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00:00:02I
00:00:02Drink way too much. I woke up in the morning. What'd you buy? It was a 40 acre claim
00:00:08On this episode of mine rescue. We're trying to do two plants at the same time
00:00:14It's gonna be crazy
00:00:16The fate of two failing operations on one Alaskan mega claim
00:00:22We all work together look out for each other. We'll rise and fall together depends on the first-ever
00:00:28High-stakes double rescue come on big boy. Let's go
00:00:34My mind fire fire
00:00:37It's blowing straight to our camp
00:00:40This really may not happen for any of these guys next year
00:00:44There's still more yeah
00:00:57We're probably 30 40 miles away from the Arctic Circle gold was discovered in this area in
00:01:021893 over a million ounces of gold come out of this ground. That's a lot of stinking gold. Yeah, it
00:01:08is
00:01:12We're here to help across two different mine sites
00:01:15The leaseholders the pot fins they couldn't lose at all last year and then on top of that fred dickinson
00:01:21Well, he's struggling not being able to run as much as he wants
00:01:25And he has royalty he has to pay that's as ambitious as we've ever been
00:01:30Winding their way through the central alaskan tundra
00:01:33Juan and dave head to their first ever double rescue on
00:01:372000 acres in boulder creek with one miner one knows well
00:01:44So I met fred dickinson almost six years ago. It was one of the first rescues freddy and I ever
00:01:50did no way
00:01:54I
00:01:55Hey gentlemen, hey guys
00:01:57Good to see you. I'm brian day. Hey, good to see you, man
00:02:01Nice to meet you guys fred good to see you buddy. Yes, sir. It has been a minute everything's grown
00:02:07the boys have grown the equipment's grown plants grown
00:02:10I see that the bills have grown. Oh, yeah, and you were in arizona and now you're in alaska. Yes,
00:02:16sir
00:02:16Wow
00:02:18After freddy and juan visited us we were in a really good place
00:02:22Hey guys
00:02:24Welcome six years ago in their first televised rescue
00:02:28freddy and juan found the dickinson family's dreams of gold dying in the desert right now
00:02:34My hobby has to feed my family. Let's get him some more gold right on. Let's do it, man
00:02:39A little awestruck by what these guys are able to do
00:02:431.13
00:02:44Woo
00:02:45I can't tell you how much we appreciate you guys coming out
00:02:50Freddie and juan took me from a hobby minor to a professional minor
00:02:54The first couple of years we were making money
00:02:58Our decision to move from arizona to alaska was about expanding our operation about
00:03:04Me and the boys being able to do something that would support all of us
00:03:10I'm not gonna lie. We're struggling the ground in alaska is nothing like the ground in arizona
00:03:15Getting the material to the wash plant getting the material run has become a bit of a logistical nightmare
00:03:21I'm out of my depth
00:03:23I'm not here because this is fun and games for me. I enjoy mining
00:03:27But i'm out here to build something for my family
00:03:33What was your goal going into this season going into this season our goal was 200 ounces originally
00:03:40Now i'd be lucky if i can hit 100
00:03:46So how are you doing this year then 22 ounces so far halfway through the season
00:03:51The people we lease from the podvins they get a cut which is always painful, but they support us
00:03:56And since i've been here every time we break down they're over helping us pulling us out, okay
00:04:02Well you guys got some gold to show us we don't have any of the gold it's sold to the
00:04:06refinery
00:04:07I went home last year very in debt
00:04:10And at this year we are we're struggling to break even much less pay off last year's debt
00:04:15So i'm uh i'm about a hundred and eighty five thousand dollars upside down i'm gonna go bankrupt here
00:04:26And what we want to do is uh kind of get out there and do a test run with you
00:04:28guys
00:04:29You kind of know the what we do and how we do things you know
00:04:31Dave and i we're gonna kind of sit back and watch you guys and really see what we can do
00:04:35to help you guys out
00:04:36Are you guys ready to run some dirt sure yeah show us that wash plant let's get it fired up
00:04:40let's go
00:04:43Going from their humble little plant fred's grown he's progressed scaled up but he's got a long ways to go
00:04:49to make it work out here
00:04:51firing it up
00:05:02We're gonna do a four hour run i love dirt moving it makes it all the more fun when there's
00:05:09gold involved
00:05:11Fred's son josh loads pay into an eight foot hopper that washes down into a 12 foot shaker deck
00:05:20Material is screened through a square hole punch plate and fed down into the sluice runs below where the gold
00:05:27should collect
00:05:29brother brian in the d9 clears tailings to prevent them backing up
00:05:34A lot of that material is getting stuck on that screen
00:05:38That punch plate the bottleneck there yeah 100 but i think it's about a bucket a minute roughly might be
00:05:44a little less
00:05:48One of the issues they've got is the way the material's coming down
00:05:52It's really going down one sluice box about this wide
00:05:56They're really utilizing about 30 to 40 percent of their sluice box
00:06:04Look at the size of that
00:06:06We must have somewhere else in the screen where this is coming through yeah that's massive
00:06:13There's no reason that should be in there at all
00:06:17How's the hopper doing buddy is it packed up or are you doing okay yeah it's fine
00:06:22All right 10-4 yeah give her just a little bit more
00:06:29I've ran a lot of gold mines and
00:06:32This one's just a little disorganized how they get their pay out
00:06:36You know how they're delivering their pay how they're dealing with the tailings
00:06:45Is that the podman's plant we're just down creek from them a little bit yeah literally stones throw away from
00:06:51them
00:06:52The podman's they're my landlords right now our arrangement is i get the corners and crevices that his larger operation
00:07:02Bypasses because they move in straight lines and the river doesn't
00:07:05The truth is is our destinies are tied together will rise and fall together
00:07:11Landlord the podman's own the rights to over 2 000 acres daryl is the guy everybody goes to for help
00:07:18He just goes yeah i'm in the middle of sluicing but that's okay i'll come help you they've been instrumental
00:07:24in kind of helping us mine this creek
00:07:26So i know this year they're having to run two years worth just to try to make enough to get
00:07:31by and you know start building a life for themselves
00:07:35But after the podvins failed to run last season
00:07:39Fred is under pressure to deliver them a healthy royalty to stay in business
00:07:44We've still got a lot to figure out with this wash plant we are struggling to get enough volume on
00:07:49this ground to be able to go home with money
00:07:58Holy
00:08:05Damn it
00:08:10this is not good brian's d9 prevents the wash plant from becoming overwhelmed by tailings it
00:08:18started leaking coolant everywhere so it might have had a cracked head gasket so it's time to
00:08:24take the head off and check everything out we're at the end of the four-hour run so why don't
00:08:33we
00:08:33shut them down and see what we got in the box all right buddy that's your last bucket let's shut
00:08:38it
00:08:38down you can see on the flow on shutdown how much water's on that side how much material yeah just
00:08:50watching it right now on shutdown you can see what it's doing oh yeah well gentlemen why don't you
00:08:55guys clean it all up and uh let's let's do a gold way okay we'll meet back up with you
00:08:59guys in the
00:09:00morning and see what we got sounds great you good with that yes sir all right i'm hoping that these
00:09:06guys can work some magic we need to figure out how to run more dirt or to run longer let's
00:09:15go take a
00:09:15look at the podvin plant yeah let's go located half a mile away the podvin operation is midway through a
00:09:25100-hour run hey how you doing come on there good to meet you hi i'm dave how are you
00:09:33doing
00:09:34good daryl daryl what a beautiful plant thank you it's awesome that you guys are here and we can
00:09:40check this thing out and see if you can help us you built this whole thing yeah wow the two
00:09:46boys and i
00:09:46it's a big thing daryl runs the operation with his partner leva and two grown sons matthew and eric
00:09:54it is designed where we can flip the compare flip the sluice box and change directions on the side of
00:10:00the creek there's a lot of thought in this absolutely we had a diesel repair shop in north dakota in
00:10:06the
00:10:06oil field and we also had a gravel crushing business on the side so we crushed gravel throughout the
00:10:12summers and wrenched year-round and oil kind of took a dive and we were trying to figure out what
00:10:17we
00:10:18were gonna do and we were drinking at the bar one day i drank way too much and went to
00:10:25bed woke up in
00:10:25the morning leva was like what'd you what'd you spend on paypal for 800 bucks no what do you mean
00:10:33she
00:10:33says well you bought something in alaska for 800 bucks on paypal what'd you buy i said well let's check
00:10:39it out sure enough it was a 40 acre claim and i was like oh dad called us the next
00:10:46morning and said
00:10:47hey you want to go prospect the gold claim in alaska and i thought he was out of his mind
00:10:51and we came up here and spent the month up here and found like seven tiny little pieces of gold
00:10:56and been up here ever since 10 years later here we are i'm very proud of that wash plant that
00:11:03the fact
00:11:03that we spent our retirement and then some on building it nobody made any money last year you know
00:11:08including the boys it was a killer it's a hell of a design it's like almost a dredge it's a
00:11:17land
00:11:17dredge it is the dredge on wheels i like it on this rolling land dredge known as a progressive plant
00:11:25pay is fed into an eight foot hopper and washed into a 40 foot long trommel a spray bar washes
00:11:33the pay
00:11:34down into the 16 by 10 foot wide sluice box but after taking a full season off sluicing to build
00:11:41it
00:11:42they now can't afford to shut it down so dave and juan must assess the wash plan without waiting for
00:11:49a
00:11:49gold way once that wash plant's running it's going to stay around we ain't going to shut down how many
00:12:04for it can be we have to run more material i spent way too much money building that wash
00:12:09might have to let it run 100 yards an hour it has to be increased it was expensive girl to
00:12:15build no
00:12:16kidding putting that kind of money out not running all year long last year daryl's running on empty
00:12:23that's a tough thing to do when you have an operation like this and not only that on the dickinson's
00:12:27plan
00:12:28there's a couple issues that i'm really worried about this is going to be a tricky rescue trying to do
00:12:32two plants at the same time it's going to be a tough few days this is an adventure let's go
00:12:40see
00:12:42coming up i'm very frustrated i mean they did look and they just didn't see that sluice box is
00:12:48absolutely horrible be careful we don't have a hell of a lot of time slow down honestly really don't give
00:12:54two about the sluice box
00:13:07you can feel it build in here in boulder creek alaska juan and dave assessed the largest of the two
00:13:15operations in their double rescue you know there's definitely a lot more flow on this side yeah you
00:13:21can feel it the distribution's an issue you feel the ripple and they're pretty lean yeah it is a little
00:13:28lean so you can tell on that side it's going to be super lean yeah you know when you can
00:13:32actually see
00:13:33the gravel coming down it doesn't have a chance to settle out in the map we're losing gold out of
00:13:38that box
00:13:41he has an issue up top as well on the hopper i mean that bucket is just about as big
00:13:46as it's the
00:13:46hopper it is it is he's having to periodically go in there and push it so he's got some hard
00:13:52angles
00:13:52in there that are impeding the rock and then they get stacked up that's definitely a bottleneck
00:13:59they designed it to do 200 yards an hour and right now he's just barely over 100.
00:14:05what are you typically run before you clean up 100 100 hours in the box i guess what we need
00:14:11to do
00:14:12is figure out what we can do because my concern is if we tackle the big problem of the hopper
00:14:16now we're
00:14:16going to create that problem further downstream in the sluice box right so it's going to be a multiple
00:14:20part fix the one thing that does kind of make me feel a little bit better we'll have travis and
00:14:25alex here yeah so you know it'll be probably a balancing act really i think we're going to have
00:14:30to divide and conquer as one puzzles through the potential fixes dave gets to grips with the podvin's
00:14:38pay dirt i'm just checking see if there's much gold down here i'm not finding much there was two tiny
00:14:46little pieces of gold
00:14:55that's pretty lean ground i need a little bit more information
00:15:07you guys getting ready to move yeah to keep the plant loaded with pay in its 100-hour run the
00:15:15plant moves
00:15:1530 feet further into the cut every two hours it's kind of a unique design it's a progressive plant
00:15:23it basically moves to the material instead of moving the material to it it's as cheap as it
00:15:29gets to be able to process the ground here we go even though the plant's probably one of the nicer
00:15:34plants i've seen that sluice box is a real issue distribution's an issue the hopper's an issue it's
00:15:40going to be tough you know because we're going to have to spread our resources over two mine sites
00:15:44my issue is we don't have a hell of a lot of time this might not work
00:15:57this is it good to see you fred good to see you good to see you guys well you guys
00:16:04got some gold to
00:16:05to show us from that cleanup we do on the dickinson mine fred has the results from yesterday's four
00:16:11hour test run that's not terrible four hours yeah the little chunkers in there we don't see those
00:16:17very clean gold you've got some chunky stuff with quartz and then there's a piece that's just flattened
00:16:23nice little pickers you got several different sources here yeah we think so i think there's
00:16:28at least three but yeah that's my best guess all right well let's pour it out let's see what we
00:16:32got
00:16:33huh to stay on track for their 200 ounce season target this four hour test needs to give fred and
00:16:41his boys 1.4 ounces 0.94 nearly an ounce just shy of an ounce three thousand bucks roughly yeah
00:16:52for four
00:16:53hours run yeah it's a third short of their goal you know it's been getting us by but getting by
00:17:01is not
00:17:01good enough no no not paying off the debts no we're not paying off the debts that's the challenge
00:17:06you know if this number doesn't come up this may be the end of the line here
00:17:09yeah i mean it could be i mean we're we're gonna fight it with everything we've got though yeah no
00:17:14fair enough you know i guess uh you know really when it comes down to it you know we don't
00:17:18have a
00:17:18whole lot of time left in the season i think we're lacking in a couple different things but really
00:17:22it's going to boil down to what dave and i can do while the time we have here over two
00:17:25mine sites
00:17:26yeah absolutely and any any help makes a big difference we'll go back and kind of come up
00:17:31with a game plan see what we can't do all right i'm good with that go figure it out all
00:17:35right here
00:17:35you go here's your gold thank you sir see you guys in a bit
00:17:42that gold way is what we've been getting but it's it's not enough if we keep going the pace we're
00:17:47at
00:17:47we're not even going to reach half our coal we've got to change something there's quite a bit going on
00:17:54there dave two big operations on the brink juan and dave break down their task list brad has a few
00:18:01issues his throughput through the plant is not great i agree if we can get his pay up quicker get
00:18:08it
00:18:08piled up and then i see several things that could be fixed right now we're doing about 45 yards an
00:18:13hour
00:18:13you know and the reality is we've got to come up you know 65 yards an hour is really where
00:18:18he needs to
00:18:18be yeah that screen deck that he has there he's got square holes in it they're corner to corner
00:18:24almost inch and a half right now we're allowing material this big to go through that screen
00:18:29it's huge which is taking up a lot of room in that sluice box yeah so your suggestion is round
00:18:33correct yeah we'll cut a whole new plate but do all round holes and make sure they're one inch
00:18:39this eccentric's pretty easy so that thing is spinning right so you add more weight it's going
00:18:46to make the throat a bigger stroke absolutely what it's going to do is give us a little more
00:18:50violent of a shake but if we get more material through the plant basically we're going to be
00:18:55running more material on that side of the sluice so we're going to have to even that feed out
00:19:00and make it where it distributes equally across the two sluice boxes you good with that i'm good with
00:19:05that what do you think about the the podvins you know the problem with this we're having to do
00:19:12freds and the podvins at the same time so i know they don't want to shut the plant down yeah
00:19:16that's
00:19:17going to be interesting the biggest issue i saw with the podvins plant and you saw it too
00:19:21was that sluice box yeah we got that distribution box coming off the bottom pan it comes in so that
00:19:28material is coming down and again hitting this side of the box yep so what i would like to see
00:19:33here
00:19:34is try to get that material equally distributed across the whole box instead of just favoring
00:19:39that one side yeah you have four runs four runs we can get their production up fixing their feeder it
00:19:46was a little bit cumbersome i mean it was fogging up a little bit fogging up going out the sides
00:19:51yeah
00:19:51that feeder right now it comes in and then actually has a hard angle where that material is coming in
00:19:56and
00:19:56it's getting stopped up and it's not allowing it to go into the trommel maybe cut some angles some
00:20:00plates to be able to divert that material so it's not so drastic so let's go chat with them see
00:20:06what
00:20:06they say okay all right that's good all right
00:20:14well we uh we kind of had a chance to talk about what we wanted to do with you guys
00:20:18okay um one of the issues dave and i saw is your punch plate yeah on the top you know
00:20:23having those
00:20:23square holes it's a hard edge right so those rocks they get stuck so we'll cut a whole new one
00:20:28put it on
00:20:28there and it's going to be round holes and make sure they're tapered the right way okay dave came
00:20:32up with the idea we're going to add a little more weight to your eccentric as well yeah i think
00:20:36if we
00:20:36put some more weight you'll get a more violent shake so it should kick those rocks up and you should
00:20:42get more through okay we already have an issue with the distribution box right now it's kind of
00:20:47favoring that one side so we want to eliminate that oh wow so you will have a true distribution that'll
00:20:53actually feed 50 50 to the box okay so you know with those three things that we're talking about
00:21:00the punch plate eccentric weight and the distribution we're probably looking at about 3 500 material
00:21:07you know it's a little bit of a big nut to crack and i know right now things are kind
00:21:10of tight so what
00:21:11dave and i kind of came up with is we're willing to give you guys our labor for free i
00:21:14appreciate that
00:21:15that's amazing i wouldn't even hesitate at that so i appreciate that let's do it if you guys are ready
00:21:20to do it if you guys can help us be able to get some of this work done that way
00:21:23we can get all of
00:21:24it done in the time we're happy absolutely done okay let's do it deal thanks guys
00:21:31those are super critical fixes for us if we can't get that yardage up then we're not going to make
00:21:37enough gold to cover the season
00:21:52hey guys daryl how's it going guys in boulder creek alaska morning the livelihoods of two operations are
00:22:00at stake and juan and dave put an unprecedented second rescue deal on the table you guys are tight
00:22:07crew very well organized we're impressed so as far as efficiency you guys are pretty damn efficient yeah
00:22:14during the test run we did see a few things you know you want to be able to get up
00:22:17to that 200 yard
00:22:18an hour right now you're about what 120 yeah at top the feed on the hopper is something that we
00:22:23need to
00:22:23address right now the angle that you have is really abrupt what we're going to do is we're going to
00:22:27actually
00:22:27make it a little longer so that way as the material hits it's able to push in instead of getting
00:22:32stuck
00:22:32i think that's awesome another thing that dave and i saw is that you're losing gold that sluice box is
00:22:38a real issue so i was your box that you have now go up there and put dividing walls build
00:22:42a distribution
00:22:43box to be able to distribute that material evenly across the four boxes instead of i could tell eric
00:22:47don't like it i'm not convinced i don't want to split it i do not want to split that box
00:22:53i mean we
00:22:54clean up top eight feet two guys you can be done in an hour and that thing's back running
00:22:59honestly you know i worked under freddie for the last 11 years and freddie's made his career on
00:23:04fine gold you know and hundreds you know thousands and thousands of ounces i don't know what the number
00:23:09the real number is the percentage of what you're losing but i would guesstimate you know probably 10 to
00:23:1415 percent my concern is even if we go in there and we up your production yeah sure we're going
00:23:21to catch a
00:23:21little bit more gold but then also we're actually running the risk of losing more gold
00:23:27honestly really don't give two about the sluice box i really want the production up
00:23:33i spend way too much money building that wash plant to let it run 100 yards an hour
00:23:37the fine gold who cares i was the same production keep that going and i'd forget
00:23:43the sluice box is your bank yeah that's where you're making your money and i've had to learn that
00:23:50as we run more material through that box running the way it is i get it you're going to see
00:23:54an
00:23:54increase in gold yeah but there's going to be a massive increase in lost gold as well it's 16 feet
00:23:59long you know it it's going to catch it i really think that sluice box could stay
00:24:06agree agree to disagree but uh i'm good with that you know ultimately it's your guys's plant i want
00:24:12you guys you guys to be happy with what we're going to do and if that's what you guys want
00:24:16you
00:24:16know we'll absolutely do the distribution and work on that hopper i like it that's awesome we're going
00:24:21to up the production which you're all about i like it you know that being said between the hopper fix
00:24:27and working on the distribution it's probably going to be about 3 500 bucks in material
00:24:32and uh as far as labor we're thinking about an ounce piece you guys are good with it you know
00:24:37that's that's what we can offer do it make it happen all right if you don't up the production
00:24:44then it cuts in half but but but the deal is but the deal is if we do up the
00:24:47production we get the
00:24:48extra gold there you go i don't think that's gonna happen sounds great bring it in oh gosh all right
00:24:59when we decided to build that wash plant i thought well we can build this thing in two months no
00:25:04problem we'll build it in two months we'll still have a half a season it'll be all fine it'll pay
00:25:09for itself in a heartbeat yeah no it took it took five months to the day there's five or six
00:25:15of us
00:25:16welding and working on that thing constantly every inch of weld on that thing we welded it
00:25:23it's not a little 50 000 wash plant and everything on that thing is hundreds of thousands of dollars
00:25:30worth of parts you know and now we're to the point where everything's due past due we need to have
00:25:36a
00:25:36successful season here to make this work because we can't keep going we all really are feeling pressure
00:25:41dad definitely feels the pressure we got to find the gold this year
00:25:46the intention was to get 200 yards an hour out of it got better than a half a million bucks
00:25:52invested
00:25:52in this wash plant one whole entire summer not losing it was a lot of pressure that's our baby
00:26:01i mean we spent a lot of money and a lot of down time and lost money not only is
00:26:06it cash out of pocket
00:26:07to build it but we didn't mine either so you might have lost two million dollars last year and spent
00:26:11the
00:26:12half a million it's tough to let go and let someone else do this that or the other with it
00:26:17but at the
00:26:18same time them guys know what they're doing i trust they're going to do good work on it
00:26:28set up in the podvin's yard one begins the first of the fixes for the dickensons operation
00:26:35it's going to be difficult because fred's plant and the podvin's plant they're two of the bigger plants
00:26:40that we've done on a rescue right now we're cutting out the punch plate this is going to go on
00:26:46the
00:26:46dredge deck larger material slips through the dickensons shaker deck and clogs the sluice
00:26:55juan and dave will replace the square hold punch plate and add a new one with custom one inch round
00:27:02holes
00:27:05to keep material flowing through the plant they will install a jet into the back of the hopper and add
00:27:12weights to the eccentric shaker system finally to ensure the plant catches gold efficiently
00:27:20one will build a distribution chute to create an even flow of material into the sluice box
00:27:28we're going to be about 2 000 holes in this plate so there's going to be substantial cut times once
00:27:34it's done i'm going to get it out clean it up get it down there and install it
00:27:43over at the dickensons wash plant travis hasn't cut loose so it's ready to come out
00:27:49assisted by travis fred and josh make room for juan's new punch plate
00:27:56we believed somebody who said oh square holes are better they're not
00:28:02lift up on it a little bit and then drag it out of there
00:28:17it's stuck
00:28:22i don't want to break anything
00:28:27josh is my oldest and he's a hell of an operator he's a wizard in that excavator he likes to
00:28:32say he's
00:28:32as good as me but i think the jury's still out
00:28:42it's stuck it's not completely off yeah just pop it off just try not to hit the spray bars
00:28:50all right
00:29:07oh
00:29:08oh
00:29:11yeah
00:29:12Yep.
00:29:13Thank god that punch plate's gone.
00:29:16that thing.
00:29:18Good riddance.
00:29:19This was a failed experiment.
00:29:21We're glad to move on.
00:29:34Next process of this is getting the heads down onto the studs.
00:29:39In central Alaska, at the Dickinson mine.
00:29:43This is Darryl's crane.
00:29:45This is his service truck.
00:29:48I've used it countless times this season.
00:29:51Budding mechanic Brian tries to bring the broken D9 back online
00:29:55with equipment loaned from the Podvin operation.
00:29:59We all work together to look out for each other.
00:30:01The miners, myself, Fred and his guys, other people on the creek.
00:30:05Everyone wants to look out for everyone.
00:30:07We're like a small community.
00:30:09So this is the top.
00:30:11Oh, OK.
00:30:13Looks good.
00:30:14You got the other half, though?
00:30:15Yeah, I got those.
00:30:16Awesome.
00:30:17All right, bud.
00:30:18All right, cool.
00:30:19Once you're done with the truck, bring it back up.
00:30:21All right, I will.
00:30:23Get some.
00:30:24Yep.
00:30:25I'll help Fred and his boys out.
00:30:27He was in Arizona in the sand and the desert and whatnot.
00:30:30So we give him a little guidance here and there.
00:30:34Brian is very mechanical.
00:30:35He's torn in engines, rebuilt engines, rebuilt transmissions.
00:30:40This is his first trip into a large diesel.
00:30:44I was about 14 years old when my dad brought home a car for me and him to work on,
00:30:51blown-up engine.
00:30:53Doing this with the boys, with my family, that's beautiful.
00:30:58It's fair to say they've grown up as miners.
00:31:00It's just fun to take things apart and put them all back together in the same order.
00:31:05It's like a very greasy, big Lego.
00:31:08Me and my dad work very well together.
00:31:11We don't really have to say much to understand each other.
00:31:15Right now, there is a little bit of a worry that we financially might not be able to do this
00:31:20next year.
00:31:20I worry about my dad and all the pressure that's on him, because he's working his ass off,
00:31:26and he's trying to make this all work, and he's struggling a little bit.
00:31:34Get her running.
00:31:35Yeah.
00:31:35I want to see it blowing smoke tonight.
00:31:37All right.
00:31:42I got to get these two heads on, start torquing it all down, and put it all back together again.
00:31:58A lot of times when you're in an area like this, and you want to figure out where the gold
00:32:03is,
00:32:04and where it came from, looking at the archives is helpful.
00:32:08To dig deeper into the lean ground he discovered on the Potman's claim,
00:32:13Dave takes a field trip to the Circle District Museum.
00:32:16I'm looking to gain some clues to how much gold is in Boulder Creek.
00:32:22Central area maps.
00:32:24Take a look at these.
00:32:26Ooh, boy, these are old, old maps.
00:32:35Wow.
00:32:37Well, here we are.
00:32:38Here's Central House, Miller House, and here's Boulder Creek.
00:32:45Very, very interesting.
00:32:47The X means gold placer.
00:32:51So this is from geologic reconnaissance math surveyed in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906.
00:33:02And here on Boulder Creek, there's three red X's.
00:33:07That's interesting.
00:33:08He's got the X's way at the headwaters of Boulder Creek.
00:33:11And we're mining way down at the bottom of the stream,
00:33:14which is kind of encouraging.
00:33:17The old maps may point to better gold upstream on Boulder Creek.
00:33:23Dave calls a local contact to investigate.
00:33:27Yeah, hi.
00:33:28Is this Cody?
00:33:29Hey, Cody, this is David Turn.
00:33:39It's my least favorite place.
00:33:40I try and stay out of that place.
00:33:43Back at the Podvin claim, Juan takes a short break from the cut table
00:33:48to check out the gold room.
00:33:50Our cleanup process is not efficient.
00:33:53That's your table there, huh?
00:33:54That's our little table.
00:33:55So basically, what are you doing?
00:33:57You get your concentrates out of the sluice box.
00:33:58Are you running them through, like, a long tomat?
00:34:01Yeah, a long tomat.
00:34:02This reduces the fines down, then everything
00:34:04gets thrown all over the table.
00:34:06Yeah.
00:34:07We probably average four days.
00:34:08Yeah, four days that you're not doing something else, right?
00:34:10Right.
00:34:11Nothing quick about it.
00:34:12And it looks like Liva really loves it, too.
00:34:17It's not bad, but it's very time consuming.
00:34:22I take care of all the books and make sure
00:34:26all the finances are in line.
00:34:27I'm very calculated.
00:34:29I have spreadsheets for almost every aspect of this operation.
00:34:35The books are not going to balance if we can't get that plant up
00:34:39to 200 yards an hour.
00:34:41Last year, we spent every penny of our retirement.
00:34:45It's very scary to have this large of an investment.
00:34:49Gold is not guaranteed, so there's always the risk factor.
00:34:53There's an old joke, if you want to make a million gold mining,
00:34:56you have to start with two million.
00:34:59Sometimes it feels like that's what we're doing.
00:35:01We're constantly chasing that million dollars.
00:35:07That's definitely a bottleneck, so, well, let me think about it
00:35:10and see what we can't do here.
00:35:12Awesome.
00:35:12Thank you, Mike.
00:35:13Appreciate it.
00:35:14Thank you, sir.
00:35:14Appreciate it.
00:35:23Hello.
00:35:24What's going on, Juan?
00:35:25This turned out to be a little more work than what I anticipated.
00:35:28OK.
00:35:29One of the big issues that we have, right, is the cleanup process.
00:35:32Right now, it takes them four days to do a cleanup.
00:35:34Ooh.
00:35:35Yeah, it's pretty bad.
00:35:36OK.
00:35:36Well, I wanted to see if you had a table, a used table,
00:35:39or something that we could get in here to be able to help them out.
00:35:42Well, I'm just going to have to make some calls
00:35:44and see what's going on, Juan.
00:35:46I know you're going to have to have it quick, so.
00:35:48Yeah.
00:35:48You know, we're not looking for a freebie,
00:35:49but they have some money to throw at it.
00:35:52If I can get a hold of one, Juan,
00:35:54I'll make you a heck of a deal on it.
00:35:55OK.
00:35:56Yeah, if you can make that work, that'll help us out tremendously.
00:35:58Just let me know as soon as you know,
00:35:59and then I'll send somebody that way if we can.
00:36:01You got it.
00:36:02OK.
00:36:03Sounds good.
00:36:03Well, I'm going to get back to doing dirt work here.
00:36:05All right, buddy.
00:36:06Thanks, Red.
00:36:07Talk to you soon.
00:36:08Bye for now.
00:36:09Bye.
00:36:10Efficiency is key,
00:36:11and right now they're taking four days to do a cleanup,
00:36:13and that's not acceptable at all.
00:36:15You know, with a good table in here,
00:36:16it should take that from four days to, let's call it, four hours.
00:36:25Hey, Juan.
00:36:28Coming over to the top of you, Dave.
00:36:30Next, on the long list of fixes for Dave and Juan
00:36:34is to install the Dickinson's newly cut punch plate.
00:36:41A punch plate is basically a wear item.
00:36:44You don't want to fully weld it.
00:36:46That way you can go in there and cut those welds out,
00:36:48replace the top deck.
00:36:49I like it.
00:36:50That'll work.
00:36:51I like it too.
00:36:52That'll work good, Dave.
00:37:03Let's try it right here, Dave.
00:37:05Yeah.
00:37:06Four more build days left to complete an epic double rescue.
00:37:10It's an early start for Dave and Juan in the Podvins hopper.
00:37:15So right there, Dave, would give us the angle we need.
00:37:19But what we're going to do is we're going to make this a less of an abrupt angle,
00:37:21so the material has a better way of coming to the trommel,
00:37:24so it's not getting stuck on this hard angle.
00:37:28Hay gets trapped on the edges of the hopper,
00:37:30restricting the flow of material through the Podvins plant.
00:37:35Juan and Dave will create a large funnel using three-quarter-inch steel plates,
00:37:41allowing more pay to flow into the trommel.
00:37:44And we don't have a lot of shots at this,
00:37:46because three-quarter-inch steel up here is expensive.
00:37:49Oh, yeah.
00:37:50And if we screw one of these up and don't get the cut right,
00:37:54we're kind of screwed.
00:37:56That's to say the least.
00:37:58All right.
00:37:59Okay. Got it.
00:38:00Let's do it.
00:38:06Now that I've got the pattern laid out the way I want,
00:38:08I'm going to put the torch on there, and then the torch will do the rest.
00:38:16It allows me to keep on working, getting other things done and built.
00:38:19We haven't had a rescue where we've had to do so much cutting
00:38:21and fabricate so many things at one time.
00:38:23We're burning on the CNC table.
00:38:25Now we're going to be cutting with this arm as well.
00:38:27We're pulling everything that we have in our arsenal to get it done in time,
00:38:30and hopefully it's enough.
00:38:46You Cody?
00:38:47Yeah.
00:38:48I'm Dave.
00:38:49Hey, Dave. Good to meet you.
00:38:50Thanks for coming out.
00:38:51We'll take a look.
00:38:52All right. Sounds good.
00:38:52Follow me up.
00:38:53Will do.
00:38:54Back on the hunt for better ground on the Podvin's 2,000-acre claim,
00:38:59Dave brings in local dirt detective, Cody Pink.
00:39:04I called in a geologist.
00:39:05The more information I have of what's underneath and the rock composition and how this was all formed,
00:39:12will help me get these guys on better gold.
00:39:17I think to get to better gold concentrations, we need to get up as close to the bedrock as we
00:39:22can get,
00:39:23and that's up in the canyon.
00:39:24Both the Dickensons and the Podvins mine the lower reaches of Boulder Creek, where bedrock is far below the surface.
00:39:32Boulder Creek is underexplored.
00:39:35The potential is high.
00:39:39The potential is high.
00:39:39This is the unicorn that everybody's looking for.
00:39:42Did the old timers find it all?
00:39:45Certainly not.
00:39:47This is an adventure.
00:39:49Go upstream and do some prospecting.
00:39:51Try to figure out if there's viable gold.
00:39:54Let's go see.
00:39:55All we gotta worry about is the bears.
00:40:07We need to go upstream to find better gold.
00:40:10On a mission to rescue two operations in central Alaska.
00:40:15I think we should do a couple of pans here.
00:40:17We're not quite to the bedrock yet, but I believe true bedrock is below us here.
00:40:23Dave Turin and geologist Cody Pink head up Boulder Creek on the hunt for better gold.
00:40:30I'll take one side of the stream, you take the other.
00:40:31Okay.
00:40:39Now that we've gone upstream, I'm hoping to see more color.
00:40:46You find anything in the first pan?
00:40:49Nope.
00:40:53Nothing to get too excited about.
00:40:56We're not at the bedrock interface.
00:40:59So the fact that we're not seeing nuggets of gold in every pan isn't necessarily discouraging.
00:41:08I'm gonna have to go further upstream.
00:41:10Okay.
00:41:10You want to just hop on back?
00:41:11Yeah.
00:41:16Bedrock forms an impenetrable layer, which should capture heavy gold particles, but not all ground is gold bearing.
00:41:28We've definitely got bedrock coming down to the creek, and it looks like there's a little bench right up in
00:41:34there where the slow moving water is.
00:41:36Okay.
00:41:37Let's go investigate that.
00:41:39I love this stuff.
00:41:41Brings me back to the old timers.
00:41:43Comes down to a pan and a man in a creek.
00:41:46I just love it.
00:41:47I absolutely love it.
00:41:54I think I had one piece.
00:41:57The one right at the head there?
00:41:59Okay.
00:42:00A little bit.
00:42:01Way up.
00:42:03Really.
00:42:04Do you see anything in yours?
00:42:06No.
00:42:07Nothing?
00:42:23It's the last piece I got to cut.
00:42:25As Dave scrambles for better ground, Juan cuts to the chase on the Podvin's hopper fix.
00:42:32We were able to get all those plates cut there in a matter of maybe 45 minutes.
00:42:36You know, that would have taken somebody by hand, you know, half a day to cut that.
00:42:40We just got to prep them a little bit, and then they're ready to go onto the plant.
00:42:43So it does save a lot of time.
00:42:45These are three quarter inch plates.
00:42:47This one right here probably weighs, I don't know, 125, 130 pounds.
00:42:51They're not light, but it's the type of material you need for these bigger plants.
00:42:55That's definitely 130 pounds.
00:43:08So we're cutting out the pieces for the distribution box on Fred's plant.
00:43:14The chute will rest under the shaker deck to give an even feed of material into the sluices.
00:43:22We're going to need all that material, and we're going to concentrate it, and then we're going to distribute it
00:43:25where we want it.
00:43:29This is going to be the bottom pan of it.
00:43:30We're going to put sides, and those two downspouts, that'll be the center of both sluices.
00:43:37Ready to do a little work?
00:43:38Yes, sir.
00:43:39All right.
00:43:39So what we're going to do is we're going to start welding this out.
00:43:41This is going to be your distribution box.
00:43:43So what we'll do is we'll get going on it.
00:43:45I'll help you kind of get started on welding it.
00:43:48I don't have anything this fancy.
00:43:52You're pushing uphill.
00:43:54Right about this angle, push uphill, right?
00:43:56Slowly.
00:43:57You make sure that you get both sides, let it get wet, and then you travel up.
00:44:01There you go.
00:44:03Move a little quicker.
00:44:07It actually is really cool for me to come in here and see you guys, you know,
00:44:11from where you guys started with that little plant in Arizona to where you're at now.
00:44:14You guys got a full-size plant.
00:44:15You got more equipment.
00:44:16You're actually running some decent yardage.
00:44:18And it's got to be fun to be able to be out here with your dad and your brother to
00:44:21work
00:44:21and be able to kind of spend the summer together.
00:44:23A lot of hard work.
00:44:27My first gold claim was when I was 12 years old.
00:44:29It was Dickinson 1.
00:44:31Are we going to find some gold?
00:44:32Yeah!
00:44:34This season has been really hard out here.
00:44:36It's been really difficult for us.
00:44:38But just trying to push forward.
00:44:41I really want to stay out here doing this.
00:44:44I want to come out here every summer and hopefully have a family and bring them up here too.
00:44:50That's my goal.
00:44:51Find a girl who can move some dirt.
00:44:58All right.
00:44:59Let's see it.
00:45:07That's pretty good, man.
00:45:08Oh, this is very useful.
00:45:10I need to know this stuff.
00:45:12You know, you saw how quick that was, right?
00:45:14Yeah.
00:45:14Just little things like that are going to help you along your career.
00:45:17And it sounds like you want to keep on doing this for a while, right?
00:45:19I do.
00:45:20I really do.
00:45:24It's awesome to see Josh in there working with Juan, teaching him some different tips and tricks on welding.
00:45:30It looks like he's having fun and learning things.
00:45:32That's always great.
00:45:34Sweet, man.
00:45:36I'm looking forward to seeing this on the plan.
00:45:38Yeah.
00:45:43Well, I'm not giving up yet.
00:45:46Let's try one more time.
00:45:47Let's do one more where the bedrock dips in.
00:45:52Maybe we can find a trap.
00:45:56Two miles upstream on Boulder Creek, Cody and Dave are yet to find any indications of higher value ground.
00:46:12We're beating at that horse.
00:46:14We hit it hard.
00:46:15What did we pull?
00:46:16How many pans did we all pull?
00:46:1816, 18 pans today.
00:46:19Yeah.
00:46:20To find two little specks of gold, I'm not really encouraged.
00:46:25And probably what the old timers did.
00:46:27Could be why this was overlooked.
00:46:29I think they did the same thing we did.
00:46:30Yeah.
00:46:31I think they panned it and we're like...
00:46:32Yeah.
00:46:34Dave's research shows gold deposits, but his test on a two-mile stretch of Boulder Creek uncovers no signs of
00:46:42concentrated gold.
00:46:44The guys that are mining here, there's gold in the sluice box, but it's very lean.
00:46:51Yeah.
00:46:52I mean, they're not going to have expectations that if they go up further, they're going to find better gold.
00:46:56Even that information is good information.
00:46:59Yeah.
00:47:04When I set out on this prospecting journey, you know, my goal was to find better gold.
00:47:10Cody thought there was better gold upstream.
00:47:13What we found is there really isn't.
00:47:15So now plan B is to up the production to get them mining as efficiently as we can.
00:47:23They're on lean ground, but I think they can make money here.
00:47:31Coming up.
00:47:32We got to shut it off or it's going to keep burning.
00:47:35We're getting ready to flare back up over here.
00:47:38This is ice.
00:47:41You're running 110 yards an hour.
00:47:44Won't do it.
00:47:46I've been losing my mind.
00:47:49Whoa.
00:47:50That doesn't look terrible for four hours.
00:47:51Wow.
00:47:52You're awesome.
00:48:05I've got a huge fuel bill to pay.
00:48:07That's almost 28 grand.
00:48:09We owe them fuel right now.
00:48:11They won't deliver until I get caught up.
00:48:13I paid the 90 day past due, but we're still 60 days past due.
00:48:18In the Dickinson's camp, central Alaska, with seven weeks till the end of season, Fred and his boys take stock.
00:48:26Josh, I know you've got your credit card payment due.
00:48:29Is there anything else?
00:48:30Just a regular amount of $250.
00:48:34Okay.
00:48:35Pay my car insurance off.
00:48:37Minimum payment keeps going up.
00:48:40Yeah, we can't pay it off right now, but I can get you the minimum payment.
00:48:43That's most of the next two cleanups is going to fuel.
00:48:46So we're going to have to kind of be snug until we can get those in there.
00:48:52Those boys are making big sacrifices to be out here and to build this as a family.
00:48:58We're miles from the Arctic Circle and hours away from the nearest town.
00:49:02You know, they're 20 and 22 years old.
00:49:05Most people are out with their friends doing fun things.
00:49:08I know it's hard for me to be away from my wife, but I'm in my 50s.
00:49:12I hadn't really considered how difficult this really could be for them.
00:49:26Hey, Fred.
00:49:27Hey, Dave.
00:49:28How you doing?
00:49:29Doing good, man. How are you?
00:49:30Good.
00:49:30Hey, I wanted to kind of look at your pit.
00:49:32After his pay prospecting mission fails to find higher grade pay, Dave sets his sights on the production side of
00:49:40Fred's operation.
00:49:42This is all overburden that we flip back to here.
00:49:44Okay.
00:49:46There's some logistical things that I think I can help them with.
00:49:50I took a quick look at his pit.
00:49:52It looks pretty unorganized.
00:49:54You know, they shut down.
00:49:55Oh, gosh, we're out of pay.
00:49:57So they go down and dig pay.
00:49:58And then they're like, all right, we got pay.
00:50:00Let's run.
00:50:01So I want to get them more efficient.
00:50:04Let me ask you something.
00:50:06How do you get your pay out of there to your wash plant?
00:50:10So right now, we ride an excavator.
00:50:13So we...
00:50:14It's almost three times.
00:50:16From pay to there, you'd swing it to there, swing it maybe four times?
00:50:21It's four, yeah, probably four flips.
00:50:23The idea originally was to push it with the dozer.
00:50:26I haven't been able to build a road and run it.
00:50:29Why not right on here?
00:50:30This is really soft.
00:50:32I can make a road here.
00:50:33Just push this out of the way and get you a pretty decent road in here.
00:50:37Down into the cut, you mean?
00:50:38Yeah, to the cut.
00:50:39Oh, wow.
00:50:41I love it.
00:50:42Yeah, that would be good.
00:50:44If you flip pay four times, it's a waste of fuel and it's a waste of, you know, sunshine.
00:50:50If I have a dozer, I think I could get a road to the wash plant that you can continually
00:50:56get pay from and then he's good to go.
00:50:59So give me a day and I think I can get it done.
00:51:02Dave's plan, use a bulldozer to build a road from the wash plant to Fred's cut.
00:51:08This will allow Fred and the boys to push pay seamlessly at 300 yards from cut to plant in one
00:51:17move, eliminating the need for the excavator.
00:51:21But Fred's D9 is still out of commission.
00:51:25Dave's plan's exciting.
00:51:26It's good.
00:51:27I like it.
00:51:27You know, he's got a whole lot more experience than I do.
00:51:29The dozer breaks constantly is really the problem.
00:51:33I think we're on day three or four.
00:51:36I don't even remember right now.
00:51:38How's it going, kid?
00:51:39We've got a leak right on this third gasket.
00:51:43Is that one we just replaced?
00:51:45Yeah.
00:51:46Wait, is it leaking from here or is it leaking from here?
00:51:48That one.
00:51:49Oh, shoot.
00:51:51Oh, well, pull it back apart.
00:51:52There's nothing else we can do.
00:51:55It's important that we have this thing.
00:51:56Dave's got a new plan to push pay to the plant with it.
00:51:58But without this dozer, that plan can't happen.
00:52:08What we're going to do is we're going to take the crane truck over there, get these lifted up where
00:52:11we need them, and get them in place.
00:52:13Dozer's still down.
00:52:15Dave helps Juan transport the finished plates for the podvins hopper.
00:52:19It's all hands on deck.
00:52:20We've got to get these plates down there to the podvins.
00:52:23We've got to get this in.
00:52:38The hopper is built originally too sharp.
00:52:42So the hopper basically will hang a rock up and then it gets a big mound in there and plugs
00:52:46it.
00:52:47So by doing this, it doesn't allow rocks to hang up in there.
00:52:51It's going to be awesome.
00:52:53Joining the fight is the podvins welder, Casey Stagno.
00:52:57Coming over, you guys.
00:52:59Good.
00:53:00Coming down.
00:53:06We raised it about this high, and then it gives them this much more room for material to sit in
00:53:13here.
00:53:14This is going to help keep rocks off the spray bar.
00:53:17Juan thought of that, protecting the spray bars.
00:53:20That's awesome because it's something we didn't even think of.
00:53:24It's better than I could imagine.
00:53:25They should fix the hopper pretty much 100%.
00:53:30Looks great, man.
00:53:32You've got a lot of welding to do, buddy.
00:53:34A lot of welding to do.
00:53:36Yep.
00:53:53Starting all the cuts on the podvins distribution chute.
00:53:56It's going to be a V-splitter.
00:53:58We're actually going to do four runs.
00:54:00There's only two days to go before the final test runs.
00:54:04In the race to fix two plants, Juan and the crew are hot on the build of the podvins' large
00:54:1010-foot distribution box.
00:54:12Right now, the way the plant's running, there's a big chance that they're losing a lot of the fine gold.
00:54:17Having more even feed across the whole box is going to help that.
00:54:24Material enters the 10-foot-wide sluice at one point, flowing down the edge of the box.
00:54:31With no place to settle, gold is being lost out the end.
00:54:37To cope with the extra material through the plant and to recover more gold,
00:54:42Juan is building a distribution box with four down spouts, spreading the flow of material across the entire width of
00:54:51the sluice.
00:54:52Taking on two big builds in the same time that we normally do one build is hard enough.
00:54:58But we're coming out swinging.
00:55:00Ultimately, I know their plant's going to be better for what we're doing to it.
00:55:02Between the hopper and the distribution, it's going to be a whole other machine.
00:55:14Fire?
00:55:15Fire?
00:55:16What the ?
00:55:17There's a fire?
00:55:18Fire.
00:55:19Uh-oh.
00:55:20It is fire at the camp.
00:55:21At our camp?
00:55:23Do they need help?
00:55:25Come on, Zena.
00:55:26I got the water truck.
00:55:28Come on.
00:55:28In the Arctic tundra summer, high winds plus dry brush creates a highly flammable mixture.
00:55:36Apparently, there's a fire they had to race off right now.
00:55:38You know, these high winds with a fire, it's not good.
00:55:41We don't know how big this fire is.
00:55:46Let me.
00:55:47It's my machine.
00:55:52We got to snuff this all out.
00:55:53Yes, sir.
00:55:54Put dirt on top.
00:55:54Got it.
00:56:08The patch right there.
00:56:10This patch is right there.
00:56:13Alex.
00:56:16We're getting ready to flare back up over here.
00:56:27We got to shut it off or it's going to keep burning.
00:56:30In the Alaska double rescue, wildfire breaks out, threatening the miners' camps.
00:56:36When the wind's like this, I mean, if it were to get roaring, there'd be no stopping
00:56:40it.
00:56:40So they're going to come with the cat and spread all this dirt on top there to shut the air
00:56:44off
00:56:45because that wind is just firing the members right back up.
00:56:47Yeah.
00:56:48He's going to take the dozer and push all this dirt right over top.
00:56:52So it should smother it.
00:56:54Okay.
00:56:59Nice work, dude.
00:57:00Good job.
00:57:02This could have been catastrophic.
00:57:04It's blowing straight to our camp.
00:57:06We could have had a really bad situation.
00:57:09So we'll throw dirt over it and we should suffocate it.
00:57:12Good work, gentlemen.
00:57:13Go team.
00:57:14Absolutely.
00:57:15Thanks to dream work.
00:57:16You got to come together under pressure.
00:57:17You got to do it.
00:57:17You know, we're a team, all of us.
00:57:20So it has to be that way or you don't make it out here.
00:57:22You did a great job, Matt.
00:57:24You went in there with the excavator.
00:57:25You're actually ripping it up, getting it all put out.
00:57:27Good work.
00:57:28Pretty good work, Matt.
00:57:29Nice work, boys.
00:57:31Good job.
00:57:32Good job, man.
00:57:32Well, that was pretty scary.
00:57:34With the community help, everybody jumping in, helping out, we got it out.
00:57:39Good job, bud.
00:57:41All right.
00:57:41Good job for you, too.
00:57:42You can get in that water pump.
00:57:44Yeah, we got that foot out, huh?
00:57:45All right.
00:57:46A little bit of everybody, I think.
00:57:47Oh, definitely.
00:57:57What's going on?
00:57:58A little surprise from Freddy just showed up.
00:58:00Really?
00:58:01Oh.
00:58:01Brand new table.
00:58:03Freddy came through.
00:58:04Sweet.
00:58:06Here's the baby.
00:58:07Wow, nice.
00:58:08Could make life a little bit easier for you.
00:58:11Definitely.
00:58:11No more brushing.
00:58:12No more brushing.
00:58:13And your gold is at this end.
00:58:15You can look at it.
00:58:16It's bright and shiny.
00:58:17It's nice.
00:58:18Perfect.
00:58:18I'm excited to see it working.
00:58:22Okay.
00:58:22I'm clear.
00:58:23All right.
00:58:25Good, Dave.
00:58:26I like it.
00:58:27I think it's going to be a game changer.
00:58:29That's for sure.
00:58:31Since this thing's very heavy, I cut some inch and a half, two inch pipe.
00:58:35We put it on the ground.
00:58:36We're going to use that as roller.
00:58:37We're going to get it to roll it.
00:58:41You happy with it here?
00:58:43Absolutely.
00:58:43Yeah, I think it's a good place.
00:58:44Awesome.
00:58:52Pull the throttle.
00:58:56After days of blood, sweat, and oil.
00:58:59Come on, baby.
00:59:01You can do it.
00:59:08Good job, Brian.
00:59:14That D9 is kind of a really important piece of equipment.
00:59:16It was definitely crucial to get that up and running.
00:59:19Brian knocked it out of the park.
00:59:20You know, for a 20-year-old man to take that on and take it apart himself and put it
00:59:24back
00:59:24together, it's impressive.
00:59:26Feeling pretty good.
00:59:28Dozer's warming up.
00:59:31So far, no leaks.
00:59:35Nicely done, kid.
00:59:37Thanks.
00:59:39Nicely done.
00:59:40Very pleased.
00:59:42Couldn't be prouder of Brian pulling this thing apart and putting it back together.
00:59:46He did a good job.
00:59:50We get Dave behind the controls and we'll be able to see what old girl can do.
00:59:55D9 back in action.
00:59:56Dave begins his plan to maximize the Dickinson's production.
01:00:01So if I get in that road where he can push with the dozer, it's way more efficient than
01:00:06flipping his pay.
01:00:07Once he builds this road and starts ramping it up, it's going to be pretty easy for us
01:00:11to just push from where the pay is over to the wash plant.
01:00:15It's going to be a whole lot faster than doing it with this excavator.
01:00:18So we're happy about it.
01:00:37Frozen ground.
01:00:39I'm sliding.
01:00:52I mean, this is ice.
01:00:55It's a perma cross and I can't get up on here.
01:00:58I just slide off.
01:01:09It's his dozer.
01:01:10I don't want to break it.
01:01:13It's just solid ice and sometimes just like concrete.
01:01:23Permafrost, permanently frozen ground, blocks the path of Dave's new road.
01:01:28Well, good news and bad news.
01:01:31Okay.
01:01:32Good news, Brian, the engine's running good.
01:01:34Oh, good.
01:01:35So the bad news is that ground's frozen.
01:01:43And I did a couple slides on it.
01:01:45Oh, okay. Yeah.
01:01:46And I just don't want to get on that ice and throw a track.
01:01:51Okay.
01:01:51That's what scares me.
01:01:54Fred doesn't have a lot of options and it's kind of desperate times.
01:02:11There's hundreds, hundreds of weld.
01:02:14While Dave devises a plan to overcome the ice, on the Pudvin mine, Casey is 11 hours into welding hopper
01:02:23plates with no end in sight.
01:02:25This needs to be able to handle the rocks that are falling in plus the excavator touching it.
01:02:30This three quarter inch plate, so you're trying to get the weld all the way through.
01:02:34If you just put a little bit of weld on the outside, it'll snap.
01:02:37You know, through there I had to go over it 10, 15 times.
01:02:41There's a lot of welding.
01:02:43Still going to be maybe three more passes here.
01:02:53I'm just trying to figure out a plan here.
01:02:56My dozer keeps slipping on that ice, but it's going to be difficult.
01:03:00In the Dickinson's Cut, Dave puzzles through his permafrost roadblock.
01:03:06If you could clean that up, pitch it up and back, I could probably get it.
01:03:11See if we can build a road around the ice maybe.
01:03:13Yeah.
01:03:14You want me to try that?
01:03:14Yeah.
01:03:15All right, I think we've got a plan.
01:03:17The problem is, in the middle of my road is a big chunk of ice.
01:03:22With Fred's help on the excavator, I think I can maneuver around it.
01:03:27Let's go.
01:03:35Dave's plan is to use an excavator to reclaim the low area beside the frozen ground using tailings and overburden.
01:03:44Then, build the road around the ice.
01:03:51Oh, .
01:03:54It's very frozen solid.
01:03:57Mother Nature's trying to say she's mine.
01:04:02I'm going to politely disagree.
01:04:13Coming up.
01:04:16As Dave and Fred battle the ice, Juan presses ahead with the installation of Fred's new distribution box.
01:04:24So we've got the splitter chute all built.
01:04:26What we're going to do, we've already cut that existing chute off.
01:04:29We're going to make this up to that base right there and get it welded in.
01:04:33Lower that down a little bit, Alex.
01:04:36That box isn't square.
01:04:39They look right on the edge there?
01:04:42If I push down on mine, I might be able to get it.
01:04:44I wonder if we can suck this in.
01:04:46Probably not.
01:04:46So I've got a full quarter-inch to three-eighths gap on the top.
01:04:56It's in.
01:04:56It's just we've got a big-ass gap now.
01:04:59I'm terrible.
01:05:02losing my mind.
01:05:17Go get me some mild steel trap from up top.
01:05:20A couple of scraps so we can cut some of these angles out, please.
01:05:25On the final day of fixes in Boulder Creek, Juan hits a snag on the Dickinson's wash plant.
01:05:32Just hours out from the second test runs.
01:05:36We're going to have to make some adjustment over here.
01:05:39You know, it fit really good, but I didn't realize that that chute as it went further in, it wasn't
01:05:45square.
01:05:45So now we're going to have to make a little bit of a filler piece, which is not the end
01:05:48of the world, but we'll get it.
01:05:50It just takes a little longer.
01:05:56This is not exactly how we wanted it, but it's what we've got to do to make it work.
01:06:03Travis, can you give me more 60-10?
01:06:05You know, it's something we have to do in the field.
01:06:06We just have to adapt and make a little filler plate, but it's just part of it.
01:06:11While Juan finishes the distribution chute installed,
01:06:16despite a few obstacles, this plan's coming together.
01:06:19Fred and Dave make inroads in the cut.
01:06:25It's starting to come together with him flipping overburden.
01:06:29If we get that dozer in here, I think I can get it done.
01:06:34Low ground, now packed with overburden, Dave attempts to push past the ice.
01:07:00It's working.
01:07:04Woo!
01:07:11Ice bypassed, Dave completes his new pay highway.
01:07:19So I'm about ready to turn around and start pushing pay.
01:07:27Start pushing pay, start giving up, lost plant, so we can start to look up.
01:07:40Yeah, so it's looking good right now.
01:07:50It's a lot more organized.
01:07:52You've got an excavator feeding.
01:07:54Those are feeding the excavator.
01:07:57They're in business.
01:08:08All major fixes now complete at the Dickensons.
01:08:12We're just finishing up the splitter.
01:08:14Juan turns his attention to the Podvin's larger chute.
01:08:20We're actually going to split it four ways.
01:08:22The material coming off the bottom of the trommel is going to hit this.
01:08:25It'll split twice.
01:08:26And then once it comes down each side, it'll split again.
01:08:30So that way it actually evenly splits to four different parts.
01:08:34They'll be able to run more material and they'll be able to sluice it more efficiently.
01:08:38Done?
01:08:40I think it's great.
01:08:41I'm excited to see it finished up.
01:08:43I think it's going to be awesome.
01:08:45Coming up!
01:08:47Final welds made, Juan races to get the splitter installed.
01:08:52Trying to do two plants at the same time, with the same amount of time, it's really difficult.
01:08:57It's been a long build, but it's getting there.
01:09:00Up above, welder Casey works on the final beads on the hopper.
01:09:05About two days and about 22 hours worth of welding.
01:09:09This is the last weld.
01:09:16All right, that's done.
01:09:17They're in.
01:09:23It's done.
01:09:25Good job.
01:09:25Thanks buddy.
01:09:26It should be good.
01:09:27You know, in that hopper, it really should be able to get that material flowing the way they want it.
01:09:31I agree.
01:09:32Instead of getting stuck, you know, it should flow on its own.
01:09:35They get up to 200 yards an hour.
01:09:36Now I think the sluice box is going to accept it.
01:09:39Oh yeah, yeah.
01:09:40It looks good.
01:09:40I'm happy with it.
01:09:50Perfect.
01:09:51Let's flip it on and just see if everything's working.
01:09:54Back at the Podvin workshop, Dave gives a crash course for the new gold table.
01:09:59Pump's working.
01:10:01Got a nice bump to it.
01:10:03Hi guys.
01:10:05Eric.
01:10:06Look at that.
01:10:07There's your new table.
01:10:09Do you guys have any cons or something that we could run across this table?
01:10:13We've got our tailings off of what we used to do off our old table.
01:10:17Give it a try.
01:10:18Yeah.
01:10:23Crazy.
01:10:24Sure beats painting the table with a paintbrush.
01:10:27I know, right?
01:10:29That's impressive.
01:10:30That is very impressive.
01:10:31So you're just really walking around in circles and adjusting instead of brushing for three,
01:10:35four days.
01:10:36Maybe an hour.
01:10:37Oh.
01:10:40I am impressed with that.
01:10:41A lot more time for Eric and Liva and everyone else to spend more time doing other things around the
01:10:48mine.
01:10:49Wow.
01:10:49It was really fun to see Daryl, Liva, and Eric see what that gold table can do.
01:10:55And it's kind of a game changer because it takes so much less time to do your cleanups.
01:11:02And Daryl gets it because now his time can be better spent doing something else.
01:11:10It's down to the wire on both operations.
01:11:15And at the Dickinson's wash plant, Juan races to build the plumbing system for the new hopper jet.
01:11:23All they had for water was this little spray bar.
01:11:26So by adding that jet, we're going to introduce more water but also be able to control the feed.
01:11:32The team had a new six-inch pipe diverting water from the existing system up to the hopper jet.
01:11:40That's the final wall for the tube.
01:11:42We're going to move as quick as we can right now.
01:11:44We've still got miles to go, but hopefully we can start a test run soon.
01:11:51There's never enough hours in a day.
01:11:53There really isn't.
01:11:55Josh, you're going to get burnt a little bit.
01:11:56You're going to be okay, though.
01:11:57You'll survive.
01:11:58Yeah, right.
01:12:05I'm laying out the deflector for the back of the hopper.
01:12:09This is going to deflect the water from going straight out to down and actually hit the pan so that
01:12:13way you push the material in.
01:12:14As Juan wraps up the water fix...
01:12:17Come on, big boy. Let's go.
01:12:19Dave and Josh install the finishing touches to the shaker system.
01:12:23These are the counterweights.
01:12:26We're going to put these on to give a more violent shake so that it actually throws the rock up.
01:12:36I do not want these to come off, trust me.
01:12:39All right.
01:12:40Everybody's working hard now.
01:12:41We've got Alex and Travis and Juan's up above.
01:12:44We've got Brian, me, Fred's going to set a pump.
01:12:49Juan's just about got the water jet in the back and the feeder.
01:12:52That way we can run the test run.
01:12:54I think we're very close.
01:12:55What this does, when the water hits the back of this, it'll push it forward.
01:12:59It's going to actually wash down this plate.
01:13:02I'm going to call that good.
01:13:03It's done.
01:13:04It's in.
01:13:05It's all welded in.
01:13:06All plumbed in.
01:13:07We're ready to go.
01:13:10Both plants are now finished.
01:13:13With daylight fading, Juan and Dave must complete two test runs to be sure their fixes are working.
01:13:21It's been a long haul.
01:13:22You know, trying to take on two plants of this size with the same time, it's tough.
01:13:26We're running out of daylight.
01:13:27Oh, I know.
01:13:27And his season's getting close to the end.
01:13:29Yeah.
01:13:30Well, hopefully these fixes are going to be a big enough improvement for him so he can make up the
01:13:33time.
01:13:35Fire it up, kid.
01:13:45We ready?
01:13:49First bucket.
01:13:50All right, we're starting a timer right now.
01:14:01Take a look at the box.
01:14:03Oh, it's flowing way better.
01:14:07I like that vibration.
01:14:08I think sped it up plus your water jet.
01:14:11Not only that, now with that punch plate not being square, it's not getting hung up.
01:14:16Plus we're smaller openings.
01:14:19They're going to add more yards per hour.
01:14:21Yeah, they're going to be rocking and rolling more than they think.
01:14:26Looks good.
01:14:27Looks real good.
01:14:28I like that flow.
01:14:30Pretty evenly matched, Juan.
01:14:32They really are.
01:14:34That distribution actually looks pretty darn good.
01:14:37With the Dickinson's second test underway, Juan and Dave head to fire up the Podvins operation.
01:14:46That doesn't look good, Dave.
01:14:48What's that about?
01:14:49What are we doing?
01:14:49I don't know.
01:14:50Look.
01:14:52Chain drives down.
01:14:55What's going on, guys?
01:14:56What's happening here?
01:14:58We moved the motor.
01:15:14So you pulled it down?
01:15:16Pulled it down from underneath it and put it up on the side.
01:15:19Worried about their drive system, the Podvins have pulled the plug on their second test run.
01:15:25We had a legit concern that with their fixes up there, I really think they're going to push 200 yards
01:15:31an hour material in that drum.
01:15:32On the flip side of that, it might work too good for our drive system.
01:15:37So someone's got to do the next step.
01:15:39Get a little more chain wrapped around it.
01:15:41Yeah.
01:15:41A little more traction on the drive sprocket.
01:15:43Yeah.
01:15:44Once it's getting more material fed into it and up in that production, that's going to be our next spot.
01:15:52You know, it's a little tough.
01:15:53You know, we did a lot of work on this plant.
01:15:54We wanted to see it run.
01:15:56Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to stay here to watch it run.
01:15:58The truth is I have to be another mine in a couple of days, so I got to get going.
01:16:04There's always a little bit of a worry, even with my calculations and everything else and the yardage they're going
01:16:08to be running and the water flows.
01:16:10But until you actually see it run, sometimes you don't know.
01:16:14You know, so I am a little nervous about that.
01:16:16But regardless, I know what we did here is going to help them tremendously.
01:16:26Slow down. Slow down.
01:16:29Two hours into the test run at the Dickinson Mine.
01:16:33You're running over 110 yards an hour right now.
01:16:36Won't do it.
01:16:38Josh runs double the yardage from the first test.
01:16:43All I see is that deck and that deck is empty.
01:16:47He's overfeeding it.
01:16:48We're running over 100 yards an hour right now.
01:16:51There's nothing on that deck right now.
01:16:53He's doing a bucket every 28 seconds.
01:16:57We're taking it though.
01:16:59Here, we're good.
01:17:00Settling out down here, it's good.
01:17:02Pick it up.
01:17:03Pick up the pace, man.
01:17:04I would.
01:17:05We're on it.
01:17:08All right, Josh.
01:17:10See what you'll take.
01:17:16It's crazy.
01:17:18They're running out of pay.
01:17:20Dave jumps back in the dozer to keep the plant fed from his pay highway.
01:17:26That dozer Dave on my dozer is pretty awesome.
01:17:32More yardage, more golf.
01:17:33So we're going to have to kind of feel it out and see.
01:17:36It's kind of like going from a V6 to a Ferrari.
01:17:40We can do 10 hours of work in five hours.
01:17:44That's insanity.
01:17:47That doubles our profit.
01:17:49This is really fantastic.
01:17:52Hey, Fred.
01:17:53Hey, that's four hours.
01:17:55Let's shut it down.
01:17:56All right, let's do it.
01:17:58All right, Josh.
01:17:59Last bucket, kiddo.
01:18:00Last bucket.
01:18:03All right, shut her down, buddy.
01:18:16There you go.
01:18:17Yeah, there's a little gold in there.
01:18:18Look at that one.
01:18:20They're deep in the mats.
01:18:21They're right there.
01:18:21There's some big pieces.
01:18:22Check this one out.
01:18:23You're on some gold.
01:18:25Oh, yeah.
01:18:26Contrary to popular belief, there is some gold in Boulder Creek.
01:18:29It's looking pretty good, you guys.
01:18:31It's kind of late now.
01:18:32Why don't we clean it up in the morning and see what we got?
01:18:34Let's do a goldway.
01:18:35Yeah, let's do it.
01:18:38Damn.
01:18:39He ran what we'd normally run in about eight hours in four hours.
01:18:43So I couldn't be happier.
01:18:45It means a lot.
01:18:46It's going to be good.
01:18:59Hey, everyone.
01:19:00Good run.
01:19:01Hey.
01:19:01How are we doing?
01:19:02We got the whole crew here.
01:19:04Everyone's here.
01:19:05Perfect.
01:19:05Six days of hardcore effort across two claims, the families come together to see the results
01:19:12on the Dickinson's operation.
01:19:14Oh, it's the moment of truth.
01:19:17You got the gold?
01:19:18I do.
01:19:18And it looks pretty substantial, dude.
01:19:20Whoa.
01:19:21That doesn't look terrible for four hours.
01:19:22No.
01:19:24Well, you know, it really looks like, you know, we're catching a lot of that fine gold.
01:19:27But honestly, we ran a lot more material during that test run.
01:19:31It was huge.
01:19:32Yeah.
01:19:32Closer to 100 yards an hour on average.
01:19:34Well, let's weigh it up, huh?
01:19:35You know, during the first test run, we were 0.94.
01:19:38Let's see what this is.
01:19:43There's 0.93.
01:19:461.96.
01:19:47A little over what you did last time.
01:19:49There's still more.
01:19:50Yeah.
01:19:51A little more.
01:19:52Oh, .
01:19:53Tap, tap, tap.
01:19:562.64.
01:19:57Oh.
01:19:58Huge increase.
01:19:59That's almost two and a half times.
01:20:00Yeah, nearly two and a half times.
01:20:022.64 ounces.
01:20:04A 180% increase on their first run.
01:20:10That is really good.
01:20:11That's dang good.
01:20:12It's over half an ounce an hour, which is what we're looking for right there.
01:20:15Absolutely.
01:20:16You know, if this isn't a motivator, I don't know what's going to be.
01:20:18Oh, no.
01:20:19You know, this should be a motivator to say, hey, you know what, this is what we really can produce.
01:20:22Let's rock and roll.
01:20:23That's a game changer for us.
01:20:24We really appreciate it.
01:20:25Oh, gosh, yeah.
01:20:25Yeah.
01:20:25Well, you know, it's a shame that we weren't able to watch you guys' plant run.
01:20:29But when you guys get running, please let us know how that goes.
01:20:32Absolutely.
01:20:33I really think it's going to make a huge improvement.
01:20:35Send us a video.
01:20:35Let us know how it's going.
01:20:36We will do that.
01:20:37Please.
01:20:38We'll do it.
01:20:39We don't see any reason that ain't going to get us screaming material through that.
01:20:43Thank you so much for everything you've done.
01:20:45Both of you guys.
01:20:46Likewise, thank you.
01:20:47Appreciate it.
01:20:47Thanks for the opportunity.
01:20:49Yeah.
01:20:49Appreciate you guys.
01:20:51Here's your gold, Fred.
01:20:52Thank you, sir.
01:20:53Right on.
01:20:54Nice work.
01:20:54Thank you, everyone.
01:20:55You know, honestly, it was a pleasure working with you guys.
01:20:58We better get on the road.
01:20:59Thank you guys all.
01:20:59Hey, great working with you.
01:21:01Likewise.
01:21:02Hey, thank you.
01:21:02Appreciate it, man.
01:21:03This is huge.
01:21:06I knew they would increase our production, but I had no idea it was going to be that profound.
01:21:11When Juan and Dave got here, it wasn't looking very good for us, but seeing this the way
01:21:16that it is, and if we can finish this season the way I think we can, the boys have a
01:21:20future
01:21:21here on this mine.
01:21:21We can keep going.
01:21:22And when I get tired of mining, I want to be able to turn the keys over to them and
01:21:26say,
01:21:26hey, you guys, just keep doing what you're doing.
01:21:29Now we can do that.
01:21:30Honestly, I feel like we've got this.
01:21:32I'm very excited about the fixes they've made.
01:21:35I think it's going to be absolutely awesome.
01:21:38When they brought up the idea of changing this loose box, I wasn't too keen on it.
01:21:43Hey, I'm allowed to be wrong once a year.
01:21:47I'm excited for these guys.
01:21:49It really does warm the heart because we all work together and that's what it's all about.
01:21:53It's community and miners helping each other out.
01:22:05Hi, Juan and Dave. This is Darryl. We'll see the wind good.
01:22:08We sluiced through, I don't even know how many acres, but we did it in a hurry.
01:22:12That wash plant's doing over 200 yards an hour exactly how we wanted it to.
01:22:16And thank you guys for all your help with it.
01:22:20Everything on the hopper is phenomenal. It's working great.
01:22:23Matthew can stuff a full bucket in and it just eats it.
01:22:27Our first thing up was 95 ounces. That's the best that we've ever had.
01:22:33We just got just over 500 ounces. That's huge.
01:22:37We're very excited for years to come what that thing's going to do.
01:22:41It's awesome.
01:22:44It's awesome to have this dream come true.
01:22:49Hey, Juan and Dave. Fred Dickinson here.
01:22:51Just wanted to let you know that we're doing great.
01:22:55We're getting to the end of the season.
01:22:57As you can see, there's snow up on the mountain.
01:22:59We're doing pretty well out here.
01:23:01A little late in the season, but we're going to keep mining.
01:23:07There's our road up to the wash plant.
01:23:10There's our cut. You can see quite a bit of it's missing now.
01:23:21Sorry about the noise in the background. Brian's ready to run.
01:23:24All right. Thanks again, guys. We'll see you later.
01:23:26We'll see you later.
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