Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 9 - Company's Coming - full transcript

(rising music)

(hammers hitting)

(country music)

- [Claudia] I'm Claudia Bunce.

I love jade!

- Woo-hoo!
- Tubes of jade!

- Up here near the Yukon in Jade City,

who got the world's richest
deposits of nephrite jade

and the Chinese want it.

(laughing)

- This is gonna be the
million dollar rock.



- [Claudia] Now we just have to find it.

Woo-hoo, go!
(clapping)

I will dig 'til my hands bleed.

(country music)

Jade makes people do crazy things.

(rock crumbling)

(laughing)

- Close enough?
- Is that up against the bay?

- [Narrator] The remote Wolverine claim

is getting a special delivery today.

- Here it is.

- [Narrator] A rock saw.

(country music)

- It's exciting.



Things are happening.

- Motor it this end Roger.

Nope, keep going, other way.

- [Josh] My dad said today
you need to get that saw going

and get jade cutting.
- There you go!

- That was priority.

- [Narrator] After the
first load of boulders

mineded Wolverine looked promising.

The new rocks proved to be low grade jade.

- This is not jade.

- [Narrator] Alan and Robin resolve

that nothing would leave the site

until it was cut open
and checked for quality.

- Gotta go up,

down just a touch,

right there.

Go back.

Okay cool.

- You can not differentiate between jade

and greenstone by the rind.

You have to get inside it,
you have to cut it open.

(engine starting, saw running)

And water is just important as the saw.

You can not cut jade without water.

- [Narrator] Without water,
the diamond tip blade

will overheat and seize up.

- Done for the cut.

We'll see what inside.

(hammering)

(bleep)

Not jade.

It's the green rock.

- Yeah.

- It's no good.

- [Robin] Green and yellow.

It's kind of discouraging.

- Mmhmm.

- [Josh] Next.

- [Narrator] Alan remains upbeat

despite a lack of jade so far this season.

- Try next.

(laughing)

Go up a little bit.

- [Claudia] Alan loves Wolverine.

I don't think he's ever
breathe fresher air than that.

From Beijing, 40 million people,

worst air quality ever
in the whole wide world,

to Wolverine.

- [Allan] Wolverine for
me you feel like peaceful.

And the only thing you
think, like work and fun,

of jade and the beer.

That's it.

(machine running)

Woo-hoo
(laughing)

- Alan loves to run the machines.

Can't do it.

(machine running)

- [Robin] Hey, hey!

What the (bleep)?

Lift it up!

You got no water!

(bleep) hang on.

(bleep) (bleep)

I always gotta keep an eye on Alan.

(laughing)

- [Narrator] The tank that
supplies water for the saw

needs to be refilled.

(machine stuttering)

- [Robin] Probably forgot
to turn his switch on.

I explained it to him 10 times.

It just never ends.

Better go over there before
they kill the starter.

What's going on, Alan?

You don't need to choke it when it's warm.

When you turn the starter,
no more than 20 seconds.

- [Alan] I'm not like a mechanic guy.

I'm not really good in the machine.

But I'm, you know, getting better.

- [Robin] Alan, look at the
top of the tank right there.

That's not gonna take water.

It's pinched right off there.

Look at your hose, how tight it is.

If you don't keep an eye on them

it just creates more work than it's worth.

There ya go.

Look at that.

(saw sawing rock)

- [Narrator] With the
saw back in business,

Robin and Alan fly back to Jade City

leaving the Wolverine
crew to work on their own.

(helicopter blades whirring)

- Well make a list here when
I talk to Robin tonight.

- Okay.

- Tell you what I'm
gonna go move some rocks.

(horn beeps)

- [Narrator] It's a
Jade City company truck

with the new Chinese investors.

This is the second time

they've shown up unannounced at Wolverine.

- Gonna come and land.

- [Josh] Holy (bleep).

- Hello.

- [Narrator] The crew is
astonished to see that this truck

made it over the brutal
120 kilometer road.

- We set out at 12 o' clock after lunch.

- Today?

- Yeah.

- Really?
- Yes.

- Dude, this is supposed
to be like a 16 hour drive.

- 16?

- 12 hours, 16 in a truck like this.

- I heard just a five hour drive.

But it take about eight hours.

- Robin and I drove it last year.

There's no way.

- [Robin] If you care about your vehicle--

- [Josh] That road is not
suited for a truck like that.

It's frustrating when people
just disregard advice.

- No spare, no jack, but
I do see an oil leak.

I know I wouldn't send my truck in here.

- [Josh] Are you guys
staying out here tonight?

- Yeah.

- [Josh] Robin just left five minutes ago.

- Yeah we saw the helicopter.

- [Josh] Now we have nowhere
to put all of this (bleep).

Communicate communicate communicate.

- We tried to...

- [Josh] It would've been really easy

for them to communicate.

Like just any type of
communication, there's nothing.

You guys expected beds made ready to go?

Or what did you expect
when you got here like?

- Ummmm.

- They got no bedding,
they got no nothing.

They just showed up.

(scoffs)

- [Narrator] With no way

to put the investors up for the night,

there's only one thing to try.

- [Robin] Get a helicopter back here ASAP.

- [Josh] That was probably the last one.

- You guys might spend the night.

- There might be no chopper.

And they only have a certain
amount of hours every day

that they can fly.

But we'll see, we'll find out.

- Hey, when's the last
flight for the helicopter?

- [Narrator] Helicopters
that service the mining sites

around Wolverine have
stopped flying for the night.

- Situation normal.

All (bleep) up.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] But that
doesn't stop the investors.

(speaking in foreign language)

- The mindset where like
you can pull your phone out

and if you have the money

you can make anything happen, right?

(speaking in foreign language)

Took my dad and Guy 18 hours
to drive out here in his truck.

You guys just want to prove a point,

smash the gas pedal down and get out here.

Good for you.

You wrecked the (bleep).

You impressed us all.

Good for (bleep) you.

Okay.

(laughing)

- [Narrator] The new Chinese investors

are flying back in style

after driving a light
company truck up to Wolverine

on the killer 120 kilometer road.

- I guess they spun out
and got stuck a few times

but they made it.

They got lucky.

But instead of spending the night

they had to get a chopper
to come pick them up.

Must be nice.

Can't stay over, just call a chopper.

- I'm expecting they
were going pretty quick

over that bumpy (bleep) and
four wheel drive the whole way.

For seven and half hours,

that front dif probably is smoking hot

when they got in.

- You can see almost the seal

coming out underneath the--

- They probably bottomed out a few times.

- They're lucky.

They're just straight
lucky they made it in.

And they hammered and
came in so (bleep) fast.

People said they couldn't

because it's too hard on their (bleep)

so they were trying to prove a point.

- Somebody has to drive it back out.

- [Narrator] News of the incident

at Wolverine has made
it back to Jade City.

- I am extremely angry

with the position that
they're putting us in

with all of this.

Because everybody is way beyond upset.

Me, Robin, the camp.

- When we say you can't
take a vehicle in there

it's not impossible.

But why would you take the risk

of destroying something--
- That we need.

We don't understand that.

We have this one vehicle.

They're just taking it
in and said, tow it out.

What the hell does tow it out mean?

Do they think that everyone
is going to help them?

- When you're a millionaire,
buy another one.

- [Narrator] Alan knows
this incident could damage

more than just the truck.

- Last time they phoned me from the claim,

they say when they were in the camp

Josh, for some reason,
was rude and mad to them.

That's the issue.

- [Narrator] At stake,

the future of their whole mining season.

- Alan's role with
dealing with the investors

is huge because none
of us can talk to them

the way that Alan can talk to them.

So it's a lot on Alan's shoulders.

It's frustrated everybody now,

so I can see Joshua being ignorant.

- If they're not gonna talk to us

about what they're doing,

'cause I know when I'm out there

and they're gonna tell me,
"Well I need you to do this,"

I'm gonna tell them to go (bleep) off.

I can't deal with that (bleep).

There's no way.

- There's gonna be a fist fight.

There's gonna be major problems.

With no trust and no
communication, we're (bleep).

- Communication and their trust.

We have to talk together
about those things.

Because if these things
keep going again and again,

this project is going to have
a, you know, huge trouble.

(country music)

(engine stuttering)

- Now what'd you do?

- [Narrator] With tempers
on the boil on all sides,

Alan is back at Wolverine
determined to find some jade

and make everyone happy.

- Dig mining is like a
big gamble, you know,

you never know what inside.

It's exciting.

That's for sure.

I love it.

(bleep)

- Black, white and the green.

No good jade.

- [Alan] So we're getting
closer and closer.

- [Narrator] Cutting the boulders on site

lets them identify which ones are jade.

And just watching the saw
can give them an early hint.

- [Man] Well, there's
no question, it's jade.

- [Robin] When you have white water

that comes off when you're cutting

it's a really good
indication that it's jade.

- Yeah.

- [Narrator] If black
water comes off the saw,

it's an indicator the
the rock has iron in it,

a common element in greenstone.

But if the water is
white, there is no iron

and a better chance the boulder is jade.

- Water beautiful.

- As long as it's (bleep) sellable.

- It's always good 'til it's broke open.

Then, ah, well, it's not so good.

I don't wanna say a damn
thing 'til it's the right cut.

- I think the rock moved.

- That rocks in an angle now, right?

- The rock cannot move
while it's being cut.

The rock moves and now
you're cutting crooked

and the saw binds.

- [Narrator] The saw water

has made the ground muddy and unstable.

- The side too soft,
they move to this side.

Too muddy.

No good.

- So Guy and Alan need
to reposition the rock.

- [Guy] I can't see, line me up.

Alan, put your hand where I can see it.

- The fork go up.

No, too much.

Only a little bit.

Easy, you move from this side.

Guy.

(bleep)

- It's gonna move again, Alan.

We gotta fix this (bleep).

Keep (bleep) around every
(bleep) single time rock.

- [Alan] Blade light green

- [Guy] Yeah, whoopie.

I'll do a back flip when I'm not so tired.

(upbeat music)

- [Claudia] Here it comes!

Two and a half hours late

but he's still here.

- [Narrator] Two hours south of Jade City,

Claudia and Robin are
waiting for the arrival

of Claudia's dad, Steve.

The jade business man founded
Jade City 40 years ago

and has returned at his daughter's request

to help deal with new hands-on investors.

- My dad's just gonna tell
us what we're doing wrong.

Maybe tell us what we're doing right.

(laughing)

I don't know.

Sometimes you gotta fight
for what you believe in

and that's what we're doing.

You're late!

(giggles)

- I accidentally went to Sangria.

- [Claudia] My dad's the teacher.

He's been out of it
for a little while now,

but my dad's the jade expert.

- Everything we know
we learned from Steve.

- [Claudia] Yeah.

- [Narrator] Claudia wastes no time

getting Steve up to speed
on the new investors'

surprise visits.

- He said, "We trusted you
from the beginning and--"

- Who cares about trust?

Let's just do the business.

Do the mining.
- No, no, no.

No, no, no, no.

- You're not going to sleep with them.

You're mining.
- No, no.

For sure I'm not.
- Get it done.

- No, the problem is that we're
telling them over 10 times.

They're not trusting what we're saying

and so they're going back
and checking everything

10 times.
- Who cares if they trust you

or not, who cares?
- It's a waste of my time.

- Today we're gonna move this saw.

That means pulling this thing a part

and putting it back together again.

- [Narrator] Back at
Wolverine, it's moving day.

The ground beneath the
saw has become a swamp.

- All the vibration in
the water from the blade

and the rocks as they're getting cut

just turned this into a big soup bowl.

We're gonna move it up to
a really hard packed spot.

Good morning, Alan.

- [Guy] Yeah, shut the valve off.

Stretch one hose.
- Gotcha.

(upbeat country music)

- Nice.

Allan!

Okay, great.

Right on.

You're getting better.

As long as there some improvement there,

we can live with it.

We're ready to cut jade.

- [Narrator] But as the saw
cuts through the boulder,

the rock goes from being
promising to disappointing.

(bleep)

- [Alan] Jade for sure
but it's low quality.

Try another one.

(machine rumbles)

(water running)

- Oh yeah, in this little area here,

you can see a green reflection
out of the sun there.

- [Guy] Alan, bring your flashlight.

It's hard to say but its
got some jade in there.

Yup.

- The old skinny hope.

That's the exciting thing for jade mining.

This one's no good

and then you try another one, maybe good.

And then try another one, try another one.

Always give me hope.

- [Guy] The moment of truth.

- [Alan] I think open up.

It's good one.

- Yeah, that's a good one.

(speaking in foreign language)

- I think he saying good jade

in mandarin.
- (bleep) Good.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Really?

Yeah, yeah.

- [Narrator] Back in Jade City,

Alan calls with the
news of a good boulder,

but Claudia's preoccupied

with the growing rift
with her new investors.

- So I just can't have them here, Alan.

I just can't have that here.

- [Narrator] The investors are still upset

over Josh's outburst.

- You wrecked the shit (bleep).

You have impressed us all.

Good for (bleep) you.

- He keeps asking if Joshua's been fired.

I had to say listen, man,
that's nothing to do with you.

That's our employees.

My partners, I've always
been able to read them,

know them, we talk
together, we communicate.

But this group.

I'm so angry.

The whole idea was to partner up

and work together and
that's not what's happening.

They're just doing their own thing.

- [Narrator] The next day, Steve and Alan

have brought the two sides together

for a sit down at a motel
in nearby Dee's Lake.

- He's gonna create too
much problem for everybody.

You can't afford trouble right now.

Somebody's gonna get punched
out pretty soon then.

I don't want that.

- I don't want to go to jail again.

(laughing)

- You gotta be smarter than that,

so let's just finish the business.

- My dad always gives me comforting words.

He has my back.

- Don't worry, we'll beat them.

Guaranteed.

- [Narrator] It's time for everyone

to sit down calmly and talk.

- [Claudia] Don't say anything
that you're gonna regret.

And this is not a really
good situation right now.

- If I walk out of there,
me and them all quit.

- I know.

- All I gotta do is quit
and they're done, yup.

- I don't know what will happen.

If we have to shut down and walk away,

then that just means very
well we may not have a choice

in about five minutes here.

Not a good day in Jade City.

Halle-fricking-lujah, let's move on.

- [Narrator] At a motel near Jade City,

Claudia, Robin and Alan have just sat down

to iron things out with
their new investors.

- So at the meeting today,

we asked them not just to hover around us

and see what we're doing.

They've realized that they can trust us.

- [Narrator] But is there one issue

the investors want resolved

before they leave Jade City.

- The incident with Joshua
freaking out at them.

He stepped over the boundaries.

Sure, he is a son of one of the owners,

but he's still a worker.

He should not have said anything.

- They wanted him fired immediately.

- [Alan] Yesterday,
everybody can lost job.

- Mhmm.
- You know,

that's bad for everybody.

I don't want this to happen

and I just want you to go, you know,

say sorry and shake
their hand and that's it.

Okay?

All right?

- You're asking me to lie?

I have like a certain ethical code

and it involves telling the truth.

And like not apologizing
when I don't mean it.

- You know, you got to grow up.

You know, sometimes in--
- They have to grow up, too.

- [Claudia] Joshy, Joshua, stop talking.

When you got millions
of dollars on the line

and you got your job on the line,

yeah, bite your tongue and apologize.

Without this deal,

it's the end of the whole
mining season for us.

- [Guy] Nobody's forcing
you to lie but you--

- [Robin] Joshua that's
what you do and you move on.

- I'm being told that I have to apologize

or I don't have a job.

Sweet.

Apologize for telling
these guys the truth.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Okay, it's over, okay?

No more argue, okay?

- [Joshua] I really
care about this company

and my parents' success.

That means a lot to me.

So you gotta pick your battles, man.

(light acoustic music)

- The Chinese have decided

to do a Buddhist ceremony.

Hopefully the ceremony
can set everything to zero

and we can start fresh.

- Like those things you burn, so

the gods can receive it,

then they're going to
make everything smooth.

That we hope.

- [Alan] So one for each person

than later on we put it inside.

I think we can start.

Okay.

We're coming to appreciate the god of land

and the god of mountain

and thanks god to bring us everything.

Thank you.

You don't have to.

- No.

If I do that, I will be crippled.

(laughing)

So everybody can come in to
burn, we send to the god.

- How uncomfortable was that for you?

- [Robin] It was fine.

- If we make millions this season,

I'll be having a double
sized ceremony next year.

- Every day.
- Every day.

- [Narrator] Next time on Jade Fever.

(chattering over radio)

(laughing)

- Too much rock, not enough jade.

- If we don't hit (bleep),
today mine site's shut down.

- 25 years of drilling, this
is the toughest I ever drilled.

- What do you think that
choppers doing, Guy?

- [Guy] Not sure who this is.

- [Man] Mine inspector.

- We cannot cross that
line, 'cause if we cross it

instantly we're going to court.

(fast-paced music)