Hoffman Family Gold (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 8 - Dash for the Cash - full transcript
In the wilds of Alaska...
Looks kind of rough.
...Todd Hoffman's team
has transformed
an ailing mine...
We got water!
Looking good!
This plant's running!
But winter has arrived.
Here comes the snow.
Winter is right on our heels.
Enough of whining,
we gotta hurry.
Literally walking on thin ice
And crumbling equipment...
We're having to repair
what we have.
...has kept them short of
the million dollar benchmark
needed to secure
their future.
I don't wanna just get by.
I wanna kick ass.
I wanna kill it.
They must find richer paydirt
I think all this here,
I think it's pay.
We don't have time
to chase it.
And one final gamble...
If he thinks that
I'm going to abandon that,
he's crazy.
...will be the difference
between success...
That's a big piece of gold.
...and failure.
It's hard to give it up
but it's time to move on.
We're just dudes out here
trying to find some damn gold
on a damn river
in the middle of damn nowhere
And it's damn cold!
We've gotta figure out a plan
of what we're gonna do.
It's kind of nerve-wracking.
But the big trommel
not running right now,
the only way
we're gonna make it is
if we hit super-rich paydirt
What the heck is that?
Holy schnikes.
We though we had it
with the ancient river bed,
that Andy found
earlier this week.
That is
a freaking river channel.
- I'm expecting good things.
- Well...
1.3.
But we struck out.
- 1.3?
- 1.3.
- That doesn't even make sense.
- No.
No, it doesn't.
That spot wasn't
nearly as good as
we thought it would be.
We got the carpet ripped out
from underneath us right now.
Why there's no gold there?
It's just spotty.
I don't know.
We had gold
a hundred feet away.
We had gold on this side
of the creek
a hundred feet away.
So it's like we're in between.
We're running out of time
as you can see.
It's freaking freezing,
so what I'd like to do
is send Thurber out
up this valley,
and have him start
panning in different spots
and looking for different
spots in front of us.
I've done this with him
in the past, when I'm out
of every cut I have.
He's probably
the best gold-panner we have.
Andy, you got a second?
Why don't we get Thurber...
Let's bounce him up the creek,
he's our best panner we got.
- Yeah.
- Find some targets.
If they pan good,
let's just load it in a truck
and go.
You literally have gold
within a hundred feet
of that river channel.
Good gold.
The south facing slope
above me has got good gold.
Across the road
a hundred feet,
that's got good gold...
...which would
flow into that.
- How could there
not be gold in it?
- I have no idea.
We just gotta
freakin' find it.
We got an issue.
We gotta find out
where this gold is at.
It's obviously not running
down the middle
which you would think it'd be.
-Right.
-So, we're gonna ping-pong
- you up the creek.
You're gonna go
bing, bing, bing.
Direct me where to go
and what to test, I'll do it.
Andy, what do you think?
- I think let's do four places.
- Okay.
I'll show you
some places where to go,
- and then you can go pan.
- Need to use
your magic mustache.
- All right. Let's go.
- Let's go, Andy.
It's an actual stream,
ancient stream.
- So you can see it was a flow.
- Yeah.
It's never been touched
by the old-timers.
Look at all
the round quartz in here.
I mean,
that's a stream flow, right?
Yeah, looks to have
been a round one.
I don't believe that it's bad.
I'll show you
three more places
that I want you to test, okay
- You see the red sticking out right there on the bank.
- - Here.
Right on the other
side of that...
-...is a big face of red.
It's thick.
-Okay. Okay.
Problem is with that,
I got no road to it.
So I don't know
how to get it out.
But that's number 2.
So I think the third spot,
Thurber, I stacked up
a few piles...
-Yeah.
-So just those three piles.
And that'll be test number 3.
And just taker an average
and if they've all got
gold in it, or maybe one does,
- then I think
we just run it all.
- Okay.
Mean we've the first three
that are on
the other side of the creek
and then you got one
on this side of the creek.
Number 4
on the other side. Yeah.
Okay.
So, I dug a hole...
- Oh, we got water, too.
- I didn't wanna get
too deep.
So there's only probably
three-four feet of material,
but it's that red layer
of stuff that should
test really good.
So you test it, if it's good,
I'll get it to the plant.
- Just let me know.
- Let's do it.
As Andy and Jim
hunt for richer paydirt...
the Hoffmans are running
the Z-plant,
and their
smaller test trommel,
both day and night.
Right now, we're running 24/
All day, all night.
We pretty much
need every minute we can get
So, right now Jim and Andy
are trying to find the best,
uh, most rich pay,
because we only have
so many days left,
and, and we still have
a lot of gold to get.
With the big trommel
still frozen,
any issue with
the other plants must
be dealt with quickly.
Will the Z-plant
stay together?
We have foot and a half
long cracks
that are having
to be welded every other day
Will it actually
manage to make it
to the end of the year?
The responsibility
of keeping the wash
plants running
falls squarely
on the shoulders
of bush mechanic,
Randy Hubler.
And the test plant
is not cooperating.
All right.
I need to turn that off.
We were having issues
yesterday with the battery
not charging.
So I decided to build,
what they call a charge wire
that goes from
the battery to the alternator.
And, uh, I came here
this morning and it broke off.
So, we will try this again.
The test plant
has been processing paydirt
more efficiently
than the other plants.
Even though it only runs
30 yards of dirt per hour,
it is critical
to the Hoffman's
reaching their goal.
And this generator
keeps it running.
Of course, you're gonna
be a pain in the butt.
Nothing new there!
What's the issue!
Well, we've got
plenty of fuel.
But it's got air in it. Again.
This engine has O-rings
on the fuel lines
that go all the way up,
and sometimes, those don't
seal very well,
and you get a lot of air
that leaks through.
I gotta resolve that issue
because we need this thing
to start up
when you hit the switch.
But we're just gonna
get it running so that
they can run the plant.
Just starting
to get some smoke,
which is a good sign.
Come on, girl.
Just... Wow!
We got good smoke
so we got most
of the air out.
Come on.
Bada-bing, bada-boom.
We still have an air leak.
I may have
to come out here every morning
to start this thing
so that it's running
when they get here,
'cause this,
they can't do this.
I don't like to do this.
Crap! Now, what?
Yeah, I'll be right there.
With the test
trommel back up,
Randy can turn his attention
to the other working plant.
Which at the moment
is isn't working.
Keeping Z-plant running
has required almost
constant fixes from Randy.
But today's problem
is more mundane.
Have you broken into
a lot of cars in your day?
Have I broke into a lot...
Yeah.
Being locked out
of an excavator is ultimately
no joking matter.
It means not running pay.
Apparently,
you can't the door
because the rod is not in here
to open the door.
So the guys have been
happened to open this window
but it latched.
So, today we're gonna cheat.
You got it all the way lodged,
didn't ya?
I wasn't the last one in that.
So the door's just straight up
locked all the time.
Yeah, 'cause that shaft
isn't in there.
- Well, that's not good.
- Yeah, let me try
the other window.
This one's latched. Oh!
It is slightly open.
Hey, do you got AAA?
Yeah, that's you.
- You're right there.
- I know.
Oh.
Money.
Thank you.
Yeah.
- Everyday thing. Breaking into
our own equipment.
- Yeah.
- Awesome. Thank you.
- Have a good day.
You, too.
You know,
I feel bad for Randy.
He's running around
like a mad man.
Before he gets something fixed
something else is broken.
- Are we good to go?
- All good.
He's been fixing everything
non-stop.
And just pretty much
keeping this boat afloat.
We're gonna go down
to out first test sight,
what they call
the ancient riverbed.
There's gold there
but nearly enough
to even pay for fuel.
But I'll at least
test it down,
tell them what's in it.
Andy dug a trench here,
so I can get down
to virgin ground,
no contamination
in here at all.
What's here has been here
for thousands of years.
We're washing the rocks.
getting all the clay,
and dirt off the rocks.
Looks good on there.
I mean, big nuggets.
That's clean.
Gosh. That is not good.
Just two little
pieces of gold.
There's a little
bit bigger piece.
That's not too good.
I would not mine here.
You know, I'm looking at
all of these different layers.
I understand the passion.
He found this spot,
and it looks all good.
It's hard to give it up,
but it's time to move on.
Period.
I guess that gold room
doesn't lie.
There's no gold here.
Onto the next.
So, number 2,
bad thing is there's no road
in here.
If I don't make it
tell my wife I love her.
Oh, man. Looks good.
Ooh. If that doesn't
have gold, I quit.
Everything about this
is just spot-on.
This is what you look for.
Jack would say,
"I can smell the gold."
I don't like panning
in moving water,
but, uh, that's the only
water I've got.
Ah, dang it.
That's cold water.
What you wanna do
is you get everything loose.
Gold weighs so much more
than anything in here.
And it'll work itself
to the bottom.
If you're not gonna
do it right,
don't even bother.
So, just take your time.
Whoo, there we go.
That's what we wanna see.
So, crappy number one,
but number 2
looks super good.
This is incredible gold,
it's big gold.
There's a lot of it.
There's some finer gold.
But that there is excellent.
The only bad thing is
in this mess, Andy has to
build a road to get to that.
But we're running out of time,
so, uh,
best gold
and we can't get to it.
Not good.
The next text number 3 is
still on the same side
of the road.
So, this is test number 3.
Looks really good. Uh...
Really kind of similar
to test number 2.
There's a lot of organics,
a lot of clay,
but, man, this stuff is rich.
We got to backtrack
to get some water to know.
Ooh. Okay. that's good.
Got some fine gold here,
some bigger pieces of gold,
but that there,
you can actually
pick it up.
I'd definitely take this here
at number 3.
Onto 4.
There's a lot of panning
in ice water.
It's pretty refreshing
until it starts aching.
About 50 pieces
of gold in here.
For a handful of dirt
that's pretty good test
stand there.
hat's hundred pieces there,
they're all super fine,
but it all weighs
and pays the same.
So just need more of this.
Hopefully one of these test
sites saves our season.
Okay, we've tested,
and we've gotta make
some moves.
We're running out of time.
So, we've got
four different locations
and we need to decide
what we're gonna do.
We're not gonna
make our goal
unless we switch.
We gotta get unified on this.
One, the first place
we panned, not good.
Right down the center
of the river channel,
right there.
- Second place, that.
Good pans, right?
-Very good. Yeah.
Where's 3?
Across the road.
Across the road
right there, right?
- Yeah.
- That was killer.
- Where's 4?
- Right up here.
This right here,
how was that one?
- How was that?
- It was good. It was better
than the number one.
We've gotta take
those other three spots, Andy,
I don't know what to do.
I mean we're not panning
gold there.
This... This right here
is an ancient
river channel though.
I don't think we've got time.
I think you're gonna have
to tackle those other ores.
I know it looks good,
but if it's not panning,
we don't have time to,
to chase it.
- I mean there's good gold in these other three.
- - I get it.
But that's ancient.
I mean, historically
ancient river channels
are always the best.
But, I'll start digging
where you wanna dig.
I'll do what you
want me to do.
It's your mine,
it's your gold,
we're running out of time,
Jason, what's your call?
Where do you want us to start?
At least go to where
we know it is.
So this best pan was here,
I'd start there.
This isn't a time
to chase unicorns
and rainbows.
This is a time to go after
where we know there's gold,
and get it to the plants.
But we've only
got a few weeks left.
And I get it.
We need to get the gold.
So I'll get you the dirt.
So you know,
I get Jason wants to get
as much gold as possible,
but that is
an ancient river channel.
If he thinks that
I'm gonna abandon that,
he's crazy.
I'm gonna go down there
and I'm gonna work on it
when nobody's around,
but I will get to the bottom
of it and I will find out
what's there.
Sorry, I'm just
gonna get out of the way.
I'll dump this,
you can get right here.
Let's just make the trucks
so they can come in here,
load all their *bleep*.
- I'll finish grading.
- Okay.
I know that we need
to gold right now,
and we've got a few
weeks to do it.
So I'm gonna dig
where Jason wants to dig.
Right now this is getting us
what we need to get.
If there's gold in the dirt
you gotta run it.
But that's an ancient
river channel.
we know that for a fact.
I'm not gonna
give up on it.
That's got every
element in it that
should have big gold.
With better paydirt
and two operational plants,
things are going
the Hoffman's way.
In large part, thanks to
the efforts of Randy Hubler
Kind of a cool set u
'cause it comes
with this really cool
temperature guy
that you can mount and set
when the fan comes on,
when the fan goes off.
But at this mine
a bush mechanic's job
is never done.
Randy,
how's the fuel truck doing?
Uh, the green military,
I ran into a bit of a snag
with the water separator.
So I think, maybe I should
stop working on it,
and add the radiator
to the white one,
so that we can get it down
into the cut.
Yeah, that's not the best
rig to have in there
but we gotta have fuel.
So, whatever you think
is the right thing to do,
go for it.
All right, and then
I'll get to the green one
as soon as possible.
- Okay, buddy.
- All right.
The mine's
vintage military fuel truck
is down.
t needs a hard to find part
The only other option
is using the tanker truck
Jason uses to store fuel.
But that truck
has no radiator.
And Randy is faced
with what might be his most
challenging bush fix yet.
This is our donor.
It's a generator
that they seize the engine on.
Seems to be a common thing
here these days.
Well, we need a hose clamp,
there's one.
I think I can get one
off of this air filter.
That would be two.
Never throw anything away.
That would be our third clamp.
I think we're good now.
With no functioning
fuel trucks at the mine,
there's no way to deliver fu
to keep the plants running.
And it's only a matter of ti
before the tanks run dry.
The tanker truck
is a fast fix.
But it's not meant
for the mine's swampy roads
and is at risk
of getting stuck.
Come here.
A radiator is
basically for a small
4-cylinder engine
not a large diesel V8,
which is what we have.
Daggum, that's hot.
Now I just need to get
a hose from here...to here.
Neck down to that size.
I might be able to put
an elbow on here,
just cut that.
That'll
solve that problem.
If there's any ho
of keeping the plants running
Randy's gonna have
to reply on scavenging
any bits and pieces
from the mine's
abandoned equipment.
Four, five up here.
And these two are connected
by a nipple in the middle.
Okay.
Cooling fan.
Well, I'm gonna take it
for a drive.
See if I can
get it to overheat,
and get an idea
whether or not this new
radiator is gonna do any good.
Hopefully it'll buy us
some time.
All features good,
temperature is good.
That's not bad.
Hey, Thurber,
you got copy, Thurber?
Yeah, go ahead, Andy.
Could you grab a couple
of low pans
and meet me down here
in the, this river cup?
I got something for you
I'd like you to pan.
Right away.
The sooner, the better, buddy
Copy that.
You know,
so this is the area
Jason wanted me to abandon
and basically leave it.
I was just scraping
along the bedrock
and I found this scene,
it looks like another
river channel.
But that doesn't necessarily
mean that there's gold in it.
My gut's telling me
I need to have
Thurber check this.
Kind of like a dog
with a bone sometimes,
I just can't let go.
Holy-moly.
What a mess, Andy!
Our hole is almost
20 feet below the creek.
This should have gold.
- So you want me
to pan some of this?
- Yeah.
Okay.
Okay, give me some water
that I won't sink in.
I guess the ice
on the windshield this morning
was no joke.
You pull one time
to find a nugget in there.
Nothing yet?
There.
- What?
- Look at the gold that's in.
You see gold?
Right there, above 30.
Right there.
- A littler chunk.
- Yep, there it is.
Oh, boy, this is like
panning and putting
that into...
I need more
than one piece to...
Well, I know
but you think...
Oh.
That is really nice.
That's a big piece of gold.
You can pick those out
with your fingers.
And there's 30, 40
more fine pieces in there.
For a place that doesn't
have fine gold, that's...
- Oh, yeah.
- That's a handful
of rock ground.
That's not concentrated.
Wait till Todd sees that one.
Hey, Todd, Hunter.
Got something down here
in the cut,
think you guys would
really like to see.
Copy, that.
You could have a quarter
ounce in a bucket,
half ounce in a bucket.
You could make money
panning right here.
You could make money...
You pan that all day long
you can make...
Yeah. You could make money.
If it doesn't show up
rich in the sleuth box,
then the sleuth box
is the problem.
This is the richest ground
we've ever mined.
Holy, cow.
I didn't realize you were
this far below the creek.
What are we in?
It's just like Mars.
So, I took three feet off,
and then I found this...
...going deeper.
Look how big they are, though.
Where'd that come from?
- Right there.
- Right there.
- This is from one pan?
- Yeah.
Holy cow!
I don't believe it.
Do another one.
- A little chunkier.
- It is.
I mean it's all there.
You can pick this stuff up
out of the pan.
We almost abandoned this.
This is what you were
looking for, right here.
This is
what I was looking for.
When your wife says
that you're...a little bit
stubborn, is that...
I might have a little bit
of stubbornness in me.
Maybe a little bit.
You know what
this time I am damn
thankful for it.
We did not give up.
Good job.
Thank you.
It's past supper time
which is my cut-off time.
That's normally when I
stop working.
But, we have an excavator
that has a leaky hose.
Oh. Pull that out,
just slightly.
They have to have it.
So, yeah, it doesn't matter
that you just finished
a full day's work.
Go out there
and fix that hose.
Okay, now the bottom one.
And it, uh, it's not exactly
warm out here.
Randy needs to fi
the excavator so it can
run all night
and avoid freezing up.
Now, we can our hose...
But this is
one of the many repairs
that could have been avoided
with proper maintenance.
That is not
the way to run a mine.
You need to take the time,
repair it correctly
the first time,
and be done with that,
that headache.
Band-aids on top of band-aids.
It should be running here
in just a bit,
and get out of this misery.
Once again
Randy keeps
the plants operating.
But there is no rest
for the weary.
Good morning.
The next day,
he's greeted with
a morning full of fixes.
Not sure if we got
a fuel pump issue,
or a plugged filter.
This light plant
is not happy.
The light plant,
which illuminates
the Z-plant area
failed during the night shift
Come on, girl.
There we go.
The pick-up tube
in the tank
had a lot of junk in it,
that's what actually
caused it to fail.
So, we got that
all cleaned up, we got
the air out of the system,
now the light plant's
working again.
Once that's done
Randy's called
to the Yurt kitchen.
The cook has no idea
what temperature
the oven is.
The knob has no numbers.
I'm gonna get it to 350,
and then I'll mark on here.
So I've grabbed
my thermometer. 350.
We are back in business.
Then he needs
to fix the mine's bulldozer
which is leaking oil.
Massive oil leak.
Five gallons a day.
Oh, that's just
not gonna happen.
But the fixes
keep piling up.
Randy, Spark's truck's down
-Can we get that fixed asap
-On my way.
One thing breaks
and you gotta go running
to fix it.
I'm just tired at this point
and ready to go home.
Sparky's truck
threw a u-joint.
We have a lot
of river crossings,
creek crossings,
and the front axles get down
into the water.
They go through u-joints
and wheel bearings
like they're candy.
Oh, this is gonna
be a pain in the butt.
What's up?
So I went and did
something you're probably, uh,
not gonna be
real enthused about.
Okay.
I went back into
where we did test number one.
We talking about that.
We said that we were
not gonna go chase areas
that didn't have gold.
I decided to go
a little bit deeper.
- You're a stubborn person.
- I just...
I just couldn't believe that
that river channel
could be bad.
Well, what d'you find?
I find something that you,
you might like.
Look at that.
That's one of the best
gold pans I've ever seen.
I'm frustrated initially,
that we're not concentrating
on what we know.
But you show me this,
and that changes everything.
This is the same spot
that he didn't get anything on
twelve feet above.
Yeah.
- That's impressive.
- This is crazy gold.
This is the best gold
we've ever seen.
-That's rich.
That is rich stuff.
-That is really rich.
Let's send it to the plant.
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Let's go.
For Randy,
it's more the same,
but worse.
A mistake has caused
z-plant to shut down.
What happened?
- Oh, we just had a pump run out of fuel.
- - Perfect.
So we just lost
the high-pressure
injection pump
on our water pump right here.
Somebody didn't fill it up
all the way so it got
ran out of diesel,
and sucked up
an air bubble, and...
Right now
it's running on three
out of four cylinders.
Temperatures
have dropped into the teens
putting z-plant in danger
of freezing over.
The pressure in on Randy
to fix the water pump fast
to prevent a total shutdown
That sucker was empty
It's just one thing
after another.
I feel like sometimes
we can only go about an hour
without anything breaking.
Just let her cool down
just a little bit.
Come on, baby.
Our fine-feathered
friends here,
they ran her completely dry
And, uh, injection pumps
don't like that.
They, they don't like
to be ran dry.
And I think
this cap's leaking.
I might be able to...
No.
We're running tired.
We're, we're exhausted.
We've been doing this
for too long already.
I wanna make sure
all these are tight.
I'm tired,
this equipment is
beating down on me.
I cannot get
a good night's sleep without
somebody bringing me a...
broken piece of equipment.
Close number 4.
And so then,
you can go ahead
and restart it.
There we go. There we go.
Okay, so now we can in
2 and 4.
- Good there, senor.
- Si, senor.
- You ready?
- Yup.
We had to primarily
get all that air out.
Now that we got the air
out of the injectors,
everything seems to be
nice and tight again.
And I think we'll get her.
Come on, girl.
Oh, yeah, looking good.
I mean,
when you're running these
24 hour shifts,
it's hard to get everything
timed right where it'll run
without running out, I guess.
Do it every 12.
I hope that'll make it
to the end of the season.
We need to stop
the little mistakes,
because they're causing
big mistakes.
Thank you, Rando.
The minute
this fix is done,
Randy hears a very
familiar phrase.
Hey, Randy!
Jason's trying
to get ahold of ya'.
Oh, *bleep*.
I can't do this by myself.
Bush mechanic, Randy Hubler
is being pushed to the limit
to keep plants
and machinery running.
Wait, I'll give you
a full one of that. Wait.
That should be
more than enough.
So the mine's elder statesme
checks in to offer support.
Jason, just is like,
go get my gold for me.
If I'm not here helping him,
this doesn't happen.
This all shuts down,
and we all go home.
Well, he knows that.
Somebody can be a boss
and they just don't
understand people.
Randy's worked with us,
we understand,
you know, what's going on.
He can, he can
get volatile at times,
but it wouldn't take one day
without Randy,
and this place
would be shut down.
Not everybody realizes it.
He's the key.
- It's not you. It's not you.
- I just, uh...
You're not the problem, okay?
All right.
- Thanks, Jack.
- Yep.
When you handle people,
you've gotta have
a special attitude.
You lead by example,
not authority.
When I get pissed,
I'll shut up.
I won't, I won't say anything.
So can tell I'm not pissed
right now.
But I understand the situation
that's going on,
and I agree with it.
Flooded with gold.
Yeah, you can see
this whole top, right?
It's just all loaded in here.
It's all packed
in the carpets.
Nick and Dakota
pull z-plant's mats
containing the latest dirt
from deep within
the ancient riverbed.
It's what we're here for.
But, uh, keep having problems
and, uh, keep holding us up.
And that's our,
that's our end goal,
right there.
Pretty crazy.
It's good gold there.
Makes me happy to know
we're getting gold, man.
We're not working for nothing.
Just gotta keep it up
and running is all.
♪ I got gold on my feet ♪
Aye, Thurber, Jack,
this, uh, this box
is looking really good.
All right. I'm gonna start
washing these mats.
- This is out
of that river channel.
- Yeah.
- How does it look?
- Pretty good.
There's some chunky stuff
right over here
that we pulled out.
Really?
This is just what
you saw in the box.
Those are nice nuggets.
You buys are doing
a freaking awesome job.
- You're making my life a lot easier.
- - Thank you, Andy.
You guys are kicking butt.
Proud of you.
Okay, Dakota,
let's get to work, man.
Let's get it done.
We gotta do a good job
I know Jack and Thurber'd
be upset if we lost
any gold on the ground.
There's all sorts of gold
in this guy.
The gold in these mats
represent the only hope
the Hoffman team
has for this season...
All right, we've got
it all cleaned up
for Jack and Thurber.
...and their future in mining
With a tough week
drawing to a close,
Todd pays a visit to
his frustrated bush mechanic
What now?
Dude, I am so stinking red.
I'm running
ragged out here.
I mean, look at this pile
of crap I got over here
on the floor.
I got so many,
so many water pumps...
...that I'm starting
to collect my own collection.
I got three water pumps,
four water pumps over here.
This is all the stuff
that I've had to repair
in the last two weeks.
It's always something.
There's always something
parked in front of the shop,
busted.
Todd, I had a good job
at home.
And, I can go
right back to it.
I'm gonna cut you off
right now because
I guarantee you...
Nobody else is gonna
come up here
and do what you do.
The only way
to get through this year...
is for you to stay with me
and fix this stuff.
I'm not 100 percent sure
we're gonna make it
through this year.
That makes two of us.
I definitely
won't make it without you.
Forget next year,
we gotta get
through this year.
You're literally keeping us
band-aided together.
- You know that. Right?
- Yeah.
I see that.
You want me to,
you want me to knuckle down.
I definitely won't make it
without you.
This is the worst job,
I guarantee you,
that you've ever had
in your life.
But if we make it
through this year,
I guarantee you
it won't be like this
next year.
Take care. You can do it.
Hey, we're done
reading tonight.
I'm here, dude.
I'm helping you.
Don't fight it, Jack.
Every night we have to tuck
Jack and Thurber in.
They're the oldest guys
on the mine.
We're tucking you in, Thurb.
Okay, guys,
I'm gonna give you a hug.
- A fist-bump, that's all. Oh!
- No.
Oh, God!
- Got ya'.
- Here we go.
-All right.
I'm going to sleep.
-All right.
- Good night, Big Daddy.
- Good night, Big Buddy.
I'm outta here.
At some point
I wanna tell him
he's adopted.
Good night, guys. Love ya'.
It looks good.
It looks good.
Look at that now.
Whoa! That is excellent.
Okay, slow it down.
The paydirt
from Andy's deeper discover
at the ancient riverbed
is now flowing
through the wash table.
And the results are strong.
That's too much gold coming.
Look at that! Look at that.
Define too much gold.
That is probably
half an ounce right there.
Maybe not quite,
but real close.
That is... That's phenomenal.
- Haven't seen that
for a while.
- No.
I love it!
This is from the, uh,
deep part of
the ancient cut.
Using Andy's instinct,
proved out to us
that he's been right.
So, if people don't like it
or, you know.
Basically, I don't care
whether they like it or not,
if Andy has an inclination
and it gets more gold,
that's what I want.
This looks
pretty darn good.
Nice, big nuggets
and lots of gold.
So we get excited when
we see that type of stuff.
But we don't know for sure
till you run it, dry it,
weigh it.
5.1 ounces per hundred.
Oh, great!
- Boy, man.
- How's it going?
So, bro, what paydirt?
The river channel,
5 ounces a hundred.
- Dude, is this real?
- I don't know.
Good Lord!
If you would have
told me that
we would ever be mining
5 ounces a hundred,
I probably would've told you
to be lying.
- Yeah.
- I'm glad you didn't give up
on that channel.
- Me, too. Me, too.
- Yeah.
- Hey!
- There they are.
Last week
we only got 40 ounces of gold
now we have to average
51 ounces for the rest
of the season.
We can't keep
playing from behind here,
because we don't know
which plants are running
and which plants
are gonna break down.
- How much gold's in that jar, Thurber?
- - Can't tell ya'.
It feels big.
Well, bring it.
What have we got?
- Call it out, Jack.
- Well...
19, 20.
20, 30.
- 36, 37, 39...
- Clean gold.
...43, 47, 48...
- 52.54.
- 54.1.
- Finally.
- Oh, my God.
Oh, my gosh.
What is that in dollars?
- Just about 89,000.
- Jeez, man.
Yeah.
- Dude, that's pretty good.
- That's awesome.
That's the jump
we needed.
That's a pile of gold.
- That is a pile of gold.
- We're finally starting
to get somewhere.
Dude, where are we at?
We are at 253 ounces.
- Dude.
- 47 more...
- And we...
- ...We're in there.
We're there.
- Oh!
- We can do this.
- Oh, my gosh.
- We can do this.
If things keep working,
they have to work.
Let's just be honest.
If the gold wasn't this good,
- we would not be getting
to, to our goal. No way.
- No.
This isn't a sure thing.
We still got, I don't know,
80,000 dollars' worth
of gold picked up here.
Everything is wearing out.
And we don't have
a lot of time running, so...
I mean it's getting
to the point right now where
if we have a breakdown,
- the whole plant and the boxes
are gonna freeze solid.
- Yeah.
We're literally
and figuratively
walking on thin ice.
We are.
We're on borrowed time.
Totally.
With one week left
to the season,
the Hoffmans have
their one million dollar
gold in sight,
needing only 47 more
ounces of gold.
But freezing temperatures
and mounting
mechanical problems
could grind the mine
to a halt at any time.
Guys, we're within striking
distance of hitting our goal.
And you know what,
dude, I'm just thankful.
Dad will you give
thanks to God
- for just an opportunity,
and...
- Yeah.
You bet.
Lord, we just thank you
right now for
just the blessing
that you have poured
out upon us.
Lord, it's not for us,
it's that we are working
together the for good,
and for the common goal.
And, Lord, we ask
that you would
just keep blessing us,
help us to finish
that challenge that
we have ahead of us.
And, Lord, we ask that
you just be with each
and every person
in here with us.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
Looks kind of rough.
...Todd Hoffman's team
has transformed
an ailing mine...
We got water!
Looking good!
This plant's running!
But winter has arrived.
Here comes the snow.
Winter is right on our heels.
Enough of whining,
we gotta hurry.
Literally walking on thin ice
And crumbling equipment...
We're having to repair
what we have.
...has kept them short of
the million dollar benchmark
needed to secure
their future.
I don't wanna just get by.
I wanna kick ass.
I wanna kill it.
They must find richer paydirt
I think all this here,
I think it's pay.
We don't have time
to chase it.
And one final gamble...
If he thinks that
I'm going to abandon that,
he's crazy.
...will be the difference
between success...
That's a big piece of gold.
...and failure.
It's hard to give it up
but it's time to move on.
We're just dudes out here
trying to find some damn gold
on a damn river
in the middle of damn nowhere
And it's damn cold!
We've gotta figure out a plan
of what we're gonna do.
It's kind of nerve-wracking.
But the big trommel
not running right now,
the only way
we're gonna make it is
if we hit super-rich paydirt
What the heck is that?
Holy schnikes.
We though we had it
with the ancient river bed,
that Andy found
earlier this week.
That is
a freaking river channel.
- I'm expecting good things.
- Well...
1.3.
But we struck out.
- 1.3?
- 1.3.
- That doesn't even make sense.
- No.
No, it doesn't.
That spot wasn't
nearly as good as
we thought it would be.
We got the carpet ripped out
from underneath us right now.
Why there's no gold there?
It's just spotty.
I don't know.
We had gold
a hundred feet away.
We had gold on this side
of the creek
a hundred feet away.
So it's like we're in between.
We're running out of time
as you can see.
It's freaking freezing,
so what I'd like to do
is send Thurber out
up this valley,
and have him start
panning in different spots
and looking for different
spots in front of us.
I've done this with him
in the past, when I'm out
of every cut I have.
He's probably
the best gold-panner we have.
Andy, you got a second?
Why don't we get Thurber...
Let's bounce him up the creek,
he's our best panner we got.
- Yeah.
- Find some targets.
If they pan good,
let's just load it in a truck
and go.
You literally have gold
within a hundred feet
of that river channel.
Good gold.
The south facing slope
above me has got good gold.
Across the road
a hundred feet,
that's got good gold...
...which would
flow into that.
- How could there
not be gold in it?
- I have no idea.
We just gotta
freakin' find it.
We got an issue.
We gotta find out
where this gold is at.
It's obviously not running
down the middle
which you would think it'd be.
-Right.
-So, we're gonna ping-pong
- you up the creek.
You're gonna go
bing, bing, bing.
Direct me where to go
and what to test, I'll do it.
Andy, what do you think?
- I think let's do four places.
- Okay.
I'll show you
some places where to go,
- and then you can go pan.
- Need to use
your magic mustache.
- All right. Let's go.
- Let's go, Andy.
It's an actual stream,
ancient stream.
- So you can see it was a flow.
- Yeah.
It's never been touched
by the old-timers.
Look at all
the round quartz in here.
I mean,
that's a stream flow, right?
Yeah, looks to have
been a round one.
I don't believe that it's bad.
I'll show you
three more places
that I want you to test, okay
- You see the red sticking out right there on the bank.
- - Here.
Right on the other
side of that...
-...is a big face of red.
It's thick.
-Okay. Okay.
Problem is with that,
I got no road to it.
So I don't know
how to get it out.
But that's number 2.
So I think the third spot,
Thurber, I stacked up
a few piles...
-Yeah.
-So just those three piles.
And that'll be test number 3.
And just taker an average
and if they've all got
gold in it, or maybe one does,
- then I think
we just run it all.
- Okay.
Mean we've the first three
that are on
the other side of the creek
and then you got one
on this side of the creek.
Number 4
on the other side. Yeah.
Okay.
So, I dug a hole...
- Oh, we got water, too.
- I didn't wanna get
too deep.
So there's only probably
three-four feet of material,
but it's that red layer
of stuff that should
test really good.
So you test it, if it's good,
I'll get it to the plant.
- Just let me know.
- Let's do it.
As Andy and Jim
hunt for richer paydirt...
the Hoffmans are running
the Z-plant,
and their
smaller test trommel,
both day and night.
Right now, we're running 24/
All day, all night.
We pretty much
need every minute we can get
So, right now Jim and Andy
are trying to find the best,
uh, most rich pay,
because we only have
so many days left,
and, and we still have
a lot of gold to get.
With the big trommel
still frozen,
any issue with
the other plants must
be dealt with quickly.
Will the Z-plant
stay together?
We have foot and a half
long cracks
that are having
to be welded every other day
Will it actually
manage to make it
to the end of the year?
The responsibility
of keeping the wash
plants running
falls squarely
on the shoulders
of bush mechanic,
Randy Hubler.
And the test plant
is not cooperating.
All right.
I need to turn that off.
We were having issues
yesterday with the battery
not charging.
So I decided to build,
what they call a charge wire
that goes from
the battery to the alternator.
And, uh, I came here
this morning and it broke off.
So, we will try this again.
The test plant
has been processing paydirt
more efficiently
than the other plants.
Even though it only runs
30 yards of dirt per hour,
it is critical
to the Hoffman's
reaching their goal.
And this generator
keeps it running.
Of course, you're gonna
be a pain in the butt.
Nothing new there!
What's the issue!
Well, we've got
plenty of fuel.
But it's got air in it. Again.
This engine has O-rings
on the fuel lines
that go all the way up,
and sometimes, those don't
seal very well,
and you get a lot of air
that leaks through.
I gotta resolve that issue
because we need this thing
to start up
when you hit the switch.
But we're just gonna
get it running so that
they can run the plant.
Just starting
to get some smoke,
which is a good sign.
Come on, girl.
Just... Wow!
We got good smoke
so we got most
of the air out.
Come on.
Bada-bing, bada-boom.
We still have an air leak.
I may have
to come out here every morning
to start this thing
so that it's running
when they get here,
'cause this,
they can't do this.
I don't like to do this.
Crap! Now, what?
Yeah, I'll be right there.
With the test
trommel back up,
Randy can turn his attention
to the other working plant.
Which at the moment
is isn't working.
Keeping Z-plant running
has required almost
constant fixes from Randy.
But today's problem
is more mundane.
Have you broken into
a lot of cars in your day?
Have I broke into a lot...
Yeah.
Being locked out
of an excavator is ultimately
no joking matter.
It means not running pay.
Apparently,
you can't the door
because the rod is not in here
to open the door.
So the guys have been
happened to open this window
but it latched.
So, today we're gonna cheat.
You got it all the way lodged,
didn't ya?
I wasn't the last one in that.
So the door's just straight up
locked all the time.
Yeah, 'cause that shaft
isn't in there.
- Well, that's not good.
- Yeah, let me try
the other window.
This one's latched. Oh!
It is slightly open.
Hey, do you got AAA?
Yeah, that's you.
- You're right there.
- I know.
Oh.
Money.
Thank you.
Yeah.
- Everyday thing. Breaking into
our own equipment.
- Yeah.
- Awesome. Thank you.
- Have a good day.
You, too.
You know,
I feel bad for Randy.
He's running around
like a mad man.
Before he gets something fixed
something else is broken.
- Are we good to go?
- All good.
He's been fixing everything
non-stop.
And just pretty much
keeping this boat afloat.
We're gonna go down
to out first test sight,
what they call
the ancient riverbed.
There's gold there
but nearly enough
to even pay for fuel.
But I'll at least
test it down,
tell them what's in it.
Andy dug a trench here,
so I can get down
to virgin ground,
no contamination
in here at all.
What's here has been here
for thousands of years.
We're washing the rocks.
getting all the clay,
and dirt off the rocks.
Looks good on there.
I mean, big nuggets.
That's clean.
Gosh. That is not good.
Just two little
pieces of gold.
There's a little
bit bigger piece.
That's not too good.
I would not mine here.
You know, I'm looking at
all of these different layers.
I understand the passion.
He found this spot,
and it looks all good.
It's hard to give it up,
but it's time to move on.
Period.
I guess that gold room
doesn't lie.
There's no gold here.
Onto the next.
So, number 2,
bad thing is there's no road
in here.
If I don't make it
tell my wife I love her.
Oh, man. Looks good.
Ooh. If that doesn't
have gold, I quit.
Everything about this
is just spot-on.
This is what you look for.
Jack would say,
"I can smell the gold."
I don't like panning
in moving water,
but, uh, that's the only
water I've got.
Ah, dang it.
That's cold water.
What you wanna do
is you get everything loose.
Gold weighs so much more
than anything in here.
And it'll work itself
to the bottom.
If you're not gonna
do it right,
don't even bother.
So, just take your time.
Whoo, there we go.
That's what we wanna see.
So, crappy number one,
but number 2
looks super good.
This is incredible gold,
it's big gold.
There's a lot of it.
There's some finer gold.
But that there is excellent.
The only bad thing is
in this mess, Andy has to
build a road to get to that.
But we're running out of time,
so, uh,
best gold
and we can't get to it.
Not good.
The next text number 3 is
still on the same side
of the road.
So, this is test number 3.
Looks really good. Uh...
Really kind of similar
to test number 2.
There's a lot of organics,
a lot of clay,
but, man, this stuff is rich.
We got to backtrack
to get some water to know.
Ooh. Okay. that's good.
Got some fine gold here,
some bigger pieces of gold,
but that there,
you can actually
pick it up.
I'd definitely take this here
at number 3.
Onto 4.
There's a lot of panning
in ice water.
It's pretty refreshing
until it starts aching.
About 50 pieces
of gold in here.
For a handful of dirt
that's pretty good test
stand there.
hat's hundred pieces there,
they're all super fine,
but it all weighs
and pays the same.
So just need more of this.
Hopefully one of these test
sites saves our season.
Okay, we've tested,
and we've gotta make
some moves.
We're running out of time.
So, we've got
four different locations
and we need to decide
what we're gonna do.
We're not gonna
make our goal
unless we switch.
We gotta get unified on this.
One, the first place
we panned, not good.
Right down the center
of the river channel,
right there.
- Second place, that.
Good pans, right?
-Very good. Yeah.
Where's 3?
Across the road.
Across the road
right there, right?
- Yeah.
- That was killer.
- Where's 4?
- Right up here.
This right here,
how was that one?
- How was that?
- It was good. It was better
than the number one.
We've gotta take
those other three spots, Andy,
I don't know what to do.
I mean we're not panning
gold there.
This... This right here
is an ancient
river channel though.
I don't think we've got time.
I think you're gonna have
to tackle those other ores.
I know it looks good,
but if it's not panning,
we don't have time to,
to chase it.
- I mean there's good gold in these other three.
- - I get it.
But that's ancient.
I mean, historically
ancient river channels
are always the best.
But, I'll start digging
where you wanna dig.
I'll do what you
want me to do.
It's your mine,
it's your gold,
we're running out of time,
Jason, what's your call?
Where do you want us to start?
At least go to where
we know it is.
So this best pan was here,
I'd start there.
This isn't a time
to chase unicorns
and rainbows.
This is a time to go after
where we know there's gold,
and get it to the plants.
But we've only
got a few weeks left.
And I get it.
We need to get the gold.
So I'll get you the dirt.
So you know,
I get Jason wants to get
as much gold as possible,
but that is
an ancient river channel.
If he thinks that
I'm gonna abandon that,
he's crazy.
I'm gonna go down there
and I'm gonna work on it
when nobody's around,
but I will get to the bottom
of it and I will find out
what's there.
Sorry, I'm just
gonna get out of the way.
I'll dump this,
you can get right here.
Let's just make the trucks
so they can come in here,
load all their *bleep*.
- I'll finish grading.
- Okay.
I know that we need
to gold right now,
and we've got a few
weeks to do it.
So I'm gonna dig
where Jason wants to dig.
Right now this is getting us
what we need to get.
If there's gold in the dirt
you gotta run it.
But that's an ancient
river channel.
we know that for a fact.
I'm not gonna
give up on it.
That's got every
element in it that
should have big gold.
With better paydirt
and two operational plants,
things are going
the Hoffman's way.
In large part, thanks to
the efforts of Randy Hubler
Kind of a cool set u
'cause it comes
with this really cool
temperature guy
that you can mount and set
when the fan comes on,
when the fan goes off.
But at this mine
a bush mechanic's job
is never done.
Randy,
how's the fuel truck doing?
Uh, the green military,
I ran into a bit of a snag
with the water separator.
So I think, maybe I should
stop working on it,
and add the radiator
to the white one,
so that we can get it down
into the cut.
Yeah, that's not the best
rig to have in there
but we gotta have fuel.
So, whatever you think
is the right thing to do,
go for it.
All right, and then
I'll get to the green one
as soon as possible.
- Okay, buddy.
- All right.
The mine's
vintage military fuel truck
is down.
t needs a hard to find part
The only other option
is using the tanker truck
Jason uses to store fuel.
But that truck
has no radiator.
And Randy is faced
with what might be his most
challenging bush fix yet.
This is our donor.
It's a generator
that they seize the engine on.
Seems to be a common thing
here these days.
Well, we need a hose clamp,
there's one.
I think I can get one
off of this air filter.
That would be two.
Never throw anything away.
That would be our third clamp.
I think we're good now.
With no functioning
fuel trucks at the mine,
there's no way to deliver fu
to keep the plants running.
And it's only a matter of ti
before the tanks run dry.
The tanker truck
is a fast fix.
But it's not meant
for the mine's swampy roads
and is at risk
of getting stuck.
Come here.
A radiator is
basically for a small
4-cylinder engine
not a large diesel V8,
which is what we have.
Daggum, that's hot.
Now I just need to get
a hose from here...to here.
Neck down to that size.
I might be able to put
an elbow on here,
just cut that.
That'll
solve that problem.
If there's any ho
of keeping the plants running
Randy's gonna have
to reply on scavenging
any bits and pieces
from the mine's
abandoned equipment.
Four, five up here.
And these two are connected
by a nipple in the middle.
Okay.
Cooling fan.
Well, I'm gonna take it
for a drive.
See if I can
get it to overheat,
and get an idea
whether or not this new
radiator is gonna do any good.
Hopefully it'll buy us
some time.
All features good,
temperature is good.
That's not bad.
Hey, Thurber,
you got copy, Thurber?
Yeah, go ahead, Andy.
Could you grab a couple
of low pans
and meet me down here
in the, this river cup?
I got something for you
I'd like you to pan.
Right away.
The sooner, the better, buddy
Copy that.
You know,
so this is the area
Jason wanted me to abandon
and basically leave it.
I was just scraping
along the bedrock
and I found this scene,
it looks like another
river channel.
But that doesn't necessarily
mean that there's gold in it.
My gut's telling me
I need to have
Thurber check this.
Kind of like a dog
with a bone sometimes,
I just can't let go.
Holy-moly.
What a mess, Andy!
Our hole is almost
20 feet below the creek.
This should have gold.
- So you want me
to pan some of this?
- Yeah.
Okay.
Okay, give me some water
that I won't sink in.
I guess the ice
on the windshield this morning
was no joke.
You pull one time
to find a nugget in there.
Nothing yet?
There.
- What?
- Look at the gold that's in.
You see gold?
Right there, above 30.
Right there.
- A littler chunk.
- Yep, there it is.
Oh, boy, this is like
panning and putting
that into...
I need more
than one piece to...
Well, I know
but you think...
Oh.
That is really nice.
That's a big piece of gold.
You can pick those out
with your fingers.
And there's 30, 40
more fine pieces in there.
For a place that doesn't
have fine gold, that's...
- Oh, yeah.
- That's a handful
of rock ground.
That's not concentrated.
Wait till Todd sees that one.
Hey, Todd, Hunter.
Got something down here
in the cut,
think you guys would
really like to see.
Copy, that.
You could have a quarter
ounce in a bucket,
half ounce in a bucket.
You could make money
panning right here.
You could make money...
You pan that all day long
you can make...
Yeah. You could make money.
If it doesn't show up
rich in the sleuth box,
then the sleuth box
is the problem.
This is the richest ground
we've ever mined.
Holy, cow.
I didn't realize you were
this far below the creek.
What are we in?
It's just like Mars.
So, I took three feet off,
and then I found this...
...going deeper.
Look how big they are, though.
Where'd that come from?
- Right there.
- Right there.
- This is from one pan?
- Yeah.
Holy cow!
I don't believe it.
Do another one.
- A little chunkier.
- It is.
I mean it's all there.
You can pick this stuff up
out of the pan.
We almost abandoned this.
This is what you were
looking for, right here.
This is
what I was looking for.
When your wife says
that you're...a little bit
stubborn, is that...
I might have a little bit
of stubbornness in me.
Maybe a little bit.
You know what
this time I am damn
thankful for it.
We did not give up.
Good job.
Thank you.
It's past supper time
which is my cut-off time.
That's normally when I
stop working.
But, we have an excavator
that has a leaky hose.
Oh. Pull that out,
just slightly.
They have to have it.
So, yeah, it doesn't matter
that you just finished
a full day's work.
Go out there
and fix that hose.
Okay, now the bottom one.
And it, uh, it's not exactly
warm out here.
Randy needs to fi
the excavator so it can
run all night
and avoid freezing up.
Now, we can our hose...
But this is
one of the many repairs
that could have been avoided
with proper maintenance.
That is not
the way to run a mine.
You need to take the time,
repair it correctly
the first time,
and be done with that,
that headache.
Band-aids on top of band-aids.
It should be running here
in just a bit,
and get out of this misery.
Once again
Randy keeps
the plants operating.
But there is no rest
for the weary.
Good morning.
The next day,
he's greeted with
a morning full of fixes.
Not sure if we got
a fuel pump issue,
or a plugged filter.
This light plant
is not happy.
The light plant,
which illuminates
the Z-plant area
failed during the night shift
Come on, girl.
There we go.
The pick-up tube
in the tank
had a lot of junk in it,
that's what actually
caused it to fail.
So, we got that
all cleaned up, we got
the air out of the system,
now the light plant's
working again.
Once that's done
Randy's called
to the Yurt kitchen.
The cook has no idea
what temperature
the oven is.
The knob has no numbers.
I'm gonna get it to 350,
and then I'll mark on here.
So I've grabbed
my thermometer. 350.
We are back in business.
Then he needs
to fix the mine's bulldozer
which is leaking oil.
Massive oil leak.
Five gallons a day.
Oh, that's just
not gonna happen.
But the fixes
keep piling up.
Randy, Spark's truck's down
-Can we get that fixed asap
-On my way.
One thing breaks
and you gotta go running
to fix it.
I'm just tired at this point
and ready to go home.
Sparky's truck
threw a u-joint.
We have a lot
of river crossings,
creek crossings,
and the front axles get down
into the water.
They go through u-joints
and wheel bearings
like they're candy.
Oh, this is gonna
be a pain in the butt.
What's up?
So I went and did
something you're probably, uh,
not gonna be
real enthused about.
Okay.
I went back into
where we did test number one.
We talking about that.
We said that we were
not gonna go chase areas
that didn't have gold.
I decided to go
a little bit deeper.
- You're a stubborn person.
- I just...
I just couldn't believe that
that river channel
could be bad.
Well, what d'you find?
I find something that you,
you might like.
Look at that.
That's one of the best
gold pans I've ever seen.
I'm frustrated initially,
that we're not concentrating
on what we know.
But you show me this,
and that changes everything.
This is the same spot
that he didn't get anything on
twelve feet above.
Yeah.
- That's impressive.
- This is crazy gold.
This is the best gold
we've ever seen.
-That's rich.
That is rich stuff.
-That is really rich.
Let's send it to the plant.
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Let's go.
For Randy,
it's more the same,
but worse.
A mistake has caused
z-plant to shut down.
What happened?
- Oh, we just had a pump run out of fuel.
- - Perfect.
So we just lost
the high-pressure
injection pump
on our water pump right here.
Somebody didn't fill it up
all the way so it got
ran out of diesel,
and sucked up
an air bubble, and...
Right now
it's running on three
out of four cylinders.
Temperatures
have dropped into the teens
putting z-plant in danger
of freezing over.
The pressure in on Randy
to fix the water pump fast
to prevent a total shutdown
That sucker was empty
It's just one thing
after another.
I feel like sometimes
we can only go about an hour
without anything breaking.
Just let her cool down
just a little bit.
Come on, baby.
Our fine-feathered
friends here,
they ran her completely dry
And, uh, injection pumps
don't like that.
They, they don't like
to be ran dry.
And I think
this cap's leaking.
I might be able to...
No.
We're running tired.
We're, we're exhausted.
We've been doing this
for too long already.
I wanna make sure
all these are tight.
I'm tired,
this equipment is
beating down on me.
I cannot get
a good night's sleep without
somebody bringing me a...
broken piece of equipment.
Close number 4.
And so then,
you can go ahead
and restart it.
There we go. There we go.
Okay, so now we can in
2 and 4.
- Good there, senor.
- Si, senor.
- You ready?
- Yup.
We had to primarily
get all that air out.
Now that we got the air
out of the injectors,
everything seems to be
nice and tight again.
And I think we'll get her.
Come on, girl.
Oh, yeah, looking good.
I mean,
when you're running these
24 hour shifts,
it's hard to get everything
timed right where it'll run
without running out, I guess.
Do it every 12.
I hope that'll make it
to the end of the season.
We need to stop
the little mistakes,
because they're causing
big mistakes.
Thank you, Rando.
The minute
this fix is done,
Randy hears a very
familiar phrase.
Hey, Randy!
Jason's trying
to get ahold of ya'.
Oh, *bleep*.
I can't do this by myself.
Bush mechanic, Randy Hubler
is being pushed to the limit
to keep plants
and machinery running.
Wait, I'll give you
a full one of that. Wait.
That should be
more than enough.
So the mine's elder statesme
checks in to offer support.
Jason, just is like,
go get my gold for me.
If I'm not here helping him,
this doesn't happen.
This all shuts down,
and we all go home.
Well, he knows that.
Somebody can be a boss
and they just don't
understand people.
Randy's worked with us,
we understand,
you know, what's going on.
He can, he can
get volatile at times,
but it wouldn't take one day
without Randy,
and this place
would be shut down.
Not everybody realizes it.
He's the key.
- It's not you. It's not you.
- I just, uh...
You're not the problem, okay?
All right.
- Thanks, Jack.
- Yep.
When you handle people,
you've gotta have
a special attitude.
You lead by example,
not authority.
When I get pissed,
I'll shut up.
I won't, I won't say anything.
So can tell I'm not pissed
right now.
But I understand the situation
that's going on,
and I agree with it.
Flooded with gold.
Yeah, you can see
this whole top, right?
It's just all loaded in here.
It's all packed
in the carpets.
Nick and Dakota
pull z-plant's mats
containing the latest dirt
from deep within
the ancient riverbed.
It's what we're here for.
But, uh, keep having problems
and, uh, keep holding us up.
And that's our,
that's our end goal,
right there.
Pretty crazy.
It's good gold there.
Makes me happy to know
we're getting gold, man.
We're not working for nothing.
Just gotta keep it up
and running is all.
♪ I got gold on my feet ♪
Aye, Thurber, Jack,
this, uh, this box
is looking really good.
All right. I'm gonna start
washing these mats.
- This is out
of that river channel.
- Yeah.
- How does it look?
- Pretty good.
There's some chunky stuff
right over here
that we pulled out.
Really?
This is just what
you saw in the box.
Those are nice nuggets.
You buys are doing
a freaking awesome job.
- You're making my life a lot easier.
- - Thank you, Andy.
You guys are kicking butt.
Proud of you.
Okay, Dakota,
let's get to work, man.
Let's get it done.
We gotta do a good job
I know Jack and Thurber'd
be upset if we lost
any gold on the ground.
There's all sorts of gold
in this guy.
The gold in these mats
represent the only hope
the Hoffman team
has for this season...
All right, we've got
it all cleaned up
for Jack and Thurber.
...and their future in mining
With a tough week
drawing to a close,
Todd pays a visit to
his frustrated bush mechanic
What now?
Dude, I am so stinking red.
I'm running
ragged out here.
I mean, look at this pile
of crap I got over here
on the floor.
I got so many,
so many water pumps...
...that I'm starting
to collect my own collection.
I got three water pumps,
four water pumps over here.
This is all the stuff
that I've had to repair
in the last two weeks.
It's always something.
There's always something
parked in front of the shop,
busted.
Todd, I had a good job
at home.
And, I can go
right back to it.
I'm gonna cut you off
right now because
I guarantee you...
Nobody else is gonna
come up here
and do what you do.
The only way
to get through this year...
is for you to stay with me
and fix this stuff.
I'm not 100 percent sure
we're gonna make it
through this year.
That makes two of us.
I definitely
won't make it without you.
Forget next year,
we gotta get
through this year.
You're literally keeping us
band-aided together.
- You know that. Right?
- Yeah.
I see that.
You want me to,
you want me to knuckle down.
I definitely won't make it
without you.
This is the worst job,
I guarantee you,
that you've ever had
in your life.
But if we make it
through this year,
I guarantee you
it won't be like this
next year.
Take care. You can do it.
Hey, we're done
reading tonight.
I'm here, dude.
I'm helping you.
Don't fight it, Jack.
Every night we have to tuck
Jack and Thurber in.
They're the oldest guys
on the mine.
We're tucking you in, Thurb.
Okay, guys,
I'm gonna give you a hug.
- A fist-bump, that's all. Oh!
- No.
Oh, God!
- Got ya'.
- Here we go.
-All right.
I'm going to sleep.
-All right.
- Good night, Big Daddy.
- Good night, Big Buddy.
I'm outta here.
At some point
I wanna tell him
he's adopted.
Good night, guys. Love ya'.
It looks good.
It looks good.
Look at that now.
Whoa! That is excellent.
Okay, slow it down.
The paydirt
from Andy's deeper discover
at the ancient riverbed
is now flowing
through the wash table.
And the results are strong.
That's too much gold coming.
Look at that! Look at that.
Define too much gold.
That is probably
half an ounce right there.
Maybe not quite,
but real close.
That is... That's phenomenal.
- Haven't seen that
for a while.
- No.
I love it!
This is from the, uh,
deep part of
the ancient cut.
Using Andy's instinct,
proved out to us
that he's been right.
So, if people don't like it
or, you know.
Basically, I don't care
whether they like it or not,
if Andy has an inclination
and it gets more gold,
that's what I want.
This looks
pretty darn good.
Nice, big nuggets
and lots of gold.
So we get excited when
we see that type of stuff.
But we don't know for sure
till you run it, dry it,
weigh it.
5.1 ounces per hundred.
Oh, great!
- Boy, man.
- How's it going?
So, bro, what paydirt?
The river channel,
5 ounces a hundred.
- Dude, is this real?
- I don't know.
Good Lord!
If you would have
told me that
we would ever be mining
5 ounces a hundred,
I probably would've told you
to be lying.
- Yeah.
- I'm glad you didn't give up
on that channel.
- Me, too. Me, too.
- Yeah.
- Hey!
- There they are.
Last week
we only got 40 ounces of gold
now we have to average
51 ounces for the rest
of the season.
We can't keep
playing from behind here,
because we don't know
which plants are running
and which plants
are gonna break down.
- How much gold's in that jar, Thurber?
- - Can't tell ya'.
It feels big.
Well, bring it.
What have we got?
- Call it out, Jack.
- Well...
19, 20.
20, 30.
- 36, 37, 39...
- Clean gold.
...43, 47, 48...
- 52.54.
- 54.1.
- Finally.
- Oh, my God.
Oh, my gosh.
What is that in dollars?
- Just about 89,000.
- Jeez, man.
Yeah.
- Dude, that's pretty good.
- That's awesome.
That's the jump
we needed.
That's a pile of gold.
- That is a pile of gold.
- We're finally starting
to get somewhere.
Dude, where are we at?
We are at 253 ounces.
- Dude.
- 47 more...
- And we...
- ...We're in there.
We're there.
- Oh!
- We can do this.
- Oh, my gosh.
- We can do this.
If things keep working,
they have to work.
Let's just be honest.
If the gold wasn't this good,
- we would not be getting
to, to our goal. No way.
- No.
This isn't a sure thing.
We still got, I don't know,
80,000 dollars' worth
of gold picked up here.
Everything is wearing out.
And we don't have
a lot of time running, so...
I mean it's getting
to the point right now where
if we have a breakdown,
- the whole plant and the boxes
are gonna freeze solid.
- Yeah.
We're literally
and figuratively
walking on thin ice.
We are.
We're on borrowed time.
Totally.
With one week left
to the season,
the Hoffmans have
their one million dollar
gold in sight,
needing only 47 more
ounces of gold.
But freezing temperatures
and mounting
mechanical problems
could grind the mine
to a halt at any time.
Guys, we're within striking
distance of hitting our goal.
And you know what,
dude, I'm just thankful.
Dad will you give
thanks to God
- for just an opportunity,
and...
- Yeah.
You bet.
Lord, we just thank you
right now for
just the blessing
that you have poured
out upon us.
Lord, it's not for us,
it's that we are working
together the for good,
and for the common goal.
And, Lord, we ask
that you would
just keep blessing us,
help us to finish
that challenge that
we have ahead of us.
And, Lord, we ask that
you just be with each
and every person
in here with us.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.