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Gold Rush Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan Season 6 Episode 2
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00:01Last year we acquired an 80 acre claim up here on this sinker crick, but it's been pretty catastrophic getting
00:08started.
00:09If you're not mechanically inclined, do not get into the mining operation.
00:13Watch yourself!
00:15On this episode of Mine Rescue...
00:18There's no material.
00:20Multiple problems with what he's putting through there.
00:23The livelihood of a greenhorn miner and his family is on the line.
00:29We got our work cut out for us for sure.
00:31I just want things to be better.
00:34When gold fever strikes again...
00:38When I was a little kid, I saw my dad getting really addicted to the gold.
00:43I need to bury that negative hatchet that's been in my life for so many years.
00:48On the brink of disaster, Freddie digs deep.
00:52This is pure crap for gold.
00:54But he's tested like never before.
00:57Keep going!
01:02I've never been in this situation.
01:04I really don't know what to say right now.
01:15Yee-haw!
01:19Pretty rugged country in here, Wonno.
01:21Yeah, it is.
01:24We definitely aren't getting our trucks in, not without destroying them.
01:29You gotta be pretty committed to make this trip every day, Freddie.
01:32That's not the end of the world, but I think we can see it.
01:36Southwest Idaho, in the untamed and historically gold-rich foothills of the O'Wahee Mountains.
01:45Freddie and Won get an urgent SOS from rookie miner, Brett Allen, who has staked his livelihood on his first
01:54plane.
01:55This one's definitely different.
01:57They had an auto body business that they had hard times with.
02:01He's taking what he's got left and throwing it into this gold mine.
02:05But he's quite a greenhorn. He doesn't really know the gold industry well.
02:09Really, this is kind of a rescue where not only is it a rescue,
02:13but we're kind of starting from ground zero.
02:15Yeah.
02:16This is a great opportunity to help somebody
02:19right at the beginning of their gold mining career.
02:22How are we doing?
02:23We hope we're at the right mine.
02:25I'm assuming we are. How are you doing?
02:27How's it going?
02:28Welcome to the Allen Mine.
02:30Juan, how was your travels?
02:32We aren't getting our trucks in here. That's for darn sure.
02:35How long have you been mining in here exactly?
02:37Last year we came in, did some testing up in here
02:40with some smaller equipment,
02:41and we just got running about three weeks ago.
02:45So who do you have for crude?
02:46I got my wife, Michelle, and then I got my son, Joshua,
02:50and then I got daughter, Chelsea,
02:51coming up here in the next couple of days.
02:56When I was eight, nine years old,
02:59my dad bought a claim about six or seven miles from here.
03:04The first time I ever saw the gold show up in the pan,
03:07I was addicted.
03:09Man, it's an addiction that you never forget.
03:11When we were kids, it was really a great experience.
03:16As I got older, I saw my dad getting really addicted to the gold.
03:22Growing up, there's some bittersweet moments
03:24between Brett's dad and him.
03:28Seeing it starting to take the money away from the family,
03:31watching a constant feud between my mother and father over gold.
03:38Brett's dad mined these mountains in the 80s,
03:42but never made it rich.
03:45I said, I'm done with this,
03:47and didn't want to be a part of it anymore.
03:49So I started the auto body business with my wife, Michelle,
03:53back in 2004.
03:55Brett ran the auto body business for 20 years
03:58until it fell on hard times,
04:01bringing back thoughts of gold.
04:04So the business back home, it just kept draining us dry.
04:08I knew I needed to move on to something different,
04:10and I thought going back to work for somebody else
04:14didn't settle good with me,
04:15and so I'm like, okay, why not give it an opportunity?
04:19I do believe Brett has a gold fever,
04:21but I try not to mention that to him.
04:25He always dreams big, and I like that.
04:28But sometimes I have to rope him back down.
04:30Okay, this is what we can do.
04:31This is maybe what we can't do.
04:33My dad didn't teach me geology and how all that works,
04:37so I have absolutely no clue.
04:40He wants to not make the same mistakes his dad did.
04:47I need to find a way to bury that negative hatchet
04:50that's been in my life for so many years.
04:56What do you have invested in this so far?
04:59So far, we've got about $45,000, $50,000.
05:03Okay.
05:03Have you been able to recover any gold?
05:05Yeah.
05:06I mean, it's not as much as I would like to see, obviously.
05:08Never is.
05:10In the three weeks, we've gotten about close to five grams.
05:18How many yards have you ran?
05:20Ran 130 yards so far in the last three weeks.
05:24And you've only got five grams?
05:25Yeah.
05:26That's not real great.
05:27No, not at all.
05:30What do you need a day to survive in here?
05:32Well, we're hoping we can survive with about a half ounce a day.
05:38Hopefully, this will rescue us.
05:40A lot of people go gold mining because they want less stress
05:42and end up with more stress.
05:44Yeah.
05:45Yeah.
05:45I think the hardest lesson to learn with running the business
05:47and knowing how to shut it down
05:49is the walking around feeling like you failed your family.
05:57So I don't want to do that again.
05:58I've got to do this right.
06:00This is make or break for us, for sure.
06:02So we're reaching out to you guys to help us get started
06:05on that right foot the first time.
06:07And we won't pull any punches.
06:09If we think there's not enough gold here,
06:12then we'll tell you right off.
06:14You know, it's going to be kind of a new one for Freddie and I
06:16because typically we come into a situation where, you know,
06:18people have been mining there for years or, you know,
06:20at least a couple months, you know.
06:22So this is pretty much a fresh startup.
06:24It is.
06:25Well, you want to do a test run.
06:27We want to watch you guys operate your plant.
06:29Right.
06:29It sounds like a plan.
06:31Yeah, sounds great.
06:32Well, excellent.
06:33Let's go for it.
06:36This is my son.
06:37Josh.
06:38I'm Josh.
06:39Nice to meet you, Josh.
06:40Nice to meet you.
06:41So what do you do here, Josh?
06:43That's pretty much the ground guy.
06:44Just watch over and make sure everything's good.
06:46Well, fire it up.
06:47Let's do it.
06:55First bucket line.
06:58The four-hour test begins as Brett feeds dirt into his hopper.
07:05Aided by vibration, it drops through grizzly bars,
07:09which should sieve out any large rocks and waste material.
07:14The pay is then washed by the spinning 12-foot trommel
07:18before running into the six-foot sluice where the gold is caught.
07:27Look at all the organics on the spray bar.
07:30Yeah.
07:45Trying to get the rocks out of the grizzly with the weeds.
07:49So far, there's been a lot of downtime
07:50because he has to keep on jumping out of the excavator
07:52to clear the grizzly.
07:55He's winding it up.
07:56Watch yourself.
08:07These tough times recently have made it hard for us
08:11to get out of that hole that we're in right now.
08:14And I just want to see my parents smile more
08:19and things to be better.
08:25He's not hopping very hard right now.
08:28Yeah.
08:28I was thinking that, too.
08:31A hopper's vibrator isn't strong enough
08:33to shake the pay into the wash plant.
08:38He's got such a small water system here.
08:41It's selten up pretty good.
08:44And when you get thick water, you lose fine gold.
08:48Let's take a look at the box, Dred.
08:55There's no material.
08:59But there's no material going through.
09:02I'm going to look at what he's digging.
09:04Yeah.
09:14Get my granny glasses on.
09:20Right now, the material he's running,
09:24it's no wonder he's only got, you know,
09:27five grams of gold out of 130 yards.
09:31Because this is pure crap for gold right here.
09:34That slip rock could have been coming
09:36over the top of this for years.
09:37Oh, it has been, yeah.
09:38Thousands of years.
09:39The material being processed is mostly soil
09:43that slipped down off the mountainside.
09:46What he's doing is he's doing a test for us
09:50that really isn't a test.
09:52I mean, I'd go to a playground sand
09:54and get as much gold as he'll probably
09:56get out of this stuff.
09:58Let's end it right now.
10:00Hey, Brent, last bucket.
10:09Freddie calls time on the four-hour test
10:12after just two hours.
10:19You see anything, Juan O?
10:20Nothing to speak of, no.
10:21Yeah, I kind of figured.
10:25We got a lot of problems going on.
10:27You know, luckily, you're only three weeks into it,
10:28so it's not like you've spent a year out here
10:31doing the same way, right?
10:32You know, we can correct it early on.
10:35You guys get her cleaned up.
10:36We'll meet you in the morning, huh?
10:42You know, I was feeling confident in the beginning,
10:44but after the test run today,
10:46I'm really nervous about what Freddie and Juan
10:49are going to have to say.
10:50We're going to take this all back
10:51and get it washed up and see what comes out of it.
10:56My first impression of this family
10:58is they need to get gold
11:00because they're in a tough place right now.
11:02Brett's running material that he should not be running,
11:06and it's multiple problems
11:08with what he's putting through there.
11:10Number one, I don't believe there's very much gold in it.
11:13Number two, it's full of silt,
11:15and the sluice is plugged up.
11:18We got our work cut out for us, for sure.
11:20You know, watching him dig some payout
11:22and everything else,
11:23you can just tell by what he's doing
11:25that it's just an experience.
11:27I'm hoping that Freddie and I can get enough done here
11:29because, you know, honestly,
11:30from what he tells us,
11:31he's got all his eggs in this basket.
11:34This is his last chance.
11:40You got a second, Brett?
11:42Yeah.
11:42Coming up.
11:43See those rounded gravels in the wall?
11:46Perfect material.
11:48Everything you'd look for in a gold mine.
11:51That's amazing.
12:08Well, guys, here it is.
12:10Look at what we have.
12:12Oh.
12:14Well, let's see what it is.
12:24I knew the gold ray was going to be bad,
12:27but honestly, I didn't think it'd be that bad.
12:29That's not even a hundredth of an ounce.
12:34Between $20 and $30 worth of gold,
12:37well, you need help, that's for sure.
12:38You're not pulling any punches,
12:39but you were making about every mistake out there
12:43that you could make.
12:44Okay.
12:45You're a businessman,
12:46so a gold mine is a business.
12:48You know, you can't let it be emotional.
12:50A full week's mining would cost Brett's operation
12:54nearly $1,000 in fuel alone,
12:57but the pay in yesterday's test
12:59would mean a loss of over $200 every week.
13:04At the end of the day, it has to be financially feasible.
13:13It's gut-wrenching.
13:15Standing there with my wife and my son
13:17want to make sure that you've got their backs
13:20and not failing them in chasing a pipe dream.
13:25It makes me feel like that
13:28what we're doing is wasting our time,
13:31and I don't want to have my dad go through that.
13:35I'm a little nervous about the whole situation
13:36because you can't just learn how to mine overnight.
13:39Brett has a little experience when he was a kid,
13:41but that didn't prepare him for where he is right now.
13:46How's it going, guys?
13:48How's it going?
13:48Hey.
13:49We came up with some ideas.
13:51It's going to be some tough love along the way here
13:53showing you some of this stuff
13:54that we think you were doing incorrectly.
13:57Not everything is pay.
13:58You know, just because you might find traces of gold in it
14:01doesn't mean it's pay.
14:02One of the big things that we really want to do
14:04is teach you to go in there,
14:05get all the over and burden off,
14:06and then we get down to the pay layer.
14:08Another thing, we watch you outside multiple times
14:11with a crowbar cleaning those grizzly bars out, right?
14:14What we want to do is we want to build a set of lifter bars,
14:17like grizzlies, but they actually go underneath
14:18and they actually hydraulically lift up
14:20and they'll push everything out of the grizzlies.
14:22No way.
14:23That's a cool idea.
14:25Fantastic.
14:26And we want to add more shake to your eccentric.
14:29It needs to be, you know, fairly violent all the time.
14:32And we only ran two hours, right?
14:35Your water was almost to the point where you needed to shut down.
14:38So we want to put a silt dam in
14:40to make that silt drop out before it gets to your pump.
14:43That makes a good point there.
14:50To eliminate the organic material and rocks
14:53that clog Brett's hopper,
14:56one will build a one-of-a-kind hydraulic rake system
14:59to help clear this waste material from the grizzly bars.
15:06To increase vibration on the shaker deck,
15:10new weights will be added to the eccentric
15:12to boost the flow of pay.
15:17And a silt dam will be installed to reduce soil
15:21suspended in the water Brett uses to process pay.
15:28And most urgently,
15:30Freddie will take Brett on a prospect of the claim
15:33to identify better pay.
15:37So we figured up rough numbers,
15:39and it's going to be around $4,000
15:42for the parts, the steel.
15:44That's just the materials, right?
15:47And then, not now,
15:49but if you guys get back to the point
15:51where you're actually making money,
15:52it's being successful,
15:53what we would like to see a year from now
15:55is announce a piece.
15:57Well, to me, I think it's worth the investment
15:58to start off right.
16:00Okay.
16:01We genuinely want to help you guys.
16:03Yeah.
16:03Because, you know, at the end of the day,
16:04it is your last chance, right?
16:05You're talking about this is a Hail Mary.
16:07You want to go in there and do the best you can
16:09for you and your family,
16:10and we want the same.
16:12Right, right.
16:12Well, we'll get out there.
16:14You guys are good.
16:15Sounds like a plan.
16:16We're so excited to see the outcome of this.
16:19The biggest thing in my past
16:20was watching my father gamble too many things.
16:24So we are very concerned
16:26about what we're getting engaged into,
16:29but we believe in the long run
16:30it's going to be worth it.
16:32I'd like to continue the gold mining as a family.
16:35Obviously, our time is money.
16:37I'm hoping it'll be a good outcome.
16:47Why don't we pull Brett's hopper off
16:48and take it up top?
16:50Yeah.
16:51And then get in there and start prospecting.
16:54Freddy and Juan's first task for the day,
16:57remove the hopper
16:58and transport it 300 feet up out of the creek.
17:04We're going to put the hopper on that little trailer,
17:06and we're going to tow it up
17:06to where our trailers and trucks are.
17:08That way we can fabricate everything
17:09that we need on it up top.
17:12Tap her up, Brett.
17:16Up a little bit.
17:17A little bit of pressure on there still.
17:19Careful.
17:21Because when that comes out,
17:22it's going to want to twist.
17:26A teeny bit up.
17:28Are we clear?
17:30Coming up easy, Juan.
17:36You want to track with it?
17:37Yeah.
17:39Hey.
17:41Hey!
17:44You walking up on me and sneaking me,
17:46you little weasel.
17:47Yeah, that's what I do.
17:48How's everything going?
17:50Hey, everyone.
17:51This is Chelsea.
17:52Juan.
17:52Fred's down there cranking away.
17:54There's your brother over there.
17:55What's up, dork?
17:56Look who just showed up.
17:57Hello.
17:58Hello.
17:58What's up, dude?
17:59Hi.
18:00What you doing?
18:01Having fun yet?
18:01Yeah.
18:03Chelsea, bless her heart,
18:05she's trying to hustle back home herself
18:07to get ready for her wedding.
18:08That's coming up in a week.
18:10Dad gets to see daughter get married.
18:12Very excited.
18:15My thoughts on my dad,
18:17seeing him go from doing something he's done
18:19for as long as I've been alive, 28 years,
18:22and seeing him do something massively different
18:24is a little concerning.
18:27I've heard him talk about his dad
18:31and the experiences he had growing up.
18:33So it surprised me when he was like,
18:34I'm going to go dig in the dirt.
18:35And I'm like, okay, why?
18:39But I think ultimately it is financial and emotional.
18:42I just hope he's seeing everything properly.
18:52Watch your hands.
18:54Yeah, we're good.
18:56It went all right.
18:57So far, so good,
18:59but we haven't got it out of here yet.
19:03Freddy and Juan must now transport
19:05the 1,500-pound load through the creek
19:08and up to six miles of rugged terrain
19:11using only the ATV.
19:15You guys want to go ahead of us
19:16and just kind of follow my pace?
19:18Yep.
19:18We'll make it happen, guys.
19:19All right.
19:20Let's do it.
19:22Let's do it.
19:23Let's do it.
19:29There's one creek crossing.
19:31It's got me concerned down here.
19:39Ah, stupid.
20:01I'll push out the winch.
20:02Off-grid on the Idaho claim
20:05of greenhorn miner Brett Allen.
20:08Must be found.
20:09Freddy and Juan faced their first challenge,
20:13transporting the hopper uphill
20:15to their service trucks.
20:17I'd go up another 10 feet.
20:19That way you're not on a hill.
20:20Okay.
20:22So I'm going to be in low gear.
20:24Okay.
20:24Juan, turn your wheels that way a little.
20:28On your call, 1-0.
20:30Go.
20:31Go ahead.
20:34Go.
20:35There we go.
20:37The rocks and the steepness of the entry and exit
20:40make it a little bit tough with that weight.
20:43It's always nice to have backup.
20:52Holy ****, Juan.
20:53Made it.
20:55Good driving.
20:56Thank you, sir.
20:57I'm going to go back down to the mine.
20:59With the hopper safely delivered.
21:02Yeah, I'm going to get going up here.
21:04Freddy heads back down to the mine site with Brett
21:07to inspect the cut,
21:08while Juan jumps into the hopper upgrade with Josh.
21:12Are you going to be able to help me for the day?
21:14Yeah.
21:14Yeah.
21:15Perfect.
21:15Well, I got a couple of things I need you to do.
21:18I'm really hoping that Freddy comes up with something,
21:20because honestly, without better ground,
21:22all this is for naught.
21:26Put the hook on.
21:28Okay, that's good.
21:29In the first test run,
21:32organic material and rocks
21:34repeatedly block up Brett's hopper.
21:36What we're going to do, Josh,
21:37we're going to cut all the grizzlies out.
21:38Okay.
21:38We're going to put all new ones in,
21:39and then we'll actually start building the fingers
21:40that go in between them to be able to clear them out.
21:43Yeah.
21:45Juan first cuts out the grizzlies.
21:50Okay, your time to shine.
21:56Before Josh smooths the old welds.
22:01Now, let's say we do find some decent ground.
22:03Do you want to stay out here with your dad
22:04and run this place?
22:05Yeah.
22:06We are looking for a fresh start from our business,
22:08so, yeah, it's just not working for us.
22:11We like to work for ourselves and as a family.
22:14Yeah.
22:14That's really what my dad wants to do.
22:16Although you've got to do a little bit of everything
22:18if you want to mine.
22:19Yeah, and you guys are teaching
22:20those valuable tools to us.
22:22Hopefully you take it to heart
22:23and you just keep on expanding on that,
22:25because you'll need it.
22:33Before you set a plant up,
22:35you always figure your cut out.
22:37Six miles upstream from the mine site,
22:40Freddie and Brett work the cut.
22:43The pressure is on to find good ground.
22:46Otherwise, the fixes will count for nothing.
22:50I can tell you came in here and set your plant up
22:52and then started digging.
22:53Correct.
22:54100 percent.
22:55Another important thing,
22:57you spend all that time digging that
22:58and sluicing that, right?
22:59That sandy stuff, it's garbage.
23:01We only found maybe two or three colors
23:03in the sandy material.
23:05That's nothing.
23:05I know people get excited when they see gold,
23:08especially when they're new to mining,
23:10and they don't know that they're throwing away
23:13$10 to make 10 cents.
23:15One rule of thumb in modern mining for gold
23:18is move it once, sometimes make money.
23:21Move it twice, you may break even.
23:24Move it three times, you go broke fast.
23:28With my dad, I remember he'd just dig hole
23:30after hole after hole.
23:32I never really understood his management
23:34and why he did what he did.
23:36Freddie's explaining that to me
23:38and the reason why we're doing it.
23:40It would have been nice to have learned that
23:41when I was a kid, for sure.
23:43But inexperience is a game killer.
23:47What we want to do is dig as deep as we can.
23:50And once we dig down,
23:51then I want to start testing that.
23:54I don't want to be chasing a pipe dream.
23:57So being able to get in and assess and validate
23:59that we've got a valuable claim,
24:01that's important to us.
24:07Since 1863, more than 1 million ounces of gold
24:11was pulled out of these hills.
24:13Worth nearly $5 billion at today's prices.
24:20To have a chance of finding any gold
24:23the old-timers missed,
24:25Freddie must first dig out the worthless overburnt.
24:28That's a mouse.
24:31That's a lie.
24:33She wants to dig in that dirt.
24:35You can't dig in the dirt, that's their job.
24:37Hey, I got her.
24:40You got a second, Brett?
24:42Yep.
24:43You can see there's those three boulders.
24:46You can see those rounded gravels in the wall?
24:48Seeing it, yeah.
24:49That's what we're looking for.
24:52Perfect shingle, compacted material.
24:54Everything you'd look for in a gold mine.
24:57Wow.
24:58That's amazing.
24:59That's what we want to see,
25:00that stuff that's been reworked by the stream system.
25:02Keeps going.
25:03Got it.
25:04It's really good.
25:05Hey.
25:07Filmed pretty good.
25:09Freddie said,
25:09when you see big rocks like that,
25:11they usually assign us some big gold.
25:13I'm really excited.
25:15That's given me my confidence back.
25:31Perfect.
25:34High above the creek.
25:36So right now, I'm just test fitting it.
25:39Juan fabricates the rake for his one-of-a-kind hydraulic grizzly system.
25:43This rod's actually going to go towards the bottom of the pan,
25:46and the cylinder's going to be underneath the pan.
25:48So as the cylinder extends,
25:50it'll push this rod forward,
25:52push the rakes forward,
25:52and get all that material off the hopper.
25:56The hydraulic cylinder
25:57will generate 10,000 pounds worth of force
26:01and push clear any waste material blocking up the grizzlies.
26:06All right.
26:06Well, let's clean these up.
26:10You can drill this one out
26:12since you're the master driller now.
26:13Ha, ha.
26:19Yep, that'll work.
26:20All right, pull it towards you.
26:27You know, it's tough, though.
26:28You go from a business that you know
26:29to a business that you really don't know.
26:31And honestly, I'm not trying to discourage you,
26:34but mining's a hard business to be in.
26:35I just want to see this site really work out.
26:38It doesn't have necessarily to do with how hard you work.
26:41You can work your butt off.
26:42But if there's no gold in the ground,
26:44it's all for naught, right?
26:45Yeah, you're wasting your time.
26:47Yeah.
26:47So hopefully Freddy's able to find something decent
26:49out there for you guys.
26:52I got the cylinder all done.
26:54Now I'm going to get it mounted,
26:55so that's ready to go.
27:04I'm going to go grab a gold pan,
27:05and I want to pan some of this
27:07and see if we see any color in it.
27:09Down in the creek,
27:10Freddy tests the promising-looking pay
27:13he's just uncovered in Brett's cut.
27:16So we're going to take little bits randomly
27:18from them throughout the pile.
27:25A moment of truth, guys.
27:27Let's see if we get some color.
27:28I hope so.
27:29I really do.
27:45You see all those rounded rocks?
27:48So these have traveled quite some distance.
27:54At the Allen mine,
27:56Freddy evaluates the freshly uncovered pay.
28:00Two little bitty colors.
28:05This time, you go grab a pan,
28:07do some random stuff.
28:09All right.
28:10That doesn't mean it's not in that pile,
28:12but it's damn sure it wasn't in the pan.
28:16I'd have liked to have seen 20 colors
28:18in that pan, or 30.
28:20Yep.
28:21Just pan two.
28:27Two colors.
28:30Very small, yeah.
28:32Let's try one more pan.
28:34Michelle?
28:39Okay, well, this pan's pretty heavy.
28:41There you go.
28:41Let's see what we got.
28:43Maybe third pan's a charm, huh?
28:50Nothing.
28:51Nothing.
28:53Nothing in there, Brett.
29:00There's a lot of challenges
29:02to mining in a tight valley.
29:03It isn't like we'll have
29:05a thousand-acre property here to prospect.
29:07Yeah.
29:07We're basically on a postage stamp.
29:09We don't have time to move
29:11your whole plant,
29:12assembly, ponds,
29:13everything while we're here,
29:14and test some other areas on your ground
29:16from, let's say, 30 feet farther over.
29:20So let's just keep our fingers crossed,
29:22because we have thousands of pans
29:24of material sitting there right now.
29:27Yeah.
29:27So we got a true test we can do.
29:29There should be gold there.
29:31We got rounded rocks.
29:32We got big boulders.
29:33We got all the telltale signs
29:36that if there is gold in the deposit,
29:39that's where it'd be.
29:40The only thing that's missing is the gold.
29:42Right.
29:43Where's the gold?
29:45I've never been in this situation,
29:47you know, with the miners we've helped before.
29:49We dug down to bedrock.
29:51The material looked great, phenomenal,
29:53better than I thought it would, actually.
29:56I didn't see much gold.
29:58I thought we'd see a lot more colors,
29:59and just kind of questions
30:03where our future goes going with mining.
30:06Thinking a big day, tired,
30:10and tons of question marks.
30:13They still got enough money
30:14to put beans on the table.
30:15They won't soon if this property
30:18doesn't pay the bills.
30:19We're on a second test,
30:21and what gold's there is what gold's there.
30:23But hopefully, it's more than the gold
30:26in those pans.
30:39We've got a lot to get done this morning.
30:41I got the grizzlies installed,
30:42so we've still got to do
30:43the hydraulic cylinder underneath.
30:45A critical day for fixes
30:47at the Allen Claim.
30:49It's all hands on deck
30:51to get the plant ready
30:52for the second test run.
30:55One time we've been grinding away
30:56the paint here,
30:56so it gives good contact
30:57for the weld he's going to put on here.
30:59Anything that I can
31:00to take Steph off with his hands.
31:03This is the wireless remote control.
31:05When he's in the excavator,
31:06he can wirelessly control the grizzlies.
31:09He can open them or close them.
31:10We had to program it,
31:12but it's ready to go.
31:17It's really great to work with Juan.
31:19I can take the skills
31:20he's showed me onto the site
31:22and show my dad as well
31:23something he hasn't known.
31:29That'll work.
31:32On the hopper,
31:33he has an eccentric,
31:34and that's vibrating the hopper
31:35to be able to feed that material
31:36down onto the grizzlies.
31:39Next, Juan turns his attention
31:41to the issue of the slow feed rate.
31:45Those are going to be the weights
31:46for the eccentric.
31:47Right now,
31:48it doesn't have enough vibration,
31:49but by adding weight to it,
31:51we should be able to get
31:51more vibration out of it.
31:53That's really cool.
31:55The increase in vibration
31:56will shake through more pay
31:59and allow the material
32:00to be processed in less time.
32:04So now I'm going to load it
32:05on the trailer,
32:05get it down to the mine site,
32:06get it installed.
32:08Tone the pressure.
32:15Well, Juan, you ready?
32:17Yeah, I'm ready.
32:25Yeah, there's no way
32:25we would have been able
32:26to do all that work
32:27at the mine site.
32:28Oh, no.
32:35We got in.
32:36Now we've got to put it together,
32:37Freddy.
32:38Yep, and run.
32:41Okay, good?
32:43A little more,
32:44a little more,
32:44a little more.
32:46Slowly let her down.
32:49It's crunch time.
32:50You can feel it,
32:51and you're just rushing
32:52and hustling and bustling
32:53to work together
32:54as a team
32:55to make it all happen.
33:00That looks good.
33:03That's good.
33:04That's exciting.
33:07You ever tried this
33:08on your sandwiches?
33:09It's really good.
33:10I heard it's good.
33:15Perfect.
33:19We got the hopper on.
33:21All the springs are in place.
33:22What we're going to do,
33:23we're going to put
33:23a little bracket down below
33:24so we can put the hydraulic pump
33:25in there and the battery.
33:27With the upgraded hopper
33:29now reattached.
33:31Let's put a silt dam in here
33:32to keep that silt up here
33:34where your tailings are.
33:36Time is running out
33:37on the day,
33:38so Freddy and Brett
33:39turn their attention
33:40to one last important bush fix.
33:43We're trying to get you
33:44the most gold you can get
33:45from this unproven ground.
33:47That really fine gold,
33:48when that water gets thick,
33:49gold has a hard time
33:50falling out of that.
33:52So when you make water
33:53and silt go down,
33:55gravity works, right?
33:57Well, the water can go under,
33:58the water will go back up,
34:00but it'll help that silt
34:01continue diving.
34:03So it'll get rid of a lot
34:04of the silt
34:05that's suspended in your water.
34:08It'll allow you
34:09to run your plant longer.
34:10The longer you run,
34:11the more gold you can get, right?
34:14Pound your end down.
34:21Let's grab a tarp.
34:32There we go.
34:34I've got a chain
34:35we'll put in the bottom.
34:36If not, this tarp
34:38would just float on the surface.
34:39Okay.
34:39So it's simple,
34:41but it works.
34:44We got all that pay
34:45we dug out,
34:46stacked up here.
34:47Let's just hope
34:48there's enough gold in it.
34:49All we can do now
34:50is keep our fingers crossed
34:51and see what this test does.
34:56Coming up.
34:57We wouldn't have
34:58the amount of gold
35:00that we've extracted
35:01out of the ground
35:01had it not been
35:02for what we learned
35:03from Freddie and Juan.
35:16We were able
35:17to get a few things
35:18done for you guys.
35:19In remote Southwest Idaho,
35:21the Allen family's plant
35:23is ready
35:24for the second test run.
35:26Freddie got your silt dam
35:27installed there.
35:28It'll keep your water
35:28cleaner longer.
35:29I love the idea.
35:31The silt dam
35:32will stop Brett's water
35:33becoming too thick
35:35to catch any fine gold.
35:37Let's go take a look
35:37at the plant.
35:38One of the things
35:39that we noticed
35:40was you spent 30%
35:41of your time
35:41playing with the grizzlies
35:42trying to get them
35:42cleaned out.
35:43So we built you
35:44a new system
35:44that you can remotely
35:45operate the grizzlies
35:47and it pushes
35:47all the material out.
35:48Brett can now
35:49continuously feed pay
35:51without stopping
35:52to clear them.
35:54Great idea.
35:55We also did some
35:56extra weights
35:57on your eccentrics.
35:58The extra vibration
35:59of the hopper
36:00will increase
36:01the flow of pay
36:02down into the wash plant.
36:04I like that.
36:05Let's do a two-hour test,
36:06huh, guys?
36:06Let's do it.
36:08Let's do it.
36:08Start up.
36:16Oh, yeah.
36:19Hopefully this test
36:20lets them know
36:21whether to stay in line
36:22or to claim this property
36:24and move out.
36:25I'm hopeful,
36:26but I'm a little worried.
36:29I have family support
36:30for Brett
36:30is going to be critical
36:31right now.
36:33Two-hour test, huh?
36:34Start a timer.
36:35Let's do it.
36:37Freddie runs
36:37a two-hour test
36:39to get a like-for-like result
36:41to compare
36:42with the first run.
36:43First bucket!
36:49See the rake
36:50is pushing it?
36:51Yeah, that's cool, man.
36:57This is something
36:58we've never tried before,
36:59and honestly,
36:59I'm really happy
37:00the way it's working.
37:03Silt dam's working good.
37:05The water looks a lot
37:06cleaner than before.
37:09Okay, this is looking
37:11really good.
37:12Every rock coming off
37:13nice and clean.
37:17If all of this
37:17turns out very successful,
37:18it would mean
37:20pretty much everything.
37:22There's two hours, huh?
37:24Yep.
37:24Hey, Brett!
37:26Last bucket.
37:33Good work.
37:36Get it cleaned up, guys,
37:37and we'll meet you
37:38for a gold way, huh?
37:39Sounds like a winner.
37:40Let's go for it.
37:41See you guys in a bit.
37:42Okay, clean-up time.
37:47The Allen's hope
37:48of replacing
37:48their auto body business
37:50with a viable
37:51gold mining venture
37:52rests on these results.
37:55You said when we first
37:56got here, you know,
37:57you'd tell us straight up
37:58what you think,
37:59and that's what we've done
38:00this whole week.
38:01Yeah.
38:03Pour it in there.
38:07We're already above
38:08the first cleanup.
38:100.03, 0.04,
38:16let's call it
38:16$150, $160 worth of gold
38:18there for two hours.
38:21With his upgraded plant
38:23and better ground,
38:24in a 10-hour day,
38:26Brett could make
38:27just $800.
38:30Still not where
38:31it needs to be.
38:31No, it's not.
38:33I hate to say that,
38:34you know?
38:35Only half of what he needs
38:37to make this a viable
38:39business for himself
38:40and his family.
38:43But nothing ventured,
38:44nothing gained, right?
38:45Your business back home,
38:46you know,
38:46instead of sitting there
38:47crying about it,
38:48you're out trying to make
38:49a living still.
38:49Trying to do the best you can
38:51for your wife
38:51and your kids.
38:53You know,
38:53and they're supporting you.
38:54Thanks.
38:54You've already got a plant,
38:56you've already got pumps,
38:58and you have a team with you
39:00that can help you succeed
39:01if you find the right ground.
39:02More than anything,
39:03you have a team that's willing
39:04to stick with you
39:05through anything.
39:06So that's a big thing.
39:07That's priceless.
39:09Yeah.
39:10But you should reclaim
39:11this property
39:11and move out.
39:12Yeah.
39:13So figure out
39:14where that next step is.
39:15You got it.
39:16Thanks, guys.
39:16Thanks so much.
39:17Thanks for your time.
39:18Bye.
39:18You got it.
39:22They asked to tell the truth
39:23and one of myself
39:24always do, right?
39:26The reason they got
39:27into mining
39:27was to hopefully
39:29change their future.
39:31But people get gold fever,
39:32right?
39:33And gold mining's
39:34like any other business.
39:35If you don't know
39:35what you're doing,
39:36you're not going to make it.
39:38Brett's worked his tail off
39:39and his family as well.
39:40So my hat goes off to him
39:42because, you know,
39:42he's put the work in.
39:43You know, there's a lot
39:44of people that wouldn't even
39:44try or attempt to do
39:46what he's done,
39:47and he's done it.
39:48Granted, you know,
39:48it didn't go his way.
39:50But honestly,
39:51there's no shame in failure.
39:53The shame is not trying at all,
39:55and he tried.
39:58It's not what I expected,
40:00but it's what I needed to hear.
40:03This family is a lot stronger
40:05than people look in
40:06and see from the outside.
40:07No matter what hardships
40:08come at us,
40:09we're able to just move on,
40:10get the next thing done.
40:12If I was digging a trench
40:14and I came across
40:17any of these three,
40:18yeah, that would be
40:19the treasure,
40:20and I'd throw
40:21everything else back.
40:24Thanks, guys.
40:25Yeah.
40:25Of course.
40:26Yeah.
40:26Love you, Tums.
40:27Oh, me too.
40:35So we came together
40:37as a family
40:38and realized
40:38that if we continue
40:39to stay on the mine site
40:40we were on,
40:41it wasn't going to be profitable,
40:43and that led us
40:44to an opportunity
40:45to purchase
40:46my dad's old claim back.
40:48It's a really weird experience
40:50seeing my own son
40:51working a piece of land
40:53that, you know,
40:53I had a huge attachment
40:55to as a kid.
40:57We've worked 20 days
40:58on the new mine site
40:59and we've pulled
41:014.5 ounces out.
41:03So we have income coming in
41:05and we will keep building
41:06the mine as a business.
41:08What's really cool
41:09about this
41:10is we're erasing
41:11bad memories
41:11and making great memories.
41:13We...
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