been good.
The Z Plant goes down,
we’re literally not making
one-ounce of gold in a day.
Think, if we fix that pipe,
it’ll at least be ready to go,
in case the Z Plant
takes a crap on us.
That’s our only life-line.
In the end, it’ll be
up that Big Trommel.
If we can’t run the Big Trommel,
we’re not gonna meet the goal.
You’re gonna lose money.
I think we ought to get pipe.
Spend a little bit more money.
So that I can get you the gold.
The end’s coming fast.
I agree.
Rally your guys.
Let’s get that gold.
I’m gonna do my best.
Get the pipe.
Let’s go.
The Big Trommel plant has
been idled by leaks in the slurry pipeline.
Todd has convinced Jason to buy new
pipe to resolve the issue once and for all.
Okay, let’s get it going.
We are down to
90-100-yards an hour,
on the big hot mess.
And that thing is the plant that
runs the most amount of yards, so...
This is gonna put
us really behind.
...good right there...
We gotta get the stuff
up and going again.
Get these fusions done.
Todd knows this
slurry line needs to be fixed fast.
It also needs to last
the rest of the season.
So, they have pieced
together a 1000-feet of line.
And will seal them with
a thermal plastic welder.
Basically
like a big iron,
it melts both ends
and then we stick them together
and it welds them together.
And hopefully, it works.
And hopefully,
it holds together.
Grab this end.
Ready?
Ready, Al?
There you go.
Here you go...
Let’s see what that’ll do.
We got a hydraulic leak, Al.
- Yeah, I see that.
- Think it’ll hold?
- Get it done?
- Hopefully, it will.
We’re gonna
plain these two ends.
Put them in basically a
big iron, melt the inside,
glue it together.
Listen, you guys deserve a couple
cheeseburgers if het through this, today.
-Don’t you think?
-Absolutely.
495...
...96...
Is it hot enough Al?
Yeah.
What you want to see is,
you see that pipe starting to melt?
You want to see about
a quarter-of-an-inch.
-Ready?
-Yeah.
Go.
Out.
In the sleeve.
Come on, baby.
Yeah, it’s working.
Looks like it got a good bind.
- How’s the bottom...
- All the way around, yeah, looks good.
The hot mess is needed now
more than ever after several down days.
Will the slurry line hold?
Hopefully, we got our
measurements right.
And all of our welds hold.
Doing this out here, is twice
as hard for some reason.
I can’t figure it out.
That’s good.
All right, let’s
fire up the plant.
Get her going.
Dakota.
-We’re about ready to fire her up, okay?
-All right.
You got some dirt in
here, watch the tailings.
-And then you’re gonna have to feed him pay.
-All right.
The plant
is ready for action.
As is the new excavator.
And mine-owner,
Jason Otteson is here,
to make sure his
money was well-spent.
I should. But I don’t
think there should be.
We’ll see if it works.
We don’t know it’s
going to work or not.
It’s just, uh, turning
it back on right now.
It may be backwards. Who
knows what they’ve done.
So, we’re about to see
what’s gonna happen.
Ready?
Yep.
Okay.
Get the water.
Let’s turn the trommel on.
How’s the slurry?
Looking good.
- You think it’s gonna hold?
- Yeah.
It should be okay.
I’m confident that we’ll at least be able
to finish this year with the new tools.
Looking good.
I’m actually feeling
pretty hopeful, today.
I know this plant isn’t ideal.
But, sometimes perfection
is never really in your grasp.
But today we’re hopeful.
Because I know, by
the end of the day, today,
I’m gonna get more
gold in this box.
And closer to that goal.
The slurry
pipe is holding up.
Yeah!
Come on, baby...
a million dollars.
Yeah, we got a
hole in the slurry line.
We have a leak in the road.
The leak in the line.
Filled up
a whole bunch of sand in the road.
My wife’s stuck in it right now. We
gotta get something to pull her out.
We got the husband
saving the wife in this situation.
It’s really sweet.
Kind of a romance.
He dropped everything
he was doing,
bolted down here.
Now, we’re gonna get her out.
Perfect.
One problem down.
Probably another 20-30-minutes,
we’ll have another one.
You gotta always prep your bin
before you put a lot of gold in it.
Make her feel good.
Make sure she’s warmed up.
Give her a little kiss.
Boom.
As the Hoffman’s
third week comes to an end,
Nick and Dakota, pull the
Z Plant’s mats for testing.
It looks loaded up, too.
I mean, look, I mean
the whole top’s packed.
The rifles look pretty packed.
So, we’ll see how it goes.
With both Z Plant
and Big Trommel running,
the Hoffman team are ending
the week, feeling positive.
This is all
gonna be great.
All that matters, now.
It’s all gold, baby.
Nick and Dakota are
optimistic about their mat pull.
But will it be enough
for the Hoffmans,
to reach their weekly
goal of 45-ouncess?
There we go, that’s nice.
Jack and Jim washed their last load
of concentrate collected from the Z Plant.
And make sure they aren’t
missing any gold from that pay.
Any gold,
anything big like nuggets,
they go down the sluice box.
So, we have to
pay attention to that.
Just checking the uh,
very last spot, we didn’t touch anything.
A little safety net, like
a back-up parachute.
I found this
little guy, in here.
The reason it made
it so far in the system,
is it’s got quartz hooked to it,
which will make it move.
It was at the very
bottom of our sluice box,
about six-inches,
if I’m going over.
All that quartz attached to it
explains why it traveled so much.
The objective is to get as
much gold as we possibly can.
Several hours later Jack
and Jim’s clean-up is almost complete.
The Hoffmans are
about to find out,
if they produced
45-ounces of gold.
Just enough to keep
their heads above water.
So, you think you could
have made it across the creek?
I think I could have made it.
- I doubt it.
- Yeah, they were all getting worried.
I figured we’d better chance
the bridge than the river.
You guys ended up
taking it across the bridge?
-Yeah.
-How was that?
- It was sketchy.
- It was crazy.
It was bouncing and shaking
but, I don’t know why I was...
I don’t know.
It was kind of fun.
Hey...
-What’s up, boys?
-Yo, buddy.
All right.
You guys did really good.
Finally, ready to shower.
Good.
It’s about time.
-Hey...
-Man of the hour.
Nice, huh?
I don’t know.
You tell me. I can hear it.
- Is it good or is it bad?
- Better be nice.
You can always tell with
the hair of his moustache,
if it’s gonna be a
good one or a bad one.
It used to be black.
Yeah. You’re not
using the dye anymore.
Okay, hey, we got 30 last week.
That actually looks half decent.
So, let’s start the pour,
huh? Dad, call it out.
-Yeah.
-What do you think?
Here we go.
Five, ten, 12, 13...
17, 18, 19, 20...
27, 28...
30...
33...
34...
-35-point-zero-five.
-Wow.
-Yeah.
-It’s better.
That’s a lot better.
Do it in dollars, what is that?
Do some quick math.
-It’s somewhere around 60-grand.
-Wow.
Still behind. But we’re
going in the right direction.
Yes, you know, feels good.
You know, I wish
this was better.
And I think it could be if we pulled
the mats from the Big Trommel.
We had a lot of break-downs
but I did get a lot of dirt today.
I think we might be over 40,
if we pull the Big Trommel.
-God, if we had a good plant.
-Yeah.
From here on out, we don’t
have very many more chances.
If we’re not gonna
make this happen,
with both plants, you
know, up and down.
-Yeah.
-Agreed.
How much do we need
next week to make this work?
We need to start
getting 47, a week.
That’s the few
weeks we have left.
So, starting to get intense.
Yeah.
That’s why it hurts.
That should be easy.
But with all that we
have, it feels impossible.
Despite
being up from last week,
Hoffmans still fall short
of their weekly goal.
In order to hit their benchmark
of one million dollars,
they need to average 47-ounces a
week for the remainder of this season.
I think it’s just phenomenal,
what the young guys are doing.
As older guys,
we can just help
them out, you know?
They did great.
You know, I am proud of them.
They have far exceeded what I
could do when I was their age.
Everybody’s doing
a really good job.
Yeah, I feel we’re working
well with Jason’s crew.
His younger guys
are just animals.
They work really hard,
they’ve got great attitude.
Nick and Dakota are
doing a great job, so...
I am just thankful that God
gave us one more chance up here.
You know, we’re getting
some good experience.
-With some pretty rough stuff.
-Yeah.
Oh, this is a really good
learning experience.
Right, we’re all
out of practice.
I mean we’re all learning
working together, so...
Thank you, guys.