Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - The Curse of the Jade - full transcript

(serene music)

(hammers banging on rock)

- [Claudia] I'm Claudia Bunce.

I love jade.

- [Male Voice] Woohoo!

Tubes of jade.

- [Claudia] Up here near
the Yukon in Jade City,

we've got the world's richest deposits

of nephrite jade,

and the Chinese want it.

(men laughing)



- This is gonna be the
million dollar rock.

- [Claudia] Now, they
just have to find it.

Woohoo!

Go!

I will dig till my hands bleed.

(funky upbeat music)

(people laughing)

Jade makes people do crazy things.

(twangy guitar music)

- This is our first shelter out here.

We're excited.

- [Male Voice] We got
to design our new camp.

- That's more gooder anyways.

- [Narrator] The Jade
City crew is building



a permanent camp at their
Wolverine Mining site.

- We got, like, another
three or four of these

shacks coming in.

Me, Robin and Guy want one for each of us.

It'd be nice to have a
little private space.

Because these campers are
really small if you're alone.

Let alone trying to share
between two or three people.

- [Narrator] Everyone
could use a little comfort.

(voices speaking on radio)

A week ago, a drill operator
had near-fatal collision

with a moose.

(ambulance sirens blare)

- [Robin] He hit him back there.

Way back there is where
the skid marks start.

- [Narrator] A tray of
jade cores in the truck

were sent flying into the bush.

- [Claudia] This piece might fit here.

- [Narrator] Vital records about
where each core was drilled

were marked on the tray.

With the cores scattered,

the information is lost.

- [Claudia] We have no
idea how far down we are.

- Nope.

- [Narrator] Without clear records

of where exactly that
grade A jade came from,

they'd have to start
drilling all over again.

They've had enough.

The Dynasty site is temporarily shut down.

- The scary thing is that it's

the best jade we've ever found.

It's absolutely grade A jade.

Chinese say there's a curse on jade.

And people that are looking
for it have a lot of bad luck.

- Just over to the edge
so he can set it on.

Pull it.

Lift it up.

(bangs and crashes)

(beep)

- [Narrator] Things have been a bit off

in the Jade City world.

- It's so weird.

I don't know.

I just drove off the road.

- [Narrator] Another accident,
this time without injury.

- Do you think Gordon
might have fallen asleep?

In my world, there is
no crazy superstitions.

There is no crazy beliefs.

I am so open to every superstition.

(door crashes to ground)

- Was I supposed to holding that?

- Superstitions are,

you don't want to tempt them.

- Man down.

- Whether you believe 'em or don't.

- Oh, perfect.

- This is business.

This isn't Chinese curse, bull

(beep)

It's all about perseverance.

Let's get out of the
red zone into the green.

- [Narrator] With the
Dynasty claim on hold,

the successful season is
now resting on finding

grade A jade at Wolverine.

- I know there's lots of jade here,

but there's also lots of non-jade here.

- Out of all the rocks that
we think have potential,

probably two percent of those
rocks turn out to be jade.

- So you don't want to
throw out a good boulder,

but you don't want to
haul out dog rock either.

You want to make sure that
you're getting the right stuff.

This one.

Look at this.

- Look at that, man.

Everything's ite,

malachite, azurite, lizardite,

dees-never-right.

(laughter)

- Then there's lots of leaverite.

Leave her right where you found her.

- [Narrator] Robin needs to
get his rookie jade mining crew

up to speed on what to look for.

- Guy and Josh, they have an
idea what jade looks like.

They know what it's like once it's cut.

But you got to identify
it before it's cut.

- [Narrator] At Wolverine,
the Jade City crew

is placer mining,

dredging up jade boulders from the surface

left there by glaciers
back in the Ice Age.

- Guy just pretty much picks
up a big bucket of dirt,

lifts it up in the air,

and he slowly empties it out right here.

Whenever he sees a rock start to fall,

he tilts back a bit,

drops the rock,

back over,

keep emptying out the dirt.

And that big pile of rocks there,

my dad's gotta wash

and see which ones he likes the look of.

We got boulders in here
we don't even want to cut.

Just sand 'em out.

So we're doing thrifty happies.

We're not too superstitious,

but things are looking good.

(machinery whirs)

We're really excited.

We want to start getting some
of this dirt off the rocks.

Fire up the pump,

and of course right off the bat,

there's holes all over.

(water spurting)

- What in the

(beep)

- The hose transports
the water from the pump

to our camp.

Can't mine without a hose.

(twangy guitar music)

(beep)

- [Narrator] They need to
spray down every boulder

to see if it's green jade.

So Robin uses their only spare.

- The end is right there.

- The tools have to work.

When they don't, then there's an issue.

Out at Wolverine, the distance we're at,

a hose clamp, anything can shut you down.

- [Josh] Want to fire that back up?

- [Robin] You bet.

- You gotta expect there's
going to be breakdowns

and things are gonna go wrong.

So, having the ability to foresee problems

is an extremely important thing for us.

But being prepared only goes so far.

(beep)

The pump just died.

- [Narrator] It seems there's
no end to the bad luck.

- If one thing goes wrong,

you know there's gonna be something else.

It's just extremely damn annoying.

- There's always gonna be superstitions.

I don't buy into it.

I don't care.

But we cannot jade mine
without a water pump.

Hands down, no questions asked.

We need a pump.

(ominous music)

- The pump just died.

To put it very plainly,

you need a pump.

- [Narrator] Mining at
Wolverine has just started,

and bad luck is dogging
the Jade City crew.

- It won't pick up the

(beep)

water.

Starting to be trying.

- Yeah.

- [Narrator] Robin has
ordered a new water pump,

but it will take a day before
it arrives in Jade City.

Without the pump, he has to go low tech.

(morose music)

- And the answer is?

- That one is greenstone.

- Okay, try that again.

- That one's greenstone.

- [Narrator] Greenstone
is like fool's gold.

It looks like jade, but it's not.

- [Guy] There's potential
some places, looks like.

- It sure looks like greenstone to me.

There's too many other
things that look like it,

so you really have to know the jade.

Things go bad.

Some people blame it on the jade.

It's cursed because you're disturbing it.

Yeah.

It's just a bunch of bad luck.

It's part of mining.

(twangy guitar music)

(upbeat music)

- Come on in.

Welcome to Jade City.

- Thank you.

- [Narrator] Back in
town, it's tourist season.

And in come bus loads
of folks from all over

looking for good times.

- So five of you play instruments,

and the other 30 are just hanging around

like groupies.

- I heard about groupies.

You should try it sometime.

(laughter)

- [Claudia] We get the craziest people

coming into Jade City.

(piano music)

We have the craziest customers.

We have the craziest tourists.

- Maybe the jade attracts them.

Like, I don't understand
where they come from.

They're coming from all different planets.

(sniffs)

(honky tonk piano music)

- We bring the craziness out in people.

(cheers and applause)

That's what it is.

- [Narrator] And today is no different.

- Hey, Claudia.

Hi, how're you doing?

I'm Ari Nelson.

I got a bunch of crystals.

I thought I'd come up

and give you the
opportunity to have a look.

- Yeah.

- And see if, you know,

you want to get into more
of the rocks and crystals

and have that as sort of
another aspect of the business.

- Yeah, for sure.

- I'll just unload the bins,

and we'll just go through it box by box.

- I'm always open to looking to see

what people are peddling.

Oh my God.

Seriously?

Look at all the boxes.

Did you leave any crystals in the earth,

or you took 'em all out?

- I took 'em all.

- Oh my goodness.

Wow.

Where's Kendra when I need her?

Kendra!

- [Narrator] Claudia calls
over Kendra, her store manager.

- She mediates how much I spend.

- I don't like that last part, but

(Claudia laughs)

It's good to have two
perspectives in a buy.

- Oh, oh my God, okay.

- So these are beautiful
lemurians from Brazil.

- Okay, I don't ever like these.

- Okay.

These are selenite wands from Mexico.

- Wow, that's wholesale price?

- It is.

- Yikes.

Nope, no balls.

(sneezes)

- Bless you.

- Oh, God.

I'm allergic to this.

- This is more of a working tool.

It's more for directing energy.

(Claudia sneezes)

- We're not directors here.

- Very good.

- Are we almost done?

- This is Madagascar rose quartz.

Chrysocolla and malachite.

- Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

(sneezes)

- Bless you.

- These are selenite towers
we use in ceremonies.

And in grid work, crystal grid work.

- So what do you mean, in ceremonies?

- I'm a shamanic crystal healer.

Often I'll just meet people,

and sometimes they're
going through something,

and I'll feel like I want
to do a ceremony for them.

So, leaving my card.

- Okay.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

So he does human
consciousness and awakening

and then metaphysical vibration
of your spiritual being.

I don't even understand all that.

But yes, it sounds like I need that.

We've had a string of bad luck.

We just had a bad accident
with the drillers,

and I need some good luck.

(helicopter propeller whirs)

- [Narrator] Out at Wolverine,

Alan flies in with George,

a new geologist from China.

- Alan?

- [Narrator] Robin brings him up to speed

on the equipment breakdown.

Alan has his own plans
for changing their luck.

- And where's this big rock?

Is that one right there?

You want that in front of the camp?

- Yeah.

Bring you good luck.

- Bring you,

I'm the good luck, I told you.

You guys got me.

You don't need rocks in front of the camp.

(Alan laughs)

- Okay.

- [Narrator] Alan's answer,

using Chinese feng shui to
balance the land's energies

to assure good fortune.

- You want it standing?

- Yeah.

- You know, you're lots of work, Alan.

(machinery creaks)

- When you go to China, you
will see lots of company,

in front of their gate,
there's a beautiful rock there.

They hope that thing can
bring them good luck.

We call it like feng shui.

Feng shui luck.

This face nice.

- Hang onto your panties.

You're a pain in the ass.

- Yeah, got the beautiful
face face to, you know,

face the road.

- Don't bother with the signals, Alan.

I'm not watching you.

- [Alan] Most of the American people

doesn't believe feng shui.

But Chinese, we did.

- You're very superstitious.

Me, the rocks are here.

We dig 'em up, we dig 'em up.

It's like earlier this year,

bats were in the office,

and that means good luck, too.

Bats.

Do it again.

- Hand job.

Think it's okay.

We hope that rock bring good luck.

So, let's go get the
million dollar boulder.

Found something new?

- [Narrator] Without a water pump,

mining at Wolverine is slow going.

Greenstone.

- [Narrator] And so
far, not too promising.

- This is definitely greenstone.

Forget looking there.

- [Narrator] After surveying the site,

George thinks they'll have
more luck in a new area.

(speaking Chinese)

And Alan wants to get
the excavator digging

even if they're short a
water pump for washing.

- We can do better.

We only got one excavator.

If they sitting there for half day,

we lost half day.

We got keep going.

(machinery whirs)

(machinery rumbles)

- Yeah.

- The track jumped off.

- The track's no longer on the machine.

It's a pain in the ass, man.

One thing after another after another.

This track's supposed
to be inside this thing.

This right here is what runs the track.

(beep)

just goes wrong and wrong
and wrong and wrong.

When it rains, it pours you know.

(machinery buzzes)

- Man.

- [Narrator] A string of breakdowns

has shut down mining at Wolverine.

Robin choppers back to Jade City

to pick up a new water pump

and a winch for the excavator.

- Wolverine isn't going so good.

(muffled speaking)

I need some good luck.

- [Narrator] Desperate times
call for desperate measures.

Claudia decides to call in
a crystal seller and mystic

to chase away the bad fortune.

- If this shaman can shaman-ize
me and change our luck,

yeah, I'm willing to try something new.

(match sizzles)

- [Narrator] Claudia's
roped in her husband

for the cleansing as well.

- She believes in the
powers of the stones.

I don't believe in that stuff.

(heavy breathing)

- I am a clear and open channel.

Great Spirit, open my third eye chakras

so I may see clearly.

Guide me and use me.

(chanting)

Father, son, send your light.

- I am doing this because
my wife wanted me to do it.

When you're married, you have
to do what the wife says.

It's just best.

(laughs)

- Q'ero people of Peru, walk with Claudia.

Share your wisdom with Robin.

Send a letter if you need to,

and follow up with a phone call.

(shaker rattles)

- I just kept my eyes closed

and waited for it to get over with.

(drum beats)

- Is there any part of your body that,

that you felt distinct feelings or?

- It was like, it was sort of like

when people say, oh they
see visions or whatever.

It was like a native head,

and it just morphed easily into a primate.

And then it morphed into a dog.

- That's a good sign.

That's a good sign.

- For me, there wasn't anything.

- No?

- No.

No.

She might've felt something from it,

but for me it was a waste of my day.

(birds screech)

- [Narrator] Back in Wolverine
and waiting on new parts,

Alan has decided to
address the bad fortune

his own way.

- Let's see.

I think it's almost done.

The Chinese thinks that
you have to respect jade.

If you're too dirty,

the jade not going to come to you.

That they believe.

Miners cannot be clean.

- Yeah, I've been out
here five days without a

(beep)

shower.

- We're starting to stink some.

We're going to go test
out that cold water.

(heavy breathing)

(splash)

(laughter)

(splash)

(laughter)

- Woohoo!

- This is kinda nice.

- Oh my god, dude.

- Everybody had baths in the river

on the creek.

You can have a shower to

clean up yourself

until jade show up.

(water running)

- [Narrator] Now blessed,
Claudia and Robin

return to the freshly
scrubbed Wolverine crew.

They bring a new water pump

and a winch to lever the
excavator track back on.

- I'm always hopeful that
luck's gonna turn around.

Holding out for the good
luck with that shaman.

- Perfect.

(winch cranks)

- There we go.

(machinery rumbles)

- [Narrator] Digging
resumes in the new area

Alan and George chose.

(speaking Chinese)

- It's not easy to find,

but I know there's something there.

(machinery rumbles)

- [Guy] Found a boulder.

- He wants to go show us a rock.

- Let's go have a look.

- Feel the pressure.

- Let's go see this grade A boulder.

- Where is it at?

Right here?

- Right in the bucket.

- [Narrator] Guy has picked up

a very promising three ton boulder.

- This could be the big one.

- The signs that are on it show that

we're looking good.

Our luck is getting better,

but it hasn't turned.

(banging)

(rock thudding)

- Okay, good.

This a really good rock.

Big potential.

It's jade for sure.

We don't know how good.

We got to cut or polish it.

- [Narrator] After days of misfortune,

the Jade City crew has dug up

the most promising boulder of the season.

- This rock has the
color we're looking for.

There's no fractures.

This is a gorgeous rock.

- Okay, so we'll go one here, one here.

- [Narrator] This one could be worth

hundreds of thousands of dollars.

- If there make no fracture,

pure green inside,

we are talking about seven hundred,

around $700,000.

- We have to cut it before
you get too excited.

I want to make sure
this is the real thing.

(engine revving)

- [Narrator] There's no big saw on site,

so Alan grabs a generator and a grinder

to carve off a piece

to see if this really could be

a $700,000 rock.

- Instead of having a
saw blade that we wanted,

we had a saw blade that was like this.

But, perseverance pays, man.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

(saw whirs)

(saw buzzes)

- [Narrator] Even a small
cut can help confirm

if it's jade.

- This is the size and the shape,

and dark green, light green.

It's looking good.

- Now, they're sitting on the,

probably around like a $700,000 rock.

Seems like the gods treat us

really, really nice.

Yeah, that's green.

Holy moly.

Yes, exciting times, you know.

That's my baby.

It's the best one so far I ever.

Woohoo!

- We have definitely
found some good rocks.

Our luck has changed.

That's good jade.

- Yeah.

Wow, that's a nice one.

We got jade.

- Yeah, it's really nice.

- Jade!

- [Narrator] Halfway through the season,

Claudia and her team finally
have their first big victory.

A rock Alan believes he can sell for

almost three quarters
of a million dollars.

- Once you find one,

then you know you're in the right area.

Then there's the hope for more.

That's what we're after.

(laughter)

- Most people have left after five years

and never found one ounce of jade.

Just to find proof that there's actually

grade A carving jade on this site

is really exciting.

(laughter)

So I wonder if it was the shaman that

maybe brought us that jade core.

- Now it work.

- See?

I was always on board with that shaman.

I always knew that he
would do something right.

- It has been nothing
to do with the shaman,

guaranteed.

- [Claudia] Thank you, shaman.

(laughter)

- [Narrator] Next time, on Jade Fever.

- This one here looks good.

Another one right there.

There's jade boulders everywhere.

Every, like, third or
fourth rock looks promising.

Obviously it's worthwhile

because look at all
the jade we're finding.

We're gonna make a fortune.

This is not jade.

My family's done this for 40 years

so we know what we're doing.

Holy

(beep)

They just came in, swooped down,

and landed in our camp.

Hello.

I don't trust these guys,

not for one second.

(dramatic music)