Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 2, Episode 11 - The Jade Whisperer - full transcript

(pensive music)

(clanging)

- Oh!

Oh my god.

Up here near the Yukon in Jade City,

we've got the world's richest deposits

of nephrite jade and the Chinese want it.

(laughing)

- This is gonna be the
million dollar rock.

- Now we just have to find it.

(screams)



I will dig 'til my hands bleed.

Woo hoo, go

(adventurous music)

jade makes people do crazy things.

(maniacal laughter)

(contemplative music)

- {Justin] See if we get lucky.

- [Narrator] Just outside
the Wolverine Camp

another member of the Bunce's family has

joined the hunt for jade.

- I brought in my son Justin.

He is explorer our family

and especially when it comes to jade.

Just like a little jade guru.



- [Narrator] Justin worked for
years as an underground miner

and when his last contract ended early

he jumped at the chance
to help out his family.

- He's done really well on his own but

it's time for Justin to come
back into the company business.

- My motivation is just keeping the family

in the jade mining industry.

My grandfather did it for 20 years

and now I'm getting into it.

- [Narrator] Today he's prospecting
in the hills above camp.

- We found a few good
boulders in this area.

So now I'm gonna go check it out a little

more thoroughly and see if we
can pull anything else out.

What we got here.

Your looking for a big hump.

Anything that looks
like it might be a rock.

Looking for the way the skin
goes and the grain in it,

and how it's formed.

This one is no, no.

It's like looking for
a needle in a haystack.

- In finding jade,

it's nothing that can be taught to you.

Either you have it or you don't.

Justin just inherited it.

- This one here, it very well could be.

(hammer pounding)

(dramatic music)

Yeah that's definitely jade.

Pretty surreal just
walking through the bush

and then coming across a piece of jade.

Not somethin' that everyone
gets to do that's for sure.

- [Narrator] Justin records
the GPS location of the rock.

- Make a mark of it and
come back to it later.

(engine rumbling)

- Here we go back on the trail.

I now get paid to mud bog.

- [Narrator] 70 km away
Justin's baby brother Josh

is driving the rock
truck back to Jade City.

- I love hitting the trail man.

I love bein' on the road

and I love being where
I'm the biggest asset.

But uh, it's an extremely
fine line to ride

between maintaining the equipment

and making good time.

- [Narrator] Josh is a
few hours down the road

when he spots an old friend.

- Oh my poor girl, I'm so sorry.

- [Narrator] One month
ago Josh was stranded,

when his truck, The Crummy, broke down

on the road into the mine.

- A really (beep) not good noise.

Can't keep it running like that.

- [Narrator] He couldn't
fix it so Josh had no choice

but to abandon the new transport vehicle.

- [Josh] Oh what the (beep).

- [Narrator] And it's been
sitting here ever since.

- I got to hang out with
her for a few minutes

while I'm here I miss her too much.

Gotta make sure she's
doing okay without me.

That sucks man.

What a wonderful piece of
equipment to have for this trail

and now it's just dead in the waters.

Look at that fuel tank still right full.

Nobody's touched a thing

Doors aren't (beep) with.

Nobody's been in my garbage can.

A really nice sign

that we've got some good
neighbors on this trail.

Nobody has looked at this
truck since we left it

so I'll get back on the trail and uh

keep makin' some miles here today.

- [Narrator] Josh hopes
this is the last time

he has to leave The Crummy behind

because he knows just
the guy to rescue it.

- [Larry] Okay let's hook her up.

- [Narrator] Scrappy Larry

- Larry's the only one who's crazy enough

to go out and do this kind of dumb (beep).

- [Narrator] Two weeks ago
Larry helped Josh recover

some heavy equipment from a mud Bog.

- Yes, yes!

- [Larry] That's what
I like about teenagers,

they keep me employed.

(laughs)

- [Narrator] Tomorrow
Scrappy is taking a break

from his hot tub project.

- [Larry] Hillbilly hot tub (laughs).

- [Narrator] To help Josh tow
The Crummy back to Jade City.

- [josh] I want this done
and want this truck out

this my responsibility, my (beep) up,

let's get it out let's take care of it

let's get this done.

(contemplative music)

- We gonna go dig up a jade boulder.

These trees look all the same.

- [Narrator] Near the Wolverine mine site

Justin is guiding Guy in the excavator

towards the giant boulder
he discovered earlier.

- We got 500 feet that way.

- Okay you break trail, I follow.

(engine rumbling)

(tracks rattling)

- [Justin] Back there.

- [Narrator] While Guy
grinds over the terrain

something else catches Justin's eye.

- Might be jade.

- [Narrator] It's smaller
than the one they're after

but Justin likes the look of it.

- Took the moss off and cleaned it off

and sure enough it was a piece of jade.

The other ones just right there.

- Okay

Justin is a (beep) damn jade magnet.

I don't know what the guy's got in him but

wherever he walks there is jade.

- [Justin] Gonna be able to lift it?

- [Guy] Let's check it out first.

- Characteristics are we're looking for is

the shape of the rock, the way it breaks,

the different colors of the hide.

We try to take as many samples as we can

on different sides of the rock.

(scraping)

- [Guy] Oh yeah come
here, see that's jade.

It's got that color, the
same as the other one.

- Yep

- Okay, let's just hope
she has the goods inside.

- [Narrator] A 10 ton Boulder
like this could be worth

a couple million dollars

but first they need to
get it back to camp.

- Don't matter what you got for equipment

it's never big enough.

- Well we can bury it, we can put it back.

(laughs)

- I don't think so.

First let's see if
she'll go in the bucket.

(laughs)

Okay, stand back 50 feet.

Let's see what the old girl's got.

You got to look at the rock,

find a certain flat edge,

and then to stand it up from balance it

and you can pick it up.

(scraping)

- [Justin] Bye, bye.

- That didn't work

I got to grab it again eh.

Eh line me up.

I can't see.

- Drop your teeth deeper down.

- If it's too high I'm
gonna to push it away.

- [Justin] But if you can
rotate your bucket back

then you can open it up again.

Perfect.

- Bam, we are good to go.

So line me up there I'll back up.

- [Narrator] It's a big heavy rock to haul

with the excavator but Guy makes it work.

- [Guy] Excavators not meant
to carry rocks like that

so you got to keep it real close

so your weights not up front.

- That's big.

- That's big, it's nice

- This one it was obvious it was jade

on the outside hide.

And when there was jade
right out in the hide

it's time to think okay this is the one.

It brings everybody's morale right up.

- You take a good look at this bad boy.

Hoochie mama.

If the cracks in the
hydraulics could talk.

- That's the moment that
makes your whole summer.

You just know it's a good rock.

(contemplative music)

- Today's the day, let's go.

- [Narrator] At the Wolverine Mine site

it's time to cut open Justin's big rock.

- We have to cut it.

These ones here you got to cut 'em

and prove them so that's the plan.

- [Narrator] Just getting
the nearly 10 ton boulder

up the hill to the wire saw

will take some creative maneuvers.

- Well that rock's to
heavy for the machine so

to make sure that we don't break anything

Devin's pushin' the machine up the hill.

(upbeat rock music)

(engine rumbling)

(saw whirring)

- Looks like jade we'll find out soon.

- It's looking all right.

So far so good.

- [Robin] Is that gonna be
skookum enough you think.

- I tried it out I hauled
a Honda Civic yesterday.

(laughs)

- [Narrator] Robin has joined
his son Josh and Scrappy Larry

at the landing to help them recover

the broken down Crummy truck.

- Hopefully Larry's Truck can Tow it out.

He's going to try pulling
it out tow truck style

We'll see how it goes.

- It should go good.

- Larry's done quite a bit of welding

and put quite a bit of effort into

gettin' this tow rig set up.

- [Narrator] Larry built
a homemade tow truck

out of an old army
heavy transport vehicle.

- The piece that he added on
the back is not military issue

it's sort of not any kind of issue.

I can't wait.

(laughs)

We'll see if it makes it.

- Good to go, foods
loaded, timber's loaded,

chains loaded, let's hit the trail

- Okay.

I think I got to run home
I forgot clean underwear.

(laughs)

- Yeah army trucks built to last but

I don't know if anything's built to last

this severe trail.

Anybody that's ever hauled on this road

knows that it's not to be (beep) with.

- I'm thinking not to pretty good.

- No it cut pretty damn fast.

- [Narrator] Back at
Wolverine the wire saw

sliced through Justin's massive boulder

in just a little over an hour.

- There you go see if you
can Hercules it a little bit.

- Beep.

Yeah that's not jade.

- [Man] Fool's jade

It's an imposter.

- Major disappointment
how the rock turned out.

- Very disappointing

These rocks are just too hard to read.

Just too tough.

- I guess we go get that other one.

- Well we got another
one we found yesterday.

But, I'm at the point here where I'm not

gonna to say to much
until it's cut anymore.

We're gonna go get the bad
boy and bring her back.

(truck beeping)

- That's got to be fairly close.

'Kay!

- [Narrator] On the road to Wolverine,

Larry, Robin, and Josh
are preparing to tow

the broken-down Crummy.

- Now the work starts.

- This is one of the
ones that go to the axle.

- [Narrator] Larry has come up with a plan

to protect his tow rigging
from damaging The Crummy.

He wants to use pieces
of scrap wood as bumpers

between the trucks.

- Well this got to go against

here cause it's gonna
take out your fenders.

Okay I can lift her up now
and we'll see what we got.

- He has a four by four for a softener.

- I have never seen anything
like this before, ever.

- Okay.

(creaking)

More
- Yeah.

(crashing)
- [Robin] Whoa!

Nope no good.

- No good?

- No good.

When you're lifting, this
chain is not on a bumper,

It's on a hunk of wood.

- [Larry] Well I don't
want it on a bumper.

- [Robin] No you see this.

- [Larry] Yeah.

- [Josh] First bump--

- [Robin] First bump
this end is busted off.

- [Josh] He thinks it's
going to disintegrate

and then it's just gonna be--
- That's a good thing.

That's better than steel on steel.

It's gonna wear the
(beep) out of something.

- [Narrator] Larry's
gambling that the scrap wood

will take all the wear and tear.

- Let's just see what
happens when we lift it now.

- [Narrator] But if the
wood snaps The Crummy

could crash into the tow
truck doing even more damage.

- [Robin] Okay.

- Yeah.

Like there's nothing holding it together

besides wood scraps.

This four by fours is (beep).

- I'll probably have to
fine-tune some of this stuff.

Fine tune it a lot.

- [Josh] Nothing we can do but see.

(pensive music)

- [Larry] I should be able
to block off some more.

- [Josh] Do I need to turn
the power on or anything?

- [Larry] Nope just pull that red button.

- [Larry] Applies the brakes.

Oh boy right in my face too.

Did he apply it?

- [Robin] They're applied.

- Okay try to give this a whirl.

- I am nervous.

- I got them both crossed.

- Okay.

- [Josh] Hopefully it's
safe we'll see what happens.

(dramatic music)

- The show must go on.

- [Narrator] At Wolverine a
giant boulder Justin found

turned out to be a dud.

- Let's flipper over.

- Yeah, see if she's any good.

- [Narrator] Now,
Justin's hoping a second,

smaller boulder he found
contains high-quality jade.

- Well it's bigger than we thought.

Go ahead, set her down and grab her again.

- They're always bigger
underneath for some reason.

(machinery rattling)

(rock crashing)

- [Justin] Ow!

- Exactly what I didn't want to happen.

- [Justin] It didn't break the rock.

- Go check it out.

- One, two, three
fractures, four right here.

- Hopefully they're just surface.

I hope so too.

- But underneath it looks really good

so there should be somethin'
good in there, hopefully.

I just don't think it's
gonna be super great.

- Find out soon enough.

- [Guy] Well, let's take her
to camp and give her a scrub.

(engine rumbling)

We'll see.

- How's it lookin' back there?

- [Robin] It looks like a blue truck

being towed by another
funny lookin' truck.

- Okay.

- [Narrator] On the road back to Jade City

Larry's makeshift tow truck

with its scrap wood shock absorbers

has survived 50 kilometers
of mud and bumps.

- I guess it's too tag on
the bill, wash my truck too?

- Tell you what, you get that four by four

outta here in one piece I
will wash your truck for you.

(laughing)

- Larry's homemade towing service there,

when I fist looked at
it, I'm thinkin' hmm,

well, we'll see.

But it's workin' out pretty good.

Now we'll get to the mud
and really see how it works.

- [Narrator] Getting down a steep bank

and across a flooded trail

is going to put Larry's
hillbilly tow-bar to the test.

- I don't know what condition
the hill's gonna be in.

We're about to find out.

(imitates yelling)

- [Josh] Hey Larry, take a break buddy.

- No I'm gonna stop here, I
got a nice dry stretch here.

(air-brakes hissing)

- You could end up with a
lotta damage on this truck

if any one of those board break.

- Don't be nervous.

Blue truck's got wide
tires, gonna push me off.

- That's pretty steep.

- [Larry] Not gonna stop me.

- No it might stop the blue truck though.

- Nope, no.

Do you doubt me?

- [Man] No, just the truck.

- I'm 100% convinced there's no way

that this wood is not gonna disintegrate.

This is gonna be a problem,
there's no question about it.

- [Narrator] If Scrappy's
wooden tow bar breaks,

The Crummy could crash
into the back of his truck

or lose control and smash into the bank.

- No no, I won't do something stupid.

I don't think.
- I'm just (beeping),

you already did.

You took the job with us.

(all laughing)

- Yeah, yeah.

- Larry's really overconfident

and I don't have a problem with that,

I just know how overconfidence

goes hand in hand with
failure on this trail.

- We'll make her.

That truck may be in two
pieces, but we'll make her.

(laughing)

- See how steep it is up top there?

- Yeah.

- I'm not gonna let
that blue truck past me.

Holy man, where am I supposed to go here?

(tense music)

I don't know what we're getting into.

Well, you wanna slide into the bank?

(laughing)

Never touched a mirror, buddy.

I don't know about this.

I pride myself on not
having damage to loads

and I don't want damage to the load.

- [Narrator] Larry hits the
gas to keep from getting stuck

on the flooded trail.

- Okay.

Put your seatbelt on,
we're gonna give her.

- Oh my god!

- [Larry] Hey, did you have any doubt?

- [Josh] You're the (beeping) man.

Not too bad, Larry.

Good job, buddy.

(Larry laughs)

- Customer very happy,
customer maybe gonna pay me.

(laughing)

- [Narrator] With 20 kilometers to go

and the worst behind them,

Josh is in danger of losing his bet.

- [Josh] It's all good.

I mean I wanted to lose that bet.

(tense music)

- I'll try and lift it,

but I think we'll have
to go more in the middle.

- [Narrator] Back at the mine,

Guy is putting Justin's second
rock under the rock saw.

- [Guy] That's not bad.

- [Justin] Just don't sneeze.

- Hopefully a jade boulder, not a rock.

The last rock we just cut
was overly disappointing.

Hopefully it'll be the goods.

(saw whirring)

(tense music)

- Grab that bar, man,
you get your hands dirty,

I'll be a boss.

Split her up, baby.

- [Narrator] After six hours of cutting

it's time to crack open
Justin's latest find.

- Wow.

- Oh!

Oh yeah.

Yeah, that dude is good.

Don't wreck my shorts.

- That's what we wanted.

- [Guy] Not bad.

- [Narrator] Justin has
lived up to his reputation

as a jade whisperer.

- Nice.

That'll make Robin and Claudia happy.

It was the first time I spent
that much time with Justin.

He blew me away.

I was quite impressed.

This one, sellable.

- [Narrator] Its value is
for a future buyer to decide,

but a rock like this

could be worth several
hundred thousand dollars.

- That's good jade, right here.

- Today we made money.

(upbeat music)

- [Larry] We're on the
home stretch now, huh?

- [Narrator] The landing is within sight

and The Crummy is finally coming home.

- I bet Larry because I was sure

that the rigging that he had on there

was not gonna make it to the highway.

And lo and behold I lost the bet.

- I gotta do some more
bets with Josh. (laughs)

- [Josh] Feels like my
(beeps) up's been remedied.

I'm no longer drivin' past
the International every trip

with a tear in my eye.

- Running home to get all fixed up

so I can go back in there
and break down again.

(laughs)

- [Narrator] The Crummy
is safe in Jade City.

But Josh has one more
thing to take care of.

- She's good.

I made my bet hoping that he would win.

You know?

That was a bet that I made against myself.

- Good thing I won that bet with ya, huh?

- It's a good thing you won
that bet with me, buddy.

- [Larry] Yeah, yep.

- That (beeping) grin
that Larry was wearin'

while I was getting soaking
wet was very deserved.

- Just the way I like to wash a truck.

(laughing)

- [Narrator] Next time on Jade Fever.

- It's the most inconsistent thing

you could ever (beeping) mine for.

- 100% pure grade A garbage.

- Completely unsellable.

- Watch out!

- Ya find any yet?
- No.

- Bear (beeping)

Fresh.

He's out there somewhere.

Justin!

- Let's get this sucker off.

Hey, hey!

- Uh oh.

- ] I don't know.

- [Justin] Oh, there's a hole.

Not a very good sign.

- [Guy] Somebody's been here before.