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00:03Darren's dream here that it's going to be a family business and I can't see that
00:08happening in the fourth future unless we find something better here on this episode of mine
00:14rescue right now I'm really nervous I'm starting to shake a little bit a desperate miner oh when
00:21I saw that first nugget that was it I was game over reliant on his aging parents I've spent over
00:29two hundred thousand myself I really don't like them up on the high stuff he is getting older so
00:34am I gambles everything they have on gold fever if we don't hit something this year it's not going
00:41to be feasible I would really feel like I let them down all right coming in to rescue both the
00:50mine
00:51and family I never actually realized that was bedrock like I had no clue it's a race to get
00:57them on the gold and back in the black wow I'm real I just cannot believe that we did that
01:05in two hours
01:19you must be Jeff huh yeah one hey Jeff nice to meet you likewise yeah yeah yeah yeah there's no
01:27replacing Freddie but we'll do we'll do our best Juan arrives solo in central British Columbia after a
01:35distress call from Freddie as he deals with an emergency back home hey Juan got some bad news I'm
01:44not gonna be able to make it up there the flooding at the house just wiped me out I've got
01:49to get this
01:51fixed in his place he sends in his trusted father-daughter prospecting team Jeff and Sophia bond now that's
01:59great that you guys were able to come out and give us a hand let's do it thanks their destination
02:04the
02:05caribou region and the dirt fish in mind where a gold drought has a family on the edge of financial
02:13crisis
02:16you know hopefully we'll be able to get in there and do some prospecting yeah for sure yeah that's
02:24our specialty I spent many years with the Yukon geological survey working with placer miners trying
02:31to help them find gold and just really helping them be successful I've had my eyes on the ground since
02:38I
02:38could remember I just love finding gold it's just the treasure hunt is just so exciting it's really
02:44nice having Jeff and Sophia here I was a little worried coming out here without without Fred but
02:48honestly being able to get them here in such a short notice it was a lifesaver hey Darren I am
03:01how you
03:02doing good to meet you thanks hey Juan Rob Rob nice to meet you Rob so uh Freddie wasn't able
03:08to make
03:08it on this one so we got Jeff and Sophia they're both geologists and uh that's awesome we've been
03:13around a lot of mines seen a lot of ground so we can hopefully get a better sense of where
03:17the
03:17better ground has been where it's been not so good oh that's great this is the whole crew huh or
03:21do you
03:21have other guys um my parents are just over there they're cleaning the gold from the last run right
03:25now and I love it because me and Robbie will go dig pay my mom and dad will run the
03:30plant everything
03:30keeps moving nearly two decades ago Darren and dad Jerry took their first steps into the world of
03:39gold back in 2008 me and my dad would go up on the Fraser River and we do some panning
03:45and oh and I saw
03:46that first nugget that was it it was I was game over I had to go find my own claim
03:50the caribou region
03:52has been extensively mined so they spent seven years prospecting before they finally made their pick
03:59there was some workings but not a crazy amount we did some high banking and just picked a random
04:05hole out of nowhere and it turned out pretty good so it was just convincing my mom and dad who
04:12are in
04:12retirement if they wanted to do this Darren's firstborn knows it all that's coming from a mother but yes he's
04:22a
04:22hard work the story is I have a son that decided he would like to try this out I quit
04:30my job to do
04:30this now last two years of wages put in here and we never made any money back never did yeah
04:37that's
04:37what we run this morning and so there's about I think he said he did 60 yards oh did I
04:44want to come
04:45not particularly but they needed a third hand I've spent probably over 200,000 myself my mom and dad
04:54came up here and didn't make a penny the whole time they were here and you know to be honest
04:59I need to
05:00pay them back if we don't hit something this year it's not going to be feasible I would really feel
05:05like
05:06I let them down none of this would have been even possible without the two of them so at the
05:12end of the
05:12year I'd love to you know give them a 10 ounce bar and send them on a vacation to Europe
05:16or wherever
05:16they want to go what about you my role up here is whatever it takes to get the pay to
05:24the plant and
05:24run it through I run the rock truck run the loader run the excavator whatever I can he's absolutely a
05:31big part of everything that goes on here for sure so uh how long have you guys been mining here
05:35this is
05:37season 11 we've had it as good as an ounce every 40 yards and as bad as an ounce every
05:42400 every piece
05:43of ground is different here the claim is so big I have no idea how to even understand the geology
05:49of
05:49it all you had mentioned you had some of the gold that you got your last cleanup yep we see
05:53it yeah you
05:54bet all right there's not a lot of fine in there now how much have you gotten so far uh
06:00we're sitting
06:01around 12 ounces now okay now uh what's your goal for this year my target's going to be 150 ounces
06:10wow okay in the few months remaining of Darren's season he needs close to two ounces per day to hit
06:18his target I really need to get 150 ounces so that I can make everything viable I've got all my
06:25money
06:25invested in this and my mom and dad's as well so that that's where the stress is it's a big
06:30deal
06:31very big deal okay well you know what we want to do is uh we want to fire up we
06:36want to do a two
06:36hour test run okay you guys good with that yeah you bet all right well let's do it all right
06:40all right
06:53first bucket first bucket there it is hope this goes good I'll stay up here take a look at the
07:02plant if
07:02you guys want to get your things together and start taking a look at the cut come on baby show
07:07me the
07:07gold Rob loads pay into the eight-foot hopper where it funnels into a 24-foot long trommel a spray
07:18bar
07:18washes the rocks in the drum pushing finer material into a 20-foot sluice where gold should be caught
07:31yeah this pay looks pretty good hope there's some gold in it the way that he's feeding the plant right
07:38now he has to go so slow because all those bigger rocks right now so that way he doesn't drop
07:43them
07:43into that hopper and clog it up test underway this must be where Darren's getting his pay from up here
07:52Jeff and daughter Sophia sneak a look at Darren's cut to assess the quality of dirt it's not a bad
08:00looking gravel there yeah good amount of clay what I noticed though just coming down here this is what
08:07the gravel sitting on it's a full bedrock and what concerns me about this is this is likely a glacial
08:16lake
08:18lake laid down by melting ice sediment from a glacial lake forms into a hard surface known as false bedrock
08:27gold may rest on this layer but far less than on true bedrock where water has had millions of years
08:35to re-concentrate the deposit on a glacial lake surface like this it's probably just one event that's
08:42happened so we're looking for something potentially accumulated gold over a longer period of time okay
08:49so where do you think we should take our pants we'll take one from the false bedrock contact yeah
08:56being able to find bedrock for Darren is just incredibly valuable for him so it will definitely
09:02provide some higher grades and some more knowledge for him back at the plant Irene takes up loading duties
09:13to get as much pay as they can through the plant oh great this can't be good Juan's looking at
09:20the plant
09:24you can tell that they're screening really big look how big that is the problem with that is you start
09:30screening that big you start losing a lot of your fine gold
09:42so you can see a couple pieces in here there's there's quite a few so that's more than what's
09:46acceptable we're gonna have to figure out what we can do there to be able to help them with that
09:50fine gold recovery
09:59more guys okay it's a two-hour run yeah you want to tell your mom to cut it off yeah
10:04you mentioned
10:04shut it down right on guys thank you last bucket
10:22you know Irene you're actually a pretty decent operator uh if you want you know I can offer
10:27your job in Reno running you know what I might take it be careful what you ask if you guys
10:32want
10:33to clean it up and uh I'll be back in the morning we'll do a gold way sounds good all
10:36right sounds
10:36great thank you thank you thanks one one thing's for sure you know I know they're losing gold the
10:41plant needs a lot of repair you know between the hopper the sluice box and also the spray bars there's
10:46a ton of work that needs to be done I feel for Darren and I want to help him pay
10:49his parents back
10:52coming up all hands are gonna be on deck okay we're gonna try to get as much done as we
11:01can
11:02how's it going now we found a spot the test didn't turn out at all right now I'm really nervous
11:07I really
11:07want this to work let's wait huh you ready what it is holy
11:23there she is at the champ mine in British Columbia it's the moment of truth from the two-hour test
11:31run
11:31well let's weigh it up okay to hit his goal by the end of the season this test must produce
11:39over a
11:39third of an ounce there it is a tenth of an ounce
11:52there's at least gold there but you know the the one thing that I really am worried about is I
11:57think
11:57we're losing a lot of that fine gold oh wow but also one of the concerns they have is I
12:02think we're
12:03sending the wrong material to the plant okay I want to be ambitious with what we do here so give
12:10me a
12:10few minutes we're gonna talk and see what we can't come up with and we'll go from there okay all
12:14right
12:14see you in a bit yeah the gold way didn't go well at all point one of an ounce I
12:20think a lot of it you
12:21know has to do with the ground that we were running we need to understand where the gold actually is
12:26deposited that's the hardest thing to figure out what are your thoughts on the prospecting so it's a
12:34false bedrock but he's running right now what we want to find is a gravel underneath that lake sediment
12:40something better at the bottom it's got more gold in it older gravel okay that's a great time to be
12:45able to bring Darren down there to teach him how to read the ground because really at the end of
12:50the
12:50day what we teach him now he'll have forever exactly well sounds like a plan we definitely got our
12:55work cut out for us all right Sophia and Jeff are gonna spend as much time as they can for
13:04you know
13:04prospecting to try to help you guys find areas and target zones to go after but as part of that
13:10you
13:11know Jeff wants you there also so he can kind of start teaching you what to look for you know
13:15and how
13:15to read the ground perfect as far as the plant goes what I want to do is build a completely
13:19new hopper
13:20we're gonna build a new set of Grizzlies as well and then for your fine gold recovery I'm gonna
13:25actually cut perforations into your trommel drum build a new 24 inch sluice box that's 20 foot long
13:30that sounds awesome that's nice in a major rebuild to increase productivity one will fabricate a brand
13:40new two-ton steel hopper topped with six inch thick Grizzly bars to separate out large boulders fine
13:50gold will pass through 60 engineered slits cut around the trommel and will feed into a new 20 foot
13:58sluice specifically for fine gold Jeff and Sophia's mission give Darren invaluable prospecting know-how
14:08and redirect him to gold rich ground we're kind of in the realm of about $15,000 for material and
14:15then
14:15we're thinking about an ounce of peace at the end of the season well um what do you think I
14:26don't
14:26think we have a choice I don't think we either nope let's do it let's do it okay well let's
14:31do it all
14:32right well we'll get to work we've been fighting up here for quite a while it's becoming more and more
14:38difficult to keep pushing forward so hopefully his fixes catch all that gold that I'm missing not
14:46only for myself but my mom and dad as well so what I'm working on right now is getting the
14:58hopper
14:59designed Juan's first challenge build a monster new six by four foot steel hopper that will feed pay
15:07into the trommel I got some measurements on the framework that we have existing on the plant what
15:13we have to do is we have to custom build a hopper to go inside that honestly we're stretched really
15:18thin right now hey Trav calling because I need you and Alex to to head this way yeah you leave
15:26as soon
15:26as you can we definitely got our plate full here at one's cut trailer a 40,000 degree plasma beam
15:35cuts his designs out of half-inch thick steel the hopper right now the bottom consists of about
15:41five pieces the top is another six or seven pieces and then the Grizzlies are going to be another you
15:47know 150 pieces so really it's like a jigsaw puzzle you know we got to get everything cut out and
15:51then
15:51we can start slapping it together and get it all welded out okay here we go to make way for
16:02one's
16:02hopper fix Darren Jerry Rob and operator Davey must first remove the old one yeah he's gonna burn a hole
16:12so
16:12we can put chain hooks in on all four corners so we can lift us straight up I love my
16:20work that's why
16:22I'm still doing it at 75. I really don't like him up on the high stuff he is getting older
16:28so am I so there you go
16:38I was age six my dad was a heavy duty mechanic and my job was to watch everything he did
16:46and handle the right tool for the job and if I didn't look out
16:51that's the way it was Darren's my stepson but he's still my son we talked about mining when he was
16:58growing
16:58up as a kid and always kind of was a passion you're always on a treasure hunt so Darren's dream
17:05here that
17:06it's gonna be a family business and I can't see that happening in the fourth future unless we find something
17:11better here tough nut to crack we'll move the crane over here in a minute we're all done all done
17:26nice almost there it was welded in more than we thought I just wanted to make sure that they're
17:32doing okay see how far along we've gotten how we doing gentlemen hey guy how's it going good it's coming
17:39along so what are you gonna do just uh cut it and then lift it out the top give her
17:43a rip and see
17:44what happens then we'll know where it's attached just yank it just pull as hard as you can just keep
17:51on yanking until it sounds expensive huh yeah and that's usually what I get told too that's exactly how
17:57it goes most of the times Darren's idea to wrap a chain on it and pull until she breaks free
18:05well I
18:06don't think it'll let go I think there's too much weld still holding it in place
18:12operator Rob Benjamin has been mining with Darren for 11 years but takes other work to keep his head
18:19above water at the moment we're just scraping by if this were to succeed that would give me the
18:25opportunity to move up here work full-time and support my family
18:32give her a shot try it yeah nice and easy
18:43yeah
18:47there it's coming give it a jerk
18:55hey what is it attached to still
18:58it's like it's stuck on something
19:02dad back up
19:06there
19:07get it out here
19:09there it is
19:09yeah we got it
19:12oh my god
19:18beautiful
19:25let's try over here
19:26old hopper removed Darren joins Jeff and Sophia half a mile up the creek
19:33let's have a look here for his first prospecting master class
19:37man it's hard
19:38yeah I think that's bedrock
19:39yeah this is a good spot Darren it's really quite a consolidated gravel down here and then you get into
19:45this
19:46more of a sandy layer
19:48I can go show you the contact if you'd like
19:50yeah please
19:54so just up here
19:58quite loose at this surface it's actually quite flat right here that contact is quite even quite flat
20:05bedrock is much much older and it's harder and so that change in hardness is really what we're looking for
20:13yeah that's super obvious here that'll be where you get your best gold and then this is still quite soft
20:21but that's your bedrock
20:23over time the weight of gold makes it sink through the ground but once it reaches bedrock it can't fall
20:32any further
20:33this is exactly what we're looking for this is your bedrock and the good news is it's outcropping here it's
20:39exposed and it's really not far below the surface
20:42I never actually realized that was bedrock
20:45yeah until you guys were here like I had no clue like I just thought it was just more gravel
20:49just dig it up and keep going
20:50sure
20:50yeah
20:51one of my biggest things of struggling is trying to identify where all the gold is and understanding the geology
20:58of the land
20:58the process yeah you're looking for a lot of volume to make it pay but we can't mine this close
21:04to the stream
21:06despite the promising bedrock find environmental laws prevent any mining within 33 feet of the river
21:15so we've identified bedrock here we know what it looks like so we need to go identify something like
21:21this uh elsewhere on your property
21:25it's very unfortunate that I can't mine it because it's too close to the creek but they explained everything
21:31so very well that I can actually understand what I'm actually looking at now
21:48looks like it oh yeah
21:52in British Columbia at Darren champs dirt fish and mine Juan's rescue reinforcements Alex and Travis arrived
22:03good thing you guys are here we got three weeks worth of work that we got to cram into just
22:07a few days
22:07so let's get going guys
22:09their first task help join the two pieces together for the new hopper
22:15good good good good good good
22:16that will help Darren and his family up their production
22:22hit it
22:25that closed it up
22:29well we got this on its side now what we're going to do is we're going to put the ribs
22:32that go across here
22:33that way it supports the side so when we get material they don't bulge out
22:39that's good right there
22:43ah look at that now we're talking
22:52now this looks interesting Darren
22:55we got boulders here
22:56that's a good sign though
22:59we should sample this
23:04we're going to see what's in the bottom of this hole
23:08hopefully something testable and something runnable
23:11if it isn't I'm in trouble
23:21it's not looking too good
23:23really not much better what they're getting up there
23:24no
23:26based on our initial findings
23:28the gravel it's just not carrying a lot of gold
23:30and what gold is showing up in our pans
23:34he's probably losing in a sluice box
23:36so those two things are discouraging
23:40poor results and short on time
23:43Jeff makes a call
23:46hey Freddie how are you doing
23:48how's it going Jeff
23:49we found a spot that looked really good
23:52it had all the elements of having good gold
23:56but turned out to be a bust
23:59I thought we'd give you a shout and see if you could give us some pointers
24:03I've done quite a bit of work in that area
24:05but you know as well as I do every creek is different right
24:08yeah
24:08is there any Chinese workings in there?
24:10usually where they were at there was gold
24:13I haven't seen any yet but we can certainly go look for some
24:19most of the Chinese miners who made their way to the caribou gold fields
24:23came from the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province
24:28they quickly became invaluable
24:31developing simple but innovative techniques to extract fine gold
24:36but working mostly by hand
24:39they struggled to reach bedrock on deposits containing large boulders
24:44yeah just look for Chinese workings
24:46okay yeah well we'll keep you posted on what we find so
24:50talk to you later sir
24:51yeah take care bye bye
24:57well here she comes
24:59look at that Robbie
25:01oh that's beautiful
25:02can't wait to chuck rocks at it
25:07at the wash plant
25:08the next question is if the refabricated two-ton hopper will fit into place
25:17it's the moment of truth
25:18we're gonna try to see if that fits in there the way we had it planned
25:22honestly you never know until it actually goes in
25:27hold it
25:31what are we catching on?
25:35have them lifted back up
25:36you gotta go up it's caught in the bottom
25:38there we go
25:39there she is
25:40boom out stick out
25:43slowly down Dave
25:59there you go right there
26:02I like it
26:03that's perfect look at that eh
26:06the first piece of the puzzle is uh it's perfect
26:10it's hard not to smile when you see something like that
26:12we're exactly where I wanted to be today
26:14I wanted to get that hopper in place to make sure it fit
26:16and it fits perfectly
26:17so that's a big relief
26:19tomorrow's gonna be a bunch more work
26:21but at least we kinda see a little light at the end of the tunnel
26:33let's try over here
26:38that was an old cabin
26:39look at that
26:41yeah they were here
26:43following Freddy's hunch
26:45Jeff and Sophia are on the hunt for evidence of methodical Chinese mining
26:51looks like an old dam
26:53you're right it is a dam
26:56that could very well be
26:57Chinese workings
26:59they would have impounded the water behind the dam
27:02and then likely just let it go catastrophically as a ground sluice
27:06look at the size of the tree coming out of it
27:09that is huge
27:121800s
27:12yeah
27:13so really good evidence of Chinese workings
27:16it looks like we're in the right place here
27:18yeah
27:18let's get Darren in here with the excavator
27:21and dig a test pit and see what we can find
27:25okay
27:33this is how I'm going to learn
27:34yeah
27:36yeah if we hit a boulder layer right on bedrock that's a great sign
27:39that's good
27:41nice
27:42oh yeah
27:42nice
27:42there's some big boulders
27:47but we like to see
27:50good boy D.B.
27:53oh that's good there
27:55I think it's a boulder layer right on bedrock
27:57oh okay yeah
27:58if the boulders are sticking on bedrock there's a good chance the boulders too
28:02nice
28:02definitely
28:03yeah
28:04you think about that placer effect
28:06yeah
28:06in the reworking and the erosion of material
28:09yeah
28:09you're always putting your heaviest stuff on the bottom
28:12okay
28:13oh yeah that's a big one there
28:14huge
28:15wow
28:17can you imagine the Chinese moving that stuff around
28:20no
28:20you're not moving that
28:21let's hope there's a lot of yellow down there with it
28:23yeah I got a colour change down there
28:27it's changing to a more blue colour down there
28:30is that bedrock down there
28:31well that looks good
28:32beautiful
28:33that's bedrock
28:34yeah
28:34that looks really good
28:35so the colour change is obviously from just different minerals and stuff like that right
28:39yeah
28:39so that bedrock was an old gravel and it's coming from a different source rock in general
28:44yeah
28:45and so I'm encouraged by that
28:47plus look at the size of the rock that's come out of here
28:49yeah
28:49that's fantastic
28:50some really big rock
28:51how much gold is through the whole thing really
28:53so we need to take a representative sample
28:55so what we're going to do here
28:57yeah
28:57is we're going to take four or five gallon pails
29:00okay
29:00that's about a tenth of a loose cubic yard
29:05okay
29:05and just so we're always sampling volume
29:09testing four
29:11five gallon pails of material taken from multiple spots in the test hole
29:16should give a better understanding of how much gold is at bedrock
29:20this could be a game changer
29:22that gravel if it's got a lot of gold in it
29:24it's definitely going to change things around here
29:43today's the big day
29:44it's going to be a long day
29:45we got a lot to do
29:46at darren champs caribou mine
29:4824 hours remain before the final test run
29:52all hands are going to be on deck
29:53i got all the guys here
29:54we're going to try to get as much done as we can
29:56hopefully by the end of the night
29:57we'll be ready to run
30:01first order of the day
30:03start the new fine gold recovery circuit
30:06by adding these slits in the trommel
30:08what we're going to do is we're going to allow that material
30:09that smaller material to drop out
30:11so it has a chance to get washed properly
30:14instead of going down with the big sluice
30:16and fighting with that bigger material
30:17cutting a series of foot long slits in the trommel
30:20will allow smaller gold rich material
30:23to pass into the new sluice
30:27all that fine material is going to go down this box
30:30and be able to get recovered
30:31where it's not competing with the bigger material
30:33watch your eyes
30:40all we have left to do
30:42is put this little back piece
30:43and then a ramp
30:44and then it's ready to go
30:46we're going to load it up
30:46and get it up to the plant
30:47and get it installed
30:52all right so
30:55these are the samples from the test pit
30:58we did today
30:59looks like really good gravel
31:01and five feet to bedrock
31:03and yeah we'll see what's in it
31:05all right let's start
31:06thanks irene
31:08irene cleans up the pay dirt
31:09from the 20 gallon sample
31:11jeff sofia and darren
31:13took from the cut
31:14we've got high hopes
31:16yes we do
31:17and this is a slow process as well
31:20definitely we want to be as meticulous as we can
31:23which i know you are
31:26well what are we doing here
31:27this is the test pit sample
31:29this is uh
31:30hopefully got the money in it jerry
31:32okay
31:32okay
31:33just give me a shot
31:35i gotta get some welding rod up
31:36and get a job
31:36okay sounds good
31:38hey buddy
31:39so i've noticed that uh jerry
31:41hasn't stopped uh working for a few days now
31:45he loves to work
31:46he's only got one gear
31:48yeah
31:49and that's work
31:49keep going if there's something to do
31:51i gotta get it done
31:53but a lifetime of hard work
31:55and the stress of a failing mind
31:58has taken its toll on jerry
32:01we were driving out to a lake
32:03just a nice sunday afternoon
32:05it was hot
32:05he says i'm not feeling so good
32:07i'm gonna go get checked out
32:10so in he goes
32:13and it wasn't good
32:14they flew him the next morning to Kelowna
32:17and he had a quadruple bypass
32:19the very following day
32:21he is getting older
32:23darren's aim is to get more gold
32:25than he's been getting
32:26so that he can get more gold
32:29to make use of it
32:32the doc told him that he could live another 30 years after his bypasses
32:36nice
32:37so he's taking that to heart
32:40no kidding
32:40yeah
32:41taking it to heart is right
32:42yep
32:47hook up on it drivey
32:48there you go
32:50yeah go second one in
32:52back at the wash plant
32:53coming up
32:54coming up
32:55with the half inch thick sidewalls
32:57now welded onto the hopper
32:59the team finished the fix
33:01with new 3600 pound grizzly bars
33:06big moment yeah
33:06i've always dreamed of grizzly bars like this
33:11watch yourself
33:14whoa
33:15watch out guys
33:16careful
33:25right there
33:26are you good alex
33:27uh yeah i'm good on the top
33:28that's good
33:32when you're fabricating something in the dirt
33:34and it fits
33:34hey what more can you ask for
33:39we've got something to show you
33:40what you got
33:41check out these two pans
33:42yes
33:44irene's 20 gallon sample run complete
33:47jeff and sophia take the results to jerry and darren
33:52this will be really easy to catch in your sluice
33:55this material is going to fall out like right away
33:57yeah that's heavy enough that it'll catch it
33:59yeah
33:59and hopefully we'll be running this material in the plant
34:03hey we'll be in the money now eh
34:05wouldn't that be something
34:07that'll pay bills
34:08yeah
34:10well that's awesome
34:11the results are promising
34:13but it's the test run tomorrow
34:16that will tell them if the new material
34:18and one's plant fixes
34:20have turned their fortunes around
34:22there's hope
34:24there's actually hope now
34:26in mining
34:27there's so many highs and so many lows
34:29you hope that around the next corner the next hole
34:32is going to give you the riches and the rewards right
34:35and that's what we all dream about as miners
34:39last task pre-test
34:41add the new sluice designed for fine gold
34:45right now we're a little bit behind schedule
34:49still a few little things to get done here
34:51and it's coming down to crunch time like last minute
34:54moment of truth there jerry
34:57there we go
34:58it's done
34:58got it
34:59it's in all the way
35:00and it looks like uh we're going big time now
35:03yeah no kidding eh
35:06it's been a crazy week
35:07oh yeah it looks good
35:09let's see how it runs now huh
35:10i'm excited
35:11yeah me too
35:12oh man it's impressive
35:14i can't believe somebody do that for us
35:17with all the repairs that we're doing here on the plant
35:20it's very possible that we could double their gold intake
35:22maybe even more
35:39well you know i know your goal is to be able to have a family of mine and honestly working
35:43with everyone this week i think you're onto something here
35:45i certainly hope so we're gonna find out
35:47well let's do it let's do a test run
35:49let's do it
35:50the next two-hour test
35:52running new pay on a revamped plant
35:56will determine darren's future
36:00i've been pretty calm all week but right now i'm really nervous i'm starting to shake a little bit because
36:04i really want this to work so yeah i'm excited
36:17well there's gonna be the first bucket right there
36:20first bucket
36:23here we go
36:38watching the plant run
36:39it's like clockwork right now it's perfect
36:42it feels great
36:43hopefully when we shut down we'll see some gold in the box
36:47it looks really good
36:49things are running
36:50nothing's backing up
36:52so far so good
36:53so
36:55looks awesome
37:00looks like it's working out really well here
37:01there's uh
37:03seems like there's more pay going through for sure
37:05he's running a lot more material
37:07so let's uh
37:07let's see if at the end of the run we got double the gold
37:09we should
37:10yeah i'm excited for this test
37:12that cut looked really good to us
37:14we appreciate the invitation
37:16i know don't worry
37:17that was really fun
37:25well darren that's two hours
37:27what do you say that's the last bucket
37:29we got it
37:29we got it
37:40well i can see a bunch of fine gold from here so
37:43yeah
37:43it's looking really nice
37:45i think we're on the right track then
37:46why don't we uh
37:47pull the box apart and let's get it cleaned up
37:49yep sounds good let's get at her
37:58well it's the moment of truth let's see it
38:02oh
38:03to hit darren's 150 ounce target by the end of the season
38:08this test must deliver over a third of an ounce
38:11it's pretty healthy looking man
38:12it's really good
38:13it's really good
38:13well let's weigh it
38:14so what did we get the first way you remember
38:17a tenth of an ounce
38:180.10
38:18yeah
38:180.10
38:19so 300 bucks let's call it 300 dollars
38:26so there's our first way right there
38:28holy
38:29actually a little over here
38:30a little over our first way
38:32now let's see what we really got
38:35oh half an ounce
38:37wow
38:37come on
38:38there
38:39three quarters of an ounce
38:41whoa
38:41Judy
38:43oh
38:45oh
38:45holy
38:47wow
38:47whoa
38:50two hours
38:51two hours
38:52two hours
38:53that's pretty good
38:54wow
38:54you can make money at that
38:57in a day's run
38:58Darren and his family
39:00could make over $18,000
39:06wow
39:07I don't even know what to say
39:08I was not expecting anything like that at all
39:11and to see something like that
39:14kind of gets me a little emotional
39:15and I'm a lot excited
39:17like moving forward I'm just
39:20I can't wait to get gold
39:22unbelievable
39:23that's
39:24that's actually
39:25unreal
39:26I cannot believe we did that in two hours
39:29well I did some quick math
39:31and in the beginning you said you wanted 150 ounces for the season right
39:34yeah
39:35well at that rate if we're running 10 hour days
39:38you'll get your 150 ounce season in 25 days
39:43that's insane
39:44wow
39:44that's so crazy
39:46in 25 days you'll reach your goal
39:49that's so we can keep it all running
39:51yeah
39:52well that's why you're here and you're here
39:55exactly
39:55that was a phenomenal gold way
39:57you know it was a 1200% increase
39:58but it was so much more than just the plant
40:01it was the prospecting
40:02going out there and finding better ground
40:03and Sophia and Jeff did it
40:05and we were able to process more of that material at the plant as well
40:10you know at the end of the day
40:11for your mind
40:12for your family
40:13it's a real possibility now
40:15it's fantastic
40:16I don't even know what to say but thank you
40:18you're very welcome
40:19don't mind I'll give you a hug
40:20oh no buddy
40:24Jerry
40:24pleasure buddy
40:26I just cannot tell you enough about Juan and what he's done for us
40:31it's life changing
40:32it's totally life changing
40:36genuinely the look on everybody's face that was there
40:38you know
40:39you can tell
40:40that dream that they have
40:41it actually
40:43it's a possibility now
40:44the future is looking fantastic
40:46this changes everything
40:47you know what
40:48maybe we better spend more time
40:50and make some extra money
40:52maybe we can have a holiday one of these days
40:54that would be nice
40:55yeah
41:06it's a life changing thing for me
41:07the new hopper
41:08the whole set of grizzly bars
41:10the second solution
41:11our production's up 110-120%
41:16Sophia and Jeff
41:17I just can't thank them enough
41:18now I actually understand what I'm actually looking for
41:21which is
41:21it's huge moving forward
41:26my mom and dad have always supported me in everything I've done
41:29and I was able to give my parents 10 ounces
41:32it makes me feel really good
41:33and you know I owe all it all to them
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