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Gold Rush - Season 16 Episode 103 - Special How To Get Rich Mining
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00:00Over 15 years, the miners of Gold Rush have discovered gold all over the world.
00:10There's some gold right there.
00:12Now, on the ultimate guide to where to find gold.
00:17In we go.
00:18Every gold miner's looking for stuff like this.
00:21Oh my God.
00:23The miners follow a trail from the Earth's core.
00:27I think the gold's over there.
00:34To the ocean floor.
00:39From Papua New Guinea's fiery volcanoes.
00:43To the alluvial plains of the Klondike.
00:47We reveal where the gold is.
00:50Well, let's see what we're going to find down here.
00:53Boom! Look at that.
00:55How it got there.
00:56Telling you, Dustin, that's where the gold's at.
00:59And how to find it.
01:01People search their whole life for this.
01:13Fire it up.
01:14Here we go.
01:22In the Yukon, for six short months, the hunt for gold is a frenzy to strike it rich.
01:30Let's get that gold!
01:31But this rare, precious metal has been mined for over 6,000 years.
01:39Have a look at the size of that, mate.
01:41Jeez.
01:42And in that time, more than 170,000 tons has been discovered.
01:49Yee-haw!
01:50It's the backbone of the world's economy and is used in nearly every piece of modern technology.
01:58But its journey to your phone began billions of years ago.
02:06The Earth's gold formed when a gigantic star exploded.
02:11Four and a half billion years ago, dust and debris of the dead star combined together to form the Earth with molten minerals, iron and gold at its core.
02:24This hot liquid is known as magma.
02:30When molten magma is ejected through volcanoes, it cools and hardens into veins of quartz and gold, known as motherlodes.
02:41These are the source of gold and are found worldwide.
02:45Over time, glaciers, rain, and rivers erode these veins, carrying gold down the mountains and into valleys below, depositing it as it travels, until rivers finally carry any remaining gold out to sea.
03:06Hey, let's get some gold!
03:08There's still an estimated 50,000 tons left to be found, but the hunt to find it is anything but easy.
03:27Wow!
03:28All right, well, shall we go hike a volcano?
03:30In 2019, Parker Schnabel goes looking for gold at its source on the slopes of an active volcano, Mount Tverver, in Papua, New Guinea.
03:43Yeah, it's good to figure out what's going on around here.
03:45Basically looking for any excuse for climbing an active volcano.
03:48Oh, yeah.
03:51Every year, this remote island nation produces over $2.6 billion worth of gold.
04:00Holy cow!
04:04Holy cow!
04:06Look at that!
04:07This is awesome!
04:10I hope you've got your, like, learning cap on.
04:15Papua New Guinea is located in a region known as the Ring of Fire and has more than 60 volcanoes, the most in the southwest Pacific.
04:26it. When tectonic plates covering the Earth's surface collide, earthquakes force mineral-rich
04:35magma up through the Earth's crust. The magma crystallizes, becoming a silica-rich fluid
04:44that pushes through cracks and forms veins of quartz and gold. Mining these is known
04:51as hard rock mining. Three years later, still searching for a motherlode, Parker and his
05:05team travel to the other side of the Ring of Fire, to La Rinconada in Peru. Located over
05:1516,700 feet above sea level, this remote mining town produces almost 80,000 ounces of gold
05:24a year, worth more than $260 million.
05:34Hola, que tal? Buenos dias.
05:36Oh, are we here?
05:38It's definitely something out of another world. All right, here we go.
05:51Tunnel shafts are dug a mile into the mountain, where the crews search for the motherlode veins.
05:57The idea is to detonate this one.
06:16To remove a five-foot square area of gold-rich ore. The crew drill a network of twelve holes,
06:24four feet into the rock. Each hole is then filled with 190 pounds of dynamite.
06:37Carguenlo, por favor, maestro.
06:38Now we're going to load the hole.
06:40We're going to blow it up.
06:41Yeah. And when you push, you have to be very careful.
06:45El primero error es el último error.
06:47Yeah, your first mistake is your last mistake.
06:51Boom.
06:52Three minutes to get out of the front door?
06:56Yeah.
06:59You ready, Dan?
07:00I'm ready, man.
07:03This seems so wrong with the lighter.
07:05Listo.
07:06Fuego, fuego.
07:07What the ?
07:08Vamos, vamos, vamos.
07:09Let's go.
07:10Vamos, vamos, vamos.
07:11Fuego, fuego.
07:13Oh, my God.
07:15That was not that long. We literally just got here. That does not feel like it's a very long way away.
07:32Once all twelve explosions detonate, the crew retrieve the blasted ore.
07:47This is like the veins that they're looking for. That's what they'll take and crush up and get gold out of.
07:54There it is. Let's have a look.
07:56One there and one there.
07:59Very cool. Awesome.
08:02Because you are new to this mine, you need to carry your ore.
08:09That was gold, dude.
08:14After the ore is crushed and processed, the crew are left with pure gold.
08:21Oh, look. Whoa.
08:25I'm not sure I could do it as a business, but, like, that was an experience like none other.
08:31Almost 17,000 feet, unventilated mine site, all by hand.
08:36Yeah, I think the most hardcore people we've ever met.
08:39Yeah, I reckon.
08:44Still to come.
08:45The claim starts right here.
08:48The crew find gold as it journeys away from the mother load.
08:53The big gold that we're looking for is going to be up one of these tributaries.
08:58That's it!
08:59What?
09:00I got some gold!
09:07Holy cow.
09:09On this guide to finding gold, we've followed its journey from the Earth's core to quartz veins,
09:17deep inside mountains.
09:20Your first mistake is your last mistake.
09:22Boom.
09:23If miners can't access the gold-rich veins,
09:28they must follow gold's journey as it travels away from the mother load.
09:34And the closer you are to the source, the richer the ground should be.
09:40Tell me again where we're going.
09:41A place called Keno City.
09:42In 2018, Rick Ness searches for a fortune in gold, high up in the Yukon Mountains.
09:47I did okay last year, and it was all right.
09:48And, like, that's just not good enough, you know what I mean?
09:49Like, I want something better than okay.
09:50He's on the hunt for the region's legendary big nuggets.
09:53Howdy, fellas.
09:54Howdy, fellas.
09:55Hi there.
09:56Interesting place you got here.
09:59It's beautiful, that's for sure.
10:01Yeah.
10:02It's beautiful, that's for sure.
10:03Yeah.
10:04The claims on Rick's potential new miles,
10:08and it's just not good enough, you know what I mean?
10:11Like, I want something better than okay.
10:14He's on the hunt for the region's legendary big nuggets.
10:20Howdy, fellas.
10:21Hi there.
10:22Interesting place you got here.
10:25It's beautiful, that's for sure.
10:28Yeah.
10:29The claims on Rick's potential new mine site lay close to a massive mother load.
10:35Well, basically, Mount Hinton is the mountain at the very tops of our claims.
10:40Yeah.
10:41And it's a known gold source for this entire area.
10:45Hundreds of thousands of years ago, a giant glacier eroded Mount Hinton's exposed gold veins,
10:54plucking up debris and large gold nuggets.
10:57The ice sheet bulldozed down the mountain, carrying the gold with it.
11:06When the ice melted, it deposited pockets of coarse gold in the valley below.
11:12Wow.
11:13Holy .
11:14No way.
11:15What the hell?
11:16Holy .
11:17Any geologist will tell you by looking at some of that, that we're not very far from the source.
11:29Some of it might not have moved 50 feet.
11:31Each of these nuggets is worth upwards of $20,000.
11:36This is just part of our collection.
11:39They're probably twice as good when you get down there.
11:41No, that's...
11:42That's...
11:43That's...
11:44That's...
11:45I wasn't expecting this type of...
11:46I wasn't either.
11:47It's like finding that in a sluice box like that'll drive a guy nuts.
11:50So, now that you've got my interest.
11:51Let's find some nuggets!
11:57In the hopes of catching Mount Hinton's nuggets, Rick sets up what's called a placer mining operation.
12:05Let's go!
12:08Woo!
12:09First, he must dig out the glacial deposit of gold-bearing dirt.
12:14We're making money.
12:18We are making money.
12:20Then, use a wash plant and water to separate the heavier gold from the waste dirt.
12:27I'm a little bit happy.
12:30Let's shut her down.
12:39What do you think?
12:44It looks really good.
12:46Oh.
12:47My.
12:48God.
12:49Look at this.
12:50It's sitting this loose.
12:51Holy , dude.
12:53I can't believe that, dude!
12:55Wow!
12:56Look at...
12:57That's the heaviest nugget I've ever felt.
12:59People search their whole life for this type of material.
13:03Big smile on your face.
13:04No.
13:05You don't even know.
13:06You don't even...
13:07This is like...
13:08What dreams are men of?
13:09What?
13:10I know!
13:11Holy , yeah!
13:14Christmas came early.
13:16That's like an ounce right there.
13:18That's a beauty.
13:19Like, that's worth some serious money.
13:22This here is one of the reasons I'm here.
13:24It's coming from right there.
13:26Mount Hinton.
13:27That's the source of all this big gold.
13:30As far as I know, that's bigger than anything Parker or Tony has pulled out of the ground.
13:35I'm here to hunt for these, and that's the first of many.
13:38The awesome power of glaciers played a crucial role in the distribution of gold across the legendary Yukon territories and beyond.
13:57Boulders are freaking huge.
14:08In 2016, the Huffman crew are trying to find their own glacial deposits of gold in Colorado's Rocky Mountains.
14:18I've never begun to see boulders this size.
14:21The Huffman's claim is littered with huge boulders.
14:25And I've got one down here that's even bigger than that.
14:32Big rocks can mean bigger and more gold.
14:37It's a good sign.
14:38But at the same time, those big-ass rocks slow us way down.
14:48Thousands of years ago, a massive glacier deposited these monster boulders and gold-rich dirt across the claim.
14:57Then, meltwater washed down dirt and gold, leaving behind valuable pockets of gold under the boulders.
15:10Come on. Come on.
15:16Before they can get to the gold, the crew have to clear the boulders.
15:22Whoa! Look out!
15:37Oh.
15:39Well, at this point, Todd, I am frustrated with this.
15:41I cannot get these boulders out.
15:43What do you want to do, Freddy? I mean...
15:48Fireworks. Make big rocks into small rocks.
15:51Yeah. Let's frickin' blow them up.
15:59Freddy calls in master blaster, Mark Mayer.
16:04I love my job.
16:06Where else in the world do you get to go blow things up on somebody else's property, make a mess, and let them clean it up?
16:14To blast a 20,000-pound boulder, Mark will use a stick and a half of dynamite.
16:22The energy equivalent of this is on the order of about 100 million horsepower.
16:29Finish her up with sand. That'll do.
16:33Let's get out of here.
16:38The detonator box is wired and ready to fire.
16:4210, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
16:55Blasting.
16:56Fire in the hole.
16:5710, 9.
16:58In the playbook on where to find gold, the Huffmans are chasing glacial gold deposits trapped under monster boulders.
17:12Fire in the hole.
17:22Bye-bye boulders.
17:23You gotta love blasting.
17:25Mark, kick ass, man.
17:29Look at that.
17:30No more big boulders.
17:32That'll work. That I can move.
17:34Good job, Mark.
17:35Mark's pleasure.
17:37Bring it in.
17:38Andy, get the excavator. Let's go.
17:43That's all I needed, just a little bit of help.
17:47Because it is loaded with gold.
17:52The pockets of gold found underneath the glacial boulders deliver the Huffmans their best haul of the season.
18:01105.2.
18:04Proving that big boulders really can mean big gold.
18:09That's a hell of a lot of gold in a short period of time.
18:11This is just fantastic.
18:13I love it.
18:19Glaciers are nature's conveyors, slowly moving gold from the mother lode down the mountain.
18:27But when these enormous bodies of ice melt, they turn into fast-flowing creeks that can rapidly carry gold on the next leg of its journey.
18:38She's angry today.
18:39It's not safe out here.
18:40We're in a danger zone.
18:41Raging whitewater creeks are some of the most inaccessible and dangerous places to hunt for gold in the world.
18:55Holy cow!
18:56And it takes a special breed of miner to take them on.
19:02Oh, ah!
19:03This is dangerous!
19:04Oh!
19:05Oh!
19:06Oh!
19:07Oh!
19:08Oh!
19:09Oh!
19:10Oh!
19:11Oh!
19:12Oh!
19:13Oh!
19:14Oh!
19:15Oh!
19:16Oh!
19:17Oh!
19:18at right now they're over the top of the mountains zero access middle of nowhere
19:22it's pretty steep yeah it does look steep but told there's good gold in it daredevil gold miner
19:31dustin hurt is searching for gold in the nugget rich creeks of alaska's chill cat mountains
19:39what do you think there's a lot of exposed water once you get out of that canyon so it's workable
19:49gold has been brought down these mountains by slow moving glaciers these then melt
19:56forming fast-flowing creeks that can erode even more gold from exposed motherlode veins
20:05rapidly carrying it downstream and depositing it in plunge pools at the bottom of waterfalls
20:12big gold nuggets can be found sitting on the surface or just below the river bed now here's the deal
20:20you're gonna dredge all right gonna find gold dredge find gold all right guys going in the water
20:36diver carlos menor must brave the white water using a hose to suck up pay dirt sending it to a floating
20:45dredge where riffles in the sluice runs will catch the gold we just got to keep an eye on watch on that
20:53one rock right there i don't like that the more he comes into the weir the steeper the wall gets
21:00the more chance of some of these rocks falling in on top of him so if they move i'll get them out of
21:06the way we do not want to crush the divers
21:10that looks pretty good this is a little bit deeper spot
21:21getting a lot of material out for sure
21:30carlos get out of there
21:31what's up get him
21:39all right yeah you get clipped
21:44that was a close one dude good time to double down and check the box huh
21:53i'm just curious did he get all
21:55that's at least four ounces that's the biggest nugget in gold rush history right there
22:22prized for its rarity and collectability this 5.8 ounce nugget is worth more than its weight in gold
22:32valued at over 25 000
22:36holy stinking moly man you see the size of that nugget
22:40these remote mountain plunge pools may still hold thousands of ounces of undiscovered treasures
22:54but gold's journey doesn't stop there
22:58when gold bearing creeks discharge into rivers the gold moves further downstream spreading out into the
23:07valleys below no matter what has to happen down here i'm getting gold on indian river
23:15nowhere is there a better example of this than the legendary klondike in the northwest of canada
23:22here multiple ancient rivers converge to concentrate gold deposits creating one of the richest regions in
23:30in the world where placer crew like parker schnabel and tony beats recover thousands of ounces every year
23:39keep her going keep her going
23:44i'll take it
23:46thousands of years ago a river flowed through parker and tony's claims
23:51depositing ground down fine gold on the riverbed
23:54over time this was covered up by organic layers of dirt known as overburden trapping the gold below
24:10recovering tiny flakes of gold buried under thousands of tons of worthless dirt
24:15is no easy task and crew must read the ground for clues on where to find it
24:27at the rate we're going we will not make it we don't have the ground that's providing the amount of
24:33gold we need to reach our goal in 2013 a young parker is mining an ancient riverbed on scribner creek
24:43a tributary of the indian river but he's struggling to find good gold
24:53this ground we're on isn't quite doing what we need
24:59see the valley comes up this way and then it bends down makes a big turn in here you know we're mining
25:05up on the outside of the turn but heavy material is deposited on the inside of the turn
25:12we could have the best wash plant in the world but wash plant doesn't make gold
25:16good ground does when fast flowing water carrying gold hits the inside bend of a river
25:26it slows causing the heavy gold to sink and settle on the creek bed we're not very far away from where
25:35we're sluicing right now but you know that small of a distance can make a lot of difference in the gold
25:41to mine across the creek parker will have to abandon the ground he's worked all season
25:49it's a high-risk plan and he needs his foreman gene cheeseman to buy in on his hunch i think the gold's
25:57over there you know my honest opinion about it i think you know we need to stick over here it's just
26:02we need to find some better ground so i think that's fantasyland parker yeah well we've got to do
26:07something and fantasyland might just be our next cut because if there's good gold over there i'm not
26:13afraid to move this whole show over there i hope your fantasies come true then
26:19this is what i was looking for
26:31as we reveal the secrets on where to find gold parker schnabel is on the hunt for a new pay streak
26:39i'm gonna grab a pan and do a test here and see uh what it looks like he's trying to prove his hunch
26:48that the inside bend of an ancient river holds gold that will lead to a monster payday
27:01oh god
27:09that flake in here is probably the biggest one i've panned out i mean this is promising though
27:14it's not too often that you can come over into a completely new area and within two hours have
27:19you know a bunch of gold in your pan
27:23nice little flake popped out it's never happened to me before
27:30all right gene have fun mining with the crew i'm uh i'm picking gold
27:39parker decides to move his operation to the inside bend of the river this is the first scoop of our
27:46thousand yard test hope it's lucky
27:52and it pays out big 75 85 delivering almost 500 ounces of gold in just four weeks
28:09the gold mining prodigy shows how reading the lay of the land can lead to a big score
28:18and it's a skill every miner must have as they track the ancient path of gold
28:24so we got it here 2023 rick ness is attempting to decode the ground of his duncan creek claim
28:42what i'm looking for here is a bench up top where the creek ran at one time
28:45it thousands of years ago a glacial river carrying fine gold ran through rick's claim
28:54over time it eroded the ground cutting a valley and leaving gold deposits on higher ground known as
29:02benches troy taylor whose family mined this before i did they had really good luck up here they spent a day
29:10mining in this one particular spot and uh hit 400 houses there's no reason that there couldn't be
29:16another one of them days up here so i am excited about this spot this area
29:26hey tron hey rick how you doing i'm definitely on bedrock but i don't see a whole lot of gravel
29:35yeah it doesn't look too good hey no i think we may be just a little too low is where we're mining
29:42just over there there's a nice bedrock channel yeah and it's at a higher elevation so this is this is
29:48the section you guys did yeah this is where we had 450 ounce cleanup yeah follow this as far as you can
29:55yeah all right thanks bud
30:04troy showed me exactly where they left off and the channel that in mind
30:08previously is actually visible so i can dig straight down right here
30:13it looks like it might be big down to a gravel layer down there so that would be a good sign
30:24it's definitely undisturbed gravel that's for sure
30:29potential gold deposits on this kind of ground rest beneath multiple layers of dirt
30:34the first and thickest is the worthless overburden the second is the rocky material known as gravels
30:47finally the pay layer that sits on top of hard bedrock gold is concentrated between the bottom six
30:56inches of gravel and the top six inches of bedrock
31:01i'm gonna grab a pan and take it down the creek with me see what we got in here
31:12you're always waiting for that one time you you know you pull a pan and it's just
31:16the whole bottom's covered in gold it's never happened yet to me there's always that chance
31:26hey oh you got some dirt hey buzz let it be nice to see some gold in here
31:43so many colors
31:48yeah look at it gold gold gold gold gold
31:51that's awesome we're gonna need a spot to go for gold i think this might be it
31:58rick runs the pay dirt from the bench and it delivers 62.46 75.46 ounces
32:11almost 600 ounces today worth nearly 1.8 million dollars
32:17that's a pile of gold guys nice yeah
32:27from ancient river bends gold's journey continues onwards to its final destination yeah you don't
32:33have these kind of problems in the klondike oh it's gonna get interesting where crew searching for a big
32:42payday face their most unexpected environment yet
32:59holy crap in 2015 a creature that walked the earth 20 000 years ago returns to help the
33:09hoffman crew find gold all right no oh geez you know what they say where there's a mammoth test
33:18there's good gold did jack tell you that all the old miners say that where you start finding mammoth
33:24tusk and you can smell that stinky rotten smell find good you're gonna start finding gold hoping for a
33:31monster monster payday they put the old timer's legend to the test it's good how good 236 ounces
33:43the old timer said where you find mammoth tusk you find big gold and you know what they were right
33:50that's where we're going for millions of years water has transported gold from the high mountains
34:08so that's your pay zone right yep to lowland valleys well let's see what we're going to find down here
34:15yeah and all the way to the coast
34:23holy
34:24the world just fell off
34:28in 2013 a huffman's search for gold on chapana beach chile
34:37where do you want to start down by the water okay let's go
34:40this will be a good spot to find color if this ocean brought stuff and washed it out brought stuff
34:49and washed it out it'll just tell us if there's color in it not how much let's have a look all right
34:56let's go it's my first time ever panning in the ocean
35:00what the hell is that jellyfish yeah you don't have these kind of problems in the klondike
35:14this is gonna get interesting
35:20one color two colors where see it right there oh yeah yeah yeah right here yeah there's two of them
35:28there's two of them there well now we know it's here so there's gold in the beach
35:38from the beach gold comes to its final destination let's go
35:47we haven't done a lot of prospecting this trip so i thought we would do a good prospecting in the ocean
35:51something you'd ever be interested in um i mean under the right circumstances i suppose i'd be
35:57interested in anything but the thing is um there's a chance there could potentially be sharks
36:08parker schnabel's quest for gold has brought him to the coast of new zealand's north island
36:14the coromandel mountain range is historically rich in gold
36:26creeks have eroded this gold from quartz veins discharging it into the tyrua river
36:35the waterway quickly hits the coastline dumping gold on the ocean floor
36:40all right hello guys how are we riley hello how's it good to see you riley parker parker good to meet
36:48you nice to meet you there's a rich gold history around here and why not go search where people
36:53haven't searched before
37:07rock and roll good oh yeah
37:17all right we're gonna try to sit down here okay
37:20all right we're going this way
37:28round here there is a huge gold history so there is every chance that we're going to be able to pull
37:33a sample off the bottom of the ocean floor pan it and there's some gold in it which would be
37:38an incredible thing
37:41yeah what are you going to find you get a sample
37:48what's the technique are you trying to go deeper into the substrate yeah a little bit
37:53it's just like a lot of these like shell fragments and stuff on the surface
37:57yeah we've got two large sharks just swimming around here just off the stern of the boat
38:12just keep your eyes open all right
38:14there it is there it is right there right in front of it right bang next to him
38:25there's a shark parker over to our left
38:27oh my there's a shark above us right above us parker
38:33oh
38:37oh it's coming right at me
38:41oh
38:45how about underneath me
38:50whoa
38:53all right let's get out of here
38:54before we're gonna let's get some fish
38:57yeah let's head back we got what we can
39:03good job lads well done
39:17parker has collected test material from the seabed the furthest place possible from gold's source
39:25in the mountains it's gone quite quiet don't don't even
39:28and all right here's the moment of truth
39:35there shut up
39:39there is not is it
39:41i guess i've got a big one there
39:48yes come on bro golden sharks you've got to show it right there
39:51there's like seven or eight pieces there and a bunch over there
39:58hang on a minute i'm shaking unreal this is amazing
40:02what the that is awesome
40:06like the whole valley was a huge gold mine for hundreds of years
40:10and that runs out into the very waters that we dove but like is that a good yield so if i were on our
40:16mine site and i panned that much dirt and got that much gold i would be like we're gonna have a good
40:20week like that's really good wow this is like next level this is indiana jones there's actually gold
40:30quite a bit like it could work out to a grade but it's better than anything that we've ever mined
40:38including the 10 ounce an hour mud mountain
40:42this is one that'll go down in the books for me well you need to keep that that spot a secret just
40:47make sure you film the sign on the way out of town that says no mining in the coromandel yeah
40:51they keep it pretty safe they're pretty passionate about here so yeah yeah i need to assure you that
40:55gold will stay in the ocean and that's probably where it should be protected by the sharks yeah yeah yeah
41:04from gold bearing mother load veins we do it wrong you'll never know
41:08you'll never know to ancient river beds we're washing rocks baby and even on the ocean floor that is the
41:17weirdest thing i've ever done there is still trillions of dollars worth of gold to be found
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