Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 5, Episode 14 - Pushing the Limits - full transcript

- [Narrator] Dawn at
the Two Mile jade mine

in northern British Columbia.

- [Worker] Things are a
little crispy this morning.

Fresh snow.

We don't like snow.

- We're behind the eight ball right now,

so we gotta start a little early

and finish a little late,

because mama nature is knockin'.

We gotta get as much jade cut as we can.

- [Narrator] The crew is fighting hard



to get their prized 90-ton
boulder off the mountain.

- Okay.

- [Narrator] But they're
running out of time.

- The cold slows you right down.

It slows you right down and
eventually it'll stop you.

Now, we gotta start insulating stuff.

But this morning we should be fine.

And we got water.

Bam!

We should be able to rock
and roll here right quick.

(water dribbling)

Except my wire's frozen.

Murphy's Law.

Murphy's everywhere...and I hate him.



Normally this is when most miners say,

"Let's shut her down,"

'cause you waste too
much time every morning.

It's a battle.

Let's try this again.

Okay.

We've had lots of warnings.

We've had minus 10, we're
on our third snowstorm.

So just go 'til you can't go.

Come on.

(machine whirls)

There she goes.

(engine rumbling)

- [Gary] Started okay?

- Oh, I had to fight with the cable

in the rock there a little bit.

- Was the water in there frozen?

- Yeah.

- Oh, Mother Nature's
gonna win, eventually.

- Yeah, but we'll try and
get as much as we can.

- [Narrator] So far,
they've only carted a third

of this huge rock back to Jade City.

- Our whole focus on being up here

is to get this rest of this
lens cut up, ready to haul out.

That's a lot of cuttin' there.

- We know we got no time left,

but we still got lots of cutting to do

and if the jade stays
there, nobody making money.

So, yeah, pressure's on.

(hammering)

- Oh my god!

(engine roars)

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

- Yahoo!

- [Claudia] Jade makes
people do crazy things.

Let's go and take a look

and see what Gee is doing.

- [Narrator] By late
afternoon the snow has melted,

so Claudia takes her dad up to pit one

to show him the 90-ton boulder.

- My dad giving me his opinion is huge,

since the very first time my
dad put jade into my hand.

It's all about finding the
best jade, the most jade.

I have to prove that I'm
as good, if not better.

- [Narrator] But Steve's
been hard to impress.

- Where in the (beep) is the good stuff?

- That's right here.

- [Narrator] Earlier this season
he didn't like the quality

of jade coming out of pit one.

- It's too crumbly, it's garbage.

Forget it.

- [Claudia] This is big, huh?

Nice green.

- Well.

- [Claudia] It's hard to please dad.

He doesn't give compliments very easily.

- That's not bad at all.

Yeah they got the good side now.

'Cause once you find the
one piece that's good,

then you know, it's there.

I just wanna see that
green, how that looks.

- [Claudia] It was really
cool to see dad's face today.

- Look at here.

See the color?

Good color.

- [Claudia] The fact that
my dad is finally as excited

as we are about a jade
boulder is huge to all of us.

- See like here, you can see right in.

- It sort of validated that
we were doing the right thing

'cause it was the first time
really that he showed interest

in what we were actually mining.

You always want to have
your dad's validation

no matter what, as a daughter anyway.

- Well it's a good rock.

- [Narrator] But the dropping temperature

is putting a chill on
the crew's good spirits.

- [Claudia] Look at it, it
looks like winter's here.

Look, nothing's green anymore.
- [Man] No, no, no.

And that is not, that's not going away

and I don't think this stuff
here is going away either.

- I'm a little concerned,

I didn't think it would
be so cold here today.

My priority right now is the
rock the boys are working on.

To get as much of it out as possible

because the weather's
turning really quickly.

I'm gonna send my dad home today.

We'll see you around Christmas time.

- Oh, whenever.

- Fly safe.

For me, to spend a season mining

with my dad has been special.

I think it's a once in
a lifetime opportunity.

- Thank you.

- Out and gone!

Has it been perfect?
No.

Has it been easy?
No,

but I really wouldn't change
this year for anything.

Makes me sad.

Family's such a pain in the
ass but I like them all.

So, right now

I need to get as much of
that lens out as possible.

We've got skiffs of snow

and the snow's what's gonna
kill us, but you never know.

All of a sudden we get
three weeks nice weather.

I don't know, we're gonna
try to get one more out.

One more.

(western music)

- Another crispy morning.

- [Narrator] A new day at Two Mile.

- She's cold.

This morning me and Gee are gonna

continue cutting that rock.

Hey, we got water.

(western music)

Ready for some water down there Gee?

- [Gee] Yeah, reel it in.

- [Gary] Coming at ya.

- I still got nothing.

Every morning here is
minus six, minus eight,

minus 10.

- We shoulda had water by now.

After minus five your pumps,

your hoses, your fittings freezes.

- Here we go again.

- [Narrator] Yesterday
was a frozen wire saw.

Now it's the water lines.

- [Gee] Hey Robin, we're all froze up here

so we're undoing all the hoses

and we'll bring them down

and throw them in the powerhouse
there and thaw 'em out.

- We're thawing water out for
four hours a day, everyday.

That's not a good sign.

That's when you pack up and leave.

- This one froze more at the end.

- Yeah.

- Claudia thinks that I'm too negative

but she's only thinking of the positive.

We need to be out before the snow comes

'cause if it snows on the road,
we're gonna be in trouble.

- [Gee] I'll get her going.

- Okay.

- [Narrator] At Two Mile...

- It sucked ass this morning, again.

- [Narrator] Robin and
Gee spent half the day

thawing out water lines.

Now it will take another eight hours

to finish a cut on their 90-ton boulder.

- We're cutting the big stuff

so if the water saw is running fine,

there's not that much to do.

Watch that saw go back two inch an hour.

We're tired, I'm tired, it's cold.

It makes for a long day.

- [Narrator] Down in camp.

- I don't know if this
is gonna work or not,

but I'm willing to try.

- [Narrator] Claudia's working on a plan

to boost the crew's spirits.

- End of season's always horrible.

It's the hardest time to get morale going

'cause everybody is done.

And they're not done yet.

Yeah, it's drone delivery time.

Oh yeah, ha!

Now we're talking.

Woo, we got lift off!

I think.

I hope this works.

(western music)

- That looks like...

That looks like drone delivery.

Drone delivery coming in hot.

Look at the drone and there's like

two perfect counter weights underneath.

Right away I went, beer delivery.

Now that is special delivery Robin.

- That's the kind of drone I need to buy,

is a drone that's got beer attached to it.

(Gee laughs)

- [Robin] Beer was a nice surprise.

- Beer drone.

Life's good.

Now that's freaking service.

- They were a little shook
up but they were cold.

- Yeah, beer's a really good
morale booster right there.

Claudia, the drone delivery girl, nice.

- [Claudia] You know how
I think about my boys.

- [Gee] Can you refuel the
drone and send two more?

- [Narrator] The afternoon sun

brings welcome warmth to Two Mile.

- [Gary] Are you kidding me?

- [Narrator] But it comes at a cost.

- This road is crap.

And the problem is,

because we've had all this cold weather,

everything's froze but
now it's warming up,

and now this ice is turning to mush.

I've never seen this road this bad.

It's just garbage, there's
no traction with anything.

When you gotta start pulling yourself

and hoping you stay there when
you move your bucket again,

you shouldn't be there.

(machine roaring)

I'll try to do anything I can
to help out the buddy though.

That's why going up and down
this hill, pulling myself,

okay I'll do that.

But now it's to the point
where somebody will get hurt.

It's not a matter if, it's when.

No, a guy's gotta say something.

- [Narrator] Gary delivers the bad news.

- So are we talking, are we
talking about being done?

I'm really discouraged

as soon as I hear that the
road is not accessible safely.

So I have to really consider,
is it too dangerous?

I don't know.

- You could keep cutting up there

as long as we still got water.

- [Claudia] But it won't come down.

Very likely it won't come down.

- [Narrator] Claudia doesn't want to leave

until they've cut up the
rest of the 90-ton boulder.

It contains sections of jewelry-grade jade

that could pay for their season.

- I really need this road to hold up.

One or two trips could bring
us out $100,000 each trip.

I need to take a chance.

We have to make a plan.

- The only other thing that
we could do there then,

is just try to make one
cut lay it down and...

- One cut?

- One cut, that's it.

- [Narrator] Robin suggests they attempt

one more trip up the hill
and make one last cut

before shutting down for the season.

- If anybody can do it, Gary can do it.

So how do we get this rock?

- I'll pack it down in the
morning when it's frozen.

- [Claudia] So tomorrow morning?

- [Gary] We'll just go until it's cut.

- K.

- Ah ha, dirty glove.

- [Narrator] But up at the pit,

a new problem could derail their plan.

- It's rust.

- [Narrator] Rust at
the bottom of the tank

is starting to seep out.

It's a sign they're running out of water.

- (beep) sakes.

Well we've been cutting four days on

what 2,000 gallons of water?

And one more tank will do it.

- [Narrator] They'll
have to try and haul up

a tank of water right away.

- The road's not good but we
need that big boulder cut.

We have no choice.

Okay.

- Some days Murphy will
mess with you all day.

But you gotta keep trying.

We're bringing one more load
of water to finish this cut.

Fingers crossed.

- [Robin] Crank her up.

- [Narrator] At Two Mile camp,

Robin and the crew are pushing
hard to get one last cut

on their 90-ton boulder.

- We're going to attempt to
haul a load of water to the top.

Close enough.

If we can't get the water up there,

that changes everything.

We won't be cutting that piece off.

We'll see how it goes.

- [Narrator] Earlier in the day,

Gary barely made it up
the hill in the excavator.

- [Gary] The road has been pretty slimy,

so it's gonna be slippery.

(engine revving)

- Almost.

There's just no way, it's too steep.

(engine stalling)

- Do your thing Gary.

- [Narrator] Desperate to keep cutting,

they'll attempt to tow six
pack with the excavator.

- We'll have to see if
the road holds together

or if it's gonna fall apart.

Let me know when you're ready to go.

- [Gary] Okay.

(engine roars)

- [Robin] And here we go.

- [Gary] It should be
fine from here on in.

- [Robin] You got the (mumbles)?

- Pumped it into the big one on top.

Voila.

We're back in business.

And fire it up.

- Working late.

We're not stopping cutting.

Trying to get as much day as we can.

She's an uphill battle, all the way.

That last little bit sucks ass.

Now it's not cutting fast enough.

- You can tell when it's
tightening up though.

(water trickles)

- [Narrator] Claudia comes up from camp

to see the last cut of the season.

- It is cold up here today.

Soon as you get up to
that top of that mountain,

it's freezing cold.

The weather is really coming in quick.

- The sun has not affected
the temperature here.

It's gotten colder.

- Huge pressure to find jade right now.

So...

(rock crumbles)

- [Robin] Timber!

- What's she look like?

(western music)

Damn!

- [Gary] That would be apple green.

- Jade without fractures?

Oh dear God!

That's so nice, that green.

- The last piece we cut off,

it's the nicest we've had all year.

I think that one we nailed it.

- Yeah.

- It's satisfying 'cause you
know that those are worth

hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Wow you guys.

- That rock is pretty consistent.

It would be nice to get another cut.

- It would be nice to
cut the whole thing up.

- [Narrator] The jade looks so good,

they're going to risk making one more cut

before winter shuts them out.

- We all have that feeling

and we all want to have that hope.

- So tomorrow we'll cut this.

- Yeah.

Make hay while the sun shines.

That's what the farmers all say.

(wind blows)

- [Narrator] Later that night...

- [Claudia] (Mumbles) days like.

Sunday looks really horrible.

The weather is a torrential downpour.

Zero, and that's for in Jade City

so that means up here is
gonna be major snow...

And we cannot get out on
that road if it snows.

Robin?

- [Robin] Coming.

- [Claudia] Hey.

I'm just looking at the weather and

we have to make a quick decision here.

On Sunday it's a torrential
rain in Jade City.

Looks like it's two or three days.

- When it's raining there,
it's gonna snow here.

- Do we wait it out?

We might still have a chance on-

- No, well...

We've already been caught in the snow.

- [Narrator] In previous seasons,

they've pushed their luck too far.

- Grab that end and drag it over here.

- It is crazy slippery up here.

- [Narrator] And had to
make a last minute escape

from the mine.

- [Claudia] Total whiteout.

- [Narrator] Leaving behind
their heavy equipment

and barely making it out on quads.

- When winter's coming, get
out before you get stung.

- [Narrator] But Claudia wants
to take a gamble and stay.

- It could be a storm today

and it could be sunshine tomorrow

and in two days it could dry up.

We should be fine,

we should be able to keep
cutting that boulder.

If we have a chance,

I don't wanna lose that little window

'cause we have something to haul out.

- Everybody else in the
mining industry out here

is already left.

Once the sun is shining,
yeah, the sun is shining

and it is freezing to 10 below at night.

So what if the sun is shining?

There's no choice.

Soon as snow gets on those
two hills out of here,

six pack's not going out
and neither are the quads.

Nothing.

It's too slippery, it's too dangerous.

You're putting every person at danger.

- To end the season, just say,

"Okay we're done for the year."

It's a tough call.

- I don't want to leave right now either

'cause we got the best jade that we've had

and we're leaving it behind again.

But I'm not willing to put
a person's life on the line

for that jade.

- No, neither am I.

- We've had two snow falls.

The warnings are there.

When it's time to go, you (bleep) go.

- I...

- [Robin] Last one.

- [Narrator] Claudia and
Robin have made a tough call.

- [Robin] That's good.

- [Narrator] It's time to go home.

- The decision to shut
down is really hard.

- [Narrator] The crew
race to load up the jade

they've already cut
from the 90-ton boulder

before an incoming storm shuts
down the road to Jade City.

- A few spots are gonna be
icy but they should be okay.

A little bit of ice is way better than

a (beep) load of snow.

Let's go.

- [Claudia] Of course I'm frustrated

that there is jade sitting there.

- [Narrator] They're leaving half

of the 90-ton boulder behind.

- Nothing pisses me off more than

to just leave money sitting on the table

and that's exactly what we've had to do.

But I don't want someone to get hurt.

That's the last thing that I want.

That's not why we mine.

Ain't gonna happen, we're outta here.

- You know when you're taking
the satellite dish down,

we going home!

- [Robin] We pulled 40 tons
out of Two Mile this year.

We did excellent.

It's our best season in the
quality of jade we have mined.

- Hey come on dog.

(dog barks)

Let's go.

- [Robin] The long term base
of Two Mile is excellent.

We have counted over 12 lenses.

So, there's a lot of jade there.

- That whole mountain
could be grade-A jade.

The potential here is huge.

- Power's off, garbage picked
up, everything put away.

We'll see you next year Two Mile.

- We're jade miners, we have jade fever.

So yeah, we're gonna
go back up there again.

We're gonna tackle that 90-ton boulder.

We're gonna find that grade-A jade.

We're gonna bring out a million dollars

worth of jade next year.

Absolutely.

(puddle splashes)

(wind blows)

- [Narrator] The next
morning in Jade City.

- [Claudia] Do you believe this?

We got out by the skin of our teeth.

- Oh I believe it.

- So, Robin's idea of
leaving camp when we did.

- Nailed it.

- You bet.

Oh look at this.

- I'm not saying he was...

- [Gary] He was right.

- No I'm not saying that.

- You love your husband?

Driving out in this (beep) here,

Gee and Gary would have been
puckered up on that one.

- We got our best jade ever.

- It sucks that it's over but
we did get some good jade, so.

- [Gee] Again, we left some behind.

- But we know exactly where
it is and how to get it.

- [Claudia] Just knowing
that there could be

a hundred million dollars worth of jade

in that mountain that we're mining

is pretty good incentive to keep on going.

That's the way to do it

is always leave some great stuff behind.

- So next year you got good jade again.

- We're great jade miners.

Woo!

We're starting out with great jade.

- Okay now, happy three.

- Happy three!
- Happy three.

- [Robin] I got goosebumps.

- You are a goose bump.
- [Robin] Okay.

(group laughter)

- We found jade, we're
really happy with our season,

and then to top it off,
Scrappy Larry's got a surprise.

- Just, I got a kind
of an announcement too.

I just...oh how do I do this now?

I just-

- What?

- I love you so much.

I want to know if you'd be my wife.

- Yes I will.
- You would?

Oh I love it.

I love you.

(group cheers)

- [Gee] Congratulations.

All of a sudden Larry proposes to Susan.

It's like, oh.

We didn't see that coming.

- Right on.

- [Gee] Nice job Scrappy.

(Scrappy laughs)

(group cheers)