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Gold Rush Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan Season 5 Episode 3
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00:00We have color.
00:10My wife and I have got a little bit of gold fever.
00:14Sure it's not pyrite?
00:16No, it ain't pyrite, it's gold.
00:18We work this place every day of our lives.
00:22Gold mining is what brought us up here.
00:24We moved up here to follow our dreams.
00:27But it's all up in the air right now.
00:31I have a stack of bills.
00:34It's scary, you feel like you're drowning.
00:36The old timers took gold out of the ground here.
00:39So we got to get deeper than that.
00:42There is gold here on this site.
00:44But we just need to see more of it.
00:47We're $750,000 into this, into debt.
00:51The payments have to be made or we lose our mine site,
00:55we lose the house, we lose our equipment.
00:57So everything that I have sweated, blood, sweat, and tears over, we all lose.
01:07Freddie Dodge.
01:08I'd rather have gold in the bank than gold in the mountain.
01:10And Juan Ibarra.
01:12Not bad for built in the field.
01:14Want to make you rich.
01:16It turns your dream out here into a reality.
01:18In the past five years, the value of gold has doubled.
01:24There's a $3,000 nugget right there.
01:26But rookie miners find it more elusive than ever.
01:31If we don't recover more gold, then we could lose everything.
01:35But there is hope.
01:38Miracles, they do happen.
01:39To turn desperation into fortune.
01:42Freddie and Juan have one week.
01:44What you just did, this genius.
01:46To deliver a golden payday.
01:49They have a future and they know what they need to do.
01:51You know, this part of Oregon, Fred, has been hit pretty hard.
02:06There's been a lot of mining.
02:07You know, there's been a lot of gold as well.
02:09Well, this area had a gold rush in the 1860s, Juan.
02:12There'd have probably been thousands of prospectors and thousands of claims out here.
02:16And then started running big equipment.
02:19Those dredges was the best they had at the time.
02:22In northeastern Oregon, Freddie and Juan journey to the Briscoe Mine,
02:27where a husband and wife team work a 12-acre claim in the historic gold-rich Sumter Valley.
02:33From the early 1900s, huge floating wash plants known as dredges
02:40mined 125,000 ounces of gold in Sumter, worth more than $250 million at today's prices.
02:50The Briscoe claim is covered in the byproduct known as tailings that the dredges left behind.
02:58Yeah, even up and down this highway, you could see all these tailings, Fred, everywhere.
03:02If they didn't wash these rocks for nothing, there's been a lot of gold pulled out of here.
03:08The Briscoes may have an innovative idea to get to the gold the old-timers left behind,
03:15but lack the know-how.
03:17How's it going, guys?
03:19Good, how are you?
03:20Welcome to our mine.
03:22Yeah.
03:22Hopefully we can get some answers out of you guys.
03:25We are sitting on a gold mine, you can tell that, but somebody else has already mined most of it.
03:29Yeah.
03:30The dredge went through this valley three times.
03:31Yep.
03:32So is that what you guys are strictly running, is dredge tailings, 100%?
03:35No, the dredge tailings doesn't pay enough.
03:38I'm actually deeper than what the dredge did.
03:40When we first started, I actually was in some virgin ground that the dredge didn't even touch.
03:44We made money there, like a 30-ounce payday.
03:48But other than that, here lately, it's been a hit and miss.
03:52So how deep are you in your cut right now?
03:54We're at least five to six feet down past where the dredge was.
04:00Charlie's cut in the valley floor is clear of tailings and beneath the reach of the old dredges.
04:06And it's a blue channel, an antique river channel.
04:11It's virgin ground, never been mined.
04:14The old big blue is an ancient river channel and a hot spot of Oregon's 1860s gold rush.
04:21Made up of gravels that cemented together over millions of years, it runs from Montana down through Oregon.
04:28It's harder than hard.
04:30I wear a set of tiger teeth out on that escalator in about 40 hours.
04:34So what was your gold total for last season?
04:36We got about five ounces.
04:37What are you looking for this year?
04:39About 60.
04:40Oh.
04:41There's a big difference.
04:42Twelve times.
04:43Yeah, and gold prices are up high enough now to where we're going to try to make this a really good go.
04:50That's right.
04:52Gold mining is my passion.
04:54I was out playing with a gold pan at the age of 12.
05:00I was an agricultural engineer.
05:02However, Sherry and I, we decided that we want to do something for ourselves.
05:08And so we're gold miners.
05:10I am very lucky to be here with Charlie.
05:12We've been together 17 years.
05:14He does everything.
05:15He built the house.
05:17He has built every piece of machinery.
05:19He's built it all from scratch.
05:22I do everything I can to help.
05:23I drive dump truck when we're hauling.
05:26I pay the bills and take care of all the administration.
05:30I love it.
05:31I love this lifestyle.
05:32But everything's on the line right now.
05:36I'm worried about this season.
05:38This is the year it has to come together.
05:41Hopefully it's in Juan and Freddy's answers.
05:44I have a lot of faith in these guys.
05:45This is our golden opportunity to make this mine work.
05:54Now what kind of gold are you getting out?
05:55Is it pretty chunky?
05:56No, it's actually fine gold.
05:58You got some of it?
06:00That's some pretty gold.
06:01Yeah.
06:02It goes 95, 97% pure.
06:05But it's as flat as paper.
06:07Catching it with just a typical slush box, I haven't had luck with that.
06:10Let's do a four-hour test, see how much gold you get.
06:12Okay.
06:13Awesome.
06:14Let's do it.
06:14Do it.
06:23Charlie and Cherry have a lot on the line here.
06:25You know, they've got just so much money invested, so much time invested,
06:31that every speck of gold they could catch, they could put in their bank account, right?
06:35Virgin pay from beneath the old dredge is loaded into a vibrating hopper,
06:40which feeds into a tire-driven trommel.
06:44Gold-bearing material is washed out through screens
06:47and is recovered using a spinning centrifuge instead of a traditional sluice box.
06:55Fine tailings leave the end of the trommel on a slick-plate chute,
06:59and the larger tailings are removed on a 50-foot-long conveyor.
07:05Looking at the cut, I'm not real sure how deep that dredge went,
07:08but, you know, typically they go, what, 15, 20 feet?
07:11You know, a lot of times those dredges, you know,
07:12they get into that hard material, and instead of beating the dredge up,
07:16they just skip over the top of it.
07:17That was the problem with the dredges.
07:19They couldn't see underwater.
07:21But, you know, who knows what's underneath there?
07:23That's right.
07:24You know, they really could be in a channel there where it's really rich.
07:27You just got to get to it.
07:28That's exactly right.
07:33If you look in here, you can actually see all that material that's on the side of the belt.
07:38That's all fine material that should be going down the sluice box and getting sluiced, but it's not.
07:43Realistically, we could probably lose 5%, 10% gold just because of that.
07:47You know, basically, you've got all that material coming through into a tromble to get streamed,
07:52but there's nothing to recover anything on it.
07:55Click plates don't catch gold, do they, Juan?
07:57Never have.
07:58Never will?
07:58Nope.
07:59One little bitty color right there, Juan.
08:03No riffles on the discharge chute means gold is being lost in the fine tailings.
08:08So we get the issues of putting too much material in the hopper, and then it overflows my trommel and it slows it down.
08:17Oh!
08:19Tire spinning, Juan!
08:20When the tire driving the trommel slips, it overstrains the drive chain.
08:28Well, that tire is a little bald and there's no crashing, so...
08:32It's spinning out when it's overloading.
08:36I just got a little excited right here and dumped a little bit too much in the hopper all at one time,
08:41and that's not a good thing.
08:43That's one of the trouble spots.
08:45The drive for the plant, if it gets overloaded, all you do is start breaking that chain.
08:52And when it breaks, you're down for two to three hours.
08:56The whole wash plant is my design.
08:59We built the centrifuge.
09:01Home made!
09:03Often used for catching flat gold, a centrifuge is a powered drum on its side which spins quickly.
09:10Pay moves through the barrel, and the heavier gold gets stuck to the inside of the plant by centrifugal force.
09:18I built this for about $3,000 and the regular one's $50, so we did good.
09:25Well, we did find gold, you know, in the tailings.
09:28You know, it's not scrubbing it and washing it quite good enough.
09:30There's still a lot of material left on those bigger rocks coming out.
09:33Yeah, you know, and the other issue that we really saw was that drive system he has.
09:38You know, the unreliability is kind of what's killing him on his run time.
09:41Yeah, it stopped him during the runs.
09:44Last bucket!
09:45Last bucket!
09:53They're cleaning out the centrifuge.
09:55So how long does this process take you?
09:5845 minutes to an hour?
09:59Really?
10:00Wow.
10:00The motor-driven centrifuge that Charlie uses to catch fine gold must be shut down by hand.
10:08I don't know.
10:09Thinking that centrifuge is time-consuming.
10:12He's got a neat plant here.
10:14It's just got a few, uh, few little corks in it that are slowing him down.
10:20But we're going to do the best we can while we're here to help him catch that extra gold.
10:24There's a lot riding on this, trying to make sure Sherry and I have got a future.
10:29Stakes are high.
10:34Coming up.
10:36I don't think it's moving.
10:37She won't move.
10:39Plan B.
10:40We're f***ing.
10:42No questions, please.
10:44Seriously.
10:44See what it is.
10:58Moment of truth, eh, Juan?
11:00Yep.
11:00At the Briscoe Mine in Oregon.
11:03Hi, guys.
11:03How you doing?
11:04Good.
11:05The results are in from the four-hour test on Charlie's wash plant.
11:10Got her all done?
11:11Charlie?
11:11Ready.
11:11Ooh, that's not much gold.
11:13Oh.
11:14No.
11:170.1, 0.2, 0.3.
11:190.04.
11:200.04.
11:22Eeh, so...
11:24Can't forget that zero in front of it.
11:26$85, $90 worth of gold is all for four hours.
11:29We didn't even pay for fuel.
11:31No.
11:31No.
11:32It's not good, guys.
11:33We did notice a few things that we can improve on on the plant as far as recovery.
11:37But I think a big part of what we need to do here is your ground.
11:41You do agree that's an ancient river channel, though?
11:44Right now, we're guessing.
11:45I'd like to find somebody that really knows the area well and pick their brain.
11:49It'll give me a lot better insight.
11:51Yeah.
11:51Wonderful.
11:52If it is an ancient riverbed, you know, that could be your best gold there.
11:55Mm-hmm.
11:56We'll come up with a game plan as well.
11:58Talk to you guys soon.
11:58We'll come back and talk to you guys.
11:59Thank you, guys.
11:59All right.
11:59Here's your gold.
12:00I was expecting more than that.
12:02Absolutely.
12:03I'm not disappointed in this pan because I've dealt with this before.
12:09It is what it is, but it doesn't pay my bills that I have on my desk.
12:20We got a multitude of issues going on here.
12:23Number one, is there enough gold in the ground?
12:25Yeah.
12:26That's something we're going to have to go out and figure out.
12:28Hopefully, there's more gold deeper in that blue channel.
12:31Working out if there's more gold in the old dredge channel is critical.
12:36But Freddie and Juan must also fix the problems with the plant.
12:40We really need to focus on that drive system.
12:42He's got a real small chain on there driving that trommel.
12:45Yeah.
12:46The trommel itself, it's starting to slip.
12:48Yeah.
12:48That's something we need to focus on as well.
12:50On this conveyor, the tailings conveyor coming out, he has an entire circuit here that
12:54isn't recovering any gold.
12:55This all needs to be riffled up.
12:57What do you think next?
12:59You know, I know he put that centrifuge in there because he was worried about losing
13:01fine gold, but he's probably spending, I bet, $15, $20 an hour on extra fuel.
13:07Forget of that centrifuge.
13:09Put it in the scrap iron bed over there.
13:11To improve the reliability and increase the recovery of the plant,
13:16Freddie and Juan will upgrade the trommel's drive system to a larger 80-gauge setup and
13:23add an expanded steel strip to provide more traction for the drive wheel.
13:28Gold is being lost at the end of the trommel on unwashed rocks.
13:34An extra spray nozzle will blast hay into the discharge chute, where a new carpet and riffles
13:40will recover gold that would have been lost.
13:42Finally, they'll remove the inefficient centrifuge, but keep the layout of the plant by replacing
13:49it with an 18-foot sluice, one of the longest in mine rescue history.
13:54But all this relies on their ambitious plan to reach the potentially gold-rich ground in
14:03the old blue channel.
14:08Freddie and I, what we think we can do is make your plant more reliable.
14:12And catch more gold.
14:13Okay.
14:14Starting out with one thing that you pointed out was your drive system.
14:18I'm going to go up to that 80-size chain.
14:20Okay.
14:20And so we'll have to do new sprockets on the drive and also on the trommel side.
14:24Part of the drive system, too, I want to take a three-quarter flat and expand it and put
14:28a ring of it around where your tire is so you're not spinning out for traction.
14:32That's going to cover the reliability side of the plant.
14:35The recovery side, we'd noticed a few things.
14:38You know, I know on that, on the larger tailings that you have coming out, there's a lot of
14:41fine material on it still.
14:43So that means you're going to be losing gold as well.
14:45We want to address that.
14:47Now, on the other side of the recovery system where you have your centrifuge, I know you worked
14:50hard on that centrifuge, Charlie.
14:51You did a great job building it.
14:52But honestly, for the plant you have, I think it's just a bottleneck.
14:56It's costing you money.
14:58Yeah.
14:58We would like to move that centrifuge out of there.
15:05Yeah, I built everything that's out there, including the centrifuge.
15:08But if it needs to go to enhance the operation, then let's do that.
15:13Yeah.
15:14Okay.
15:15But what we want to do is we actually want to put a sluice run there, set up for fine
15:19gold recovery.
15:19And recover more gold.
15:21We need to focus on that cut.
15:22We're going to try to figure out what's down there.
15:24Take your traco down there and just play with it a little bit.
15:26Okay.
15:27Wear a set of your teeth out.
15:29Okay.
15:29All that being said, you know, what we kind of figured on material on that for building
15:33the new box, riffling it all up, the drive system.
15:36Carpets.
15:37Carpets, nozzle, everything else.
15:39We're looking at about $5,000 in material.
15:41Okay.
15:42On our labor, we're willing to do all of it for free.
15:44We know you guys are in a tough spot.
15:47So how can Sherry and I help?
15:50Deal then.
15:51Deal.
15:52Perfect.
15:53Thank you, Freddie.
15:55You're welcome.
15:55Deal.
15:55I'm genuinely nervous here because Sherry and Charlie, they're losing money and going broke.
16:02The gold way was so low.
16:04So we're going to do our best and we're going to throw in the labor for free.
16:07It's going to be interesting to see what Freddie comes up with in the hold, in the cut.
16:11That's what I'm excited about.
16:12That's the one that, that's where it's at now.
16:14But I'm really happy that we're going to get these problems fixed on the plant and on
16:18the recovery side.
16:20That's going to be perfect.
16:24We're going to get ready to cut out the boxes for Charlie here.
16:27So I got it all programmed in.
16:28I'm going to get it ready to start cutting.
16:32Juan's plasma cutter slices through steel at 25,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
16:38On Charlie and Sherry's plant, they have a centrifuge and unfortunately, it's just not
16:45working properly.
16:46And by going to a regular sluice box, we'll be able to increase their throughput and also
16:49their gold recovery by at least 20%.
16:51Are we ready?
16:59Go ahead.
17:01Charlie and Sherry remove the inefficient centrifuge.
17:05I've been running loader probably about five years now.
17:08I've just learned how to operate them and watch Charlie's hand signals.
17:14We are a great team and work well together.
17:18You've got to get it around that corner.
17:26We're out of the hole.
17:28All right.
17:29Success.
17:31It takes a lot longer to put it in than it did to take it out.
17:34Good job.
17:36So that's the first hurdle over.
17:38So we get to go.
17:38I'm going to see a gentleman named Daryl.
17:47He's a local miner, prospector, historian type guy.
17:51My goal is to find somebody that knows the geology of this riverbed.
17:56So hopefully he can help us figure out a little bit more about the area.
17:59Mr. Freddy Dodge.
18:02How's it going, sir?
18:03Good.
18:03Glad to meet you.
18:04Glad to meet you.
18:06Well, I came to pick your brain, to be honest with you.
18:09Well, we'll see what's in there to pick, I guess.
18:13So you know Charlie, I assume?
18:16Oh, yeah.
18:16Yeah, we're here helping him out.
18:18Got any maps of the area we can look at?
18:20Got some old ones.
18:21Sometimes old ones are the best ones.
18:23This is from 1900.
18:25Okay.
18:26Basically right here all the way up is where the dredges went.
18:31This was a very rich valley when they first discovered it.
18:35So that's the Sumter gold you're after.
18:37It's that flat, flat gold.
18:40And that's what the dredges got.
18:42When I first moved up in the area, the guys would tell me that they would be running that dredge
18:46and they'd hit a pocket of gold and them sluice boxes would just turn yellow.
18:49So it only went 18 feet.
18:52That's it, huh?
18:52You've got to get down below that 18 feet.
18:55Yeah.
18:55You get down into that virgin material.
18:57So we did a first test run there and it was pretty weak.
19:01Yeah.
19:02So it's virgin material, but it's a conglomerate.
19:05It's a really hard, older-looking material.
19:08That's interesting.
19:08All the rocks are gray, gray and blue.
19:11That means you're into the old blue channel.
19:13The big plaster mine just up the road here, well, the same thing.
19:16They ran into those blue gravels.
19:18When they got down to the bedrock, they would find balls of gold wrapped up and they would
19:22unwrap them and they were gold ribbons about an inch, inch and a half wide and about six
19:27inches long.
19:28Ribbon gold is rare and can be very valuable due to its high density.
19:34Has he got down to the actual bedrock itself?
19:36No.
19:36Yeah, he needs to get down to the actual bedrock.
19:40Yeah.
19:41Yep.
19:41It shouldn't be real deep.
19:43Might be 15, 20 feet.
19:44Who knows?
19:45That would be my guess.
19:47Well, try to figure out a way to find that out.
19:50And then we just hope that there's gold under it.
19:54There's definitely gold here in this valley, Freddie.
19:56To have any chance of hitting the mother load, Freddie needs to identify the depth of bedrock
20:03at Charlie and Sherry's claim.
20:05Gold's goal in life is to try to get to the center of the earth, right?
20:09It's heavy and it sinks.
20:10It could be a foot deeper than we are now.
20:13It could be 15 feet deeper.
20:15I don't know.
20:16You got to try, right?
20:18Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
20:19Your best gold's on bedrock.
20:33Right.
20:35On the Briscoe claim in Oregon.
20:37You know, it's a tough one because we don't know his bedrock.
20:4020 feet?
20:41Is it 50 feet?
20:43Is it 75 feet?
20:45Freddie takes Charlie on a mission to find bedrock.
20:48Well, let's just dig a hole and see what we find.
20:51All righty.
20:59Yeah, take a little out of the bottom there, Charlie, and put it over here and let's pan it.
21:04Yes, sir.
21:07Freddie's goal?
21:08To determine the richest layers of pay in the ancient river channel.
21:12We still want to test our way down because if this stuff pays the same as your first
21:19test, Charlie, then you just got to get rid of it.
21:22It doesn't need to be wearing your plant out.
21:24Right.
21:25So this becomes overburdened.
21:27It's just garbage.
21:32Three little bitty colors.
21:34It's no good.
21:38No good at all.
21:40Deeper we go.
21:41Yeah.
21:41Okay.
21:42Let's keep going down.
21:44All righty.
21:45Those three little colors in that test, I'm guessing that that was probably maybe 50 cents
21:51a yard.
21:53Can't make it on 50 cents a yard.
21:54Nothing.
22:05Nothing in the pan.
22:06No gold.
22:16Well, we're as deep as we can get.
22:19Nothing.
22:20Absolutely nothing.
22:22The proof is not in the pudding.
22:23Eighteen feet down, the excavator hits its limit, but no sign of bedrock or gold.
22:32We punched a hole and it was pretty depressing, but he's got more land here.
22:36Just because there's no gold down there doesn't mean there's no gold over there or over there
22:42or over there, right?
22:44You know, you might ask how deep is bedrock here.
22:46Well, I have no idea.
22:48And I wish I could see through the rocks and tell you what's down there, but I can't.
22:52But I know a man who can.
22:54While Freddy calls in reinforcements in the critical hunt for gold at bedrock, Juan's focus
23:04is to upgrade the plant to catch it.
23:07I got all the pieces cut out for the new sluice box.
23:10This is the first run.
23:11This is the 10-foot run.
23:12And I have one more 8-foot run that I'm going to build.
23:15All right, Charlie.
23:17While you're doing this, I'll start getting some measurements.
23:19If you want to finish that weld there and start welding the tops here, the back sides of these.
23:23Looking good, Charlie.
23:34You know, I'll be your assistant.
23:36You can be the welder.
23:37Yeah.
23:37You good with that?
23:38All righty.
23:42Over the years, I've had people help me here and there.
23:44But Charlie's one of the few guys that has actually helped me that really knows what he's doing.
23:50I think it's great to see Charlie working with Freddy and Juan.
23:54They get along great.
23:55And it's just really cool to see all three of them working together.
23:58They're just kind of like a well-oiled machine.
24:01Well, we're looking really good, Charlie.
24:03During that first test run, the drive tire, which is on the other side, kept spinning out.
24:13So what we're going to do is wrap this around here like this.
24:18And you can see that tire will be able to grip this.
24:22So it's just for traction.
24:25It's strictly what it's for, but it'll work.
24:33Well, what we're doing is called hot tacking.
24:40While the weld's still hot, hit it with a hammer.
24:43And then it smashes it down and ties it together.
24:46See, now our gap's gone.
24:48For just $250, Freddy fixes a major problem.
24:53This may seem like a simple fix, but over time, it's going to make this plant run a lot more hours, right?
25:01And every hour this plant's not running, it's not making gold.
25:14At the trommel...
25:15It's not moving.
25:24She won't move.
25:25Juan's mission to increase production and reliability rests on being able to remove and upgrade the sprocket.
25:34Plan B.
25:36When you heat something up, it expands, right?
25:39So we want to heat that hub up without heating the shaft up.
25:42How much has it moved at all, Fred?
25:51It hasn't.
25:52So our job went from tough to tougher.
25:55Just going to put it back together, Juan.
25:57I hate that.
25:58I know, but...
25:59Ah, it's stuck.
26:03We're...
26:04No questions, please.
26:12Seriously.
26:22That gearbox is from the 50s?
26:24Yeah.
26:25That's probably been on there since it was new.
26:27On the Briscoe mine in Sumter, Oregon, work hits a standstill.
26:33She ain't coming off.
26:35The trommel's gearbox sprocket is stuck fast on the shaft.
26:39I hate to be all this way and not at least try to fix it.
26:44That sprocket's got to come off if we're going to make this work.
26:49Well, let's loosen that box up.
26:51Let's get it out and see if we can't work on it out here.
26:53We still got to get this sprocket off, so we're going to come in now and pick this up
26:58and get it out of here.
26:59He wants to be stubborn, but I think we're going to win this war.
27:06Ready to pull it out?
27:07Just ready to do something.
27:09Come on in.
27:11Come straight in.
27:12Go that way a little.
27:13Doing a good job, Sherry.
27:14Keep coming.
27:15There you go.
27:16You're there.
27:17Charlie and Sherry, they're a great team.
27:19They're the right hand and the left hand.
27:21They work together extremely well.
27:24There you go.
27:26Good job, Sherry.
27:27Come up a little bit.
27:29Felt it back.
27:31Keep going.
27:33It's yours.
27:35Take it over someplace where we care.
27:39We're out of our element right now.
27:41We don't have a press here, so we kind of made our own little press.
27:44We're using the forks of our loader with a piece of beam on top, a square tube,
27:48and this plate, and just a bottle jack.
27:51You know, it's what we have.
27:52We're going to use it.
27:52Hopefully, we can get this loose.
27:56Juan's push fix?
27:57Use static loader force and an iron beam to act as a sealant.
28:02A bottle jack pushes the central shaft down to release the gearbox.
28:09We've tried a couple other things.
28:11Nothing else will get it loose.
28:12There it goes.
28:17There it is.
28:18It's got to be getting close.
28:29I would say so.
28:32Oh, yeah.
28:32We're there.
28:40There it is.
28:40Success.
28:42We won the war.
28:44With the sprocket now free, Juan can upgrade the drive system.
28:48We just got to keep our nose to the grindstone, keep on working right now.
28:51You know, we're burning daylight, so I got to keep at it.
28:55We're going to take this tire over here to Juan so he can rework that sprocket,
29:00get the new sprocket put on here, so we can get this put back together.
29:04So this gives you a reference of what the difference is in the chain.
29:08This is the chain that Charlie was using before,
29:10and this is what we're going to be using now.
29:12What he's had in the past is this chain gets a little sloppy,
29:15and it ends up stretching, and it'll break.
29:18We're hoping by going from a 60 chain to an 80 chain,
29:20we'll be able to eliminate those problems that he's having.
29:23Obviously, if we're going from the lighter chain to the bigger chain,
29:25we're going to have to change the sprockets,
29:27and that's why we're doing all this work.
29:29Juan adapts a sprocket to fit the new drive wheel.
29:34We already got the wheel hub built for it.
29:42This is going to be the drive.
29:44This is actually what's going to drive the trommel now.
29:46And recycles an old sprocket from Charlie's boneyard.
29:50Fortunately, Charlie had a 30-tooth sprocket that we were able to use.
29:53That is the right pitch, the number 80 chain.
29:56So I had to get the old hub with the old sprockets.
29:59I cut it all off, and I reused that hub
30:01and welded this sprocket onto that existing hub
30:04so we'll be able to put that on the drive.
30:07I feel confident now I know we can get it done.
30:09This is Freddy.
30:20Oh, okay.
30:21So you're on the mine site?
30:22Yep.
30:23Okay.
30:24You'll see my welding truck?
30:26On the hunt for gold-rich bedrock,
30:29Freddy's special task force arrives on site.
30:32How's it going?
30:33Hey, Freddy.
30:34How you doing?
30:35Doing all right.
30:35Dan?
30:35Yep.
30:36Dan Kramer.
30:36Dan?
30:37Your name, sir?
30:38Kurt Kramer?
30:39Kurt, nice to meet you, Kurt.
30:40Dan Kramer and his dad, Kurt,
30:43specialize in underground geological mapping.
30:46We're hoping if we can find bedrock,
30:48there's better gold on bedrock.
30:50But this isn't...
30:51The surface of this is not worth running.
30:53We can't tell you how much gold there is,
30:54but we can tell you bedrock.
30:56Yep.
30:56We'll get you some good data.
30:57There's no question about it.
30:59Yeah.
31:00Thank you, guys.
31:00Yeah, absolutely.
31:01I'll see you in a bit.
31:02All righty.
31:03Using a process known as seismic refraction,
31:05the team can measure the depth to bedrock across Charlie's claim.
31:10We're setting up our seismic sensors.
31:12They're called geofunds.
31:13We're hooking them up onto our survey line.
31:16We're going to hit the ground hard and make a seismic noise,
31:19kind of like a shockwave.
31:20Yep.
31:25One more.
31:26Yeah, we got it.
31:31That shockwave.
31:32The time that it takes to hit the bedrock
31:34and bounce back up to the seismic sensor,
31:36we're going to record that.
31:37That's going to tell us the depth of bedrock
31:39within one to three feet.
31:41Seismic waves travel into the ground,
31:44refracting off the bedrock
31:46and bouncing back up to the geophones along the surface.
31:49The data recorded will create a two-dimensional underground map
31:55showing the depth to bedrock on part of Charlie's claim.
32:01We're going to take all of that data.
32:03After processing it, this is for a different site,
32:07but we're going to produce an image like this,
32:09a 2-D cross-section looking into the ground.
32:11So imagine the line along the top of the ground surface here,
32:13and we're looking down into the ground.
32:16Bedrock is here, and these are softer soils above it.
32:20Curtis Kramer has such a good swing.
32:21My dad, because he's been logging for 81 years,
32:24and he can swing the hammer like he's still 20 years old.
32:27Go ahead!
32:32One more!
32:37Like a shotgun. Thank you, Dad.
32:43Good job, Sherry!
32:46You're there!
32:47Freddy and Juan's fixes are ready to be installed,
32:51starting with the new drive chain.
32:53Oh, look at that, Charlie.
32:55Line up perfect.
32:56That's the dog's nuts right there, bud.
32:59It's thrilling to see this come together.
33:01This is where Charlie's oversized material was going down,
33:04and we've got this chute right here
33:06that we can catch gold in.
33:08We'll riffle it up and make it into a gold catcher,
33:11not a chute.
33:11Adding riffles to the slick chute should mean more gold.
33:16Getting a wet system in here with wood, wood wedges,
33:20so it'll really lock that down tight
33:22so it pushes them into the carpet
33:24so that gold can't get underneath these ripples.
33:27An extra spray nozzle will mean more gold
33:30will be washed off the rocks.
33:32Coming down a little, Charlie.
33:34I'm vertically challenged.
33:35Finally, to try and catch Oregon's flat gold,
33:40one of mine rescues' longest-ever sluice boxes
33:42is lowered into place, ready for riffles.
33:46Yeah, Charlie!
33:52She looks good, Charlie.
33:54Looks good to me.
33:56Let's do a four-hour test run
33:57and see how much gold we get, huh?
33:59All righty.
33:59Well, let's light it, Freddy.
34:06There it is.
34:07Let's do it.
34:08While on the job,
34:10Juan's family make a surprise visit
34:12for his daughter Aiden's fifth birthday.
34:15All right, let's go cut this up on the back of the truck.
34:16You want a big piece, Aiden?
34:17Bunch of frosting on it.
34:19The whole thing is frosting.
34:20There you go, little Freddy.
34:21There's a mess waiting to happen.
34:22Oh, yes.
34:23Big Freddy.
34:23Thank you, Juan-o.
34:25I got frosting all over my face.
34:27Like father, like son.
34:28Freddy and I should probably get back to work.
34:30Yep.
34:31All right.
34:31Thank you, Daddy.
34:32Double thank you.
34:33Welcome, kids.
34:34All right, knuckles, buddy.
34:35Bye.
34:36Bye, kids.
34:37Bye, kiddos.
34:38Bye, Dad.
34:39Bye.
34:40Besito.
34:42Thank you, buddy.
34:48You're good.
34:49We're good to go.
34:50Water on.
34:52On the Briscoe's Eastern Oregon Mine,
34:55the upgraded wash plant is loaded up with virgin pay
34:59from the working cut.
35:01You want to fire up that trowel, see what it does?
35:03Yeah.
35:04Running the same material as test one
35:07will show if the fixes have improved recovery.
35:12Looking good.
35:13Looks good.
35:14Stop, Ono.
35:16Get some gold, Charlie.
35:17Get some gold, Charlie.
35:21First bucket.
35:22There it goes.
35:23In five days, Freddy and Juan
35:25have revamped the Briscoe's wash plant.
35:28That feels good, Juan.
35:30That feels real good.
35:32To catch Oregon's flat gold,
35:34they've installed a custom 18-foot-long sluice box.
35:38Look at the chain.
35:39It doesn't vary at all.
35:41And the new drive chain.
35:43So that means we were able to get them centered pretty good.
35:47Let's try to feed it a little bit faster.
35:49I think we can get away with it.
35:51OK.
35:51That expanded metal on those tires,
35:55before he couldn't run any more material
35:57or it'd spin out, right?
36:00It'd be so much weight in the trommel.
36:02But since we put that on there,
36:03he's got more traction.
36:06We're putting quite a bit of rock through it.
36:09And everything's handling the load that we're giving it,
36:12because I guarantee you,
36:13if it wouldn't have done it before.
36:14With a stronger drive system,
36:17Charlie can feed almost double the pay
36:19into the plant per hour.
36:21That rock's a lot cleaner, Juan.
36:23Yeah, that spray bar right at the end really helps.
36:27An additional spray bar
36:28ensures all gold is washed off the rocks
36:31and caught in the newly riffled-up chute.
36:34All in all, I'm really happy with what we did here.
36:37The plant's more reliable
36:38and it's going to be catching a lot more gold as well.
36:41I'm proud of it.
36:41Me too.
36:44That's it.
36:44Last bucket, Charlie.
36:46I'm kind of anxious to hear what they got to say.
36:59Me too.
36:59Because how good our ground is
37:01is whether or not we're going to make it
37:03or we're going to lose it.
37:06We're back.
37:07How are we looking?
37:08It looks better,
37:09but have we got the results from the surveyors?
37:12Yeah, just got them.
37:14He and Juan looked at them.
37:16The results from the seismic test
37:18will tell Charlie how viable it is
37:21to search for gold at bedrock.
37:23Here's what you got here.
37:25So you can see bedrock right here
37:27is where we were digging.
37:28We dug that 20-foot hole right there.
37:30Right.
37:30It's 30 feet to bedrock.
37:33To reach bedrock,
37:34Charlie would need to clear tailings across the claim,
37:37then dig a 30-foot-deep cut.
37:41And who knows if there's anything down there.
37:43A huge cost,
37:46with no guaranteed gold at the bottom.
37:48Yeah, it's not worth it for us
37:50to dig another 30 feet to bedrock.
37:51We hate being the bearer of bad news.
37:53Yeah, but it's truth.
37:55Yeah.
37:55Truth means a lot.
37:56We need it to know.
37:59Pour it, Wano?
38:00Yeah, I'll pour it.
38:00Now, the Briscoes' only hope
38:04rests on Freddie and Juan's fixes,
38:07making their existing pay
38:09profitable enough to continue.
38:13Let me pour it, Fred.
38:14I pour heavy.
38:16Yeah, pour heavy, Juan.
38:20Well, just passed last time.
38:21That was last time, right there.
38:23All right.
38:231, 0, 4.
38:24There's still more.
38:28Well, there it is.
38:29It's actually .15.
38:32Worth $345.
38:35That's better than what we had before.
38:36Absolutely.
38:36Three and a half times.
38:38Yeah.
38:38We went above and beyond the goal
38:40that we were trying to achieve on that part.
38:42We did.
38:43All in all, I think the fixes worked well.
38:44You can see right there.
38:45All positive.
38:46The proof's right there on the pan.
38:47In their current cut,
38:49the upgraded recovery
38:50would give the Briscoes
38:52a 20-ounce season,
38:53far short of their 60-ounce season target.
38:58But you guys said
39:00when we first got here,
39:01good, bad, or indifferent,
39:02let us know what we think.
39:03So my recommendation is
39:05find some other ground.
39:10There's quite a bit of ground around here.
39:12It just won't be next to your house.
39:15Yeah, it's pretty convenient.
39:16Separate work and home.
39:17Yeah.
39:18You're right.
39:19We have to commute
39:20a little bit every day.
39:21But instead of you guys
39:22just chasing your tail
39:23and wasting your money,
39:24call it here
39:25and find a different piece of property.
39:27All the guesswork now
39:28is out of this.
39:29Totally.
39:30I'm not out there digging
39:31and hoping to get somewhere,
39:32you know,
39:32spending money
39:33we could put towards something else.
39:35Yeah.
39:35The truth is,
39:36now you've got a plant
39:37that you know that runs properly
39:38and that actually catches the gold.
39:40So,
39:41when there's gold in the ground,
39:42we'll have lots of gold
39:43in that sluice box.
39:45Let's hope so.
39:45Yeah, you should.
39:47You know,
39:47we talked about the $5,000
39:48for the material.
39:49We're going to go ahead
39:50and just call that.
39:51Yeah.
39:51You know,
39:52we want to cover all of it.
39:53We appreciate that.
39:54That's really nice.
39:55Thank you, Freddie.
39:55You're welcome.
39:56Appreciate your time.
39:57Thank you, Juan.
39:57Charlie, Freddie,
39:58you guys are a pleasure.
39:59Don't spend it all in one place.
40:01Dinner.
40:02It's a decent dinner, though.
40:04Take care, guys.
40:04Have a good night.
40:06Travel safe.
40:06It's disappointing,
40:08but I like knowing the truth.
40:10It stinks,
40:11but it's nice to know.
40:13Future is what you make of it.
40:15Yes, wise one.
40:17That particular piece of ground
40:18is not worth mining.
40:19They have a plant.
40:21The plant's properly tuned.
40:22It's running right.
40:23It's recovering gold.
40:25They're better off for us coming still.
40:26Those fixes to the plant,
40:28they're incredible,
40:29and that's going to really help us in the future
40:31wherever we decide to go
40:33because we will continue to be gold miners.
40:34The dream is not over.
40:36Chasing my rainbow is still there.
40:38We're still going to do this.
40:40Charlie and Sherry's future in gold mining
40:43may not be one step out their front door.
40:45It may be a mile from here.
40:46It may be five miles.
40:47It may be ten miles,
40:48but I guarantee there's no give up at these guys.
40:51If there's gold in the ground,
40:52they're going to make success out of it.
40:56Good morning, Freddie and Juan.
41:00Thank you so much for all your time
41:02and knowledge and wisdom and friendship.
41:05We are taking your advice and moving on.
41:08It's time for the wash plant
41:09now that it's dialed in
41:11to uproot it and capture quite a bit of gold.
41:14We are off to find our new pot
41:17at the end of the rainbow, as Charlie says,
41:20and we are off to Nevada.
41:24Where the new homestead's going to be.
41:27Hope to see you soon.
41:28Hope to see you soon.
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