Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 5, Episode 8 - Ridge to Riches - full transcript

- [Narrator] At the Two Mile jade claim.

- Gary!

- It should be right
in front of you there.

- [Narrator] Robin is dealing
with a dangerous situation.

- The bank is too high.

The slope is too steep.

We have to make it safe.

- [Narrator] Gary is purged on a bank,

digging out a bench in the
treacherously steep wall

of their pit.

- [Gary] There is a lot
of loose rock on it.



You've got a 20 pound
rock that falls 50 feet,

and you can be killed.

You need to have all of
that taken back and secured

to there's no loose rock
and the bank will fall soft.

- [Narrator] But where Robin sees danger,

Josh spies a training opportunity .

- [Josh] I'm not as
experienced as I wanna be.

I'm in the beginning of my career,

the more sea time I get,
the close I get to my goal

of being a good operator.

Give me a few minutes to play
with this, if you don't mind.

- [Gary] You don't wanna swing too far?

'Cause any momentum on this loose rock,

the traction will go
like this when you stop.



Now better.

- Thanks, buddy.

- [Gary] I'll be on your right.

We're right here on
the side of a mountain.

Like this, it's more
than a 45 degree angle.

Like this, it's pretty steep.

That's how you're gonna go it trouble.

Trying to get fast before you're good

and then stuff goes
sideways when you're fast.

Especially when you can drop
down 600 feet in one shot.

Hey Josh!

- When I dump, is that a danger?

- Try not to go close, you lose

all your stability in front of ya.

It starts sliding, you're not stopping it.

There's nothing to stop it.

- I just track back over it.

- [Gary] That's the tough
part about being at Two Mile.

We're up on the side of a mountain.

We're on rocks.

It's challenging.

Looks good!

I think that's the definition of mining.

There's always gonna be challenges.

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

- [Woman] Jade makes
people do crazy things.

- [Narrator] At Two Mile.

- [Gary] Wrap it around you, lift it up!

- Are you ready?

- [Narrator] The steep bank of their pit

has been stabilized.

And Robin and Guy are back at work.

They pull down a new boulder
to take to camp for cutting.

- [Robin] We wanna get the jade out fast,

as soon as it comes up solid,

so we have cash.

- Got to be a good one.

- [Narrator] But the rock is so heavy,

it can only be moved down the mountain

with the excavator.

- [Robin] Without the
lock on the excavator,

it may be able to sling a fairly big rock.

- Let go slow and see what happens.

I caught it.

- [Robin] Bring it down
a bit and all adjusted.

- At Two Mile, we're on the jade.

You gotta find out if it's
good jade or bad jade.

- [Narrator] They'll
cut open this test rock

with the wire saw to see if
there's top quality jade inside.

- [Robin] I've decided, I
think this is a good one.

- [Josh] We will see.

The longer it takes,

the better hint that it's a good quality.

- [Narrator] It look
like it'll be a slow cut.

A sign this rock could be grade A jade.

- We'll let it go slow.

I don't mind.

- [Narrator] While the saw turns.

- [Josh] The floor is clean.

The bed's clean.

- [Narrator] Josh takes
the time to organize

the First Aid tent.

- So this is super, super awesome.

- [Narrator] Which is also

where he's been sleeping all season.

- This is quick and chilly like,

it's not comfortable.

- The camp is overcrowded.

Everybody's on top of each other.

Nobody's really happy.

- [Narrator] Over a month ago,

Claudia and Robin bought
a bunkhouse to accommodate

the jam-packed crew.

- Sound to me like a broken axle.

- [Narrator] But their
truck sixpack broke down

before they could bring
it out to the mine.

- [Claudia] I've been trying

since the beginning of the season

to haul this bunkhouse out to Two Mile.

But because of all the
problems with sixpack,

I haven't been able to haul it to camp.

We're willing to figure something out.

- [Robin] I got tools.

- [Narrator] This looks like
a job for Scrappy Larry.

- We're going on a picnic.

(laughs)

- [Claudia] I got a call from Larry

and he just bought a skidder

and he thinks that'll be perfect

for hauling the bunkhouse out to Two Mile.

- [Narrator] But the skidder,
a heavy-duty tractor,

is at a farm several
hours outside Jade City.

- It'll be lovely, wonderful.

- [Narrator] So Scrappy's
heading out to get it

with his girlfriend Susan

and right-hand man Henry.

- [Larry] All right, all on the boat,

let's go in the boat.

We're rough like a herd of turtles.

- [Narrator] Back at Two Mile,

the saw has almost
finished cutting through

the latest boulder from the pit.

- [Josh] This rock's amongst
like the dozen or two rocks

that we're testing.

We're trying to see what
kind of quality it has,

so hopefully it's really good.

- Yeah, it can be worth
some big money right there.

In three, two, one.

Ah, beautiful.

Gary, it's so nice!

- There's not much for fractures, eh?

- [Josh] That's serious color, man.

Now I'm starting to get excited.

- [Narrator] Grade A jade is apple-green

without black iron stains or fractures.

- Like you said last night, man.

We're on the jade.

- There's a pocket like this.

- Wow!

- Look over here.

Look at the green.

- Looks great.

- Me and Gary both
thought it looked awesome.

But we'll see what Dad thinks.

- [Claudia] Absolutely
this is the largest,

nicest, least fractured to me.

To me, this is it.

Look at that!

Look at that!

Hardly any fractures.

Just beautiful.

What do you think?

- Would be nice to be couple injuries but,

that just isn't happening right now.

- Robin's always negative.

Robin, you should be ecstatic about this.

That boulder is the highest
quality we've ever mined.

It's a great rock.

It's the largest non-fractured...

- It's fractured!

- Hardly at all!

- I'm not getting excited
just because it's a big rock.

There's lots of iron in this one.

The buyers, they don't want the iron

and they don't want fractures.

- That's (beep).

- Until you see a grade A boulder,

you're not gonna realize it.

That I know we can't sell.

- He's wrong, that's it.

- [Robin] If Joshua and
Claudia can't accept

that that is not a good quality boulder,

then they're in the wrong business.

- That doesn't seem to go up far,

like it's going down.

- [Narrator] After a family fight over

the quality of jade
coming out of their pit.

- This just wants to fall apart.

It's no good.

- [Narrator] Robin is back up the hill,

prospecting on Two Mile.

- I'm gonna prove Claudia and Josh wrong

and find better quality jade.

- [Narrator] A few weeks ago,

Claudia's dad Steve urged Robin to open up

a second pit on the ridge.

- I think the best piece is over there,

just a hundred feet from here.

I don't know why,

but I smell over there something.

Nothing here.

- [Narrator] But Robin
refused to change his course.

- [Robin] It's my decision.

So they might get, they
know where their home is.

- I (beep) believe it.

Get me a chopper.

- [Narrator] Now he's
having second thoughts.

- The season is a very short season.

You don't have time to
waste and hunt and hunt.

So when you're not getting what you want,

you need to change.

- Just try and prove that
there's more jade here.

- Here we got more to go after.

- [Narrator] So Robin
and Guy start hunting

for signs of jade on the
ridge Steve suggested.

- For me the pressure is,
we gotta have sellable jade.

We can't afford to mine.

- Hey, now the fun part.

- Color's great.

Looks like jade, smells like jade.

- You find a good lens, that's great.

But how much of that lens is good quality?

The only way to know is keep testing.

- Where is the excavator when you need it?

- [Narrator] To get a good sample,

they need to break off a
significant chunk of the lens.

- All right, this one might move

and I think this one will move.

We gonna take this down
to the saw and cut 'em.

Hopefully it's good in it.

- I am very determined
to show Claudia and Josh

a piece of good quality take.

Everybody argued with me because

I can't lower my standards

but allow to haul on
stuff that is no good.

- [Henry] You gonna go for a
ride with him on the skidder?

- [Larry] Hey man, come on,

we gonna live together,
we gonna die together.

- [Narrator] A few hours
south of Jade City.

- [Larry] Okay, this is it here.

- [Narrator] Scrappy, Susan, and Henry

reach the farmer's field

where they're picking up the skidder

to haul Claudia's bunkhouse.

- I've always been into
old vehicles and stuff.

This skidder was built for
harvesting ironwood in Africa.

There wasn't very many of them made

and it's about the biggest
skidder that has been built.

So I like that part of it.

Tires should be all up.

Key's in it.

Come and see if it'll start.

- [Narrator] The battery is dead.

- Good thing I brought
the long freaking jumpers.

- [Narrator] So they give it a boost.

- Not getting fuel.

It's not getting fuel, right?

- [Larry] I think I got it.

Filter's full of water, take a look.

- [Henry] Oh, look at that!

Milky water.

- [Larry] We gonna have to dump
this and put clean fuel in.

- [Narrator] Back at Two Mile

- [Josh] Sellable, sellable
is the name of the game here.

- [Narrator] Josh is cutting
the test rock from the ridge

that his grandfather Steve
pointed two weeks ago.

- Right now, I'm kind of
beholding my own judgment,

letting my Dad decide what
he likes and doesn't like.

- [Narrator] If the quality's good,

Robin will take Steve's advice

and open a pit on this new site.

- I'm just shutting it down now.

Hey guys, come check this out!

Oh yeah, I can see it from here.

I think you're gonna like it,

but you're not gonna like it.

- You're not gonna like it again?

- Oh, look at that pocket!

- That's lot of nice pockets!

- That's a big pocket!

- [All] Oh, my god!

- Now, this is the largest
best quality rock we got.

- That you're happy about.

- That they'll buy 'cause
it's none of that black in it.

There's no black.

- This is pit two, my Dad.

- No, this is pit one.

- This is pit two.

- This is pit two?

- [Robin] This is pit two!

The better stuff is coming out of pit two.

- [Claudia] Damn, my Dad was right.

- [Narrator] Robin is officially opening

a second pit at Steve's site.

- In mining, everybody
has their own thoughts

on the jade, where to dig.

For me, I like things
done in a certain way.

Not saying it's the right way

and I'm willing to be wrong.

- Just ten tons of totally sellable (beep)

right here, right now.

- 13, 15 bucks a kilo.

- That's a 150,000 dollars.

I was really excited
about pit one boulder.

But this boulder is better quality,

which is a great thing to be wrong about.

- We're all into jade.

- If you gotta be wrong,

you wanna be wrong about
things getting better.

- [Larry] Anybody got a screwdriver?

I just got a flipper, leave her here.

- [Narrator] South of Jade City,

Larry and Henry have cleared

the skidder's fuel filters of water.

- We're gonna give her a whirl?

Give her!

- [Narrator] And refilled
them with clean diesel.

- Fingers crossed, the thing's gonna run.

- Here we go.

- We got it running.

- Claudia's got thank bunkhouse

that has to go into the mine.

And I think this is a
machine that'll do it.

- I can't wait to see it
rolling down the road.

- [Narrator] But just
minutes into the journey,

the engine stalls.

- What a bummer.

Oh boy, she's hot.

I don't like the looks of this.

That's all wet.

You're kidding me.

I've lost all my oil, the
front heel's gone on it.

Maybe we shouldn't have bought it.

It'll never make it,

I need a battleship full of oil.

Boy, I don't know, we're kind of screwed.

Thank God I didn't seize it.

We gonna top the oil back up
and try and get it back there.

So all I can do.

- [Narrator] The skidder will have to sit

in the farmer's field until
Larry can get it repaired.

- [Larry] We shouldn't have done this.

- [Narrator] Up at Two Mile.

(phone ringing)

- [Claudia] Hello?

- [Narrator] Claudia gets the bad news.

- [Larry] So, the bunkhouse
ain't going nowhere.

Not for a long time.

- Everything is so complicated.

Always.

- [Larry] The (beep) thing!

- This bunkhouse has become

more of a problem than anything.

But we need to have the
accommodations out there.

- [Narrator] But she has an idea.

- [Claudia] Gary!

- What did Jerry do now?

- [Claudia] Larry's skidder
is not working properly

and we are having a lot
of problems with it.

We should consider getting the sixpack

to haul the bunkhouse in.

- [Narrator] Sixpack is set to deliver

the latest load of boulders to Jade City.

So the truck could haul the
bunkhouse on the way back in.

- Sixpack's had a lot
of problems this season.

But I think we need to take a chance

and haul that bunkhouse in to Two Mile.

- We did lots of work to the sixpack.

- I think that if anybody's gonna dump

that (beep) thing on their site,

it should be us.

Why should somebody else get that luxury?

- [Claudia] Okay, let's do it.

We don't have a lot of time.

- [Narrator] Early the next morning,

Josh and Gary are ready for the track

back to Jade City.

- Load it up and we're gonna haul

of full load of Jade out today on sixpack.

- [Narrator] But less than
an hour into the journey.

- [Gary] Flat tire.

You got a copy there, Josh?

- [Josh] Yeah, go ahead.

- I'm gonna have to stop
up on the hill here.

I took a flat tire.

Bent the rim and punctured the tire.

- Should I grab that jack?

- Yeah.

- [Narrator] With no spare.

- That sucks.

- [Narrator] The only thing
they can do is improvise.

- [Gary] This is all we need I guess.

It's an hour of backup for an axle

to take the pressure of the rim.

It's gonna be heavy with the jade on it.

- [Josh] Yepper, give her a pull.

- [Narrator] They chain
the axle to the frame

to lift the rim off the road.

- [Josh] It'll have to be
good enough to get outta here.

Okay, good to go.

- [Gary] This road is unforgiving.

It's hard on everything,
especially sixpack.

It's an old truck

and we're not gonna
know what's gonna happen

until it happens.

- [Narrator] After a long day on the road,

Gary and Josh finally limp sixpack

to the Dease Lake landing.

- [Josh] Yeah, that's a good tire.

- These trips suck.

Just pain, but we got it done.

- [Narrator] They transfer the boulders

to a waiting flatdeck truck.

- Can't sell it here,
we're off to Jade City.

- Yeah!

That's it, ey?

We're super keen to get back in the camp,

so tomorrow right back to work.

- Here, the tire's ready off.

- [Gary] Put the tire on the sixpack.

This morning, change the tire.

- [Narrator] Next morning,
it's all hands on deck

as the Jade City crew
prepare to haul the bunkhouse

into Two Mile.

- We'll a bit in a rush.

- [Claudia] Tomorrow I pray to God

it's moving day with this trailer.

We need to get the bunkhouse out.

- [Robin] Sixpack's ready.

We're just gonna get
the truck underneath it

and have it parked ready to go.

- [Narrator] But hooking
up the trailer to sixpack

isn't as easy as they expected.

- [Steve] Our hatch is too long,

the trailer for the sixpack.

So we gotta lift it a foot.

Hopefully the little loader will do it.

And back underneath she'll be ready to go.

That looks leaning out
a lot, does that matter?

- That' be all right.

- Okay.

- That bunkhouse is a big load.

This is gonna be the biggest test

and challenge for sixpack.

I have pretty high
hopes for this old girl.

I think it's gonna work just fine.

- [Narrator] But Claudia has her doubts.

- We've had a lot of problems
with sixpack this year.

And it hasn't been reliable.

- Feel like my Mom is
manifesting negativity

into the bunkhouse move.

I don't know why,

but my Mom had this bunkhouse
can't be gotten to Two Mile.

- There we go.

- But in my head, we can get
this bunkhouse to Two Mile.

- Joshua, he loves it.

Guy loves it, Gary loves
it, Robin loves it.

Claudia, not so much.

It's an old truck, it was
in a scrapyard for a reason.

It's scrap.

- We've got the sixpack
hooked up to it now.

Ready for tomorrow morning to head out.

We're just gonna drive in and be great.

It's all over in a day.

- [Claudia] God help us.

- [Narrator] Next time on Jade Fever.

- [Josh] Everybody's a little bit on edge

'cause they don't know
what's gonna happen.

- Taking it wide.

I'm not guaranteeing that that bunkhouse

is gonna get to Two Mile.

- Putting some fluid on the brake,

trying to cool it off.

- [Josh] Okay, we need to hurry up here,

I'm holding the brakes on.

I can't hold this much longer, man,

I'm serious, I'm super serious.