Jade Fever (2015–…): Season 7, Episode 2 - Young Guy with Semi - full transcript
Robin is excited about a new jade lens deposit but can't seem to get mining. A frustrated Josh starts his own trucking business. New guy Shane lets no obstacle get in his way. Larry is ordered to clean up a mess outside one of his...
- It's so god damn muddy,
I don't know if they can back up this hill
with this trailer.
- At the Dee's Lake Landing
in Northern British Columbia,
- Keep comin', Josh.
- Robin Bunce and his crew
are preparing to trek their
equipment into Two Mile Mine.
- We gotta swap our shack.
- We need to
transfer that on to Bedford.
This year, I hope for Robin
and Claudia that we find
some really nice jade.
They'll move this into place.
That's the biggest hope
because they deserve it.
They've been workin' hard.
- We need blocks.
- Stand back from them chains.
Now we gotta square it up.
- Josh is helping the crew
now,
- Woo.
- but then plans to go pick up
the semi he bought last week
and launch his trucking business.
- Go slow
'cause the back end is
eventually gonna .
I got one
single hope for this season.
There we go.
And that is that I can
start my own company and be my own boss
and not have to be under somebody's thumb.
- Go nice and slow,
and then I'll jump in the Cat
and push it in.
- I'm tired of working
for people.
- It'll come down hard.
- Yeah, yeah, stress test.
- Robin's brother, Donnie,
is also lending a hand
driving in a borrowed rock
truck packed with supplies.
- Straighten up.
- He's got to
get a little bit of a run
for it.
- The last vehicle to join
the convoy is the notorious Six Pack.
- Hey, jab her.
- Carrying the heaviest load,
a four ton fuel tank
- Yeah, I'd run that right
around the front right there.
- that's secured with chains
before tackling the rough road into camp.
- We get this goin' and
then we're headin' out.
- Cat radio check for Josh.
- Garon, good for Garon.
- We're with Uncle Donnie.
- Copy that, I hear ya.
- 10-four.
- If all goes well,
it's a six hour crawl to Two Mile
on a rugged dirt trail that leads high up
into the mountains.
- Here we go.
I'm definitely concerned.
Last year we retired the Six Pack
because we had both front tires fail.
- Six Pack has
lost its six-wheel drive
capabilities and is now powered
only by its rear wheels.
- Now we're using
Six Pack as a fuel truck,
which is a very heavy substance.
Funny, it's such a steep
hill right off the landing.
It's a good stress test to figure out
if we're even gonna make
it in here with this truck.
With the road being so challenging,
things can become really dangerous,
but they're the ones that are
in charge of the Six Pack.
So as long as the truck
doesn't end up on its side,
I really don't care.
I don't think she's gonna pull it.
Stay on the drive, come on, girl.
- Y'all doin' okay back there?
- Ah, it's chewin', we'll see,
stand by.
- I don't think you'll have
a problem, you got a
lotta weight on there.
- Just stand by.
- Always thinking and
waitin' for it to break down.
It's going to break down.
- Holy .
I just watched the fuel tank shift.
- Okay.
- So I'm pretty sure the fuel
tank's up against the side by side.
We'll have to check it.
It didn't even make it up the first hill.
If I woulda tied all this
down, this would not be loose.
- Oh, my God.
- This is gonna be
the million dollar rock.
- Yee-hoo.
- Jade makes people do crazy
things.
- Stay on the drive,
come on, girl.
- On the trail into the mine
- Holy .
I just watched the fuel tank shift.
- Six Pack's
heavy cargo of fuel
has shifted precariously.
- Didn't even make it up the first hill.
- And Josh
blames Robin and Gary
who tied it down.
- I always, always insist
on tying my own loads to
avoid like this.
The only cinches on this
are cross and they're loose,
and not to be like I
told you, but of course,
it's gonna slide back.
It's only cross strapped.
- I would go from here down
to the frame right here.
Other sides of the frame right there.
- Okay.
- Now I, that's all I can
think of.
- Yeah, that's all we can do.
It's too late now.
- Okay.
- This is definitely
the type of
we could avoid if you
put me in charge though.
If you had me in charge,
- Josh, Josh.
- My parents had hired me,
and we had negotiated the entire season
before my parents informed me
that they had promoted Gary
and put him in charge of me.
This
sucks.
I don't feel comfortable
with my abilities being overshadowed
by a promotion for Gary.
I can't get the hook off.
- Pull it forward.
Robin givin' me that little bit of
a chain in command.
So the back'll be loose.
is gonna affect the mine safety actually
in a good way, I think.
- Ah, yeah.
- ] Cause now, he's
not in charge of family,
and workin' with family can be hard.
I mean, we all know that.
- it, we've got one
chain.
- This year, I've decided
to put Gary in charge.
- I'll get Garon on the
radio to bring the snipe up.
- Gary is the right
person to be foreman on site
telling Garon and Josh what to do.
- It's gotta go under here.
- Okay, go ahead.
- It has to be on a straight
portion of the chain.
This has to--
- What I admire about Gary is
how calm he is
all the time.
You know, he doesn't get too excited.
- Right there?
- Right there.
- You're right, Josh.
Mine, this is farther over.
- Yup.
- Okay?
- If Gary is the guy that
my dad is gonna depend on in Two Mile,
I do not intend on continuing
to work for my dad.
I want to excel and succeed
and show what I can do.
Yeah, good to go.
- It's probably
easier to put the wheelchair
right up against it.
- Claudia is flying into camp
with the newest member of
the team, her nephew, Shane.
- He happens to be a paraplegic.
He's had a bad car accident.
- Do we have to
wear the seatbelt?
- Yeah, you have to wear
the seatbelt, Shane.
Good one.
- We're in.
- I decided to
join the mining group
because I wanted to prove to myself
that I can be a viable
member of the, of the crew.
How to overcome challenges.
That's, that's been my life
for seven years.
See, I don't have to worry about duckin'.
- I
don't think that Shane
is going to be
limited in the mine site
by him being in a wheelchair.
- Well, they teach you this
in Vancouver.
- He just isn't that type of person.
So let's take a look at
the generator first, Shane.
- Job number one to open camp,
power and hot water.
- This is a very special key.
It's a Bunce key.
- Yeah, yeah.
- 'Kay, Shane.
So we just have to turn it a bit.
- Yeah, there, now it's runnin'
the glowplugs.
There you go.
- I'm goin' to flick on
the power.
Power.
We have a lotta stuff to do here.
- It's not that bad.
- It's not that good.
And I have Shane.
Shane's gonna help me
get things carpentered up.
Home sweet home.
- Did you make Corduroy Hill
there, Josh?
- I actually haven't gotten up
to it yet.
- Back on the trail,
- Just comin' up to the mud hole now.
- The crew reaches
the most treacherous section
of road leading into the mine.
- The big mud hole caused us
lots of issues last year.
Got just about got stuck
in it multiple times
with everything.
We haven't even made it into camp yet,
and that road has already
claimed it's first victim
that we know of.
- A week ago on a helicopter
scouting mission, the
crew spotted an army truck
sunk in the mud hole.
- Oh.
- And rescued
it's stranded owner,
hockey coach turned gold
miner, Ernie Punch McLean.
- Is it safe to use it to
take out a load of fuel
or something?
- As long as you don't get
stuck.
- Claudia spied an opportunity
to make a deal.
If her crew can get the
truck out of the mud,
they can borrow it this season.
- If I see Dale, I'll run
it up the bank to him.
- Don't get too close to the water
or you'll be swimmin'.
- The 10-ton army truck
is stuck deep and will test
the power of Robin's winch.
- 'Kay.
- Hold on a sec, Dad.
- It's a successful recovery.
- Where do you wanna park
this thing?
- On the other side.
- But Robin's not going to risk
getting stuck too.
The convoy will try to
get around the mud hole
on a detour through the woods.
- Hopefully, we don't get stuck
tryin' to get to the other
side of this mud hole.
That's the next challenge.
Josh may not make it.
- He's gonna have
to hit it a little harder
to get out of the way.
- Josh,
when you come out onto the road,
your front is gonna dive in
and hit straight to the other side.
It's that deep dip right there when you,
when you go out--
- I shouldn't have
stopped; you made me stop.
I had a good go.
- I didn't think it was gonna
sink.
- A .
- I shouldn't have
stopped; you made me stop.
- I didn't think it was gonna
sink.
- I had a good go
and I was movin'.
My dad made me stop here.
- Josh's truck is stuck
in soggy ground on the
road to Two Mile Mine.
- Gotta come back.
- So Gary uses the army truck
they've just recovered
to try and pull it out.
- Right here.
- Go,
go.
Hit it.
- I'll give you a nice jerk.
- just hit it.
Yeah.
My tires were spinnin' the whole time.
I am definitely an agitator.
I definitely create issues.
I know that.
Hit it.
- I was right to the floor.
- A problem that I have is
that I feel self-righteous.
Go.
I feel like I'm very
justified in what I'm saying.
Go, go, go, go, go.
But that's just what you
get with family business.
- Josh, he wants to
start his own trucking business.
I'm all for it.
I hope he does because
it's hard for him working with family.
Like we've all seen the arguments.
- 'Kay.
- I don't think I'm
gonna make it up this next hill.
- An hour from camp,
Josh runs into more trouble.
- My temperature is creepin' up.
I feel like it's losin' power.
But I will try.
- You might not make it without
the front wheel drive.
- We can leave the Six Pack
down at the bottom of the
hill so we don't have to
pull it up.
- I don't care.
I'll try to drive it up the hill.
I'm just, I'm armin' you guys with
all the information I can.
That's yours and my
dad's decision to make.
- Pull into the bush
behind Garon there, Robin.
- Right on.
- New foreman Gary makes
the call to leave Six Pack behind.
Tomorrow, it will be towed up
the hill with their excavator.
- Why'd you park there, Josh?
Now I gotta back up.
- Let's go.
- Okay, let's go and see
what we got.
- Scrappy
Larry and his son, Ricky,
have a hill to climb of their own.
- Let's see what we've got.
- They've
made the two-hour trip
from their scrapyard in Cassiar
to Watson Lake in the Yukon.
- Well, I have two yards.
I have one in Watson servicing
the town of Watson Lake.
Any treasures over there
at the gate?
- This location here,
I've always told my dad,
is a location that he
shouldn't get rid of.
The town of Watson
Lake's really got nowhere
to get rid of their scrap.
- The problem is Larry's
scrapyard has become almost too popular
with the folks in Watson Lake.
- Somebody dropped 'em off.
The doors are locked.
They bring their cars and
stuff to my yard 'cause
they go to the dump,
and it costs 'em a lot of money.
Whoever dropped 'em off, they're, they're
for, for scrap, eh?
'Cause it's 300 bucks
to take 'em to the dump.
- One of the biggest problems
with Watson Lake yard is
we take everything for free.
That's somethin' I've
tried to get into his head.
We've gotta charge something.
My dad can be too generous sometimes.
- We're not there all the time.
So they're dumping along
the outside of the,
of the fence and that's spreading out onto
public property, right?
And then the city gets
mad, yeah, they
they, they're not happy.
They were gonna clean it up and bill me.
That's why we had to get
in here and clean it up.
- The town has
given Larry just three days
to move the junk into his yard
or face a hefty fine.
- Me and my dad, we
got a lotta work ahead of us.
It's just initially gettin' started.
- The first job of the day
is clearing the cars
parked outside of the gate
without breaking any sellable parts.
- In order to make
money in this business,
you need to salvage as much as possible
without destroying or smashin' it.
- I gotta be careful
I don't break that window
on the driver side.
- That's the most expensive
window on that whole car: $1000.
- Oh, boy.
- So don't smash it.
Well, there goes the window.
And there you go.
That's a fixer-upper.
Problem with him, he wants
to use the excavator,
but every time we try to move anything
or do anything with the excavator,
it turns out just bein' scrapped.
- I didn't hurt
the steering wheel, did I?
How am I gonna drive it?
I think it deployed the airbag.
Oh boy.
- How's it goin' up there?
- At Two Mile camp,
- Gettin' things cleaned up here.
- I don't know where to start.
- Staples.
- Shane gets to work fixing
the cook shack's ceiling that
collapsed over the winter.
- Put a couple
in so they don't blow out
when the wind blows it the other way.
- and enlists his aunt's help.
- Carpenter assistant.
That's my new job title.
Shane's assistant.
Shane's a contractor, was
a builder, and still is.
And he was a operator.
He operated equipment.
You're lucky I love you.
Jesus.
- Screw came through.
- Ah, he's got a great attitude.
Okay.
He just takes on everything like it's
nothing.
- Fixed, fixed.
What would you like now,
for your wobbly table?
- Yeah.
- Rock and roll.
- Not far from camp,
- Hey Dad, would you mind
pullin' ahead so we don't
have to sop on the hill or?
- Alrighty.
- After a long,
tough day on the road,
the convoy finally reaches the last hill
leading into Two Mile.
But now more trouble.
- Snow on the road and
there's ice under it.
And these tires aren't that good.
It packs it.
truck's havin' an issue.
Bedford could be, have a issue too.
- So yeah, Garon,
there is ice under the snow
so stay as far right as
you can comfortably do so.
- Yeah, I hit that ice
you were talkin' about, Josh.
Holy crap.
I don't really wanna try to back up at all
and move ahead anymore, so
I'll just wait for Robin.
- Robin will try winching
the Bedford free.
- 15 Feet.
First gear.
- I'm in first.
- Jab her.
- Yes, Sir.
- There you go.
- Both these sides are turnin'.
- My positive
side not turnin' at all?
- Dead spot's not workin'.
- The loaded Bedford is
too heavy for Robin's winch.
- She get hot?
- Yep, cables are melting
off.
- You might be able to just
pull dead, stick 'em up.
Get 'em movin'.
- Yep.
- Instead of
using the winch motor
for pulling power, Robin,
will try reversing to get
the Bedford through the snow.
- Back up three or four feet,
and when this cable tightens,
both of ya walk on her.
- Garon and I have to
accelerate at the same time
at the same speed to make this work
to climb the hill
because he's on ice, I'm on hard ground.
You ready?
- Jab her.
- Holy crap.
- On the road into Two Mile,
- You ready?
- Jab her.
- Robin is struggling to pull
the heavily loaded Bedford up an icy hill.
- And try to get up
there as much as you can.
- The hill conquered,
they finally make it to camp.
- Some days you
just gotta deal with it
the best you can and carry on.
You survive.
It's over.
- Was I right?
I said 12 hours, I was--
- 11.
- 20 minutes off.
You guys left at nine.
I don't think we could be at this point
without all of the struggle,
and the tough times
are absolutely what make you who you are.
- You're good, honey.
You're good.
- I'm good.
- The next morning,
- Okay, let's go.
- Claudia is up early
- Josh?
- To see Josh off
as he takes the first step to
start his trucking venture.
- I'm so happy for you.
- I just sent the $20,000
down payment for my truck.
- You excited?
- Oh, yeah, been waitin' for
like two years.
- A lifetime?
- No, two years, for sure,
I've been planning every day,
thinkin' just every
single day for two years.
- We spend a fortune moving jade
and haulin' stuff back and forth
and this allows us to have our boy
- Do our own transportations.
- Yeah.
- Let's get out of their way
and get you guys going.
- Yep.
- It's hard for
him workin' with family.
So this truck, I think it's
gonna be a good move for him.
And I think he'll do well at it.
- Yay, truck owner.
- Get down to the dirt again.
Love you.
- He's gonna get along better
with his parents,
definitely, he will get along
better with his parents.
- 'Kay, love you, Dad.
- Safety for the trip.
You have a safe trip.
- Thank you.
- I don't want my
kids to do what I'm doing.
I want them to do what they want to do.
Joshua is a good truck driver.
So follow that passion.
- Oh, there
goes our baby go and get
his new truck.
- Yep.
- At Scrappy's Watson Lake
scrapyard, Ricky and Henry arrive early
to get a head start.
- If I can find the key
that my dad told me not to lose.
- They only have
two days left to clean up
before the town steps in and finds them.
- Aw, heck.
Ah, Henry.
- The
excavator's battery is dead.
- Ah, man.
Ah, let me look in the shop.
Hopefully there's a pair
of jumper cables in there.
- Ricky and
Henry are scrambling
to get it running before Larry arrives.
- You run the positive and
negative here, right?
- Yeah.
- But it's too late.
- Okay, we're gonna drop everything else.
We're gonna,
I'll get, we'll get this runnin'.
You back under that trailer.
I'll go clear a spot or I'm
not bein' here till midnight.
- The excavator's dead, like.
All it takes is one
little thing to put him in
one of those moods, and
then it all goes downhill
from there.
- Jesus.
Well, you got it hooked up to 24 volts.
Two 12's make a 24.
Aw, they had it hooked up to 24 volts,
and they were jumping off
a 12-volt pickup, right?
It's not gonna jump 24 volts.
- There we go.
What we're plannin' on doin'
is clear a lot of stuff
out of the way to make room.
This yard is a little bit scattered.
- First you get an idiot
to drive the machine,
and then you let him take out his,
all his frustrations on the car.
- When he gets really frustrated,
things really get smashed.
And you know, I've learned just back off.
There was a Dodge box that I
needed the tailgate off of.
- The tail gate
is off back over there
if you want it, to take, go grab it.
- Up here, it's worth a
lot because you gotta drive
all the way to Whitehorse to find one.
Oh, God.
Aha, looked at it, it
was bent and useless.
The stuff we need, he crunches.
The stuff we don't need, he protects.
It doesn't make sense some days.
I, I don't know.
This one's .
- You know, there's nothing nicer
to get rid of your frustration,
as crushin' a car.
- But time is running out
on Larry's cleanup deadline.
- Hopefully it, it's gonna
get done.
Maybe Scrappy style,
but we get her done.
- Hey, buddy, about time to go.
- In Jade City,
- I'm finally
headin' down to pick up
my new truck, and I'm extremely excited.
Been dreaming about owning my own semi
and running my own company for 10 years.
Yeah.
- Josh's girlfriend,
Kylie, is joining him
on the 10-hour trip to Burns Lake.
- It's a really big
deal for both me and Kylie.
Was also very excited she
gets to come down with me
and drive my pickup home,
and follow the back.
Double-win road trip, bring
the dogs, find a semi,
live the dream.
While me and Kylie first got
together like seven years ago,
and we've known each other
for better part of 10 years.
Me and Kylie are good friends.
We care about each other.
We value each other.
We try to uplift each other.
- Excited?
- Yepper.
- I'm really proud of him
for working hard and for
getting his first truck.
He's been working
extremely hard to buy it.
That's exciting.
- Yepper.
- Tomorrow morning,
you'll be in your truck.
- I absolutely love grabbing gears,
driving semi-trucks, so
I'm gonna take the plunge,
and I'm just gonna try
and go do my own thing.
See what happens.
I'm excited; it'll be good.
Just wanna get it in my name.
- Yeah.
- Gary?
- Back at Two Mile,
- I will get you
to get Shane set up in the excavator.
Maybe you can guide him up there,
and he can excavate that land area so that
you can pull off the pumpkin.
- Shane is getting his first
shot at operating the excavator.
- I think that guy
should, may be wearing
a motorcycle helmet.
It's gonna be easiest for ya.
- This is my
first season jade mining,
and I'm here to run an excavator.
Gettin' back in the machine,
it's been quite a few years.
- You need a hand for a sec
or no?
- No, actually, I was just
gonna,
there we go.
- All of us wanna give him
a hand, but he told us
right, right from day one,
he wants to do it himself.
- Usually if I hit something
that I'm, I struggle doing, then it,
it makes me more determined.
I, just like a bull in a China shop.
Get outta my way; I'm doin' it.
- Well, I sure hope you went
to the bathroom already.
- And have him
level out his own spot
for a shack.
Then we'll know how
good he'll do up there.
- Gary will assess
Shane's operating skills,
leveling the spot for the new bunkhouse
before sending him up to the mine site.
- Where would you like the material?
More this way or that way?
- Well, we'll flatten this out
first, try to make it as level as we can,
where we can just pull it straight off.
- The ground here is definitely
full of large boulders.
Moving the rock around
and getting it leveled out
is a, is a little more challenging.
- Get her point right there.
- Shane is not
looking for any sympathy or
help unless he really needs it.
- Think you got her figured.
The thing I like about
him is he don't give up.
Now poke her down and
pull it back a little bit.
- Shane has
passed his first test,
but it'll be a much bigger challenge
digging jade out of a steep mountainside.
- He knows how to run the
hoe, so I'm not worried
about what he can do with it.
I'm just worried about
him being on the ledge.
Pull it back a little bit,
and then we'll level it.
- That'll be a challenge because
it's something I haven't done before with,
with an excavator.
- Straight up.
There you go.
- There's a buck's worth there.
All right.
- It's nearing end of day
at the Watson Lake scrapyard.
- That, that grapple?
Don't wanna scrap it.
Put it in the yard.
- Larry has just 24 hours
left to clear scrap off town property
and into his yard or face a stiff fine.
- Treasures, treasures, nothing
but treasures.
- But he's making slow
progress.
- That's good.
You never know what you're
gonna find, right?
What?
- He's like a kid in
a candy store when you
put him in a junk yard.
What's your plans now?
- Dig them fork extensions
out.
- Oh, they're not .
I don't think they're fork extensions.
I'll ruin my
Sunday-go-to-church clothes now.
They're weak.
- Look good to me.
- Garbage, that's what they
are is garbage.
Guarantee ya, three years from now,
they'll still be sittin' in the yard.
The difference of opinion
in me and my dad have
on Watson Lake yard is I want
an actual scrap business.
Get it out there on the web or whatever
and try selling some things
instead of keeping things.
- Oh, those are gonna work good.
- The things
that he sees as diamonds,
I see a stone.
We accomplished nothing today.
- Tomorrow should be better.
I say that everyday, don't I?
- Are you finally ready?
- At Two Mile,
- Well, I was gonna let
you drive.
- No, no.
- Chauffeur.
- Robin takes his new foreman,
Gary, to a promising jade lens
he and Claudia want to explore.
- The, the potential is amazing.
We're extremely excited.
That's what keeps us going.
- Let's have a look,
see what we can do here.
- We're huntin' for that
grade A jade,
that 10 million dollar lens.
- Nice long lens.
Hopefully it's got nice,
really nice quality jade.
On the surface, it runs the whole hill.
Guaranteed a half a kilometer.
- Well, it's
definitely worth chasin'.
See, this one's got big potential
for what the color is in it.
- The color is excellent.
Being the length of it and the apart,
the amount of it that's visible,
very high potential.
- I wanna get this lens
exposed for Robin and Claudia.
It's one of my personal goals,
and Robin's given me free
reign to get it done.
- Robin and Claudia
have named this new deposit
J Lens.
- Two out of three kids' names
start with J, Justin and Joshua,
and it's jade, so that's
why it's the J Lens.
- That's a huge undertakin'
to try to take this out quick.
- It's over a quarter mile long.
- It's gonna be challenging.
- I'm excited.
- Josh and Kylie have arrived
in Burns Lake to pick up his semi.
- Oh, I love it.
- Oh, my God.
This is amazing.
I'm especially excited about the truck
because it is an incredibly good deal.
The nicest thing I own here is this tire.
I cannot believe how
nice of a truck I found.
- Weird seein' you
drive away with it.
- I know, I feel bad for ya.
The whole time, I'm
like, "Man, that's a nice
" goodbye for Pete",
but not that bad.
I'm extremely excited,
more excited than I've been
in a lotta years in memory.
From now on, my hard work
and my effort are gonna go
into my own company, my own
truck, and my own future.
What?
This is my truck.
It's hard to comprehend.
- I still can't believe that
that's Joshua behind me in
that semi truck right now.
- Heck, yeah,
I got a semi.
- Let's go.
- In Watson Lake, it's down
to the wire.
- Okay.
- Larry has
just a few more hours
to clear all the junk
off town property and
into his yard or get fined.
- Ah .
No, I don't want a bill from that.
That'd be holy mackerel.
- Ricky tries to hook up
the last trailer full of scrap.
- The legs don't work.
- But the landing gear
is broken.
- There's always something with
a Scrappy Larry piece of equipment.
Nothin' works.
Something as simple as
better landing legs.
It frustrates me every season
that we're still fighting
with this equipment.
It's just nothing is easy
and you get frustrated.
Oh.
I just let it get to
me and backed under it
a little too fast.
Oh, eh, for sakes.
And my neck, it's just throbbin'.
Man, my neck sure hurts.
I gave myself, I think, whiplash.
Is he ready for, to go in there or what?
- Okay.
These trailers gotta be unloaded today.
Don't wanna be here till midnight.
- It's a hot day and
tensions are high, and
you don't think about things and
things happen.
- Yeah, I thought
I brought my coffee cup.
It's still in the truck,
and I thought I brought it
in the excavator with me
and there was a cup there.
Ah, .
Two month old swamp water, yuck.
I just about puked.
had me.
- He thought he was grabbin'
his coffee cup, and it was his coffee cup,
only it was probably like
four-months-old coffee.
And he drank it?
Apparently it didn't
taste so good.
- Well, if that
don't make me get COVID,
I don't know what will.
Now, the lock's on.
- 'Kay.
- At Watson Lake, the big yard
cleanup is almost done.
Larry takes a breather and gets Ricky
to empty the last trailer.
- He's strugglin' a little bit.
He's great in the, in
the beginning of the day,
but near the end of the day, I can see
he's pretty crippled up.
I don't think he'll ever really quit.
It's just it's gettin' harder
and harder for him every year
to keep up that pace.
- Things don't work as well
as they used to.
I'm a lot slower, but that's okay.
I'm only gonna work till
lunchtime on the day
of my funeral, and then,
then I'll take the rest
of the day off, right?
I'm startin' to count
on Rick more and more.
Can't do all the things I
used to do, and he's excelled.
He's gone right at it.
- This is the last little bit
right here.
The trailer's empty after this.
No wait, I got it all
the way to the front.
- I take my hat
off to you, young fella.
You're good.
- They finally moved all
the scrap off town property.
- Turn his frown upside down.
By the end of the day,
we pulled everything together
and got everything done.
- So are you ready?
- You bet ya.
Stella.
Still that tension and stress,
and we still get a little
choked at one another, but
I don't know, we get it done.
- We can go home.
Get pie-eyed.
- Not quite in sight.
Can't see him yet.
- After dropping his semi
in Jade City, Josh returns to camp.
- Josh is
coming as a new person.
- I sure hope
this changes the dynamic
of my relationship
between me and my parents.
Me starting my new business is definitely
something that I want to
help reflect positively
on their opinion of me.
- My boy takes a while.
He likes to drive safe.
He has to drive safe now.
He's a class one operator.
- And he's drivin' my truck.
- And he's driving your truck.
- Where's your semi horn?
- Hello.
- Hi, hello.
How are you?
- I'm good; I'm a new
company owner.
It's a big deal when your
parents start to look at you
as an equal,
and it's a big deal when your
parents start to respect you
and respect your work ethic
and respect your capabilities.
- You're a
25-year-old company owner.
- Barely need a job anymore.
- Where's your chair, Shane,
in the backseat?
- Yeah.
- The next morning,
- Yeah, he's got--
- Oh, yeah, make it hard,
I want it on this side.
Push it over.
Easy on the wheels.
- Gary is giving
Shane his first crack
at excavating the new J Lens.
- Wanna have a look over here,
or you want me to dig over here?
- Nope, go ahead and start right there.
Good operator would have
smoothed that out for you, eh?
I had him a few days ago
doing little odds and ends
down at the yard and he did okay,
so figured, well, we'll
throw him on this lens.
- Saltillo catches the--
- Oh, you want--
- No, I need to get it up.
Need to get it up.
- Well, guess what?
You're not the only one in that category.
- Oh, some short ass was in here.
- Oh, yeah.
- Hey, I never touched
the seat after you.
- You know what?
Hey, we'll let you get
situated, and I'll get into a spot
where I can watch ya.
When it comes to Shane, I
don't know him well enough
to say that he can or can't hack it.
We'll see.
Be careful you don't fall in there.
Guys, watch yourself, he's gotta back up
a little bit here.
- Before I ran, ran excavator
on the job site, you know your flat ground
and typically very low hazard
for the machine itself.
- Dump.
- This is different because I'm on
the side of the mountain
with that excavator,
got steep ground, and
it's very tippy sometimes.
- Let's push those two
bigger ones to the bottom.
Then we can at least have a look at 'em.
- Just learning how
to get it into the bucket
little bit of a learning curve for me,
'cause I've never dealt with
that big of material before
in an excavator.
- Now,
let's see if we can move this big one.
- 'Kay, you want me
to just clear this little bit of debris
on the top and just see if I can grab
and clear?
- Yeah.
- Is that lens
still goin' down there?
- Yeah, it keeps goin'.
- Yeah, keep diggin'.
Hopefully that's good hard
jade he's hitting.
- You can definitely tell
when you hit, hit the good jade.
It's, it's, it's hard.
You feel it through the machine.
You can feel it through
every part of your body.
- Yeah, right down in there.
Try not to come up to the top
'cause you'll break the top off.
- Shane tries to
dig out a huge jade boulder
without damaging it.
- You got a good bite on her.
Shake your bucket back and forth.
Loosen her up.
Just a matter of reaching the boom out
and using the teeth to get the serpentine
off the side of the rock.
He was always too close, and
he couldn't get his teeth
in there.
- This boulder
is a pain in the ass.
- The rock won't budge.
- And it's gonna
cause a rock slide.
- But the boulders
above are dangerously close
to falling.
- You see that great big rock?
That big mother is gonna come down.
- And it's gonna cause
a rock slide.
- At the
new J Lens on Two Mile,
- You see that great big rock?
That big mother is gonna come down.
- Shane's attempt to pull out
a large jade boulder
- Not movin'.
- has destabilized a rock
ledge above.
- The host rock that's on
the back and above the lens is
all fractured; it's really broke up.
Watch those rocks.
But if you start getting
too deep at the bottom
or go in too far, the top
rocks are going to come down.
- Right off the end of it there,
take the whole little lump out of there.
That's what's holdin' it up.
We can see it.
- Yep, right there.
That's one solid piece.
- Movin' lots, though.
- Come down here.
Right there at the end, yeah?
Now it's movin'.
- Yeah.
- When you're trying to pull it,
put your teeth near the top
and just try to pull in straight in.
- Yep.
- Ah, keep pullin' on her.
It's goin', keep pullin',
keep pullin'.
- There it goes.
There we go.
Equipment gonna get outta the way?
- Shane manages
to pry out the boulder
without causing a landslide.
- I've never had to move
big rock like that before.
It's literally the learning curve for me.
Holy , look at that.
- So far, I like working
with Shane.
He's not scared to take advice.
And he does what you ask.
- Jade.
- Yep, oh yeah.
- First jade we've pulled out of J Lens.
- It's good, it's, I'm happy that
we got jade.
- There's lots of light
and darks, like dark on the surface
but it's got some beautiful color.
We dug out a piece of lens for us, and
so far it doesn't look too bad, so
it was a good first day.
He did a good job.
I think this is gonna work out for us.
- I can do anything because
when I set my mind to it,
I don't stop until I can get it done.
- A lot easier gettin' outta there
than it is gettin' in, eh?
- Oh, yeah.
Goin' down's always easier.
- It is so warm up here.
Is it always this warm, or is it a--
- No, earlier today, Gary
said it was really cold.
It's warmed up.
- Claudia checks in on
their progress.
- I can't believe how much
work you guys have done in two days.
This is all part of the J Lens now?
- Yep.
- So which one are you
following now?
Where, where's your destination?
- This is the end of it.
- Right to that rock.
- To that rock over there?
And we make our way back this way?
- Yep.
- If that lens
is what we think it is,
it's under all of that.
- Of course it is.
Why, why be easy?
Well, I thought J Lens
would be a lot easier
'cause I was not assuming
that it would be like
we're following the side of a mountain.
- But at least
we're finding jade already.
- The J Lens, it winds around.
So it's like a big
snake that's slithering,
so this is a big project.
- That piece right there,
I'm finding lots of nice green in it.
- This is absolutely
gonna be a challenge.
And it definitely is gonna
task the crew and the equipment.
And it feels like this is the
season to go big or go home,
and literally,
it'll be go big or go home.
- - There's a beautiful color
in some of that.
- That's what we're lookin' for.
It's our treasure hunt.
It's our life.
It's everything.
- Next time on "Jade Fever,"
- You can't stand on that edge
'cause you'll knock rock loose.
It'll cause a major problem.
- This one's
got a nice color in it.
- We're gonna get wet here
in a minute.
- This is getting heavy now.
- You're in an excavator up here
and there's gonna be lightning,
the risk is pretty high.
- Parts of the road are pretty much
washed right out.
- It's way too soft.
We'll sink outta sight.
- This is gettin' ugly again,
eh?
- Uh-oh.
- What the hell was that?
One thing after another.
- I got smoke rollin' up
in the cab from somewhere.
- What else is gonna go wrong?
'Cause you know some kinda
is gonna happen.
I don't know if they can back up this hill
with this trailer.
- At the Dee's Lake Landing
in Northern British Columbia,
- Keep comin', Josh.
- Robin Bunce and his crew
are preparing to trek their
equipment into Two Mile Mine.
- We gotta swap our shack.
- We need to
transfer that on to Bedford.
This year, I hope for Robin
and Claudia that we find
some really nice jade.
They'll move this into place.
That's the biggest hope
because they deserve it.
They've been workin' hard.
- We need blocks.
- Stand back from them chains.
Now we gotta square it up.
- Josh is helping the crew
now,
- Woo.
- but then plans to go pick up
the semi he bought last week
and launch his trucking business.
- Go slow
'cause the back end is
eventually gonna .
I got one
single hope for this season.
There we go.
And that is that I can
start my own company and be my own boss
and not have to be under somebody's thumb.
- Go nice and slow,
and then I'll jump in the Cat
and push it in.
- I'm tired of working
for people.
- It'll come down hard.
- Yeah, yeah, stress test.
- Robin's brother, Donnie,
is also lending a hand
driving in a borrowed rock
truck packed with supplies.
- Straighten up.
- He's got to
get a little bit of a run
for it.
- The last vehicle to join
the convoy is the notorious Six Pack.
- Hey, jab her.
- Carrying the heaviest load,
a four ton fuel tank
- Yeah, I'd run that right
around the front right there.
- that's secured with chains
before tackling the rough road into camp.
- We get this goin' and
then we're headin' out.
- Cat radio check for Josh.
- Garon, good for Garon.
- We're with Uncle Donnie.
- Copy that, I hear ya.
- 10-four.
- If all goes well,
it's a six hour crawl to Two Mile
on a rugged dirt trail that leads high up
into the mountains.
- Here we go.
I'm definitely concerned.
Last year we retired the Six Pack
because we had both front tires fail.
- Six Pack has
lost its six-wheel drive
capabilities and is now powered
only by its rear wheels.
- Now we're using
Six Pack as a fuel truck,
which is a very heavy substance.
Funny, it's such a steep
hill right off the landing.
It's a good stress test to figure out
if we're even gonna make
it in here with this truck.
With the road being so challenging,
things can become really dangerous,
but they're the ones that are
in charge of the Six Pack.
So as long as the truck
doesn't end up on its side,
I really don't care.
I don't think she's gonna pull it.
Stay on the drive, come on, girl.
- Y'all doin' okay back there?
- Ah, it's chewin', we'll see,
stand by.
- I don't think you'll have
a problem, you got a
lotta weight on there.
- Just stand by.
- Always thinking and
waitin' for it to break down.
It's going to break down.
- Holy .
I just watched the fuel tank shift.
- Okay.
- So I'm pretty sure the fuel
tank's up against the side by side.
We'll have to check it.
It didn't even make it up the first hill.
If I woulda tied all this
down, this would not be loose.
- Oh, my God.
- This is gonna be
the million dollar rock.
- Yee-hoo.
- Jade makes people do crazy
things.
- Stay on the drive,
come on, girl.
- On the trail into the mine
- Holy .
I just watched the fuel tank shift.
- Six Pack's
heavy cargo of fuel
has shifted precariously.
- Didn't even make it up the first hill.
- And Josh
blames Robin and Gary
who tied it down.
- I always, always insist
on tying my own loads to
avoid like this.
The only cinches on this
are cross and they're loose,
and not to be like I
told you, but of course,
it's gonna slide back.
It's only cross strapped.
- I would go from here down
to the frame right here.
Other sides of the frame right there.
- Okay.
- Now I, that's all I can
think of.
- Yeah, that's all we can do.
It's too late now.
- Okay.
- This is definitely
the type of
we could avoid if you
put me in charge though.
If you had me in charge,
- Josh, Josh.
- My parents had hired me,
and we had negotiated the entire season
before my parents informed me
that they had promoted Gary
and put him in charge of me.
This
sucks.
I don't feel comfortable
with my abilities being overshadowed
by a promotion for Gary.
I can't get the hook off.
- Pull it forward.
Robin givin' me that little bit of
a chain in command.
So the back'll be loose.
is gonna affect the mine safety actually
in a good way, I think.
- Ah, yeah.
- ] Cause now, he's
not in charge of family,
and workin' with family can be hard.
I mean, we all know that.
- it, we've got one
chain.
- This year, I've decided
to put Gary in charge.
- I'll get Garon on the
radio to bring the snipe up.
- Gary is the right
person to be foreman on site
telling Garon and Josh what to do.
- It's gotta go under here.
- Okay, go ahead.
- It has to be on a straight
portion of the chain.
This has to--
- What I admire about Gary is
how calm he is
all the time.
You know, he doesn't get too excited.
- Right there?
- Right there.
- You're right, Josh.
Mine, this is farther over.
- Yup.
- Okay?
- If Gary is the guy that
my dad is gonna depend on in Two Mile,
I do not intend on continuing
to work for my dad.
I want to excel and succeed
and show what I can do.
Yeah, good to go.
- It's probably
easier to put the wheelchair
right up against it.
- Claudia is flying into camp
with the newest member of
the team, her nephew, Shane.
- He happens to be a paraplegic.
He's had a bad car accident.
- Do we have to
wear the seatbelt?
- Yeah, you have to wear
the seatbelt, Shane.
Good one.
- We're in.
- I decided to
join the mining group
because I wanted to prove to myself
that I can be a viable
member of the, of the crew.
How to overcome challenges.
That's, that's been my life
for seven years.
See, I don't have to worry about duckin'.
- I
don't think that Shane
is going to be
limited in the mine site
by him being in a wheelchair.
- Well, they teach you this
in Vancouver.
- He just isn't that type of person.
So let's take a look at
the generator first, Shane.
- Job number one to open camp,
power and hot water.
- This is a very special key.
It's a Bunce key.
- Yeah, yeah.
- 'Kay, Shane.
So we just have to turn it a bit.
- Yeah, there, now it's runnin'
the glowplugs.
There you go.
- I'm goin' to flick on
the power.
Power.
We have a lotta stuff to do here.
- It's not that bad.
- It's not that good.
And I have Shane.
Shane's gonna help me
get things carpentered up.
Home sweet home.
- Did you make Corduroy Hill
there, Josh?
- I actually haven't gotten up
to it yet.
- Back on the trail,
- Just comin' up to the mud hole now.
- The crew reaches
the most treacherous section
of road leading into the mine.
- The big mud hole caused us
lots of issues last year.
Got just about got stuck
in it multiple times
with everything.
We haven't even made it into camp yet,
and that road has already
claimed it's first victim
that we know of.
- A week ago on a helicopter
scouting mission, the
crew spotted an army truck
sunk in the mud hole.
- Oh.
- And rescued
it's stranded owner,
hockey coach turned gold
miner, Ernie Punch McLean.
- Is it safe to use it to
take out a load of fuel
or something?
- As long as you don't get
stuck.
- Claudia spied an opportunity
to make a deal.
If her crew can get the
truck out of the mud,
they can borrow it this season.
- If I see Dale, I'll run
it up the bank to him.
- Don't get too close to the water
or you'll be swimmin'.
- The 10-ton army truck
is stuck deep and will test
the power of Robin's winch.
- 'Kay.
- Hold on a sec, Dad.
- It's a successful recovery.
- Where do you wanna park
this thing?
- On the other side.
- But Robin's not going to risk
getting stuck too.
The convoy will try to
get around the mud hole
on a detour through the woods.
- Hopefully, we don't get stuck
tryin' to get to the other
side of this mud hole.
That's the next challenge.
Josh may not make it.
- He's gonna have
to hit it a little harder
to get out of the way.
- Josh,
when you come out onto the road,
your front is gonna dive in
and hit straight to the other side.
It's that deep dip right there when you,
when you go out--
- I shouldn't have
stopped; you made me stop.
I had a good go.
- I didn't think it was gonna
sink.
- A .
- I shouldn't have
stopped; you made me stop.
- I didn't think it was gonna
sink.
- I had a good go
and I was movin'.
My dad made me stop here.
- Josh's truck is stuck
in soggy ground on the
road to Two Mile Mine.
- Gotta come back.
- So Gary uses the army truck
they've just recovered
to try and pull it out.
- Right here.
- Go,
go.
Hit it.
- I'll give you a nice jerk.
- just hit it.
Yeah.
My tires were spinnin' the whole time.
I am definitely an agitator.
I definitely create issues.
I know that.
Hit it.
- I was right to the floor.
- A problem that I have is
that I feel self-righteous.
Go.
I feel like I'm very
justified in what I'm saying.
Go, go, go, go, go.
But that's just what you
get with family business.
- Josh, he wants to
start his own trucking business.
I'm all for it.
I hope he does because
it's hard for him working with family.
Like we've all seen the arguments.
- 'Kay.
- I don't think I'm
gonna make it up this next hill.
- An hour from camp,
Josh runs into more trouble.
- My temperature is creepin' up.
I feel like it's losin' power.
But I will try.
- You might not make it without
the front wheel drive.
- We can leave the Six Pack
down at the bottom of the
hill so we don't have to
pull it up.
- I don't care.
I'll try to drive it up the hill.
I'm just, I'm armin' you guys with
all the information I can.
That's yours and my
dad's decision to make.
- Pull into the bush
behind Garon there, Robin.
- Right on.
- New foreman Gary makes
the call to leave Six Pack behind.
Tomorrow, it will be towed up
the hill with their excavator.
- Why'd you park there, Josh?
Now I gotta back up.
- Let's go.
- Okay, let's go and see
what we got.
- Scrappy
Larry and his son, Ricky,
have a hill to climb of their own.
- Let's see what we've got.
- They've
made the two-hour trip
from their scrapyard in Cassiar
to Watson Lake in the Yukon.
- Well, I have two yards.
I have one in Watson servicing
the town of Watson Lake.
Any treasures over there
at the gate?
- This location here,
I've always told my dad,
is a location that he
shouldn't get rid of.
The town of Watson
Lake's really got nowhere
to get rid of their scrap.
- The problem is Larry's
scrapyard has become almost too popular
with the folks in Watson Lake.
- Somebody dropped 'em off.
The doors are locked.
They bring their cars and
stuff to my yard 'cause
they go to the dump,
and it costs 'em a lot of money.
Whoever dropped 'em off, they're, they're
for, for scrap, eh?
'Cause it's 300 bucks
to take 'em to the dump.
- One of the biggest problems
with Watson Lake yard is
we take everything for free.
That's somethin' I've
tried to get into his head.
We've gotta charge something.
My dad can be too generous sometimes.
- We're not there all the time.
So they're dumping along
the outside of the,
of the fence and that's spreading out onto
public property, right?
And then the city gets
mad, yeah, they
they, they're not happy.
They were gonna clean it up and bill me.
That's why we had to get
in here and clean it up.
- The town has
given Larry just three days
to move the junk into his yard
or face a hefty fine.
- Me and my dad, we
got a lotta work ahead of us.
It's just initially gettin' started.
- The first job of the day
is clearing the cars
parked outside of the gate
without breaking any sellable parts.
- In order to make
money in this business,
you need to salvage as much as possible
without destroying or smashin' it.
- I gotta be careful
I don't break that window
on the driver side.
- That's the most expensive
window on that whole car: $1000.
- Oh, boy.
- So don't smash it.
Well, there goes the window.
And there you go.
That's a fixer-upper.
Problem with him, he wants
to use the excavator,
but every time we try to move anything
or do anything with the excavator,
it turns out just bein' scrapped.
- I didn't hurt
the steering wheel, did I?
How am I gonna drive it?
I think it deployed the airbag.
Oh boy.
- How's it goin' up there?
- At Two Mile camp,
- Gettin' things cleaned up here.
- I don't know where to start.
- Staples.
- Shane gets to work fixing
the cook shack's ceiling that
collapsed over the winter.
- Put a couple
in so they don't blow out
when the wind blows it the other way.
- and enlists his aunt's help.
- Carpenter assistant.
That's my new job title.
Shane's assistant.
Shane's a contractor, was
a builder, and still is.
And he was a operator.
He operated equipment.
You're lucky I love you.
Jesus.
- Screw came through.
- Ah, he's got a great attitude.
Okay.
He just takes on everything like it's
nothing.
- Fixed, fixed.
What would you like now,
for your wobbly table?
- Yeah.
- Rock and roll.
- Not far from camp,
- Hey Dad, would you mind
pullin' ahead so we don't
have to sop on the hill or?
- Alrighty.
- After a long,
tough day on the road,
the convoy finally reaches the last hill
leading into Two Mile.
But now more trouble.
- Snow on the road and
there's ice under it.
And these tires aren't that good.
It packs it.
truck's havin' an issue.
Bedford could be, have a issue too.
- So yeah, Garon,
there is ice under the snow
so stay as far right as
you can comfortably do so.
- Yeah, I hit that ice
you were talkin' about, Josh.
Holy crap.
I don't really wanna try to back up at all
and move ahead anymore, so
I'll just wait for Robin.
- Robin will try winching
the Bedford free.
- 15 Feet.
First gear.
- I'm in first.
- Jab her.
- Yes, Sir.
- There you go.
- Both these sides are turnin'.
- My positive
side not turnin' at all?
- Dead spot's not workin'.
- The loaded Bedford is
too heavy for Robin's winch.
- She get hot?
- Yep, cables are melting
off.
- You might be able to just
pull dead, stick 'em up.
Get 'em movin'.
- Yep.
- Instead of
using the winch motor
for pulling power, Robin,
will try reversing to get
the Bedford through the snow.
- Back up three or four feet,
and when this cable tightens,
both of ya walk on her.
- Garon and I have to
accelerate at the same time
at the same speed to make this work
to climb the hill
because he's on ice, I'm on hard ground.
You ready?
- Jab her.
- Holy crap.
- On the road into Two Mile,
- You ready?
- Jab her.
- Robin is struggling to pull
the heavily loaded Bedford up an icy hill.
- And try to get up
there as much as you can.
- The hill conquered,
they finally make it to camp.
- Some days you
just gotta deal with it
the best you can and carry on.
You survive.
It's over.
- Was I right?
I said 12 hours, I was--
- 11.
- 20 minutes off.
You guys left at nine.
I don't think we could be at this point
without all of the struggle,
and the tough times
are absolutely what make you who you are.
- You're good, honey.
You're good.
- I'm good.
- The next morning,
- Okay, let's go.
- Claudia is up early
- Josh?
- To see Josh off
as he takes the first step to
start his trucking venture.
- I'm so happy for you.
- I just sent the $20,000
down payment for my truck.
- You excited?
- Oh, yeah, been waitin' for
like two years.
- A lifetime?
- No, two years, for sure,
I've been planning every day,
thinkin' just every
single day for two years.
- We spend a fortune moving jade
and haulin' stuff back and forth
and this allows us to have our boy
- Do our own transportations.
- Yeah.
- Let's get out of their way
and get you guys going.
- Yep.
- It's hard for
him workin' with family.
So this truck, I think it's
gonna be a good move for him.
And I think he'll do well at it.
- Yay, truck owner.
- Get down to the dirt again.
Love you.
- He's gonna get along better
with his parents,
definitely, he will get along
better with his parents.
- 'Kay, love you, Dad.
- Safety for the trip.
You have a safe trip.
- Thank you.
- I don't want my
kids to do what I'm doing.
I want them to do what they want to do.
Joshua is a good truck driver.
So follow that passion.
- Oh, there
goes our baby go and get
his new truck.
- Yep.
- At Scrappy's Watson Lake
scrapyard, Ricky and Henry arrive early
to get a head start.
- If I can find the key
that my dad told me not to lose.
- They only have
two days left to clean up
before the town steps in and finds them.
- Aw, heck.
Ah, Henry.
- The
excavator's battery is dead.
- Ah, man.
Ah, let me look in the shop.
Hopefully there's a pair
of jumper cables in there.
- Ricky and
Henry are scrambling
to get it running before Larry arrives.
- You run the positive and
negative here, right?
- Yeah.
- But it's too late.
- Okay, we're gonna drop everything else.
We're gonna,
I'll get, we'll get this runnin'.
You back under that trailer.
I'll go clear a spot or I'm
not bein' here till midnight.
- The excavator's dead, like.
All it takes is one
little thing to put him in
one of those moods, and
then it all goes downhill
from there.
- Jesus.
Well, you got it hooked up to 24 volts.
Two 12's make a 24.
Aw, they had it hooked up to 24 volts,
and they were jumping off
a 12-volt pickup, right?
It's not gonna jump 24 volts.
- There we go.
What we're plannin' on doin'
is clear a lot of stuff
out of the way to make room.
This yard is a little bit scattered.
- First you get an idiot
to drive the machine,
and then you let him take out his,
all his frustrations on the car.
- When he gets really frustrated,
things really get smashed.
And you know, I've learned just back off.
There was a Dodge box that I
needed the tailgate off of.
- The tail gate
is off back over there
if you want it, to take, go grab it.
- Up here, it's worth a
lot because you gotta drive
all the way to Whitehorse to find one.
Oh, God.
Aha, looked at it, it
was bent and useless.
The stuff we need, he crunches.
The stuff we don't need, he protects.
It doesn't make sense some days.
I, I don't know.
This one's .
- You know, there's nothing nicer
to get rid of your frustration,
as crushin' a car.
- But time is running out
on Larry's cleanup deadline.
- Hopefully it, it's gonna
get done.
Maybe Scrappy style,
but we get her done.
- Hey, buddy, about time to go.
- In Jade City,
- I'm finally
headin' down to pick up
my new truck, and I'm extremely excited.
Been dreaming about owning my own semi
and running my own company for 10 years.
Yeah.
- Josh's girlfriend,
Kylie, is joining him
on the 10-hour trip to Burns Lake.
- It's a really big
deal for both me and Kylie.
Was also very excited she
gets to come down with me
and drive my pickup home,
and follow the back.
Double-win road trip, bring
the dogs, find a semi,
live the dream.
While me and Kylie first got
together like seven years ago,
and we've known each other
for better part of 10 years.
Me and Kylie are good friends.
We care about each other.
We value each other.
We try to uplift each other.
- Excited?
- Yepper.
- I'm really proud of him
for working hard and for
getting his first truck.
He's been working
extremely hard to buy it.
That's exciting.
- Yepper.
- Tomorrow morning,
you'll be in your truck.
- I absolutely love grabbing gears,
driving semi-trucks, so
I'm gonna take the plunge,
and I'm just gonna try
and go do my own thing.
See what happens.
I'm excited; it'll be good.
Just wanna get it in my name.
- Yeah.
- Gary?
- Back at Two Mile,
- I will get you
to get Shane set up in the excavator.
Maybe you can guide him up there,
and he can excavate that land area so that
you can pull off the pumpkin.
- Shane is getting his first
shot at operating the excavator.
- I think that guy
should, may be wearing
a motorcycle helmet.
It's gonna be easiest for ya.
- This is my
first season jade mining,
and I'm here to run an excavator.
Gettin' back in the machine,
it's been quite a few years.
- You need a hand for a sec
or no?
- No, actually, I was just
gonna,
there we go.
- All of us wanna give him
a hand, but he told us
right, right from day one,
he wants to do it himself.
- Usually if I hit something
that I'm, I struggle doing, then it,
it makes me more determined.
I, just like a bull in a China shop.
Get outta my way; I'm doin' it.
- Well, I sure hope you went
to the bathroom already.
- And have him
level out his own spot
for a shack.
Then we'll know how
good he'll do up there.
- Gary will assess
Shane's operating skills,
leveling the spot for the new bunkhouse
before sending him up to the mine site.
- Where would you like the material?
More this way or that way?
- Well, we'll flatten this out
first, try to make it as level as we can,
where we can just pull it straight off.
- The ground here is definitely
full of large boulders.
Moving the rock around
and getting it leveled out
is a, is a little more challenging.
- Get her point right there.
- Shane is not
looking for any sympathy or
help unless he really needs it.
- Think you got her figured.
The thing I like about
him is he don't give up.
Now poke her down and
pull it back a little bit.
- Shane has
passed his first test,
but it'll be a much bigger challenge
digging jade out of a steep mountainside.
- He knows how to run the
hoe, so I'm not worried
about what he can do with it.
I'm just worried about
him being on the ledge.
Pull it back a little bit,
and then we'll level it.
- That'll be a challenge because
it's something I haven't done before with,
with an excavator.
- Straight up.
There you go.
- There's a buck's worth there.
All right.
- It's nearing end of day
at the Watson Lake scrapyard.
- That, that grapple?
Don't wanna scrap it.
Put it in the yard.
- Larry has just 24 hours
left to clear scrap off town property
and into his yard or face a stiff fine.
- Treasures, treasures, nothing
but treasures.
- But he's making slow
progress.
- That's good.
You never know what you're
gonna find, right?
What?
- He's like a kid in
a candy store when you
put him in a junk yard.
What's your plans now?
- Dig them fork extensions
out.
- Oh, they're not .
I don't think they're fork extensions.
I'll ruin my
Sunday-go-to-church clothes now.
They're weak.
- Look good to me.
- Garbage, that's what they
are is garbage.
Guarantee ya, three years from now,
they'll still be sittin' in the yard.
The difference of opinion
in me and my dad have
on Watson Lake yard is I want
an actual scrap business.
Get it out there on the web or whatever
and try selling some things
instead of keeping things.
- Oh, those are gonna work good.
- The things
that he sees as diamonds,
I see a stone.
We accomplished nothing today.
- Tomorrow should be better.
I say that everyday, don't I?
- Are you finally ready?
- At Two Mile,
- Well, I was gonna let
you drive.
- No, no.
- Chauffeur.
- Robin takes his new foreman,
Gary, to a promising jade lens
he and Claudia want to explore.
- The, the potential is amazing.
We're extremely excited.
That's what keeps us going.
- Let's have a look,
see what we can do here.
- We're huntin' for that
grade A jade,
that 10 million dollar lens.
- Nice long lens.
Hopefully it's got nice,
really nice quality jade.
On the surface, it runs the whole hill.
Guaranteed a half a kilometer.
- Well, it's
definitely worth chasin'.
See, this one's got big potential
for what the color is in it.
- The color is excellent.
Being the length of it and the apart,
the amount of it that's visible,
very high potential.
- I wanna get this lens
exposed for Robin and Claudia.
It's one of my personal goals,
and Robin's given me free
reign to get it done.
- Robin and Claudia
have named this new deposit
J Lens.
- Two out of three kids' names
start with J, Justin and Joshua,
and it's jade, so that's
why it's the J Lens.
- That's a huge undertakin'
to try to take this out quick.
- It's over a quarter mile long.
- It's gonna be challenging.
- I'm excited.
- Josh and Kylie have arrived
in Burns Lake to pick up his semi.
- Oh, I love it.
- Oh, my God.
This is amazing.
I'm especially excited about the truck
because it is an incredibly good deal.
The nicest thing I own here is this tire.
I cannot believe how
nice of a truck I found.
- Weird seein' you
drive away with it.
- I know, I feel bad for ya.
The whole time, I'm
like, "Man, that's a nice
" goodbye for Pete",
but not that bad.
I'm extremely excited,
more excited than I've been
in a lotta years in memory.
From now on, my hard work
and my effort are gonna go
into my own company, my own
truck, and my own future.
What?
This is my truck.
It's hard to comprehend.
- I still can't believe that
that's Joshua behind me in
that semi truck right now.
- Heck, yeah,
I got a semi.
- Let's go.
- In Watson Lake, it's down
to the wire.
- Okay.
- Larry has
just a few more hours
to clear all the junk
off town property and
into his yard or get fined.
- Ah .
No, I don't want a bill from that.
That'd be holy mackerel.
- Ricky tries to hook up
the last trailer full of scrap.
- The legs don't work.
- But the landing gear
is broken.
- There's always something with
a Scrappy Larry piece of equipment.
Nothin' works.
Something as simple as
better landing legs.
It frustrates me every season
that we're still fighting
with this equipment.
It's just nothing is easy
and you get frustrated.
Oh.
I just let it get to
me and backed under it
a little too fast.
Oh, eh, for sakes.
And my neck, it's just throbbin'.
Man, my neck sure hurts.
I gave myself, I think, whiplash.
Is he ready for, to go in there or what?
- Okay.
These trailers gotta be unloaded today.
Don't wanna be here till midnight.
- It's a hot day and
tensions are high, and
you don't think about things and
things happen.
- Yeah, I thought
I brought my coffee cup.
It's still in the truck,
and I thought I brought it
in the excavator with me
and there was a cup there.
Ah, .
Two month old swamp water, yuck.
I just about puked.
had me.
- He thought he was grabbin'
his coffee cup, and it was his coffee cup,
only it was probably like
four-months-old coffee.
And he drank it?
Apparently it didn't
taste so good.
- Well, if that
don't make me get COVID,
I don't know what will.
Now, the lock's on.
- 'Kay.
- At Watson Lake, the big yard
cleanup is almost done.
Larry takes a breather and gets Ricky
to empty the last trailer.
- He's strugglin' a little bit.
He's great in the, in
the beginning of the day,
but near the end of the day, I can see
he's pretty crippled up.
I don't think he'll ever really quit.
It's just it's gettin' harder
and harder for him every year
to keep up that pace.
- Things don't work as well
as they used to.
I'm a lot slower, but that's okay.
I'm only gonna work till
lunchtime on the day
of my funeral, and then,
then I'll take the rest
of the day off, right?
I'm startin' to count
on Rick more and more.
Can't do all the things I
used to do, and he's excelled.
He's gone right at it.
- This is the last little bit
right here.
The trailer's empty after this.
No wait, I got it all
the way to the front.
- I take my hat
off to you, young fella.
You're good.
- They finally moved all
the scrap off town property.
- Turn his frown upside down.
By the end of the day,
we pulled everything together
and got everything done.
- So are you ready?
- You bet ya.
Stella.
Still that tension and stress,
and we still get a little
choked at one another, but
I don't know, we get it done.
- We can go home.
Get pie-eyed.
- Not quite in sight.
Can't see him yet.
- After dropping his semi
in Jade City, Josh returns to camp.
- Josh is
coming as a new person.
- I sure hope
this changes the dynamic
of my relationship
between me and my parents.
Me starting my new business is definitely
something that I want to
help reflect positively
on their opinion of me.
- My boy takes a while.
He likes to drive safe.
He has to drive safe now.
He's a class one operator.
- And he's drivin' my truck.
- And he's driving your truck.
- Where's your semi horn?
- Hello.
- Hi, hello.
How are you?
- I'm good; I'm a new
company owner.
It's a big deal when your
parents start to look at you
as an equal,
and it's a big deal when your
parents start to respect you
and respect your work ethic
and respect your capabilities.
- You're a
25-year-old company owner.
- Barely need a job anymore.
- Where's your chair, Shane,
in the backseat?
- Yeah.
- The next morning,
- Yeah, he's got--
- Oh, yeah, make it hard,
I want it on this side.
Push it over.
Easy on the wheels.
- Gary is giving
Shane his first crack
at excavating the new J Lens.
- Wanna have a look over here,
or you want me to dig over here?
- Nope, go ahead and start right there.
Good operator would have
smoothed that out for you, eh?
I had him a few days ago
doing little odds and ends
down at the yard and he did okay,
so figured, well, we'll
throw him on this lens.
- Saltillo catches the--
- Oh, you want--
- No, I need to get it up.
Need to get it up.
- Well, guess what?
You're not the only one in that category.
- Oh, some short ass was in here.
- Oh, yeah.
- Hey, I never touched
the seat after you.
- You know what?
Hey, we'll let you get
situated, and I'll get into a spot
where I can watch ya.
When it comes to Shane, I
don't know him well enough
to say that he can or can't hack it.
We'll see.
Be careful you don't fall in there.
Guys, watch yourself, he's gotta back up
a little bit here.
- Before I ran, ran excavator
on the job site, you know your flat ground
and typically very low hazard
for the machine itself.
- Dump.
- This is different because I'm on
the side of the mountain
with that excavator,
got steep ground, and
it's very tippy sometimes.
- Let's push those two
bigger ones to the bottom.
Then we can at least have a look at 'em.
- Just learning how
to get it into the bucket
little bit of a learning curve for me,
'cause I've never dealt with
that big of material before
in an excavator.
- Now,
let's see if we can move this big one.
- 'Kay, you want me
to just clear this little bit of debris
on the top and just see if I can grab
and clear?
- Yeah.
- Is that lens
still goin' down there?
- Yeah, it keeps goin'.
- Yeah, keep diggin'.
Hopefully that's good hard
jade he's hitting.
- You can definitely tell
when you hit, hit the good jade.
It's, it's, it's hard.
You feel it through the machine.
You can feel it through
every part of your body.
- Yeah, right down in there.
Try not to come up to the top
'cause you'll break the top off.
- Shane tries to
dig out a huge jade boulder
without damaging it.
- You got a good bite on her.
Shake your bucket back and forth.
Loosen her up.
Just a matter of reaching the boom out
and using the teeth to get the serpentine
off the side of the rock.
He was always too close, and
he couldn't get his teeth
in there.
- This boulder
is a pain in the ass.
- The rock won't budge.
- And it's gonna
cause a rock slide.
- But the boulders
above are dangerously close
to falling.
- You see that great big rock?
That big mother is gonna come down.
- And it's gonna cause
a rock slide.
- At the
new J Lens on Two Mile,
- You see that great big rock?
That big mother is gonna come down.
- Shane's attempt to pull out
a large jade boulder
- Not movin'.
- has destabilized a rock
ledge above.
- The host rock that's on
the back and above the lens is
all fractured; it's really broke up.
Watch those rocks.
But if you start getting
too deep at the bottom
or go in too far, the top
rocks are going to come down.
- Right off the end of it there,
take the whole little lump out of there.
That's what's holdin' it up.
We can see it.
- Yep, right there.
That's one solid piece.
- Movin' lots, though.
- Come down here.
Right there at the end, yeah?
Now it's movin'.
- Yeah.
- When you're trying to pull it,
put your teeth near the top
and just try to pull in straight in.
- Yep.
- Ah, keep pullin' on her.
It's goin', keep pullin',
keep pullin'.
- There it goes.
There we go.
Equipment gonna get outta the way?
- Shane manages
to pry out the boulder
without causing a landslide.
- I've never had to move
big rock like that before.
It's literally the learning curve for me.
Holy , look at that.
- So far, I like working
with Shane.
He's not scared to take advice.
And he does what you ask.
- Jade.
- Yep, oh yeah.
- First jade we've pulled out of J Lens.
- It's good, it's, I'm happy that
we got jade.
- There's lots of light
and darks, like dark on the surface
but it's got some beautiful color.
We dug out a piece of lens for us, and
so far it doesn't look too bad, so
it was a good first day.
He did a good job.
I think this is gonna work out for us.
- I can do anything because
when I set my mind to it,
I don't stop until I can get it done.
- A lot easier gettin' outta there
than it is gettin' in, eh?
- Oh, yeah.
Goin' down's always easier.
- It is so warm up here.
Is it always this warm, or is it a--
- No, earlier today, Gary
said it was really cold.
It's warmed up.
- Claudia checks in on
their progress.
- I can't believe how much
work you guys have done in two days.
This is all part of the J Lens now?
- Yep.
- So which one are you
following now?
Where, where's your destination?
- This is the end of it.
- Right to that rock.
- To that rock over there?
And we make our way back this way?
- Yep.
- If that lens
is what we think it is,
it's under all of that.
- Of course it is.
Why, why be easy?
Well, I thought J Lens
would be a lot easier
'cause I was not assuming
that it would be like
we're following the side of a mountain.
- But at least
we're finding jade already.
- The J Lens, it winds around.
So it's like a big
snake that's slithering,
so this is a big project.
- That piece right there,
I'm finding lots of nice green in it.
- This is absolutely
gonna be a challenge.
And it definitely is gonna
task the crew and the equipment.
And it feels like this is the
season to go big or go home,
and literally,
it'll be go big or go home.
- - There's a beautiful color
in some of that.
- That's what we're lookin' for.
It's our treasure hunt.
It's our life.
It's everything.
- Next time on "Jade Fever,"
- You can't stand on that edge
'cause you'll knock rock loose.
It'll cause a major problem.
- This one's
got a nice color in it.
- We're gonna get wet here
in a minute.
- This is getting heavy now.
- You're in an excavator up here
and there's gonna be lightning,
the risk is pretty high.
- Parts of the road are pretty much
washed right out.
- It's way too soft.
We'll sink outta sight.
- This is gettin' ugly again,
eh?
- Uh-oh.
- What the hell was that?
One thing after another.
- I got smoke rollin' up
in the cab from somewhere.
- What else is gonna go wrong?
'Cause you know some kinda
is gonna happen.