"and you've still got a long ways to go." "On This {\fnLucida Calligraphy} "Gold Rush"..." "Oh fuck!" "No fixing that one." "Do I look like a fuckin belt fairy?" "All right." "Let me show you how the big boys play." "[bleep] [bleep] come on!" "That's a lot of gold." "Monica:" "What the fuck." "I'm never gonna beat Kevin with shit like that." "Todd:" "We've never seen nuggets like that." "We need a third mine." "Those are bigger than anything we've ever gotten." "Do you really think we can mine up there?" "000 feet." "How do you guys breathe up here?" "Can we get a medic?" "Medic!" "we've got both plants running." "man." "Things are going well." "We're starting to put gold in people's pockets." "things are looking up." "Todd Hoffman has finally hit his stride." "Double Trouble's twin trommels are running 350 yards an hour." "we're finally on the gold." "You're on the gold right there." "Rusty Red is sluicing another 150." "back to Fairplay." "We just want to keep it going as fast as we can." "away we go." "Narrator:" "Todd's reduced his goal 000 ounces this year." "But he still won't let go of his dream. 000 ounces next year." "Narrator:" "Freddy Dodge is taking Todd one of the sources of the region's gold deposits." "000 ounces." "that didn't happen." "Tell you what?" "It could happen next year." "And part of the key to that is on top of this mountain." "it's an 8-mile drive 000 feet." "It's a pretty special place." "It's high and it's harsh." "prospecting." "I'd like to stay here and just keep mining." "If I can't prove to these guys that we have enough ground and good ground I don't think they're gonna come back." "Randy?" "Long time no see." "Freddy." "How you doing?" "man?" "Great." "What's your name?" "Todd." "We heard a rumor you might have some ground for lease here." "possibility." "What kind of gold are you guys getting up here?" "We're getting a lot of fine stuff down below." "something like this." "there." "That's a big piece." "Holy mackerel." "That's a beautiful nugget." "There's the possibility we've got some ground a little bit higher up than where we're actually working it." "Higher than this?" "Higher than this." "How do you guys breathe up here?" "it's brutal." "It's brutal." "You just gotta get used to it." "I guess." "low oxygen." "everybody would be doing it." "You're more than welcome to go up and take a look at it." "You got any machines?" "Maybe we could poke a hole or two up there." "We pick the holes." "We use your equipment." "We've got one day." "That's all we got." "You can use our equipment." "But any gold you find is ours." "You guys better get busy." "We've got both plants up and running." "Both plants are on the pay." "But we don't have a whole lot of time left." "A lot of gold to find." "every bucket counts." "Parker has only 60% of the gold he needs" "$4.8 million goal." "getting hours sluicing." "24 hours a day." "Narrator:" "Parker's running 250 yards an hour through Sluicifer." "Rick runs 130 yards through Big Red." "And he's already tackling the first signs of winter." "[bleep]" "huh?" "she's cold this morning." "we're still running." "I've just run some numbers." "And you've still got a long ways to go." "If there's anything that you think we can do to get some more gold in the box... but... you know?" "We need to start picking up the pace." "then we'll find a way to put more gold in the damn box." "Parker:" "It's been going slow and steady." "But now it needs to go fast and steady." "There ain't no time for 100 ounces now." "you know?" "It's..." "We're running as fast as we can." "We've got solid uptime." "It's just we're running out of time." "That's it." "I don't know what else to fuckin' do at this point." "Figure it out." "I'm gonna fail down here." "I don't need to be reminded about how far behind I am every fuckin' day either." "000 ounces this season. 000." "♪ I'm tired ♪" "♪ tired ♪" "Rick and his crew have been working seven days a week." "[ yawns ]" "I hate running loader." "do ♪" "Ugh!" "Ugh!" "Blaschke:" "Rick!" "Oh shit." "Whoa." "Shut it down!" "No fixing that one." "Narrator:" "Big Red is at a standstill." "Pretty fucked." "Narrator:" "The belt on Rick's hopper feeder is completely shot." "Big ol' fuckin' tear in our 50 year old shit belt." "all the way around." "We had a large rock that got caught in here" "And you can see all the damage it did to the belt." "So we need a new one of those." "We need a 36-inch belt." "We've got a 36-inch belt that's about 12 feet too short." "So that doesn't work." "Fuck." "We're gonna be in trouble." "a tear in Rick's hopper feeder has brought his operation to a standstill." "Ness:" "I got to go find Parker right now and tell him that we just practically destroyed the fricking belt on Big Red." "man." "Those aren't..." "those aren't cheap up here." "Not a good feeling that we're not sluicing it." "not the conversation I want to be having right now." "man." "What's up?" "Uh.." "you're not gonna believe this." "But" "The belt for Big Red has got a big fuckin' gouge in it three quarters of the way through the whole fuckin' length." "How the fuck did that happen?" "I don't know what you can do about it." "It's compromised big-time." "Compromised like you want a fuckin' new one?" "pretty much." "That ain't gonna fuckin' happen." "But that's where we're at." "we're not getting a fuckin' new one." "Do I look like a fuckin' belt fairy?" "So you just have to make it fuckin' work." "done?" "Figure it out." "You've still got a pile of gold to find." "we're just gonna have to limp it through." "All right." "Parker:" "And Rick has to just learn that you don't get second chances at stuff like that." "Narrator:" "Mechanic Mitch Blaschke has found a spare belt out in the yard." "But it's for a different kind of conveyor." "Ness:" "It's not really the right size." "Let's spin it so we can roll it down." "There we go." "at least we might be able to modify it to work." "Just shy of 21." "Can make that work." "It's definitely too wide." "We have to cut that." "We don't have the right belt for this hopper feeder." "So we can trim the width down." "But hate to cut down a brand new belt then have it not work." "for the rest of the season." "I don't know." "we got to get running. a place where only the smartest miners survive." "And he's seen a lot of operations come and go." "Tony shocked everyone when he turned back the clock a century and ran the only bucket dredge mining for gold in North America." "Everybody clear." "in charge." "Tony's pretty obsessed with dredges they work." "Monica mines the same ground but with a traditional wash plant." "Now Tony has the perfect setup to test whether the future of mining is old-school dredging." "bras?" "four times the people." "We know your cost is gonna be higher. what the dredge takes home and what Monica would take home." "Yup." "basically." "Well... you sound pompous." "Well..." "Wow!" "Okay?" "Narrator:" "It's not about who gets the most gold." "It's about which plant is the most profitable after deducting running costs like fuel and wages." "Okay." "We're firing up." "zoom!" "Fuck." "We're just gonna see who comes out ahead." "Narrator:" "The dredge is a self-contained gold-mining factory run by Kevin and just a single deckhand." "The bucket ladder chews through 100 yards of pay dirt an hour." "The trommel washes the rocks." "And the gold settles in the sluices. burning around 190 gallons of fuel a day." "Ow." "Narrator:" "Monica's operation runs almost twice as much pay dirt per hour" "000 gallons of fuel a day." "So we've got Greg on the 460." "He's loading trucks." "We've got Elizabeth running the truck." "We have Curtis running the 980H in the tailings." "It'll run down to who can do everything more efficient." "I'm hoping that I'll be able to beat Kevin with the amount of gold that I pull out." "But my fuel cost is higher." "I have to fuel my equipment every single day." "The only thing I have going for this plant against Kevin's dredge is the fact that I can throw more yardage through this." "What the fuck?" "I'm never gonna beat Kevin with shit like that." "send that fuckin' shit back." "I don't need that wet shit." "I need dirt." "please." "This shit's so fucked up mud. it's just gonna jam everything up. turning Monica's cut into a swamp." "So Greg called me over." "Uh-huh." "He said there was just so much water he couldn't get enough dry pay. it's leaching out from underneath him." "so wet over here." "So what we're gonna do is get another pump in our cut just to dry it out." "Cut over to the other side." "It's all dry over there." "It's way easier." "Yeah." "Just don't fuck around over here until we can do something about this water." "Greg." "Head over to where it's dry." "Okay." "Just until we can drain this out a little." "I..." "I'm just saying." "Kevin's dredge is designed to deal with waterlogged pay dirt." "I figure I'm doing about 100 yards an hour." "And Monica's plant should be in the range of sev... 175 yards per hour." "Monica may pull more gold out of the ground" "'Cause she does more yardage." "But I am absolutely 100% fuckin' positive I'm gonna win." "What did we break?" "Oh fuck." "Look at that." "do you?" "Tony Beets has Kevin attempting to prove his dredge is more economical than Monica's wash plant." "But his 75 year old gold machine is showing its age." "let's see." "Let's see." "That's supposed to be connected over here." "The pin goes through here." "And this corner snapped and pulled it out that way because that's the angle we're pulling all the time." "that does suck." "Narrator:" "A D-ring on the steering mechanism has snapped clean off." "dos." "Gonna make a new bit to replace this piece" "'Cause she's clearly fucked." "this is the piece that connects the turnbuckle to the front of the dredge." "That allows all our sideways pulling force that pull directly on the bucket line. we'd probably crack the bucket line off." "Kind of important." "Narrator:" "Kevin can't afford any downtime." "He needs to improvise a solution from whatever steel he can find." "This is Yukon engineering." "This is what I have." "This is what I got to do." "So... it needs a little bit of work." "So I'll get the torch and I'll fuckin' lift this a bit." "I'm gonna cut down so I'm welding against thicker steel." "but that's okay." "that part at least fuckin' worked." "Beautiful." "we'll connect it back together." "See if she holds." "Will she still fit?" "Oh fuck." "Look at that." "I know." "Right?" "So fuck it." "Let's see what happens." "Fuck fuck." "Fuckin' shit." "Shiny." "Now... in case anyone was wondering." "All right. she should be fuckin' good." "see if she can fuckin' hold us." "it hasn't fallen off yet." "So we're doing all right." "But he's back in the game." "It looks like she's holding." "She's holding while we're pulling against the berm like that." "So" "So it's a pretty good indication that" "I think." "Let's do this!" "Todd." "Wow." "Now that's a view." "Narrator:" "Todd Hoffman and Freddy Dodge are at the summit of Pennsylvania Mountain on the hunt for new ground." "Freddy?" "I think." "Todd's after pay dirt rich enough to guarantee them all a bonanza next year." "You think we could mine up here?" "I think we could." "It's a rough place to mine. nothing gained." "is there gold up here? I don't know." "Todd." "That's to dig some dirt." "Let's do it." "Let's do it." "See if I can fit in here." "I've never seen controls like this." "this is old-school. uh... okay." "Main boom down." "You need two more arms!" "Geez!" "are you fuckin' kidding me?" "I'd like to see you try this. the first excavator ever made here." "though." "right!" "I'd take about that much of the topsoil off." "Okay." "Save it to the side." "And then we'll see what's under it." "Todd." "Why don't you fire up the loader?" "Okay." "Keep digging." "I'll haul it." "We got ourselves a serious plan for next year." "I'm gonna get out." "Oh!" "Whoa." "I'm all right." "I'm just a little light-headed." "[ coughs ]" "Can we get a Medic?" "Medic!" "Can we get a Medic?" "Medic!" "000 feet up Pennsylvania Mountain..." "What's going on?" "...Todd Hoffman is fighting for air." "and I'm kind of dizzy." "the film crew has a medic on-site." "Are you okay?" "How long have you been feeling like this?" "It's been a while." "But it just hit me really bad or... deep breaths." "you're gonna feel even worse." "each breath contains 40% less oxygen than at sea level." "deep breaths." "Freddy." "I got 'em." "I feel worse." "I think I'm..." "Let's just keep going." "I think I'm feeling better." "That oxygen helped?" "Yeah." "It's just like you're You're not getting enough oxygen." "My oxygen levels were low." "And then my heart rate was pretty high." "So" "So let's get it done." "come on..." "Sorry man." "Let's get that loader fired up." "Let's get that dirt." "First bucket headed to the plant." "Let's hope for nuggets." "Tom and Randall have a small wash plant ready to run a 60-yard test." "guys. that water's pretty muddy." "Dump some fresh water down it." "Todd:" "Holy cow!" "Right there!" "left!" "There's a nice one right there." "No way." "Let me see that." "Tom." "That's nice." "That is actually worth picking up." "Todd." "We've never seen nuggets like that." "Collectors love them." "Narrator:" "Jewelry-grade nuggets can sell for 20% more than regular fine gold." "I've never seen this kind of coarse gold." "This is amazing." "that was a good spot." "Three quarters of an ounce to an ounce of gold right there. twice what the Hoffmans were getting in the Klondike." "You proved you got the dirt." "You got the manpower?" "You got the resources." "Maybe we'll be able to work ourself a deal." "took those nuggets down and showed the guys?" "There's plenty where that came from." "We'll bring 'em back to ya." "We're just gonna use 'em for show and tell." "Cut that belt out of there." "Pull it out." "Rick's been down for seven hours with a shredded belt." "but it's for a wider conveyor." "Mitch:" "We're just gonna have to make do and make it work." "Probably need to cut about 5 inches off this one to make it work." "The whole length of it's got to be cut." "Choose where I start." "Do a lot of cutting here. 000 bucks. desperate times." "Done." "Narrator:" "The new belt has no joining strip." "So Rick has to remove the entire roller bed." "man." "Just watch yourself." "balanced out pretty good." "Mitch has to fit the roller bed inside the belt..." "Swing out and over." "...and try to stretch the belt into place." "All right." "Fuck this." "here." "Not what we need." "It's like Todd Hoffman trying to fit into his yoga pants in the morning." "It just slips on there." "It'll be so nice." "so close." "Parker:" "Tight fit?" "This wasn't the right belt for this thing." "Too wide or too short or... both." "Nice sweatpants." "huh?" "millimeters off here." "We've just got to get this in place." "I think we're gonna have to take that roller out." "We got no choice here. they must release the tail roller from its housing to create enough then lever the tail roller back into place and re-tension the belt." "Right here?" "Yep." "Okay." "there we go." "There it is." "Nice." "There you go." "There you go." "yeah." "You got 'er now." "Ready?" "Right there." "oh ♪" "Far [bleep]" "Yeah." "There we go." "Just like that." "There she blows." "Now it's just a matter of putting all this back together." "fuckin' banjo string." "Like it's already pre-adjusted." "boys." "We'll see if it goes around in a circle." "It looks good." "I'll just speed it up a little bit." "I wanted to be sluicing before sun went down." "It looks like we're just gonna make that." "Doyle!" "Narrator:" "After Tony's 2-day test to compare costs of Kevin's dredge it's time for the Beets family to weigh up the results." "guys." "Monica:" "Hold on." "We got one more coming in." "So?" "Mine." "you did get more gold than Kevin." "Fuck yeah." "Ooh." "50.2." "Tony: 50.2." "Narrator:" "Monica's wash plant 000." "42.3." "000." "42.3." "no." "Now you have to pay bills." "I think I should take out some gold." "Start pouring." "What exactly am I pouring out?" "right?" "I'll tell you when to stop." "8..." "I keep hoping you're gonna tell me to stop soon." "15." "Slow down." "16." "little bit more." "I think you can probably dump it all in." "Mm." "That's it." "what does it read?" "16.8" "That's what it cost." "though." "Ugh." "whoa!" "Stop." "Take a little bit out." "What?" "!" "I should've started with the spoon!" "That's good." "4.1" "For 48 hours." "meet you outside." "Narrator:" "Monica's running costs were four times Kevin's on the dredge." "But now you have 33 left." "He had 42." "But he come..." "goes home with 38 ounces." "really." "Kevin's dredge has proved more profitable." "942." "And that means you only need another 58 ounces." "So I think we should go over that." "I think we should do that." "some visitors have dropped by for Chris and Ashley's cleanup." "we got a mama bear and a couple of cubs down there." "Youle: they're so cute!" "Little reminder that it's getting a little cold out." "I think that's the closest that I've seen a bear before." "Kind of getting ready to hibernate right?" "to get off this rock and... go to sleep." "Fall asleep for a few months?" "Coming to the end of the season." "600 ounces short" "$4.8 million season goal." "Chris?" "So what do you think?" "ho... he desperately needs his cleanups to improve." "Parker." "Look how much that is." "huh?" "Yeah." "It's not been good." "That thing was like a rubber band wasn't it?" "Holy shit" "Yeah." "Rick." "Let's see what you got there." "big boy." "Do this." "Yeah." "But we still got a pan of gold." "So let's see where we're at." "Yeah." "Rick needs around 100 ounces." "There's 50 already." "there's 100." "you broke 100." "You broke 120." "124.2." "All right!" "I can't believe that Big Red is just so consistent." "you know?" ""This is my last chance." "we had a lot of issues with it." "And that's why we shut it down." "boys." "And it's just doing its job." "Narrator:" "Rick's Indian River haul 000." "What's that bring Big Red to?" "yeah." "but we're over 700." "Fuck yeah." "300 to go?" "That's awesome." "All right." "Let me show you how the big boys play." "gee!" "youngster." "Check that out." "Creek Cut's holding up." "{\cHed15fe}[ laughter ]" "Narrator:" "Parker needs the Creek Cut to deliver around 290 ounces. 240." "What?" "250." "300." "Fuck off!" "326.2." "Holy mackerel!" "Whoo!" "000." "what's that bring Sluicifer to?" "167." "Fuck yeah." "Narrator:" "Parker's two operations have mined worth $3.4 million." "That deserves a cheers." "Yeah." "raise your drink." "really. we need this to keep up for another three weeks straight." "But you guys know what the weather's gonna do here 15 days." "That is a big ask to keep that up." "Yeah." "It's a lot of fuckin' gold." "We're gonna need more jars." "no problem." "the Hoffman crew has run their mines at Sacramento and Fairplay while Todd and Freddy searched for new ground." "Here comes Jack." "Todd needs around 120 ounces a week 000-ounce goal and send his crew home with gold for the winter." "he's got two jars." "That's good." "78.15." "Nice!" "Whoo!" "Nice!" "Sacramento's catching up at 69.11" "All right!" "Whoo!" "Yeah!" "Very good job! 000." "That's awesome." "Yeah." "Jack:" "You guys keep doing that." "And we're gonna put some gold in everybody's pockets." "Yeah!" "Whoo!" "000. guys." "Turin:" "You guys find some gold?" "why don't you show 'em what we found?" "guys." "Just look at those nuggets." "Holy cow." "We didn't pick any of the fine gold out." "We just grabbed the nuggets." "It's right next to the source." "though?" "we can." "But it's..." "It's no easy deal. we need a third mine." "you guys." "I don't know if we're gonna be able to mine that or not." "There's been a lot of people that have tried." "guys." "000." "that's a miracle." "{\fnLucida Calligraphy} Subs by JackT  000." "And we're gonna be profitable." "And we're gonna come back." "000 next year." "Yay!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Whoo!" "On the Next {\fnLucida Calligraphy} "Gold Rush"... hey!" "This is more than just a challenge." "This is crazy." "Andy:" "I got boulders the size of small cars." "There could be 200 ounces just in this little section." "Let's make 'em smaller." "driving through a fuckin' swamp." "That's a big pan of gold." "we beat last year's total." "guys." "Hey!"