Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 3, Episode 11 - The Big Fin - full transcript

(car engine idling)

- [Narrator] It's 9:00 p.m. in Jade City

and Guy and Justin are heading out for

another graveyard shift.

- [Guy] I never get used to night shift,

you just do it and get it over with.

I don't like it.

- Hold it!

- I'm heartbroken for the boys going.

- [Justin] Can't go wrong with that.

- Okay.
- Thank you.



- [Claudia] I brought
them treats and goodies.

- Got all kinds of snacks.

- And look it, Guy's already
snacking on one of them,

hasn't even left the drive way.

- [Guy] Don't worry I'll
take care of your treats.

- They're exhausted, the
day shift's exhausted

the night shift's exhausted.

- [Narrator] The crew has been
mining full tilt for 2 weeks

trying to do something that
hasn't been done before,

quarrying jade.

- [Justin] This is the
first time ever jade quarry,

that's one for the history books.

- Very cool.

- Okay starting up.



- [Narrator] Hard rock
jade mining is normally

done with an excavator that exposes

and then pulls down lenses of jade.

Quarrying jade requires more
machinery and precision.

But it's faster and yields
a more finished product

if it works.

- [Man] Crank the speed up a bit.

- [Guy] The boys drilled the
holes today on day shift.

The jade should get better yeah.

This next cut, there should be
all that and a bag of chips.

We hope.

- [Narrator] So far, everything
they have tried to extract.

- [Justin] There's a chunk of it moving.

- [Narrator] Has fallen apart.

(rocks crumble)

- [Justin] Pretty (beep).

- Fractured, eh?
- Yeah.

(beep) Junk.

- It's all garbage.

- [Narrator] Some pieces have been sizable

but nothing like the big blocks of jade

they promised their investors.

- The pressure from the investors
it's still pretty high as

we have yet to produce
dimensional stone blocks,

so we're hoping that it
stays solid otherwise

it's another hunk of crap.

- [Guy] Oh, I love walking
in here, little bit of heat.

- Jing a ling.

That didn't sound good.

- [Justin] what the
(beep) is going on here?

- Ugh, I (beep) hate this (beep).

- [Guy] Ooh.

That's pinched pretty good, eh?

- [Justin] Oh yeah.

- [Narrator] Just like previous cuts,

this block is crumbling.

The loose rocks have pinched the wire saw

and stopped the cutting.

- Well, since we can't do the third cut,

we're going to try and rip her apart.

The excavator's probably
not gonna like it.

- [Narrator] They'll have
to use the excavator to pull

the block down, and hope
that it stays intact.

- [Claudia] Everybody is hoping that

the deeper that we go in
dynasty the better the jade.

- Okay

- Give her (beep).

(rocks crumbling)

- [Guy] Oh bitch.

Broke apart

a little easier than we thought so,

far from being jade.

- Oh My God.

(upbeat country music)

- [Man] This is gonna be
the million dollar rock.

- Yee hoo!

(laughing)

- [Claudia] Jade make
people do crazy things.

(guitar music)

- Eight, 16, 21,

33, there's another eight,

there's your 40.

- [Narrator] Mike and Gary are
doing some math at Dynasty.

- My job today is to kinda
go through our products,

take a tally and start
working out rough tonnages.

- You got 50 here.

- Yeah 50.

So in 14 days we've extracted--

- 50 tons of jade.

- We said a 120 tons, we're doing good.

- [Narrator] The small
boulders add up to 50 tons.

Not even halfway to their 120 ton goal.

And their investors expect big slabs

suitable for tables and countertops.

- It ain't gonna happen.

- Unless that thing's solid jade

in which case we might get it.

I bet there's more than 50 tons there.

- [Gary] Oh yeah that whole
end is more than 50 tons.

- Oh yeah, easily.

- [Narrator] The next
segment the outcropping they

call the Big Fin has to deliver.

- [Mike] The Big Fin represents
about 50% of our tonnage

so it's important that we
get over there quickly.

(beep) it better not snow anytime soon.

- You need a hug?

- Getting there 'cause you
know why, it's (beep) cold.

- [Narrator] Winter is creeping in.

- [Mike] Yeah, one of
the colder ones so far.

- [Narrator] Once the
site fully freezes over

they'll have to shut down.

- Mining in freezing sucks.

As you can see I got like, 18 layers on.

- [Gary] Want to go hit that pump for me?

Thanks.

(engine starting)

- Okay, give her.

- Really?

(beep) Awesome,

it's a frozen up a little bit.

As soon as you get long,
sustained temperature drops,

everything will freeze up.

So we really need to ramp up production

before the weather sets in.

Oh, I hate winter.

- Son of a bitch, eh?

- Without water we shut down.

- You just got to tap it, it froze.

- [Mike] 'Kay.

- [Gary] Freezing and mining is a nay nay.

Can't mine without
water, and water freezes.

- [Mike] we need water to
lubricate everything when we're

cutting and drilling so, yeah, it's vital.

- [Gary] Keep her goin',
oh it's comin' through.

- There she goes.

- [Mike] Keep on, keep it on.

- [Narrator] For now winter
is just giving them a warning.

- [Mike] All right we got the valve on.

- No, where's the hammer?

- There?
- Take it slow.

- [Narrator] Mike and Gary
get to work drilling the first

saw hole on the Big Fin.

They'll drill two horizontal
holes and one vertical that

all meet to form a back corner.

Then they'll thread a saw
wire three times to cut out

what they hope will be
a solid slab of jade.

- [Gary] Keep going, keep going.

- [Mike] Today is a
busy day for Gary and I.

We're drilling holes for the diamond wire

then need to start sawing before

the crew gets back for the night shift,

so that they can get that finished up.

- [Gary] This thing done.

(drilling)

- [Mike] Wow, that is hard,
essentially we're putting in the

anchor for this turn drill.

We're finally getting over to the Big Fin

and it's really, really hard

so that's a good sign.

All right, hole's done, get rollin.

- [Narrator] Jade is the toughest gemstone

so the hardness of the
Big Fin is promising

but the drills are having a tough

time getting through and
are kicking back hard.

- [Mike] I can't get enough
push on it 'cause it's just

coming straight at me.

- Lift up on it keep going, up, up.

Oh, you gotta hold on to her, man!

- [Mike] (beep) Hate this (beep).

- [Gary] Here let me get a hold of that.

(beep)

- Are you okay?

- [Gary] Oh yeah

- Yeah, it got me too.

God, I hate that thing.

How come we got stuck with day shift?

(laughs)

- [Narrator] They move the drill over

to do the second horizontal hole,

which must form a right
angle with the first.

Finally they make the vertical hole and

thread the saw wire through.

- Just about to start the vertical cut

on the Big Fin, very exciting.

- [Gary] You ready?

- [Mike] All right.

(machine hums)

Hang on.

- I'll go backwards a little bit.

- [Mike] That's tight.

- [Gary] You have to pull from the top,

I'll pull from the bottom.

- 'Kay.

- [Gary] We're gonna
fight with this (beep).

We're gonna beat it, it's
just gonna take some time.

Can you pull back now?

- [Mike] Again.

- [Narrator] The saw wire is stuck.

- [Gary] No, only goes in
so far and then jams solid.

- [Narrator] Gary checks
the other horizontal hole

and sees the issue.

- [Gary] Lining up isn't very good.

- [Mike] Really?

- [Narrator] Their holes
don't quite line up.

- [Gary] I don't know what to do.

Son of a bitch, eh?

(grunts)

You rotten piece of garbage.

Cursed Fin.

(grunts)

And you can't move it your way at all, eh?

- [Mike] No.

- [Narrator] At Dynasty, Mike and Gary are

tugging away at a jammed
saw wire on the Big Fin.

The three holes they drilled
don't line up properly.

- [Mike] All three of the holes
still meet but the vertical

one is kind of pitched
forward a little bit.

I don't know what to do.

- [Gary] The only thing I
can suggest is re-drill it.

- [Mike] Like a foot behind
it if it's a foot ahead

and then keep it tapered?

- Yup.

- [Mike] It's not ideal but--

- [Gary] Not much of a choice though.

We can't even get the
cable out of there now.

So we gotta break it free either way.

- [Mike] yeah.

What we're gonna do is cut
the cable on either end.

We lose 15 feet but we
can't afford an extra day

of messing around trying
to get the cable out.

- [Narrator] They leave
the pinched section of wire

and prepare to drill a
new slightly angled hole.

- [Mike] Whoa, whoa, whoa.

- [Narrator] That will ease
the right angle inside that's

snagging the wire.

- [Mike] Okay, fire it up.

- Good?
- Yup.

- [Mike] Sweet.

- [Narrator] After hours of drilling--

- [Gary] Okay, fire in the
hole, let's see what happens.

Jing a ling.

- [Narrator] The new hole lines up.

But they're leaving the
cutting for the night crew.

[Mike] Good job, bud.

It was a busy day but, the
night shift will take over now.

Oh, that feels good.

- [Justin] Feeling a little
tired, it's getting chilly

but we got a lot of work
to do so, work through it.

- [Narrator] Justin and
Guy have arrived for

the graveyard shift.

- [Justin] Yup, definitely tired.

- [Narrator] And the
temperature has dropped.

- [Guy] It's (beep) cold.

You know most jade miners are

sleeping or drinking beer, eh?

- Yeah, here we are.

- [Narrator] Their job
tonight is to cut out

the base of the Big Fin,

the jade lens that will either
make or break their year.

- This is what we base
the whole program off of.

It's the largest exposed piece of jade

that we have on the property.

I got to start the generator up.

- Night shift.

Living the dream man, I'm telling you.

Just doesn't get any better than this.

- The (beep) is going on here?

No water.

We got some frozen water line
issues going on right now.

- [Guy] You're frozen right here.

Got caught didn't drain properly and, uh,

yeah just got caught.

- [Narrator] They need
to thaw the frozen hoses

before they can cut.

- [Guy] Well, we have to
bring 'em in the tent tonight

because we don't have a
torch or nothing, so, yeah,

brought in 50 feet of one inch water line

and 100 feet of garden hose.

- [Justin] We might not
even be cutting 'till like,

two or three o'clock.

- Two.
- Yeah.

(somber guitar music)

- Is it still frozen?

- Well, they're still frozen somewhere.

Right here.

You can hear it moving.

- [Guy] There.

- [Justin] It's freezing.

- [Guy] Great, now we flooded the tent.

(laughs)

She's all good.

- All right, try this again.

- [Narrator] It's 3:00 a.m.
and the water in the hoses

is finally thawed.

- Can you turn the water on?

- [Guy] Okay.

Do we got water?

- [Justin] Yeah it's coming
out the whole area so yeah.

- Kay, cool.
- Cool.

- Cool.
- Cool.

Okay fire it up again.

(engine revs)

Jing a ling.

Started up pretty good.

Yeah, wire saw is
running, water's running.

So far so good.

- We're cuttin'.

'Kay, well let's warm up.

- [Narrator] With the saw running smoothly

Guy and Justin head inside.

(whistles)

- [Guy] Come on, Cougar.

- It's pretty slow.

Nobody likes working night shift.

It's a terrible shift to
work especially on a program

where you're basically
just babysitting a saw.

- [Guy] Didn't have very good sleep today.

I never really adjust to night shift.

- [Justin] You are sleepy.

(snoring)

(machine drills)

(chain rattles)

(dramatic music)

(snoring)

(somber guitar music)

- [Guy] She broke, eh?

- [Justin] Yeah the spikes came out.

- [Narrator] The graveyard
shift is awake and

discovering what happened
while they were napping.

- [Guy] The cable broke, common problem.

What, it's in there, six to eight inches?

- [Narrator] Justin thinks
the partial cut may end up

helping them bring down the Big Fin.

- [Justin] Because there's
only six inches left

of the cut, we're just going
to move the wire saw over

and that material will keep
that slab from falling down

while we do the back cut and
then we just go pull on it

with the excavator it'll just break off.

We would have liked to
have cut through but we'll

just use that to our advantage
and get this night over with.

- Now we're gonna move the
whole saw and set it up

for the boys on day shift and then that'll

probably be it for tonight.

(ambient music)

- [Claudia] It is early.

- [Narrator] In Jade City,
Claudia is just starting her day,

while Guy and Justin are ending theirs.

(chuckles)

- [Claudia] It's actually
a little early for us

and very late for the boys.

Was it cold last night?

- Everything froze.

All the water lines, the pumps,
the pulleys on the wire saw.

Everything.

- Now what?

- [Justin] Well, we didn't
get cutting 'till three.

- You didn't cut 'till
three in the morning?

- [Justin] Yeah but it's almost through,

it almost cut through in four hours.

- [Gary] It looks like they
just plopped the saw there

and said, ah, let's call it a night.

- [Narrator] The day shift
have arrived at Dynasty

and Mike and Gary are piecing together the

graveyard crew's work.

- [Mike] Night shift always (beep) it up.

(laughs)

It's the only reason day shift exists.

- And I'm guessing they tried
pullin' the wires through

and they couldn't.

- [Mike] Oh look at that.

- [Narrator] The night
crew threaded the wire

for the back cut, now one
last cut is all that's

standing between them and
the Big Fin coming down.

- [Gary] Fire in the hole.

(machine engine revving)

- [Mike] Oh Gary, we're golden.

(machine engine revving)

- [Gary] (beep) Me!

You son of a bitch!

- [Narrator] The saw wire has seized.

- [Mike] And the cable?

- [Gary] No, no, no,
it's in the main hole,

it's just full of crap.

- [Mike] Yeah, I figured as much.

- Oh there's just so much
(beep) in the back fracture here

falling into our hole,

can't feed a line through.

Told ya, gonna fight
with this (beep) sucker.

- [Mike] She's gonna
fight to the bitter end

but she's coming down one way or another.

- [Narrator] Mike investigates
and discovers the reason

for the loose rocks.

- Is this the fracture
you're worried about

right here, Mike?

- [Mike] Yeah.

- [Narrator] There's a
fracture line along the back

of the Big Fin.

- See, kind of, it continues
along the level of where we've

been, but there's no sign
of fracturing or faulting

around the front face.

For us this whole quarry
technique is new and what we're

finding is because your
jade material is so dense

compared to your host rock material

and because it's angled
out already at like,

an 80 degree dip it's gonna
naturally want to pivot.

- [Narrator] Mike thinks
they can topple the Big Fin

with the excavator bucket.

- In all likelihood we'd be
able to put pressure on it

and the block would move.

- [Gary] We're going to
bring this piece down today

hopefully in a safe
manner and in one piece.

- [Mike] It's very important
that it stays intact

because this is what we
need to show that it's

possible to make a
dimensional block in jade.

If it doesn't, you know maybe
this method of jade extraction

isn't viable.

So don't (beep) it up Gary.

(laughing)

- Don't bother me when I'm
trying to (beep) it up.

(laughing)

- Time is running out,

this is eight months and

300, 400K.

- This is the one that makes
or breaks these two boys.

- [Mike] We're gonna drop her
down and it's just gonna be a

100 ton piece of grade A jade.

Our whole program's based on
that thing coming down intact.

We'll see how it works.

- [Narrator] Claudia and
Robin arrive to watch

the Big Fin come down.

- [Claudia] Seven years ago
Robin came on to this site

and that was the point
that he saw and that's why

he wanted this claim.

- Very exciting.

- This big bitch is what brought us here.

(laughing)

- [Mike] Let's do it.

(dramatic music)

- [Claudia] It's been a long time.

A long seven years.

- [Mike] There is movement.

- Is there?
- Oh yeah.

- [Claudia] Are you sure
you can pull that down?

- [Mike] Just like that.

- [Man] That is a big (beep)
piece of jade, my friend.

- [Robin] It's very important
that the Big Fin stays intact.

If anything goes wrong,
they're gonna lose everything.

- [Claudia] Oh it's moving.

- [Gary] You ready, Mike?

- [Narrator] It's the moment
of truth for the Dynasty crew.

The Big Fin is coming down.

- [Mike] This is the largest
most predominant lens

on this site.

- Oh (beep).

- [Claudia] Can he pull?

- [Gary] There's a lot of weight there.

(rock crumbles)

- [Claudia] Oh, scared
the (beep) out of me.

(rock crumbles)

(screams)

It totally freakin' stayed together.

- [Robin] Yeah.

- [Gary] That's all broke off right there.

- [Mike] I told you not to break it.

(laughs)

That's the coolest thing I've ever done.

- [Gary] Color is great.

- [Claudia] Solid.

- [Gary] That's right through.

- It

worked perfectly.

- That's like, right through.

- Yeah.

- It's the first time jade
has ever been quarried.

That is

something to be a part of.

- [Narrator] The crew has
made jade mining history

and the young miners
finally have a dimensional

block of jade to show their investors.

- [Robin] Oh yeah, Justin
will be very happy.

- [Narrator] With this slab
of jade, Mike estimates

they have 100 tons.

Leaving them 20 tons shy
of their investor's target.

- [Guy] That's how you start a shift.

- [Justin] That's kinda big.

- [Narrator] Later in
the night, Mike brings

the grave yard crew to see the

first big success of their operation.

- [Guy] This is actually not bad, guys.

You guys got some tabletops here.

- Oh for sure we do.

- [Mike] I'd like to see
another one of those come down.

- You got a couple more of them comin'.

- [Narrator] But the frigid
weather that will end

their mining season is creeping in.

- We're in a rush to get as much material

off that mountain as we
can, more jade we pull off

the more money we can potentially make.

- [Narrator] Next time on Jade Fever.

- [Mike] Welcome.

- [Guy] Looks like something went boom.

- We're the only jade
miners mining right now

'cause everything freezes.

- [Gary] Pushing it a little bit.

- [Claudia] Oo it smells.

- From the valve to the
tank, it's froze up.

- [Man] Fire in the hole.

- [Guy] Winter's coming.

- Hey Guy, bit of a change of plans.

- [Justin] It's four inches of snow

Think it's about time we call it quits.

- [Gary] Life and times of jade minin'.