Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 3, Episode 9 - Slabs of Jade - full transcript

(guitar music)

- [Gary] Justin, you ready?

- [Justin] Okay.

- [Gary] Give her.

- [Narrator] It's early morning
at the Dynasty jade mine

in Northern British Columbia.

- Going to be cutting now.

We're just watching to
see how the wire plays,

and to make sure the tension's
good and cutting in proper.

- [Narrator] Justin Bunce and
his crew are getting dirty.

- [Gary] Gonna get wet, Guy.



- Mama used to give us
(beep) for water and mud,

and now I get paid for it.

(dog barking)

- [Man] (inaudible) Hey!

- [Narrator] Justin's
business partner, Mike Meade,

pulls into the sites a little late.

- [Mike] Hi, everybody.

- [Guy] Hey! That's a
funny looking hard hat.

(laughing)

- What?

- [Justin] You bought
yourself a white hat.

- [Mike] Yeah?

'Cause I'm the boss.

(laughing)



- [Claudia] White hats
always mean, you know,

the guy whose in charge.

That usually means an engineer,
somebody's who's in control.

- [Justin] You get a
yellow hat like the boys

and away ya go.

- [Mike] (scoffs) Okay.

I'm an engineer

and a lot of people don't think highly

of engineers because they
think they know everything

and they sit in a desk all day.

- [Guy] Where's your gloves?

- Gloves?

- [Guy] No gloves?

Gotta get rid of your dishpan hands!

- I don't want that.

I want people to see
me first as, you know,

a boots on the ground manager

rather than just a know it all engineer.

- So did I come all this
way just to get chirped,

or are we going to look at some jade?

(laughter)

- [Justin] So, uh...

- [Mike] How's it going?

- [Justin] Things are going good. Cuttin'.

- [Mike] Sweet.

- [Narrator] Justin and
Mike want to extract

dimensional blocks to
make jade table tops,

and they're using a
method normally reserved

for quarrying marble.

- It's all a gamble right
now. It's a big risk

but everyone's behind us.

Everyone wants to see if
it's potentially the new way

that hard rock jade is going to be mined.

- [Claudia] They're young,
they want to prove something.

They've watched us mine but they have

a different idea so
they're taking a chance.

But they're willing to try.

- [Narrator] Their target
is a piece they've nicknamed

The Big Fin, the best jade on site.

- We'll have to dig it
out and cut down deeper.

- When Mike and I polished the lenses

to see if it was a viable project for us

- [Mike] That's like grade A.

- [Justin] and we seen the
quality of the material

that was there, we were
pretty excited because

it was a lot higher than
what we had expected.

- [Narrator] Before
they get to The Big Fin,

they have to cut through
several outcroppings

and on this jade-rich site,
every cut could reveal

more green.

- [Guy] There's definitely jade.

See? There's a piece of jade right there.

- [Justin] So, Mike, the
new saw position is set.

- [Narrator] Justin and Mike's new program

is only a week old.

- Any issues, or...?

- [Justin] Not yet.

- [Narrator] But they've
already faced a major setback.

- Okay? Clear?

- Clear!

(engine whirring)

- [Narrator] On the first
day of their program,

one of their two wire saws broke.

- [Mike] (beep) me!

- [Justin] It won't fire up?

- [Mike] Nope. We're not
getting power to the main motor.

- [Justin] Something's blown.

- [Narrator] Now, with
just one functioning saw,

the two young miners are under the gun

to keep their investors happy.

- [Justin] We have business
partners involved with us

So for Mike and I, we
have to do really good

to hope to impress these people.

- [Claudia] Having partnerships

and having investors is really tough.

If they can make it through season one,

then they can make it through anything.

- [Gary] If it's cuttin' this
way, then it'll flatten out?

- It'll flatten right
out right at the bottom.

- Yeah.

- Thinking about leavin' her as she is.

- Yeah, well it's workin'.

It's cuttin' the way we want.

- [Justin] Yeah.

- [Mike] Hey, Gary! That's fallen off.

Is it okay?

Gary!

- [Guy] Oh, no!

- [Mike] Justin!

(hammer strikes)

- [Woman] Oh, my God!

(truck engine revving)

(upbeat music)

- [Man] This is going to
be the million dollar rock!

(music continues)

- Yahoo!

(laughter)

- [Woman] Jade makes
people do crazy things.

- [Justin] Is it okay? What's going on?

- [Guy] It's trash. She broke.

- [Justin] For (beep) sakes.

- [Narrator] At Dynasty, Justin
and Mike's mining program

is at a standstill, again.

- Both lengths came apart?

- Yup.

- Wow.

- The other length's layin' back here.

- Right behind you.

- Wow, wow.

- [Guy] She snapped.

- [Gary] Huh.

- That's just a pain in the ass.

- [Narrator] They have no spare wire,

so they hope a quick fix can
keep the operation on track.

- [Gary] Take that kinker.

- Yeah.

- [Gary] Crimping these two lines together

with just a little steel
collar with grooves in it

and this little press
puts out twelve tons.

So we squeeze it around
the cable on each end

where we join 'em and it's
actually, when it's done,

just as strong or stronger
than the cable itself.

If it's done wrong, they do come apart.

But hopin' we can get her, hopin', hopin'.

- [Gary] But we're pretty
much straight there, right?

- [Guy] Yeah.

- [Justin] Need to pull
some back, don't ya, Guy?

- [Guy] Right on that
little notch here, right?

- [Justin] Yeah, in that groove
that we got dug in there.

- [Guy] Let 'er rip!

- [Mike] Okay?

(engine whirring)

(suspenseful music)

- Is it tightening up?

- How's that Gary?

(saw buzzing)

(suspenseful music)

- [Gary] We got a groove down now there.

It's gonna go like this.

- [Guy] Jing-a-ling!

- [Narrator] The quick
fix on the wire holds.

- [Gary] Way more gooder.

- [Mike] It is a stressful time.

There's a lot of risk involved
with a venture like this.

I will feel better when we prove

that this concept is really
profitable and really valuable.

(music)

- [Claudia] Okay. Let's go try
to figure out this hot tub.

- [Narrator] In Jade
City, Claudia is hoping

to provide some stress relief for her crew

by kick-starting an old project.

The Jade City version of a hot tub.

- [Scrappy] So we better put

a porta-potty close by too, ya know?

They already told me
they can't pee in there.

- Scrappy! Seriously!

(laughter)

- [Narrator] Last summer,
Scrappy Larry had a brainstorm.

- I was thinking about making a hot tub.

- [Man] Hold it!

- [Scrappy] Yeah, it can blow up.

It could all of a sudden
go whoomp right now.

- [Claudia] Hot tub. Out
of an old diesel tank.

Only Scrappy would think of that.

(laughter)

- [Claudia] That doesn't look any better

than it looked last year.

- [Scrappy] Okay.

- [Claudia] Great idea
to make it six feet deep,

but how the hell do you get in?

- [Scrappy] Well, that's
where you make steps up.

You see it would look really nice

with a nice stained
walkway around it and a

- [Claudia] Scrappy!

- [Scrappy] And a little guardrail.

- Seriously.

- You're gonna have to have a little gate

on the steps going up

'cause otherwise you gotta
watch this 24 hours a day.

Some little kid falls in
there, they'll ruin the water.

- [Claudia] Scrappy, seriously!

(laughter)

- I hate you for doing
this, you know that, eh?

(laughter)

- [Scrappy] I think it's going to be a hit

and, uh, we need a little
more fun things around here.

- Seriously, how are
we going to heat this?

- We can do a pipe in and
a pipe out direct heat.

A water heater kind of thing.

- I don't think that we can
clean it enough in there.

- It's just soot. Oily soot in there.

- [Claudia] Okay, this is what I think

My idea was to put a big
huge bladder in there.

- [Scrappy] That's even better.

- [Claudia] So you got a
bladder that I can use?

- Yeah.

- [Claudia] Okay, that
actually might work, you guys.

- Yeah, there you go.

- Now look what I got you into, Claudia.

(laughter)

- [Claudia] Okay, let's go.

- I'm happy we're finally getting
started on getting it done

'cause I think it's gonna be a blast.

- [Claudia] You need the people.

Bring it and the people will come.

(laughter)

(music)

- [Justin] Things are
going good with the cut.

We're almost done.

- [Narrator] Later, at
Dynasty, Claudia and Robin

arrive to check out the crew's progress.

- [Claudia] I'm back in the Dynasty mine.

I'm really happy. The boys
have been cutting like crazy,

there's lots of equipment
and lots of man power.

- [Worker] We're almost right through!

- [Worker] Got a couple inches there.

- Looking good, guys, looking good.

(Equipment shutting down)

- [Worker] Done!

(Claudia cheering)

- [Worker] Didn't even fall.

- [Narrator] The wire
saw has finished its cut.

Now Guy needs to gently topple the lens.

- Is that not going to be
dangerous for the bucket?

- I'll just give 'er a tap.

- The larger chunks we
wanna try and keep intact.

We don't want the jade
breaking into smaller chunks.

- [Narrator] If this lens
fractures it's worthless.

(equipment whirring)

- Right there, yep!

- [Claudia] Oh, half's
coming! Only half! Ooh!

- [Claudia] Right there! Yep!

- [Narrator] Justin and
Mike's mining program

is beginning to show cracks.

- [Claudia] Oh, half's
coming! Only half! Ooh!

(rocks falling)

- [Justin] Ah, it's (beep)
junk. It's all garbage.

When you take a knife
to it, it's too soft.

- [Guy] We need the whole rock like this.

- [Justin] This lens will always be junk.

Soft as (beep).

- [Narrator] It's bad
news for the young miners

who have yet to pull down
any high-quality jade

from the site.

- [Claudia] It is a pressure
cooker on these boys.

It's the middle of the season.

They have no time to waste on bad jade.

- It's not salvageable at all, eh?

- No, I don't expect anything out of this.

(sad music)

(phone ringing)

- [Narrator] Mike gets a surprise call.

- [Mike] Hello?

Pardon?

- [Narrator] The investors are unhappy

about the first samples of
jade that were sent down

to Vancouver.

- Yeah, yeah, no, for sure.

It's just that I don't, I don't wanna,

I don't wanna rip on this and stress it.

Okay.

- [Mike] The company that we're
selling all our product to,

they need to see proof

that we're operating up here effectively

and that we have some decent
quality product on site.

- All right. Talk to you later. Bye-bye.

(beep)

- [Narrator] Justin and Mike
have to put quarrying on hold

and focus on pleasing their investors

which means taking a chunk
off the top of The Big Fin.

- [Mike] How much do you think
we'll be able to take down?

- [Justin] We're gonna
get the bottom of the V.

- [Narrator] Cutting a
portion off will drastically

reduce the value,

but Justin and Mike
don't have another option

if they want to keep their investors.

- We're having to cut
a piece of the lens off

that we really didn't
want to touch right now,

but it's a necessary evil.

- [Gary] It's the nicest
[beep] piece we've seen.

(rock music)

- [Scrappy] Keep 'er
going, bud. Keep 'er going!

- [Narrator] Meanwhile...

- [Josh] Water's a rockin'
and rollin' in there.

- [Narrator] Josh and
Scrappy Larry are dumping

a year's worth of rain and melted snow

out of the future Jade City hot tub.

- [Scrappy] Hopefully it's gonna work!

Keep comin'!

Woo-hoo!

We could make a giant
hamster wheel out of it.

(laughter)

- So far so good!

- [Josh] It's working way
better than I thought.

- [Scrappy] We're going to take it over

and pressure wash it so
it's all nice and clean.

- This is, uh, literally
a red-neck hot tub

so I don't think it
requires too much guidance.

- [Scrappy] Okay!

- [Josh] We're just gonna pressure wash it

so it's not such a cesspool.

- [Scrappy] There we go! Now we got 'er.

Look at that, that is spotless! I'm happy.

Tilt her back, lift her up a little bit?

- [Narrator] Josh guides the hot tub

into its final resting spot.

- [Josh] There's not really
a set industry standard

on how to set up a fuel-tank hot tub,

so we're kinda just going
by the seat of our pants.

- [Scrappy] Oop!

It's gonna work, you just mark my words.

(laughter)

(music)

- [Justin] I'm gonna drill
two holes, stuff it right in.

- [Mike] Yup.

- Run the cable through and then we'll

prep along that bottom crack

and it should break right on that fault.

- Okay.

- [Narrator] At Dynasty,
Justin and Mike get set

to take down a piece of
their prized jade lens

to send to their worried investors.

- [Mike] We're gonna
change up our strategy, um,

focus on some just getting
them some product down.

- [Worker] Whoa!

- [Mike] Here!

(drilling)

- [Narrator] The plan is to
drill holes through The Big Fin,

snake the wire saw through the holes...

- [Justin] All right, pull 'er up.

- [Narrator] ... and slice
off the top of the lens.

- [Justin] Okay, we're firin' up.

(engine whirring)

(music)

- [Mike] Woo-hoo!

It looks awesome from here.

It's already cut a significant amount.

You almost think we
knew what we were doing.

(laughter)

- [Justin] As soon as this
one's off, we'll contact a truck

and ship it down to the investors

because this is potentially
really high-quality jade.

(saw whirring)

- [Mike] You okay?

- [Gary] I'm good.

- [Justin] (beep) cable, Jesus.

- [Justin] Cable's pinched?

Okay, I'm pulling it my way again.

- Are you even moving it?

- [Narrator] At Dynasty, loose
rocks around the jade lens

have collapsed and pinched the saw wire.

- [Gary] Little rocks. They get wedged

in between the wire and
the rock we're cuttin'.

- [Justin] So what we're gonna do now is

we're gonna clear all
this rubble that keeps

fallin' through the cracks and

gettin' into the diamond
wire and pinching.

- [Narrator] The only
way to free up the wire

is to pull off the debris
from the side of the lens.

- [Gary] It's going to be tricky,

but, yeah, I can get up there.

- [Mike] Well, don't
scratch any of the jade.

- (Pfft)

- [Gary] Let's go to work, eh?

(Machine whirring)

- [Mike] Tell him to
come over about a foot.

- [Justin] Okay.

Boss, move your tooth over a little more!

- [Narrator] Mike is worried
that in trying to retrieve

the wire, they're going
to damage the lens.

- As long as it gets to Vancouver intact.

(rocks falling)

(machine whirring)

- [Mike] Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Oh, (beep).

- [Mike] Hey, that lens is gonna go.

- [Justin] He's just
gonna try and clean off

this right here.

- Probably get out of there, Mike.

- [Mike] Whoa, (beep).

(rocks crashing)

- [Justin] Boom-bah.

It's all good, Mike.

- [Gary] Well, I can see
the wire right there.

- [Mike] Yeah, she'll come.

Do you want it out?

Pull down this way, Justin.

- [Justin] I say, if ya get on
the other side and yank 'er.

- [Mike] Should I pull?

- [Justin] Yeah.

- [Justin] That's it?

- [Mike} Yeah, your way.

There we go.

- [Justin] Keep going.

You need to get new boots.

You're good?

- [Mike] Yep.

- 'Kay. Fire that saw back up again.

- [Narrator] Gary managed to free the wire

and leave the giant lens intact.

- [Justin] Okay, firing up!

(engine whirring)

- [Narrator] The crew
can get back to cutting

what they hope will be high-quality jade.

- [Justin] We can either flop
or we can do really well.

Who knows?

(saw whirring)

- Okay.

- [Narrator] In Jade
City, Robin is in charge

of a critical detail for the hot tub,

making sure the water is hot.

- [Robin] Hillbilly hot tub.

A bunch of weird

people's idea.

They don't use hot tubs,

way too many disgusting
things in hot tubs.

- Good to go! Sort of.

- [Claudia] So here's our beach

and then this is the hot tub!

(laughter)

- [Narrator] Larry has
brought the finishing touch.

A ten thousand gallon
bladder to line the tub.

- [Claudia] We'll all pull together.

We're going to get this hot tub done.

You guys can take it
from this end and drag it

over there.

We are a community that
loves being together.

Work hard, play hard.

- [Man] Okay!

- [Claudia] Good!

- Are you ready for some water in there?

- [Claudia] Yep!

- Okay.

- Yipe! It's yipe hot.

- Holy (beep) that's hot.

(laughter)

(upbeat music)

- [Guy] We're in business!

- [Narrator] After two
days of cutting at Dynasty,

it's the moment of truth
for Justin and Mike.

- [Guy] I think it's through the jade.

- All right, shut 'er down.

- [Mike] Okay!

(music)

- [Guy] Does Robin want
to come watch the show?

Wanna come watch?

- [Robin] Comin'.

- [Claudia] That piece is really important

to Justin and Mike 'cause
that shows the best potential.

If this piece falls apart,
they're in a lot of trouble

because their investors are
waiting to see something good.

- [Robin] If it fractures in taking it out

then the value is gone.
You must keep it intact.

- Let's fire up this bad boy
'cause she's coming down today.

- [Justin] The one side we
polished looks really good

but who knows how far in that goes.

I would have liked to have
thought it goes in quite a ways

but it could just be another
inch deep and that's it.

We don't know.

(suspenseful music)

- [Claudia] Here he comes.

- [Narrator] The Jade City
team is about to find out

whether the jade they've been chasing

will land at their feet
or crumble to dust.

- [Justin] You're gonna have to turn it.

- [Mike] It's just a little
nerve-wracking, right?

- [Justin] Back more.
Okay, down. There ya go.

- I don't wanna be too close.

- [Mike] Hey, Guy! You
break it, you buy it!

- (beep) please work.

- [Man] Let's do this!

- Back more. Okay, down. There ya go.

- I don't wanna be too close.

- [Narrator] At Dynasty,
the crew is pulling down

the top of The Big Fin and
hoping to keep it intact.

(machine whirring)

(rock breaking)

- [Claudia] That's it.

(rock breaking)

- [Claudia] It's coming apart.

- [Mike] There she goes.

(electric guitar)

- [Guy] Okay, here.

- [Mike] Oh, no, no. Okay, Guy.

- [Narrator] The jade has split in two.

- [Claudia] Oh, (beep)

- [Narrator] But on closer look...

- [Mike] Aw, you're so pretty.

- [Man] Ah, that works for us.

- [Mike] That is a big
piece of jade, my friend.

I'd like to polish that.

- [Guy] Jing-a-ling!

- [Mike] Yeah! That's
what I'm talking about!

- Not too pretty bad.

- [Narrator] Despite fracturing in half,

Mike's convinced the quality
in these two giant pieces

will be more than enough to quell

their investors' concerns.

- [Mike] (beep) that's gorgeous,
isn't it? That's so cool.

- Looks good on the cut there.

- Yeah.

- Hey, this just the
tip of the iceberg, man.

- [Justin] We actually hit something good.

- [Mike] Tipping it over
like that was nerve-wracking

because we didn't know how it
would fare with the small drop

but I'm really happy with
how things worked out.

- [Justin] All right, let's do it again,

only ten more times.

- No.

(laughing)

- [Claudia] You gotta see this. Let's go.

- [Narrator] In Jade City,
it's time for the unveiling

of Scrappy Larry's masterpiece.

- [Claudia] You guys, let's take this off.

- [Man] This this way..

- [Claudia] Okay, Scrappy!

- [Man] That is nice!

- [Scrappy] There! This one.

And then the other one.

And then the another one.

- [Man] Yeah!

- Oh, it's so good!

- It's time to have a party.

- [Man] Comin' in hot!

(cheering)

(splash)

(cheering)

- [Man] It is awesome!

- [Man] I lost my shorts.

- [Man] This is perfect.

- [Claudia] Okay,
Scrappy, start undressin'.

- [Narrator] Finally, the
unlikely man of the hour

tries out his creation.

- Nice.

(splash)

(laughter)

- [Claudia] The hot tub is perfect timing.

We've had a really rough year.

As a community, we really need this.

(chatter)

- That was great.

- [Claudia] We're not
just a mining family,

we're a community. We work
together, and we play together.

(cheering)

- [Claudia] That's who we are.

- [Scrappy] We're just
supposed to let out bubbles,

what's these lumps floatin' around?

(laughter)

- [Narrator] Next time on Jade Fever.

- [Man] Might get lucky!

- [Man] All you need is
air and a beach towel.

- [Guy] I can't see it,
it's not here anymore.

Million dollar mining outfit,
we're down to a branch

and a bungee hook.

- [Man] Alan, I presume.

- Alan.

- Gary.

- Nice to meet you.

- [Alan] Cool fracture, right? Too loose.

- I'm worried about your investment.

- [Guy] Going to be
like downtown Montreal!

- [Man] About as good as night shift gets.

(rocks breaking)

- [Man] Night shift's
for whores and thieves.

(tone echos)