Hoffman Family Gold (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Fortune in the Wash - full transcript

Todd
Hoffman and his family

faced the most promising

but most troubled
mine of their carrier.

Half a day wasted.

Oh, I don’t like those noises.

It’s hard to win here.
It’s just hard to win.

Week after week...

-It’s running.
-We got water.

... they’ve
overcome challenges.

I don’t like what I’m seeing.

Dude, I don’t like
what I’m seeing either.



God, if we had a good plant.

Last week, they
had their highest weekly total.

42.95.

Wow, we’ve never been on
the ground that has gold like this.

And I think this is what
we’ve all been waiting for.

In a 192 ounces
shy of their season goal.

Now, they need to
average 48 ounces per week

to hit the million
dollar benchmark,

but once winter hits...

I can already
feel the weather changing.

It’s getting colder
every single day.

Plant freezing up.

... the end of
the season comes with it.

We need every
single yard we can get.



Can running
the plants to their limits

get Todd’s team to
their gold targets?

Or will the constant fixes
eat up the rest of the season?

Are we here to repair or
we’re here making gold?

It’s crunch time, baby.

And that leaves us with 48 ounces
per week with time we have left.

We’re still a little short,

but Andy’s frickin’
running pay dirt.

We’re good on that.

Now we got enough pay.

It’s just keeping
the plants running.

That’s our main
concern right now.

- Yeah.
- ...yardage.

I was really worried
about the pay dirt,

now I’m not.

Now, I’m actually worried
about getting the pay dirt ran.

Yeah.

So, we got
a plant problem.

Yeah.

Let’s go.

We’re so close to
meeting our weekly goal,

we just need that little
edge to get us to victory.

So I got the big
trommel running,

I got the Z plant running,

but to hit those yardages
and get the gold we need...

Holy *bleep*.

...we got to get that test trommel
running as a main production plant.

I keep my
eyes closed at all times

when working on
the test trommel.

We’re gonna try to
put it back together.

This small trommel
was created for the purpose

of telling the miners
if they are on the gold.

And Todd is hesitant
about pressing it into service.

It’s a test plant.

It needs to be cleaned
out every hundred yards.

Well, you know what,
it’s too late in the game,

we got to run
with what he’s got.

We got to run at the
way he’s got it set up.

You see that? That’s Ice.

We’re out of time.

Believe it or
not, this tiny little sluice

actually collects the
best percentage of gold.

And so we need it running

even though it’s
only 30 yards an hour.

Every 30 yards, if we’re catching
three to four ounces of gold

it’s best to have it running.

So they decided to bring in
the test plant as a regular plant.

And it’s not used
to this much runtime.

It wants to retire.

We’ve stretched the chain,

the teeth are all angled,

the drive sprocket
is wafer thin.

I’m not sure it’s gonna make
it to the end of the season.

We’ll just find out.

Run her till she dies.

This chain drives
the trommel in a circle

turning it, separating the
clay and dirt from the gold,

so that we can catch
it in our sluice box.

Problem is, is that the chain
keeps popping off of the drum.

From the looks of the teeth
and how bad off they are,

probably should have been
replaced two years ago.

Standard maintenance
around here.

You can see these notches here.

That’s where the chain
has eaten away at the link,

and it’s that way
all the way around.

So you lose an
eighth of an inch here,

here, here, here.

And by the time you
get all the way around,

you’ve got like a foot.

I think what I should
do is go back and check

and see if got another
chain up at the shop.

Okay, new 160 chain,

links.

We got two of them here.

So I think I have enough
chain to put a new chain on.

Now I just need to
find that drive sprocket.

I think he said it was in here.

What a mess.

Where would you hide...

the drive?

More chain.

I have no clue.

Aha!

Look what we have here.

A 160. That’s it.

That’s it, right there.

This is
our drive sprocket

and that’s chain, so...

I think we’re good to go.

Time is of the essence.
I need to get to busy.

Sure is a lot of dirt down here.

Dirt that’s not
supposed to be here.

So, what we’re gonna do is we’re
gonna go ahead and take this chain off,

put a new drive sprocket on,

new chain,

and I think they
can run for a while.

Can you see that?

See this hole right here?

All of this is pay.

It’s laden with gold.

This is right in the
throat of the trommel.

I can see right in it too.

I probably should save all this.

So I’ll just set
it off to the side.

They may actually throw
this right back into it,

so it can spill back out of it.

We got her.

There we go.

Here is our new drive sprocket.

And this is the one
to compare it with.

You can see how there’s no
teeth left to that drive sprocket.

Just wafer-thin.

This here will get
more bite, more drive.

These are just
completely worn out.

We’re going to take
this guy off that collar,

slide it on here, bolt it on.

Yep. That’s it.

Bada bing bada boom.

Let’s see it.

What happened?

So here’s this hole.

It’s not gonna be easy.

Another little one there.

I see no evil.

Well, we got a hole
here. We gotta weld it up.

We don’t want
any of this pay dirt

to come out the side right here.

Let’s freaking make sure
we get this back in here.

-That’s what I think.
-Right there.

Sparky, how you doing?
What’s your ETA down here?

Five
minutes... maybe less than that.

Weld these up, put the chain on.

I think we’re
gonna be all right.

10-4.

Plant’s freezing up.

Make it quick, if you can.

If we can get it going
tonight, it’d be good.

We got to have it
running by tomorrow.

-It’s the edge we need.
-Okay.

Let me know
what happens, okay?

Run it through the
night, so it doesn’t freeze.

Everyone once in a while,

put your finger in there and
make sure that box isn’t freezing up.

Okay.

While Randy
works on the test plant,

the focus turns to making sure there is
enough equipment to feed three wash plants,

while still excavating pay dirt.

And one of the excavators
is in a very tight spot.

Chris, he’s driving
the excavator

and in the process
of digging himself out,

he drove into a
20-foot pay hole,

which was full of mush,

which he never should have done,

but he’s just inexperience,

you know, guy’s got to learn.

But this machine is
so tired and worn out,

it doesn’t have enough
hydraulic power to pull itself out.

And right now, we just don’t have
time to fool with this kind of stuff.

These links
are 75 pounds of piece.

And I needed an extra...

We’re going to the beach.

Dude, you got some
beach balls, dude.

I’ll have my beach ball
over there and over there.

Oh!

Check this thing out.

Ooh.

-She’s quite-- -Don’t
unwrap her! Don’t unwrap her!

Oh.

No, don’t unwrap her!

There is a hole.

You want to go see the hole?

Yeah, I do.

They call him Randy-nee

because he literally can fix
anything here on the mine.

He is a great mechanic.

I’ve learned a lot from him.

We’ve got a hole here
and a baby hole there.

She’s spitting
all over the place.

Oh, that’s gold, huh?

Yeah there is, and Todd
wants this back in the plant.

Oh, shoot!

So you think you
can weld them up?

I know this is real thin.

Well, let me test
this out real quick.

Yeah, it’s pretty thin.

You just put a
bigger hole in it.

It’s all right, I can
put a plate right here,

which I already got some,

and slap it, heat it, bend
it, weld it and that’s it.

All righty.

Sparky, how you
doing out there, buddy?

He’s got that
plate. He’s welding on.

Is that the only
issue you’re finding on her?

So far we got a
couple of broken welds,

he’s gonna weld up

and we’ll have that
chain on, here in no time.

Just remember Jason
wants this fixed by tonight.

10-4.

That’s Todd, he’s
checking up on the plant,

see how close we are.

We’re getting
actually pretty close.

He’s almost got
the plate welded on.

We got some
broken welds up front,

some silicone,

finish the chain,

hopefully real soon.

Sparky’s trying to finish
this off with a little epoxy

but it got really hot
when it was welding so...

And it’s super thin.

So he just poked
a couple holes in it.

We’re trying to get
this cooled off enough

to where he can
put that epoxy on

and I think it’s
cool enough now,

So it’s funny that
we’re using epoxy in Alaska

because it doesn’t
cure under 32 degrees

and it’s been mostly
20 and below here.

-So that’ll work fine?
-Yeah.

Stuff around here.
It’ll be nice and warm.

Today’s one of
those unique days.

- Yeah, it is.
- Very unique.

But it doesn’t mean
that winter is coming.

-Winter is here.
-Oh.

Ugh, dude!

Just downright disgusting

Putrid.

Unappetizing.

But at least we
don’t lose any gold.

Yeah, glue.

We’re gluing the
trommel back together.

Exactly.

All right, that should be good.

So all we got to do
now is take this pin out,

put our new safety pin in,

and we’ll be done with this.

While Randy races to
finish the repairs by Todd’s deadline,

Jack has arrived to help Andy,

get the excavator
freed and back to work.

I think I can be
able to lift myself

and then get going forward,

but it’s just sucked in there.

The equipment’s
tired and worn out so...

Thanks, Jack.

I think if I spin around,
I just lift myself up.

I’ll try it.

Okay.

We have got to go
all the way around it.

Get all this mush out of here.

I’ll be able to pull myself out

and be able to finish
cleaning this up.

So we’ll get it
out. Get it done.

Move to the next project.

So what we’re trying to do
is get this thing out of here.

Problems is leaving
these machines

and not getting them
all dugout to move,

you don’t dig them out.

they will be a
solid chunk of ice

and you won’t be
able to move them.

Whoa! Whoa! It’s
tilting! It’s tilting!

So what we’re trying to do
is get this thing out of here.

Whoa! Whoa! It’s
tilting! It’s tilting!

Trying to back down, Jack.

I think I can pull
myself out now.

Working with heavy
machinery could be dangerous.

We’re frantically trying to get
things ready for that test plant,

so it can run full
time tomorrow.

So right now I don’t
have a lot of time

to be getting machines unstuck.

Just waste of time.

Got it. Thanks, Jack.

10-4.

Take a look.

Here it comes. Whoo!

The need
for pay dirt is escalating

with the success of
the big trommel plant.

Andy, you got a copy.

Yeah, go ahead.

I got this big trommel
running real good.

Going up to scratch pay
after the big trommel right now.

Get miles on
that little truck too.

That’s what we need to do.

Right.

Every bucket will get us closer.

Every buckets got gold in it.

Running
the test plan will mean

stretching the mine’s
machinery, even more.

All three excavators will
have to be feeding plants.

That means the time
spent excavating dirt

and loading it into the
claims two rock trucks

must be spent wisely.

Hey Chris, copy.

Talk to me goose.

I’ll finish stacking this little
bit of dirt up here and then...

And it’ll pull faster for you.

Roger.

What I’m looking at right now

is Andy Spinks in
his natural habitat.

You know, a lot of people
want to win the super bowl

or some people want to
have a great real estate deal

or flip a house

but for Andy Spinks, right now,

sitting out here
digging in the dirt,

scraping right along the bedrock

and bringing a pile of dirt

that’s got a
bunch of gold in it,

that’s his big deal.

You know, Jason’s crew never
really learned how to be gold miners.

They come from
different backgrounds.

I’ve put a lot of time and money
into the education of my guys,

you know, we’ve learned how to
move dirt on two different continents.

Holy crap.

And hopefully, we can pass that
knowledge on to Jason’s crew.

It’s these little tricks
that shave off time

and allow us to get a lot
more pay dirt to the wash plant.

You know what that is.

That’s more gold.

Just a lot of things
that they’ve done

that just aren’t efficient.

And the only way you know is

by somebody either teaching you

or figure it out for yourself.

So we’re building
up a huge pile,

put the excavator on top of it.

Way more efficient.

Probably three times faster
loading the truck that way

than if you were to try
to load off the ground.

Chris is very eager to learn.

He wants to be more efficient

and doing the
fastest way possible.

So, it’s a pleasure
to work with him.

And Chris has got a
little bit of funky mustache.

I thought he waxed it,

but he said it grows
like that normal,

because he plays
with it all the time.

I think we got this
pile good enough.

Why don’t you go ahead

and walk up the end of the pile?

Get up on top.

And call Nick and
get him in here.

Start loading some trucks.

Sounds good.

All right buddy.

This is gonna be good.

Andy is showing Chris

how to load a rock truck

by walking the excavator
to the top of the pay pile.

You can drive right on in here.

You got lots of room.

A mining
veteran’s trick of the trade.

Come and get a load of
pay and then go on up.

Todd and his guys,

especially, Andy have really
kind of taken me under their wing.

And I really learned a
lot just from those guys.

January of 2017,

I lost my job in a oil field.

And then one Sunday,

last year,

my wife came to me and said, that she
didn’t want to be married to me anymore.

She wanted a divorce, so...

So she was my partner in life,

my strength.

So I lost everything.

I lost my house, lost my family.

So I had to start over again.

That’s why I want to
see this place succeed.

That’s why I don’t
want us to fail here.

This is my home now.

I think Chris is probably at least twice,
three times faster loading trucks now.

Looks really good.

This will up efficiency.

This is what we got to do.

There’s a lot of little
tricks to the trade.

We’ve had to learn them.

So we’re here to help them
and teach them the same thing.

That was just incredible loading on
your first truck on top of the pay pile.

That was.

I really appreciate it.

You’re
happy. We’re happy.

This is one step closer to
running the test plan full-time.

Before the
test plant gets fired up,

Todd wants to get some
experienced eyes on it.

And he’s confident that
he has the right guys.

Jim Thurber.

Jack Hoffman.

Nobody’s gonna
question their ability.

They’re the best if I put
them up against anybody.

I will fight you.

I’m a Christian,
but I will fight you.

Todd came
in and he says,

look at the test plant like,
we did for the big trommel.

That’s way too steep.

All your gold’s
underneath this thing.

Another problem,
there’s no water here.

Cute little bugger.

Kind of small,

but it looks like
it’s probably okay.

There’s two guys on this mine

that know a lot about this stuff

and Thurber and I are,

are those two guys.

And so what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna try
to cure things that we can hear first off.

Look. Look. Look. Look. Look.

That might be
why they called us.

Look at the gold right there,

sitting right on top

I think they can scavenge
up 10-12 ounces right here.

Let’s see if we’re level.

Oh my gosh, I can see
peripheral. We’re way off.

If you look here,

it’s scrubbing really
good on this side.

There’s still material.

So this thing’s out of level.

Put it that way. Let’s see.

Let’s see what we got here.

We’re a strong half out.

So this thing’s too steep.

And plus, if you
look right here,

this is how big your
sluice box is now.

You’re losing half of your box.

Everything
needs to be set up.

There’s science
to this whole thing.

Gold like certain angles.

There’s gold.

Lot of it.

Nice coarse gold.

That side has no water.

It’s scrubbing this side here.

This is half his
production, right here.

Yeah.

He wants all that gold

that he’s throwing
down the creek.

We’ll get this fixed.

All right.

With only a couple of hours
remaining in the time given by Todd,

Jack and Jim are
preparing the test trommel

to become a
full-time wash plant.

It’s set up wrong.

You and I know that.

I know, we’re
trying to help Jason.

Huh?

Nothing he did on
purpose, he doesn’t know.

Yeah, we can do it.

All right. What do you think
we ought to do first, man?

All we have to do is fix this.

Fix that box.

So, with the links,

even if you have
to twist the chain

and hook it up to
get everything level...

Level

and the right degree of drop.

I’ll get the bar, pry it up.

But you’re gonna
have to adjust the links--

I’ll do the chains.

Hopefully, it’s not
frozen to anything.

It needs to come
up 2-inches, Jim.

Come on. Come on.
Come on. Come on.

-You want to try that?
-Yeah.

Let me get the other side.

I want to try to get level too.

Okay.

Okay, come on.

Little more.

Okay, got that one.

That’s way off.

Let’s do this one.

I can see, it’s
leaning this way.

Come on up, one more.

Come on.

Okay, that’s one more.

That looks level.

That’s perfect.

Drop dead perfect.

You’re kidding. It’s like
we know what we’re doing.

We’ve got that right.

Let’s get the heck out of here.

They’ll be
surprised to see the gold.

They
better be, it’s good.

Feeding
three plants means,

moving material across the mine,

but the Hoffman team will have to
improve the poor road infrastructure,

if they want real productivity.

The new road
system going right.

Very important.

But if you can spend three
or four hours to build a road

and increase
productivity by 50%,

it’s just more dirt and more
gold going through the plant.

Where do you think
we could help you?

I got a place area
over near the side

that’s hard to get
to, kind of cut off,

Need to get a road of
some access in there.

Well, we’ve learned a little bit on
how to build roads in the permafrost.

It can help you with
some ways that we do it,

and maybe it’ll
be a little bit better.

Yeah, we’ve struggled
keep roads maintained and...

-Yeah.
-It’s just the freezing and the rain and wet.

Why don’t you jump in the truck,

go up to Al, get some rock

and then I’ll start
digging this out

and I’ll tell you
where to put it, okay?

All right, that
sounds good with me.

- All right, buddy.
- Sounds good.

They don’t have a lot
of access to this hillside.

So you got to go clear down here

and it’s just a mess.

They’re stripping dirt,

but they got no way
to get the dirt out.

So I’m gonna go shortest route,

straight to the hillside,

we’ll build a good rock road.

I mean, that’s what’s
gonna open up all this land.

They literally are working on a
minuscule footprint of this property

because there are no roads.

You see this?

Got my
foot stuck in the mud.

But this is what
we’re dealing with.

And dude, It’s just terrible.

Any vehicle,

which got wheels
on is getting stuck.

They’re gonna teach
us the right way,

so that we can
have a big old road,

so rock trucks are
passing each other

and we’re able to get to
places faster and efficiently.

Look like, a
lot of the road system,

they wouldn’t skin off
all the soft mucky stuff.

So it would still leave
a soft foundation,

so to speak.

You might have to go 2-feet.

You might have to go 20-feet.

But you get a firm foundation
and you put rock in it

You can drive 40-ton haul
trucks, all day long on it

and be like a highway.

We’re so close on reaching
our weekly gold average,

but it comes down to the
little things that are costing us.

Like, being efficient.

So the plan is never
waiting on pay dirt.

Guys come
from the lower 48.

Construction and
everything else,

I think they know
how to move dirt.

You don’t know
how to do anything

if you learn how to
move from across.

Once you figure that out,
you can build roads anywhere.

Hey
Sparky, do you copy?

Hey, Sparks.

Hey buddy, I want you
to back that truck in here.

And help me unload the rocks.

10-4.

Keep it coming.

Right there. Good.

Drop it right there.

Here in this country,
there are no roads.

So the only way you’re gonna get the
gold out of the ground is to have roads.

Now
get another load of rocks.

10-4.

So if you don’t spend the time to
build your road system and infrastructure

then you’ll never be
successful at mining.

There’s just no way.

You can have the
richest ground in the world

but if you can’t get
it to a wash plant,

you’ll go broke.

This hillside where
we’re trying to get to,

they’ve been trying
to take material off of it

and it takes them a whole
day of just slinging material

with the excavator to get it
down where a truck can go.

So now, we literally can
just drive straight to the pay,

put it right in the truck,

get it to the plant.

With this knowledge,
we can get to the cut,

we can get more gold.

This looks amazing.

This used to be a pay pile.

Now, it’s another roadway
to more opportunities.

Insane.

With the test
trommel welded and recalibrated,

there’s just one last fix

before the small
plant is ready to run

as one of the Hoffman’s
main production plants.

We just gotta
pull this gear off,

putting a pillow block on it,

throw the chain on,

get back to work.

It’s 42 degrees out.

It’s relatively a nice day.

When the temperature drops

and you’re out
here in the elements,

it gets really
cold really quick.

So I am thankful for these days,

where it’s nice and warm, 42.

Because when it
gets down to 28, 23,

or even into the minuses.

Those are the days, you just
cringe whenever anything breaks

because you just
don’t want to go do it.

It just hurts too much.

Come on now.

*bleep*. It fell.

Where is it?

Our collet is broken.

It’s been broke for a long time.

Problem is it landed
in here somewhere.

So, instead
of trying to figure out,

"Okay, where’s the
piece of metal at?"

I went and got
the metal detector.

That way we can get
an idea of where it’s at

and then just pick it out.

I’m almost certain, we
don’t have another one.

So we’ll just have to reuse it.

Put it back in.

There’s a piece
of the pillow block,

I’ll put him over there
by the excavator.

I think it’s right in
here somewhere.

We just need to find it now.

There’s a lot of grease.

Oh, that’s a steel.

Spring.

Let’s get rid of that.

Dang, I really would
like to find that,

wherever it went off to.

There’s a grease fitting.

More steel.

Pillow block.

Bada-bing--

No!

Another piece of
the dang pillow block.

That thing must
have really took off.

If I don’t find this thing,

we’re never gonna
get this plant going.

Dang, I really would
like to find that,

wherever it went off to.

If I don’t find this thing,

we’re never gonna
get this plant going.

Aha!

Found it.

Hard to believe.

Needle in a haystack.

Here we go.

We just got to get all the
pieces back in here correctly.

Then our missing piece.

It was very, very crucial
that we find that piece.

Now that we have it,

we can finish this job

and get back to
sluicing some more gold.

Come on, baby.

All right, I guess it’s all
up for the testing now, huh?

I don’t know if
you’re getting this,

but it is now mixed snow.

So it’s slightly
snowing, slightly raining.

The clock’s ticking.

We got to get with it.

With
Randy’s fixed done,

Todd dispatches Nick and
Dakota to fire up the test trommel.

Even though he has his reservations
about over using the small plant

Let’s get that gen on.

It’s...

All right.

Yeah, let me know when
you’re about ready to turn on the water.

All right, go ahead.

So, Sparky and--

I don’t got no
water in the hopper.

Hang on.

Turn it up.

We’re not getting
water in the hopper.

We just put a new pump in

because our last
pump pooped out.

Where we at?

-One number up?
-Yeah.

All right.

So far...

Boy, is that running too fast?

It’s the only way to
get the water going.

What’s going on, dude.

-That’s a lot of water.
-I know.

I don’t know if we’re
even catching gold.

That’s weird.

Something’s not right dude.

The test trommel is
designed to run small amounts of pay dirt.

That must be thoroughly
washed to determine gold values.

There must be a
high pressure level,

so the dirt is fully washed.

But if there’s too
much water flow,

gold will blow out the end.

Hang on a second, Nick. Hang on.

I’m gonna go down look
at the pump really quick.

Yeah.

The test plant is the one
machine Jason is most familiar with.

Since it determines
the gold values

that are his bread and butter.

The team doesn’t want to
recalibrate it without his approval.

Look in the throat
in there, Mike.

Is this much water normal?

Water is just a little bit fast.

Turn four right now.

If you got too much
water through your sluice

and not enough to hopper,

then your hopper stacking up

and then you’re
flushing gold out the box.

So all that heavy water is
just carrying the gold right out.

So you’re just
running for nothing.

The inside looks good,

the hopper is on.

-The hopper is on?
-It wasn’t doing that earlier?

It was all
going to the trommel.

There wasn’t anything
going to the hopper.

What is the bypass open on?

Volume between two and one.

All right.

So just leave it there.

That’ll be our new normal.

Jason’s solution
means lowering the water pressure,

which means slowing
down feeding the plant.

On day one of running the test
plan for production purposes,

they’ll already
have to run it slower.

So that the water
is regulated properly.

Me and Nick
and Sparky, you know,

this is our first
season doing this

but you gotta catch
on quick with this stuff.

I mean,

if you let it go, I mean that’s
thousand dollars going through the box.

So you gotta keep a quick
eye on it and learn fast.

-It looks good.
-Yeah.

Yeah, I like that.

All right, just leave it there.

Looks good.

All right.

We didn’t know how
to build a good road system,

constantly having problems,

but Andy was able to teach
us how to do it with Todd’s crew.

And now, we’re
being more efficient

and equipment’s
running much better now.

We took and we fix the road.

We went from 30 loads
a day to 60 loads a day

by just putting in
different entrances.

All right.

The Tide is changing and
it’s changing in our direction.

We have all three
plants up and running.

Randy, Sparky, Jack and Jim.

They work through the night

to try to get this test
plant running full time.

Andy showed Chris an efficient
way to load pay into the trucks.

He also taught these other
guys how to build roads.

Dude, we’re
on the right track.

This is one of those days,
when the sun’s popping up,

it’s bringing some
really good energy.

So, Thurber goes to bed
last night, gets in his bed,

Somebody’s put
water on his bed---

Not just put water on my bed,

they poured water so much

it went through both layers of
sleeping bag into the mattress.

And the first person
you think of is me?

It’s really an
oxymoron, he’s not.

For the first time,

Mammoth Valley Mine
has run three wash plants.

Hope, it’s something good.

And they’ve nearly
tripled the yardage of pay dirt.

The Hoffman’s target this week

is 48 ounces of gold,

but they have yet to
make their weekly average.

Look at that.

Holy crap!

It’s loaded.

If the Hoffman crew
can’t hit their goal this week

they’re in big trouble.

Hopefully, this is the
start of the turnaround.

Phew.

Dude, walk up that hill is like
trying to walk up a full mountain.

Thurber is actually
getting up there.

His beautiful black
mustache is turning gray.

Everybody was
accusing him of dying it.

I finally started a rumor that
he had two or three of them.

Different ones that he had wear.

Of course that wasn’t true.

Next.

Well, this first time we’ve
done three cleanups in one day.

This is the last gold
out of the duplex jig.

It’s nothing to write home about

but it’s nothing to
throw away either.

This is good solid gold.

And we’ll see
what the results are.

The season gold
total stands at 408 ounces.

192 short of the
million-dollar goal.

To stay on track,

they’ll need 48
ounces this week.

About time you guys showed up.

We’ve been out working.

We’re having a
good time in here,

warm, having snacks.

Be honest.

Hey, there they are.

Hey.

Shake your shaker.

Oh my goodness.

You look tired.

Yeah, it’s a lot of work.

Is it past your bedtime?

Way.

Tell us how we did.

Thurber, weigh it out here.

Come on, bud.

Call it out, Jack or
Thurber, you pour.

Come on.

Ten...

20...

30...

I think we
need a bigger pan.

39... 40...

Whoa.

48...

49...

50.95

First time we’re over 50, guys.

That’s sweet.

That’s what we need right there.

-Yeah, that’s right.
-We’ll take it. We’ll take it.

That’s what I’m
talking about right there.

For the first time,

the Hoffman team have
gone over their gold target.

They are 141 ounces
shy of a million dollars.

With three weeks to go,

they’ll need 47 ounces
each week to make it,

but they’ll need all
the help they can get

from the ailing wash plants.

You know the test plant,

trust me, it’s not made to run
as a production machine 24/7.

But we don’t have
any other choice.

It’s really paper-thin.

So if you see a hole,
get Sparky in there

he’ll weld in there.

Watch under there and
if you see it squirting out,

guys, that’s gold.

And right now,

this is our plant that
we’re catching with.

-So-- -That test trommel
is our lifeline right now.

- It really is.
- Yeah.

Test plant is basically keeping
us in the game right now.

And I got a lot of respect
for that little tiny plant,

even though it’s paper thin.

We’re getting gold with it.

Yep.

Okay, but look,

we’re pushing the goal forward,

we’re helping to pay us bills.

And what we’re doing is
we’re earning a home, really.

Because we’re mining this

better than this has
ever been mined,

in my opinion.

Guys, great job.

Huge, huge cleanup.

Let’s get some rest.

We’ll hit it again
in the morning.

All right.

Whoo!