Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 4, Episode 14 - We Found Jade - full transcript
After a rough summer and with no Grade A jade to her name, Claudia is desperate to turn things around before winter brings mining to a halt. Drill cores at a new lens could be the win she ...
(upbeat music)
- [Robin] Okay let's go!
- [Claudia] Let the sunshine in.
(laughter)
- Back to work.
Let's go!
(dog barking)
- Sunny and beautiful today,
but it's cold.
And it looks like the snow is coming.
So snap snap,
the boys are gonna get to work right now.
- I'm excited.
- [Narrator] At the Jade Claim Two Mile,
Claudia and her crew are
in a race against winter.
- [Josh] Where's the hammer?
You're at mother nature's mercy out there
so you have to just do
what you can when you can,
make hay while the sun shines,
because at any point in time
you could be locked out.
- That looks good right off the bat.
- Oh yeah no it's definitely green.
- [Robin] Definitely.
So that's sellable quality.
- [Narrator] Robin has zeroed
in on a new area of the claim
that could be their last
chance to find Grade A jade.
- We're on to something good here.
The potential is great.
Just by the color of what
we see in the surface,
but our luck lately,
has been on the negative
side not the positive.
- [Narrator] This season Robin and Claudia
put every dollar they had into mining.
(beep)
(beep)
- Really don't like the
fractures that are in it.
- [Narrator] But after coming
up empty handed at Dynasty,
they were forced to
make a late season move.
- I need to be mining Two
Mile right now right now.
- [Narrator] So far, the new site
hasn't been the jade jackpot
they were hoping for.
- Fractured, black dots.
Not worth nothing.
- [Gary] So that there,
it's already lookin' better
and we haven't even started the drill yet.
- [Robin] Definitely green.
- [Gary] And I'm thinking it
run right down through here.
- [Narrator] Now, with winter closing in
and still no jade to sell,
this mining season
could be Claudia's last.
- If I don't mine jade this year,
we have no mining season next year.
And people depend on us mining.
My employees, my family.
For all of us, it's crucial.
Sellable Jade is what we need.
(rocks clinking)
- Watch out, watch out!
Now we're gonna get a bit of that.
Just watch that bank on your right.
That's pretty loose, we have to watch it.
- So you wanna scrape that down.
- Yep, I'll flatten a spot there.
(engine rumbles)
(tense music)
- See all this shale right
here that he's digging up?
It's overburden.
When it shatters, pretty
safe to say it's not jade.
You get rid of the overburden,
get it out of the way as quick as you can,
then you get to your, you know, money.
- Yeah, gotta get all that loose stuff
off so it doesn't fall on me.
Except he's making more loose stuff.
- [Josh] Yeah, don't break
the whole (beep) thing off.
- [Robin] We're gonna
drill it, not dig it out.
- [Gary] Well I gotta get
the loose (beep) outta there.
(laughter)
That one was gonna be in our way,
so gotta come out.
- Yeah
- That big one, if nobody's down there,
you can throw that over the
end if it gets in the bucket.
- Okay.
(laughter)
Oh, look!
It's in the bucket!
- [Robin] That's goin' over the bank.
(rock clattering)
Thar she goes.
Rollin' thunder.
- [Josh] That is so badass.
He couldn't have sent it any better.
- [Gary] How far down?
- [Robin] Still going!
- [Josh] It's still going, look!
(laughter)
And
saved.
(laughter)
Nice! Gary's rock!
- [Robin] You done (beep) around?
- [Gary] Yeah, let's drill a hole!
- They're talkin' about
snow in the future,
so, I'm hoping this is a good one.
- Right near the bottom,
like, maybe this way?
- [Robin] Further back would be better.
I'm thinking drill in at an angle.
- [Josh] You got 'er.
(drill revs)
- There's never been higher stakes for us.
We've only got a very short
window left in the season.
We're all depending on my parents for jobs
and livelihoods and a home
that we love to be in.
If we don't make money this season,
then we're not mining next year.
Period.
(drill revs)
- [Josh] Nice, that's nice to see.
There you go, it's broken.
- [Gary] Oh, hey.
- Holy (beep).
We found Jade!
(theme music)
- Oh my god.
- [Josh] This is gonna be
the million dollar rock!
Yee hoo!
(laughter)
- [Cynthia] Jade makes
people do crazy things.
(calm music)
- Claudia!
Did you hear Josh yell?
- [Claudia] No.
- He said that they found some jade.
- He said they found some jade?
- [Woman] And I heard it echo
through the mountain top.
(radio static)
- Josh, you found jade?
- We found five millimeters,
maybe four millimeters of translucency.
- [Cynthia] Really?
- [Narrator] The crew at
Two Mile has finally hit
some high quality jade.
- Whoo!
- Yes yes!
- [Josh] You hear 'em
screaming again down there?
(laughter)
- It's been a long time since
I've heard 'em that excited.
We've had a lot of disappointments
in with our excitement, so,
we'll see what it looks like.
- That is a good color.
Look how deep that goes, Josh.
- [Josh] Oh yeah.
There's some fractures, but not too many.
- Not many 'cause it's still in one piece.
- And there's a big chunk of
it sitting in there still!
(laughter)
- [Robin] Kay, let's see
we got more in there.
There she is.
- You got the whole thing?
- [Robin] I think so.
Look at that.
- [Josh] I can see the sun
shine through the edge of it.
- This Two Mile lens here is
the best core that we've
drilled out here, yet.
I think that we are gonna
have a (beep) load of
good quality jade coming out of it.
(engine rumbles)
- Robin Bundt, do you
have something for me?
- I think we have a
- You think we have what?
- A problem.
- You think we have a problem?
Oh my god.
Oh my god you guys.
(laughter)
Wow, that's clean.
- [Robin] There we go.
- Wow!
Oh my god.
All the way up! All the way!
Oh my God the whole (beep)
thing other than an inch!
- [Robin] This bottom one.
- Oh my god, you can see it!
Right through with the sun!
What do we do next?
- I wanna get that first section.
That first whole length,
before the snow hits.
- This be why I was doing a happy dance.
- No shit.
Robin's never done the happy dance.
(laughter)
- It's easy!
- I don't have that big thing on here that
- Oh!
See?
You can do it.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] Now, the race
is on to get some jade
out of the ground and down the mountain
before winter hits.
- It's been a long year getting here,
it's not just the physical work,
it's the mental work that goes into this.
And this is our reward.
I think five days from now
we have snow in the forecast,
so, we are going to use
every minute that we have.
(somber music)
(wind blows)
- [Narrator] The next morning.
- [Robin] I got up at about quarter
after three this morning, and
it was snowing already, so.
- [Narrator] A snow storm rolls into camp.
- I don't think we're
going up the hill today.
Can't even see the mountain we're going
to work on because it's snowing so hard.
It's a little screwed up right now.
- So, if that doesn't dry
up for a couple of days,
we're in a lot of trouble.
- If it don't clear up,
I don't know if we're getting
that jade out of there.
- It really is earlier than I
was hoping that it would be.
So, we're in a lot of trouble right now.
This is not a situation we wanna be in.
Because that jade is on that mountain,
and it's gotta come down.
I am praying to God that
this isn't it for us.
We are totally socked in here at Two Mile,
so I don't know.
My mining season could be done.
(suspenseful music)
(upbeat music)
- [Robin] Sunshine and blue skies.
- [Josh] Yeah.
(laughter)
- Let's go to work!
- Yep, let's do it!
- [Narrator] At Two Mile, the
crew has caught a lucky break.
- The jade gods have risen.
- [Robin] This morning there is no snow,
but the season is coming to an end,
we're running out of time.
- Need to get that jade off that mountain
and down to jade city to be cut.
(intense music)
- You're in, Josh.
They're taking the CAT and the excavator
ad they're gonna build
the road up to the top
to where we're gonna start mining.
- [Narrator] To get a sizeable piece
of jade off the mountain,
the crew needs to build a road
between camp, and the jade deposit.
- [Robin] It's gotta be big
enough for the rock truck.
(intense music)
- [Gary] Alrighty.
- [Josh] All right.
- You ready to start building road?
- Yep.
- Take all the topsoil.
- Yeah.
- Get it to one side, always
go high side with topsoil.
- Okay, yep.
- Like, so as I'm going
up, you'll see I'll put all
my topsoil on this side.
- Yep.
- [Gary] And we'll make our way up.
- [Josh] For sure.
- We'll fine tune after.
- [Josh] Perfect.
- You ready?
- You're the boss, start her up.
- Let's do it.
Gonna make a mess, gonna make a mess.
- [Josh] Okay.
- [Gary] I'll build you a road.
On the road again...
- [Narrator] Gary breaks ground for
the new road up the steep slope.
- [Gary] Whoo! That's
tearin' the (beep) out of it!
- [Narrator] Josh follows in the dozer.
He'll have the difficult
job of building the road.
- Josh is green, he's new on
the CAT building anything,
he's never had to push anything like this.
- It's really easy to dump this CAT
off the side of a mountain.
A lot of (beep) can go
really wrong really quick,
so you gotta take your
time and really be careful
with backing up.
- [Narrator] Josh will
finish building the road,
while Gary gets to work
excavating the lens.
- [Robin] You're ripping there, right?
- Oh yeah, I gotta get rid of all this.
- Take this all out first.
- [Gary] Yeah, all this has gotta go.
- [Robin] Kay.
- [Narrator] The plan is
to dig around the lens
to see if there's a high
quality chunk of jade
that they can haul home.
- [Robin] Rock on!
(laughter)
This lens is a very good lens,
but we have no idea how big.
That's jut the top part.
We've got a lot of work to do on it,
'cause we want to try to
get some jade right away.
Beautiful. Just beautiful.
(intense music)
- [Gary] Ah, yeah, there I go.
- And hang tight.
- [Narrator] Close by, Josh
is making good progress
with the road.
- [Josh] That looks deadly look at that.
I just did that.
(laugher) It's a big deal
to be given an opportunity
to learn how to run a piece of equipment
on the side of the mountain like this.
To have a little bit of
trust, and build this road.
It's an awesome feeling.
I mean, it's something I've
been waiting for six years for.
(engine humming)
(contemplative music)
- I don't know if we wanna go farther yet.
- So that's it for now.
- Yeah.
- [Josh] Yeah, clean it up at the end.
This was all rocks here.
- [Robin] Yep.
Looks good.
I couldn't do any better.
- [Josh] Thank you.
- Josh today actually, he's
done very well on this.
He's always worked on flat ground,
totally different when
you're building roads.
Even him backing up
the CAT up backblading,
he's never done that before really,
and now, coming down the hill,
and getting it done without
getting angry about it.
That's a first for him also.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] Up the hill.
- [Gary] I found something in here.
- [Narrator] Gary has
uncovered something big.
- [Gary] It looks like jade to me.
Yeah, it looks like part
of this other lens, eh?
It's all sorta joined here.
- [Robin] This one that Gary just exposed,
the color is just as good as the
first one that we come across up here.
This is a nice, uniform, solid piece.
- [Narrator] The jade
deposit is much bigger
than anyone expected.
- Lot more dirt here to
move than a guy thought.
- Yep. We gotta get her outta there.
- [Narrator] But that means extracting it
is going to be a challenge.
- [Robin] Alrighty, time to cowboy up.
Yeehaw!
- [Narrator] To break
off a piece of the jade,
they need to find a natural fracture.
- Seems pretty solid all the way down.
- [Narrator] Which could
mean digging much deeper.
- [Gary] That's all through here.
Kay, watch out!
Dirt's gonna fly!
(upbeat music)
- Jeez.
- See?
- [Claudia] That's incredible.
- [Narrator] A few hours later,
Robin shows Claudia the exposed deposit.
- Looks like a whale
coming out of the mountain.
- See, there's your good color.
- Wow.
- These could all be
one piece at the bottom.
- Could all meet down in the middle.
- [Robin] Underneath, yep.
We got a lotta overburden to do.
- [Claudia] This is a big
(beep) mountain, Robin.
This could take a long time to finish.
- [Robin] If it's loose,
we're taking it out.
The quality that's coming out of here.
- But look at this,
skiffs of snow coming in.
- [Robin] Yep, the high
mountains all got snow.
- But, we should have one more week.
Snow's coming, yeah, snow's
already around us except here!
If the worst case scenario happens,
and we have snow and freeze,
we're in big trouble.
- [Narrator] It could
take weeks to get jade
out of a deposit this big.
- [Gary] There's snow on those mountains.
- [Cynthia] Uh huh, I know.
- [Gary] All the way around.
- Even to the North, it's all snow.
You can mine in the cold.
You just cannot mine with the snow.
(wind blowing)
(upbeat music)
(machinery whirring)
- [Claudia] How's it
going up there, you guys?
- It's going good.
When did they say they're coming in?
- [Cynthia] This afternoon.
- [Narrator] At Two
Mile, Robin and Claudia
are bringing in help.
- Tony and Henry are showing up.
They're gonna come and
take a look at the lenses
and give us their opinion on it.
Tony is one of the most
experienced in jade in Canada,
so if he can give you some good input,
you wanna listen to him.
- [Robin] They're looking good?
- [Josh] Yeah, it's right
on your 12 o'clock there.
- [Robin] Thanks, Josh.
(helicopter blades whirring)
- We want Tony and Henry to come up.
We've been friends for a long time,
and I'm excited to hear what
they have to say about it.
Out for a nice Sunday fly?
- How are you doing?
- [Claudia] My biggest thing is that
I need to get jade out this week.
All the money has gone
into mining this year,
so I need to sell something so that
we can get through the winter.
So, I'm hoping that they
have positive things to say.
- [Josh] Hello sir.
- [Tony] How's it going, guys?
How you doing?
- [Josh] Oh, you know.
One day at a time.
(laughter)
- [Robin] So that's the
one that was sticking out.
- [Claudia] That's the one we drilled.
- [Robin] This running in like this,
would you think it would
just sort of end in there,
or it's gonna run a long ways in?
- There'll definitely
be a transition here,
as it's gonna start to get harder,
and greener, and brighter.
If you grab onto this, does it move?
- No, he hasn't been able
to move it, hey Gary?
- Nope.
- [Josh] It's pretty heavy.
The weight alone, to try
to move it, it's like,
pretty daunting, right?
- But we got a little one in the middle.
Hope you can get it out.
Would be obviously more ideal.
- [Henry] You know, if you
could start removing the pieces,
this looks like it's gonna come in
a pretty big chunk, though.
- [Henry] This is lots of work.
- Yeah, it is.
But it'll be wort it.
- Yeah, but you gonna pull all this side
- But this has only been two days,
so I think we have at
least two more weeks.
By two weeks we should
be able to have something
out on the road that's sellable.
(blowing)
- Yeah, I think there's
a big potential there,
but also I think that's
a lot of work to be done.
It won't be that easy though.
It might take another,
I don't know, a month?
- What do you got, Josh?
- Check out the good ones.
That's out of that hole on that
one that you're looking at.
- [Tony] That's pretty nice color, eh?
Look at how bright that is.
- Yeah, and it's like
five millimeters at most
to the translucency when
you hit it with light.
- [Tony] Pretty nice.
To me it looks, by far
has the most potential
of anything I've seen them work, period.
And based on their drilling results,
I'd say they're off to
a really good start.
What a way for them to end the season.
So you know for sure you're gonna
get some jade out of it, right?
- [Josh] Absolutely
- [Tony] Looks like you
might even get paid, Robin.
- Yeah.
- Maybe not this year or next year.
- No.
(laughter)
- So, keep going?
- Oh, absolutely.
You can't stop now.
- No.
- You wanna stop now?
- No.
- [Henry] You want us to take over?
- No!
(laughter)
- Let's do it!
- Funny guy.
You're a funny guy.
- [Josh] It was a pleasure to see you.
Thank you for all the advise, Tony,
I really appreciate it, buddy.
- [Henry] I'll see ya.
- [Josh] Yeah.
- [Claudia] Thanks for everything.
- [Robin] See ya later.
- [Josh] Goodbye my friend,
I'll see you soon. Have fun!
(helicopter blades whirring)
(intense music)
- (beep) not moving.
- [Narrator] The next morning.
- [Gary] We have to rip there
and then maybe it'll be broke loose.
Could be a natural fracture
in there somewhere.
(rock cracking)
- [Narrator] Robin and Gary
are going after the smaller
chunk of jade at the
center of the deposit.
It might be their best
chance at getting jade
out this season.
- We haven't had any jade out
to sell this mining season.
We need some kind of cash to come back in.
Hopefully this is the rock.
Then, we could have a good living.
Go where it's warm, have
beer on the beach maybe.
Just have beer.
I see what's holding it!
A chunk of rock at the back
that's holding it in there.
There we go.
Now it'll come out of there.
(rock crumbling)
(intense music)
- [Robin] Nice color on this end.
Holy (beep).
This is decent quality jade, this one.
- [Gary] Ah, look at
the color on this end,
Robin, where it broke off.
- That's a nice piece.
When Claudia sees that piece of jade,
she will be very happy,
'cause its such a big chunk.
It looks like it's about eight tons.
- [Narrator] At current
prices, this piece of
jade could be worth almost
a hundred thousand dollars.
- If it's good quality, we sell it,
that's a decent amount of money.
- [Gary] It's coming out this year.
- [Robin] We could back
the rock truck right here.
- [Gary] Yep.
- [Robin] And load it up.
- [Narrator] But they might be too late.
- [Gary] (beep) snow!
I'll keep moving wet dirt.
- Yep.
- [Gary] Snowing, man!
Son of a bitch!
(intense music)
(intense music)
(wind blowing)
- [Robin] That's a pretty nice green.
- That's the one I
broke off in the middle.
- [Robin] Yep.
- [Gary] Can we drag her down?
- Not worth the risk.
- [Narrator] Winter has
arrived at Two Mile.
- What do you do?
The best jade in six years,
and if it can't come down,
we're sitting on money that we can't
access for eight months.
None of this is fractured, like Dynasty.
- Yeah.
- That snow drift over there a foot deep
is kind of a dead giveaway
that winter's here.
- [Robin] You got all the drill steel?
- Yeah.
- Mother nature has it's own agenda
and we just gotta follow along,
'cause it's way bigger than us.
You start pushing your luck,
that's when people get hurt.
- So by the indication
of this small snowfall,
I'm thinking we're done.
- I just don't think we can get up
and load it and take it out.
- [Robin] It's not safe.
- No, I don't think that
rock truck's making it up.
- We finally find the jade to take down,
to cut, to sell, and we can't take it down
to cut and sell.
There's no way.
When you finally are so close,
and then you have to walk away from it,
it's tough.
Massively bittersweet.
You feel like you wanna
do just a little bit more,
you just want to prove
just a little bit more.
- [Robin] Nice color.
- [Gary] Oh, it is.
You can see the green in it.
- But we've already taken
away that guesswork,
is there good jade here.
And mother nature says it's time to go,
and it's the end of the
season, we've done what we can,
it's a whole new ball game for next year.
- Something to look forward to next year.
- Yeah.
- Next year we start with a bang.
- It's right there.
I have no doubt that
within the first month,
we will have sold enough jade to
cover our full year's mining cost.
- This year was a tough
year, but we gotta keep going
and find a way to mine.
We're in it because we are driven.
It's in our blood.
It's a way that we can all work together
and succeed together.
Come on, Joshy-B, let's all
do the happy dance together.
The fact that we're still here,
and going to go mining again next spring,
is success.
Okay, who's gonna lead this?
I've never done it.
Show me.
- Oh the happy dance is easy.
- Just see the movements.
- That's all there is to it.
- Don't get into it too much.
- That's just weird.
- Don't show them up.
- Okay, that's really happy.
(laughter)
- Two Mile looks bright.
Two Mile looks like twenty years to me.
I feel like it's home.
We're gonna dance tonight
'cause I think we're gonna
get drunk tonight and call it a year.
- [Robin] Gotta look forward to next year.
All smiles and butterflies.
- [Robin] Okay let's go!
- [Claudia] Let the sunshine in.
(laughter)
- Back to work.
Let's go!
(dog barking)
- Sunny and beautiful today,
but it's cold.
And it looks like the snow is coming.
So snap snap,
the boys are gonna get to work right now.
- I'm excited.
- [Narrator] At the Jade Claim Two Mile,
Claudia and her crew are
in a race against winter.
- [Josh] Where's the hammer?
You're at mother nature's mercy out there
so you have to just do
what you can when you can,
make hay while the sun shines,
because at any point in time
you could be locked out.
- That looks good right off the bat.
- Oh yeah no it's definitely green.
- [Robin] Definitely.
So that's sellable quality.
- [Narrator] Robin has zeroed
in on a new area of the claim
that could be their last
chance to find Grade A jade.
- We're on to something good here.
The potential is great.
Just by the color of what
we see in the surface,
but our luck lately,
has been on the negative
side not the positive.
- [Narrator] This season Robin and Claudia
put every dollar they had into mining.
(beep)
(beep)
- Really don't like the
fractures that are in it.
- [Narrator] But after coming
up empty handed at Dynasty,
they were forced to
make a late season move.
- I need to be mining Two
Mile right now right now.
- [Narrator] So far, the new site
hasn't been the jade jackpot
they were hoping for.
- Fractured, black dots.
Not worth nothing.
- [Gary] So that there,
it's already lookin' better
and we haven't even started the drill yet.
- [Robin] Definitely green.
- [Gary] And I'm thinking it
run right down through here.
- [Narrator] Now, with winter closing in
and still no jade to sell,
this mining season
could be Claudia's last.
- If I don't mine jade this year,
we have no mining season next year.
And people depend on us mining.
My employees, my family.
For all of us, it's crucial.
Sellable Jade is what we need.
(rocks clinking)
- Watch out, watch out!
Now we're gonna get a bit of that.
Just watch that bank on your right.
That's pretty loose, we have to watch it.
- So you wanna scrape that down.
- Yep, I'll flatten a spot there.
(engine rumbles)
(tense music)
- See all this shale right
here that he's digging up?
It's overburden.
When it shatters, pretty
safe to say it's not jade.
You get rid of the overburden,
get it out of the way as quick as you can,
then you get to your, you know, money.
- Yeah, gotta get all that loose stuff
off so it doesn't fall on me.
Except he's making more loose stuff.
- [Josh] Yeah, don't break
the whole (beep) thing off.
- [Robin] We're gonna
drill it, not dig it out.
- [Gary] Well I gotta get
the loose (beep) outta there.
(laughter)
That one was gonna be in our way,
so gotta come out.
- Yeah
- That big one, if nobody's down there,
you can throw that over the
end if it gets in the bucket.
- Okay.
(laughter)
Oh, look!
It's in the bucket!
- [Robin] That's goin' over the bank.
(rock clattering)
Thar she goes.
Rollin' thunder.
- [Josh] That is so badass.
He couldn't have sent it any better.
- [Gary] How far down?
- [Robin] Still going!
- [Josh] It's still going, look!
(laughter)
And
saved.
(laughter)
Nice! Gary's rock!
- [Robin] You done (beep) around?
- [Gary] Yeah, let's drill a hole!
- They're talkin' about
snow in the future,
so, I'm hoping this is a good one.
- Right near the bottom,
like, maybe this way?
- [Robin] Further back would be better.
I'm thinking drill in at an angle.
- [Josh] You got 'er.
(drill revs)
- There's never been higher stakes for us.
We've only got a very short
window left in the season.
We're all depending on my parents for jobs
and livelihoods and a home
that we love to be in.
If we don't make money this season,
then we're not mining next year.
Period.
(drill revs)
- [Josh] Nice, that's nice to see.
There you go, it's broken.
- [Gary] Oh, hey.
- Holy (beep).
We found Jade!
(theme music)
- Oh my god.
- [Josh] This is gonna be
the million dollar rock!
Yee hoo!
(laughter)
- [Cynthia] Jade makes
people do crazy things.
(calm music)
- Claudia!
Did you hear Josh yell?
- [Claudia] No.
- He said that they found some jade.
- He said they found some jade?
- [Woman] And I heard it echo
through the mountain top.
(radio static)
- Josh, you found jade?
- We found five millimeters,
maybe four millimeters of translucency.
- [Cynthia] Really?
- [Narrator] The crew at
Two Mile has finally hit
some high quality jade.
- Whoo!
- Yes yes!
- [Josh] You hear 'em
screaming again down there?
(laughter)
- It's been a long time since
I've heard 'em that excited.
We've had a lot of disappointments
in with our excitement, so,
we'll see what it looks like.
- That is a good color.
Look how deep that goes, Josh.
- [Josh] Oh yeah.
There's some fractures, but not too many.
- Not many 'cause it's still in one piece.
- And there's a big chunk of
it sitting in there still!
(laughter)
- [Robin] Kay, let's see
we got more in there.
There she is.
- You got the whole thing?
- [Robin] I think so.
Look at that.
- [Josh] I can see the sun
shine through the edge of it.
- This Two Mile lens here is
the best core that we've
drilled out here, yet.
I think that we are gonna
have a (beep) load of
good quality jade coming out of it.
(engine rumbles)
- Robin Bundt, do you
have something for me?
- I think we have a
- You think we have what?
- A problem.
- You think we have a problem?
Oh my god.
Oh my god you guys.
(laughter)
Wow, that's clean.
- [Robin] There we go.
- Wow!
Oh my god.
All the way up! All the way!
Oh my God the whole (beep)
thing other than an inch!
- [Robin] This bottom one.
- Oh my god, you can see it!
Right through with the sun!
What do we do next?
- I wanna get that first section.
That first whole length,
before the snow hits.
- This be why I was doing a happy dance.
- No shit.
Robin's never done the happy dance.
(laughter)
- It's easy!
- I don't have that big thing on here that
- Oh!
See?
You can do it.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] Now, the race
is on to get some jade
out of the ground and down the mountain
before winter hits.
- It's been a long year getting here,
it's not just the physical work,
it's the mental work that goes into this.
And this is our reward.
I think five days from now
we have snow in the forecast,
so, we are going to use
every minute that we have.
(somber music)
(wind blows)
- [Narrator] The next morning.
- [Robin] I got up at about quarter
after three this morning, and
it was snowing already, so.
- [Narrator] A snow storm rolls into camp.
- I don't think we're
going up the hill today.
Can't even see the mountain we're going
to work on because it's snowing so hard.
It's a little screwed up right now.
- So, if that doesn't dry
up for a couple of days,
we're in a lot of trouble.
- If it don't clear up,
I don't know if we're getting
that jade out of there.
- It really is earlier than I
was hoping that it would be.
So, we're in a lot of trouble right now.
This is not a situation we wanna be in.
Because that jade is on that mountain,
and it's gotta come down.
I am praying to God that
this isn't it for us.
We are totally socked in here at Two Mile,
so I don't know.
My mining season could be done.
(suspenseful music)
(upbeat music)
- [Robin] Sunshine and blue skies.
- [Josh] Yeah.
(laughter)
- Let's go to work!
- Yep, let's do it!
- [Narrator] At Two Mile, the
crew has caught a lucky break.
- The jade gods have risen.
- [Robin] This morning there is no snow,
but the season is coming to an end,
we're running out of time.
- Need to get that jade off that mountain
and down to jade city to be cut.
(intense music)
- You're in, Josh.
They're taking the CAT and the excavator
ad they're gonna build
the road up to the top
to where we're gonna start mining.
- [Narrator] To get a sizeable piece
of jade off the mountain,
the crew needs to build a road
between camp, and the jade deposit.
- [Robin] It's gotta be big
enough for the rock truck.
(intense music)
- [Gary] Alrighty.
- [Josh] All right.
- You ready to start building road?
- Yep.
- Take all the topsoil.
- Yeah.
- Get it to one side, always
go high side with topsoil.
- Okay, yep.
- Like, so as I'm going
up, you'll see I'll put all
my topsoil on this side.
- Yep.
- [Gary] And we'll make our way up.
- [Josh] For sure.
- We'll fine tune after.
- [Josh] Perfect.
- You ready?
- You're the boss, start her up.
- Let's do it.
Gonna make a mess, gonna make a mess.
- [Josh] Okay.
- [Gary] I'll build you a road.
On the road again...
- [Narrator] Gary breaks ground for
the new road up the steep slope.
- [Gary] Whoo! That's
tearin' the (beep) out of it!
- [Narrator] Josh follows in the dozer.
He'll have the difficult
job of building the road.
- Josh is green, he's new on
the CAT building anything,
he's never had to push anything like this.
- It's really easy to dump this CAT
off the side of a mountain.
A lot of (beep) can go
really wrong really quick,
so you gotta take your
time and really be careful
with backing up.
- [Narrator] Josh will
finish building the road,
while Gary gets to work
excavating the lens.
- [Robin] You're ripping there, right?
- Oh yeah, I gotta get rid of all this.
- Take this all out first.
- [Gary] Yeah, all this has gotta go.
- [Robin] Kay.
- [Narrator] The plan is
to dig around the lens
to see if there's a high
quality chunk of jade
that they can haul home.
- [Robin] Rock on!
(laughter)
This lens is a very good lens,
but we have no idea how big.
That's jut the top part.
We've got a lot of work to do on it,
'cause we want to try to
get some jade right away.
Beautiful. Just beautiful.
(intense music)
- [Gary] Ah, yeah, there I go.
- And hang tight.
- [Narrator] Close by, Josh
is making good progress
with the road.
- [Josh] That looks deadly look at that.
I just did that.
(laugher) It's a big deal
to be given an opportunity
to learn how to run a piece of equipment
on the side of the mountain like this.
To have a little bit of
trust, and build this road.
It's an awesome feeling.
I mean, it's something I've
been waiting for six years for.
(engine humming)
(contemplative music)
- I don't know if we wanna go farther yet.
- So that's it for now.
- Yeah.
- [Josh] Yeah, clean it up at the end.
This was all rocks here.
- [Robin] Yep.
Looks good.
I couldn't do any better.
- [Josh] Thank you.
- Josh today actually, he's
done very well on this.
He's always worked on flat ground,
totally different when
you're building roads.
Even him backing up
the CAT up backblading,
he's never done that before really,
and now, coming down the hill,
and getting it done without
getting angry about it.
That's a first for him also.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] Up the hill.
- [Gary] I found something in here.
- [Narrator] Gary has
uncovered something big.
- [Gary] It looks like jade to me.
Yeah, it looks like part
of this other lens, eh?
It's all sorta joined here.
- [Robin] This one that Gary just exposed,
the color is just as good as the
first one that we come across up here.
This is a nice, uniform, solid piece.
- [Narrator] The jade
deposit is much bigger
than anyone expected.
- Lot more dirt here to
move than a guy thought.
- Yep. We gotta get her outta there.
- [Narrator] But that means extracting it
is going to be a challenge.
- [Robin] Alrighty, time to cowboy up.
Yeehaw!
- [Narrator] To break
off a piece of the jade,
they need to find a natural fracture.
- Seems pretty solid all the way down.
- [Narrator] Which could
mean digging much deeper.
- [Gary] That's all through here.
Kay, watch out!
Dirt's gonna fly!
(upbeat music)
- Jeez.
- See?
- [Claudia] That's incredible.
- [Narrator] A few hours later,
Robin shows Claudia the exposed deposit.
- Looks like a whale
coming out of the mountain.
- See, there's your good color.
- Wow.
- These could all be
one piece at the bottom.
- Could all meet down in the middle.
- [Robin] Underneath, yep.
We got a lotta overburden to do.
- [Claudia] This is a big
(beep) mountain, Robin.
This could take a long time to finish.
- [Robin] If it's loose,
we're taking it out.
The quality that's coming out of here.
- But look at this,
skiffs of snow coming in.
- [Robin] Yep, the high
mountains all got snow.
- But, we should have one more week.
Snow's coming, yeah, snow's
already around us except here!
If the worst case scenario happens,
and we have snow and freeze,
we're in big trouble.
- [Narrator] It could
take weeks to get jade
out of a deposit this big.
- [Gary] There's snow on those mountains.
- [Cynthia] Uh huh, I know.
- [Gary] All the way around.
- Even to the North, it's all snow.
You can mine in the cold.
You just cannot mine with the snow.
(wind blowing)
(upbeat music)
(machinery whirring)
- [Claudia] How's it
going up there, you guys?
- It's going good.
When did they say they're coming in?
- [Cynthia] This afternoon.
- [Narrator] At Two
Mile, Robin and Claudia
are bringing in help.
- Tony and Henry are showing up.
They're gonna come and
take a look at the lenses
and give us their opinion on it.
Tony is one of the most
experienced in jade in Canada,
so if he can give you some good input,
you wanna listen to him.
- [Robin] They're looking good?
- [Josh] Yeah, it's right
on your 12 o'clock there.
- [Robin] Thanks, Josh.
(helicopter blades whirring)
- We want Tony and Henry to come up.
We've been friends for a long time,
and I'm excited to hear what
they have to say about it.
Out for a nice Sunday fly?
- How are you doing?
- [Claudia] My biggest thing is that
I need to get jade out this week.
All the money has gone
into mining this year,
so I need to sell something so that
we can get through the winter.
So, I'm hoping that they
have positive things to say.
- [Josh] Hello sir.
- [Tony] How's it going, guys?
How you doing?
- [Josh] Oh, you know.
One day at a time.
(laughter)
- [Robin] So that's the
one that was sticking out.
- [Claudia] That's the one we drilled.
- [Robin] This running in like this,
would you think it would
just sort of end in there,
or it's gonna run a long ways in?
- There'll definitely
be a transition here,
as it's gonna start to get harder,
and greener, and brighter.
If you grab onto this, does it move?
- No, he hasn't been able
to move it, hey Gary?
- Nope.
- [Josh] It's pretty heavy.
The weight alone, to try
to move it, it's like,
pretty daunting, right?
- But we got a little one in the middle.
Hope you can get it out.
Would be obviously more ideal.
- [Henry] You know, if you
could start removing the pieces,
this looks like it's gonna come in
a pretty big chunk, though.
- [Henry] This is lots of work.
- Yeah, it is.
But it'll be wort it.
- Yeah, but you gonna pull all this side
- But this has only been two days,
so I think we have at
least two more weeks.
By two weeks we should
be able to have something
out on the road that's sellable.
(blowing)
- Yeah, I think there's
a big potential there,
but also I think that's
a lot of work to be done.
It won't be that easy though.
It might take another,
I don't know, a month?
- What do you got, Josh?
- Check out the good ones.
That's out of that hole on that
one that you're looking at.
- [Tony] That's pretty nice color, eh?
Look at how bright that is.
- Yeah, and it's like
five millimeters at most
to the translucency when
you hit it with light.
- [Tony] Pretty nice.
To me it looks, by far
has the most potential
of anything I've seen them work, period.
And based on their drilling results,
I'd say they're off to
a really good start.
What a way for them to end the season.
So you know for sure you're gonna
get some jade out of it, right?
- [Josh] Absolutely
- [Tony] Looks like you
might even get paid, Robin.
- Yeah.
- Maybe not this year or next year.
- No.
(laughter)
- So, keep going?
- Oh, absolutely.
You can't stop now.
- No.
- You wanna stop now?
- No.
- [Henry] You want us to take over?
- No!
(laughter)
- Let's do it!
- Funny guy.
You're a funny guy.
- [Josh] It was a pleasure to see you.
Thank you for all the advise, Tony,
I really appreciate it, buddy.
- [Henry] I'll see ya.
- [Josh] Yeah.
- [Claudia] Thanks for everything.
- [Robin] See ya later.
- [Josh] Goodbye my friend,
I'll see you soon. Have fun!
(helicopter blades whirring)
(intense music)
- (beep) not moving.
- [Narrator] The next morning.
- [Gary] We have to rip there
and then maybe it'll be broke loose.
Could be a natural fracture
in there somewhere.
(rock cracking)
- [Narrator] Robin and Gary
are going after the smaller
chunk of jade at the
center of the deposit.
It might be their best
chance at getting jade
out this season.
- We haven't had any jade out
to sell this mining season.
We need some kind of cash to come back in.
Hopefully this is the rock.
Then, we could have a good living.
Go where it's warm, have
beer on the beach maybe.
Just have beer.
I see what's holding it!
A chunk of rock at the back
that's holding it in there.
There we go.
Now it'll come out of there.
(rock crumbling)
(intense music)
- [Robin] Nice color on this end.
Holy (beep).
This is decent quality jade, this one.
- [Gary] Ah, look at
the color on this end,
Robin, where it broke off.
- That's a nice piece.
When Claudia sees that piece of jade,
she will be very happy,
'cause its such a big chunk.
It looks like it's about eight tons.
- [Narrator] At current
prices, this piece of
jade could be worth almost
a hundred thousand dollars.
- If it's good quality, we sell it,
that's a decent amount of money.
- [Gary] It's coming out this year.
- [Robin] We could back
the rock truck right here.
- [Gary] Yep.
- [Robin] And load it up.
- [Narrator] But they might be too late.
- [Gary] (beep) snow!
I'll keep moving wet dirt.
- Yep.
- [Gary] Snowing, man!
Son of a bitch!
(intense music)
(intense music)
(wind blowing)
- [Robin] That's a pretty nice green.
- That's the one I
broke off in the middle.
- [Robin] Yep.
- [Gary] Can we drag her down?
- Not worth the risk.
- [Narrator] Winter has
arrived at Two Mile.
- What do you do?
The best jade in six years,
and if it can't come down,
we're sitting on money that we can't
access for eight months.
None of this is fractured, like Dynasty.
- Yeah.
- That snow drift over there a foot deep
is kind of a dead giveaway
that winter's here.
- [Robin] You got all the drill steel?
- Yeah.
- Mother nature has it's own agenda
and we just gotta follow along,
'cause it's way bigger than us.
You start pushing your luck,
that's when people get hurt.
- So by the indication
of this small snowfall,
I'm thinking we're done.
- I just don't think we can get up
and load it and take it out.
- [Robin] It's not safe.
- No, I don't think that
rock truck's making it up.
- We finally find the jade to take down,
to cut, to sell, and we can't take it down
to cut and sell.
There's no way.
When you finally are so close,
and then you have to walk away from it,
it's tough.
Massively bittersweet.
You feel like you wanna
do just a little bit more,
you just want to prove
just a little bit more.
- [Robin] Nice color.
- [Gary] Oh, it is.
You can see the green in it.
- But we've already taken
away that guesswork,
is there good jade here.
And mother nature says it's time to go,
and it's the end of the
season, we've done what we can,
it's a whole new ball game for next year.
- Something to look forward to next year.
- Yeah.
- Next year we start with a bang.
- It's right there.
I have no doubt that
within the first month,
we will have sold enough jade to
cover our full year's mining cost.
- This year was a tough
year, but we gotta keep going
and find a way to mine.
We're in it because we are driven.
It's in our blood.
It's a way that we can all work together
and succeed together.
Come on, Joshy-B, let's all
do the happy dance together.
The fact that we're still here,
and going to go mining again next spring,
is success.
Okay, who's gonna lead this?
I've never done it.
Show me.
- Oh the happy dance is easy.
- Just see the movements.
- That's all there is to it.
- Don't get into it too much.
- That's just weird.
- Don't show them up.
- Okay, that's really happy.
(laughter)
- Two Mile looks bright.
Two Mile looks like twenty years to me.
I feel like it's home.
We're gonna dance tonight
'cause I think we're gonna
get drunk tonight and call it a year.
- [Robin] Gotta look forward to next year.
All smiles and butterflies.