Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 2, Episode 5 - An Ounce of Hope - full transcript
Claudia and Robin set the summer's target: one million dollars worth of jade, or five grade-A boulders. The Bunces head to an auction in Edmonton to bid on a second excavator, leaving Guy in charge of making inroads on the quota. But if he can't get Jay, the floundering new guy, up to speed soon, they could end up with nothing.
(hammers bang)
(rock cracks)
(laughing)
- 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.
- Woo-hoo!
- I will dig 'til my hands bleed.
Woo-hoo! (clapping)
Go!
(air whooshing) (slamming)
(air whooshing) (slamming)
(air whooshing) (slamming)
(air whooshing) (slamming)
(air whooshing) (slamming)
- [Claudia] Jade makes
people do crazy things.
(slamming) (air whooshing)
(laughing)
(truck engine roaring)
(laughter)
- [Josh] Home free to Wolverine.
- [Narrator] In the Jade-rich alpine
of northern British Columbia...
- Our boy is coming.
- [Narrator] Up in the Cassiar Mountains,
near the Yukon...
- [Claudia] He made it.
- [Narrator] Josh has
brought in a truckload
of camp supplies to the
family's Wolverine mining site.
- Good morning, you big bastard.
- The bare necessities right here.
- Let me dress up. (laughs) Okay.
(excavator tracks grinding)
- [Narrator] After securing
$800,000 for this season...
- Run it over all four teeth.
- All four?
- [Narrator] Alan,
Claudia, and Robin now need
to hit their investors' target:
a million dollars of sellable jade.
- This season my hope is that
we get at least five grade A boulders.
Now, that's a big hope, but that's what
we're targeting is we want at least five.
- [Narrator] Aside from
Robin's nephew Devon,
the newest guy on the crew is Jay,
a former office manager
of a Chinese jade mine
who wants to try his hand
at Canadian jade mining.
- Jay's role is to help us with the labor
that we need to have done.
You know, the stuff that my guys
just don't have time to do.
I realize that we need
to have a safety meeting
whenever anybody new comes in the camp.
These guys are coming in here
and they're a total fish out of water,
and we needed to make sure
that we take care of them.
- [Narrator] Jay will
be on site all summer
trying to learn the ropes.
- I actually asked Jay,
"Do you understand the term duck?
Do you understand the term heads-up?"
And he looked at me like I was crazy.
- Last year we had
George in the mine site,
and Jay is his son.
- [George] (speaking foreign language)
- I think you're saying
"good jade" in Mandarin.
- I actually enjoyed working with George.
He actually knew his jade,
and he was a good worker.
And he didn't break everything.
That was kinda nice.
- [George] Nice (speaking
in foreign language).
- Don't say "Yup" unless you
hundred percent understand.
Understand?
- Yeah.
- Okay. Have you ever used bear spray?
- No, I don't think so.
- Just- just use Alan's house. (laughing)
For the mosquitoes.
- Oh, no!
- [R2] That would work on mosquitoes.
- I'm very interested in jade mine.
I want to try live like my father did.
- I think that Jay is not
prepared for what camp life is,
but the boys'll teach him.
(helicopter blades whirring)
- Go get your stuff ready.
- Yes.
- Thanks for everything, Robin.
- Thank you.
- Why?
- Why what?
- Your hand.
- You want a hug, too?
- Yeah.
- You're not family yet.
- Yeah.
- I will miss you.
- He's gonna fit in.
- [Narrator] Today the
crew will be on their own.
- Be safe, okay?
- Yep. Okay. I'll be here.
- Take care of my boy.
- [Narrator] Alan is heading back to China
to meet the investors.
- Find more jade for me.
- [Narrator] Claudia and Robin are going
to buy more equipment.
- We need to have two or
three excavators on site.
It's really crucial that
we move more ground.
It'll make our mining
a lot more effective.
- [Narrator] Josh is leaving, too.
Back on the trail, driving
the Crummy, the crew vehicle.
He's going to Jade City
to get another load
of fuel and supplies for camp.
- I just got here, and
now I'm gonna go back.
And it's a good time.
(laughing)
(truck engine revving)
(water splashing)
- Why don't you go to the
creek bed there another
what is it, 20 feet?
- [Devon] Yeah.
- Yeah, and if you want there
go right down to the clay.
- [Devon] Yep.
- Thanks, Dev.
- Well, if Robin's not
here, I'm in charge.
Just gotta keep an eye on everything.
Make sure the mining's going
and the rocks are cutting.
Keep an eye on Devon.
I gotta keep an eye on Jay.
- [Narrator] It's only the first week
of the 100 day mining season,
but his lead operator, Guy,
wants to have some jade
to show Claudia and Robin when they return
from the auction.
- [Guy] Grade A jade, of
course, would be nice.
But you know what, for me, sellable jade.
Just let's make money.
You've gotta just be persistent
and keep looking and keep trying.
- Okay. I'm gonna go get some bolts.
I'll get you to attach these
but we need a screwdriver.
Do you know what that is?
- No.
- [Narrator] The camp hand
Robin, or R2, gets saddled
with breaking in the new guy,
starting with the basics.
- So you will need a
flat head screwdriver.
This star head-
You can call it a star if you want,
but the name for these are Philips.
- Philips.
- So it's like the name Philip.
- Okay.
- These are called Robertson.
- Robertson.
- Yeah. We call those
hex or Allen wrenches,
so just like Alan, we say an Allen wrench.
- Allen wrench.
- You know what a drill bit is?
This we call a lag bolt,
and this is just a bolt.
- Whoa. I am not strong enough yet.
(beep)
- I've mined for 28 years.
I forget, but it's gotta
be tough for a newbie
to come in the field and just hit it all.
- Oh (mumbling)
- But it's physically hard.
I mean he shoulda spent
more time at the gym
before he showed up.
- (laughing) That a boy.
That'll build up his leg muscles.
Bring the wrenches.
- My father is an engineer of mining,
so I want to be a man just like my father.
This is really hard work.
I hate mosquitoes and the forest.
- [R2] Okay, that's it.
- [Narrator] Only a few
hours into his first day
and Jay has disappeared.
- Jay.
(snoring)
- Jay is missing in action right now.
I think I may have wore him out today,
walking through that
buckbrush and doing the hoses.
(snoring)
Hello, Jay?
(knocking)
Jay, you in there?
Hey, man, how's it going?
- (mumbles)
- Ready to come back to 'er?
- Let's go.
- Awesome.
- You just can't say no out here.
You gotta get 'er done.
- Try not to have a two
hour lunch there, buddy.
Mm-kay?
- Okay.
I made phone call.
- "Oh, I was on the phone."
I'm going, "Well, last
time I was on the phone
I wasn't laying down sleeping."
- We got a lot of catch up, Jay and I.
I'll see how he stands up to that.
(rumbling)
(harmonica music)
- Wow. Pretty cool.
Yeah, this is gonna be crazy.
(laughs) There's gonna
be a lot of walking.
- [Narrator] At an auction
in Edmonton, Alberta,
Claudia and Robin are trying to scoop up
a second excavator for cheap.
- We wanna be more efficient.
We wanna mine more.
We wanna move more ground.
That's what we want this
year is move ground.
Let's take a look and see.
- [Robin] Yeah, you betcha.
- [Salesman] That should be
the very first one, I think.
- This makes me nervous
though with it pushed out.
- They got pick the right one 'cause
it's a $100,000 to fix those puppies.
- It's a gamble, but you wanna make sure
you're getting the right
machine 'cause we have to
take it a long ways out into the bush.
(mumbles) oil on that one.
If it's a major problem, then
you're down for a long time.
- [Claudia] Let's go buy some equipment.
- Yep.
- [Narrator] New excavators can go
for over $300,000.
Claudia and Robin are
hoping to land a used one
for less than half that price.
(auctioneer calling)
(crowd talking)
- [Auctioneer] Sold here.
Sold. We got two left.
(auctioneer calling)
- They're gonna compete
against the U.S. market
though right now.
- [Narrator] With the low Canadian dollar,
the auction has drawn in some
big US players with big money.
(auctioneer calling)
- Yep!
(auctioneer calling)
- Yep!
- [Robin] 160 already.
- Wow.
I'm really worried I might not get
what I want at this auction.
I don't know if I brought enough money.
(auctioneer calling)
- Yeah.
- I'm out.
- [Auctioneer] Sold.
- This year, the prices, they're insane.
Nope.
- [Guy] That one.
- [Jay] Oh.
- [Devon] This one. See.
- [Guy] You hear that?
(metal hammer pinging)
Sounds like retirement right there.
- [Narrator] After an exhausting
first day at Wolverine,
Jay is getting a lesson on
how to identify Canadian jade.
A boulder that rings like
metal is a good indicator.
- See the difference.
(metal hammer pinging)
- Seems jade.
- Oh, sounds good, eh?
- Wow.
See these mosquitoes.
- You don't pay attention to mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes are not there.
- [Jay] So many mosquitoes.
(laughing)
I'll be right back.
- Yeah, he got a problem with mosquitoes.
(aerosol can spraying)
- Told me there are so
many mosquitoes here
but I didn't realize.
- He gonna have a long summer.
Ow.
- [Narrator] Jay moves
on to washing rocks,
looking for hints of green on the surface.
- I want to find some really,
really good green jade.
I had a good sleep, so
I have enough power now.
Maybe we can try this.
Guy, I found some real cool jade.
Where it is...
Oh, (beep).
- When you find good one,
you put a special mark on it.
Put a rock on it or something.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- This one sounds okay.
(engine revving)
- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Here. I found it.
It sounded good.
The color is good.
- Throw it on the saw.
We'll show him how to
cut and time will tell.
Never judge a book by its cover.
(excavator whirring)
(rocks thumping)
- I found some real cool jade.
This two.
- [Narrator] Jay wants to leave
these two boulders intact,
a common strategy in Chinese jade mining,
selling the potential for a bonanza later
rather than the sure thing
of a cut boulder now.
- We shouldn't cut this one.
- We have to.
- Why?
- We have to prove the in-
- (mumbles) we can see
so good outside.
If we keep whole, maybe better inside.
If we cut to half, we destroy this jade.
I want to keep the mystery.
And you will get more
money from this jade.
- We still gotta prove the inside.
- Okay.
- 'Cause that won't sell just like that.
Which one you wanna cut?
- This.
- This one?
- [Narrator] They haven't
found enough jade here yet
to start selling boulders
without cutting them.
- It's a catch-22 when you cut these.
You prove it or you
prove that it's not good.
So well, we're at the point here where
we have to prove our jade.
- Let 'er rip.
(saw engine revving)
(saw blade whirring)
- Let's go green today.
(blade slicing)
- No! No way.
- See. Told you.
- The color here is much
different from here.
Maybe try to cut this side.
Hey Guy, have 'er cut this again.
Just from this- from here.
- Yep, but I betcha any money
it's just that that's showing.
(mumbling) cut this.
- [Narrator] Guy humors the new guy.
He gives Jay the rare opportunity
to cut the same rock twice.
(saw whirring)
- Now we're cutting this one again
'cause we think there's maybe
more jade on the one side.
Normally we don't cut rocks twice,
but we're trying, so I dunno.
If this don't work, it won't happen again.
(hammer banging)
- [Narrator] Guy is humoring new guy, Jay,
by making a second cut on a rock
Jay thinks is a winner.
- No way.
- One spot, right here.
- Just this part.
- We make one bear outta that.
Oh, it's the first sign
of jade, I guess, yeah,
but it's just like...
- This side is (beep).
- More (beep) than jade.
- Yeah.
- (beep) jade.
- Maybe we can cut again.
- No. We can't be cutting
rocks four or five times.
Yeah, there is jade here.
You just need bigger
amounts on the same rock.
We need lots of rocks with jade.
Tons not ounces.
(auctioneer calling)
- [Robin] 160 already. (beep)
- Wow.
- [Narrator] At an auction in Edmonton,
Claudia and Robin are scrambling
to get an excavator within their budget.
- Wow. 100, about 1000 over, you bet.
- [Narrator] A hot market
has driven prices up
leaving Claudia and Robin
with one last machine
they want to bid on.
- [Auctioneer] Thank you. (mumbling)
- [Robin] We're gonna
try. We're gonna try for-
- [Claudia] This one.
- [Auctioneer] Let's get 'er going.
(auctioneer calling)
Sold for 120,000.
- That's it. We're done.
We saved 50 grand.
- [Narrator] Finally, they get one.
- We actually got it.
Everything else had
been running high here,
and we got a price we were looking for
so that's a good thing.
- I hope you did good. (laughs)
- Yep.
(track rolling)
- We're ready to load
up and get out as fast
as we can now, yep.
Not like we weren't broke before
but now we're really broke.
A truckload of jade and
a truckload of money.
Wo-hoo.
(bird screeching)
- [Narrator] Up at
Wolverine, Guy and his crew
are running out time to find some jade
before the bosses return.
- Today, Robin and Claudia are coming in
so it'd be nice to have one
rock with lots of jade in it.
So we gotta couple hours yet.
All the painted ones sound good,
but we haven't cut one good one yet, so.
- [Narrator] The only jade found so far
is too small to sell.
- 2% of a rock that's jade,
it's not worth cutting
'cause it costs too
much to get there, so...
You know, we just gotta keep trying.
(dog tags rattling)
- [Narrator] Down on
their luck, the crew wants
to take a chance on a unique rock.
- Let's make this the one, hey, Jay?
(engine revving)
(saw blade whirring)
- [Narrator] Water runoff
from the saws is starting
to become an issue.
- [R2] The water's just going everywhere.
- [Jay] Mm-hmm (affirmative).
- And we gotta direct flow
so it stays in the channels.
When we're handling a
big rock, and if we slip,
we can go under and really get hurt.
Make waterways, right?
- Okay.
- Yeah, scoop all this mud outta here.
- Yeah.
- Perfect just like that.
Yeah, just drag-
- Ow, my back.
- Oh what, just twinge?
- Yep. (sighing)
I can't do this.
I'll be right back.
- Don't worry, I won't charge ya
for the endorphin release.
That's a bonus at the end.
Open up your channels here.
(groaning)
Other side of the scapulae.
(groaning)
Jay pulled his back a
little earlier there.
Stiffening up, so we better fix him up
so he can get out there and keep working.
The more it hurts, the
deeper your breaths, 'kay?
- (groans) Not so hard.
- I'm the camp medic.
I'm also a bit of a massage
therapist you can call it.
Big breath.
Stay relaxed.
But I don't do that
nice relaxation massage.
I like being effective.
(moaning)
Quite a bit of pain, but
he's gonna thank me later.
I'll come getcha in about three hours.
(door closing)
(machinery ringing)
Well, we're down a man.
It's you and me.
- [Guy] Okay.
Let's crack this bad boy open.
- Let's see what's in that egg.
- Cross your fingers.
(hammer pinging)
(rock cracking)
- (beep) That only took what?
- [Guy] Three hours.
- [R2] Three hours.
- [Narrator] Guy and R2
have run out of time.
Claudia and Robin are on their way back
from spending big bucks on an excavator,
but there'll be no new jade to show them.
- It'd be nice to have
a nice even B carving
piece there laying cut up but
not gonna happen today so...
Like I said yesterday, tomorrow.
- [R2] Let's see what's in that egg.
(hammer pinging)
(rock cracking)
(beep) That only took, what?
- [Guy] Three hours.
- [R2] Three hours.
- [Narrator] Two weeks into
the season and the crew
at Wolverine has yet to yield
a single boulder of jade.
- It's not funny anymore.
- At this point, we're
getting pretty desperate.
We wanna see jade.
That's what we're here to mine.
Not (beep) stones.
Robin and Claudia are flying in today,
and we're coming up with nothing.
What can I say?
- Gonna have to figure something out here.
(saw whirring)
(helicopter blades beating)
- [Claudia] Did you find jade?
Is your pockets full of jade?
- [Narrator] Claudia and Robin
are back from the auction
after buying a second excavator.
A jade boulder would help
pay for the new purchase.
(whistling)
- So how are things going?
- Not a whole lot of
production, that's for sure.
- [Narrator] After spending three days
trying to build Jay up, R2 now concedes
the new guy is slowing them down.
- A lot of holding hands, babysitting.
A good attitude and everything,
but just not cut out for it, right.
He oughta be able to lift 20 pounds.
- Mm-kay.
- 50 would be even better.
(crisp biting)
- [Narrator] It looks like
all of the early signs
of jade here turned up nothing
once the rocks were cut.
- [Claudia] We're not gonna
have one (beep) ounce.
- Every night, pray for that boulder,
and if you're really
anxious, pray for five.
- Well, I'm not a praying kind of guy,
but I would like to show you
to one 2-inch jade we got.
- [Narrator] Guy takes
them to see the rock
Jay had found the previous day.
- It can't be jade.
- Yeah, it's jade.
You'll see.
- [Claudia] Can't be jade on the inside.
- [Guy] What's that?
- [Claudia] Yep. It's jade.
- It's beautiful. AAA.
See if the whole rock was like that,
it'd be a good thing.
- Little tiny bits of green
to show that we actually
have jade on the property is huge for us.
That's beyond dangle jewelry.
- It doesn't get any better'n that.
- Nope. But we have to find it.
- I know.
So we keep digging until
we find another one
that's just like it.
(water splashing)
- [Narrator] Josh arrives
with another truck full
of fuel and supplies.
- [Claudia] You survived.
(grunting)
(laughing)
- How did I do that?
I didn't stop.
- [Narrator] And everyone is excited
to show him the latest find.
- [Guy] Found the nicest jade ever.
- You found your own jade?
Like you found jade here?
- Right here.
- [Claudia] Yeah.
(laughing)
You wanna see?
Come see, Joshy-pea.
- [Guy] It's right there.
- No way.
I was thinking about this
the whole way in here.
I'm just so-
- [Group] Whoa!
- [Claudia] Look at it.
- Right there, right now, you have jade.
Right there, right now.
It's just...
- I know. Little. (laughs)
- But it exists.
- It's a baby.
- I'm so proud.
It took Grandpa six years 'til
they had this moment, so...
- [Claudia] We have 4000 acres here.
We're only on five or 10
acres right here, mining.
Could it just be one
more foot ahead of us?
That's the gamble.
- [Narrator] Next time on "Jade Fever."
(helicopter roaring)
- [Crewman] Could be the mine inspector.
- [Inspector] What have you
got for a first aid room now?
Where's the helicopter stretcher?
- [Crewman] The spine board?
- Well, I thought we for sure
had one here, but we don't.
One slip, one wrong move.
We're nothing to a 10-pound boulder.
- Whoa.
- You might get a person
to a hospital in two hours.
- R2, run!
- Someone just fell?
(groaning)
- 'kay, get that arm.
- We're in trouble here.
(moaning)
- [Radio Responder] Do not
a backboard there, correct?
(wind roaring)
(rock cracks)
(laughing)
- 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.
- Woo-hoo!
- I will dig 'til my hands bleed.
Woo-hoo! (clapping)
Go!
(air whooshing) (slamming)
(air whooshing) (slamming)
(air whooshing) (slamming)
(air whooshing) (slamming)
(air whooshing) (slamming)
- [Claudia] Jade makes
people do crazy things.
(slamming) (air whooshing)
(laughing)
(truck engine roaring)
(laughter)
- [Josh] Home free to Wolverine.
- [Narrator] In the Jade-rich alpine
of northern British Columbia...
- Our boy is coming.
- [Narrator] Up in the Cassiar Mountains,
near the Yukon...
- [Claudia] He made it.
- [Narrator] Josh has
brought in a truckload
of camp supplies to the
family's Wolverine mining site.
- Good morning, you big bastard.
- The bare necessities right here.
- Let me dress up. (laughs) Okay.
(excavator tracks grinding)
- [Narrator] After securing
$800,000 for this season...
- Run it over all four teeth.
- All four?
- [Narrator] Alan,
Claudia, and Robin now need
to hit their investors' target:
a million dollars of sellable jade.
- This season my hope is that
we get at least five grade A boulders.
Now, that's a big hope, but that's what
we're targeting is we want at least five.
- [Narrator] Aside from
Robin's nephew Devon,
the newest guy on the crew is Jay,
a former office manager
of a Chinese jade mine
who wants to try his hand
at Canadian jade mining.
- Jay's role is to help us with the labor
that we need to have done.
You know, the stuff that my guys
just don't have time to do.
I realize that we need
to have a safety meeting
whenever anybody new comes in the camp.
These guys are coming in here
and they're a total fish out of water,
and we needed to make sure
that we take care of them.
- [Narrator] Jay will
be on site all summer
trying to learn the ropes.
- I actually asked Jay,
"Do you understand the term duck?
Do you understand the term heads-up?"
And he looked at me like I was crazy.
- Last year we had
George in the mine site,
and Jay is his son.
- [George] (speaking foreign language)
- I think you're saying
"good jade" in Mandarin.
- I actually enjoyed working with George.
He actually knew his jade,
and he was a good worker.
And he didn't break everything.
That was kinda nice.
- [George] Nice (speaking
in foreign language).
- Don't say "Yup" unless you
hundred percent understand.
Understand?
- Yeah.
- Okay. Have you ever used bear spray?
- No, I don't think so.
- Just- just use Alan's house. (laughing)
For the mosquitoes.
- Oh, no!
- [R2] That would work on mosquitoes.
- I'm very interested in jade mine.
I want to try live like my father did.
- I think that Jay is not
prepared for what camp life is,
but the boys'll teach him.
(helicopter blades whirring)
- Go get your stuff ready.
- Yes.
- Thanks for everything, Robin.
- Thank you.
- Why?
- Why what?
- Your hand.
- You want a hug, too?
- Yeah.
- You're not family yet.
- Yeah.
- I will miss you.
- He's gonna fit in.
- [Narrator] Today the
crew will be on their own.
- Be safe, okay?
- Yep. Okay. I'll be here.
- Take care of my boy.
- [Narrator] Alan is heading back to China
to meet the investors.
- Find more jade for me.
- [Narrator] Claudia and Robin are going
to buy more equipment.
- We need to have two or
three excavators on site.
It's really crucial that
we move more ground.
It'll make our mining
a lot more effective.
- [Narrator] Josh is leaving, too.
Back on the trail, driving
the Crummy, the crew vehicle.
He's going to Jade City
to get another load
of fuel and supplies for camp.
- I just got here, and
now I'm gonna go back.
And it's a good time.
(laughing)
(truck engine revving)
(water splashing)
- Why don't you go to the
creek bed there another
what is it, 20 feet?
- [Devon] Yeah.
- Yeah, and if you want there
go right down to the clay.
- [Devon] Yep.
- Thanks, Dev.
- Well, if Robin's not
here, I'm in charge.
Just gotta keep an eye on everything.
Make sure the mining's going
and the rocks are cutting.
Keep an eye on Devon.
I gotta keep an eye on Jay.
- [Narrator] It's only the first week
of the 100 day mining season,
but his lead operator, Guy,
wants to have some jade
to show Claudia and Robin when they return
from the auction.
- [Guy] Grade A jade, of
course, would be nice.
But you know what, for me, sellable jade.
Just let's make money.
You've gotta just be persistent
and keep looking and keep trying.
- Okay. I'm gonna go get some bolts.
I'll get you to attach these
but we need a screwdriver.
Do you know what that is?
- No.
- [Narrator] The camp hand
Robin, or R2, gets saddled
with breaking in the new guy,
starting with the basics.
- So you will need a
flat head screwdriver.
This star head-
You can call it a star if you want,
but the name for these are Philips.
- Philips.
- So it's like the name Philip.
- Okay.
- These are called Robertson.
- Robertson.
- Yeah. We call those
hex or Allen wrenches,
so just like Alan, we say an Allen wrench.
- Allen wrench.
- You know what a drill bit is?
This we call a lag bolt,
and this is just a bolt.
- Whoa. I am not strong enough yet.
(beep)
- I've mined for 28 years.
I forget, but it's gotta
be tough for a newbie
to come in the field and just hit it all.
- Oh (mumbling)
- But it's physically hard.
I mean he shoulda spent
more time at the gym
before he showed up.
- (laughing) That a boy.
That'll build up his leg muscles.
Bring the wrenches.
- My father is an engineer of mining,
so I want to be a man just like my father.
This is really hard work.
I hate mosquitoes and the forest.
- [R2] Okay, that's it.
- [Narrator] Only a few
hours into his first day
and Jay has disappeared.
- Jay.
(snoring)
- Jay is missing in action right now.
I think I may have wore him out today,
walking through that
buckbrush and doing the hoses.
(snoring)
Hello, Jay?
(knocking)
Jay, you in there?
Hey, man, how's it going?
- (mumbles)
- Ready to come back to 'er?
- Let's go.
- Awesome.
- You just can't say no out here.
You gotta get 'er done.
- Try not to have a two
hour lunch there, buddy.
Mm-kay?
- Okay.
I made phone call.
- "Oh, I was on the phone."
I'm going, "Well, last
time I was on the phone
I wasn't laying down sleeping."
- We got a lot of catch up, Jay and I.
I'll see how he stands up to that.
(rumbling)
(harmonica music)
- Wow. Pretty cool.
Yeah, this is gonna be crazy.
(laughs) There's gonna
be a lot of walking.
- [Narrator] At an auction
in Edmonton, Alberta,
Claudia and Robin are trying to scoop up
a second excavator for cheap.
- We wanna be more efficient.
We wanna mine more.
We wanna move more ground.
That's what we want this
year is move ground.
Let's take a look and see.
- [Robin] Yeah, you betcha.
- [Salesman] That should be
the very first one, I think.
- This makes me nervous
though with it pushed out.
- They got pick the right one 'cause
it's a $100,000 to fix those puppies.
- It's a gamble, but you wanna make sure
you're getting the right
machine 'cause we have to
take it a long ways out into the bush.
(mumbles) oil on that one.
If it's a major problem, then
you're down for a long time.
- [Claudia] Let's go buy some equipment.
- Yep.
- [Narrator] New excavators can go
for over $300,000.
Claudia and Robin are
hoping to land a used one
for less than half that price.
(auctioneer calling)
(crowd talking)
- [Auctioneer] Sold here.
Sold. We got two left.
(auctioneer calling)
- They're gonna compete
against the U.S. market
though right now.
- [Narrator] With the low Canadian dollar,
the auction has drawn in some
big US players with big money.
(auctioneer calling)
- Yep!
(auctioneer calling)
- Yep!
- [Robin] 160 already.
- Wow.
I'm really worried I might not get
what I want at this auction.
I don't know if I brought enough money.
(auctioneer calling)
- Yeah.
- I'm out.
- [Auctioneer] Sold.
- This year, the prices, they're insane.
Nope.
- [Guy] That one.
- [Jay] Oh.
- [Devon] This one. See.
- [Guy] You hear that?
(metal hammer pinging)
Sounds like retirement right there.
- [Narrator] After an exhausting
first day at Wolverine,
Jay is getting a lesson on
how to identify Canadian jade.
A boulder that rings like
metal is a good indicator.
- See the difference.
(metal hammer pinging)
- Seems jade.
- Oh, sounds good, eh?
- Wow.
See these mosquitoes.
- You don't pay attention to mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes are not there.
- [Jay] So many mosquitoes.
(laughing)
I'll be right back.
- Yeah, he got a problem with mosquitoes.
(aerosol can spraying)
- Told me there are so
many mosquitoes here
but I didn't realize.
- He gonna have a long summer.
Ow.
- [Narrator] Jay moves
on to washing rocks,
looking for hints of green on the surface.
- I want to find some really,
really good green jade.
I had a good sleep, so
I have enough power now.
Maybe we can try this.
Guy, I found some real cool jade.
Where it is...
Oh, (beep).
- When you find good one,
you put a special mark on it.
Put a rock on it or something.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- This one sounds okay.
(engine revving)
- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Here. I found it.
It sounded good.
The color is good.
- Throw it on the saw.
We'll show him how to
cut and time will tell.
Never judge a book by its cover.
(excavator whirring)
(rocks thumping)
- I found some real cool jade.
This two.
- [Narrator] Jay wants to leave
these two boulders intact,
a common strategy in Chinese jade mining,
selling the potential for a bonanza later
rather than the sure thing
of a cut boulder now.
- We shouldn't cut this one.
- We have to.
- Why?
- We have to prove the in-
- (mumbles) we can see
so good outside.
If we keep whole, maybe better inside.
If we cut to half, we destroy this jade.
I want to keep the mystery.
And you will get more
money from this jade.
- We still gotta prove the inside.
- Okay.
- 'Cause that won't sell just like that.
Which one you wanna cut?
- This.
- This one?
- [Narrator] They haven't
found enough jade here yet
to start selling boulders
without cutting them.
- It's a catch-22 when you cut these.
You prove it or you
prove that it's not good.
So well, we're at the point here where
we have to prove our jade.
- Let 'er rip.
(saw engine revving)
(saw blade whirring)
- Let's go green today.
(blade slicing)
- No! No way.
- See. Told you.
- The color here is much
different from here.
Maybe try to cut this side.
Hey Guy, have 'er cut this again.
Just from this- from here.
- Yep, but I betcha any money
it's just that that's showing.
(mumbling) cut this.
- [Narrator] Guy humors the new guy.
He gives Jay the rare opportunity
to cut the same rock twice.
(saw whirring)
- Now we're cutting this one again
'cause we think there's maybe
more jade on the one side.
Normally we don't cut rocks twice,
but we're trying, so I dunno.
If this don't work, it won't happen again.
(hammer banging)
- [Narrator] Guy is humoring new guy, Jay,
by making a second cut on a rock
Jay thinks is a winner.
- No way.
- One spot, right here.
- Just this part.
- We make one bear outta that.
Oh, it's the first sign
of jade, I guess, yeah,
but it's just like...
- This side is (beep).
- More (beep) than jade.
- Yeah.
- (beep) jade.
- Maybe we can cut again.
- No. We can't be cutting
rocks four or five times.
Yeah, there is jade here.
You just need bigger
amounts on the same rock.
We need lots of rocks with jade.
Tons not ounces.
(auctioneer calling)
- [Robin] 160 already. (beep)
- Wow.
- [Narrator] At an auction in Edmonton,
Claudia and Robin are scrambling
to get an excavator within their budget.
- Wow. 100, about 1000 over, you bet.
- [Narrator] A hot market
has driven prices up
leaving Claudia and Robin
with one last machine
they want to bid on.
- [Auctioneer] Thank you. (mumbling)
- [Robin] We're gonna
try. We're gonna try for-
- [Claudia] This one.
- [Auctioneer] Let's get 'er going.
(auctioneer calling)
Sold for 120,000.
- That's it. We're done.
We saved 50 grand.
- [Narrator] Finally, they get one.
- We actually got it.
Everything else had
been running high here,
and we got a price we were looking for
so that's a good thing.
- I hope you did good. (laughs)
- Yep.
(track rolling)
- We're ready to load
up and get out as fast
as we can now, yep.
Not like we weren't broke before
but now we're really broke.
A truckload of jade and
a truckload of money.
Wo-hoo.
(bird screeching)
- [Narrator] Up at
Wolverine, Guy and his crew
are running out time to find some jade
before the bosses return.
- Today, Robin and Claudia are coming in
so it'd be nice to have one
rock with lots of jade in it.
So we gotta couple hours yet.
All the painted ones sound good,
but we haven't cut one good one yet, so.
- [Narrator] The only jade found so far
is too small to sell.
- 2% of a rock that's jade,
it's not worth cutting
'cause it costs too
much to get there, so...
You know, we just gotta keep trying.
(dog tags rattling)
- [Narrator] Down on
their luck, the crew wants
to take a chance on a unique rock.
- Let's make this the one, hey, Jay?
(engine revving)
(saw blade whirring)
- [Narrator] Water runoff
from the saws is starting
to become an issue.
- [R2] The water's just going everywhere.
- [Jay] Mm-hmm (affirmative).
- And we gotta direct flow
so it stays in the channels.
When we're handling a
big rock, and if we slip,
we can go under and really get hurt.
Make waterways, right?
- Okay.
- Yeah, scoop all this mud outta here.
- Yeah.
- Perfect just like that.
Yeah, just drag-
- Ow, my back.
- Oh what, just twinge?
- Yep. (sighing)
I can't do this.
I'll be right back.
- Don't worry, I won't charge ya
for the endorphin release.
That's a bonus at the end.
Open up your channels here.
(groaning)
Other side of the scapulae.
(groaning)
Jay pulled his back a
little earlier there.
Stiffening up, so we better fix him up
so he can get out there and keep working.
The more it hurts, the
deeper your breaths, 'kay?
- (groans) Not so hard.
- I'm the camp medic.
I'm also a bit of a massage
therapist you can call it.
Big breath.
Stay relaxed.
But I don't do that
nice relaxation massage.
I like being effective.
(moaning)
Quite a bit of pain, but
he's gonna thank me later.
I'll come getcha in about three hours.
(door closing)
(machinery ringing)
Well, we're down a man.
It's you and me.
- [Guy] Okay.
Let's crack this bad boy open.
- Let's see what's in that egg.
- Cross your fingers.
(hammer pinging)
(rock cracking)
- (beep) That only took what?
- [Guy] Three hours.
- [R2] Three hours.
- [Narrator] Guy and R2
have run out of time.
Claudia and Robin are on their way back
from spending big bucks on an excavator,
but there'll be no new jade to show them.
- It'd be nice to have
a nice even B carving
piece there laying cut up but
not gonna happen today so...
Like I said yesterday, tomorrow.
- [R2] Let's see what's in that egg.
(hammer pinging)
(rock cracking)
(beep) That only took, what?
- [Guy] Three hours.
- [R2] Three hours.
- [Narrator] Two weeks into
the season and the crew
at Wolverine has yet to yield
a single boulder of jade.
- It's not funny anymore.
- At this point, we're
getting pretty desperate.
We wanna see jade.
That's what we're here to mine.
Not (beep) stones.
Robin and Claudia are flying in today,
and we're coming up with nothing.
What can I say?
- Gonna have to figure something out here.
(saw whirring)
(helicopter blades beating)
- [Claudia] Did you find jade?
Is your pockets full of jade?
- [Narrator] Claudia and Robin
are back from the auction
after buying a second excavator.
A jade boulder would help
pay for the new purchase.
(whistling)
- So how are things going?
- Not a whole lot of
production, that's for sure.
- [Narrator] After spending three days
trying to build Jay up, R2 now concedes
the new guy is slowing them down.
- A lot of holding hands, babysitting.
A good attitude and everything,
but just not cut out for it, right.
He oughta be able to lift 20 pounds.
- Mm-kay.
- 50 would be even better.
(crisp biting)
- [Narrator] It looks like
all of the early signs
of jade here turned up nothing
once the rocks were cut.
- [Claudia] We're not gonna
have one (beep) ounce.
- Every night, pray for that boulder,
and if you're really
anxious, pray for five.
- Well, I'm not a praying kind of guy,
but I would like to show you
to one 2-inch jade we got.
- [Narrator] Guy takes
them to see the rock
Jay had found the previous day.
- It can't be jade.
- Yeah, it's jade.
You'll see.
- [Claudia] Can't be jade on the inside.
- [Guy] What's that?
- [Claudia] Yep. It's jade.
- It's beautiful. AAA.
See if the whole rock was like that,
it'd be a good thing.
- Little tiny bits of green
to show that we actually
have jade on the property is huge for us.
That's beyond dangle jewelry.
- It doesn't get any better'n that.
- Nope. But we have to find it.
- I know.
So we keep digging until
we find another one
that's just like it.
(water splashing)
- [Narrator] Josh arrives
with another truck full
of fuel and supplies.
- [Claudia] You survived.
(grunting)
(laughing)
- How did I do that?
I didn't stop.
- [Narrator] And everyone is excited
to show him the latest find.
- [Guy] Found the nicest jade ever.
- You found your own jade?
Like you found jade here?
- Right here.
- [Claudia] Yeah.
(laughing)
You wanna see?
Come see, Joshy-pea.
- [Guy] It's right there.
- No way.
I was thinking about this
the whole way in here.
I'm just so-
- [Group] Whoa!
- [Claudia] Look at it.
- Right there, right now, you have jade.
Right there, right now.
It's just...
- I know. Little. (laughs)
- But it exists.
- It's a baby.
- I'm so proud.
It took Grandpa six years 'til
they had this moment, so...
- [Claudia] We have 4000 acres here.
We're only on five or 10
acres right here, mining.
Could it just be one
more foot ahead of us?
That's the gamble.
- [Narrator] Next time on "Jade Fever."
(helicopter roaring)
- [Crewman] Could be the mine inspector.
- [Inspector] What have you
got for a first aid room now?
Where's the helicopter stretcher?
- [Crewman] The spine board?
- Well, I thought we for sure
had one here, but we don't.
One slip, one wrong move.
We're nothing to a 10-pound boulder.
- Whoa.
- You might get a person
to a hospital in two hours.
- R2, run!
- Someone just fell?
(groaning)
- 'kay, get that arm.
- We're in trouble here.
(moaning)
- [Radio Responder] Do not
a backboard there, correct?
(wind roaring)