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Short filmTranscript
00:00Let's go for an adventure.
00:02On this gold rush.
00:04Now I'm putting my money where my mouth is.
00:06It's the first ever rookie mind boss showdown.
00:10School of hard knocks, baby.
00:11No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:13Of course it's my fault.
00:14I'm in charge.
00:15Hitting the three most successful freshman bosses
00:19head to head.
00:20We got to learn a curve to get ahead of here.
00:22There's no doubt about that.
00:23Judging their first year wins.
00:25Nice win.
00:26And fails.
00:27This is outrageous.
00:29To reveal who.
00:31We're going to do it.
00:32Blowing the plan.
00:33Yeah, woo.
00:34Is the top rookie mind boss.
00:48So what are you going to do about gold this year?
00:51I'm going to find it.
00:52In 15 years of gold rush.
00:55Now I'm going to start kicking some ass.
00:57There have been five rookie mind bosses.
01:00Honestly, it's one of the most challenging things I've ever done.
01:03But the best of the first year miners boils down to three.
01:08Teenager Parker Schnabel.
01:10It's about making money.
01:11That's what matters.
01:12Air to Tony Beetz mining empire.
01:15Kevin Beetz.
01:16It's time to show I have what it takes to be the boss.
01:18And seasoned foreman Rick Ness.
01:21The opportunity is now.
01:22I just got to take it.
01:23Getting off to a fast start is essential for a first year mind boss.
01:29So the first round of competition is a showdown over who hits their first gold the fastest.
01:4216 year old Parker Schnabel leaves his junior year of high school and goes straight into his freshman mind boss season.
01:50I have faith in your management that it will be successful.
01:55Thanks.
01:56Shake.
01:56Pretty big moment.
02:00I'm in charge now.
02:01Parker is gifted the big nugget mind by his grandpa John.
02:07Complete with a working wash plant, iron and crude.
02:11And needs 75 ounces by the end of his first season to keep the family operation afloat.
02:18He has vision that he's going to make thousands of dollars every day and I hope he's right.
02:25I've got a plan.
02:25I'm going to execute my plan.
02:28Simple as that.
02:29Parker's plan to see his first gold is to hit an easy score.
02:35Tailings mined over two decades ago.
02:38My grandpa mined this bench up here.
02:41This is all the tailings from that.
02:43If their sluice box caught 50 percent of the gold and they got 100 ounces then
02:48then there would be another 100 ounces here.
02:50So we're going to give a crack at it.
02:52Hopefully there's a pile of gold sitting in there somewhere.
03:07It's the first clean out of dirt that I've picked out I guess.
03:10Three-fifths of an ounce.
03:22We only ran four hours so I think we're going to have a good week.
03:25After seeing gold on day one of being the boss, Parker spends the rest of his first week running all the tailings.
03:34It's working.
03:40They're getting bigger.
03:45It's Friday today so we're going to clean out the whole plant.
03:49This is our first full week of running and we've gotten six or seven ounces.
03:56Parker banks almost 10 percent of his season goal within a week of becoming boss.
04:02I must be doing something right.
04:05Parker's tailings are a one-time hit.
04:08He still needs to find more ground to keep sluicing.
04:12So he earns four points out of five in the first round.
04:18Next, newbie mine boss Kevin Beetz also has an opportunity to hit first gold fast.
04:25But he wants a lot more than 75 ounces in his first year.
04:30I got big plans to set up a gold mine and run it my way.
04:34We do have a thousand ounce gold.
04:36This is a big gamble.
04:37So me and Faith have to make this work.
04:40After 20 years working on the family mine, clashes with his dad, Tony.
04:45Hey, what can you do, Kevin?
04:47Get a test fire aid.
04:48Yeah, I don't even want to go there.
04:49Led to him breaking away and leasing ground from his old man.
04:54We'll give you Scribner.
04:55Borrowing equipment to start his own operation.
04:58You're not getting the best that we have, but you shouldn't have much troubles getting started.
05:04All you got to do down there is prove yourself.
05:08Right now, he opened up a mid-sized cut to get going.
05:13Based on what drill holes that Tony had and a little bit of poking around I did,
05:16between 15, 20 feet of muck on top.
05:18Okay.
05:21To get his 1,000-ounce season gold, Kevin needs to open a three-acre cut in just four weeks.
05:28So I can keep all the machines going.
05:32Our current schedule has us loosing by the end of the month.
05:36Angers crossed.
05:37Opening the cut in a dozer borrowed from Tony.
05:44Foreman Brennan rules.
05:46What's up?
05:47Something's not feeling right.
05:51That's strange.
05:54Sick of this .
05:57What is this?
05:58Bolts obviously fell off the inside.
06:02Can't keep this old running for more than a day.
06:05Four weeks into the season, disaster strikes.
06:09So, yeah, this ain't great.
06:13They need to take out the engine so I can get to the transmission.
06:17So, it essentially looking like it's going to be down for a while.
06:21It's pretty frustrating.
06:24I know Tony didn't want to give me like his best equipment, but this is a little ridiculous.
06:29I am definitely going to be talking to Tony.
06:34Hey, Tony.
06:37Hey, Gavin.
06:38What's up, man?
06:38Uh, well, I don't need to talk about that D-10.
06:41Ah.
06:42She kind of, uh, grenaded.
06:48What grenaded?
06:49Uh, something in the transmission.
06:51Pretty much dead in the water.
06:52It was ran when you got it.
06:56What do you want?
06:57I need to have a spare from you.
07:02There's no more TV.
07:04We all got to learn.
07:06Be your own boss.
07:07Okay.
07:08Ah, yeah.
07:09Got to run.
07:09I got to do.
07:21More equipment problems.
07:23We've had a lot of delays.
07:24We really need to get sluicing.
07:26Slows progress.
07:29Coffee there, Kev?
07:30I think we're on the pay streak here.
07:32I'll be right down.
07:34It's two months, over a third of the way through his first season.
07:39There is some yellow in here.
07:41Before Kevin finally sees his first gold.
07:45It's nice to have some confirmation, ain't it?
07:47We're about a month behind where we'd want it to be.
07:50We thought we'd already be sluicing by now, but delays, delays, breakdowns, breakdowns.
07:54So the faster we can get this pay out, the faster we can set the plant up and get run.
08:03Kevin's problems delay him hitting gold, but he eventually clocks a first gold weigh of 33 ounces,
08:11giving him two points in the first round.
08:16Delays are something our last rookie mine boss can't afford when he starts his new mine from scratch.
08:24This year is different.
08:25I'm the boss.
08:26It's 100% my operation.
08:28By the end of this year, I'll either be broke or I'll have my own successful gold mining operation
08:33and a pile of gold.
08:34Rick Ness came through the ranks at Parker Schnabel's operation and in 2018 decides to put his own money
08:44on the line and go it alone.
08:46I've never had this much responsibility before.
08:49I've never put, you know, my own money on the line like this.
08:52And now, you know, my crew is going to be depending on me.
08:55There's just a lot riding on my shoulders.
08:58Rick matches Kevin's ambition of a 1,000-ounce season gold, but goes even bigger,
09:11planning to open up a monster six-acre cut.
09:16Hoping to hit gold in 10 days, he goes all in, hiring a 475,
09:23the biggest dozer in the Klondike for $100,000.
09:28I've got this 475 for 10 days max.
09:30That's all I can afford really to have it running.
09:33Could be sunk before I even get started.
09:40You know, I need to know what's in the ground now.
09:42I need to know if it's worth it.
09:48That's pay dirt right there, right there for sure.
09:51Oh, yeah, there we go.
10:06Guys, you're not going to believe this, but I actually got a thawed hole down here,
10:09down to bedrock, into the pay gravel.
10:12So I'm going to do a pan.
10:12You guys should come check it out.
10:14We're really going to see if we've got gold here or not.
10:21All right, man, this is it.
10:22I haven't even seen anybody pan gold in my life.
10:26There is gold in here.
10:38Whoa!
10:38All right.
10:39I'd say there's probably a dozen colors in here.
10:41If you think now, the size of this pan, how many pans there are in here.
10:48Eh?
10:49That's all we need to see.
10:50That's all we need to see.
10:51It's real.
10:52It's real, dude.
10:53It's real now, right?
10:54That's our freedom right in there.
10:56But the only way we're going to get it is if we get back to work.
10:57Let's go get it.
10:58A million dollars, boys.
10:59Let's go, Dan.
11:00Let's go.
11:04In 10 days, Rick's dozer gamble delivers his first flakes of gold,
11:09later leading to a first gold wave of 30 ounces.
11:13Yeah.
11:14That's mine.
11:19Rick's master plan gets him on gold fast and sets him up for the rest of the season,
11:26giving him the full five points.
11:29At the end of the first round, Kevin's bottom of the pile.
11:34Parker is second, and Rick bulldozers his way to the top.
11:40Coming up.
11:40We've got water, so I'll go feed the plant.
11:43The rookie's first wash plants are put to the test.
11:46About time.
11:48Shut up, shut up, shut up.
11:49It's a broadcast.
11:56In the rookie mind boss face-off.
11:59I must be doing something right.
12:00Three freshman mind bosses are going head-to-head.
12:04Could be sunk before I even get started.
12:07After scoring points for hitting their first gold, Rick is in the lead.
12:14Next up.
12:15We've got to get sluicing, we've got bills to pay.
12:18The heart of their operations are put to the test.
12:21How they set them up, fire them up, and keep sluicing in the wash plant round.
12:30Set up and fire up is no problem for Parker Schnabel, whose inherited plant is ready to sluice straight off the bat.
12:38We're definitely making money.
12:40We're on a roll.
12:42Hopefully we can keep it up.
12:43It's going pretty good.
12:44I'm feeling positive.
12:46But the young boss hits trouble when he strikes bad ground.
12:51Pretty poor.
12:54We need more than a few flakes.
12:56And decides to up the ante and push his old plant to its limits.
13:00I'm going so fast because I need to feed the plant, because we're running 10 hours today.
13:06This is my fourth load in what, 20 minutes?
13:10Just 30 minutes into his 10-hour shift,
13:18the plant grinds to a halt.
13:21His generator's regulator has failed.
13:29There's nothing I can do up here, really.
13:30I could talk to my grandpa.
13:34We shut down, huh?
13:36I guess we stopped.
13:40We had this problem about 10 years ago.
13:43Okay.
13:46With his grandpa's help, Parker gets a new regulator
13:49and is back on the gold.
13:53In about 20 minutes, we'll start getting a little more confident.
13:58And about an hour after that, we'll be pretty sure we fixed it.
14:04But it's not long before the relic is down again.
14:14Hey!
14:14This whole bearing is gone.
14:19This is really not something that we need right now.
14:22So that's a pain in the ass.
14:24We're going to fix this as fast as we can.
14:27As his crew get to work removing the broken bearing that spins the trommel,
14:33Parker has an eight-hour round trip to source a replacement.
14:37The plant hasn't been running, and we're losing money hand over fist.
14:44She's there.
14:45If it's straight, that's perfect.
14:48All right.
14:49Good job.
14:58Looks good.
14:59At least there's still hope.
15:04Sometimes, like my grandpa says, all you have is hope.
15:10Parker's ancient plant gets him sluicing early, but his decision to push it to the limit
15:16sets him back more than once, giving him three points.
15:21The next boss, Kevin Beetz, hatches a plan to make the perfect wash plant setup.
15:29Yeah.
15:29Look at that.
15:30Now we're almost at the actual getting gold part of gold mining.
15:33About time.
15:34By spending time and cold, hard cash.
15:39We want to do it once and do it right and just be done with it.
15:43So that's how we're going to run it.
15:45Kevin blows his life savings on a new $700,000 shaker deck and splashes another
15:53hundred grand on a gas-powered generator to run the plant.
15:58Spent a lot of money already.
16:00Got ahead of 1,000 ounces to get some of those costs back.
16:04Hopefully, we can hit it.
16:06Kevin takes two weeks to build a 400-foot-long mega pad.
16:10What a good day to see this on the pad.
16:13Delightful.
16:14And a further six days tinkering to dial in the plant.
16:18Kevin, he's always been a bit of a procrastinator.
16:21He's got to get his together and hurry the up a little bit.
16:24Then it starts loosing.
16:25Eventually, nearly halfway through his first season as a mine boss.
16:30The slide horizontally.
16:32Little bit, little bit.
16:34He's finally ready to fire up.
16:37I really, really, really hope it goes well after all the nights and days running into this.
16:41So my fingers are crossed.
16:43My toes are crossed.
16:44If I could, I'd cross my tongue.
16:45All right, I'm going to open her up.
16:58There we go.
16:59Let that be gold.
17:02Woo!
17:03Yeah!
17:07That's looking really nice, Kev.
17:09I'm so excited, bud.
17:10Yes, finally!
17:12I'm currently got a real leaf.
17:16Give you a hug for this one.
17:18Nice work.
17:18Keep it going.
17:20Spending so much time making sure that everything's going to run before we put actual pay through the
17:24plant.
17:24It's a lot more work, but we are going to save time down the line.
17:28Kevin's patience and big investment pays off, setting him up to sluice almost non-stop,
17:36giving him the full five points.
17:40A perfect score that Rick Ness could match with his own wash plant master plan.
17:46Ruby, we got a wash plant.
17:47I've always had some input as far as how we set our wash plants up when I was with Parker,
17:54but ultimately he had the final say, and now this year it's 100% my call.
18:01Now it's time to get some gold.
18:03After spending big on opening up his first cut, Rick drops his last $180,000
18:10on the wash plant of his dreams.
18:12Oh, yes!
18:14Look at that beast.
18:16I christen thee Dirt Reynolds.
18:21But unlike Kevin, Rick has an ingenious plan to get it set up and fired up fast.
18:28I'm unloading giant Legos.
18:31So I've ordered up a bunch of concrete blocks.
18:34I'm going to build a bit of a retaining wall for my plant to sit on.
18:37It should actually be a cleaner setup and less likely to undermine itself.
18:41I need to get the wash plant up and running and every minute counts.
18:44Rick takes just four hours to complete the pad and hauls in the 20-ton wash plant.
18:51Talk about right on the edge.
18:57Does it worry you that it's hanging off the edge?
18:59No.
19:03Now we're getting somewhere.
19:09All right, I'm going to start this thing.
19:10Fire it up.
19:16There it is.
19:20All right, I'm going to put a bucket of dirt in.
19:2110 more.
19:2210 more.
19:23Yeah, we're feeding the plant.
19:24This is a pretty big deal.
19:29Yay, people are smiling.
19:33Completely what?
19:35Where's all that water come from?
19:37Carla, hit the bypass.
19:38Shut the fuck off, hit the bypass.
19:43Shut it off, shut it off, shut it off, shut it off.
19:45Hit the bypass!
19:47Turnbuckles gave way.
19:54Where's Rick?
19:56Oh, I'm going to need a minute.
20:12Sluice boxes fell off.
20:16Water almost took out the pad enough to dump the plant off the pad.
20:22And I expected growing pains, but this is outrageous.
20:25After his disastrous first ever fire up as a mind boss,
20:29Rick calls the only man who can save his setup.
20:33How's it going, Rick?
20:34Freddie, man.
20:34I'm glad to see you, buddy.
20:36Holy .
20:37You've been too long.
20:39Man, I don't mind telling you, right off the bat,
20:41I'm in a bad way here.
20:43What do you think?
20:44I think you bought somebody else's nightmare, Rick.
20:49Freddie Dodge replaces the 10-foot sluice box
20:52that fell off Rick's plant with fabricated 30-foot-long gold catchers.
20:59Easy, Rick.
21:03Easy.
21:06Perfect right there, Rick.
21:08That's all I need, man.
21:10That's a huge relief for me.
21:12And mounts them on an extended pad to secure them in place.
21:21Yee-haw!
21:23Feed the beast.
21:29Sluice box fell in place.
21:30That's a good sign.
21:31It's running.
21:31Rick's wash plant finally gets running, but he's weeks behind schedule.
21:40And he's nearly ruined his season, earning him just one point.
21:46Halfway through the rookie mind boss face-off, Rick drops to last.
21:52And Kevin's perfect setup draws in neck and neck with Parker in first place.
21:57My dad was right. I'm going to go home at the end of the season broke with no friends.
22:02Coming up.
22:03I don't care if you guys hate my guts.
22:05Right.
22:06I need a little respect.
22:07Can Rick stage a comeback, competing in leadership skills?
22:11Right!
22:11And final gold ways.
22:16We haven't had that much gold in the pan all summer.
22:24In the freshman mind boss head to head...
22:26Now the race is really on.
22:28Now it's time to get serious.
22:29The rookies have raced to bank their first gold, fired up their first wash plants,
22:36and banked points on the rookie mind boss leaderboard.
22:40At the halfway stage, Kevin and Parker tie for pole position, as we head into the third round.
22:49One of the biggest challenges for any rookie mind boss is stepping up to lead their crew.
22:55Let's go.
22:55And dealing with any problems they hit.
23:00Round three is a test of leadership.
23:04Kevin Beats decides to divide responsibilities on his claim.
23:09Go move some dirt brooks.
23:11Roger that boss.
23:13He delegates running the cut to his new foreman, master dirt mover Brennan.
23:19Brennan is going to be a great asset to the operation.
23:22You know, I want to get as much gold as possible by the time the snow starts flying.
23:26While Kevin...
23:27Oh, you mother trucker.
23:30...focuses on keeping the operation and machinery running.
23:33I'll fix this thing so we can run, fix that thing so we can run.
23:38After four months of working together, the plant chews through the last of their first
23:44three-acre cut, and Brennan gets to work opening up more ground.
23:48It needs to happen super fast because that pile is getting chewed down so quickly.
23:54It's actually getting scary.
24:04Hey buddy, I'm stuck down here in the cut.
24:08Water from Kevin's sluice pond next door is flooding Brennan's new cut.
24:14I think I might try and nudge you backwards.
24:25Thanks Brennan, you're the man.
24:29I'm going to need to get another pump in here immediately.
24:31We have no extra pumps.
24:33Brennan looks to Kevin for a solution.
24:41Hey, Brennan.
24:43I can't dig pay down here, dude.
24:45I've been needing another pump for like a week now.
24:47I know.
24:48We just got to do a clean up with you to pay for the thing.
24:54Can we get another pump from Tony?
24:57I'm not going to ask Tony until I have to.
24:58I fixed enough of Tony .
25:01I'm just really struggling down here, man.
25:03I'm just getting frustrated as .
25:05If that PayPal runs out, that shuts off.
25:07We don't have any money coming in.
25:08And I feel like that's on my shoulders.
25:11Like, what do you want me to do here?
25:12I need a pump.
25:14I don't want to say, like, we don't have the cash right now.
25:18You don't got a pump.
25:19It's tough.
25:23Okay, well, I'm going to...
25:25I don't know what else to say here.
25:33Uh, hey, Brennan.
25:35Get that out of my face for a while.
25:41You need a pump.
25:44You need a pump.
25:46Weird.
25:46You .
25:47He's going.
25:49With Kevin failing to deliver, Brennan takes matters into his own hands.
25:55What we have here is a pump that I went and purchased.
26:00And, uh, hopefully she just starts pumping immediately.
26:10Oh, there we go.
26:12Yay!
26:13In 12 hours, Brennan's $11,000 pump drains the cut and bails Kevin out of trouble.
26:22That's a very nice little pump.
26:24Brennan went off and bumped.
26:26Hopefully, Kevin kind of finds his footing here and gets into that mind boss role a little bit more.
26:31Kevin's lack of leadership almost brings his whole operation to a standstill, scoring him just one point.
26:44A low score that could give Parker the chance to pull ahead.
26:47I don't care if you guys hate my guts.
26:50Right.
26:50I need a little respect.
26:51But the teenager has leadership problems of his own.
26:55You can run the excavator and Gary, you can run the truck.
26:58Parker has taken on his grandpa's veteran crew, some triple his age, and struggles to gain their respect.
27:06I guess that's a no.
27:07It makes me not feel like the boss.
27:11Things don't improve when the teenager tries to stamp his authority.
27:16What are you doing?
27:16I'm coming back.
27:18I want to coordinate for your grandfather.
27:20My grandpa's not in charge here.
27:22I don't care.
27:23Stop a minute.
27:24No, I ain't stopping.
27:25You don't give me orders.
27:27Why not?
27:28Because you don't.
27:29You ask.
27:30You don't order somebody.
27:31You ask.
27:32Have some respect for people.
27:33I think you should show me a little respect.
27:35You told me to go haul dirt.
27:37Is that how you treat somebody?
27:38Hey, you don't tell me how to do mine.
27:40I did not.
27:41I have not told you how to do your job one time this whole year.
27:46I have not told you one time.
27:49Not once.
27:53You are approaching this man in the wrong way.
27:58We're up here to make money, and we're up here to run the plant.
28:02You won't make money if you chase the hellhole.
28:09Parker is still battling to gain the crew's respect when disaster strikes.
28:14This isn't going to do me any good.
28:18This is going to be fun.
28:20Mining authorities threaten to shut him down for good.
28:24The mine needed to be regulated by the federal government, and it had been operating
28:29without that regulation for the 23 years.
28:34Of course it's my fault.
28:36I'm in charge.
28:36The crew look to Parker to save their season.
28:42So this should have a knee board.
28:43Yeah.
28:43Parker hires a specialist to train him in mine safety, brings his sight up to code,
28:50and within just 24 hours has the inspector back for a make-or-break verdict.
28:57Will you be able to terminate the stop work order?
29:00Yes.
29:01Today?
29:02Mm-hmm.
29:03We're good to go.
29:03Yes.
29:04Okay.
29:05Thank you for your time.
29:06We made it.
29:10It's over.
29:10All right.
29:14Let's go, boys.
29:17I was going to wait until later to run the plant, but I figured we just needed to start
29:20getting some dirt moved.
29:22Parker's leadership takes his crew from shutdown.
29:25We haven't had that much gold in the pan in all summer.
29:28To one of the most productive days of their season.
29:31It is addictive.
29:32After you see the results of the gold come out of the material, it makes it all worth it.
29:37I think it makes us a good team.
29:41After his rough start, the teenager's hard work, with gold to show for it, finally proves to his crew he
29:50can be a leader, scoring him four points. Rick has years of experience leading crews as a foreman,
29:58before stepping up to be a mine boss. Terry, I'm going to put you in the excavator loading the trucks.
30:03I'm going to put you guys all in trucks. We'll get you in those machines, get you comfortable,
30:07and no pressure, but in about an hour, let's be cranking full tilt.
30:10And he gambles on hiring a crew of loyal, but inexperienced friends.
30:15Hey, water all over.
30:17That he aims to turn into a first-rate mining team.
30:21School of hard knocks, baby. Oh, we've got to learn a curve to get ahead of here.
30:25There's no doubt about that. I've been instructed we want to get the load as far over as we can.
30:32You're good. Go ahead and dump.
30:40Oh, boy.
30:40Ah!
30:41Holy .
30:48Ryan, you all right?
30:49As soon as I pulled away, it caved in.
30:51She's just going to whip this thing over.
30:56You're clear. Keep her. Keep going.
31:05All right, pull her out of there, Ryan. Don't hit that tailgate.
31:10Hey, can you guys all come over here real quick? Let's have a quick talk.
31:12Yo. What's up?
31:18Look, I love you guys. You've always had my back.
31:22I don't want to bitch at you, but man, we've got to tighten up, man.
31:26Ryan, I know you flipped a rock truck. If we keep doing, making those mistakes,
31:30I mean, it's going to kill us. Right?
31:32You got us. All right.
31:34All right, let's get back to it, buddy.
31:35All right.
31:36All right.
31:38After his near miss in a rock truck.
31:40It's going to take me a while to get the hang of doing this.
31:43Rick moves greenhorn Ryan to operating a loader, clearing the tailings at the plant.
31:49He's wandering out into the fine tailings in front of a plant. It's been way too long.
31:57Not even making a dip. Really getting sick of dealing with this. It's too much right now.
32:02I just hit the sluice box.
32:07this, man.
32:09I just hit the sluice box.
32:22this, man.
32:24In the clash of the rookie mind bosses,
32:31Rick Ness needs to step up and prove himself in the leadership room.
32:40What's up, Ryan?
32:41I'm just getting a little overwhelmed here.
32:43Greenhorn Ryan is struggling to keep up with the plant's mounting tailings.
32:49Maybe I'll swap out with you for a minute, see if I can find anything different to do or
32:53find a rhythm or something.
32:57Hopefully Rick can give me an idea how to keep ahead of everything.
33:01Figure something out to make this work.
33:04I mean, this is about as important as it gets.
33:06All of our gold is coming out of that wash plant.
33:08So you got to take care of it.
33:10You got to run it right.
33:12Rick shows Ryan a new method.
33:15Driving into the tailings, grabbing a scoop,
33:19and backing straight out instead of turning around.
33:23Cutting in half the time Ryan took.
33:26I think that's the trick.
33:28And I think that's probably where I'll make up my time.
33:30Woo!
33:32Loading the plant!
33:32Yeah!
33:33Woo!
33:33Woo!
33:40Sounds to me like you're having the time of your life up in here.
33:43Well, and you're moving them differently than I was.
33:47Yeah.
33:47And I can see where that's going to save time.
33:49You know what?
33:50I got us a little bit ahead here.
33:51I think I'll be okay.
33:53Yeah.
33:54I know you well, Ryan.
33:56Good luck, buddy.
33:59Rick leads his inexperienced crew by example,
34:03and begins to mold them into a working team,
34:06giving him the full five points.
34:09At the end of the leadership round, Kevin drops down the leaderboard,
34:15while Rick claws his way back to first alongside Parker.
34:21Heading into the final round, it's anyone's game,
34:25as the rookie bosses battle to the end of the season and try to hit their first-year gold targets.
34:33We're on our final big push to get to 1,000 ounces.
34:37With just days of sluicing left, Kevin is desperate to hit his 1,000-ounce gold.
34:44He hires new crew and pushes his plant to the limit.
34:48The push is on.
34:49So after everything that we've faced this year,
34:51I'd be pretty bummed out if we don't hit our 1,000-ounce target, you know?
34:54The belt that transports dirt from the upper feeder to the main conveyor belt
35:19has ripped in two, a potential season-ender.
35:23I don't know.
35:24She's .
35:25My rough battle plan is that we'll hook up with the 220, use that to yard it out.
35:34Okay.
35:34Then pick it up with the 480 to pull it all the way out,
35:38and then we can swing and set it down on that side.
35:40Refusing to give up, Kevin races to replace the entire belt before winter strikes.
35:47I'm going to hook up our four-point sling to the frame of this conveyor,
35:52and then hopefully he can take the weight.
35:54And Brennan, you can see what you're doing to pull it out?
36:04Sure.
36:06Yeah, I barely touched the joysticks.
36:07I let them go, and it kept sliding.
36:09So sorry about that.
36:10Yay.
36:13Beautiful.
36:16There we go.
36:20We're just sliding the belt up.
36:27Oh, oh, oh.
36:32Golden pony boy.
36:35Say, that's a success right there.
36:36I'm going to give it a push.
36:41Ah!
36:43Woo!
36:44Smooth like butter.
36:47Atta boy, boss!
36:49All right.
36:50Eat some cake.
36:53That went really well.
36:54So we'll get back running.
36:56I'll run hard till we get snowed out.
37:00Got a thousand ounces somehow.
37:01Yeah.
37:03Four days later.
37:05Hi, guys.
37:07So everybody's bringing in gold.
37:09Kevin's final gold is cleaned and ready to weigh.
37:13Let's see what we got.
37:14I'm very curious to see what you guys got out of there.
37:16We ain't pretty high.
37:18That's why we needed to break even.
37:21Kevin has three weeks worth of sluicing to weigh.
37:25He needs 320 ounces to hit his 1,000-ounce goal.
37:31Let's pull it, guys.
37:3210, 20, 40, 50, 80, 90, 180, 190, 200, 250, 260, 360, 370, 375.80.
37:46Oh, my .
37:48Such a relief.
37:49I can finally pay everyone off.
37:50All right.
37:51How much does that make, right?
37:531,056.57.
37:56So that's pretty damn nice.
37:58For your first year, Kevin, it's a lot better than most of them do.
38:03And then come just by ourselves.
38:05Like, you guys have to help us out.
38:06That's a great deal.
38:07You know, everybody needs a little bit of boost.
38:10Everybody needs a little bit of help here and there.
38:12Thanks to his final push, Kevin passes his make-or-break rookie mind boss goal,
38:22giving him five points in the final round, pushing him into a late lead.
38:29But the rookie mind boss race is far from over.
38:33Parker and Rick still have to battle to the end and weigh their gold to lock in their final points.
38:40It's not over yet.
38:45Can a guy risk it all in America anymore?
38:48On the hunt for gold rush's best-ever rookie mind boss, some new bosses.
38:53Whoa.
38:54Whoa.
38:55That's gold.
38:56It's a rock, okay?
38:57False alarm.
38:58Just didn't make the cut.
39:00Here it is.
39:01There's 14.64 ounces here.
39:05My guys are like, they think I've been gold mining my whole life or something.
39:08Todd Hoffman is only beaten to rock bottom by Fred Lewis.
39:14That puts our total at 6.39, which is honestly embarrassing.
39:25I think we kind of take it as a challenge to beat each other.
39:29It's crunch time in the rookie mind boss competition.
39:33Right now the name of the game is gold.
39:34With points up for grabs, the bosses are making a final push to hit their first year gold targets.
39:43After success at his final gold way, Kevin is in the lead.
39:48Next up, Parker.
39:52His first year goal is to keep the family mine afloat by banking 75 ounces.
40:0033 ounces.
40:04It looks like a lot of gold, but we spent a lot of money to get it.
40:08Parker's flunked his freshman year as a mine boss.
40:14Pretty sad, pretty sad day.
40:18But isn't giving up on his goal of keeping the family mine in business.
40:23What we'll do is knock this hill out.
40:25Take that slope at this slope all the way on down to the bank.
40:31Smith Creek, it's kind of an all or nothing deal for the whole mine.
40:35Parker decides to run tests on Smith Creek,
40:38the only virgin ground at Big Nugget in the hope it will deliver enough gold to convince his dad
40:46and grandpa to fund his dream of another season mining.
40:52I'm nervous.
40:53This is the last test.
40:55This afternoon, I'm going to talk to my dad and grandpa about Smith Creek.
40:59And you know, if there's nothing in this dirt, I don't know what the mine will do.
41:04I'm scared.
41:13I'm scared.
41:26Done.
41:27Beautiful.
41:28We don't see a thing yet.
41:32It doesn't look like there's anything in it.
41:38There's a little bit.
41:38Oh, there's quite a bit in here.
41:40There's a little sluice that's fed out of the jig.
41:55Wow.
42:02There's quite a bit in here.
42:04Gary.
42:05That's.
42:06Wow.
42:07See, that's like not bad at all.
42:10That's not bad at all.
42:17This is what we got off the pan this morning.
42:19Hmm.
42:20Had done much with it.
42:22And then I went down below the jig and that's what we got out of the little sluice.
42:28That's pretty nice.
42:29That's what you dug out of the hole?
42:32Yeah, a 45 minute test out of Smith Creek.
42:35That's really encouraging.
42:37Smith Creek will have bigger gold than that.
42:40Are you saying you want to fund the mine next year?
42:44I'm willing to give it a try.
42:47I'll fund it for 50% of the gold we get out of it.
42:52I'll take it.
42:53I come out here and give it everything I've got.
42:58I feel like I've done my job.
43:02Parker banks just half of his gold, but convinces his grandpa to give him another shot,
43:10earning him three points, enough to edge him to the top of the leaderboard.
43:15Parker's dropped points give Rick Ness a chance to snatch victory.
43:22We're so close to our target.
43:24I just don't know what to do anymore.
43:25I mean, we've exhausted all the fog ground.
43:28But with just days of sluicing left, Rick faces catastrophe.
43:33He's run out of pay dirt and is shut down 27 ounces short of his 1,000 ounce gold.
43:41To find a solution, Rick calls in his dad, Rick Sr.
43:46Where that pile of overburden is, that's where the bedrock came up.
43:50And that's where all the best drill holes were.
43:52And it is where we did our best gold.
43:55You're up against time.
43:56So I guess what's the best option for what we got left in time?
44:01Yeah, it, let's do it.
44:02I'll jump on that D9 and give it my best shot.
44:04Rick's last gasp gamble is to open a small extension
44:10to his mind out cut.
44:12But it's frozen and needs to be ripped to get to the pay dirt.
44:17All he's got is a small D9 dozer.
44:22We don't have enough time left here to do much, but we got to give it.
44:25Rick promised me he was going to do the 1,000 ounces.
44:27Oh, that ain't good.
44:38It's overheating really bad.
44:41The radiator's got a hole in it somewhere.
44:42The bed or what?
44:44You see where it pissed it all out on the blade right there?
44:47Yeah.
44:48The D9's radiator has blown, putting it down for the season.
44:52What I was thinking was, you know, I don't know.
44:54I mean, we use Seamus's 475 for the small area we're trying to get here.
44:58I think that machine would do it.
45:00We got to make the decision, I guess.
45:02I mean, that's up to you what you want to do.
45:03Yeah.
45:04I don't really want to pay $6,000 for that 475.
45:08You got to spend money to make money.
45:09Rick's only option is to up the ante and rent the monster 475 dozer he used at the start of the season.
45:18Oh, that's really obvious, the difference. Just the sheer power of it.
45:23So I'm going to lay down some rips here.
45:24It's going to take me probably about an hour to get this thing ripped up,
45:27and then we'll push it all off again.
45:32Terry, you want to get yourself and the trucks down here?
45:34All right, buddy.
45:36Within three hours, the cut is ripped.
45:38This is it, guys.
45:41This is our roll of the dice.
45:45Peter pulled to the plan.
45:47Let's fire up dirt rentals.
45:49And desperate for gold, Rick starts sluicing.
45:54I want to make sure we get all the dirt run through the plant.
45:56Peter's still frozen and full of chunks, but we don't even give a .
45:59We're going to run it anyways.
46:02Three days later, Rick's managed to sluice his Hail Mary cut
46:07and is ready for his final gold way.
46:09Oh, yeah.
46:12About time, Rick.
46:13Can you believe it's been six months?
46:15So, Carla, where did we end up with on the last gold weight?
46:18We're at 973.
46:20Rick needs 27 ounces to hit his 1,000-ounce gold.
46:25Might be in that jar.
46:27I think it's time to find out.
46:28That's 20.
46:34Looking good.
46:36Yeah.
46:38Those are 27 ounces.
46:43There's another .
46:44The final gold weight, 132.49 ounces.
46:53You know what that means?
46:54We're over 1,100.
46:55Nice.
46:561,105.
46:57Blue by it.
46:58Yeah!
46:59That's awesome.
47:01Yeah!
47:02Are you glad we stuck around now?
47:04Yeah!
47:05Woo!
47:06That's awesome!
47:07Yeah!
47:07Yeah!
47:08Yeah!
47:09Yeah!
47:09Woo!
47:09Woo!
47:15Rick blasts past his season goal
47:18by over 100 ounces, giving him the max five points.
47:23At the end of the rookie mind-boss showdown, there's only one winner.
47:31Ray!
47:33Rick Ness is crowned the best first-year mind-boss.
47:37Yeah, Rick!
47:38Yeah!
47:39Woo!
47:43You guys are lunatics.
47:45There were so many reasons for that first season to cause me to lose everything,
47:50but that didn't happen.
47:52I'm on such a high, like, you know, the first season on my own was a success.
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