Hoffman Family Gold (2022–…): Season 2, Episode 5 - Pirates of the Tundra - full transcript
I told you where
to put your sluice, over here.
Everybody's telling me
to put it like this.
After weeks
of butting heads...
You've been stepping
on my toes the whole project.
No, I haven't.
...and unexpected setbacks...
...the Hoffmans are
looking forward.
Is that what
I think it is?
- I think it's a drift,
isn't it?
- Yeah.
But with just
the Holy Roller running,
they'll need Hunter's
second plant
to hit their
$1.75 million target.
We're firing the Black Pearl,
everybody clear.
Will the Black Pearl's maiden run
help them sail towards
their season-long
1,000-ounce gold?
- It's rolling.
- She rolls.
Look at that little patch
of gold right there.
That's money in the bank.
Or will it sink them?
Sparky, you've gotta
talk to me.
Hey, we got water
gushing out in the pan.
You gotta be kidding me.
With the Holy Roller's
current gold production
well short
of the 100-ounce average
the Hoffmans are
aiming for this week.
And the Black Pearl, one part
shy of being operational,
Hunter and Framer
set out to find it.
Two running plants will mean
double the production.
Last piece
of the wash plant,
we're really close
I honestly didn't think we
were gonna be able
to get this far.
To get the Black
Pearl to this point,
Hunter and his team had
to cut the wash plant
into three pieces
to transport it 80 miles
across an unforgiving road.
I look good over here.
How are you guys looking?
And then reassemble
the 80,000-lb behemoth on site
with limited parts and tools.
That's it!
We got stuff done we didn't
think we were gonna
be able to.
It's a big plant,
requires a lot of water.
You know it didn't come
with a pump.
If I don't have enough water,
I can't run it at all.
So, I called Nate.
He's been a huge lifesaver
for me this season.
And he called around.
He found me a pump,
and I'm hoping that this
is gonna be just enough
to get us enough water
for the Black Pearl.
There she is.
Right now, it's my only option
and, uh, we're gonna see
if we can make it work.
- Hunter, man, what's going on?
- How's it going?
- How are you?
- Good to see you.
- Good.
- There she is.
So we pulled it off.
- Yeah, it's no Barco pump,
you're right.
- No.
But do you know what it
takes to find a pump
in Nome?
- This one's gonna cost you.
- Yeah, I figured.
Do you know any specs
on this, like the water?
You're gonna have to dial in.
Depends on what you
got for nozzle.
But it's gonna work.
- They've got
a suction line too.
- Okay.
So that will marry up
right here.
You're gonna have to change
your discharge phalange,
but other than that, I mean,
it's self-priming, it's
a good pump.
It should be everything
you need right now.
I mean, right now,
beggars can't be choosers.
I don't really have
too many options.
- You wanna crank it up?
- Yeah.
- You hold the Murphy switch.
- Yeah.
- The only downside
is it's a small pump.
- Yep.
So you might struggle
with water supply a little bit
Well, Hunter, what do
you think? You want it?
Hey, well it runs,
and it's a pump, so...
- It's a pump.
- It's better than
what I had, so...
- All right, let's get
it loaded.
- Let's do it.
You know, your
Achilles' heel in mining
is your water.
You have to have enough water
to make the sluices
work properly.
We need this to run,
so we'll see what happens.
- All right, are you ready?
- Yeah.
These are the last
pieces I needed to get
the Black Pearl running.
I got a pump, so I'm hoping
this weekend
we'll get everything
wrapped up.
All right, what do I owe you?
We'll talk later.
Just get that plant running.
If it all works out,
maybe I can pay you in gold.
I never turn down gold,
you know.
We're both involved
in this thing now.
- You've had to help me
so many times, you know.
- Exactly.
Actually I'm
a little bit nervous.
It's a good pump,
but it's old.
It's a last-minute deal.
Hopefully this thing runs
like it's supposed to.
There we go.
That's it, let's roll.
- Nate, thanks
for saving my ass again.
- Any time, bud.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
You know, hopefully
in a day or two we're
up and running.
We're coming out nice
and clean. They look good.
Back at the mine,
the Holy Roller hits
its midday stride
as it processes material.
Last week
was really, really good.
Big picture, we're still way
behind where we need to be.
We just plain and simple
need to get more gold.
We need 100 ounces a week
to hit our goal.
Ten-four, will do, Todd.
I need Hunter to get
the Black Pearl up
and running.
And while that's happening,
I need to put the best
pay dirt I can
through the Holy Roller,
and just keep grinding
as much gold as we can get.
We got a limited amount
of pay dirt right now.
We will run out eventually
if we do not find
some more quick.
But at the end of the day
we need the mother lode.
We wanna hit it.
I have pulled straight up
to you, port side in.
Perfecto. Thanks.
Across the claim
on the ancient riverbed cut,
Andy and the rest of the crew
work to keep the plant fed.
We had a lot of high
hopes coming into this season,
and we still do.
But we have
a long ways to go.
We wanna get
1,000 ounces,
so I'm gonna keep
stripping pay,
just keep going.
Holy crap.
It's just solid ice,
the side of that hill.
That is really cool.
And it shows we're
on the gold.
Hey, Todd, if you've
got a second, come
down here to the cut
I've got something
to show you.
That's 10-four.
Holy crap, look how big
that sucker is.
Is that
what I think it is?
- I think it's a drift,
isn't it?
- Yeah.
That's a tunnel.
It's a big tunnel.
I've exposed an old drift.
When the old timers
were in there
digging with pick
and shovel
this had to have been
really rich ground
for these guys to be
doing this all by hand.
What Andy has
unearthed are the remains
of what's known as
a miner's drift.
A subterranean tunnel
built wide enough
so that several miners
could pan long sections
of promising pay dirt
well below the surface.
For the miners who worked
this claim 100 years ago,
this was laborious
backbreaking work
done with the technology
of their time,
which was mostly
pickaxes and shovels.
It looks like this drift
filled up with water and soil,
and it froze.
We've been digging
into it from the side.
That don't look like
a little hole.
That was, like--
It's like a family
of miners could go in it.
If you find a tunnel
or a guy picked his
way through,
we take this very,
very serious.
And when we've ever
found any of these,
it's always been
the best gold we ever had.
So, the old timers,
they had to go for big gold
because gold was only
20, 30 bucks an ounce.
So the amount of gold
that they had to dig up
by hand,
was unbelievable.
Hey, Thurber, come on down.
I want you to have
a look at this.
An old pale.
There's some more stuff
up there. What is that?
Dude, they were
living up in here.
This was probably
full of gold.
You fill this up with gold
and then take it out...
I don't know.
The old timers,
they investigated.
They started a little tunnel,
if it started paying off,
they made a bigger tunnel,
and a bigger tunnel.
And either that guy
was a fat guy like me,
or he had a hell of a lot
of gold in there.
- I'll go with the gold.
- Yeah, me too.
Thurber, see that tunnel?
That's crazy.
I need you to take
a sample of that.
- You can see where he
was carving in.
- Yeah.
- You see how he
made his tunnel wide?
- Sure.
- He was lugging that stuff
directly on the side.
- Yep.
It's kinda cool.
A hundred-plus years ago,
someone walked around
with that bucket
and for whatever reason,
they stopped there.
We're gonna continue on.
So... it kinda gets you.
If you don't get it,
it's kinda hard to explain
but, you know,
why did they quit?
Did they die out here?
I mean, it's such
a huge story.
To be part of it...
...yeah. It's pretty big
I could go up right here.
Every time
that we've ever been
in this gray layer,
it's got a lot of gold in it.
Based on previous
signs and this color soil,
Andy and Thurber suspect
the miner's drift
could yield just north
of three ounces per 100 yards.
Yeah, that's just crazy.
I couldn't believe it
when I started opening it.
Yeah,
it's kinda eerie.
- Okay, I'll go freeze
my hands somewhere.
- Okay.
- This is the fun part.
- Yeah.
But also
when the gold table turns
from green to gold it's good.
Okay.
We're just kind
of chomping at the bit
to see what's going on.
What I'm doing
is I'm screening it.
We rinse everything off.
We get a true test.
If you throw rocks
before you wash them
they probably
have gold on them.
That's how you want
your rocks to look
after they go through
the trommel. Clean.
If they're dirty, they've
got gold on them still.
You've gotta remember,
you got two handfuls of dirt.
If you see any gold,
it's probably very rich.
Wow, wow, wow.
Holy crap.
Wow, wow, wow.
Holy crap.
So Thurber just took
a little sample,
just outside of the drift.
So I'm gonna go
take a look.
- What?
- I think I know why
they were there.
- It's pretty good.
- Pretty good?
Dude, look at how
big the gold is,
how much there is.
Look at all that.
If you start here, I'm
not even gonna count them.
There's just gold
all through here.
Some bigger pieces.
That one there,
you'd drop it in the pan
it will actually make noise.
- That's a picker.
- Yeah.
Holy smoke.
In all of the years
of thousands of pans
that we did in the Yukon,
I've never seen gold
like that.
I can't wait
to run this stuff.
This is crazy good.
The Black Pearl
is really close.
It's gonna be one
of life's delicious moments
when we see
this thing running, so...
The Black Pearl's
new pump is now set in place,
bringing the plant one step
closer to its first fire up.
Whoo!
- Got it!
- Yeah!
- Ready?
- Now we just stick
this baby together.
Finally got the pump.
The last thing we need to do
is hook up the water line
and send water up
to the plant.
We had a smaller pump,
but we're not really
experienced with that pump.
I'm hoping that because
of the water line being
a little bit bigger,
we have a little more volume
to get us enough water
for the Black Pearl.
But we won't know until we get
this whole thing hooked up.
As long as this
gets done, everything
else falls in place.
If you don't have water,
you don't have a plant.
Ready?
I am nervous.
This is a lot of work.
I don't know any other
kids in their early 20s
that have taken on
a project like this,
and completely rebuilt,
you know, the biggest trommel
that we've ever seen basically.
Most of the people here
don't think I'm gonna
be able to do it,
but, you know, I'm
too committed to back out now
and I'm really just trying
to prove to myself
that I can get this
thing running.
Hold on. Hold on.
Hold on! Turn it this way.
You know, I've got
a lot of responsibility
to actually get this
plant running.
It's gonna be a huge piece
to us actually getting
to our goal, I think, so...
All right, that's it!
Let's go.
You can't stop
the Black Pearl, baby.
Across the mine,
Andy scratches pay
at the miner's drift.
Enlisting Dakota and Cub
to transport it to the plants.
Hey, Dakota...
Yeah.
It's Papa here.
This will light
a sluice box up.
Big mistake.
Never tell us that.
Probably shouldn't
have said that to us.
Nowhere is stuff gonna
light up.
Oh, yeah.
It doesn't matter.
It's all going
to the same place.
Getting some pay
up to the Black Pearl.
So here it is, our first
tons of pay.
I think this stuff's
pretty rich.
Once we've got
a little pile going,
I'm gonna call the excavator
up from here.
We'll fire up.
And I don't know how
this plant's gonna run it,
but we'll know
by the end of the day.
This is dope.
It smells good.
- Have we got
all the hoses hooked up?
- Yep.
The motor, everything
is supposed to be dialed.
Yeah, everything looks dialed.
Chain is set, rollers is set.
- Yep, I think we're good.
- Yeah, it looks
pretty good, bro.
Okay.
After four weeks
of construction,
the Hoffmans have
the Black Pearl rigged
and ready to run gold
for the first time.
So, I wanted to have
everybody up here because...
You guys know how much
work me and Sparky
have put into this.
A lot of you guys
helped on this.
I really, genuinely,
appreciate it.
I know this is my
10th summer mining,
but I think that this summer
I probably learned more
than every other season
maybe combined.
So, I don't know how well
it's gonna run.
I haven't put any dirt
through it, but, you know,
I thought it would be cool
for everybody to be here
for us to fire it up
and kind of have this
moment together, so...
You know, Hunter,
I'm real proud of you guys.
I came up and helped
you a little bit,
but, you know, you did it all.
And just even getting
that drum on there
is a chore in itself.
I'm excited. You guys
put in a lot of work,
a lot of late nights,
a lot of welding,
but you did it.
It was a huge task.
I think that
it's gonna get us,
you know, to our goal.
It's a proven wash plant.
It's simple.
It's built really tough.
I don't know. We won't know
till we fire it up,
but I think I have a feeling
that she's gonna work good.
- I say we fire this thing up.
- Let's do it.
I wanna see the fat girl run.
All right, let's turn
this baby.
Hunter, you're
calling the shots.
How do we do this?
Who does what?
Well, I was gonna have
Framer get on the pump.
I was gonna get on the motor,
and then everybody else
just get somewhere safe.
Okay, let's go.
So this whole
Black Pearl situation,
down deep I'm excited
for Hunter
but you're looking at
a wash plant that's
30 years old,
and it's been collecting rust
at least for the last
seven years.
It's a little bit
of a Frankenstein.
If it doesn't work,
we just cannot afford that.
We're already behind
on that 1,000-ounce goal.
I really am going
to lose money
if we don't get maybe
a couple hundred ounces
through this plant.
I'm not a mechanic,
but I just know that this key
needs to be turned.
So, we're firing
the Black Pearl.
Everybody clear.
Is everybody clear?
Clear.
We are all clear, Hunter.
Everything looks good.
So this is the moment
right here.
Dude, is this thing
even gonna roll?
Dude, is this thing
even gonna roll?
- It's rolling.
- She rolls, yes!
She rolls!
Framer, fire the water.
All right, ready to fire.
Hunter, do you want me
to run it up?
There it goes.
We got water!
Hey, Framer, bring the pump
all the way up. Full rpm.
All right. I'm gonna
run it up a little bit.
How's the box, Thurb?
, Sparky.
Yes, dude, we got this.
We got this.
Come here, come here.
Give me a hug.
I feel really good.
This whole summer we've been
at war with this thing,
and I finally am feeling
a victory right now,
so, I'm like, I can't even
believe that we got
to this point.
Hey, Jack, what do you think?
- It worked, man.
- Dude, this thing's
gonna be a beast.
I didn't know if it was gonna
happen, but it did.
They got it here
and they got it together
and everything's welded up.
You know, I'm proud of them.
What do you
think, Jim?
I think you got it, brother.
Hey, come here, Hunter.
Give me some.
All right.
You got it in the water.
Your plant's running.
This is a big moment
for Hunter. I'm really proud.
I really hope that this
thing runs good
because I wanna see him
have some pay off.
The payoff will be
the gold in the box.
If we can end this thing good,
and end this thing positive,
and come out of this
with the gold that we need,
then, you know what,
this is gonna be a win.
Throw some dirt in it.
We'll see it go.
I wanna see
some dirt go through it.
Let's go, baby!
First bucket of dirt
for the Black Pearl,
right here.
- All right, first bucket!
- First bucket!
First bucket
of dirt, yeah!
Nice.
So far it looks good.
I'm not feeding it
slow either.
I'm just throwing it
through here.
This plant won't be able
to catch bigger nuggets
than the Holy Roller.
The Holy Roller was built
for a Rocky train in Colorado.
The Black Pearl's built
for, you know,
the stuff up here
in Nome.
Different material,
it has a lot of clay in it.
The Black Pearl has all kinds
of stuff welded inside
basically to break
the material up.
It is two different styles.
It's official,
it's game on.
- How about we
get our plant running?
- All right, let's go.
We're running out of daylight,
and we're gonna fire back up.
Let's go run some
dirt right now.
We stopped down to watch
the Black Pearl run,
now we've gotta
get the Holy Roller
running as well.
- Everybody clear?
- Yep.
- Ready to go?
- Yeah, bring up
the water.
It's gonna be
the first time
both plants are up
and running.
We're running double
the dirt right now
because this could actually
get us to 1,000 ounces.
With both plants
capable of running
at least 300 yards
of pay per hour,
the Hoffmans are now
processing twice as much dirt,
potentially doubling
their results.
It's a great day.
We're running two plants.
We're running
the miner's drift,
which is we believe
is really good gold.
If it is good gold,
hopefully we can
catch up on our goal.
We're not gonna reach it
without both plants.
That's money.
Okay, I'm gonna do
my last scoop. Just stand by.
Get it full, baby.
So, we ran
for the first time.
We got a couple hours in.
I've been running this
thing pretty hard.
So, we're getting some
good dirt to the plant.
Everything looks really good,
like, the thing's spinning consistently.
The sluice box
is working good.
The tailings are
coming out clean.
But, this plant, it hasn't
ran in seven years,
so I want to make sure
everything's dialed in,
and actually catch gold
before it gets dark, so...
I'm hoping we get to see
a little bit of gold tonight,
um, we'll be ready
to shut down.
I'm on the bypass.
Dial the pump
all the way down.
Yeah, we're good up here.
You can kill it whenever.
We're gonna catch
these big nuggets.
How's the barge
looking, fellas?
It's like we've got a little
bow in the riffles there,
but, like, none
of its packing.
Oh, none of these are packed.
That's good.
Here you go.
Here's some gold.
Right there.
Oh, yeah.
- Oh, look at that.
Look at that!
- Oh, whoa.
Red to it.
Look at that little patch
of gold right there.
- Dude, that's money.
- It's working.
Working, yeah.
- That's money
in the bank.
- Whoo!
We already got gold
in the nets.
How many guys can say
they already did that?
- Whoo-hoo-hoo!
- Yeah, yeah.
It is exciting just
because it has potential.
But we started way behind.
We've gotta run more yardage.
So tomorrow we're
gonna get up
and we're gonna run all day
and we're gonna get out there.
- We'll do it.
- We're just
gonna run it, baby.
All this hard work,
now it's time
for full speed ahead.
- Whoo.
- It's game on, now.
Game on, baby.
Whoo-hoo-hoo, yes!
All the hard
work's paying off.
Absolutely a great day.
Oh, my gosh.
Firing the trommel.
Everybody clear.
Let's go here.
All right, fellas, clear!
I think it looks good.
- You wanna
go get on the pump?
- Yeah, I'll go get the pump.
Yesterday was our
first run for the Black Pearl.
You know, she's
a proven plant.
She's gotten a lot of gold
in her day,
and I think that she's
in the service
for all this season,
so hopefully by the end
of the day
we'll try to get some
more gold. We need it.
Andy found this miner's drift,
which usually is a good
sign if there's gold.
Hey, Hunter, you got a
Yeah, go for it.
- Fire!
- Fire it.
So, we fired it up.
Everything looks good.
It's spinning good.
Everything's tracking
on the rollers nice.
So we're gonna run some pay.
Tell me when you see rock
coming out the end, Sparky.
Ten-four, I gotcha.
Yeah, we've got tailings
coming out.
Hey, what's going on
over here?
Sparky, the trommel's
not spinning well.
What's going on?
Sparky?
You've gotta talk to me.
There's water
gushing out of the pan.
All right, I'm not feeding
this anymore
until we figure out
gets done.
- That's for sure
jammed up.
- Yeah.
I think it was just
clogged when we got the plant.
The Black Pearl's
unique setup
uses a pan underneath
the trommel to catch
excess material.
A hose connected
to the catch pan
sends water through a pipe
blowing the material
out of the sluice box.
But a buildup of material
can clog the pan,
leaving water
with no place to run.
What's the situation
on that thing?
It hasn't ran in seven years.
It's in that catch pan.
It's all jammed,
so that's what's going on.
Fix it.
We're gonna have
to literally torch it open,
clear it, and build it
back together.
We'll shut it down.
Shut the pump off.
- Let's get your truck up there
and let's try to unclog that.
- All right.
They're losing money
because of us, so...
The Black Pearl
went down.
Me and Andy are actually
kind of freaking out
about this right now
because this is not
just bad for them,
it's for the whole team.
At this point in the game,
we need wins.
We don't need losses
on this whole thing.
And so far, it's not good.
Now we just have one plant
running new material
and that's nerve-racking.
All right,
it's the last bucket.
We're gonna pull the mats
and we're gonna see
what we've got.
If the gold isn't as good
as we think it is,
it's gonna be bad.
It's gonna cost us.
Bypass off!
Are we good
to shut the trommel off?
The trommel's down.
Generator's off.
Trommel's down.
Let's see what we've
got cooking down here.
We're ready to do this
miner's drift mat clean up.
Hopefully we're gonna have
a hell of a pay day here.
These old timers wouldn't be
digging this type of a drift
if it wasn't rich.
So I think we're in
for something very, very good,
but, you know what,
you never know
until you run the dirt and you
do your clean-up and find out.
And hopefully, at the end
of the day, we'll be ahead.
Okay, have you got a flathead?
Why don't you try
to pull that hose off
and we can try to see
what's going on?
Yeah, we'll see
what's going on.
There's a catch pan
that we planned
on digging out originally,
but we must have
forgot about it.
During the Black Pearl's assembly,
the team neglected
to clean out
the plant's lower catch pan
while it was easily accessible.
So, we're gonna have
to torch it open,
shovel everything out, um,
because there's a big jam-up
and we have water
spilling out.
Move it up and down a bit.
Oh, yep.
We've got cut this right off,
right here.
And like we thought,
it's jammed up.
This whole thing's full
of material
and this needs
to have flow.
otherwise it fills up
and starts spewing out, so...
In order to unclog
the Black Pearl's catch pan
and restore its water flow,
Hunter and Sparky
have to cut it open
from the bottom.
I just wanna, like, save this.
Otherwise, we gotta, I mean,
just remake another one.
What do you think about
cutting it like this?
- Is that cool?
- Yeah, that'll work.
Then they can
clear out the build up
of material
and weld it back together.
Yep, there she is, Sparky.
This sucker's
just packed, man.
You've gotta
be kidding me.
Were they sending big rocks
down their sluice box?
I don't understand.
What is that?
Holy [bleep]. Yeah.
- Oh, my God, there's a whole
bunch of [bleep] steel, bro.
- Yeah.
Yeah, what the heck?
- Well?
- That definitely
wasn't from us.
During the Black
Pearl's seven years
sitting idle,
a lack of upkeep
and exposure to weather
caused metal in the plant
to rust and collect
in the bottom
of the catch pan.
When I first fired it up
I was thinking
this thing might run perfectly
but unfortunately
we're not gonna have gold
in the box tonight.
Hey, guys,
Oh, everything.
Yeah.
Obviously there is a clog
and, uh, just something
that, you know,
wasn't addressed
before fire up.
It should have been
taken care of,
but there's a million things
on this plant that had
to be done,
and, uh, it obviously
just got overlooked.
So, what do you guys need?
This whole thing
clogged up underneath
our whole pipe,
so we had to cut the end off
and dig it out.
You can kind of see
through there,
but it's still got
a bunch of [bleep].
Just a bunch
of crap in there,
probably years and years.
That's a lot of pressure.
So, I would bring that
water truck up here
and that 2-inch hose
and blast it out...
- Really?
- ...with an
and everything.
Just put it on stream
and just shoot it in there.
Okay, let's try to get it
cleared out,
- and then I'm gonna have
to try this thing tomorrow.
- Okay.
This is not, you
know, one issue after another,
but we just don't
have a choice
but to keep working through it
and persevering, so...
If we can't get this
issue resolved,
or if it's more of an issue
than I thought it was,
then, uh, we're screwed.
Hey, um, is it
coming out fine?
Financially,
we're in the hole
and we're not gonna
reach our goal, so...
It's a little bit
of a scary moment.
Sparky, close
your eyes and turn around.
Don't look, buddy.
I just... got you
a little something.
The type of relationship
I have with Sparky
is like a brotherhood.
It's like dudes sent to war
together, or whatever.
You know, you persevere
through really hard
challenges together
you become super close.
Are you read? Turn around.
You know,
you've gotta have fun.
- Here you go, dude.
- No way.
- Here you go.
- What?
I need you playing that baby.
Have we got the key
to success right here?
Dude, the Black Pearl's
going places, brother.
Dude, I love that.
I love this frickin' thing.
See how happy he is?
He's just got a really
good heart.
He's one of my best friends.
You guys gotta be dancing.
Relax.
I can't believe this.
As the Holy Roller
crew begins their day
sifting through dirt
from a newly unearthed
miner's drift...
All right,
third turn the charm.
...Hunter is ready to see
if clearing the Black Pearl's
catch pan
will allow his plant
to finally run at full steam.
This is the metal pole
we just flushed out,
fixed it, welded it,
now it's time to rip it open.
Huh. Only one way to find out
if it works. Let's do it.
We just spent the day
trying to resolve this
water issue.
The pipe that sends
water and material
down the bottom
of the frame,
we got that all clear.
So right now we're gonna
figure out of it works or not.
If it doesn't work, then,
uh, you know,
I don't know what's
gonna happen.
All right, brother, I'm about
to turn the pump. Over.
Go for it.
It's looking good so far, Hunter.
Okay, let's fire the drum,
and run some rock real quick.
- Are you ready, baby?
- Let's hit it, baby.
I'm all eyes.
Well, hit it.
Please, God, work.
So far it looks good, huh?
Yeah, it's looking
really good.
- Go check out the pan.
- I'll come down there.
Yeah, buddy,
it's looking good!
- It looks really good, man.
- I just put a lot in.
I didn't know if that
was gonna work,
but apparently it did.
Hundreds of hours
to get this plant together.
We got it rolling,
we fixed the leaks.
We got this engine
working like a mother.
And I'll tell you what,
I love my mother.
I get nervous, like,
getting too excited.
Like, I wanna be excited,
but I'm, like, we've had
so many issues
that, you know, it makes
me scared to get too eager
if I run some pay,
but I think it might
actually be ready.
Yeah, now we're
having fun, baby.
We're having fun.
This evening we're gonna
run some pay.
Oh, my gosh.
Hey, glad you guys
are here this week.
I know you had a setback
on the Black Pearl.
Did you get it fixed yet?
We haven't ran
enough yards to do
a full boxful,
but everything's
spinning properly.
Everything looks like
it's aligned right.
There are no leaks.
- So as in next week, we're
gonna have two clean-ups
- Yep.
Very nice. I love seeing
both those plants running.
Two hoes up there
swinging dirt,
y'all running around there
hauling tailings.
- That was pretty sweet.
- Yeah.
She's ready to rev, so...
When I came and helped
you guys,
I didn't realize
how much you'd done
and how much you had to do.
So, I'm really proud
of what you guys achieved.
You should be proud
of yourselves.
Your list
was so stinking long,
- I'm impressed that
it's sitting up there.
- That's awesome.
Because of that, we are
going to have a chance
to come back
and hit our goals.
This whole thing has
taught me a lot about
pushing through, persevering
and sticking with it.
Now we're having fun, baby.
I'm glad because we're behind.
We could use some help.
- That actually looks heavier.
- Yeah, it does.
It looks like a 10-lb baby.
We're running the miner's
drift and that ancient
river channel,
which we believe
is really good gold,
but you never know until
you do your clean-up
and find out.
Where are we at right now?
We're at 200 ounces
right now.
We need
100 ounces a week.
- Okay, Dad, pour it.
- All right. Here we go.
Oh, that's chunky.
Look at the nuggets in there.
Forty-five, 50, 55, 60.
Are you gonna get
to the doors of 80?
Seventy.
Seventy-five...
Eighty...
Eight-five.
About another 140
is $45,000.
- Now we're heading there.
- That's awesome.
- Pretty close.
- We're getting there.
This weigh-in for the miner's
drift is super-promising.
Especially when you consider
that half of that pay dirt
is just sitting right
by the Black Pearl
ready to be ran.
If we could run that pay dirt
in two plants,
that's gonna be big
for hitting our goal.
The Holy Roller's
fifth-week clean-up
and first run
of the miner's drift dirt
brings in a little over
85 ounces,
marking their biggest
clean-out so far this season
taking the Hoffman team's
running total up to 284 ounces
which means they need
just over 700 more ounces
to hit their season goal.
We're back up a little bit.
We're still needing
102 ounces per week.
One really good goal,
but hopefully you guys fill
in the gap.
- We're gonna finally make our
weekly average.
- Yeah.
No kidding, we need to get
a week with our average
going here
because we're actually,
we're treading water.
Let's get gold in the box,
know what I mean?
Let's go to work.
to put your sluice, over here.
Everybody's telling me
to put it like this.
After weeks
of butting heads...
You've been stepping
on my toes the whole project.
No, I haven't.
...and unexpected setbacks...
...the Hoffmans are
looking forward.
Is that what
I think it is?
- I think it's a drift,
isn't it?
- Yeah.
But with just
the Holy Roller running,
they'll need Hunter's
second plant
to hit their
$1.75 million target.
We're firing the Black Pearl,
everybody clear.
Will the Black Pearl's maiden run
help them sail towards
their season-long
1,000-ounce gold?
- It's rolling.
- She rolls.
Look at that little patch
of gold right there.
That's money in the bank.
Or will it sink them?
Sparky, you've gotta
talk to me.
Hey, we got water
gushing out in the pan.
You gotta be kidding me.
With the Holy Roller's
current gold production
well short
of the 100-ounce average
the Hoffmans are
aiming for this week.
And the Black Pearl, one part
shy of being operational,
Hunter and Framer
set out to find it.
Two running plants will mean
double the production.
Last piece
of the wash plant,
we're really close
I honestly didn't think we
were gonna be able
to get this far.
To get the Black
Pearl to this point,
Hunter and his team had
to cut the wash plant
into three pieces
to transport it 80 miles
across an unforgiving road.
I look good over here.
How are you guys looking?
And then reassemble
the 80,000-lb behemoth on site
with limited parts and tools.
That's it!
We got stuff done we didn't
think we were gonna
be able to.
It's a big plant,
requires a lot of water.
You know it didn't come
with a pump.
If I don't have enough water,
I can't run it at all.
So, I called Nate.
He's been a huge lifesaver
for me this season.
And he called around.
He found me a pump,
and I'm hoping that this
is gonna be just enough
to get us enough water
for the Black Pearl.
There she is.
Right now, it's my only option
and, uh, we're gonna see
if we can make it work.
- Hunter, man, what's going on?
- How's it going?
- How are you?
- Good to see you.
- Good.
- There she is.
So we pulled it off.
- Yeah, it's no Barco pump,
you're right.
- No.
But do you know what it
takes to find a pump
in Nome?
- This one's gonna cost you.
- Yeah, I figured.
Do you know any specs
on this, like the water?
You're gonna have to dial in.
Depends on what you
got for nozzle.
But it's gonna work.
- They've got
a suction line too.
- Okay.
So that will marry up
right here.
You're gonna have to change
your discharge phalange,
but other than that, I mean,
it's self-priming, it's
a good pump.
It should be everything
you need right now.
I mean, right now,
beggars can't be choosers.
I don't really have
too many options.
- You wanna crank it up?
- Yeah.
- You hold the Murphy switch.
- Yeah.
- The only downside
is it's a small pump.
- Yep.
So you might struggle
with water supply a little bit
Well, Hunter, what do
you think? You want it?
Hey, well it runs,
and it's a pump, so...
- It's a pump.
- It's better than
what I had, so...
- All right, let's get
it loaded.
- Let's do it.
You know, your
Achilles' heel in mining
is your water.
You have to have enough water
to make the sluices
work properly.
We need this to run,
so we'll see what happens.
- All right, are you ready?
- Yeah.
These are the last
pieces I needed to get
the Black Pearl running.
I got a pump, so I'm hoping
this weekend
we'll get everything
wrapped up.
All right, what do I owe you?
We'll talk later.
Just get that plant running.
If it all works out,
maybe I can pay you in gold.
I never turn down gold,
you know.
We're both involved
in this thing now.
- You've had to help me
so many times, you know.
- Exactly.
Actually I'm
a little bit nervous.
It's a good pump,
but it's old.
It's a last-minute deal.
Hopefully this thing runs
like it's supposed to.
There we go.
That's it, let's roll.
- Nate, thanks
for saving my ass again.
- Any time, bud.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
You know, hopefully
in a day or two we're
up and running.
We're coming out nice
and clean. They look good.
Back at the mine,
the Holy Roller hits
its midday stride
as it processes material.
Last week
was really, really good.
Big picture, we're still way
behind where we need to be.
We just plain and simple
need to get more gold.
We need 100 ounces a week
to hit our goal.
Ten-four, will do, Todd.
I need Hunter to get
the Black Pearl up
and running.
And while that's happening,
I need to put the best
pay dirt I can
through the Holy Roller,
and just keep grinding
as much gold as we can get.
We got a limited amount
of pay dirt right now.
We will run out eventually
if we do not find
some more quick.
But at the end of the day
we need the mother lode.
We wanna hit it.
I have pulled straight up
to you, port side in.
Perfecto. Thanks.
Across the claim
on the ancient riverbed cut,
Andy and the rest of the crew
work to keep the plant fed.
We had a lot of high
hopes coming into this season,
and we still do.
But we have
a long ways to go.
We wanna get
1,000 ounces,
so I'm gonna keep
stripping pay,
just keep going.
Holy crap.
It's just solid ice,
the side of that hill.
That is really cool.
And it shows we're
on the gold.
Hey, Todd, if you've
got a second, come
down here to the cut
I've got something
to show you.
That's 10-four.
Holy crap, look how big
that sucker is.
Is that
what I think it is?
- I think it's a drift,
isn't it?
- Yeah.
That's a tunnel.
It's a big tunnel.
I've exposed an old drift.
When the old timers
were in there
digging with pick
and shovel
this had to have been
really rich ground
for these guys to be
doing this all by hand.
What Andy has
unearthed are the remains
of what's known as
a miner's drift.
A subterranean tunnel
built wide enough
so that several miners
could pan long sections
of promising pay dirt
well below the surface.
For the miners who worked
this claim 100 years ago,
this was laborious
backbreaking work
done with the technology
of their time,
which was mostly
pickaxes and shovels.
It looks like this drift
filled up with water and soil,
and it froze.
We've been digging
into it from the side.
That don't look like
a little hole.
That was, like--
It's like a family
of miners could go in it.
If you find a tunnel
or a guy picked his
way through,
we take this very,
very serious.
And when we've ever
found any of these,
it's always been
the best gold we ever had.
So, the old timers,
they had to go for big gold
because gold was only
20, 30 bucks an ounce.
So the amount of gold
that they had to dig up
by hand,
was unbelievable.
Hey, Thurber, come on down.
I want you to have
a look at this.
An old pale.
There's some more stuff
up there. What is that?
Dude, they were
living up in here.
This was probably
full of gold.
You fill this up with gold
and then take it out...
I don't know.
The old timers,
they investigated.
They started a little tunnel,
if it started paying off,
they made a bigger tunnel,
and a bigger tunnel.
And either that guy
was a fat guy like me,
or he had a hell of a lot
of gold in there.
- I'll go with the gold.
- Yeah, me too.
Thurber, see that tunnel?
That's crazy.
I need you to take
a sample of that.
- You can see where he
was carving in.
- Yeah.
- You see how he
made his tunnel wide?
- Sure.
- He was lugging that stuff
directly on the side.
- Yep.
It's kinda cool.
A hundred-plus years ago,
someone walked around
with that bucket
and for whatever reason,
they stopped there.
We're gonna continue on.
So... it kinda gets you.
If you don't get it,
it's kinda hard to explain
but, you know,
why did they quit?
Did they die out here?
I mean, it's such
a huge story.
To be part of it...
...yeah. It's pretty big
I could go up right here.
Every time
that we've ever been
in this gray layer,
it's got a lot of gold in it.
Based on previous
signs and this color soil,
Andy and Thurber suspect
the miner's drift
could yield just north
of three ounces per 100 yards.
Yeah, that's just crazy.
I couldn't believe it
when I started opening it.
Yeah,
it's kinda eerie.
- Okay, I'll go freeze
my hands somewhere.
- Okay.
- This is the fun part.
- Yeah.
But also
when the gold table turns
from green to gold it's good.
Okay.
We're just kind
of chomping at the bit
to see what's going on.
What I'm doing
is I'm screening it.
We rinse everything off.
We get a true test.
If you throw rocks
before you wash them
they probably
have gold on them.
That's how you want
your rocks to look
after they go through
the trommel. Clean.
If they're dirty, they've
got gold on them still.
You've gotta remember,
you got two handfuls of dirt.
If you see any gold,
it's probably very rich.
Wow, wow, wow.
Holy crap.
Wow, wow, wow.
Holy crap.
So Thurber just took
a little sample,
just outside of the drift.
So I'm gonna go
take a look.
- What?
- I think I know why
they were there.
- It's pretty good.
- Pretty good?
Dude, look at how
big the gold is,
how much there is.
Look at all that.
If you start here, I'm
not even gonna count them.
There's just gold
all through here.
Some bigger pieces.
That one there,
you'd drop it in the pan
it will actually make noise.
- That's a picker.
- Yeah.
Holy smoke.
In all of the years
of thousands of pans
that we did in the Yukon,
I've never seen gold
like that.
I can't wait
to run this stuff.
This is crazy good.
The Black Pearl
is really close.
It's gonna be one
of life's delicious moments
when we see
this thing running, so...
The Black Pearl's
new pump is now set in place,
bringing the plant one step
closer to its first fire up.
Whoo!
- Got it!
- Yeah!
- Ready?
- Now we just stick
this baby together.
Finally got the pump.
The last thing we need to do
is hook up the water line
and send water up
to the plant.
We had a smaller pump,
but we're not really
experienced with that pump.
I'm hoping that because
of the water line being
a little bit bigger,
we have a little more volume
to get us enough water
for the Black Pearl.
But we won't know until we get
this whole thing hooked up.
As long as this
gets done, everything
else falls in place.
If you don't have water,
you don't have a plant.
Ready?
I am nervous.
This is a lot of work.
I don't know any other
kids in their early 20s
that have taken on
a project like this,
and completely rebuilt,
you know, the biggest trommel
that we've ever seen basically.
Most of the people here
don't think I'm gonna
be able to do it,
but, you know, I'm
too committed to back out now
and I'm really just trying
to prove to myself
that I can get this
thing running.
Hold on. Hold on.
Hold on! Turn it this way.
You know, I've got
a lot of responsibility
to actually get this
plant running.
It's gonna be a huge piece
to us actually getting
to our goal, I think, so...
All right, that's it!
Let's go.
You can't stop
the Black Pearl, baby.
Across the mine,
Andy scratches pay
at the miner's drift.
Enlisting Dakota and Cub
to transport it to the plants.
Hey, Dakota...
Yeah.
It's Papa here.
This will light
a sluice box up.
Big mistake.
Never tell us that.
Probably shouldn't
have said that to us.
Nowhere is stuff gonna
light up.
Oh, yeah.
It doesn't matter.
It's all going
to the same place.
Getting some pay
up to the Black Pearl.
So here it is, our first
tons of pay.
I think this stuff's
pretty rich.
Once we've got
a little pile going,
I'm gonna call the excavator
up from here.
We'll fire up.
And I don't know how
this plant's gonna run it,
but we'll know
by the end of the day.
This is dope.
It smells good.
- Have we got
all the hoses hooked up?
- Yep.
The motor, everything
is supposed to be dialed.
Yeah, everything looks dialed.
Chain is set, rollers is set.
- Yep, I think we're good.
- Yeah, it looks
pretty good, bro.
Okay.
After four weeks
of construction,
the Hoffmans have
the Black Pearl rigged
and ready to run gold
for the first time.
So, I wanted to have
everybody up here because...
You guys know how much
work me and Sparky
have put into this.
A lot of you guys
helped on this.
I really, genuinely,
appreciate it.
I know this is my
10th summer mining,
but I think that this summer
I probably learned more
than every other season
maybe combined.
So, I don't know how well
it's gonna run.
I haven't put any dirt
through it, but, you know,
I thought it would be cool
for everybody to be here
for us to fire it up
and kind of have this
moment together, so...
You know, Hunter,
I'm real proud of you guys.
I came up and helped
you a little bit,
but, you know, you did it all.
And just even getting
that drum on there
is a chore in itself.
I'm excited. You guys
put in a lot of work,
a lot of late nights,
a lot of welding,
but you did it.
It was a huge task.
I think that
it's gonna get us,
you know, to our goal.
It's a proven wash plant.
It's simple.
It's built really tough.
I don't know. We won't know
till we fire it up,
but I think I have a feeling
that she's gonna work good.
- I say we fire this thing up.
- Let's do it.
I wanna see the fat girl run.
All right, let's turn
this baby.
Hunter, you're
calling the shots.
How do we do this?
Who does what?
Well, I was gonna have
Framer get on the pump.
I was gonna get on the motor,
and then everybody else
just get somewhere safe.
Okay, let's go.
So this whole
Black Pearl situation,
down deep I'm excited
for Hunter
but you're looking at
a wash plant that's
30 years old,
and it's been collecting rust
at least for the last
seven years.
It's a little bit
of a Frankenstein.
If it doesn't work,
we just cannot afford that.
We're already behind
on that 1,000-ounce goal.
I really am going
to lose money
if we don't get maybe
a couple hundred ounces
through this plant.
I'm not a mechanic,
but I just know that this key
needs to be turned.
So, we're firing
the Black Pearl.
Everybody clear.
Is everybody clear?
Clear.
We are all clear, Hunter.
Everything looks good.
So this is the moment
right here.
Dude, is this thing
even gonna roll?
Dude, is this thing
even gonna roll?
- It's rolling.
- She rolls, yes!
She rolls!
Framer, fire the water.
All right, ready to fire.
Hunter, do you want me
to run it up?
There it goes.
We got water!
Hey, Framer, bring the pump
all the way up. Full rpm.
All right. I'm gonna
run it up a little bit.
How's the box, Thurb?
, Sparky.
Yes, dude, we got this.
We got this.
Come here, come here.
Give me a hug.
I feel really good.
This whole summer we've been
at war with this thing,
and I finally am feeling
a victory right now,
so, I'm like, I can't even
believe that we got
to this point.
Hey, Jack, what do you think?
- It worked, man.
- Dude, this thing's
gonna be a beast.
I didn't know if it was gonna
happen, but it did.
They got it here
and they got it together
and everything's welded up.
You know, I'm proud of them.
What do you
think, Jim?
I think you got it, brother.
Hey, come here, Hunter.
Give me some.
All right.
You got it in the water.
Your plant's running.
This is a big moment
for Hunter. I'm really proud.
I really hope that this
thing runs good
because I wanna see him
have some pay off.
The payoff will be
the gold in the box.
If we can end this thing good,
and end this thing positive,
and come out of this
with the gold that we need,
then, you know what,
this is gonna be a win.
Throw some dirt in it.
We'll see it go.
I wanna see
some dirt go through it.
Let's go, baby!
First bucket of dirt
for the Black Pearl,
right here.
- All right, first bucket!
- First bucket!
First bucket
of dirt, yeah!
Nice.
So far it looks good.
I'm not feeding it
slow either.
I'm just throwing it
through here.
This plant won't be able
to catch bigger nuggets
than the Holy Roller.
The Holy Roller was built
for a Rocky train in Colorado.
The Black Pearl's built
for, you know,
the stuff up here
in Nome.
Different material,
it has a lot of clay in it.
The Black Pearl has all kinds
of stuff welded inside
basically to break
the material up.
It is two different styles.
It's official,
it's game on.
- How about we
get our plant running?
- All right, let's go.
We're running out of daylight,
and we're gonna fire back up.
Let's go run some
dirt right now.
We stopped down to watch
the Black Pearl run,
now we've gotta
get the Holy Roller
running as well.
- Everybody clear?
- Yep.
- Ready to go?
- Yeah, bring up
the water.
It's gonna be
the first time
both plants are up
and running.
We're running double
the dirt right now
because this could actually
get us to 1,000 ounces.
With both plants
capable of running
at least 300 yards
of pay per hour,
the Hoffmans are now
processing twice as much dirt,
potentially doubling
their results.
It's a great day.
We're running two plants.
We're running
the miner's drift,
which is we believe
is really good gold.
If it is good gold,
hopefully we can
catch up on our goal.
We're not gonna reach it
without both plants.
That's money.
Okay, I'm gonna do
my last scoop. Just stand by.
Get it full, baby.
So, we ran
for the first time.
We got a couple hours in.
I've been running this
thing pretty hard.
So, we're getting some
good dirt to the plant.
Everything looks really good,
like, the thing's spinning consistently.
The sluice box
is working good.
The tailings are
coming out clean.
But, this plant, it hasn't
ran in seven years,
so I want to make sure
everything's dialed in,
and actually catch gold
before it gets dark, so...
I'm hoping we get to see
a little bit of gold tonight,
um, we'll be ready
to shut down.
I'm on the bypass.
Dial the pump
all the way down.
Yeah, we're good up here.
You can kill it whenever.
We're gonna catch
these big nuggets.
How's the barge
looking, fellas?
It's like we've got a little
bow in the riffles there,
but, like, none
of its packing.
Oh, none of these are packed.
That's good.
Here you go.
Here's some gold.
Right there.
Oh, yeah.
- Oh, look at that.
Look at that!
- Oh, whoa.
Red to it.
Look at that little patch
of gold right there.
- Dude, that's money.
- It's working.
Working, yeah.
- That's money
in the bank.
- Whoo!
We already got gold
in the nets.
How many guys can say
they already did that?
- Whoo-hoo-hoo!
- Yeah, yeah.
It is exciting just
because it has potential.
But we started way behind.
We've gotta run more yardage.
So tomorrow we're
gonna get up
and we're gonna run all day
and we're gonna get out there.
- We'll do it.
- We're just
gonna run it, baby.
All this hard work,
now it's time
for full speed ahead.
- Whoo.
- It's game on, now.
Game on, baby.
Whoo-hoo-hoo, yes!
All the hard
work's paying off.
Absolutely a great day.
Oh, my gosh.
Firing the trommel.
Everybody clear.
Let's go here.
All right, fellas, clear!
I think it looks good.
- You wanna
go get on the pump?
- Yeah, I'll go get the pump.
Yesterday was our
first run for the Black Pearl.
You know, she's
a proven plant.
She's gotten a lot of gold
in her day,
and I think that she's
in the service
for all this season,
so hopefully by the end
of the day
we'll try to get some
more gold. We need it.
Andy found this miner's drift,
which usually is a good
sign if there's gold.
Hey, Hunter, you got a
Yeah, go for it.
- Fire!
- Fire it.
So, we fired it up.
Everything looks good.
It's spinning good.
Everything's tracking
on the rollers nice.
So we're gonna run some pay.
Tell me when you see rock
coming out the end, Sparky.
Ten-four, I gotcha.
Yeah, we've got tailings
coming out.
Hey, what's going on
over here?
Sparky, the trommel's
not spinning well.
What's going on?
Sparky?
You've gotta talk to me.
There's water
gushing out of the pan.
All right, I'm not feeding
this anymore
until we figure out
gets done.
- That's for sure
jammed up.
- Yeah.
I think it was just
clogged when we got the plant.
The Black Pearl's
unique setup
uses a pan underneath
the trommel to catch
excess material.
A hose connected
to the catch pan
sends water through a pipe
blowing the material
out of the sluice box.
But a buildup of material
can clog the pan,
leaving water
with no place to run.
What's the situation
on that thing?
It hasn't ran in seven years.
It's in that catch pan.
It's all jammed,
so that's what's going on.
Fix it.
We're gonna have
to literally torch it open,
clear it, and build it
back together.
We'll shut it down.
Shut the pump off.
- Let's get your truck up there
and let's try to unclog that.
- All right.
They're losing money
because of us, so...
The Black Pearl
went down.
Me and Andy are actually
kind of freaking out
about this right now
because this is not
just bad for them,
it's for the whole team.
At this point in the game,
we need wins.
We don't need losses
on this whole thing.
And so far, it's not good.
Now we just have one plant
running new material
and that's nerve-racking.
All right,
it's the last bucket.
We're gonna pull the mats
and we're gonna see
what we've got.
If the gold isn't as good
as we think it is,
it's gonna be bad.
It's gonna cost us.
Bypass off!
Are we good
to shut the trommel off?
The trommel's down.
Generator's off.
Trommel's down.
Let's see what we've
got cooking down here.
We're ready to do this
miner's drift mat clean up.
Hopefully we're gonna have
a hell of a pay day here.
These old timers wouldn't be
digging this type of a drift
if it wasn't rich.
So I think we're in
for something very, very good,
but, you know what,
you never know
until you run the dirt and you
do your clean-up and find out.
And hopefully, at the end
of the day, we'll be ahead.
Okay, have you got a flathead?
Why don't you try
to pull that hose off
and we can try to see
what's going on?
Yeah, we'll see
what's going on.
There's a catch pan
that we planned
on digging out originally,
but we must have
forgot about it.
During the Black Pearl's assembly,
the team neglected
to clean out
the plant's lower catch pan
while it was easily accessible.
So, we're gonna have
to torch it open,
shovel everything out, um,
because there's a big jam-up
and we have water
spilling out.
Move it up and down a bit.
Oh, yep.
We've got cut this right off,
right here.
And like we thought,
it's jammed up.
This whole thing's full
of material
and this needs
to have flow.
otherwise it fills up
and starts spewing out, so...
In order to unclog
the Black Pearl's catch pan
and restore its water flow,
Hunter and Sparky
have to cut it open
from the bottom.
I just wanna, like, save this.
Otherwise, we gotta, I mean,
just remake another one.
What do you think about
cutting it like this?
- Is that cool?
- Yeah, that'll work.
Then they can
clear out the build up
of material
and weld it back together.
Yep, there she is, Sparky.
This sucker's
just packed, man.
You've gotta
be kidding me.
Were they sending big rocks
down their sluice box?
I don't understand.
What is that?
Holy [bleep]. Yeah.
- Oh, my God, there's a whole
bunch of [bleep] steel, bro.
- Yeah.
Yeah, what the heck?
- Well?
- That definitely
wasn't from us.
During the Black
Pearl's seven years
sitting idle,
a lack of upkeep
and exposure to weather
caused metal in the plant
to rust and collect
in the bottom
of the catch pan.
When I first fired it up
I was thinking
this thing might run perfectly
but unfortunately
we're not gonna have gold
in the box tonight.
Hey, guys,
Oh, everything.
Yeah.
Obviously there is a clog
and, uh, just something
that, you know,
wasn't addressed
before fire up.
It should have been
taken care of,
but there's a million things
on this plant that had
to be done,
and, uh, it obviously
just got overlooked.
So, what do you guys need?
This whole thing
clogged up underneath
our whole pipe,
so we had to cut the end off
and dig it out.
You can kind of see
through there,
but it's still got
a bunch of [bleep].
Just a bunch
of crap in there,
probably years and years.
That's a lot of pressure.
So, I would bring that
water truck up here
and that 2-inch hose
and blast it out...
- Really?
- ...with an
and everything.
Just put it on stream
and just shoot it in there.
Okay, let's try to get it
cleared out,
- and then I'm gonna have
to try this thing tomorrow.
- Okay.
This is not, you
know, one issue after another,
but we just don't
have a choice
but to keep working through it
and persevering, so...
If we can't get this
issue resolved,
or if it's more of an issue
than I thought it was,
then, uh, we're screwed.
Hey, um, is it
coming out fine?
Financially,
we're in the hole
and we're not gonna
reach our goal, so...
It's a little bit
of a scary moment.
Sparky, close
your eyes and turn around.
Don't look, buddy.
I just... got you
a little something.
The type of relationship
I have with Sparky
is like a brotherhood.
It's like dudes sent to war
together, or whatever.
You know, you persevere
through really hard
challenges together
you become super close.
Are you read? Turn around.
You know,
you've gotta have fun.
- Here you go, dude.
- No way.
- Here you go.
- What?
I need you playing that baby.
Have we got the key
to success right here?
Dude, the Black Pearl's
going places, brother.
Dude, I love that.
I love this frickin' thing.
See how happy he is?
He's just got a really
good heart.
He's one of my best friends.
You guys gotta be dancing.
Relax.
I can't believe this.
As the Holy Roller
crew begins their day
sifting through dirt
from a newly unearthed
miner's drift...
All right,
third turn the charm.
...Hunter is ready to see
if clearing the Black Pearl's
catch pan
will allow his plant
to finally run at full steam.
This is the metal pole
we just flushed out,
fixed it, welded it,
now it's time to rip it open.
Huh. Only one way to find out
if it works. Let's do it.
We just spent the day
trying to resolve this
water issue.
The pipe that sends
water and material
down the bottom
of the frame,
we got that all clear.
So right now we're gonna
figure out of it works or not.
If it doesn't work, then,
uh, you know,
I don't know what's
gonna happen.
All right, brother, I'm about
to turn the pump. Over.
Go for it.
It's looking good so far, Hunter.
Okay, let's fire the drum,
and run some rock real quick.
- Are you ready, baby?
- Let's hit it, baby.
I'm all eyes.
Well, hit it.
Please, God, work.
So far it looks good, huh?
Yeah, it's looking
really good.
- Go check out the pan.
- I'll come down there.
Yeah, buddy,
it's looking good!
- It looks really good, man.
- I just put a lot in.
I didn't know if that
was gonna work,
but apparently it did.
Hundreds of hours
to get this plant together.
We got it rolling,
we fixed the leaks.
We got this engine
working like a mother.
And I'll tell you what,
I love my mother.
I get nervous, like,
getting too excited.
Like, I wanna be excited,
but I'm, like, we've had
so many issues
that, you know, it makes
me scared to get too eager
if I run some pay,
but I think it might
actually be ready.
Yeah, now we're
having fun, baby.
We're having fun.
This evening we're gonna
run some pay.
Oh, my gosh.
Hey, glad you guys
are here this week.
I know you had a setback
on the Black Pearl.
Did you get it fixed yet?
We haven't ran
enough yards to do
a full boxful,
but everything's
spinning properly.
Everything looks like
it's aligned right.
There are no leaks.
- So as in next week, we're
gonna have two clean-ups
- Yep.
Very nice. I love seeing
both those plants running.
Two hoes up there
swinging dirt,
y'all running around there
hauling tailings.
- That was pretty sweet.
- Yeah.
She's ready to rev, so...
When I came and helped
you guys,
I didn't realize
how much you'd done
and how much you had to do.
So, I'm really proud
of what you guys achieved.
You should be proud
of yourselves.
Your list
was so stinking long,
- I'm impressed that
it's sitting up there.
- That's awesome.
Because of that, we are
going to have a chance
to come back
and hit our goals.
This whole thing has
taught me a lot about
pushing through, persevering
and sticking with it.
Now we're having fun, baby.
I'm glad because we're behind.
We could use some help.
- That actually looks heavier.
- Yeah, it does.
It looks like a 10-lb baby.
We're running the miner's
drift and that ancient
river channel,
which we believe
is really good gold,
but you never know until
you do your clean-up
and find out.
Where are we at right now?
We're at 200 ounces
right now.
We need
100 ounces a week.
- Okay, Dad, pour it.
- All right. Here we go.
Oh, that's chunky.
Look at the nuggets in there.
Forty-five, 50, 55, 60.
Are you gonna get
to the doors of 80?
Seventy.
Seventy-five...
Eighty...
Eight-five.
About another 140
is $45,000.
- Now we're heading there.
- That's awesome.
- Pretty close.
- We're getting there.
This weigh-in for the miner's
drift is super-promising.
Especially when you consider
that half of that pay dirt
is just sitting right
by the Black Pearl
ready to be ran.
If we could run that pay dirt
in two plants,
that's gonna be big
for hitting our goal.
The Holy Roller's
fifth-week clean-up
and first run
of the miner's drift dirt
brings in a little over
85 ounces,
marking their biggest
clean-out so far this season
taking the Hoffman team's
running total up to 284 ounces
which means they need
just over 700 more ounces
to hit their season goal.
We're back up a little bit.
We're still needing
102 ounces per week.
One really good goal,
but hopefully you guys fill
in the gap.
- We're gonna finally make our
weekly average.
- Yeah.
No kidding, we need to get
a week with our average
going here
because we're actually,
we're treading water.
Let's get gold in the box,
know what I mean?
Let's go to work.