Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 2, Episode 14 - The Big One - full transcript

(soaring instrumental music)

(hammers clanging)

(woman exclaims)

- Oh, my God!

[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, we just have to find it.

(men hollering)



[Claudia] I will dig 'til my hands bleed.

Woohoo, go!

(upbeat music)

Jade makes people do crazy things.

(laughter)

(wind blowing)

- August 31st, it's snowing!

Yeah, a little early this year.

You know, when the snow hits treeline,

it's almost time to start packing.

Yeah, it's three weeks early this year.

So, might have and early winter.

- [Narrator] At the jade mine
Wolverine, the mining season

is limited to about a
hundred days per year,



when the ground isn't frozen.

- We do live in the north.

- [Narrator] The early snow fall means

they're running out of time.

(helicopter whirring)

- In Wolverine, when it starts to snow,

it changes everything.

You can't see the ground.

Definitely can't see any jade.

(helicopter whirring)

- [Narrator] After a
tough week in Jade City,

Claudia, Alan, Robin, and
R2 are back at Wolverine.

- Oh, look it, you can see your breath!

Look Alan, look at your breath!

(laughter)

(helicopter whirring)

- Snow's coming too earlier.

And so, I hope we can
have months or something,

or at least three weeks.

I just feel like, you know,
the season's too short

it's too early -- the snow coming.

- [Narrator] Despite a few
successes at Wolverine,

- No.

- [Narrator] This summer
hasn't been as profitable

as everyone hoped.

- That fracture's definitely not good.

- Oh, there's a fracture here.

- Damn, damn, double damn.

- Definitely not good.

- Yeah, the little bit
that we've made in mining

so far this year hasn't
even covered the costs

of what we've just lost.

- [Narrator] Last week, in Jade City...

- My well water smells like (beep)

- [Narrator] The septic system
contaminated the well water.

- Yep.

- Thinking I should close
the restaurant down,

but how the (beep) do
I cook for 50 people?

Three meals a day.

- [Narrator] Forcing Claudia to forfeit

a half million dollar
deal to house and feed

a local work crew.

To offset the loss, they
need to find a lot more jade,

before the snow hits.

- Unless they find that
million dollar boulder,

it's impossible to dig
myself out of the hole

that we've made for this year.

- [Narrator] And to make matters worse,

they're running out of diesel at camp.

- Yeah, we're pretty much out.

The excavator's full right
now, so we're good for

a full day of mining, day and a half,

maybe two depending on
how hard we work it,

but if the fuel don't
show up within two days

there, we'll be on a...

...We'll be on a shutdown here.

That excavator don't run
on friendship too well.

Got about a hundred liters left.

(country music)

- [Narrator] Back at the trail
head, 120 kilometers away...

- $25,000 worth of fuel here.

- [Narrator] The rock truck
is loaded up with diesel,

and it's up to Josh to
get it to Wolverine.

- Okay, I'm gonna check my four points,

I got a plastic bag that...bung.

We're dependent on this
load, because it's our fuel.

So right now, unless
I get the fueling cap,

There's no jade being mined.

That hook's good...That hook's good...

That's good...and that one's good.

Chains are loaded, I'm
ready to back this truck out

and hit the trail.

(upbeat music)

(engine turns over)

(truck motor runs)

- So you guys hitting the road?

Go find your mummy jade.

- Let's go take a look.

- [Narrator] Guy and Justin
have to ration excavator fuel

until Josh arrives, so they go hunting

for promising rocks by hand.

- We're right here.

That's why you always have a
young guy with ya. (laughs)

(hammering)

- Quartz.

- [Narrator] It's a frustrating process.

- Nope.

(hammering)

- Eh, another (mumbles)

- It's definitely not jade.

- This is one.

- Ah-ha-ha!

- Nope.

- Get this party going.

- [Narrator] Eventually, Justin
spots something he likes.

- I like the shape of the top.

- Yeah.

- And the fact that it's uniform.

(knocking)

- It's got the noise.

- There is a chunk in here that blows.

That is a good sign, right there.

- Well, safe to say it's jade.

- I think it's buried in the tank.

- Nice!

- This thing's big.

- This one is gonna be,
like, minimum 15 tons.

- You're like a jade magnet!

- If it is jade, yeah.

- If it's a good one.

- [Narrator] If this rock is good jade,

it'll be Justin's third
big find of the season.

- There ya go.

- Look at that.
- Wow.

- Very, very good.

- That's what we wanted.

- Not bad.

- I'm thinking when you were born,

I think your mom shoved a
piece of jade up your ass

to make you attracted to jade.

- Well, hopefully not.

Let's go get the excavator.

- Let's go.

- I'm gonna see if I can get outta here

without breaking my neck.

(4-wheeler starts)

(country music)

- You're a little, uh,
a little hung up there.

(engine revs)

(laughs)

- Eh, (beep)

(engine revs)

- We'll be back.

- [Narrator] They'll burn
up a lot of their diesel

to dig up the rock.

Fortunately, Josh is only
an hour away with more fuel.

(engine noise)

- That's my notifier, that stack of rocks.

Yes! I'm so ahead of schedule.

(engine noise)

Oh, geez.

(clanging noise)

What the f...(beep)

(suspenseful music)

Oh sh...(beep)

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] Josh has blown
a tire on the rock truck

while transporting desperately needed fuel

into the Wolverine mine.

- That puddle right there's
where it let go, but it wasn't

a pop, and it wasn't anything,
it was just all of a sudden

I was (beep) riding on metal.

- [Narrator] With the snow
on its way, a delay now

could shut down mining for the season.

- Yeah, this is Josh
Bunce for Wolverine camp

- Yep, go ahead.

- I am currently about an
hour out of camp with, uh,

a tire blown off the bead.

I am immobilized, I can't
go anywhere right now.

- Check if there's any slices at all,

so we know that it's just
the bead, not the tire cut.

- [Josh] There is potential
for it to be the tire cut.

There is uh, like a fold underneath

and I can't see very well.

- Okay.

- [Josh] So I'll stand by.

- Okie doke.

He's quite a ways away, so
we have to get geared up

to go and get the tire off,

so we have-- we have a problem.

- We need fuel in camp desperately,

because it runs all of our equipment

and it runs our generators.

Things couldn't be happening
at a worse time for us.

- [Narrator] R2 will
head out in the Bedford.

- [R2] All right, come on baby, fire fire.

- [Narrator] On top of everything...

- Nothing.

- [Narrator] ...the Bedford won't start.

- The old Bedford.

- Yeah, it's just...one
thing after another.

(tools banging)

- Banging on the starter does not help it.

All it does is destroy the starter,

and knock all the magnetic
weights off of the inside,

so then the starter is totally screwed.

(engine turns over)

- There we go.

- But, sometimes, you get lucky.

- Nothing a hammer won't fix.

- [Narrator] R2 heads out to rescue Josh

and his valuable cargo of fuel.

- It's gonna make for a long
day, that's for damn sure.

(excavator noise)

- Ah, go it this way, Mark.

- [Narrator] Justin and
Guy get back to work,

digging out their giant rock
with the little fuel they have.

- Huge. Ding ding ding!
I smell the dollar sign!

- [Narrator] Robin and Alan show up

to check out the big find.

- This one here, that part
right there's a good sign.

- All of this, it's a very
hard part of the jade.

Those will not have fractures in them.

- This one should, might,
be the one. We're hoping.

(knocking)

She even sounds good.

Looking good.

- Get you to stand there, and I'll, uh...

- Yep.

- [Narrator] This looks over 20 tons,

the biggest rock they've ever unearthed.

- Heh!

- [Narrator] But it's not a slam dunk.

- There's definitely some fractures in it.

- Yeah.

- How bad they are, who knows.

- [Narrator] No one knows how long

the fuel truck could be down,

so the crew needs to decide if it's worth

burning almost all their remaining fuel

hauling the boulder back to camp.

- If we run out of fuel in
camp, we can't do anything.

We can't mine for the
jade that we need to.

We can't run the excavator,

we can't run any of the equipment.

- It's too big.

- [Narrator] They've never attempted

to move a boulder this big.

- It could take us all day.

But if it's all that and a bag of chips...

...we'll be fine with it.

- All we can do is go for it.

- Right?

- Absolutely.

- So what are you gonna hook to?

- Up and around the ripper.
And then we'll double up,

so it's twice the strength, right?

- Yeah.

- We can't carry it, we can't lift it.

It's big and heavy and it's too awkward.

This one, we're dragging,
which I hope goes well.

- [Narrator] The rock is too big to lift.

So the plan is to wrap cables around it

and drag it back to camp.

- Go ahead, back up!

(engine noise)

(rock music)

- I will readjust once she
tightens, if we have to, right?

- 'K

- Okay, you guys good?

- Okay, give her.

- Pull.

(engine noise)

(chain snaps)

- She didn't make it.

- Broken?

- [Narrator] The cable
popped out of its shackle.

- [Alan] Okay, so just get out from here.

The cable's not broken.

- Oh, it didn't break, it just came out?

- Yeah, it's not broken.

- Guy, gotta back up, it come unhooked.

It doesn't look stressed, I
don't think it was in right.

- Good!

- Good!

- Alan, stand back!

(construction engines running)

- [Alan] Stop, stop! Kevin!

(chains clanging)

- Done. Now it's busted.

- (beep) piece of (beep).

- Too heavy.

- Yeah.

(county music)

- [Narrator] R2 is closing in on Josh,

hoping he can get the rock
truck back on the road tonight.

(country music)

- Watch your mirrors.

So, Robin, this tire's (beep).

- [Josh] Ooh, yeah, we're
not gettin' that back on.

- I was hoping it would
simply just be the rubber bead

came off, and we could grease it,

hopefully jam some air
in it, get it going,

but, uh, but yeah, it's more than that.

- [R2] Oh (beep)

- These ones are in rough
shape, dried out old rubber.

These have probably been
on this thing for 20 years.

- [Narrator] They'll
have to replace the tire.

Josh's fuel shipment won't be
getting to camp anytime soon.

- So we gotta dismount, take it to town,

get a new tire put on the rim,

and there's like two
weeks left in the season,

so it's like beyond crunch time.

Like, crunch time was a month ago,

Now we're like, we're (beep) time.

- You wanna try rolling
it, or should we push it?

- I dunno.

- [Narrator] At Wolverine,
the crew is using up the last

of their fuel supply on the biggest rock

they've ever tried to move.

- There's not much to grab
on, 'cause of the way it's,

the way it's shaped.
So, time will tell here.

- [Alan] I think that we
need to use the chain.

- Oh, may as well try it.

- Yep. We'll get the other
chains, we wrap around this end,

we wrap around that end, we hook to there,

and we hook to here.

- Yep.

- He lifts up, it's gone.

- Try it and see how it goes. All righty.

- [Narrator] Doubling up
the stronger chains might

give them a better grip on the rock.

- Plan A don't work, try plan B.

(chains clanking)

- Right there.

- Perfect.

- You good there, Robin?

- [Robin] Yeah.

- Okay.

- I pull, you push?

- Yeah.

- [Robin] 'K.

- Stand back.

- Stand way back.

(engine revs)

- Okay, there ya go. Try pulling!

(engine noise)

- [Alan] Oh, no.

- Scraped 'em out a hole.

- We're stuck.

- We've got too much mud here.

- This is the worst.

- [Robin] We're using way too
much fuel to get this far.

- [Narrator] The rock
has only moved 20 feet,

but they've used up half of their diesel.

(engine noise)

- Young Josh had better
show up with fuel here.

- [Narrator] 10 kilometers from camp...

- Okay, yeah, jack is in there?

- Yeah.

- [Narrator] Josh and R2 need to take off

the rock truck's wheel.

- Everything's depending on
this fuel getting back in.

- Okay, time to go under.

- [Josh] How do we jack this?

- [R2] We'll get this
one up as high as we can,

and then put the other
jack on a bigger one.

- (beep), it's gonna
(beep) be a (beep) to lift.

- [Narrator] They only have
a couple of small jacks

to try and lift the 30 ton,
fully loaded rock truck.

- I'll grab another jack
while you're doing that.

- Yeah, right on.

- You ever seen jacked, house jackers?

That's what you need.
Some hydraulic pumps,

a little generator, (beep) run that thing.

Right now just (trilling noise) up, done.

- Okay, my arm's wearing out.

- Yeah.

- But that thing might be close to max.

- It is max.

- Yeah, we can get the other one on now.

- Where are we gonna put it though?

- Ah, right in front of it.

Starting to lift up there yet?

- Yep, it is moving it
up slightly. Tiny bit.

- Kinda looks like it out here.

- Just incremental, right?
Millimeter by millimeter.

- I can't even see it.

- And the tire's coming off now too.

- Just about level, aren't we?

- [Narrator] Once the truck is lifted,

they'll need to loosen
the lug nuts on the wheel

with a ratchet.

- Is there an extension here?

- We can stick, uh, one
of the pipe, one of these

pry bars in...

- No, no, the extensions
to get to the socket.

We can't get the ratchet
on to the socket in the hub

'cause it's too deep, too offset.

- Extension for that?

- Yeah.

- No, we don't have that.

- That means we're not
getting this tire off.

- Yeah, how'd I forget that, Jesus.

- Oh, (beep)

(tense music)

- Okay, we gotta move the other quad.

- [Narrator] Out at Wolverine...

- She's heavy!

Heaviest one yet.

- [Narrator] A 20 ton boulder
and the dozer are stuck

in a mud hole.

- [Guy] The old D7's not liking it.

We need lots of back up.

(machinery noise)

- We gotta get him
unhooked so he can get out.

- Yeah.

- [Narrator] The dozer can't
escape from the mud hole

while tied to the heavy rock.

- I'll try and unhook it.

I wonder if we could've
got any more mud in here.

- [Narrator] The chains are
buried under a foot of mud.

- It's way down here,
'cause he hooked it up low.

- So, I just gotta get
him out up here now.

- Whoa!

(machinery noise)

- Can you grab the corner of my ripper?

- Uh-huh.

- [Narrator] Devin tries
using the excavator bucket

to push on the back of the dozer.

- Come on, girl.

(machinery noise)

(beep)

(machinery noise)

- Perfect.

- [Narrator] The dozer is free,

but the boulder is still stuck in the mud.

- We're not there yet.

- Nope. Gotta roll it up outta that hole.

- Okay.

(machinery noise)

- Just keep rolling it?

- [Alan] Yeah, just keep
like that. That's good.

- Show off!

- [Narrator] After pulling...

- Keep trying!

- [Narrator] ...pushing...

- Good!

- [Narrator] ...and
rolling with two machines

all day long...

- Keep going!

- Right on!

- [Narrator] ...They've eaten
up almost all of their fuel.

- What I'm thinking is,
it better be a good rock.

(laughter)

- Absolutely.

- If not, (beep).

- Perfect!

- We're good!

- Ohhh, yeah!

- Once it's cut, then
it'll be easier to handle.

- [Narrator] But before
they can start cutting it...

- Hi

- [Narrator] ...A call comes in from Josh.

- What's going on?

- [Josh] Well, this tire's (beep),

so I gotta dismount
everything, take it to town,

get a new tire put on the rim.

- Nothing happens until
it all (beep) happens

at the same time. Always.

- [Narrator] The fuel shipment
will be delayed for days,

even weeks.

- There's only two weeks
left of the mining season,

so if we run out of fuel,
we're at a standstill.

Everybody may as well go home.

(tense music)

- [Narrator] If Josh can't
get the diesel into camp

before the snow hits,
they could be forced to

shut down the mine and leave
the monster boulder behind.

- [Claudia] We need fuel
right away. We're in trouble.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] Next time, on Jade Fever.

- See that nice green, there?

- Want more like that!

- This is the biggest
one so far we've seen.

- Yay!

- This thing will be down for a few days.

- So I gotta get this
out as quick as I can

so that we can get it back on this truck.

- Let go!

(clanging)

- Because everything's
depending on this fuel.

(door slams)

- We left on a ten hour journey at 2:00PM

with no headlights.

We drove with flashlights.

- This is stupid.

I was pushing my limits
and I pushed too far.

(crashing machinery)